I walked back up the beach with Jason at my heels.

"So...?" He asked.

I stopped abruptly and turned to him. He was tall and broad, built like a football player, he had bright sky blue eyes and blond hair, he carried himself with a straight back and confidence. He reminded me of your typical all around good golden boy.

"I'm sorry Jason. Today was kind of...it was a hard day, and it didn't go as planned."

"What do you mean? Can you please explain what's going on? Where are we..."

I watched him for another moment before turning and climbing up the banks and into the camp. "Jason, do you believe in the gods? Like the old Greek ones."

"Yes." He said without hesitation. "I mean, I don't think we should worship them or sacrifice chickens to them or anything, but they're still around because they're a powerful part of civilization."

I nodded. "And you already understand demigods, how sometimes they have children with mortals."

"Yes. You said Phoebus Apollo was your father."

When Jason used the word Roman word to describe Apollo I felt a shiver run down my spine and my forehead split with pain. I grabbed my head and my knees buckled. Jason grabbed my elbows keeping me from hitting the ground.

"Whoa..whoa, Nora, you okay?"

I stood up slowly, and waved him away, "fine..ya. Just a headache. Exhausted...been a rough few days."

"Ya. So I've gathered. This Percy Jackson guy."

I winced. "Ya. That guy."

"Tell me."

"He's...the unofficial leader. Came back here from Christmas break, it was going be great, he was back with Annabeth, I could finally see him again-"

"He's your brother?"

"Step brother. His mom and my dad are getting married."

"I thought you said Apollo was your father..." He frowned.

"Long story Jason. My mortal mom married Paul. When Apollo went MIA. She died in childbirth. Paul adopted me and raised me."

"Oh! Jeeze, I'm sorry Nora, that's awful. The gods shouldn't ignore their children..."

"Nah, it's fine. I found out dark magic kept him from my mom, she was murdered actually, Apollo wasn't able to come close. Apollo and I are cool. Hera and I...Hecate and I are...well..era just not go there."

"My brain hurts." Jason muttered.

"I know the feeling." I nodded. "Yet, this all doesn't seem to bother you...you're taking this rather well. Most kids when they find out they have like...super powers or their not actually dyslexic but brains are hardwired for a different ancient language...or they have a god as a parent they kind of freak out. You seem oddly calm."

He rubbed his forehead and then shrugged. "I honestly don't know..." He paused looking out over the different cabins for a moment. I knew he was thinking I could see his eyes darting all over but not actually seeing. I til finally he sighed.

"There's no point in lying to you, is there..?"

"Nope. I'm like a walking lie detector." I grinned. "But I can lie like no bodies business."

"I actually believe that. You and Leo would make a terrible team."

"We would be the best thank you. Now. What were you gonna say?"

"I have a blank memory. Like, all this," he waved his hand around camp, "it doesn't seem new. Like I've know about all this, the gods and a safe place and this demi god world, but it's not right. Something about this isn't right. I feel...like I don't belong."

"And that's why we're going to meet Chiron. I have some questions for him too, and as much as Annabeth doesn't believe it...I think you are the answer to our problem."

"To this Percy Jackson problem?"

"The very same." I nodded. I led him through the strawberry Fields, a bunch of the kids there all waves and called happy hellos.

"You said Percy was the unofficial leader...yet everyone seems to look to you and Annabe now."

"When push comes to shove." I shrugged. "Last year , Percy and I led our troops into battle. They don't really view me as a leader like Percy and Annabe or Raph... They fear me."

"Raph...he's your -"

"Boyfriend. She's one of the oldest demigods at camp. He's the sword and weapons master, teaches and trains the new recruits."

"But aren't all the gods related?" Jason asked. "So isn't everyone here your cousin or something?"

"The godly side of your family doesn't count except for your parent. So anybody from another cabin- it's not as weird as it sounds. There's been a lot of couples at camp. As long as you don't date your cabinmates."

"So...Raph. He's the son of Mars." Jason stated.

I shivered at the name. "Ares is the Greek name. But yes."

"He's so quiet and calm!" Jason observed.

"I'm the angry vengeful one."

He nodded. We were quiet for a minute. They got to the bottom of the Big House porch steps.

"So, if this is all familiar, do you know who your parent is? Mom or dad."

Jason frowned. He shrugged and glanced up above his head, like he hoped for a glowing sign to claim him. No such luck. But at the moment I heard Chiron's hooves clip clipping around the corner.

"Chiron!"

"Nora. You guys are back! I heard the crash, is everyone alright?"

"Well this here is Jason." I said waving a hand towards the blond boy who had backed up so fast he almost tripped.

Chiron started to smile at Jason. Then the color drained from his face.

" You ..." The centaur's eyes flared like a cornered animal's. "You should be dead."

This confirmed what I had been thinking. What I had dreamed, what Glitter had said about Roman and Greek, what I had been feeling all day. There was definitely something different about Jason.

"Nora...I believe you are needed...else where."

"Ha. Good one. No. Chiron I need to talk to you about something. And it concerns him." I said flatly, pointing to Jason.

I held his gauze, he was studying me, like he was trying to read my mind before he answered.

"There was no sign of Percy?" He finally asked.

"No. None of them knew anything about him. Though I believe, Jason here is the answer."

"Indeed." Chiron flicked his tail nervously, he glanced to the sky and then turned around, "please come I side. Nora, please grab the lemonade from the fridge. Jason. Follow me."

Chiron backed himself into his magical wheelchair. I thought Jason was going to pass out from shock. But I nodded encouragingly to him and he followed. I went to the kitchen and grabbed cups and the big pitcher of lemonade.

I knew Chiron wanted to try keep Jason and his meeting quiet, but now that I had my hearing back, I had my super sonic hearing- a thing from Apollo. I had used it my first few days here to listen in on battle strategy for capture the flag.

I was quiet as I went down the hall and stood outside the door listening. Jason had been explaining, he told him the whole story, from waking up on the bus to crash-landing at Camp Half-Blood. I couldn't detect any kind of like from him, he had been open and honest, and Chiron was a good listener- it was easy to open up to the old centaur. When Jason was done explaining it was quiet.

"Nora, you can come in now. He's done explaining."

I used my hip to push the door open.

"No need to pretend, I'm sure you heard from the kitchen."

"What? Me? Listen in, when I said I had questions and probably answers, nooo. I would never." I said with moch surprise.

I poured some lemonade and handed it out. I went and catched Seymour, the stuffed leapored head mounted to the wall. He purred as I did.

"Now Jason, you must have questions for me."

"Only one," Jason admitted. "What did you mean when you said that I should be dead?"

I turned around, leaning on the wall, I watched as Chiron studied him with concern, as if he expected Jason to burst into flames. "My boy, do you know what those marks on your arm mean? The color of your shirt? Do you remember anything?"

Jason looked at the tattoo on his forearm: SPQR, the eagle, twelve straight lines. He looked up at me, like I would know the answers.

"No," he said. "Nothing."

It hit me like a punch in the gut - like a puzzle piece clicked into place, "Roman." I whispered. "He's Roman..."

"Do you know where you are?" Chiron asked, his eyes flicked to me so quickly I almost missed it. "Do you understand what this place is, and who I am?"

"You're Chiron the centaur," Jason said. "I'm guessing you're the same one from the old stories, who used to train the Greek heroes like Heracles. This is a camp for demigods, children of the Olympian gods."

"So you believe those gods still exist?"

"Yes," Jason said immediately. "Like I told Nora on the way here...I mean, I don't think we should be worship them or sacrifice chickens to them or anything, but they're still around because they're a powerful part of civilization. They move from country to country as the center of power shifts- like they moved from Ancient Greece to Rome."

"I couldn't have said it better." Something about Chiron's voice had changed, again I saw Chiron glance at me, like he was expecting something from me. "So you already know the gods are real. You have already been claimed, haven't you?"

Instead I stood quietly in the corner, with a pressure building in my head.

"Maybe," Jason answered. "I'm not really sure."

"He must have been been claimed...the tattoo on his arm..."

Seymour the leopard snarled. My head felt like is was going to explode with the pain. I realized Chiron had switched to another language, and Jason and I had understood, automatically answering in the same tongue.

"Quis erat-" Jason faltered, then made a conscious effort to speak English. "What was that?"

"Latin. He spoke Latin and we both understood..."

Chiron observed. "Most demigods recognize a few phrases, of course. It's in their blood, but not as much as Ancient Greek. None can speak Latin fluently without practice."

Jason's eyes went wide and he looked at me hoping for answers. I just stood rooted to the spot, my hands sweating. The words from Gaia and Hera swirled around my mind.

"The secret you hide. Should certain...people in power find out who you really are, you would spark the war between the two. You would ruin everything the gods have worked so hard to keep separate. You..part Greek and part Roman...you, child are an abomination....you must not revel your identity. You will chase mass fear and panic. You will be the destruction!"

I felt my knees grow weak and I fumbled around and sunk into a chair. I struggled to come back and listen to what Chiron was saying.

"I taught your namesake, you know, the original Jason. He had a hard path. I've seen many heroes come and go. Occasionally, they have happy endings. Mostly, they don't. It breaks my heart, like losing a child each time one of my pupils dies. But you-you are not like any pupil I've ever taught. Your presence here could be a disaster."

There was that word again. Disaster. Jason and I were Roman. We could cause full chaos and war with just our presence.

"Thanks," Jason said. "You must be an inspiring teacher."

"I am sorry, my boy. But it's true. I had hoped that after Nora and Percy's success-"

"Percy Jackson, you mean. Annabeth's boyfriend and Nora's brother, the one who's missing." He gestured to me. I forced myself to nod.

Chiron nodded. "I hoped that after they succeeded in the Titan War and saved Mount Olympus, we might have some peace. I might be able to enjoy one final triumph, a happy ending, and perhaps retire quietly. I should have known better. The last chapter approaches, just as it did before. The worst is yet to come."

"Whoa Chiron. Your on a roll with this doomsday inspiration. You should make some posters." I said, trying hard to fight through the rising panic.

"Ohh-kay," Jason said. "So- last chapter, happened before, worst yet to come. Sounds fun, but can we go back to the part where I'm supposed to be dead? I don't like that part."

"I'm afraid I can't explain, my boy. I swore on the River Styx and on all things sacred that I would never ..." Chiron frowned. "But you're here, in violation of the same oath. That too, should not be possible. I don't understand. Who would've done such a thing? Who-"

Seymour the leopard howled. His mouth froze, half open. The arcade game stopped beeping. The fire stopped crackling, its flames hardening like red glass. The masks stared down silently at me and with their grotesque grape eyes and leafy tongues.

"Chiron?" I asked leaping to my feet.

"What's going-" Jason asked.

The old centaur had frozen, too. Jason finally jumped off the couch, but Chiron kept staring at the same spot, his mouth open mid-sentence. His eyes didn't blink. His chest didn't move. I yanked my bow charm off my charm bracelet and it grew into a solid full sized bow, complete with a never ending supply of arrows- handy when killing large groups of monsters.

Jason, a voice said.

For a horrible moment, I thought the leopard had spoken. Then dark mist boiled out of Seymour's mouth, and an even worse thought occurred to me: storm spirits. But I recognized the voice, and it filled me with dread.

Jason grabbed the golden coin from his pocket. With a quick flip, it changed into a sword. Jason and I instinctively stepped to the middle of the room, our backs together.

The mist took the form of a woman in black robes. Her face was hooded, but her eyes glowed in the darkness. Over her shoulders she wore a goatskin cloak. I wasn't sure how I knew it was goatskin, but I recognized it and knew it was important. I glanced to Jason, and he also seemed to recognize her.

"Would you attack your patron?" the woman chided. Her voice echoed in my head. "Lower your weapons."

"Get out of my fucken head, I don't care who you are. Last time someone tried that...they ended up dead. Now OUT!"

"Who are you?" Jason demanded, neither one of us lowered our weapons. "How did you-"

"Our time is limited," she flicked her hands and I could talk. I growled silently. And I couldn't move, but I could hear.

"Jason. My prison grows stronger by the hour. It took me a full month to gather enough energy to work even the smallest magic through its bonds. I've managed to bring you here, but now I have little time left, and even less power. This may be the last time I can speak to you."

"You're in prison?" Jason asked, he glanced at me. "Look, I don't know you, and you're not my patron."

"You know me," she insisted. "I have known you since your birth."

"I don't remember. I don't remember anything."

"No, you don't," she agreed. "That also was necessary. Long ago, your father gave me your life as a gift to placate my anger. He named you Jason, after my favorite mortal. You belong to me."

"Whoa," Jason said. "I don't belong to anyone."

"Now is the time to pay your debt." She said. "Find my prison. Free me, or their king will rise from the earth, and I will be destroyed. You will never retrieve your memory."

"Is that a threat? You took my memories?"

She waved her hand and I unfrozen. "You, Eleanora, your presence anywhere is a disaster. If you do not carry out your own path. You must walk your path alone. It is dark and lonely...but you must. Your time is coming...once I have gathered my strength...you will be alone."

The dark woman dissolved, and the mist curled into the leopard's mouth.

Time unfroze. Seymour's howl turned into a cough like he'd sucked in a hair ball. The fire crackled to life, the arcade machine beeped, and Chiron said, "-would dare to bring you here?"

"Probably the lady in the mist," Jason offered.

Chiron looked up in surprise. "Weren't you just sitting ... why do you two have a sword drawn?"

"I hate to tell you this," Jason said, "but I think your leopard just ate a goddess."

"If only it were that simple!"

"Oh, dear," Chiron murmured. "That does explain a lot."

"Then why don't you explain a lot to me?" Jason said. "Please."

Before Chiron could say anything, footsteps reverberated on the porch outside. The front door blew open, and Annabeth and another girl, who I had been waiting to hear from, Rachel, my cousin, burst in, dragging Piper between them. Piper's head lolled like she was unconscious.

"What happened?" Jason rushed over. "What's wrong with her?"

"Hera." Annabeth and I said together.

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