The Three Fates themselves took Luke's body. One of them looked at me as she passed, and even though she didn't say anything, my life literally flashed before my eyes. Suddenly I was twenty. Then I was a middle-aged woman. Then I turned old and withered. All the strength left my body, and I saw my own tombstone and an open grave, a coffin being lowered into the ground. All this happened in less than a second. I shivered and ripped my eyes away. 

It is done, she said. It was like a whisper in my head. I shuddered again. I hated anything and everything inside my head if it wasn't my own voice. I felt my heart slam harder. 

They gathered up Luke's body, now wrapped in a white-and-green shroud, and began carrying it out of the throne room.

Someone must have said something, they all turned, and I saw Hermes hurrying forward. "Wait." I saw his mouth form the word.

The messenger god was dressed in his classic outfit of white Greek robes, sandals, and helmet. The wings of his helm fluttered as he walked. The snakes George and Martha curled around his caduceus, murmuring, Luke, poor Luke.

I thought about May Castellan, alone in her kitchen, baking cookies and making sandwiches for a son who would never come home. I felt a heaviness in my chest. I bit my lip and felt a fresh wave of tears hit me hard. I felt Raph's hand slid into mine and he gave it a squeeze. 

Hermes unwrapped Luke's face and kissed his forehead. He murmured some words in Ancient Greek- a final blessing. He said something then he nodded and allowed the Fates to carry away his son's body.

As they left, I thought about the Great Prophecy. The lines now made sense to me. The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. The hero was Luke. The cursed blade was the knife he'd given Annabeth long ago- cursed because Luke had broken his promise and betrayed his friends. A single choice shall end his days. Percy's choice, to give him the knife, and to believe, as Annabeth had, that he was still capable of setting things right. Olympus to preserve or raze. By sacrificing himself, he had saved Olympus. Rachel was right. In the end, me and Percy weren't really the hero. Luke was.

And I understood something else: When Luke had descended into the River Styx, he would've had to focus on something important that would hold him to his mortal life. Otherwise he would've dissolved. Percy had seen Annabeth, and I had a feeling Luke had too. He must have had pictured that scene Hestia showed us- of himself in the good old days with Thalia and Annabeth, when he promised they would be a family. Hurting Annabeth in battle had shocked him into remembering that promise. It had allowed his mortal conscience to take over again, and defeat Kronos. His weak spot- his Achilles heel- had saved us all.

Next to me, Annabeth's knees buckled. Percy and I both tried to catch her, but she cried out in pain, Percy had grabbed her broken arm.

"Oh gods," Percy cried, "Annabeth, I'm sorry."

"It's all right," she said as she passed out in Percy's arms.

I turned and waved franticly. Apollo turned when Artemis elbowed him, "She needs help!" I signed.

He grinned at me. "I've got this." Apollo signed as he stepped forward. His fiery armor was so bright it was hard to look at, and his matching Ray-Bans and perfect smile made him look like a male model for battle gear. "God of medicine, at your service."

"Dad..." I signed. "Be cool.." 

"Pfft. Being cool is lame. Being hot is the new thing."

I rolled my eyes and face palmed. He maybe my dad, and have his fatherly moments, but sometimes I swear he was a 17 year old frat boy, he winked at Percy and Raph. I saw Raph chuckle beside me. 

 Apollo passed his hand over Annabeth's face and spoke an incantation. Immediately the bruises faded. Her cuts and scars disappeared. Her arm straightened, and she sighed in her sleep.

Apollo grinned. "She'll be fine in a few minutes. Just enough time for me to compose a poem about our victory: 'Apollo and his Ray of Sunshine and her friends save Olympus.' Good, eh?"

"Thanks, Apollo," Percy said, he tried signing, but his arms were full of Annabeth. "I'll, um, let you handle the poetry."

The next few hours were a blur. Percy remembered our promise to parents. Zeus didn't even blink an eye when Percy told him our strange request, though I did notice he was glaring at me rather harshly. He snapped his fingers and informed Percy that the top of the Empire State Building was now lit up blue. Most mortals would just have to wonder what it meant, but our parents would know: we had survived, Olympus was saved.

The gods set about repairing the throne room, which went surprisingly fast with twelve super-powerful beings at work. Grover, Percy, Raph and I cared for the wounded, and once the sky bridge re-formed, we greeted our friends who had survived. The Cyclopes had saved Thalia from a fallen statue. Raph had explained their perilous journey from the elevators, how she had shoved Annabeth out of the way as the statue fell. She was on crutches, but otherwise she was okay. 

Connor and Travis Stoll had made it through with only minor injuries. They promised me they hadn't even looted the city much. They told me and Percy our parents were fine, though they weren't allowed into Mount Olympus. Mrs. O'Leary had dug Chiron out of the rubble and rushed him off to camp. The Stolls looked kind of worried about the old centaur, but at least he was alive. Katie Gardner reported that she'd seen Rachel Elizabeth Dare run out of the Empire State Building at the end of the battle. Rachel had looked unharmed, but nobody knew where she'd gone, which also troubled me.

Nico di Angelo came into Olympus to a hero's welcome, his father right behind him, despite the fact that Hades was only supposed to visit Olympus on winter solstice. The god of the dead looked stunned when his relatives clapped him on the back. I doubt he'd ever gotten such an enthusiastic welcome before.

"NICO!" I screamed in my head. 

"I think you missed me." 

"You have no idea!" 

I ran the rest of the way, and grabbed his shoulders, checking him for injuries, he smacked my hands away and tried to wiggle away. 

"Get a grip on yourself woman!" 

"NO!" I yelled at him tears sprung to my eyes. "You have no idea how scared I was to lose you."

"I'm fine. Takes more then a minor battle to hurt me." 

I pulled him into a tight hug. This was the first time he hugged me back without any hesitation. 

"You okay Sparky? You feel... different..."

"You feeling me up Nico?"  I snarked, trying to brush his question off. He pulled back and folded his slim arms across his chest and glared at me. 

"Fine. There's a lot to catch you up on."

"Well I'm listening." 

I sighed. He grabbed my arm and yanked me over to the shade of the  still crumbled throne room doors. We sat down and I told him everything that happened since we left Nico in the Underworld. I told him everything, leaving nothing out. I felt the distain looks of some of the gods. I also told him what I had seen in my visions and dreams about my mother. He threw Hera a nasty look. He grabbed my wrist when I told him about the dark magic keeps burning. He looked closely, running his cold fingers over the white scars.

"...and then I'm pretty sure he almost had my soul and I died. Then I came back and was possessed. Luke stabbed himself and ya..." 

"Well that would be the reason your soul feels different." he nodded thoughtfully. 

"Well ya, losing a lot of my friends, having my soul being ripped from my body, being possessed by lunatic, and then feeling the lunatic die would probably change a person."  

We sat quiet for a moment. Nico turned his head and saw Raph and Clarisse marc in, she was still shivering from her time in the ice block. Raph slid away from CLarisse and came over to where Nico and I were sitting. He looked a lot better, he had changed out of his ripped, burned and bloody clothes and into clean clothes. 

Ares bellowed, "There's my girl!" I didn't need sign language to understand. He walked towards her, arms out stretched. The god of war ruffled her hair and pounded her on the back, calling her the best warrior he'd ever seen. "That drakon-slaying? THAT'S what I'm talking about!"

She looked pretty overwhelmed. All she could do was nod and blink, like she was afraid he'd start hitting her, but eventually she began to smile.

I elbowed Raph gently getting his attention, "You were just a heroic." I signed. 

He shook his head, "I was buried under a wall for that." 

"You came to our aid first, the moment the spell was broken you came. She only came after."

He smiled gently at me, and shrugged looking back at his sister for a moment. "I don't need to the glory." 

"For a son of Ares, you're very humble."

"Thank you." 

Percy slipped into the room, and made a beeline for us, he sunk to the ground just as Hera and Hephaestus passed us, and while Hephaestus was a little grumpy about Percy jumping on his throne, he thought we'd done "a pretty bang-up job, mostly."

Hera sniffed in disdain. "I suppose I won't destroy you and that little girl now." She looked at everyone but me. I ground my teeth, trying very hand not to blast her with a fireball. Raph sensed my mood shift, and placed his hand on my knee. I looked away and ground my teeth, festering in a stew of angry bitter resentment. 

"Annabeth saved Olympus," Percy told her, and signed for me. "She convinced Luke to stop Kronos." His face was hard, and his eyes were stormy as he looked at her. 

"Hmm," Hera whirled away in a huff.

Dionysus's head was still wrapped in a bandage. He looked me up and down and then his eyes shifted to Percy and then to Raph and Nico. And in fluent ASL, "Well, Percy Jackson. Eleanora Blofis. I see Pollux made it through, so I suppose you aren't completely inept. It's all thanks to my training, I suppose." 

"Urn, yes, sir," Percy said.

"All thanks to you, none of this was possible." I signed, trying my hardest not to smile or snicker. I saw the corner of his mouth twitch, his dark purple eyes flashed in a brief amusement before it all disappeared. Mr. D nodded. "As thanks for my bravery, Zeus has cut my probation at that miserable camp in half. I now have only fifty years left instead of one hundred."

"Fifty years, huh?" Percy signed. 

I tried to imagine putting up with Dionysus until I was an old man, assuming I lived that long.

"Don't get so excited, Jackson," he said, and I realized he was saying my name correctly. "I still plan on making your life miserable."

I couldn't help smiling. "Naturally."

"Just so we understand each other." He turned and began repairing his grapevine throne, which had been singed by fire. Ops I thought. That was my doing.

"Percy!" Tyson yelled. He charged toward us with his arms open. Fortunately he'd shrunk back to normal size, so his hug was like getting hit by a tractor, not the entire farm. "You are not dead!" he said.

"Yeah!" I agreed. "Amazing, huh?"

"Percy's sister! Nora!" He tried signing. I smiled up at the big guy. 

"Hey BFC! That was some amazing fighting!" I signed. He looked at Percy slightly confused, when Percy translated he grinned sheepishly, then clapped his hands and laughed happily. "I am not dead either. You're not dead. Yay! We chained Typhon. It was fun!" 

Behind him, fifty other armored Cyclopes laughed and nodded and gave each other high fives. One of them spoke and Raph automatically signed for me. 

"Tyson led them. Says he is brave! The other one says: Bravest of the Cyclopes!"

Tyson blushed. "Tyson says: It was nothing."

"I saw you!" I signed. 

Percy translated and then added, "You were incredible!"

The Cyclopes parted, and Percy's father strode into the throne room in his battle armor, his trident glowing in his hands. Clearly there was a bit fuss, Every head turned to the commotion. 

"Tyson!" he roared, his hands atomically signing. "Well done, my son." He clapped Tyson on the shoulder for a moment. He turned to Percy. "And Percy-" His face turned stern. He wagged his finger at me, and for a second I was afraid he was going to zap me. "I even forgive you- and your sister- for sitting on my throne. You have saved Olympus!"

He held out his arms and gave me a hug. Percy blushed and looked weirded out for a moment, then he melted into Poseidon's hug. When he pulled away, he smiled kindly at him. I felt a sudden burning my my throat and behind my eyes, I started feeling the burning tears, watching Percy get emotional, hugging his father, for what looked the first time. I guess until that moment I hadn't allowed myself to realize just how terrified I had been the last few days.

"Dad- " Percy started. 

"Shhh," he said. "No hero is above fear, Percy. And you have risen above every hero. Not even Hercules- "

His hands were suddenly slapped and Apollo was beside Poseidon. "I would have you know my daughter also rose above every hero! Just because your Mr Big shot who took down Typhon!" 

Both the gods suddenly stopped arguing and turned to look over their shoulders. Zeus had taken his throne. He glared across the room at Apollo and Poseidon while all the other gods filed in and took their seats. Even Hades was present, sitting on a simple stone guest chair at the foot of the hearth. Nico nodded once to me and then went and sat cross-legged on the ground at his dad's feet. 

I could see Zeus's mouth moving. But he didn't bother signing; either he thought it beneath him, or he didn't know. 

"Wanna translate for me and mess with the gods?" 

"Oh fuck ya!" 

I looked at Nico and he had a small twisted smile on his face, he was already watching me. And I grinned back.

"He's upset with Apollo and Poseidon. And asked them if they are too proud to join us in council."

"Yes. Yes they are." 

"Shhh." 

I thought Poseidon was going to get mad, but he just looked at us and winked. 

"He says he would be honored and then added, Lord Zeus." 

I saw Apollo make a wild exaggerated bow. I guess miracles do happen. Apollo took his time to strut over to his seat. Poseidon strode over to his fishing seat, and the Olympian Council convened. While Zeus was talking- some long speech about the bravery of the gods, I told Nico to cut the commentary, it was boring. Annabeth walked in and stood next to Percy. She looked way better. 

"Miss much?" she signed quickly.

"Nobody's planning to kill us, so far," Percy signed back.

"First time today."

"Give it time, I have yet to piss someone off." 

The guys around me all slapped hands over their mouths to stop their laughing and sniggering.

"Too late." Grover signed.

"What you guys laughing at?" 

 Grover tried to nudge us because Hera was giving us a dirty look. I quickly explained what happened and Nico also started to giggle. Hera shot him a reproachful look. 

"Carful, you'll be on her hit list next."

Nico shrugged and then turned his head towards Zeus. 

"Oh, Zeus said: as for my brothers, we are thankful..." - I looked up at him and watched his face, he cleared his throat like the words were hard to get out- "thankful for the aid of Hades."

The lord of the dead nodded. He had a smug look on his face, but I figure he'd earned the right. He patted Nico on the shoulders, and Nico looked happier than I'd ever seen him.

"He's now struggling to thank  Poseidon." Zeus looked like his pants were smoldering, 

"I'm sorry, brother," Poseidon said along with some ASL for my benefit- which was supper sweat. "What was that?"

"Zeus now says, without whom . . . it would've been difficult—"

"Difficult?" Poseidon asked, he looked at Zeus innocently.

"Zeus says: Impossible to defeat Typhon."

The gods all nodded and were clearly murmuring their agreement and pounded their weapons in approval.

"Zeus now says: it's only the matter of thanking our young demigod heroes, who defended Olympus so well—even if there are a few dents in his throne."

I rolled my eyes.

He called Thalia forward first, since she was his daughter, and promised her help in filling the Hunters' ranks. 

Artemis smiled and then signed as well for my benefit. "You have done well, my lieutenant. You have made me proud, and all those Hunters who perished in my service will never be forgotten. They will achieve Elysium, I am sure."

She glared pointedly at Hades. He shrugged and said something.  Artemis glared at him some more. Hades grumbled. 

"My father will streamline their application process."

Thalia beamed with pride. She bowed to the gods, even Hades, and then limped over to stand by Artemis's side.

Zeus called Tyson forward, Nico kept a running commentary in my head. Tyson looked nervous, but he went to stand in the middle of the Council, and Zeus grunted. 

"Zeus muttered something about Tyson not missing meals- it wasn't nice. Now is saying for his bravery in the war, and for leading the Cyclopes, he's appointed a general in the armies of Olympus.  And will lead the others into war whenever required by the gods. And he'll have a new- he's struggling, and stuttering, Zeus asked what kind of weapon he would like. Gave a few different options; sword, or axe...Tyson says a stick."

 Tyson showed his broken club.

"Zeus now says they will grant him a new, er, stick. He says it'll be the best stick that may be found."

"Why does it sound like Zeus is mocking the guy who saved his sorry ass?"

"Because you're hearing it in my tone...also he probably is." 

"Hooray!" Tyson cried, and all the Cyclopes cheered and pounded him on the back as he rejoined them.

"Grover Underwood of the satyrs!" Dionysus called while also using fluent ASL.

Grover came forward nervously.

"Oh, stop chewing your shirt," Dionysus chided. "Honestly, I'm not going to blast you. For your bravery and sacrifice, blah, blah, blah, and since we have an unfortunate vacancy, the gods have seen fit to name you a member of the Council of Cloven Elders."

Grover collapsed on the spot.

"Oh, wonderful," Dionysus sighed, and continued with his fluent ASL, as several naiads came forward to help Grover. "Well, when he wakes up, someone tell him that he will no longer be an outcast, and that all satyrs, naiads, and other spirits of nature will henceforth treat him as a lord of the Wild, with all rights, privileges, and honors, blah, blah, blah. Now please, drag him off before he wakes up and starts groveling."

Now the gods all turned to the rest of us. I swallowed hard. Not sure how this was going to go.