Will grimaced as he saw the x next to Piper's name. He knew that was just this book's style of using roman numerals in place of actual chapter titles, honestly a lame decision on someone's part, but it gave him a forbidding feeling as x's were also associated with kissing, and death. Piper constantly finding herself at that crossroads was so heartbreaking for her, he hoped she was doing okay now.

Nico was secretly excited Will had the book again, even while making grumpy faces, just because it now gave him an open excuse to tip his head back and admire him in the sunshine. This was the first time he'd gotten to see Will in his element, now it was distractingly hard to look away from the sun lighting him from the inside. His deep tan face had never smiled so bright, his blonde hair constantly looked ruffled and fell into his eyes and he never seemed to notice or care. Nico tapped his fingers on his knees and then toyed with his ring off and on as he missed Will's arm on his shoulder but genuinely understood why he was pressed against that pane of glass as much as possible while the rest of them huddled in the attic, some closer to the fire than others.

The temptation to go up and sit beside him had been there the whole time...but he kept glancing guiltily at his sister. The seat was barely big enough for the two of them, Will wouldn't be able to lounge out, and well, he didn't want to leave her to sit under the seat alone. Yep, that was the only reason he was hesitating.

THE WHOLE CAMPFIRE IDEA FREAKED PIPER OUT.

"And after the nightmares, nobody questions why," Will absently assured.

... that huge purple bonfire in the dreams, her father tied to a stake.

"Will, the dream whisperer over here," Percy snorted.

"Maybe he can deconstruct yours about suffocating in bubble wrap," Annabeth smirked.

"I don't need a translation from that, it was a real threat from my mom," Percy sighed, the closest thing Sally Jackson could ever do to show being upset.

What she got instead was almost as terrifying: a sing- along.

Will looked monstrously disappointed how anyone could think such a thing!

Nico knew from personal experience that if Will really put the effort in, he'd get Piper singing along in no time though. It was kind of terrifying how he could weaponize that enthusiasm.

...sixty kids filled the rows clustered into groups under banners.

Will immediately perked back up though at the casual reminder of how many kids were there. Years prior, they'd be lucky to have twenty!

Hazel giggled at him and Nico nodded to confirm yes, he was always like that, and it hadn't gotten old so far.

... half a dozen campers with guitars and lyres,

"Even Piper knows it's a lyre!" Will groaned, and he was going to let that go since she was new.

To no one's surprise, he was speaking to Percy, who closed his eyes and began mock snoring at the lecture he felt was coming.

Annabeth sighed in resignation Will was going to break a harp and lyre over Percy's head one of these days to see if that reinforced the difference.

... the fire changed colors. The song ended with a lot of rowdy applause.

Will looked so smug, like he'd been personally responsible, or at least proud of his siblings managing to do all that. Either way made Nico smile like a fool, Will didn't brag about much.

...Chiron brandished a spear impaled with toasted marshmallows.

"You know what else you skipped on your tour Will," Leo realized. "The freaking centaur counselor dude!"

"Fails, both of you get major F's and need to work on your priorities," Thalia nodded sagely. Annabeth sighed in resignation it was something to work towards if she cared later while Leo and Thalia laughed together for the first time in just a friendly way.

"What a hell of a way to first see him though," Percy chuckled. Then, to Leo's misfortune, he turned his attention on him and said, "hey, ever roasted a marshmallow over yourself? Just use your thumb, like a perfect lighter."

"No, can't say I have," Leo said, with a note of interest in his voice like he'd be trying it soon enough.

... "I know the Ares cabin is anxious to return to our regular games."

"And kill people!" one of them shouted.

"However," Chiron said,

"Clearly a man who commands respect and authority around here," Leo muttered. The pained look on Jason's face plainly said he agreed that didn't feel like the reasonable response to this outburst.

The actual campers just looked at the two of them like they were the ones who were nuts though.

... Nyssa sat down to a lot of complaining, causing the fire to sputter.

Leo hadn't divulged his super secret awesome plan to repair Festus to his own cabin mates, so it made sense to him she wasn't bragging about their traps so far leading to nothing. Still, a large part of him felt bad keeping this a secret from them as he mentally debated which sized bolt to resize one piece. It wouldn't hurt to have a second pair of eyes who knew what he was imagining except to compliment the shading.

His eyes flickered again to Hazel, who's staring had lessened some from every other paragraph to once a chapter by now. He couldn't imagine why she was, she really was pretty, but for now he kept the problem aside to focus on his dragon.

... we have more pressing matters to discuss."

"Percy?" someone asked.

Percy was clearly touched that his absence was apparently a pressing matter, on a higher level than capture the flag. He'd lost a lot of friends during the Battle of Manhattan and couldn't quite imagine who besides Annabeth would be hounding Chiron for answers, but it was a nice feeling he wasn't just forgotten in the stars the moment he was out of sight.

...Annabeth's voice caught a little when she said his name.

Percy took her hand tight and threaded their fingers together while she rested her head on his shoulder. She had him back, she didn't even have to keep reminding herself because he was doing it for her.

This world though, this horrid path Hera had put them on where Percy was lost to her wasn't giving her a moment of peace as she kept playing different scenarios in her head of what all he could have gone through. Were the Romans torturing him for information? She knew he'd been memory wiped too, had he been put into some juvenile school with Roman kids to make friends with them and been attacked by some monster? The possibilities were endless and each one worse than the last.

...We've got teams everywhere. Grover, Tyson, Nico,

Nico hid a wince quite well as he vividly recalled getting that message, while at Camp Jupiter. He'd still been scouting the place out, waiting to make first contact and working on his cover story and ditched the idea without hesitation when he'd gotten a literal shadow message from Annabeth. Lou Ellen had done some kind of mystic spell to make it find him, which had given him an actual heart attack, but it had also been his inspiration to start looking where he knew Annabeth would least likely want to find him and he might have a moment more with Percy down in the Underworld.

"You know, next time you can just call The Underworld, and they'll get me a message. Whatever Lou Ellen did probably shouldn't be repeated unless she wants to piss off someone she shouldn't," Nico told her.

"Chiron doesn't have the number, and we didn't exactly stop to ask Echidna!" Annabeth huffed.

"It's super easy, even demigod's can't get it wrong," he assured her. Leo tossed a page at him and he caught it and jotted it down, or they'd all forget this conversation later.*

the Hunters of Artemis —everyone's out looking. We will find him.

Percy grinned as he remembered the look on the stranger's face as Thalia had tackled him with a hug. It was pretty awesome to realize he might be the first boy the Hunters had ever bothered to look for without finishing the moment with an arrow through his face instead.

He knew he owed all of his friends a debt they thought they were repaying. He wished he knew how.

"Shut up Percy," Thalia said without looking over at him.

Percy just laughed.

... "Drew?" Annabeth said. "What do you mean?"

"Not wanting to admit she's right is going to hurt you more," Hazel frowned at Annabeth in surprise.

"I'm more stunned she knows the Great Prophecy," Annabeth rolled her eyes. It wasn't written in a beauty magazine, so how she'd even heard of it was stunning.

...Piper was afraid Rachel would start channeling a freaky goddess again,

"A hazard of being her friend I'm willing to accept," Percy nodded sagely.

"Do you draw the line anywhere?" Jason asked with interest.

Percy thought about it for a moment before shaking his head no.

This wasn't really news to anyone but Hazel and Leo he was willing to be friends with anyone though.

"Yes, the Great Prophecy has begun." Pandemonium broke out.

"There's something even Will can't heal," Nico sighed.

"At least not with a rousing singalong," Will agreed, "probably not even nectar unless it got really out of hand." Usually it was best to just let Annabeth handle those outbreaks.

...Jason tried to silently ask if she was alright, but she looked away. It was painful not being with him now.

Jason looked horrified that was the current conclusion she was at. How were they going to manage this quest together if he didn't return her feelings? Was she going to decide it was worth betraying them because his crush had been fake?

In the end, she'd still do it for her dad more than anything, but he hoped at least being her friend would help keep her resolved to give them a chance at finding another way.

...one mortal was more intimidating than all of them put together.

"Piper's never seen her with a can of paint. She's only seen Rachel at her second worst, she'll learn," Thalia assured.

..."Et hostes ornamenta addent ad ianuam necem."

"You're not endearing yourself by showing off with a dead language," Percy rolled his eyes.

"It's not a dead language if I speak it," Jason seemed mildly less perturbed he'd done this the second time. The now redundant answer of not knowing why he knew something was a comfort in itself as he kept chatting with his friends anyways.

"Chiron called you a dead kid, I think it still applies," Percy said with the kind of ludicrous triumph only he could.

... why her hopefully future boyfriend was chanting like a Catholic priest.

At least the others got a good laugh out of that visual while Jason sighed Piper was not letting this boyfriend thing go.

... "Handsome and smart." ...giggling from Cabin 10. God what losers.

"People are losers now for thinking someone's handsome and smart?" Annabeth heaved a tragic sigh. "Sorry Percy, guess I'll have to find someone else."

Percy spluttered a painful noise that never made it past a blush and a grin at her.

... It should have been Piper next to him, comforting him, not Annabeth.

Percy was whispering something in his girlfriend's ear and clearly far too distracted to pretend to be indignant at Jason for that. Jason was nothing but grateful Will had the good sense not to linger on that any longer than it took Thalia to snicker at poor Piper's useless jealousy.

Chiron offered no guidance, as if a spectator at a play that was destined to end with a lot of dead on stage.

Will made a nervous laugh and promised, "don't worry, the actors have only been seriously injured when the Stolls try on the director's hat."

The joke was for no one's benefit but his own, but Nico admired the attempt anyways as he shifted his weight around until he was pressed right underneath the window sill Will was in. Chiron's bleak attitude might not be anything new anymore than Will wanting to hope for the best. It was a hard balance to strike around this place.

...Rachel agreed none-the-less; the seven were making themselves known, some here tonight, some not.

"Percy," Nico mock coughed into his fist.

"How could you Nico?" Percy's betrayed expression was pretty mild, he knew it was the truth.

Unless the world really was ending and Hera had actually kidnapped him for some luxurious vacation...but if that were the case she would have just left him alone!

...Clovis awoke long enough to say he was here for roll call, but Rachel ignored him.

"I'm surprised he woke up to make it there!" Leo admitted.

"Probably using marshmallows as a pillow," Jason shrugged.

Nico was rather interested though at his attendance. Clovis had an annoying habit of dreaming to loud when he was traversing the other realms and definitely knew more than he was letting on, Nico could just rarely get a straight answer out of him before he went back to his dreams. The real surprising part was that he was there in person rather than just a floating spectator only he'd sense.

... the second Great Prophecy will predict something as bad as the first."

"At least," Thalia sighed. Giants. Worse than Titans. She really wished Gaea and Ouranos would have just skipped to the good kids!...though that did bring up the interesting moral philosophy of wondering how much worse the Gods could have been if they hadn't had their other siblings to oppose first.

"Or worse," Chiron murmured...The campfire turned dark purple.

"We're not worse than Titan's," Jason sighed.

Nico's laugh was too tinged with sadness as he said, "you and Alex would have had a field day with color theory. It's not that personal."

Jason nodded as if in deep consideration while Percy grumbled on these guys always looking for some extra layer when they had enough problems.

...Rachel told them everything that happened at the Grand Canyon,

Jason shifted his weight around at what a failure all of that really stacked up to make him. In the mess of his emotions realizing this was about the future, he hadn't even gotten the chance to be excited he might have gotten to be around a satyr like he'd so been wanting.

He'd been ecstatic to meet some of them around camp finally, he'd spent quite a long time chatting with all of them to hear their perspective on all the demigods they'd saved. They'd all been eager enough to talk to him right back, but once they'd caught sight of his tattoo, seemed to sense his otherness, he could feel their shifty unease settling in and he'd excused himself quickly after only moments, which was about the same amount of time when his headache's would settle back comfortably in place and make it a miserable experience for him as well talking to the half goat people about their world exploits. This had happened on repeat until he finally forced himself to give up a bad job.

He hoped he'd get the chance to meet Hedge again soon. He seemed the only satyr who would tolerate him, and he'd only gotten through a fourth of his questions so far.

concluding with Hera's message. Piper did her best to ignore Drew giggling.

Annabeth wondered what kind of pantomime she'd do of herself falling face first off the top of those stands. Hopefully several live reenactments.

When Rachel explained about Hera giving the same warning to Jason, Piper wondered why the Queen of the Gods had warned Piper not to betray everyone, but hadn't exposed her to Jason?

"It is possible she doesn't know about that part specifically," Percy reminded. "Especially trapped away, there's a good chance Hera's just got an idea about the players, not all the strings attached of who will do what."

Jason nodded in agreement, but a part of him hoped it was because Juno had a good feeling about Piper being on their team.

..."Jason, um, do you know your last name?" Jason shook his head.

Jason tried not to give his sister a sour look for the reminder that would still probably be true if Diana hadn't manifested. It was still a sore subject though just how long Thalia would have left him in the dark for her own good.

...He set his jaw and nodded. "I agree."

This was far from the first quest he'd been in, Jason felt that in his bones, but a large part of him still resented these books for not even giving him hints or flashbacks of what others they could be.

He didn't suppose his brain would then anymore than he was now, but it still would have been nice!

It was the execution of this that felt the most off though. Like everything he heard in Percy's life, and now more than ever with him in the center. An oracle agreeing they should run off and deal with this thing felt, to...gods he just knew this wasn't the right feeling but knew no better how to put it into words. Unprofessional? Felt too harsh.

The crowd of people at least felt right, for once.

...The Winter Solstice is a day when things, stir."

"Not more stirring!" Percy groaned. "We just got done reeling from Artemis's soup pot!"

Annabeth patted him on the shoulder in commiseration, but Jason was studying Percy with sudden interest for his random input. "What if we found you there as well at the end of this quest?"

There was stunned silence.

"Or maybe not him exactly, but my own people? This is a huge deal, I'm positive the Roman's must have some way of knowing about all this." Jason said far too casually for this abrupt shift in perspective for the others.

"It... does make sense when you put it like that," Annabeth agreed. "Yet we didn't see any Roman soldiers there Jason."

"There was one guy, I swear it," Percy briefly described his dream, "and we never found out who those arrows were from. It makes as much sense as anything."

"I supposed they didn't think it the right time to make friendly contact," Thalia frowned, though they couldn't have asked for better timing considering they'd just proved beyond a doubt they wanted the same goal if nothing else.

"I have a feeling it was something more," Jason fumbled off with no idea where he was going with it. Just the confidence no Roman soldier would walk into an enemy territory of strangers.

Annabeth's face filled with renewed vigor at the idea as Will nodded hopefully and kept going. They'd clearly taken the long way around to get to the same goal, but hopefully this insane swap would be over soon and they could all band together to figure out this threat with Jason's people as allies.

...said stirring like a felony, not something you did to cookie dough.

"Chiron has that effect in his back satchel whenever he needs it," Nico told his sister conversationally.

She grinned and said, "how many words have you tested that theory on."

"Not enough," Nico sighed, "but statue's, balloons, forest's, paintball, and capture the flag are among them."

"Okay," Annabeth glared at the centaur. "Thank you, Captain Sunshine.

That got a good hard laugh out of everyone, particularly Percy who had a pretty good idea of how frustrated she'd be at this time to be dolling such sass out to him.

... his regal features like a Roman statues.

"I've found yet another reason to hate these books," Jason groaned. Piper constantly doing that was never not going to be uncomfortable.

"You are six books late on that update," Percy snorted.

... "Electric," Jason murmured, like that was a good idea. "Back away."

"Hey, Jace," Thalia said in a sugar sweet voice of mockery only a sibling could. "Remember honey, you're not supposed to kill people."

"You're no fun, why can't I blow up people too," Jason rolled his eyes, gesturing at Percy.

"Leave it to the professionals," Percy smirked.

"His dad's a professional god of theatrics according to your dad, let him stretch his wings," Nico clearly seemed to think he was helping despite Thalia and Percy's look saying otherwise.

...Jason lowered his lance. "Um, sorry."

"You should be, that fire was a gift from when the camp was first blessed," Annabeth sighed. Someone would be on sweeping duty for a week after that stunt, and her cabin was starting to get a lot of the worst chores due to their head counselor being rather MIA lately. She'd have to find a way to make it up to Malcolm later for picking up her slack.

..."Jupiter," Jason said. "I mean Zeus. Lord of the Sky."

"Can you imagine how dramatic that would have been if Thalia hadn't spilled her beans?" Percy chuckled, though Hazel still looked plenty startled. Leo had been electrocuted one to many times from failed projects to think it too cool the guy next to him could casually do that now.

"Guess I never took that joke to heart about my dramatic hiding," Thalia said with a sad smile. Alex had been the one to make that joke.

... It made perfect sense, no one else could possibly be Jason's dad.

"I can think of a few other options," Will chuckled. "Hephaestus and Hermes are usually good catch alls for their many destructive qualities."

"We've conditioned ourselves not to consider the Big Three as potential parents for far too long," Annabeth said as if this were a personal oversight she'd have to make another chart over. "No, even if another god just happened to bless Jason with lighting, Zeus's signature ability, at that exact moment, we'd be fools to try and overlook this."

"Hopefully with good reasons that stay," Percy said cautiously. He had no idea if the 'ban' had been lifted on the Big Three having more kids now that the last prophecy was over, but he'd never wish his life on some helpless other kid. Jason clearly wasn't taking to it any better.

... The Big Three, their pact not to have kids!"

Chiron didn't answer... the truth was not good.

"Hang on," Percy suddenly looked like someone had slammed that bolt of lighting in his face. "When's your birthday!?"

He, as usual, shrugged, but gave a hopeful look to Thalia.

"July 1st," the pained look on her face made sense to no one but Annabeth and Will.

"Hera's sacred day, really," Will groaned.

"'94," Thalia clarified to Percy's growing horror.

"Oh!" He burst out in relief. "You're a year younger than me," then he was clearly confused at his own relief. That prophecy had dogged enough of his life without tormenting himself over another technicality of Jason's role.

"Technically," Thalia snorted. "I still want to call some bull on that, considering your frequency of being messed with time in almost all of your quests."

Percy sat there stumped for several moments as he realized Jason was the only one to have been saved from this, presumably, among them.

"The important thing," Rachel said,

"We were having an important conversation?" Leo asked blankly. It was hard to tell sometimes as often as these guys derailed every five seconds.

"Will's not reading that thing to us for our entertainment," Jason shrugged.

... three-legged stool, like they'd been trained for this duty.

"They do, yes," Will agreed. "We had to use the straw dummies for the first few test runs until they stopped dropping Straw-Rachel."

"Is that like, an honor or a punishment?" Leo asked.

"Um, honor," Will said in concern why he'd ask.

...the sound a snake would make if it could talk:

Will could not have sounded anymore distressed at that description if he tried. There was a reason the three kids who took care of Rachel were never Apollo's children. Nobody would be convinced they wouldn't drop Rachel on her head on purpose.

...forge and dove shall break the cage, death unleash through Hera's rage."

Annabeth's face twisted with such outrage, the others were more surprised not to see fire, lightning, and steam pouring out of her pores all at once.

She'd replayed Magnus's death over and over in her head trying to understand what she could have done better, only to realize now there was nothing. Someone was going to die releasing that- that-

She was already curling into Percy's chest before she even could have thought to want it. Her frustration and rage had boiled into hateful tears she didn't know what to do with. The shaking didn't feel like a fair answer.

Will clearly didn't want to keep reading, he opened his mouth and obviously just wanted to say something, but Percy shook his head and waved him on. She wouldn't stop beating herself up over this any time soon.

...They carried her away and laid her in the corner to rest.

"The oracle doesn't give a vision of who's telling the prophecy anymore?" Thalia asked in surprise, the only kindly distraction she could offer. A part of her mind had expected the image of Hera to over take Rachel again or something in the green fog.

Will nodded with a baffled expression. "If I ever meet my dad, I might waste a question asking him why the change."

"Is that normal?" Piper asked.

"Considering they probably aren't even the only two people to pass out that day, I'd say yes," Will shrugged.

"Three, though Jason's sleep was voluntary, if unprompted," Nico reminded.

"I hate this game," Percy groaned while Jason actually laughed for his stupid joke.

.... does she spew green smoke a lot?"

"Better than inhaling it," Leo offered.

"Blech, can you imagine," Hazel gagged, her face going a little green at the idea, which was kind of funny to Nico considering inhaling smoke was so common back in her time.

..."Drew," Annabeth snapped. "Piper asked a fair question.

"Even if she didn't realize she did it," Jason nodded his head in thanks to Annabeth for sticking up for her. He wished he could, but he had no clue how. This Oracle business was still just as bizarre to him as it had been in the beginning.

... maybe Hera will turn on her rescuers. She's never been kind to heroes."

Annabeth kept her grip tight around Percy to remind herself not to run across the room and tear that book to shreds. If there was ever a way she could shove Hera into the smallest cage possible that still shrunk forever she would.

But mostly, she was mad at herself. She'd barely gotten to know her cousin for a few days before this happened. It truly did feel like she was cursed. Gods, if anything happened to Percy in these books, she'd know she was cursed...

...we can't just not help the queen of the heavens if she's in trouble."

"Sure we can, it's quite easy. I'm an expert on not helping people," Thalia scowled.

"No, you aren't," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Shush you, I'm mocking the other idiot right now," Thalia scowled while Jason chuckled.

... threw her own son down a mountain just because he was ugly."

"Real ugly," snickered someone from Aphrodite.

"Can we just lock them all up inside their vanity closets and be done with them! They never have anything useful to say!" Annabeth snapped.

"Um, no," Percy was the only one brave enough to remind her.

Will read hastily on before those stormy gray eyes began formulating unbreakable locks anyways.

... What are we dealing with that's powerful enough to kidnap Hera?"

"And those are what we call, excellent questions," Leo sighed, imagining Piper here to shove him and knock his wheel out of alignment as he dug a ruler out of one of his pockets. It was bewaring the earth part that intrigued him as he shuffled back a few pages on his doodles to where he'd been redesigning the wing joints now. If he placed the pin there, it would give Festus more mobility, but would limit him in the future from making any other repairs...

"Piper's growing more invaluable to this quest by the moment," Jason agreed, resisting the urge to go over and see what Leo was doing with great restraint. His chaotic energy was barely being held together and it was so fascinating to watch.

... If you told them everything, they would be too terrified to proceed.

"Yeah, I believe she covered that pretty well," Percy rolled his eyes. "How is she better at that than me?!"

"We could barely get you to read a book made by gods for dyslexics about you, no one is surprised you couldn't have read a silent conversation," Thalia smirked.

... she understood, and it scared the jujubes out of her.

"What are jujubes?" Hazel asked blankly.

"Something that shouldn't be scared out of her I guess," Nico said, just as confused, wondering if it was a Native American thing, or just one of those Popular Buzz Words he barely wrapped his head around when reading those articles.

... "It's Jason's quest...he may choose any two companions."

"Or you could pull an Annabeth, break the rules, and invite half of camp," Percy smirked.

Annabeth sat up from his arms to elbow him, still whipping shaking fingers across her eyes and clearing her throat.

Jason kept the thought to himself that Annabeth was pretty much the only one besides Percy he'd want along on this. Thalia wasn't there, and the rest of the campers....well they'd never really inspired much confidence in him. Clarisse for sure, but she seemed happy to be retired lately. Even Will straddled that line between goofy optimism and knowledgeable back up at best. The prime hope going forward was running into Nico along the way, and that seemed like a long shot with him.

Leo and Piper, they were just too inexperienced, he was honestly a little terrified they'd be a liability from their ignorance more than anything.

But he wasn't fool enough to try and think to argue with the prophecy. The forge and the dove, the symbolicness couldn't be argued with...even if they'd managed to circumvent it once before, he couldn't imagine how many more interpretations there could be.

... every time I've helped her, it's come back to bite me. No way."

Annabeth clutched the beads of her necklace tight enough the cord was straining as it dug into the flesh, the pain grounding. She was in danger of breaking it. She'd do anything to save her home, except this. Never again.

...it's all connected." Piper blurted.

Drew demanded, "If you're so smart, how?"

"By counting one plus one," Thalia snapped. "The gods don't pull stunts like this for their own amusement, despite our jokes!" She was just trying to undermine Piper, which was the root of Thalia's anger. Even Drew wasn't stupidly vapid enough to be claiming otherwise, she was just making a show of it, as usual.

Piper tried to form an answer, but she couldn't. Annabeth saved her.

"She's very good at that," Percy agreed. Annabeth smiled at his certainty of her as much as he ever had in his goofy jokes. It was the same casual confidence he had in how he saw the world that never failed to lighten her.

... I'll find out from by searching for Percy. ... The prophecy says so."

Her joy quickly slipped away though as pain welled up her throat like a damn about to burst again. She'd been a fool trying to cobble together this answer.

"Do you realize how lucky you got having all that spelled out," Nico at least told Jason casually. "Don't try to walk there, take these two kids to help! The Oracle must have really liked you."

Jason nodded as he considered the other prophecies he'd heard. Most of them were lucky to have one factoid in detail about the center of the prophecy if they were fortunate with everything else being clear in hindsight.

This didn't shake his continued uneasiness he'd been given a prophecy though. It just didn't feel natural, could he be allergic to people who used to house mummy souls? His skin itched more every time he thought of that green mist. A bizarre image flashed to mind of Rachel strangling a teddy bear, and he tapped his temple like he hoped he was getting bad reception.

... Nyssa's shoulders slumped like she'd been given an anvil to carry.

"That would be easier on her," Leo smiled sadly for his recent sister. Nyssa was steady and strong, a good heart, but there was no adventure in her. She didn't trust herself enough to be doing this. Leo hoped he'd pull his socket wrench out of his ear and pay attention soon to volunteer before Nyssa did something she'd regret.

... You'll need air transport." Piper was about to spill Jason's beans on this ability, but figured that was his thing to tell, which he didn't. Perhaps he decided he'd shown off enough tonight.

"Honestly, I'm pretty sure I couldn't carry two people that far anyways," Jason shook his head as to why he wouldn't volunteer this information now.

At the point in time of all this though, well, his sense of not belonging would still most likely be overruling him. He wouldn't proclaim everything he was capable of to these strangers.

...Piper had almost forgotten he was there, which was unlike Leo.

"I can be quiet!" Leo yelped loud enough half the camp probably heard.

"You can't make it through half a page of those drawings without muttering something in spanish that I feel shouldn't be translated," Jason snorted. He could probably repeat the words, 'tú estúpido' perfectly now if he ever wanted to. It was strangely familiar to him hearing it too...the longer he thought about it the more he was sure he had to have a friend who did this in the past. Perhaps that explained why he enjoyed Leo's company so much.

Leo hadn't even realized he'd been doing that, but he just got a lot of understanding smiles for it rather than an actual complaint. Well, if nobody had told him to shut up yet, he'd consider it a nonissue going forward.

...Several tried to pull him back to his seat, but Leo resisted.

Percy snickered at the idea of this poor guy getting his pants ripped off by Harley and still proclaiming his want to go on this quest. It would be memorable at least.

... Piper was sure Jason was going to tell Leo no.

Leo's confidence took a blow that would take a lot of buffering to come out as he heard that. Why would Piper assume Jason would say no? He was no more incompetent than her having just arrived!

"Strategically, Nyssa would have been the better option," Jason was already shaking his head at what he presumed Piper had meant by it. "Experience is usually a better qualifier, but in a case such as this, I am positive my instinct to trust the two of you will win out."

Leo smiled at him in surprise. He'd been so sure Jason would be just as quick to dismiss him now too, having his girlfriend's opinion to nudge him into admitting it. Jason had already been off on quite a few wild adventures with these guys while he'd been whisked away from the Wilderness School without so much as a wave goodbye.

He didn't care if it was the fact he'd already proved himself by managing to catch up with Festus or just Jason's instinct, but he'd take either as he flashed him a grin that lit one of his ears on fire he didn't notice until a pink scarf above his head began smoking and he had to quickly smack it out.

...Seems only right you come along. You find us a ride, you're in."

"Exactly how many rubber bands and pipe cleaners would you need to get a helicopter up and running by morning?" Annabeth asked with interest.

"If you think about it, technically an airplane can only fly when there's human blood inside of it long term," Percy said out of the blue, hopefully not thinking of a blood hose attachment.

"Um, remote controlled!" Leo rolled his eyes.

"Dragon, Annabeth," Thalia reminded her in exhaustion while Leo and Percy fell off talking about something only the two of them seemed able to follow.

"I know that's what he's going to use, I'm just saying it was set up and cool!" Annabeth huffed.

"Someone put an end to these two," Nico sighed with a significant look at the girl who had started this. Jason would admit he was a little disappointed, he'd been following reasonably well and enjoying their crazy new invention.

Annabeth didn't seem pleased as she nodded at Will to cut off the two bickering about the possibility of hemoglobin powered batteries, though in the back of her mind she was wondering on the merit of creating them in hopes of distracting monsters in the future at minimum. They might make better snacks than demigods...

... Possibly none of you will come back alive."

"Oh, I see why she didn't make it into your cabin," Nico said looking up at Will.

"There's not exactly a pass or fail personality test!" Will rolled his eyes, though it did happen more often than not the siblings in a cabin did get along from shared personalities from their godly parent. Hephaestus's kids were usually pretty cynical and kept to themselves enveloped in their projects, fights only broke out when the good hammer went missing as far as he knew. Leo seemed an exception really.

... Oh, cool! Suffering? I love suffering! Let's do this."

"You certainly are a special boy Leo," Jason couldn't help but chuckle at his false enthusiasm sounding on par with the real one of moments ago.

"I know," Leo's smile was all cheese and thin layers of conceit as he brushed theatrically at his hair. It was an act he was used to putting on that nobody was going to force him to strip away if he didn't want to admit that he didn't love suffering at any rate.

... The dove—"

"Oh, absolutely!" Drew was on her feet and flashing Jason a smile.

"Absolutely not!" Thalia looked ill. "She'll get you killed while stopping to stare in every reflection!"

"Knock if off Thalia," Will sighed. "It's not funny anymore, a child of Aphrodite is just as valid a companion-"

"I agree in principle, but it's an interesting conundrum," Annabeth was suddenly frowning at the book intently. "The dove is symbolic of peace, and yes Aphrodite, but there's no way Piper would be included in this book if she wasn't meant to go."

"She could always stow away like I did," Percy reminded.

"We try not to use you as an example for these instances," she patted his hand absently.

Will decided to keep reading for whatever conclusion this came to mostly before Thalia could start stockpiling past insults and get to the long winded jokes.

..."Anyone can have a vision, you were at the right place at the right time."

"That's... usually how this works actually," Nico said with interest. Most stories did center around heroes who were born to greatness, or just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

He didn't really think that's what this was, if Drew had unstuck her lips from a mirror long enough to make her way to Hera's cabin, he just didn't think Rachel would have spewed that message to her. Rachel would have followed her gut to find wherever Piper was to get the right connection.

He couldn't blame Drew wanting to be a hero in this story, he just didn't think this was going to be her moment no matter how bad she wanted to butt in. He could understand that.

... you need charm. I can be very persuasive. I could help a lot."

"Help them to an early grave, the most work she's ever done," Thaila still said sourly. Will was now seriously debating who he'd have to get involved to get Drew into protective custody if this kept on.

..."No!" Piper's own voice sounded strange, more insistent, richer in tone.

"Oooh, charmspeak battle?" Thalia said with interest, now more confident than ever Piper was arguing with her sister.

"This can't end well," Will groaned at the idea of the two soon clawing each other's eyes out no matter who blessed Piper with this ability.

..."Well," Drew said smugly, "I guess that settles it."

"Ugh," Thalia looked very close to smothering Drew in her sleep, or possibly Will since he was the one to have read that.

"Hey Thals, remember that little promise about not being an executioner?" Jason finally stepped in.

"Yeah, yeah," was all she managed. Percy leaned over and whispered something to her. They were pretty sure the words 'not get caught' were mixed in there.

The others really didn't want to know what that rotten girl was in for the more Thalia's face split into a grin.

...there was no burning symbol like the one that appeared over Leo.

"Huh?" Will muttered in concern, clearly getting a medical kit ready in his head for this poor girl spontaneously growing a sunspot apparently. Nobody would really put it past him anyways if he tried.

... adorned in a beautiful white sleeveless gown ... and her hair-

"Oh, no," Annabeth said in horror for the poor girl.

... She even wore makeup...all the colors in her eyes pop. She was...she was...

"She, she's been-" Thalia had rarely heard such a tragedy befall a girl.

"Beautiful," Jason exclaimed. "Piper, you ... you're a knockout."

Percy fell out of his seat laughing, and Leo wasn't fairing much better as he curled onto his side.

Poor Jason was left to sigh and make empty threats at the two which did nothing to stop them laughing at him, or hide his blush. Yeah, he'd thought she was pretty before, this wasn't news!

... Chiron announced gravely, as if he were speaking at her funeral.

Annabeth was growing a tad concerned at how constantly stressed Chiron was over all of this. She understood why, of course, it was just one dire warning after another lately, but this entire failing of confidence in them was starting to hurt her pride, something that was never easy to do. If Chiron was doubting she could do this, how long would it take before Percy did too? Before her mom?

A blessing used to be counted as a point of pride, that someone at Camp had done something to earn their parents approval and was such a rare commodity it was hailed as a celebration. Now, Chiron only saw it as an act of more trouble down the road.

"Daughter of Aphrodite, lady of the doves, goddess of love."

"This is delicious," Thalia was still shaking her head for the poor girl being strapped into this, but it was the best kind of cosmic joke to hear anyways. "Drew's going to eat her heart out and we all get to listen to her fail!"

"Poor Piper, I'd feel so violated and embarrassed if my mom pulled a stunt like that," Annabeth sighed, running a hand through her messy, tangled hair.

"Nobody bowed when I got claimed," Leo frowned. It would have felt amazing to see a group of strangers kneeling and offering him bowls of fruit after a flying horse dumped him in that field.

"You weren't dramatic enough about it," Percy's annoyed eye roll explained all that was needed about how his had gone similar to Piper's. "I'm sure if you'd tried to exclaim something about your dad not being that destructive, Heapthustus would have done it then and maybe after the fire was put out Chiron would have offered you one."

Maybe having people bow to him wasn't something Percy strived for, but Leo just took comfort in the fact nobody had bowed to Jason either. Piper could keep her special dress to herself he supposed.

Though he was left wondering if the god of the sea had put Percy in a dress when he was claimed with a bow by the campers. Was that what it took?

PJOHOOPJOHOO

*If I knew how to make a gag hotline you bet your butt I would; 999-666-1234.

The recording line is, "If you have witnessed a ghoul, ghost, or lost soul in your area, please dial one..." The extension's are listed and go on forever designed to bore you to death and be as unhelpful as possible before connecting you to an endless waiting list. Please do tell me who you imagine reading this message, because the possibilities are endless. - Thank you once again SpringScrollFairy