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LUCIA STARED AT  THE  ATHENA PARTHENOS, waiting for it to shoot lasers out its eyes or smash her down into goop with its humongous fist. She almost expected the thing to wake up, glare at her, and lecture her on how awfully unwise she was.

Lucia didn't mean to question the ancient Greeks' artistic abilities, but the thing was kinda creepy behind all the grandness.

Leo's new mechanical hoist system had lowered the statue onto the hillside with surprising ease. Now the forty-foot-tall goddess gazed serenely over the River Acheron, her gold dress like molten metal in the sun.

"Incredible," Reyna admitted.

She was still red-eyed from crying. Her cheeks were puffy and her face pale despite the composed look she bore.

Soon after she'd landed on the Argo II, her pegasus Scipio had collapsed, overwhelmed by poisoned claw marks from a gryphon attack the night before.

Reyna had to put the horse out of his misery with her golden knife, turning Scipio into dust that scattered in the sweet-smelling Greek air.

Maybe not a bad end for a flying horse, but Reyna had lost a loyal friend and was obviously grieving.

Lucia deeply felt for her, she figured that the Praetor had given up too much in her life already. She was hardly any older than Lucia. Yet she had years of sacrifices, deaths, and monsters under her belt. It was no surprise to Lucia when Annabeth admitted to admiring her resilience and courage.

The boricua circled the Athena Parthenos warily. "It looks newly made."

"Yeah," Leo said. "We brushed off the cobwebs and used a little Windex. It wasn't hard. Lucia recently suggested polishing it, which is why it smells like lavender."

"My Mom hates lavender," Annabeth commented

"Well shit, she's definitely adding that to the list of reasons to hate me," Lucia grumbled before taking a sip of the refreshing bubbly lemonade Annabeth handed to her.

Annabeth had also given Lucia a gray hoodie to comfortably wear over her tattered nurse dress, which she was definitely excited to change out of once she got back to the ship.

"It'll be fine." The blonde shrugged. Her mom's opinion was usually sacred to her but when it came to her friendship with Lucia, she didn't care about what her mom had to say.

The Argo II hovered just overhead. With Festus keeping watch for threats on the radar, the entire crew had decided to eat lunch on the hillside while they discussed what to do.

Lucia couldn't explain how much she missed having a good meal—she could eat anything as long as it wasn't fire water or drakon meat soup.

"Hey, Reyna," Annabeth called. "Have some food. Join us."

The praetor glanced over, her dark eyebrows furrowed, as if join them didn't quite compute.

Her cheeks flushed slightly as she silently decided what to do.

Lucia had never seen Reyna without any armor before, including any emotional one.

Her actual praetor chest plate was on board the ship, being repaired by Buford the Wonder Table.

She wore a pair of jeans and a purple Camp Jupiter T-shirt and looked almost like a normal teenager—if it wasn't for the knife at her belt and that guarded expression like she anticipated an attack from any direction and was prepared for anything.

"All right," she said finally.

They scooted over to make room for her in the circle. She sat cross-legged next to Annabeth and nodded at her, her eyes lingering for a second too long on hers. She picked up a cheese sandwich and nibbled at the edge.

Piper grunted from the other side of Annabeth.

Reyna glanced over, studying the girl. "Is that a pastel?" She pointed to Piper's plate which had three corn husk leaves tied up with twine.

"What—Oh." Piper looked at her dish, "No this is Broadswords. My dad used to make them for me.." She explained, "Inside there's beans and maize."

"Broadawat?!—I thought it was some kind of vegetarian tamale this whole time!" Leo looked at Lucia in confusion.

Lucia looked up while munching on her lomo saltado, she swallowed and shrugged."I dunno what to tell you Loco, I thought it was Tamales too."

"What? No. It is Broadswords guys. It's a Cherokee dish." Piper confirmed, She looked over at Reyna and handed her a stuffed husk. "Wanna try?"

"Mm. Thank you." Reyna nodded respectfully. Piper responded with a gentle smile. She made eye contact with Annabeth, who watched the interaction quietly. Piper turned her attention back to her plate.

Lucia observed them knowingly as she stuffed a french fry into her mouth.

"Can I get one?" Leo smirked and tried reaching across towards Pipers' plate.

Piper smacked his hand away, "No....only if you make me tofu tacos again."

Leo groaned, "I made them for you last week."

"You want to try the broadswords or not."

"Fine."

"So," Reyna cleared her throat. "Frank Zhang... praetor."

Frank shifted, wiping crumbs from his chin. "Well, yeah. Field promotion."

"To lead a different legion," Reyna noted. "A legion of ghosts."

Hazel put her arm protectively through Frank's.

After an hour in sick bay with Lucia, they both looked a lot better; but she could tell they weren't sure what to think about their old boss from Camp Jupiter dropping in for lunch.

"Reyna," Jason said, "you should've seen him."

"He was amazing," Piper agreed.

"Frank is a leader," Hazel insisted. "He makes a great praetor."

Reyna's eyes stayed on Frank, observing him intently. "I believe you," she said. "I approve."

Frank blinked. "You do?"

Reyna smiled dryly. "A son of Mars, the hero who helped to bring back the eagle of the legion...I can work with a demigod like that. I'm just wondering how to convince the Twelfth Fulminata."

Frank scowled. "Yeah. I've been wondering the same thing."

Frank had transformed into a whole other person since Lucia last saw him. A "growth spurt" was putting it mildly. He was at least three inches taller, less pudgy, and more muscly. His face looked sturdier, his jawline more rugged.

It was truly a divine transformation. Lucia didn't know how to feel about it, she didn't exactly mind Frank as he looked before. But she guessed it didn't really matter, he still seemed like the same kind dude that Percy called a brother.

"The legion will listen to you, Reyna," Frank said. "You made it here alone, across the ancient lands."

Reyna hummed but chewed on her broadsword as if her appetite was ruined. "In doing so, I broke the laws of the legion."

"Caesar broke the law when he crossed the Rubicon," Frank said. "Great leaders have to think outside the box sometimes."

She shook her head. "I'm not Caesar. After finding Jason's note in Diocletian's Palace, tracking you down was easy. I only did what I thought was necessary."

Percy started smiling. "Reyna, you're too modest. Flying halfway across the world by yourself to answer Lucia's plea, because you knew it was our best chance for peace? That's pretty freaking heroic."

Reyna shrugged. "Says the demigod who fell into Tartarus and found his way back."

"Hey, he had help," Lucia quipped. "But Percy is right, You're definitely legendary."

"Why thank you, Lucia. You're kind... Of course, I couldn't forget you," Reyna reassured. "Without you, I doubt Percy could find his way out of a paper bag."

"Well," Lucia grinned. "He'd struggle that's for sure."

"Luz" Percy complained.

The others started laughing, but Percy didn't mind that it was at his expense. His wide grin told Lucia he was better than he had been in a long while. He loved being around his friends and community.

Of course, It felt good for her to see them all smiling too but Lucia felt like she was putting on a show.

Sure, being in the mortal world felt wonderful—almost heavenly after everything she'd been exposed to in the dark pit—But what Hecate said obviously weighed on her.

She kept getting the short end of the stick and it was exhausting.

Who could hate me so much that they'd curse me? How long have I been cursed? Before Tartarus? Before the quest? What is this fucking curse even about? Does Dad know? Oh, my gods, that might be why he's banished...could it be? No...Shit...

All these questions circled over and over in her head and she couldn't find any answers the longer she sat eating among her friends....even though she missed them—she couldn't enjoy their company right now.

Then there was Bob. Every time he appeared in her memory her heart clenched.

Tell the sun and stars hello for me.

Lucia's gentle smile melted. Bob and Damasen had sacrificed their lives so that Percy and Lucia could sit there now, enjoying the sunlight on their skin and laughing with their friends.

It wasn't fair.

But then again Nothing was fair.

"So, the twenty-million-peso question," Leo said. "We got this slightly used forty-foot-tall statue of Athena. What do we do with it?"

Reyna squinted at the Athena Parthenos. "As fine as it looks on this hill, I didn't come all this way to admire it. According to Lucia, it must be returned to Camp Half-Blood by a Roman leader. Do I understand correctly?"

"Huh?" Lucia looked over at the group, her eyebrows raised in confusion as she broke out of her thoughts. Finally, she processed the question. "Oh...Um...I had a dream down in...that place. I was on Half-Blood Hill, and Athena's voice said, I must stand here. The Roman must bring me. She said it while in your body... So...You're the next piece in the prophecy."

Lucia would have told them the entirety of her dream if she remembered it—at the very least she would have told Percy and Annabeth. But she couldn't think straight while her mind was on overload; The curse, the giants, Gaea, Getting the camps to not kill each other, needing to get to Athens, possibly being a sacrifice—all of it was just so overwhelming.

"It makes sense," Nico said.

The son of Hades sat at the other end of the circle, eating nothing but half a pomegranate, the fruit of the Underworld.

Lucia wondered if that was Nico's idea of a dark joke or if he just genuinely enjoyed pomegranates.

"The statue is a powerful symbol," Nico said. "A Roman returning it to the Greeks...that could heal the historic rift, maybe even heal the gods of their split personalities."

Coach Hedge swallowed his strawberry along with half the mini screwdriver Leo gave him to use as a toothpick. "Now, hold on. I like peace as much as the next satyr—"

"You hate peace," Leo said.

Lucia rolled her eyes. "When have you ever chosen peace?"

"The point is, we're only—what, a few days from Athens? We got an army of giants waiting for us there. We went to all the trouble of saving this statue—"

"I went to most of the trouble," Annabeth reminded him. "Basically all—"

"—because that prophecy called it the giants' bane," the coach continued. "So why aren't we taking it to Athens with us? It's obviously our secret weapon." He eyed the Athena Parthenos. "It looks like a ballistic missile to me.
Maybe if Valdez strapped some engines to it—"

"No." Lucia demanded, " Gaea will rise at Camp Half-Blood. The statue needs to be there."

"You act like you know everything cupcake but prophecy isn't working right now. How do we know that's still what we have to do? Plus we can't blindly trust your foresight, it could be all jacked up."

Lucia cleared her throat. "We don't...and Maybe it is. But we have to risk it. Athena Parthenos needs to be taken to Camp, and Reyna needs to take it. It's the only way to stop a full-blown war between camps."

"I think Lucia is right." Piper unsheathed her dagger Katoptris and set it on her plate. At the moment, the blade showed nothing except the sky, but looking at it still made Lucia uncomfortable.

"Since we got back to the ship," Piper said, "T've been seeing some bad stuff in the knife. Nothing that tells of the future but it's still useful. The Roman legion is almost within striking distance of Camp Half-Blood. They're gathering reinforcements: spirits, eagles, wolves."

"Octavian," Reyna growled, her nostrils flared. "I told him to wait. Puñeta. que gran dolor de cabeza." Damn it. What a huge headache.

"Di eso hermana!" Leo snapped his fingers. Say that sister.

Reyna glared at him in disapproval.

Lucia smiled softly and Annabeth snorted as everyone else exchanged confused glances.

"When we take over command," Frank suggested, "our first order of business should be to load Octavian into the nearest catapult and fire him as far away as possible."

"Agreed," Reyna said. "But for now—"

"He's intent on war," Annabeth put in. "He'll have it unless we stop him."

"So Reyna takes the statue," Percy said. "And we continue to Athens."

Leo shrugged. "Cool with me. We're already making good distance after leaving Epirus. But, uh, there are still a few pesky logistical problems. We still have what—two weeks until that Roman feast day when Gaea is supposed to rise?"

"The Feast of Spes," Jason said. "That's on the first of August. Today is—"

"July eighteenth," Frank offered. "So, yeah, from tomorrow, exactly fourteen days."

Hazel winced. "It took us eighteen days to get from Rome to Epirus—a trip that should've only taken two or three days, max."

"So, given our usual luck," Leo said, "maybe we have enough time to get the Argo II to Athens, find the giants, and stop them from waking Gaea. Maybe. But how is Reyna supposed to get this massive statue back to Camp Half-Blood before the Greeks and Romans put each other through the blender? She doesn't even have her pegasus anymore. Uh, sorry—"

"Leo." Hazel groaned.

"Fine," Reyna snapped. She might have been treating them like allies rather than enemies, but Lucia could tell Reyna still had a serious problem with Leo, probably because he'd blown up half the Forum in New Rome—or because the boy didn't usually think before speaking.

She took a deep breath. "Unfortunately, Leo is correct. I don't see how I can transport something so large. I was assuming—well, I was hoping you all would have an answer."

"The Labyrinth," Hazel said. "I-I mean if Pasiphae has reopened it, and I think she has..." She looked at Percy apprehensively. "Well, you said the Labyrinth could take you anywhere. So maybe—"

"No!" Percy, Lucia, and Annabeth cried in unison.

"Not to shoot you down, Hazel," Percy mumbled once he saw how taken aback she was. "It's just..."

He struggled to find the right words.

"You don't want to go into that place." Annabeth warned eerily, "And we don't have a mortal guide. Even someone as brave and smart as Reyna would get lost in an instant."

Reyna gazed over at Annabeth, softly examining her coiled hair and the details of her face.

Lucia would have paid more attention to their sexual tension if it wasn't for that keyword making her get lost in a sea full of memories.

Labyrinth.

Daedalus had designed the Labyrinth to be alive, constantly growing and changing. Over time, it had stretched beneath the world like the roots of a colossal tree. It could lead you anywhere—distance held no meaning within its twisting corridors. You could enter the maze in New York, walk for a few minutes, and step out in Los Angeles. But only if you knew how to navigate its treacherous paths.

Otherwise, the Labyrinth would deceive you and try to kill you at every turn. When the tunnel network collapsed after Daedalus died Lucia was taken captive by Kronos but she still remembered how awful and maddening the maze was.

Now, knowing it was rebuilding itself beneath the earth, carving out a new refuge for monsters, filled her with dread. She had enough problems already.

Lucia inhaled sharply, "Even if we wanted to, the Athena Parthenos would never fit in those passages. There's no way it could go down there."

"And even if the maze is reopening," Lucia continued, her voice sharp with unease, "we have no idea what it might be like now. It was deadly enough when Daedalus controlled it, and he wasn't exactly malicious. If Pasiphae has reshaped the Labyrinth to suit her own vision..."

She shook her head. "Hazel, maybe your connection to the underground could help Reyna navigate it, but no one else would have a chance. And we can't afford to lose you here. Besides, if you got lost down there... Look, you don't want to get lost in the Labyrinth..." Lucia's voice trailed off.

Annabeth and Percy shared a knowing look.

"You're all right," Hazel said glumly. "Never mind."

Reyna cast her eyes around the group. "Other ideas?"

"I could go," Frank offered, not sounding very happy about it. "If I'm a praetor, I should go. Maybe we could rig some sort of sled, or—"

"No, Frank Zhang." Reyna gave him a weary smile. "I hope we will work side by side in the future, but for now your place is with the crew of this ship. You are one of the eight of the prophecy."

"I'm not," Nico said.

Everybody stopped eating. Lucia looked across the circle at Nico, trying to decide if he was joking.

He seemed dead serious.

Hazel set down her fork. "Nico"

"I'll go with Reyna," he said. "I can transport the statue with shadow travel."

"Uh..." Percy raised his hand. "I mean, I know you just got all eight of us to the surface, and that was awesome. But a year ago you said transporting just yourself was dangerous and unpredictable. A couple of times you ended up in China. Transporting a forty-foot statue and two people halfway across the world"

"I've changed since I came back from Tartarus." Nico's eyes glittered with anger more intensely than Percy understood.

"Nico," Lucia intervened softly, "no one is questioning your power. We just want to make sure you don't kill yourself by pushing yourself too hard."

"Yeah, dude." Jason nodded, "That's a lot of energy you'll have to use."

"I can do it," he insisted. "I'll make short jumps—a few hundred miles each time. It's true, after each jump I won't be in any shape to fend off monsters. I'll need Reyna to defend me and the statue."

Reyna had an excellent poker face. She studied the group, scanning their faces, but betraying none of her own thoughts. "Any objections?"

No one spoke.

"Very well," she said, with the finality of a judge. "I see no better option. But there will be many monster attacks. I would feel better taking a third person. That's the optimal number for a quest."

"Coach Hedge," Jason blurted out.

Percy stared at the son of Zeus, not sure he'd heard correctly. "Uh, what, Jason?"

"The coach is the best choice," He said. "The only choice. He's a good fighter. He's a certified protector. He'll get the job done. Plus he's the only other person who can go back without messing up the prophecy. "

"A faun?" Reyna asked, "I usually trust your judgment Jason but are you sure—"

"Satyr!" barked the coach. "And, yeah, I'll go. Besides, when you get to Camp Half-Blood, you'll need somebody with connections and diplomatic skills to keep the Greeks from attacking you. Just let me go make a call, I mean, get my baseball bat."

He got up and shot Jason an unspoken message that Lucia couldn't quite read.

Although he'd just been volunteered for a likely suicide mission, the coach looked grateful. He jogged off toward the ship's ladder, tapping his hooves together like an excited kid.

Nico rose. "I should go, too, and rest before the first passage. We'll meet at the statue at sunset."

Once he was gone, Hazel frowned. "He's acting strangely. I'm not sure he's thinking this through."

"He'll be okay," Annabeth said.

"I hope you're right." She passed her hand over the ground. Diamonds broke the surface a glittering milky way of stones."We're at another crossroads. The Athena Parthenos goes west. The Argo II goes east. I hope we chose correctly."

Lucia froze at the word crossroads. Once again she was triggered back into her memories.

Hecate claimed there were no more crossroads for her to choose from, and now...it was starting to click.

When the Arai said that her destiny was now in their hands...they meant because of the curse placed against her.

Hazel looked up with wide eyes, "Sorry...Lucia...How are you doing—"

"Fucking Perfect." She snapped, stammering off, "Me? Yeah, I'm perfect."

She spat out her words, not thinking them through. They spilled out of her mouth like hot oil, relieving her insides from burning. "All the giants are back, The world is likely going to be destroyed, and we're no closer to stopping Gaea from rising, I just escaped a fucking torture chamber...And yet I don't get a damn break because the woman who violently brainwashed me just told me I have a stupid Greek curse placed on me! but yes I'm doing peachy keen Hazel!" She threw her fork onto her plate harsher than she expected to. The porcelain shattered so loud it echoed across the field.

Hazel frowned her golden eyes dulling to a light amber.

Everyone stayed silent.

Lucia bit her tongue slightly, "Gods. I'm sorry Hazel...You were just being kind and checking in—and—I-I didn't mean to snap at you... I d—"

Hazel's face softened as she nodded in understanding, "It's okay. I'm okay. It wasn't a good question..."

Percy wished he could say something encouraging and take all of Lucia's worries away, but he felt just as unsettled and pessimistic.

Maybe it was the aftereffects of Tartarus—or maybe they were starting to accept the cards they were dealt: The life of a demigod was always going to be one of glory and death, not of tranquility and life.

Despite all they'd been through and all the battles they'd won, they still seemed no closer to defeating Gaea and finding a slither of Peace.

Sure, they'd released Thanatos. They'd closed the Doors of Death. At least now they could kill monsters and make them stay in Tartarus for a while. But the giants were back—and Lucia...

I will find a way to break the curse myself if I have to. Was all he thought. She deserves better than this...

Percy then considered something. "If the Feast of Spes is in two weeks, and Gaea needs the blood of two demigods to wake—what did Clytius call it? The blood of Olympus?—then aren't we doing exactly what Gaea wants, heading to Athens? If we don't go, and she can't sacrifice any of us, doesn't that mean she can't wake up fully?"

Lucia took his hand and he squeezed back in response.

He drank in the sight of her, cringed, and found himself avoiding eye contact. A pang of guilt and anger hit his chest.

If he stared at her for too long he would see her corpse-like version—as if the death mist never faded. He loved her like crazy, but looking at her since they escaped Tartarus...... gods it was genuinely awful.

"Percy, prophecies cut both ways," Lucia slowly found her voice. "We have to keep to them even if they aren't working. We don't know if the future has changed you're right but if we don't go, we may lose our best and only chance of stopping her. Athens is where our battle originally lied. Which means that no matter what we can't avoid it. Just like I can't avoid...Anyway. Trying to thwart prophecies never works. Gaea could capture us somewhere else, or spill the blood of some other demigods. Either way is it best to risk it? We still...we still have no idea what's preventing prophecy from working normally...."

"Yeah, you're right," Percy said. "I don't like it, but you're right Sunlight..."

The mood of the group became as gloomy as Tartarus air until Piper broke the tension.

"Well!" She sheathed her blade and patted her cornucopia. "Good picnic. Who wants dessert?"

༄

A FRESHLY SHOWERED LUCIA WALKED UP THE HILL BESIDE ANNABETH, PIPER, REYNA AND COACH HEDGE.

When they arrived at the top, Percy stood alone with Nico. Their conversation faded as the group joined them. The latter of the two had one end of rope wrapped around his shoulder, the other end of it was tangled around the Athena Parthenos. Making the statue look like an incredibly large backpack.

Lucia saw Nico and started to say something but she was immediately interrupted.

Her ears picked up on a sound everyone else missed. A low vibration, barely audible—meant only for her. She honed in on it, letting everything else fade.

Nico's voice came through, soft and deliberate, "Don't thank me, Lu. You would've done the same for me."

Her lips parted, but she didn't know what to say. The message wasn't just quiet—it was personal, meant to settle in the space between them where no one else could intrude.

She didn't understand why Nico wanted to hold up such an apathetic front when she knew him as the loveliest and kindest boy behind all the brooding.

Still, a long time ago she learned to accept that Nico wasn't 10 years old anymore, and after everything he'd gone through she just hoped that with time he could allow himself to open up to more experiences.

"Good luck," she told Nico.

"Yeah." He didn't meet her eyes. "You too."

Reyna and Coach Hedge were in full armor with packs over their shoulders. Reyna looked grim and ready for combat. Coach Hedge grinned like he was expecting a surprise party.

Reyna hugged Annabeth. "We will succeed," she promised.

"I know you will," Annabeth squeezed back. The hug lingered for a few seconds. When they pulled away Annabeth blushed and tried to hold back her smile. She turned to Piper sheepishly but the daughter of Aphrodite didn't look upset at all. Instead, her doe-eyed expression displayed admiration.

Piper leaned in for a hug. "Take care of yourself Reyna...Y'know, I actually enjoyed having you around. Even if it wasn't for long."

"Well guess we could plan something after this is all over." Reyna nodded, "The three of us?" She asked.

Annabeth coughed, her palms were sweaty as she felt a tug at her heart.

Piper smiled, and Reyna's heartbeat picked up.

"We would love that. Wouldn't we Annabeth?"

The two girls stared at Annabeth. Who stared at them in a mix of confusion, intrigue, and delight. She looked back at Lucia like she didn't know what to do. Lucia wiggled her eyebrows and Annabeth huffed at how unhelpful that was.

"Yeah. Yeah." Annabeth turned back to them, "That would be—um really nice. Hanging out with the both of you I mean."

Like most of the men there, Coach Hedge was oblivious to what was happening with the three girls and simply shouted out, "I'm going to get to camp and see my baby! Uh, I mean I'm going to get this baby to camp!" He patted the leg of the Athena Parthenos.

"All right," said Nico. "Grab the ropes, please. Here we go." Reyna and Hedge took hold of their ends. The air darkened.

The Athena Parthenos collapsed into its own shadow and disappeared, along with its three escorts.

༄

LUCIA SLAMMED THE DOOR OF HER CABIN BEHIND HER. She studied her room in the argo II and exhaled. Immediately, she plopped on her bed and pressed her head against the pillow.

Sleeping on a berth was dearly missed after barely getting any rest on the slimy and boiling ground of Tartarus' body.

She counted to 130 before she dragged herself out of bed to grab the history scroll and laid it flat across her desk. At first, she just stared at the blank paper.

It took her a while to find the courage to speak.

"Show—" She began, her voice getting caught in her throat. "Show me the curse of Lucia Verano, Daughter of Apollo and Hyacinthus... Show me how it came to be. Show me who condemns her..."

The room dropped down in temperature. The waves crashed against the window of her berthling. The ground shook slightly due to the water. Suddenly, The pages began to flow...

The scene was set in a graveyard. Against an oak tree, a few hundred feet from the Funeral procession that was yet to start.

"You sure you'll be alright?" Will asked. "With everything that's been happening...I'm sure Aurora will understand if you pass."

She nodded softly, "I'm alright. I can't think of myself now...Or Percy... All I can think of is how pained Aurora is. I knew her mother was terminal...but having her die months after Michael and everyone else..."

Will grimaced, "Yeah, it's a terrible situation...but if you need anything, Lulu. If you want to leave or something... I'm here for you too."

Lucia grinned, and ruffled his hair "How did you get to be so stinking amazing little brother."

"I was just born that way." He shrugged.

Lucia giggled and Will couldn't help but chuckle with her, "You sure are an Apollo Kid"

The pair began to walk to the clearing where the funeral was going to be held. Groups of mortals and a small handful of Apollo demigods surrounded the area. Aurora was busy talking to her maternal Aunt by her mother's open coffin.

Eunice, who stood next to her girlfriend, spotted the pair arriving first.

Lucia was whispering in Will's ear when she was interrupted mid-sentence.

Eunice cleared her throat sharply, drawing their attention.

She had only been at camp for a few months, arriving after the defeat of Kronos. She was an introverted one and mostly stayed to herself or around Aurora.

Lucia did her best to be kind and warm since she was her sister's girlfriend—but it was definitely awkward knowing she was related to her ex—if Ethan could even be called that...

Eunice usually answered Lucia's attempts to be civil with one-word answers in an uninterested monotone voice, so Lucia didn't try much to build a friendship.

Also, ever since Percy disappeared Lucia was too busy to think of any of the new campers, she had to put all her attention and energy into finding him.

"Eunice," Lucia greeted with a smile. "Hey."

Eunice's eyes flicked briefly to Lucia, then to Will, her expression unreadable. "Lucia," she said curtly, ignoring Will entirely.

Lucia glanced at Will and gave him a small nudge. "Why don't you go grab us some seats? I'll catch up with you in a minute."

Will hesitated for a fraction of a second, glancing between the two girls. He could feel the tension crackling like static. "You sure?"

"I'm sure," Lucia said with a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine."

Will eventually nodded. "Alright. Don't be too long Lulu."

He gave Eunice a polite nod and walked off toward the seating area.

When Will was out of earshot, Eunice crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing on Lucia. "Why are you here?" she demanded, her voice sharp and laced with venom.

Lucia blinked, taken aback by the hostility. "I'm here for Aurora," she said simply, keeping her tone steady. "obviously."

"For Aurora?" Eunice scoffed. "You think showing up is somehow going to help her? You're the last person she needs right now. Leave."

Lucia frowned but didn't flinch. "I'm her Sister, Eunice. I care about her. Of course, I'm going to be here. If she wants me gone I think she can tell me herself. So respectfully—back off."

"You care?" Eunice shot back. "If you cared, you'd stay away. You're bad luck, Lucia. Trouble follows you everywhere, and Aurora has enough pain in her life without you dragging more into it."

Lucia's jaw tightened, but she held her ground. "I didn't come here to fight you or defend myself. I came here to support her, just like everyone else."

Eunice stepped closer, her glare unwavering. "Maybe you should think about what your version of 'support' does to the people around you. Aurora doesn't need your bullshit, Lucia. Not now. Not ever. You're a mistake. And all you do is bring tragedy to yourself and the people around you. It's in your very blood. Why do you think you keep losing boyfriends?" She taunted.

For a moment, silence hung between them, the weight of Eunice's words pressing heavy in the air.

Lucia wanted to smack her straight across the face—as hard as possible.

Instead, she remembered where she was and inhaled slowly, forcing herself to stay composed. Her fists balled up at her sides."Aurora is my sister. She asked me to come. I'm not going anywhere. Especially not because you tell me to."

Eunice scoffed, taking a step closer. "You don't even get it, do you? You think everything's about you. You have no idea what Aurora's been through. You just barge into her life, dragging all your drama behind you—"

"Enough," Lucia said quietly but firmly, her voice cutting through Eunice's tirade. "I'm here for Aurora, not to argue with you. Clearly, you don't like me, and that's fine. But this isn't about us. This is about Aurora."

Eunice's lips thinned into a scowl, but before she could retort, a voice called out from the clearing. "Lucia!"

Both women turned to see Aurora waving, her expression tired, and her eyes red and puffy with tears; but as she called for her sister she looked incredibly grateful.

Lucia looked back at Eunice, her gaze steady and unflinching. "I'm going to be there for her, whether you like it or not."

Without waiting for a reply, she turned and walked toward Aurora, leaving Eunice standing alone, her bitterness lingering in the air like a storm cloud.

Quickly, the scene began shifting. A new site appeared, this time, the scroll took her back to Camp.

The strawberry fields stretched in neat, endless rows, their ripe fruit glowing faintly under the silver light of the moon. The cool night air carried a sweet, earthy aroma. Crickets chirped in the distance, and the vines seemed almost alive, swaying gently despite the stillness of the night.

At the heart of the field, Eunice knelt in the dirt, her hands moving deliberately and frantically as she dug into the earth. Each handful of soil tossed aside seemed to take a weight off her chest.

The hole was deep now, enough to fit the object that sat beside her—something hard wrapped in a dark fabric, faintly pulsating, as though alive. It exuded a golden light, the only thing shining in all the darkness.

"And if she is stubborn to greet death," Eunice murmured, her voice low. "may her steps lead not to victory, but to the unforgiving depths of Darkness and Despair."

A slight breeze stirred the leaves, and Eunice paused for a moment.

She glanced over her shoulder, her expression unreadable, she didn't need to look far...Her lips curled into the faintest of smirks before she resumed her digging.

"Have her be consumed by her worst fears. Strip her of the happiness she stole. Let her melodies turn to mournful wails, and her golden laurels wither in shame. Make her path treacherous..."

Another rustle came from the shadows, soft and subtle, but Eunice didn't respond to it. She simply pushed the object deeper into the hole, smoothing the dirt over it with an unmistakable finality.

The faint pulse from the buried object disappeared into the earth.

Her voice softened, but the determination in it remained: "It is done."

As Eunice finished, she wiped the dirt from her hands slowly, her eyes lingering just past the edge of the field.

The night returned to its calm, the vines swaying again, the crickets chirping, and the field as quiet as it had been before.

༄

IT WAS LONG AFTER NIGHTFALL WHEN LUCIA STORMED OUT OF HER ROOM.

"Annabeth!" Lucia knocked a frantic classical tune on her door. "Annabeth! Wake up!"

The girl unlocked and opened the door in a matching purple and grey Pajama set, her hair was in a satin bonnet with silhouette owls on it. She yawned as she looked at Lucia, "What." She said curtly,

"Tell me everything you know about a Katadesmos." She said.

Annabeth seemed to wake up then, her eyebrows furrowed, "What?"

"That's what the arai said before they tortured me. They said they had to make sure the Katadesmos was in action. What is it? Does it have to do with the curse?"

Annabeth's face fell. Her eyes looked at Lucia in complete horror. "Lucia, A Katadesmos is one of the worst curses in Greek history. Katadesmos means to pierce or bind."

Her voice was heavy with dread. She stepped back, motioning for Lucia to come inside as she closed the door behind her. "It's a form of binding magic that traps someone's soul to a fate they can never escape. It's a curse that not only affects the body but also the mind. The victim is condemned to feel every pain, every loss, every torment that the spell caster wants to inflict on them—forever...But...How are you sure this is what's happening to you?"

Lucia swallowed and took a deep breath, trying to steady herself by leaning on Annabeth's door. "I saw it in my grandmother's scroll. Eunice—she was digging into the dirt, burying something. It looked like a tablet or a stone wrapped in cloth, glowing with a golden light. She was saying that if I didn't face death, I'd be consumed by my worst fears. She said my happiness would be stripped away, that I'd be trapped in darkness. Annabeth I think I've been cursed for a while...I think it started once Percy disappeared."

The blonde's eyes flickered with worry, and her lips pressed together in a faint, uncertain line. "Eunice... She's the one who did this to you?"

Lucia nodded.

Annabeth's hand instinctively reached out as if to steady Lucia, but she pulled back, unsure of how to offer comfort.

Her mind raced with the implications of what Lucia had just shared. "You think the curse started when Percy disappeared?" she asked, her voice quieter now as if the weight of Lucia's words had finally sunk in.

Lucia nodded again, her eyes darkened by the memory of that day. "Things started changing after that—strange dreams, the sense that something was always just out of reach, that something dark was surrounding me. And now it has all clicked. The curse, the fear, the way my happiness keeps slipping through my fingers. It's like I'm being pulled into a place I can't escape..."

Annabeth was silent for a moment, clearly processing everything Lucia had just told her. She glanced around the room, as though searching for answers in the quiet corners of the cabin. "This is... bad, Lucia. Katadesmos is one of the most insidious curses, and if what you're saying is true, it means Eunice has been pulling the strings all along. With prophecy not working I can't even imagine how much control she actually has I mean—She's using your deepest fears against you, and it's only going to get worse if we don't stop it."

Lucia felt a cold shiver run down her spine. "What do we do, Annabeth? How do we stop it? I can feel it, the curse—it's getting stronger. I thought it was just Tartarus but..."

Annabeth took a deep breath, her eyes narrowing with focus. "The only way to unbind a Katadesmos is for the caster to undo it, or death..."

"Mine?" Lucia mumbled.

"Or hers."

".... I can't just kill someone to save myself... Especially my sister's girlfriend. Maybe I can convince her. Speak to her. But she fucking despises me." Lucia huffed, "There's no other way?"

"The only way to escape the fates' power is death, so unless Eunice is going to undo the curse willingly... There's really no way of unbinding the Katadesmos to you...That I know of."

Lucia's face fell completely, the hope was drained out of her violet eyes and Annabeth frowned. The blonde wished she had a way of transferring happiness to the girl who always tried making everyone around her happy.

All Annabeth had to offer was support and some information, but to Lucia that was something...

The golden brunette clenched her fists, "She wants to break me," she said, her voice gravelly. "If she thinks she can tear me apart, she's wrong. I am never losing myself again."

Annabeth's gaze softened with empathy, but her voice remained steady. "We'll find a way. We always find a way. We're sailing our way through the ancient lands, there have to be answers somewhere.."

At that moment, a sudden, deafening crash above deck shook the ship. Lucia stumbled sideways against the wall, her heart racing as the wooden boards beneath them groaned and shifted.

"What was that?" she whispered, her voice sharp with alarm.

Annabeth steadied herself against a nearby wall, her eyes snapping to the ceiling as muffled voices and hurried footsteps erupted above them.

"It sounded like—" Annabeth's words were cut off by another jarring impact, the ship lurching violently to one side.

The girls stumbled on their feet.

Lucia grabbed her arm. "We're under attack."

Annabeth nodded grimly, her eyes wide with understanding. There was a distant clatter of weapons being drawn. Percy and Jason's shouting commands filtered through the deck above, the noisy chaos sending a chill down Lucia's spine.

"We need to move," Annabeth said, her voice urgent.

The two bolted from the cabin, their footsteps pounding against the narrow stairs as they raced toward the deck. Ahead of them were the other crew members.

As soon as they burst onto the deck, the sight that greeted them made Lucia's blood run cold.

Strangers—about a dozen—clad in celestial bronze and leather armor, their movements sharp and efficient, swarmed the ship.

The crew had been overpowered almost immediately, many of them forced to their knees, their hands bound behind their backs. All of them were either being tied up or held at spearpoint. None of them fought back, their confusion as thick as Lucia's.

"Get down!" one of the strangers barked, his spear aimed directly at Annabeth and Lucia.

"Freeze!" A female voice called

Lucia's eyes scanned the scene. Her hand twitched toward her daggers in her thigh sheath, but she hesitated—there were too many of them, and not a single crew member had been seriously harmed.

Yet.

A woman stepped forward from the chaos, her helmet casting a shadow over her pale face. Her armor gleamed.

The boat fell silent under the night sky as she walked onto the center of the deck, she stopped in front of Lucia.

"You," she said, her piercing dark gaze locking onto the daughter of Apollo.

"Drop your weapons," she commanded the crowd and they obliged.

She was tall, her bronze helmet crested with a plume of deep purple. On her bronze round shield was a painted crest—the Greek letter lambda (Λ), her gaze—piercing and unyielding—was locked solely on Lucia.

"Princess," She said, her voice reverent yet firm. "We have come to return you to your throne. Your people have come in search of you..."

Lucia froze, her mind reeling.

"Princess?" Annabeth asked,

Percy grumbled from his spot a few feet away "Hey, who the hell are you people!"

Lucia's eyes darted around, her breath quickening. These weren't pirates. They weren't monsters. Or even enemies it seemed.

Princess

The celestial bronze in their armor and weapons, the disciplined precision, the shape of their helmets, the crest etched into their shields —these were Spartans.

The woman in front of her sank to her knees, and the eleven other soldiers followed in sync. They all bowed their heads toward Lucia.

"You are Hyacinthus's heir, daughter of the bloodline that once ruled Sparta. It is your birthright to lead us. You will be our Queen, Lucia of Sparta..."

.....to be continued

A/N: and that's a wrap on Act 2 ! Act 3 is already being planned and worked on but updates will be slow and steady since there's aloooooot of original storylines and plot changes in this one! Do not worry though I will not be going anywhere and I will do my best to post as often as I can!

But also if you get withdrawals check out my other Riordanverse stories because I will be updating them much more frequently now since the writing process is a lot easier/shorter than it is for this book.

Also, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in an additional book with one shots/extra scenes of Heliophilia and Greek tragedy. I'd write the moments you guys have been wanting to see like Blackjack telling Percy about Lucia and Ethan almost kissing, etc. Let me know if you guys are interested in that and if you are let me know if you have any specific requests!

As always hope you enjoyed thank you for all your support and can't wait for you to see what I have coming next!

—V