The floor of the crater erupted with a sound like a thousand trash can lids banging together. Dirt and leaves flew, metal net flashing. Leo was knocked off his feet, I was yanked and turned upside down, and doused in Tabasco sauce and oil. I found himself sandwiched by its head, close to the dragons mouth, which was not ideal, it's teeth where really long and shark. Leo was squished between the vat and the dragon as it thrashed, trying to free itself from the net that had wrapped around them all.

The dragon blew flames in every direction, lighting up the sky and setting trees on fire. Oil and sauce burned all over them. It didn't hurt me or Leo, but it left a nasty taste in my mouth. I almost preferred the Orecal taste. Almost.

"Leo!" I called.

"Yep...I'm alive. I think."

"Oh good. Uhh question? Now what?"

"Working on it!- Will you stop that!" he yelled as the dragon thrashed again.

The dragon kept squirming. This time is it squirmed, and I was now pinned between its clawed hand and the net. It clamped it's claws around me, trying to puncture my skin. Thank Apollo for the curse of Achellies, my iron skin kept me alive.

"Work slightly faster- he's trying to puncture my internal organs and this would be a sucky way to die."

"Yep...don't wanna die... Got it."

"Can you get through the wholes in the net?" I yelled over the roar of the dragon.

"For a skinny kid like me? No problems!"

A moment later Leo was running to the dragon's head. It tried to snap at him, but its teeth were tangled in the mesh. It blew fire again, but seemed to be running out of energy. This time the flames were only orange. They sputtered before they even reached Leo's face.

"Uhh Leo?" I can't breath!" The dragon was squeezing me tighter. "I may be invincible in battle...but I still feel pain and right now, and I still need lungs.."

"Oh shit. Ya uhh hang on."

"Listen up pal. We're trying to help you. So, stop trying to flame broil us."

The dragon cracked.

"Drop her!"

The dragon made a protesting noise.

"Drop. Her. Right now." This time he stomped his foot and pointed to the ground. "Right now."

Leo glared at the dragon, I was taking very shallow gasping breaths. "Listen, you're just going to show them where you are. And they like her, and so do i. Then they'll come and break out the acid and the metal cutters. Is that what you want?"

The dragon's jaw made a creaking sound, like it was trying to talk.

"Okay, then," Leo said. "Drop my friend." The dragon slowly let me go and I slid through the net and landed on the ground, taking big gasping breaths.

"Good. You'll have to trust me."

And Leo set to work.

It took us almost an hour to find the control panel. It was right behind the dragon's head, which made sense. I followed Leo's instructions, and sometimes it was just stand still and don't move. Sometimes it was hold the light closer. I just followed him. This was his project, his area of expertise. I was just the back up. He had elected to keep the dragon in the net, because it was easier to work with the dragon constrained, but the dragon didn't like it.

"Hold still!" Leo scolded.

The dragon made another creaking sound that might've been a whimper.

"Sorry." He mumbled.

"Can you understand him?" I asked.

"Yes."

"That's so cool."

I walked towards his face so his eyes could see me. "Alright, I won't hold it against you that you tried to charbroil me and then puncture me. But Leo is doing his best to help you right now. I know you're also upset about Beckendorf. He was my friend too, but you gotta stop destroying my home, man. That's not cool!"

"Keep talking, it's keeping him still."

"So how about we make a deal? I have a really big dog. She's great, her name is Miss. O'Leary. Maybe ifeo can fix you up and you stop destroying camp, she can come play with you. How does that sound?"

The dragon made a creaking gear grinding noise. I glanced at Leo.

"Seems like he's trying laugh- he's happy now." He paused and then went "Ha! Well, no wonder."

The dragon made a creaking, which I guess was metal dragon for what?

"You've got a corroded control disk. Probably regulates your higher reasoning circuits, right? Rusty brain, man. No wonder you're a little ... confused. I wish I had a replacement disk, but ...this is a complicated piece of circuitry. I'm gonna have to take it out and clean it. Only be a minute."

Leo pulled out the disk, and the dragon went absolutely still. The glow died in its eyes. Leo slid off its back  and came over beside me. He began polishing the disk. He mopped up some oil and Tabasco sauce with his sleeve, which helped cut through the grime.

I watched as his face fell, and grew more and more tight, his eye rows were now touching and his frown was prominant.

"I'm going to assume by that face, it's not good."

"You would be correct. Some of the circuits are beyond repair. I can make it better, but not perfect. For that, I'd need a completely new disk, and I have no idea how to build one."

"That is problematic." I agreed. "What about the Athena cabin? They're all pretty brainy. Annabeth has a computer from the workshop of
Daedalus."

"Like THE Daedalus?"

I nodded, "the one and only. Another long story. That was my first year here..."

"Well..maybe if we had time, I dunno how long he can stay without a panel.

"Sorry, can't help on that, I can read human vital signs, not machine dragons."

So shrugged and once he'd done the best he could, he climbed back up to the dragon's head.

"I can help clean." I climbed up beside Leo and together, we cleaned the wiring and gearboxes, getting ourselves filthy in the process. By the time we was through, our hands were black with grease and our clothes looked like he'd just lost a mud-wrestling contest, but the mechanisms looked a lot better.

"A little bit of solid elbow grease." I grinned.

"Clean hands, dirty tools." He grinned back. "Something my mom used to say."

"She sounded like a wonderful lady." I smiled, I felt his sadness suddenly. He shifted. His face lifted in a smile and he held the disk up.

"Ready to see if it worked?"

"You bet!" I grinned at him.

He slipped in the disk into place, connected the last wire, and sparks flew. The dragon shuddered. Its eyes began to glow.

"Better?" Leo asked.

The dragon made a sound like a high-speed drill. It opened its mouth and all its teeth rotated.

"I think he's quite happy now!" I laughed.

Leo grinned at me, "Hold on, I'll free you."

Another thirty minutes to find the release clamps for the net and untangle the dragon, but finally it stood and shook the last bit of netting off its back. It roared triumphantly and shot fire at the sky.

"Seriously," Leo said. "Could you not show off?"

Creak? the dragon asked.

"He needs a name, a big beautiful happy dragon now needs a name." I smiled up at it, I reached a hand out and it smelt my hand.

"I'm calling you Festus." Leo declared.

The dragon whirred its teeth and grinned- I hoped it was a grin. While I laughed.

"Happy the Dragon?"

"Yeah! You gave me the idea."

"I'm proud of you Leo."

His big happy proud smile faded. "But we still have a problem, because he dosen't have wings."

Festus tilted his head and snorted steam. Then he lowered his back in an unmistakable gesture. He wanted Leo to climb on.

"Where we going?" Leo asked.

Leo climbed onto the dragon's back, and Festus bounded off into the woods.

"Wait! Festus! We forgot Nora!"

"Bye Leo! I'll see ya later! Good luck!" I yelled.

"Festus! You bad disobedient dragon!" I heard Leo calling but I chuckled. He'd be alright. Leo was a good kid. I sensed a lot of sadness and fear, a lot of confusion in him when he rode with me on our way here. I wanted to talk to him, but maybe...this is what he needed. He needed something to be proud of, breaking the Cabin curse and proving a way for the quest to fly over the earth.

I turned and started to make my way back to the cabins. I needed a shower. I hadn't turned my fire or glow back on, I was so absorbed in my own head I tripped on a tree beach and fell. I hadn't even hit the ground yet and my body was pulled into a vision.

I was alone. Everything around me was covered in grey and white mist. At first I thought it was The Mist, like the veil between our world and the mortal world, the stuff Hecate can manipulate. But after a closer look it was just regular old mist.

I turned in a circle. I couldn't really see, but I did see green rolling hills, a few shrubs and trees, but it was the wild back country of somewhere. I didn't recognize the area. But I was very much alone. Beside me was a few old brick ruins, it resembles a wall, it was crumbling and falling apart in places.

I didn't understand where I was. I turned back and set in one of the rolling wild grass hills was the sleeping face of a woman. I screamed, which died quickly in the open.

The woman's eyes fluttered, and somehow even though she was sleeping , her voice echoed around me.

"Sun child...you will walk alone. An abomination of a child. You cannot reconcile the past wrongs and future deeds of your ancient rivals. Even now as we speak, things greater than the titans are rising. My plan is in motion..."

"I don't know what you're talking about! My rivals? I don't have any!"

"Sun child...child of the Greeks and Romans. Even now the Greeks are seeing you for who you really are...a threat. A reason to fear. You do not belong here. Nor do you belong with the Romans. You do not belong anywhere... Light walks alone."

"Leave me alone!" I yelled. I brought my arm back and threw a fire ball. It sunk harmlessly into the side of the hill and the face of the woman disappeared.

I stood panting and shaking, alone in the wild countryside beside a broken and crumbling wall.

I felt a tug in my gut and I pulled. The scene changed and I was now inside something dark and slightly cool. I looked around. The walls were made of a dark rock. Skulls of the dead lined the door frame. There was an alter at the front of the room and kneeling on the floor was a familiar dark little emo.

"Nico di Angelo. My sassy emo grandpa." I called. He jumped and spun on his knees.

"Gods Nora you scared me!" He cried.

"Good. What's life without a bit of scare, huh? How ya been? I'd hug you...but I appear to be a disembodied voice."

"Spirit. Your in Spirit form." He rolled his eyes.

He got to his feet. He looked about the same, taller and a bit more bulky. He had black jeans and black convers sneakers, his shirt had a few skulls on it, but he had his long shaggy hair pulled back into a little bun. His long three foot solid black sword hung at his waist and a few black and silver skull rings adorned his long slender fingers.

"Did you call me?"

"No...but it's good to hear from you. Heard from Percy?"

"No. Annabeth is getting worse..."

"Oh. Well I haven't seen or heard anything."

"Di immortals!" I cursed.

"So tell me what's been going on."

I gave him a quick recap of the last few days. He was silent the entire time. No interruptons, no comments no questions.

"And this whole Hera Juno thing, Janson is Roman...Nico you know I'm also part Roman...I'm positive Hera dropped Percy somewhere Roman!"

"Umm...Nora?" He finally interupted.

"What?"

"I uhh...there's something I need to tell you."

He quickly walked to the door and made sure it was shut and then came back over and sat down, on the step of the raised alter. I'd sit, but I was in Sight Spirit form.

"We are in a Roman demi god camp."

"Waiiit. What?" I gasped.

"Yea. My dad showed me a little while ago and I umm have been working on human rations...like playing up the part of Pluto's ambassador."

"No fucken way! I knew it! Chiron didn't want to tell me! Even Annabeth had some kind of ideas..."

"Yeah. It's on the other side of the country. The gods wanted them far away from. Each other. Greextand Rome didn't get along, they still don't. Always at war, so at some point they cut off all communication, and kept them as seperate as possible. But now...why Hera..or Juno would be playing like this?"

"'Cuz she's physio! Just plane crazy! Why'd she have my mom killed, why she send cows after Annabeth? Why is she trying to kill me and Percy all the time? Why did she pick Jason as 'her hero' and then pluck him from this Roman camp and dump him at our camp?"

"I don't know Nora! I really don't!"

"I know. I'm sorry Nico. And your positive Percy isn't here?"

"Positive. I'd let you know. You know I would."

"Ya...ya I know."

"So...can I come with you and see this camp?"

There was a loud creek and the door to Pluto's temple was opened and a girl stepped in. Nico leapt to his feet. The girl had a dark complexion, like roasted coffee beans and shoulder-length curly cinnamon brown hair and gold eyes. She looked maybe 14 or 15.

"Nico? Who are you talking to?"

"She's a daughter of Pluto!" I rounded on Nico, "you never told me you had a sister! Duuuude your dad broke the rules too! No waaay!" I squealed.

"I wasn't talking to anyone. Just...father and the spirits."

"Still kinda weird you can do that..."

"We all have our things." Nico forced a smile.

"Can she not see me? I thought she was a Pluto kid...maybe that's only a Hades thing?"

Nico waved an arm like he was swatting a fly.

"Excuse me, Grandpa, did you just swat me?" I gasped.

"Come on Hazel, let's go outside, tell me how your the augury with Octavian went?"

I floated along behind them, "who's Octavian?" I whispered in Nico's ear. His sister couldn't hear, but it pissed Nico off and I found it hilarious.

"I think...I think he knows, Nico. It wasn't good..."

"Are they letting you stay? Do I need to go talk to Reyna?" He sounded quite angry all of a sudden.

"Who's Reyna? Do I gotta go haunt a bitch? Or is Octavian the one I gotta screw with? I'm ride or die. No one messes with sunshine death duo!"

"Stop it!" Nico hissed at me.

"I didn't do anything!" Hazel said confused.

"No, sorry not you. A uhh lonely and annoying spirit keeps hissing in my ear."

"Hey! I'm not lonely! Well I miss my emo grandpa death boy."

Hazel looked confused, "Can't you tell it to like get lost?"

"Ya Nico, can't you tell me to get lost?" I teased.

"No." He sighed, "this one does whatever the Hades it wants."

"Damn straight I do." I chuckled. "Now show me this Roman camp!"

"Come on, I think it's almost supper."

I followed behind Nico and Hazel as they talked quietly. I looked around at everything. At the top of the hill I stopped and gasped.

Spread out at my  feet was a bowl-shaped valley several miles wide. Nestled by the lake, was a small city of white marble buildings with red-tiled roofs. Some had domes and columned porticoes, like national monuments. Others looked like palaces, with golden doors and large gardens. I could see an open plaza with freestanding columns, fountains, and statues. A five-story-tall Roman coliseum gleamed in the sun, next to a long oval arena like a racetrack.

Across the lake to the south, another hill was dotted with even more impressive buildings—temples, which was where I stood, at the top of a hill. Several stone bridges crossed the river as it wound through the valley, and in the north, a long line of brickwork arches stretched from the hills into the town. I thought it looked like an elevated train track. Then I realized it must be an aqueduct.

The strangest part of the valley was right at the base of the hill. About two hundred yards away, just across the river, was some sort of military encampment. It was about a quarter mile square, with earthen ramparts on all four sides, the tops lined with sharpened spikes. Outside the walls ran a dry moat, also studded with spikes.

Wooden watchtowers rose at each corner, manned by sentries with oversized, mounted crossbows. Purple banners hung from the towers. A wide gateway opened on the far side of camp, leading toward the city. A narrower gate stood closed on the riverbank side. Inside, the fortress bustled with activity: dozens of kids going to and from barracks, carrying weapons, polishing armor. Percy heard the clank of hammers at a forge and smelled meat cooking over a fire.

Something about this place felt very familiar, yet it felt...just slightly off.

"Camp Jupiter," Nico announced.

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