Have you ever gone to the store or been at the gas station and felt someone watch you? The hairs on the back of your neck stand up, or maybe you feel a shiver go down your spine as humanity’s atrophied sixth sense warns you. You turn around, you catch them staring and all of the sudden you are hyper aware of exactly where you are and where that creepy weirdo is. You turn around and try to mind your own business and in your head you’re kind of like,

‘Look at how completely normal, boring and uninteresting I am! Please don’t stalk me.’

Except my creepy stalker is a pack of Mythomagic cards. 

I’ll take ‘Sentences I never thought I’d use today’ for 300, thanks.

It’s all in my head, but my head was full of ADHD things. I couldn't NOT think about it. I felt really uncomfortable just cleaning up my room. I grabbed my clothes for the day and nearly ran out the door.

I was not ready for this.

I’ve...never done a reading for other people. My cards were just harmless fun? Now I was an Oracle of some kind. Or had an oracle spirit, or whatever. Now my collectible trading cards were affecting the futures of countless numbers of people.

It didn’t feel good. 

I closed the door to my room behind me and took a deep breath. 

I let it out.

You can take the spoiled city boy out of the city, but it was going to take more than three weeks at Camp to take the spoiled city out of the boy. I barely ached in the morning any more, not after something in my spine seemed to ‘click’ a week in. I had new calluses from training with the javelin, making runs at the Climbing Wall and canoeing. but Camp still felt off. I don't think I would ever get used to it. I would go to class, do some chores, train a bit and have a lot of fun.

And then someone would say something, or something would happen that would remind me that at least half the kids here depended on Camp to survive.

I had been here long enough to know that there hadn’t been a Quest in two years. Luke’s had been the last one and for a Camp full of kids almost desperate for attention from their god parents, that was two years too long. No one liked to remember that Luke’s Quest killed two Campers and almost killed Luke!

I told myself that the Quest wasn’t about me. And if it was, I could refuse somehow, or have someone else take my place and it would all turn out fine. I told myself Dad would understand. He would. 

Mom would still be proud of me.

And then I felt sick.

So I was not going to think about it.

That has never gone wrong for anyone ever!

The Big House had a bit of a weird interior design. There was something of an expanded foyer once you got in the front door making the ground floor’s floor plan look a little like the steering wheel of a ship. The rooms coming off it and the staircase at the back where the peg spoke things and the intake desk in the center was the, uh, center. There were places in the wall and the floor where it was pretty obvious there had been walls that were knocked down to give Chiron more space.

I know. 

A god made the Big House in Camp for Chiron to live in, and the centaur had to remodel so that he could actually live in it.

I’m eighty percent sure that god was Apollo.

Considering Apollo basically raised Chiron, him building a house Chiron can’t live in should surprise me. 

It didn’t.

As I shuffled across the big room yawning and stretching, I heard voices getting louder as they approached the double doors at the front to the Big House. 

“ -  get used to how fucked everything is and now I’m learning something new every day!” Mr. D exclaimed as the doors flung themselves open. I blinked. I had to. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.

There wasn’t a Hawaiian shirt in sight.

The god was in a white long sleeve shirt underneath a bright orange Camp Half-Blood T-Shirt. Black pegasus and all. I squinted at the extra writing above the horse. 

Dreitcor. 

Did that say Director?  

“Learning from my mortal sons.” There was a giant shit-eating grin on the Wine God’s face. “That’s novel is what it is!” 

Chiron was right behind him in a light blue button up shirt, frowning. I’m going to stop a moment here and confess something. It’s important, okay? 

His scruffy beard bothered me.

Chiron was the kind of dude who was comfortable in a tweed jacket. He ironed his shirts. His white coat was always brushed. He shined his hooves. But the beard! Maybe he was like Dad, who couldn’t grow a good one for the life of him, but unlike my father, he didn’t have Mom to make him stop trying.

“And that is exactly what is drawing the King’s ire,” the centaur grumped.

“He’ll get over it,” Mr. D flapped a dismissive hand. Chiron gave him a look. Two raised eyebrows and everything. “Look, let’s say I do that. Wipe everybody.” He held up a finger. “But one.” 

They both turned to look at me.

“Uh.” I clutched my clothes in front of me like a shield. “Morning?”

Chiron returned my greeting, but Mr. D jumped right in with, “If Pollux forgot that cock and bull story about fire and humanity shit with Prometheus wasn’t true, are you gonna correct him?”

I swallowed. The back of my throat burned and I thought - maybe - that I was tasting sulfur. My gut churned.

If Pollux... forgot?

“Yes.” I said, slowly. “I would.”

The Wine God’s bloodshot blue eyes almost looked cruel as they bored into me. “Even if I order you not to?”

“On pain of what?” immediately came out of my mouth as I glared at him. All it would take is saying a Name. I was pretty confident I had the bigger stick. I expected it, but the Young God didn’t bother threatening me. Instead, he turned back to the immortal trainer of heroes and waved his hands like he was presenting me as an answer.

“That ,” he said. “And then the little shits figure out the memory wipe and the Camp continues to sail down shit creek, but now with enthusiasm. ”

Chiron rubbed at his forehead. “As you say.”

“He’ll get over it,” Mr. D repeated as he conjured a can of Diet Coke for himself and popped it open. “So will step-mother dearest,” he chuckled as he headed towards the stairs. “They got no choice.” 

Had there been some kind of meeting on Olympus today? I eyed Mr. D’s orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. 

And he went looking like that. 

“Good job being a pain in the ass,” he told me as he passed by. I had the funny feeling that was an actual compliment. Which was...uh, weird. Very strange. Apparently I was causing problems, and Mr. D was A-Okay with it.

I remembered what Athena had said my first night at Camp. Dionysus was the youngest of the Olympians. He didn’t understand.

My stomach flipped a little.

How many Young gods and goddesses were in his shoes, learning the truth second hand from previously ignorant demigods?

Not like I could stop now.

“Still hate you though,” the god continued. That was more like it.

“Nothing personal?” I asked Mr. D’s back.

“You got it.”

I rolled my eyes and turned back to Chiron.

The old centaur looked old with his brow furrowed like that and clearly unhappy by the deep frown and the hand he was running through his thinning dark hair. I slowly walked towards him. I was thinking, maybe I could come up with something comforting to say? I mean, it wasn’t really his fault or anything. Not like he could have known. Dealing with an annoyed Zeus and co. must be stressful.

Yeah.

Who was I kidding?

“Bet you regret reporting my Mom now, huh?” I said with a broad smile as I waltzed past him out the front door of the Big House.

“Immensely,” Chiron growled and that just made my smile bigger.

After a nice refreshing shower, I stopped by my room to stash the simple white T-shirt and black shorts I used as pajamas and made a second sweep of my room. Normally, I just made sure my room was up to Dad standards. Buuuut Chiron might be a tiny bit annoyed with me right now? So I didn’t want to give him any excuse to make me clean out the pegasi stables.

I just don’t want Camp Half-Blood’s beloved horse-pigeons to suffer, okay?

Because if I have to deal with them trying to crush me against the walls and kick me in the chest and bite my hair and take off my glasses… if I have to pick up their shit one more time…

Suffer, they will.  

The conch shell horn sounded as I straightened my sheets. Time was up. I...chose not to take my cards.

I had more of a walk to the Dining Pavilion from the Big House than the Campers. That was fine with me, because it meant that every day I got to walk with different Cabins. Yesterday, Castor and Pollux dragged themselves out of bed early to get me and we met up with the early rising Apollo Cabin. Today, it looked like I was just in time for the clusterfuck of stragglers from the Ares/Aphrodite/Hephaestus Cabins. 

Funny story about those gods. Ares was Aphrodite's boyfriend and Hephaestus was her husband. She frequently cheated on both of them and they both knew it. Ares was in no place to judge but Hephaestus was salty enough to make legends.

You'd think their Cabins wouldn't get along, right?

You’d be wrong.

Hephaestus Cabin makes the weapons. Ares Cabin swings the weapons. Aphrodite Cabin, most of them, are social butterflies who want to be liked. They just had strange, ritualistic priorities you had to get used to, or not care about in the first place. 

And Hephaestus’ and Ares’ kids didn’t care. 

Maximillian had a very strong sense of fairness, even worse than Ethan’s, with a gold drachma he flipped when he couldn’t decide while Jacqueline’s mood was determined by the feathers in her hair. Where she got the Northern Bald Ibis or Kakapo feathers, no one has any idea since they’re fucking endangered , but there you go. Lacy/Lace could be a boy or a girl at any time and was scary for a seven year old with healing powers.

If you are wondering where the hell a child of Aphrodite got healing powers, join the club.

Renicio woke up at dawn every day like his dad was Apollo, had a perfect internal clock, hated Castor’s guts, and I’m not entirely sure he’s actually Aphrodite’s at all. I know she Claimed him like all her other kids.

But the Hindi?

“If it isn’t Horseshit!” Clarisse La Rue, Daughter of Ares, ambushed me with a meaty arm over my shoulders. “Come ‘ere!” 

I didn’t protest as she dragged me over. I learned that doesn’t work. Ares was her dad. That didn’t work on any of them. Sometimes Ryan pretended it did, but it didn’t.

“Do you have to call him - “ Silena Beauregard, Daughter of Aphrodite, horse-pigeon whisperer and honorary Apollo Cabin member at the archery range, cut herself off with a roll of her eyes. “You don’t, but you will. Forget I said anything.”

“Damn straight!” Clarisse squeezed her bicep around my head. She had light brown, almost blonde hair cut short, red-brown eyes and like all of Ares’s kids, she was solidly built and liked fighting. “Gotta make sure this noggin doesn’t get too big.”

I’m just going to say it right now: I don’t understand Clarisse. 

After Chiron nearly had a heart attack ruining my ‘Initiation Ceremony’ of a toilet swirly, she wanted my head on a stick. Capture the Flag that week was painful. Then there was the thing with the rabid horse-pigeon dragging me out of the stables covered in horse shit? I had to be rescued. 

I, uh, did not have...nice...things to say?

Queen’s English, you understand. Sam would have been proud.

Making friends was easier after that. In Castor’s words, putting me on a pedestal got difficult after a pegasus shat all over it. Clarisse was one of them. 

No idea why.

“My head won’t get too big,” I said dully. 

My head was squeezed again. “Or I’ll kick your ass.”

Maybe she wasn’t my friend, but a really strange enemy.

“Or you’ll kick my ass.”

Weird Girl Tanaka snorted from Silena’s other side, making a face at me. I scowled back as I finally squirmed free. Silena reached over and absently fixed my hair because she had absolutely zero sense of personal space.  

The usual stragglers were made up of Clarisse, Counselor of Ares Cabin after the last one died two years ago. Mark, who may as well be co-counselor since he did everything Clarisse didn’t want to, was another solidly built boy of Ares with black hair and eyes. Silena was a perfectionist who had to be the last to leave with black hair and blue eyes most of the time. Weird Girl Drew stuck to Silena like a barnacle. Angelina, Counselor of Hephaestus Cabin was a carrot top with hazel eyes, a pencil behind her ear, a notebook and whichever of her half-siblings she managed to drag out the door with her. Today, that was Everett, with tightly curly black hair, great tan and brown eyes. He worked on jewelry instead of forging like most of his siblings. And last, but not least was Clovis, Son of Hypnos and a perpetual late riser.

I made my way over to Clovis and waited until his one good eye - it was the left one right now - focused on me. 

“Hey, little cousin.” I greeted him and heard Drew scoff - ‘weirdo’s related to the other weirdo’ - making me roll my eyes. “How were the Dreamlands?” 

“Big cousin,” he said as the left side of his face lifted into a small smile. “Father didn’t let me stay long, but it was nice. New.” 

If you looked at us side by side, we didn’t look like cousins. But at the same time, I thought we did? Clovis reminded me of a baby cow with a mop of strawberry blond hair on a wedge shaped head, a wide flat nose and too big blue eyes. He used to have a thick body with thin limbs, but that was changing with exercise.

I’m not saying I looked like a cow, okay? It was the other stuff.

His spine stuck out too. He had extra ribs and a second heart. He was always half asleep with one side of his brain, like a dolphin. He picked his words carefully, because he had two extra rows of teeth behind the first set and his tongue sometimes got in the way. We swapped teething stories. Mom got rid of my second set before I started school somehow? But I remembered it sucking a lot. I think I still have the bronze sheep I used to nibble on.

It was in his eyes too. Blue, normal enough. They just didn’t reflect anything. Like a mirror that swallowed light instead. You looked into them, and saw nothing at all.

Ethan’s were like that too.

“Thank you for convincing my Father to let me try.” Clovis said happily. “My brothers taught me a lot.” 

“Anytime my dude. We’ll get you a cat.” He nodded slowly and I nodded at the sky. “Nice weather we’re having.”

Clovis looked up. “Is someone upset?”

Angry dark grey storm clouds threatening thunder and lightning boiled overhead. 

Camp Half-Blood had been blessed with good weather by the Nine Muses at some point. That meant no rain, no fog, no snow, hail or sleet. It’s never been anything but sunny since I got here. The Campers making their way to breakfast were bravely ignoring it. 

I think everyone knew it was Zeus throwing a tantrum.

“A little.” I pinched my index finger and thumb together for emphasis.

My first cousin once removed (thanks Annabeth!) smiled again. Now that people were talking to him, he had really come a long way. He gave me a bland, “Oh no. Whatever shall we do?”

“Oh, she isn’t.” Silena huffed suddenly and I followed her gaze to the large campfire we used for singalongs.

“Beckendorf 2.0!” Clarisse bellowed. The young brown haired girl in brown robes and shawl flinched, then huddled closer to the flames like she was trying to become one with the background. She probably was because her “curse” kicked in and a sudden obnoxious beam of sunlight fell on her head making her flinch again. 

“Don’t you pull that shit!” Clarisse barked, hands on her hips as Silena’s face paled. “Where’s your Camp T-Shirt?”

Hestia gave up on trying not to be noticed. Her shoulders slumped as her brown robes split into khaki three-quarter pants, and the bright orange Camp Half-Blood T-Shirt. 

Don't look at me.

I was just as clueless as everyone else when I first heard 'Beckendorf 2.0' screamed across the arena.

“Better!” It was Mark’s turn to shout, spear over his shoulders. “You’re with Cabin 5 today, 2.0! Spar after breakfast!”

“2.0” grabbed a tongue of flame from the campfire as she stood up. We were hit with an adorable pleading look. How Hestia pulled that off with her eyes on fire, I don’t know.

“Make sure 1.0 isn’t starving himself like a moron.” Clarisse was unrelenting. “No hiding today or I’ll break a foot up your ass!”

Silena finally cracked. “I’m sorry, what?”

The small goddess' pleading look turned incredulous.

Then Hestia’s lips twitched as the campfire behind her leapt into the air and we were all rewarded with an eye roll before she ran off towards Hephaestus Cabin.

“Would you look at that!” Mark laughed. “We actually got some sass out of her. There’s hope yet!” 

“Why.” Silena threw her hands up in the air. “You idiots do remember who that is, right?”

“Dumbass self-sacrificing scary pacifist workaholic who won’t talk unless she has to,” Mark said. He raised an eyebrow. “Like Beck. But smaller.”

Silena opened her mouth.

“Don’t,” Angelina cut her off as she scribbled designs in her notebook. “He’s right. We all know it.”

“She needs to be less of a dumbass!” Mark declared, pointing his spear at the sky. “So a family that doesn’t treat her like shit, talking with someone who understands the pacifist crap, getting used to fighting again and getting motivation.” 

“I can make anyone hate me!” Clarisse declared proudly. I guess she was the motivation? “It’s a gift.”

“Mhm,” Everett muttered under his breath. “Sure is.”

“She’s like a rusted weapon,” Mark continued, and I think I found who was responsible for this. He had clearly put some thought into it. Not sure how he talked Apollo into helping him out Hestia whenever she tried to hide. “No self-respecting warrior ignores one!”

Hestia's bullying by Ares Cabin wasn't my fault.

Alright, it's a little my fault.

Camp was stupid.

It shouldn’t be an orphanage. Claimed kids like Iris’ and Hecate’s shouldn’t be relying on Hermes as vagabonds. Claimed kids like Annabeth, Ryan and Silena shouldn’t be waiting for their divine parents to throw them a bone. Unclaimed children shouldn’t be a thing at all. My other first cousin first removed Ethan shouldn’t find out his mother was Nemesis after two years at Camp.

Something was fucked so something had to be done to unfuck it. 

Camp Half-Blood had a hearth. If it was an orphanage, that meant it was also a Home.

After the Titans got their asses kicked, the defender of the Hearth did not have the ambition to rule all of Olympus. She gave up the Names of her birthright. And when that was not enough for Zeus’ insecurities, she carved out the rest. It was Masayuki that pointed out that a home had to be maintained, not only noticed once in a while. You had to take care of your family to keep those bonds. The State had to be properly governed, or it fell apart.

An ignored hearthflame dies.  

Our collective reaction was somewhere along the lines of ‘Oh. Fuck. ’ 

No one was happy about that. But Ares Cabin were bulldogs with a bone. 

“Hence, the therapy,” Angelina concluded, absently waving her pencil around.

“Therapy.” Silena blankly returned. “ You. Cabin 5, War. ” She pinched her nose. “I can’t.”  Then she blindly pointed in my direction. “This is - “

“Not my fault,” I insisted. “You can’t blame this on me!”

I knew before he even opened his mouth that Clovis was a damn dirty traitor.

“Yes, we can.”

I pouted the whole way up the hill to the Dining Pavilion.

Breakfast was normal? 

That’s a question because I haven’t been here long enough to know what was normal, what I messed up and what was just the Campers being Campers. 

Mr. D was never going to stop complaining about his occupied table, but whatever. Luke was still giving the Stoll brothers the stink eye for the food fight yesterday (or maybe it was the glitter bombs) over at the no-longer-full Table 11. 

“Everybody!” Apol - Fred proudly escorted a very overwhelmed mini-Fred towards the center brazier for Apollo Cabin’s first offering. “This is Will Solace!” The holographic image of a sun and golden bow appeared over the blond boy’s head and his blue eyes went huge. “Make a wish!” Fred paused. “A reasonable one. Something that won’t get me - that amazing god Apollo smited. Remember, little G god, not big G.”

After a moment, Will threw one of his pancakes into the flames and Fred grinned. A gold glow flared around Will for a second.

“Just...don’t bring anyone back to life,” Fred said. “That tends to go badly.”

There were some very loud snorts.

Table 6, Athena was covered in books, paper, highlighters and pens and a bunch of gray eyed kids ignoring their food. Half of Table 5, Ares brought weapons for no reason with a few playing finger dance with daggers. Table 10, Aphrodite were actually focused on eating ever since Melanie banned cosmetics and magazines from the Dining Pavilion. Table 4, Demeter brought their pet plants to present to the nymphs.

Beckendorf 1.0 (his name was Charles. But it was Beckendorf) was a darker skinned fourteen year old boy, but was tall enough for seventeen with a permanent scowl. He looked like he could break people in half with the muscles he earned in the forge, but was probably the nicest person at Camp, second only to his trusty sidekick 2.0. 

The frequent all-nighters of Hephaestus Cabin trailed in behind him. Hestia pinned Fred with an unamused look as she was prodded towards Table 9. She got a completely unrepentant waggle of fingers in return.

The Tables for Poseidon, Artemis, Zeus and Hera were empty.

Breakfast came to a close as it always did with a soft toot of the conch shell horn. The clean up began and Campers began to split off to begin their day. I watched Mark and other members of Cabin 5 ambush Hestia, hoisting the small goddess up on his shoulders as everyone cheered on their way out of the Pavilion. As soon as I dropped my plate off with the harpies, I was ambushed by Annabeth. 

“Arts and Crafts, javelin practice, armor maintenance,” she said in one breath.

I stared at her. 

“Did you seriously memorize my schedule.”

It wasn’t even a question, because I knew that was exactly what she did.

“Please say you’re not stalking me.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not stalking you.”

So she just memorized other people’s timetables for fun? I squinted at her. “Are you lying to me?”

“No!” I could see her think through what she was going to say at least three times. “Why are you like this?”

“Awesome?”

She gave me a narrow eyed look.

Alright.

So not awesome?

“This.” She crossed her arms, eyeing me like a bug on the windshield. “ You know so much more than everybody here about the gods, but you - you’re a dork.” Ouch. “You act like it’s normal. Like it’s just a history lesson. Like all of this - you dumped barbeque sauce on the sun god. ”

You would not believe how hard it was not to correct her.

I was going to be a good boy.

No outing the other pantheons.

“In my defense, Fred had it coming,” I said. “He was blatantly cheating.”

She shook her head with a reluctant smile. 

“Dork.”

“Nerd.”

“Aren’t you the one that plays tabletop games?” She pointed out with a smirk. “Dweeb.”

“No need to be insulting.” I was smiling. “Dink.”

Her blonde eyebrows rose. “Where’d you learn that one?”

“Insults of the Day.” Have I ever mentioned how much I love my dad? “So if you’re not stalking me…”

She sighed and the smile she had slipped right off her face like I had just imagined it.

“Cabin 6 has free time right now and I was hoping - “ The Counselor of Athena Cabin bit her lip. Yeah, you heard that right, Counselor. That was a title given for the oldest members of a Cabin. Annabeth was just as old as I was, twelve. Like Clarisse, her predecessor died two years ago, leaving the ten year old girl responsible for her half-siblings. Luke helped her as much as he could while looking after his own siblings and all the extras.

Like I said, Camp is fucked.

“- we were hoping you could tell us the whole story?” Uh, yup, that was the entire Cabin 6 still at their table. “About...Apatouria.”

...I was not going to be that guy and say they could have asked Apol - sorry, Fred.

“Yeah, okay.” 

You might be thinking that maybe this was a bit risky. Zeus was already mad and probably paying attention by the way the clouds were still blocking our sunlight. Maybe laying out one of Olympus’s big lies in detail right now was not the best idea.

As far as I was concerned, if you don't want people thinking you’re a jerk, mmaaaayybeee you shouldn’t be a jerk?

Food for thought.

I sat down and looked around the table. 

About a dozen kids, mostly blond with two black haired ones, each and every one of them with storm gray eyes looked back. They had pencils and pens ready over blank pieces of paper.

No pressure.

“So...the beginning,” I started. The actual beginning would probably be explaining Ouranos’ whole deal with False Prophecies in the first place, but that was a lot of shit to dump on them right now? Not to mention, that would be blowing the lid on Athena’s List of Things Not To Talk About. 

Okay. Not the beginning. But a beginning. “Zeus was a fucking idiot.”

Thunder clapped.

Everyone but me flinched.

“Metis, elder Okeanide of Oceanus and Tethys held the Domains of Good Counsel, Planning, Cunning and Wisdom. She was her boyfriend’s advisor throughout the war with the Titans and did a good job.” I drummed all ten of my fingers on the table. “They won the war. They got married and were expecting an heir when Zeus let the fact his wife was smarter than he was get to him.”

Months, if not years, wasted fighting because of pointless pissing contests with someone who just wanted to help him. Who just wanted it all to stop.

“He let the power of his eldest sister get to him, even though she gave up the throne. He let the Domains his second eldest sister shared with their father get to him, because she was the Earth Mother’s warden. He let his brothers’ strength get to him. And so he went to the Sky Father for advice and the Voice of Heaven will answer only one question.” I held up one finger. “So he asked ‘What should I do, that no other should hold royal sway over the eternal gods in place of me?’”

Up and down Athena’s table, faces twisted.

“A wise child is destined to be born of Metis, Ouranos answered," I said. "A warrior greater in strength than your lightning bolt. It is the snake to whom you will lose your throne. Consume it.”

“Oh,” Malcolm said, looking down at his paper. “Is that why one of mother’s symbols…?”

“Is a snake?” Annabeth finished for him. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I never wondered why snakes were associated with wisdom.”

“Didn’t...didn’t Greeks believe snakes speak words of wisdom, or something?” One girl I didn’t know the name of asked. She could have been Cas and Poll’s younger sister with her whole chubby cheeked blond look.

“And that’s why no one could understand a snake?” Masayuki said dryly. “Cause and effect. Snakes were wise because the Goddess of Wisdom was a snake.”

Annabeth looked down at her books like she was trying to set them on fire with her eyes. “All of us come here and we’re told one of our parents is a god. The Greek gods of mythology are real. And then...then we aren’t told anything. Not about how any of it works! Just that they’re real and we can do things mortals can’t and so we just accept this -” She shoved a book away from her. “As real too. Even when it doesn’t make sense.”

Especially when it doesn't.

There was a minute of uncomfortable silence.

Annabeth took a deep breath and then glared at the sky. “Sorry. Please continue.”

Everything about this situation sucks.

“Anyway.” The whole story was pretty bad, but this part was scummy. “Zeus took Metis out on a date. He told her he was apologizing for being an ass.” Immediately, the faces of my audience darkened and I cringed. “There were flowers, food, music and everything. After she forgave him, he challenged her to a contest. They would compete in the form of animals. As she was a clever goddess, he needed a handicap. She would be prey animals and he the predator. If he couldn’t catch her before she made it back to Olympus, she could ask her husband, the King for anything.”

I opened my mouth and nothing came out for a few seconds.

I swallowed hard.

“She almost made it?” Alistair, black haired and gray eyed, whispered sadly. He was Lace’s age, I think. Seven, maybe eight.

“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “You know the whole ‘born out of his head wearing armor’ thing. Metis’ doing.” I was starting to regret not keeping my goblet. My mouth was dry. “Good thing too.” I smiled weakly and mimed throwing a spear. “Ate a Master Bolt immediately. Blasted right off the mountain and landed by a river.”

They were making notes. 

“Myth says when Athena was born the heaven and earth cried out and the sun stood still,” Malcolm muttered. “That was just the murder attempt. Thunder and the flash of light.”

“And the weird myth about gold falling down on humanity when she was born?” Annabeth unsheathed her Celestial Bronze dagger from the holster on her waist. The divine metal shone and really did look a lot like gold in the firelight. “Pieces of her armor?”

The weird game of telephone that was the human record was kind of funny.

I don’t mean ‘ha ha’ funny.

“Her landing site was lucky. Athena was still the Daughter of Metis, Daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. As soon as she came into contact with the water, the river swept her away to the sea. It was actually Tethys that named her and fostered her with Amphitrite and Triton where she healed and was protected. Which was a problem for Zeus.”

“The fatal duel!” Annabeth jumped ahead in the story. “He interfered on purpose so that she would kill the sea nymph Pallas, and break her protection.”

I nodded. “Everyone knew it was Zeus. She kept the protection of her lineage, but the tension grew. To prevent war, Athena asked to be presented to Olympus. ‘I would know of my crime before the King of the Gods,’ she declared. ‘You were born,’ her grandfather told her, but he escorted her anyway. She stood before Zeus and demanded to know what the fuck gives.”

Some of Athena’s kids snorted and I flapped my hand. 

“Insert flowery Ancient Greek words here. Whatever. Point is she got her Prophecy out of him.” I felt the smile beginning to form on my face. “And like her mother, Athena is a very clever goddess.”

“A wise child was destined.” Masayuki tapped his pencil onto his paper. “No gender, no birth order.”

Malcolm was smiling too. “And technically , he consumed the mother, not the child. Either he messed up, or he did what the Sky Father told him to, and she wasn’t the one.”

“Maybe she had a twin brother that was never born,” Annabeth threw out with a grin. “He bought that.”

“They all did,” I said. “Metis wasn’t there to say otherwise. Zeus couldn’t and his pride would tell him he did just as the Prophecy told him to. And he’s arguing with Athena.”  

Seeing the pride on their faces hurt. 

Annabeth had an enchanted baseball cap that turned her invisible.

That was the only clue the entire cabin had that she even remembered she had kids at all.

“History happens. Zeus is an idiot and a jerk.” Thunder again and while the younger kids flinched, my friends just tensed. “And Athena had proven herself wise and powerful against the Giants and against Typhon.” There was a sudden flurry of scribbling from my audience. “She was the King’s oldest legitimate child and the King was too busy shitting on everyone to rule properly. So obviously, he had to go.”

“The sea and sun gods?” Annabeth ventured. 

“Her mother and childhood meant the sea was a given. Zeus treating Leto terribly and screwing the twins over repeatedly meant she had the sun and moon.” Seriously. Kallisto’s entire thing where Zeus raped one of Artemis' Hunters while transformed into Artemis was really fucked up but also not the only tragedy. “Demeter’s Persephone thing where Zeus helped Hades out meant he pissed away all of that good will.” I paused. “ Forever. So she had the harvest. And finally, he committed the crime of making Hestia regret abdicating, so she had the hearth.”

There were round eyes all around.

“Hephaestus was neutral. Hermes wasn’t born yet. Same with Mr. D. Ares, Aphrodite and Hera were with Zeus. Really, Aphrodite’s the only reason there was even a fight.”

“Really? ” Annabeth said skeptically.

I almost swallowed my tongue.

Aphrodite is whole.

Shit.

“Uh, she was a bit different back then.” I tried. “Sparta liked her for a reason?”

My too-smart friend made a face. “I guess…”

“Anyway!” I moved on quickly. “Zeus got the boot, Athena ruled for the next few millennia.”

“Millennia!?” Several voices shouted at once.

“At least two,” I mused. “I never asked exactly how long, sorry.” They stared at me. “Eventually, Zeus crawled back out from under his rock, but he knew he couldn’t win fighting Athena directly. So he asked Hera if she had any ideas. And she did. She went to Hephaestus.”

Annabeth grimaced. “Let me guess. ‘Craft me an unbreakable chain?’ Like in the myth?”

“Yup. ‘I can’t do that,’ he said. ‘For everything created must one day break. But I can make chains that can’t be broken by the one ensnared. What will you give me for it?’”

They all put on the classic Athena Cabin thinking face.

It looked a little like they were holding in a fart, not going to lie.

“His birth myth is probably wrong,” Masayuki muttered.

“Definitely,” Annabeth murmured back. “But I bet not all of it is a lie. Is the answer ‘I will love you as a mother should?’”

I shot a finger gun at her. “Bingo! She swore it on heaven, the earth and the river Styx.” A rumble sounded far off in the distance. “Now all that was left was setting the trap. She approached her sisters Demeter of Sacred Law and Hestia of the State with her head bowed. For stubborn Hera with the Domain Legitimacy of Rule had just the bait. An official coronation. Because Athena was wise and powerful.” I sighed. “And very proud.”

Faces fell.

“She was shackled to the throne. The rebels smuggled in as guests attacked. Caught by surprise and without Athena, it was closer than it should have been. The lines were drawn between all the gods of Olympus. The old rule versus the new. It was a proper war this time. An Olympiomachy.” 

“Athena was the one suspended over the edge of the Devouring Void by those chains. Not Hera,” Annabeth said and I was a little worried? Because her voice and eyes were completely flat. “Her father visited every day, threatening to break them and send her into the abyss.”

“Unless she gave up her Kingly Names,” I said as gently as I could. “She gave up one a day. The war waged, and she bled herself of power.”

“The Nereid Thetis saved my mother, didn’t she?” Annabeth’s storm gray eyes boiled. 

“Yes,” I said slowly. “With the aid of Hephaestus who felt guilty about the clusterfuck. They escaped right before Athena was made to give up her last Kingly Name, he got every bone in his body broken by Zeus when he found out his prisoner was gone. Athena returned to her people, but not nearly as strong as she had been.”

“And then?” Malcolm asked impatiently when I stopped.

“God wars are bad,” I said with a grimace. Mom could have shown them how bad, but she wasn’t here. And it probably wasn’t something I wanted to show a seven year old child of Athena anyway. “For everybody. Your mom wasn’t in the greatest of shape, uh, mentally after...everything,” I finished lamely. 

“No kidding,” someone muttered, but I could have sworn none of my audience said anything.

“We know the rest,” Annabeth almost snapped out. “Mom didn’t want to kill everyone to get her throne back. The sea god didn’t care.”

“They fought over it. He won and that proved her point. It was the last straw.” I rubbed at my forehead, wishing I could take off my sunglasses to rub my eyes. I mean, I could, but it was a bad idea. “Zeus struck at his traitorous twin children first. Leto tried to protect them, but he was angry and she didn’t defend herself. The lightning burned right through her. Then it nearly burned through - “

“Artemis,” Apollo’s voice said tightly and we all turned. 

Apollo was sitting on his Table, feet on the benches as he hunched over his knees. He still had on his Camp Half-Blood T-Shirt and ratty jeans with flip flops, but he was not Fred right now. His hair was like molten gold and flowed like lava. The sun had burned out the blue of his eyes. Arcs of soft white light came off him like those telescope pictures of solar flares. 

“Who was protecting me. Her little brother.” He pursed his lips. “It was my idea, you know. Kicking Dad off the big chair. My fault.”

“Apollo.” I said as casually as I could. “Think of the poor mortals.”

“Hm?” He said absently before looking down at himself. “Oh. Right.” He dimmed, allowing the children of Athena to cautiously crack their eyes open. He eyed their reddened sunburnt skin thoughtfully. “Did I hear that right, owl head kept one of her Kingly Names?” 

I nodded.

“Huh. Which one?”

I shrugged. “Ageleia.”

You could read it as ‘Protectoress of the People’ but it also meant ‘ Leader of the People’ if you changed the context.

Guess why she didn’t want to burn the world down for a throne?

Apollo’s eyes went huge, like his son Will’s had earlier. 

“No shit?” I stared at him as he let out a small chuckle. “She said that was one of her Names of War. Her sponsorship of heroes, defender of cities and it was - she’s still - ” He couldn’t seem to get the words out. Then he laughed in a short, angry, desperate bark. “Every fucking time Athena.”

“Adrasteia named her Deceiver for a reason.” I reminded him. “She earned it.”

“Yeah,” Apollo breathed as his hair lost the fiery glow and his eyes were once again blue. “She sure did.” He sighed and looked down at his hands. “Story time’s over, Athena Cabin.”

They packed up their books and notebooks, pens and papers without comment. Except for Annabeth who looked between Apollo and I several times. “ Later, Percy.”

That sounded like a threat. Why did it sound like a threat?

“Uh, okay?”

I watched her leave, bewildered.

What did I do?

Apollo huffed. “Think of the poor mortals?”

“Well, yeah. You were kind of…” I waved my hands around vaguely. “Goddy.” 

“And you weren’t affected at all,” he said slowly and I frowned. “And ‘goddy’ isn’t a word.” 

“Sunglasses?” I offered. “And yes it is.”

He snorted. “Sure.”

He gave me one of those considering looks he hadn’t given me in years. Not since he found out I could understand the Ancient Greek he had been born knowing. The dialect was too old to even have a name anymore.

“The Prophecy’s active, isn’t it?” He asked suddenly.

And just like that, I was hyper aware of the Mythomagic cards stalking me again. I don’t know what face I made, but Apollo rolled his eyes.

“God of Prophecy. I could feel it too.”

Oh.

That’s right.

Well now I feel stupid.

 He smirked at me. “Dumb ass.”

“Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” I demanded, trying to ignore the fact that I was guilty as charged. My eyes burned. The Pavilion was a bunch of Hellenic columns and trellis with no roof or walls but it still felt like the world was closing in on me.

His smirk shifted into something a lot more sad. “Same reason as you, I think.”

I tried to swallow the sudden lump in my throat, but it didn’t go away. That just made my throat hurt.

“I’m scared, ‘Pol.’” I told my big brother. I didn’t have it in me to feel embarrassed about my voice cracking.

“Yeah.” Apollo murmured. “Me too.”

We lapsed into a uncomfortable silence. 

I don’t do well with silences. It gave my ADHD brain too much time to think. Eventually, I had to break it.

“Okay. Let’s see what the survey says.” I leaned to the side and picked my backpack up from the floor. I found the aluminum tin so quickly, it was almost as if it had leapt into my hand. I pulled out the cards. I shuffled them. I drew thirteen cards and then arranged them into the star-like pattern I knew they belonged in.

When I was done, I leaned back and took it in. The new card sat comfortably in the upper left corner as if it had always belonged there. It was an item card.

Vial of Centaur Blood.

“I think I prefer my Prophecies being made of words,” Apollo remarked. At some point he had drifted next to me, looking over my shoulder. “Rhymes are always better.”

“You should have thought of that before you let your Oracle try to kill me.”

“I’ll definitely remember for next time!”

My Bardson was an ass.

He reached out and picked up his sister’s card again. 

“Two out of four if not negated by three.” He picked up the fourth and fifth cards. Hermes, God of Thieves and The Oracle of Trophonius. “Or it’s not negated. ”

“A triplicate,” I said miserably.

Yeah.

It’s fucking me.

“And a demigod of Hermes,” Apollo murmured. “While he can go places and run his mouth, that’s about all Hermes’ Domains would allow for on a Quest.” I looked up at him in surprise and saw his expression twist. “You were right about my lil’ sis.” He sighed. “I decided that I’m going to... trust you with her wellbeing.”

I stared at him.

“I’m the one that bleeds red here.” I had to say it. “Also? If I tell her that, I will die.”

Apollo gave me a very hairy eyeball.

“Then don’t tell her.” 

He didn’t say anything about the whole ‘fucking mortal’ bit, I noticed. 

“Grab Chiron and tell Dionysus to let Athena know Prophecy’s up.” He moved his hand through the air and the air rippled, and bent into a rainbow. “Unless…” He began hopefully. “You want to be the one convincing Arte - “

I hopped out of my seat.

“Chiron and Mr. D to Athena. Got it.”

I ran away.

I was super distracted during javelin practice. It was like I had never picked up a spear before. Ryan benched me after a particularly bad throw, pressing a bottle of water into my hands.

“Focus.”

“Can’t,” I muttered back.

He eyed me like I was a puzzle piece to the wrong puzzle. “What’s stopping you?”

Have you ever seen a moon landing?

I’m not talking about putting things on the moon, I mean the moon itself landing on Earth. I should have expected it, even if I was hoping it would take at least a few hours. Or even days. It was only a few nights after a New Moon, meaning her chariot was virtually invisible unlike Apollo’s sun chariot that was as obnoxious as the god himself. I could hear the Campers start to yell that the Hunters were here and I felt everything in my chest cavity drop into my stomach.

“That,” I moaned, standing up. I gulped down enough water to feel sick.

Mom, I kind of threw out there. I had no idea what I was going to say.

She already knew.

Her presence was there, even stronger than it had been when she Claimed me on my first night at Camp. It was thick and churning, almost straining, and so comforting. In a bubble of absolute silence, I felt like I was a fish submerged in water for the very first time. The world made sense and I knew my place in it. 

And that place was larger than I had ever imagined.

This must be what stars feel like when they explode, I thought.

It was only for a few seconds, but when her attention moved on, I felt like it had lasted forever. I went to screw the cap back onto my water bottle, only to discover I wasn’t carrying one anymore. Everything around me: the bench, the grass, the dirt, had been ground into a very fine wet dust in a perfect circle around me.

Ryan had backed away. His face was milk white and his brown eyes had some burst blood vessels in them.

“Oh,” I said blankly. “Sorry for her.” I opened my mouth for more words, but they didn’t come. A vague sense of wrongness made me close my mouth. Ryan was hurt. I looked around and saw more scared faces. The wrongness got a little stronger.

I left the javelin range. The fear was gone.

Thanks, Mom.

My feet carried me to the Big House. On the ground floor if you take an immediate right after getting through the double front doors, you end up in the Rec Room. It mainly has a bunch of old arcade machines, a TV and the ping pong table where the Counselors of the Cabins meet up for meetings. Right now, instead of kids aged 12 to 18 gathered around the ping pong table, it was gods aged 4600ish to…

Wait. 

How old is Athena anyway?

Annabeth’s mother glanced up at me. Luke’s dad was there too, for some reason? He was in a salt and pepper middle aged man get-up with brown hair, but I’d recognize those zephyr blue eyes and that sly grin anywhere. He was rolling a pair of dice. Chiron looked overwhelmed. Dionysus was sitting in a chair backwards, looking bored as he sipped at his Diet Coke. Apollo saw me and smiled, putting the card he was holding back down onto the ping pong table. 

“Hey, nice timing. We were just about to get you.” 

Across from him, Artemis turned just enough to look at me. I bit my lip to stop what was absolutely going to be a stupid smile.

“So this is the new Oracle,” she said. A girl the same age as me in a silver parka and blue jeans eyed me curiously. She had auburn hair tied back in a simple ponytail and a silver bow leaning against the ping pong table next to her. Her eyes were a hungry void with the faintest sliver of silver at the far left edge of her irises. I watched with my heart in my throat as her brow furrowed. 

You ever been in a situation where you really like your older friend’s sister and she doesn’t notice you at all because you’re a lot younger than she is? But then you meet up again years later and you’ve grown up a bit and she looks at you like she’s never seen you before? But then the spark of realization comes into her eyes and you’re hoping you made some kind of impression and then she’s like,

“I know you. My brother’s little tag along.”

If you haven’t?

It sucks.

A lot.