Archive of Our Own

Work Text

Look, I always wanted to be a hero.

I grew up on the stories of heroes who saved the world against all odds.

My parents, for one, saved the world twice before they were eighteen. I always wanted to be like them, and have my name remembered in history.

I wanted to be the kind of demi-god who could have anything thrown at them by the gods and excel every time. For the first nineteen years of my life, I listened, watched and trained to be the best.

My name is Zoe Jackson, and I am going to tell you something it took me too long to figure out; that the story you are about to hear was never about me.
—“So!” The loud exclamation of Mrs. Lansdale was enough to break Esperanza from her daze. She had been staring, lost in thought, at the chip of paint just below the clock on the wall.From the desk beside her, Lyla reached over and tapped her arm, giving her a You okay? Look. Esperanza nodded, trying her best to follow along with what Mrs. Lansdale was saying. There were only a few minutes left of class, and then she was done junior year forever.“As we approach the end of your last day as high school juniors, I ask you to reflect on everything you have learned in this class this last semester.” Mrs. Lansdale droned on.Esperanza eyed the clock; ten minutes left.“Would anyone like to start us off?” Mrs. Lansdale asked, looking out at the Houston Eastside High Classics class over her large-brimmed glasses. “Ah, yes, Clarie.”“I learned that Medusa is not the monster people think she is. It was Poseidon and Athena that screwed her over.” Claire said with a self-satisfied smirk. Esperanza fought the urge to laugh. Claire wasn’t wrong, but Esperanza didn’t know that the gods would share the same sentiment.As if on cue, distant thunder rumbled. This time, Esperanza did let out a snort, which she quickly covered with a cough. Lyla threw her a confused look.Mrs. Lansdale clapped her hands. “Very good Clarie!” She glanced at the clock. “Now I think we have time for just a few more comments. Yes, Blake!”Blake, shifted in their seat as everyone’s eyes turned to them. “Well, to go off what Clarie said I learned that Medusa was killed by the demi-god Perseus.”“Perseus Jackson you mean,” Esperanza muttered under her breath.“He killed her in her sleep,” Blake continued, “Using a shield and sword given to him by the gods.”“Percy Jackson did it without any help from the gods,” Esperanza added quietly. Distant thunder boomed again.“Correct!” Mrs. Lansdale praised, “I am glad you all enjoyed Medusa’s story. As mythology adapts and changes it is very interesting to see how our perceptions of monsters and heroes change.”Esperanza looked at the clock; only five more minutes.Anyone else,” Mrs. Lansdale pressed. When no one raised their hand she settled her eyes on the boy in front of Esperanza, “What about you, Jose?”“Umm…” Jose scratched at the back of his head, thinking for a moment, “Oh! Um, I learned that that girl on that island who trapped Odysseus and who is named after that Caribbean music is a total bitc— I mean female dog! If you get what I am saying.”Esperanza’s heart skipped a beat. No thunder was heard.The gods agreed.The familiar sense of anxiety and anger swelled within her. Like a snake coiling around her stomach and making its way up her throat. The room began to grow warmer, sparks danced along her fingertips.“Um, right, yes.” Mrs. Lansdale stammered, “Thank you for that Jose.” She looked around the room again. “Ah, Esperanza! What did you learn?”Esperanza started, lowering the hand she hadn’t even realized she had raised. “I-I um…” her throat felt tight. Her stomach swirled uneasily. She was not afraid to speak out in class or call her classmates out, but she was afraid of what it meant to defend that side of her family.But you are just defending your mom. She reminded herself. Besides what do these mortals know? “I learned two things this year, Mrs. Lansdale. Well, one of them I already knew.” She said, finding her voice again.Mrs. Lansdale smiled. “Please, tell us.”“One is that most people in this class are idiots. If they had actually paid attention in class they would know that Calypso,” She stressed the name, looking right at Jose. “Was cursed just as much as Odysseus.” There were a few ‘oooohs!’ around the room but she ignored them. “And two; the gods are fucking assholes.”
Ring! Ring!
The bell dinged right on time. Esperanza grabbed her bag from the floor and left the classroom as her fellow students cheered and filled the hallways before Mrs. Lansdale could say anything about her choice of words.Lyla scrambled after her, jumping at the loud boom of thunder right over their heads. “Jeez, I didn’t know we were getting a thunderstorm today!”Esperanza shrugged. The surge of anger was gone, leaving her feeling guilty and with an impending headache. She sighed, looking down at her hands. The sparks were gone thankfully. Closing her eyes she took a few deep breaths like her dad had taught her just to be sure.“Espie!” Esperanza opened her eyes and was almost knocked over by her other two best friends. “I cannot believe it is summer already!” Marina cried.“Yeah, and our last true one before we are adults going off to College.” Nicole sighed. “Why can’t we just be kids forever!”Feeling better at the intervention of her friends, Esperanza laughed. “We still have time Nikki.”Lyla shook her head, “Not too much time! Just think by this time next year we will be packing for College and having to live on our own!”“Oh, I am excited to live on my own and get away from my parents,” Nicole said as they made their way down the hall. “But, I am not excited about the responsibilities!”“We’ve got a year! You two need to calm down!” Esperanza said, pointing at Nicole and Lyla.Marina nodded, throwing one arm over each of their shoulders. “We will just have to make this the best summer ever!”“Except Espie has to go to that stupid religious summer camp,” Nicole said, glaring at her.Marina groaned, “I forgot about that! Espie, do you have to go?”“Are you or your parents even religious?” Lyla asked.Espie bit her lip, she hated lying to her friends, but what else was she supposed to do, tell them the truth? Um, actually my grandpa is a Greek god and my mom is actually Calypso from the Odyssey. They would think she was insane. “Well… we are not religious exactly but it is important that I go. I am sorry.”She really wished she didn’t have to go. She would give anything to stay in Texas for the summer, working at the garage and hanging out with her friends. Anywhere was better than going back to Camp.“But it's all the way in New York!” Marina whined.“I know! I know! But it’s only for half the summer. I will be back at the end of July by the latest to help my parents with the shop and hang out with you guys, okay?” Esperanza smiled at her friends.“Fine, fine,” Nicole said, waving her hand in the air. “We will let you off the hook this time.”Marina tugged on one of Esperanza’s curls, “You better spend all your free time with us when you get back.”Esperanza laughed, “I will.”The four girls continued down the hall, stopping at their lockers to grab the last of their things. The rest of the student body moved around them, buzzing with excited energy.“Hey, Espie.” She looked over her shoulder to see Kaden Fulton standing behind her, his backpack was thrown over one shoulder and his brown hair was messy, but somehow that made him seem 100 times more attractive. Nicole, Lyla and Marina shared a look beside her.“Hey, Kaden.”He smiled at her. “You have a good summer okay?”Esperanza smiled back, “Thanks, you too Kaden. See you next year.”He gave her a slow look up and down. “Yeah, or maybe my car will break down and I’ll have to pay a visit to your shop?”“Maybe,” Esperanza said, practically feeling her friends' wide-eyed looks burning into her head. Kaden laughed, and then walked off, catching up with some of his football friends.Esperanza sighed. It’s not that she didn’t think Kaden was attractive – he was. It was just that boys almost never wanted to be with her for being with her, rather they wanted to be with her body. Boys were always looking at her, sometimes it was flattering but other times it was just straight-up creepy.“Oh. My. God.” Marina squealed. “What was that Espie?!”“Is there something going on between you and Kaden?” Lyla wiggled her eyebrows up and down.Esperanza sighed before turning back to her friends, “No. There is nothing happening between us. Just like any other guy who flirts with me… or girl for that matter.” She added quietly. It was no secret she was bisexual, the few drunken games of spin the bottle took care of that, not that it mattered to her anyway.Marina sighed, “I wish I had boys groveling at my feet for my number.”Espie scoffed, “No you don’t.”“Hey! Just because you don’t like it does–”“Esperanza Valdez!”The four friends turned to see their principal, Mr. Renney coming down the hall toward them. “Let’s go!” Esperanza slammed her locker shut and took off toward the front doors, Marina, Lyla and Nicole hot on her heels.“What is that about?” Nicole asked, breathlessly as they made it outside and dashed toward the parking lot.Esperanza looked over her shoulder to see Mr. Renney and Mrs. Lansdale dodging crowds of surprised students. The latter seemed to be struggling in her red high heels while Mr. Renney was already sweating in the hot Texas sun. “Um… I may or may not have called everyone in my Classics class idiots and said that the Greek and Roman gods were ‘fucking assholes’.“It’s true. She did.” Lyla said.“Espie!” Marina and Nicole cried.“Why did you even take that class if you don’t like it?” Nicole cried throwing her hands in the air and pulling her backpack strap further onto her shoulder. They were almost at the parking lot.Espie shrugged. “I find it really easy and I need the grade booster.”“You are like the smartest person I know!” Marina said, pushing her hair out of her face. “Why do you need a grade booster?”“Tell that to my English mark,” Espie muttered. They were just a few meters away from the parking lot. Almost there. Just a little closer.“Miss Valdez! You stop right now otherwise you are expelled!”Esperanza stopped and swore under her breath. Nicole, Lyla and Marina almost crashed into her. She could hear Mr. Renney coming up behind her and took a deep breath. She could get out of this.Her dad had once convinced a whole crowd of fan-girl nymphs to fangirl over him instead of Narcissus and got Narcissus himself to look away from well… himself. Her mom had trapped Odysseus on her island for seven years through the art of music persuasion. And besides people almost always underestimated her because of her looks.She could do this. What did Aunt Piper always say? Even without Charmspeak, you could get someone on your side, it’s just all about the eyes and the tilt of your voice.“Mr. Renney,” Esperanza said turning around with a smile. She threw her brown curls over her shoulder. “I am so sorry I didn’t hear you before. My friends and I are just so excited to start our summer vacations so that we can return to this wonderful institution and learn again soon.”She batted her eyelashes softly. She wasn’t trying to flirt with the man, just make him believe her. Mr. Renney narrowed his eyes, “That is all well and good MissValdez but we must talk about the comments you made at the end of your Classics class.”“Oh, I see. What about?” She began to twirl a lock of hair around her finger. Play dumb.“You cannot call your classmates idiots nor can you swear at a teacher!” Mr. Renney said, more sweat beading on his forehead. Behind him, Mrs. Lansdale stood warily looking around at the other students milling about.Esperanza gasped. “Oh! That! Yes, I remember now. Oh dear, I don’t know what came over me. You are completely right Mr. Renney! I promise it will not happen again.” She smiled sweetly.“Well–” Mr. Renney stuttered, “We appreciate your honesty and initiative to not do something of the sort again, but we must talk about some sort of consequence—”“Oh, I don’t think that will be necessary!” Esperanza said, cutting the principal off. “I know what I did wrong and I am deeply sorry about it. And besides, if we are being honest here, I didn’t swear at Mrs. Lansdale, I swore at the gods.”Mr. Renney’s face went blank, “The go- Miss. Valdez, you do realize that the Greek gods are not real?”Esperanza bit her lip. Don’t screw this up by laughing. “What? But Mrs. Lansdale teaches about them so vividly! She has done so much research and is such a good teacher! I thought it was real history! She had me convinced!”Mr. Renney didn’t know what to say. Behind him, Mrs. Lansdale blushed, “That is kind of you to say. I am glad you had such enthusiasm for the course.” Then, she turned to the principal, “Perhaps we can let her off, I mean she was just so immersed in everything.”Esperanza nodded, “Oh yes! I was! But I still shouldn’t have used such coarse language, I promise I won’t ever do so again.”Mr. Renney looked back and forth between her and Mrs. Lansdale. Finally, he sighed, “Very well. But this is a warning Miss Valdez! This won’t happen again, is that clear?”“As crystal Mr. Renney!” Esperanza said cheerfully, “Have a great summer!” Then she grabbed Lyla and Nicole’s hands and quickly walked away.“Woah!” Nicole said, gaping at her.“How did you do that?” Lyla cried.Esperanza just smiled.“Isn’t Mr. Renney going to call your parents now and tell them what happened? Shouldn’t you be worried?” Marina asked worriedly, as they started toward the line of buses.Esperanza shrugged. “He said it was just a warning. Besides, I don’t think my parents would care.”It was true. Both her mom and her dad would probably agree with her – at least about the gods part – they might scold her for calling her classmates idiots, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle.“Lucky,” Marina muttered quietly.The sound of a car horn made them turn. “Oh well,” Nicole said, waving at the black SUV. “That is my ride. Come on Lyla, my dad will drop you at your place on the way.”“Really? Thank you!” Lyla squealed, “Oh thank goodness! I did not want to sit on the hot sweaty bus! Sorry.” She added, to Esperanza and Marina.“It’s okay.”“Well, this is the last time all four of us will be together until August.” Nicole said sadly.Lyla hugged Esperanza. Nicole and Marina joined in, throwing their arms around her.
“Try to have fun at your stupid camp without us!”Esperanza laughed, “I will try.”“And don’t have too much fun and stay in New York forever!” Nicole added, “Come back to us!”Esperanza smiled, “I will. I promise.”Nicole’s dad honked again, so they separated. Nicole and Lyla ran off to the car, while Esperanza and Marina headed to their bus. “Bye! See you in August!”Marina took the window seat and Esperanza settled in beside her. They laughed and talked the whole ride until the bus pulled up to her stop, just two minutes from home. Before she could off, Marina gave her a big hug. “I am going to miss you!”“I am going to miss you too! But just like every summer, I will be back before you know it! And you can always text me,” She didn’t let go, “Okay, now let me go otherwise I will miss my stop!”“Okay, okay!” Marina, reluctantly let her go. “Bye!”“Bye!” Esperanza waved as she stepped off the bus, saying thank you to the driver as she left.The still, hot air of the mid-afternoon hit her, she used her hand as a shade against the sun. She started down the sidewalk toward her home. The familiar smell of smoke and engine grease filled her senses as the sign; Leo and Calypso’s Garage: Auto Repair and Mechanical Monsters, came into view.She went through the customer entrance, instead of going straight up to the apartment. She opened the door for Mr. Greene as he came out with a bouquet of flowers and a basket of fresh vegetables from her Mom’s garden.“Thank you, Esperanza,” He said.“You’re welcome, Mr. Greene!” Esperanza said with a smile.She walked into the reception area of the garage as he left. Her mother was at the front desk, staring intently at the computer. The dirty overalls she wore over her white shirt and grease on her arms told Esperanza that she had been helping her Dad today.“Espie!” She cried looking up at the sound of the bell. She came around the desk to give her a hug. “Happy summer! How was your last day?”Esperanza smiled, “It was good.”Clearly, Mr. Renney hadn’t called her parents after all.“I am glad! I cannot believe my little girl is now a high school senior!”“Mom!” Esperanza groaned.“I baked you a cake. Chocolate with vanilla ice cream and strawberries, your favourite!” Calypso said, smiling at her daughter.“You didn’t have to do that, Mom,”She shrugged, “It is not every day your daughter finishes her junior year.”Esperanza smiled, but it faded as she remembered Jose’s comment. She didn’t know how anyone could ever think of her mom as someone other than the kind, caring, loving person she was.“I am glad you are here!” Calypso said, moving around to the other side of the desk again. “Your father is busy fixing the Thompson’s car and building something for the Stoll brothers. I did not ask.” She said to Esperanza’s concerned look. Nothing but trouble where the Stoll brothers were involved.“Anyway, I need your help. I was trying to input the latest order forms into the database, or ‘cloud’ or whatever, so I could print the review of the month, but I think the computer and the printer are broken.”Esperanza gave her mother a fond smile. Despite living in the 21st century for over two decades, she still struggled with technology. “Let me see what I can do.”She put down her bag and walked over to the computer. After a few minutes, she figured out the issue. “The Bluetooth isn’t on Mom. That's why the computer isn’t connected to the printer and won’t print.”“Right… I still don’t know what blue teeth have to do with anything, but okay.”Esperanza laughed, “It’s alright Mom, I got it.”“Thanks, darling.”As she fixed the computer settings and rebooted the computer, Calypso turned the sign on the front door from “Open” to “Close”.“We are closed already?”Her mom shrugged, “It is a special day is it not?”Esperanza sighed, “Mom, its not that big of a deal!”Calypso simply smiled, heading towards the door that led to the upstairs apartment. “I am going to make dinner, once you have the computer fixed, go tell your Dad it will be ready in forty-five minutes.”“Will do.”Ten minutes later, Esperanza had the monthly review printed and stacked on the desk. She got up from the rotating desk chair. Pushing open the red swinging doors to the back garage, the sound of machinery and the scent of oil filled her senses.The old dusty speaker her dad fixed up last summer was blasting Green Day from the corner. She made her way through the workbenches to where her dad was working under the Thompson’s car.“Hey Festus,” She said as she passed the bronze dragon, curled up at the back of the garage. He blew smoke at her, causing her to giggle.Esperanza stood at the hood of the car, looking down at the blue Sedan. Just her dad’s legs were visible from underneath. He was signing horribly off-key to “American Idiot” and clearly did not hear her come in over the music.“Dad!”No response.“Dad!”Still nothing.Esperanza sighed, nudging her dad’s leg with her foot and laughed as he jumped, and heard the tell-tale sound of his head hitting the bottom of the car.“Espie! You scared me!” He smiled as he rolled out from under the Sedan. His hair and face were splatted with oil and his overalls were filthy.Esperanza smiled at him. “Really? I couldn’t tell.” Leo stood quickly, grabbing her in a tight bear hug before she could stop him. “Dad! You are going to get my shirt all dirty!” She protested.“Too bad, so sad.” He hugged her harder. After a few seconds of protest, she relented, hugging him back.“Mom says dinner is in thirty minutes.”“Sounds good!” Leo pulled back from the hug, staring at his daughter. Something in her heart clenched at the look he gave her. “Wanna help me finish this car before we get some of your mom’s delicious cooking?”Esperanza gave him a look, “If I ever say no to that you should check me into a mental hospital.”Her heart warmed at the sound of his laughter.—Half an hour later Esperanza was enjoying her mother’s vegetarian lasagna while her parents chatted about their day.“So what are you making for the Stolls?” She asked her dad.Her mom rolled her eyes and her dad laughed. “They asked me to make them a paint bomb that stains clothes forever.”Esperanza laughed as Calypso gasped, “Leo Valdez you did not!”Leo smirked, “What’s wrong with a little fun, sunshine?”Calypso smacked his arm, “Who are they planning on using a paint bomb for?”He shrugged, “I don’t know. I don’t ask.”“Do you need any help with it?” Esperanza asked, much to her mother’s dismay. Calypso brought her fingers to her temples and shook her head.Her Dad smiled, “Thanks Espie, but I already finished it. I will give it to them when we drop you off at Camp next week.”
Camp.
Esperanza sighed. Here we go. She put her fork down and looked at her parents hesitantly. “Do I have to go to Camp?”Silence filled the room. Esperanza bit her lip. She knew her parents would never say yes but she had to try. She had been thinking of asking them if she could stay home this summer for a few weeks now, as the end of school drew closer to a close. The more she thought about it the more the thought of going to Camp filled her with dread.She wanted to stay here! Spend her summer with people who actually cared about her. She wanted to do movie nights with her friends, road trips with her parents, and visits to the Way Station. She wanted to work at the garage and not have to worry about monsters, quests or demi-gods who wanted nothing to do with her.“Of course, you have to go to Camp!” Leo laughed, glancing between Calypso and Esperanza, clearly unsure if she was being serious or not.“But why?”“Why?” Her dad looked really confused now. “Because you have to learn how to control your powers and how to fight monsters and stuff… right?”Esperanza rolled her eyes, “But I already know how to do that! Besides, I would be safe here with you two and Festus!”Her mom sighed, pushing her plate into the middle of the table, “It is important that you go.” Esperanza groaned.Leo looked at his daughter, “Listen, kid, I would much rather have you here all the time, but you are a demi-god and demi-gods go to camp… it's like the law or something.”“You didn’t!”“Yes, I did!”“Okay, for like seven months. Six of which were spent either on a quest or spending 24/7 building a boat! And then you just decided ‘nope! Not going anymore’.” Esperanza shot back.“It was a little more complicated than that! Geez give me a break!”“You give me a break and let me stay home!” She stood out of her chair, her dad following suit.“Alright, you two–” Her mom tried to cut in.“Esperanza Valdez! We can’t just let you stay home the whole summer! We are already letting you come home halfway through!”“Leo—”“It’s a free country, Dad! You can do whatever the hell you want!”“Esp—”“You are my daughter I just want to make sure you are safe!”“By sending me away?”“Ye–”“QUIET!” The lights flickered and a harsh breeze swept through the kitchen. Both Esperanza and Leo sat immediately. Sometimes, a mom voice could be more effective than even Aunt Piper’s charmspeak.Esperanza glanced at her mother, she had risen from her seat, her eyes blazed and her hair whipped around her head. She gulped, sometimes she forgot her mother was an ex-sorceress who still had some tricks up her sleeve. It also made her heart hurt because all she could see was the woman in the Odyssey standing before her now.“Now,” As Calypso sat back down the room returned to normal. Esperanza let out a sigh. Her mom turned to her, placing a hand on hers, “Why do you not want to go to camp?”Esperanza had a decision to make; she could tell her parents the truth and ruin everything or she could lie. ...Lying sounded pretty good.“I don’t know,” She pouted, “I just don’t wanna.”“Espie,” Her mom’s voice was soft, and her eyes were softer as she looked at her. She was compelled to tell her mom everything, but she couldn’t.She settled on a half-truth instead. “I don’t have a lot of friends at camp. I would rather stay here with my mortal friends, and help you guys run the shop and visit Gramma and Grandma in Indianapolis and just… not go to Camp.” She finished lamely.Leo shook his head, “You still have friends at camp right? What about Jasper?”Jasper. Otherwise known as Jasper McLean-Grace.He had been Espie’s best non-mortal friend for as long as she could remember. They were only two months apart in age and had basically grown up together.Jasper was a child of divorce… but not at the same time. Piper and Jason had been broken up for almost ten years by the time they had Jasper. Piper was also 95% certain she was attracted to women more than men… but hey, apparently Esperanza’s parent's wedding was exciting if Jasper’s birthday nine months after the fact was any indication.“Jasper is only one person, Dad,” Esperanza said, answering his question. “He can’t be with me 24/7, besides he always has to go back to California for “Roman stuff”.”“Okay,” Leo admitted, “What about Bianca? Or Charlie and Zoe?”Esperanza laughed. She actually laughed.To think that Zoe Jackson – the girl who hated her guts since some random day when they were thirteen and stopped talking to her – would ever be friends with her was too much. Then she realized her parents weren’t laughing and hurried to get herself under control.“Sorry, it's just… we aren’t really friends anymore.” She looked between her parents and sighed, “Bianca and Charlie are two years younger than me, and they are nice or whatever but it’s not like when we were kids. And as for Zoe… we just aren’t friends. Like at all.”Her dad looked sad for a moment, “Oh. Why?”Esperanza shrugged, “Ask her. I don’t know why no one would want to be friends with a funny, talented and smoking hot girl like me.”She knew though. She knew exactly why and the reason was sitting right across the table from her.Her mom groaned. Muttering something about her “being too much like your father”.“Well, what about other campers?” Leo asked, clearly not letting the subject go.Esperanza sighed, tired of talking about this, “The point is I have friends here that I would rather be with than those in Camp Half-Blood.”Leo and Calypso shared a look. “I am sorry Espie.” Her mom said softly. Esperanza groaned. She knew not to get her hopes up, but she still felt disappointed. “You have to go.”“Okayyyy,” She whined, “But why can’t I go the second week? I just don’t understand why you are dropping me off next week but then coming the week after for the reunion thingy.”“Well, Hazel, Frank and Jason can’t come until the second week, because of ceremonies in Camp Jupiter,” Her mom explained, “So we are all meeting then.”“But why can’t I just come with you then?”“Because we kinda signed you up for showing new campers around the first week…” Leo said quickly.“What?!”Her parents winced. “I am sorry sweetheart,” Calypso began, “Chiron needed volunteers for older campers to show some of the new campers around, so–”“So you signed me up without asking!?”“...yes,” Leo said quietly.“I was going to ask you, but someone told me not to.” Her mom said, glaring at her dad.Esperanza groaned. Not only did she have to go to Camp, and be at Camp a week earlier than she could without her best friend, but she also had to show younger campers around. How could this get worse?Leo tried to give a reassuring smile, “It will be fun! You and Silena are paired together, so you won’t be alone!”“Silena?” Esperanza shouted, “Silena Rodriguez?”“No Silena Beauregard.” Her dad said with a smirk.“Leo!” Calypso reprimanded him.Esperanza groaned. “Silena is still mad at me for getting distracted last summer during Capture the Flag and costing our team the win.”“It will be fine.” Her dad waved his hand.“She is going to kill me,” Esperanza muttered.—The week before the first week of Camp Summer went fast. Too fast for Esperanza.She stuffed the last of her t-shirts into her duffel bag with a sigh. It was a warm summer day, but she knew the air would be chillier up on Festus, so she threw on a Cabin 9 zip-up hoodie.She hated school. Having ADHD and dyslexia made it hard for her to focus, and her English mark was absolutely horrendous. She always felt out of place among all her mortal classmates, and of course, there was the odd monster she had to fight. But despite all that, every year when the school year came to an end and summer began, a horrible sinking feeling settled in her chest. At Camp, she had no friends except Jasper, and to the world of demi-gods, she was not, well… godly enough.Everything in her was begging her to force her parents to let her stay home, but she knew she couldn’t. She had to go.She met her parents outside the shop. Festus was jumping around, lapping up the Tabasco sauce her dad was feeding him. He grabbed her duffel from her with a smile and attached it to the dragon.Her mom came to her side, giving her a sideways hug. Esperanza sighed, leaning her head on her mom’s shoulder as she looked at the front of the shop. The sign was a little rusty, the paint on the door was chipped and the flower beds out front looked like they needed some love, but this was her home and it was perfect.Calypso kissed the side of her head, reading her melancholy mood. “It will be okay.” Esperanza nodded, struggling to hold back tears all of a sudden.“You ladies ready for a ride?” Leo asked suddenly. Esperanza laughed and her mom smiled. The three of them settled on Festus and took to the skies.It took about five hours to make it to Long Island with one stop for lunch. The sun was high in the sky as Festus settled just outside the Camp borders. Slipping off his back, Esperanza took a deep breath, the air was cooler here than it was in Texas, but fresher.“Alright kiddo,” Her dad said handing her her duffle and putting his arms out, “Hug time.”She rolled her eyes good-naturedly but practically fell into he dad’s embrace. He gave her a kiss on her forehead as he pulled back, ruffling her hair. “Hey!” She protested.“Leo, don’t go ruining our daughter’s hair!”Esperanza smiled at her mom and she grabbed her into a hug. “We are going to miss you!”“You guys are literally coming back next week, I will see you in a few days!”Calypso ran her hands through her daughter’s hair gently, smoothing down what Leo had ruffled, “A few days too many.”“Well,” Esperanza said, a mischievous glint in her eye, “In that case, if you were to let me stay home…”“No,” Leo interrupted, “We already had this conversation.”Esperanza sighed, “You can’t blame a girl for trying.” Her parents smiled at her, before engulfing her in another hug. Finally, they let go, making sure she was set before, climbing up onto Festus again.“Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad! Bye, Festus!” She called, blowing a kiss as they took to the skies.She stayed on Half-Blood Hill until she could no longer see Festus’s bronze wings sparkling in the afternoon sun. Then, she swung her bag over her shoulder and with a weary heart, walked past Thalia’s Pinetree and walked across the border.As the sights of Camp came into view Esperanza took a deep breath. She made her way past the Big House where Chiron stopped her.“Esperanza! Welcome back!”“Hi, Chiron.”The centaur smiled, “It is good to see you again, ready for an exciting summer?”She grimaced, “Sure. Um… but I better get going,” She pointed over her shoulder, “Gotta unpack and everything.”Chiron nodded, “Run along then.”Esperanza threw him a thumbs up and headed towards the cabins. She passed a few demi-gods on the way, some smiled and others ignored her completely. Finally reaching the Hephaestus Cabin she went to open the door before it swung open, almost hitting her in the face.Nola Donovan, head of Cabin 9, stood on the other side. “Esperanza!” She said, startled. “How are you?”Esperanza gave her a warm smile. Besides Jasper, Nola was one of the few people at Camp who was genuinely nice to her and wanted to be her friend. “I am good! How are you?”Nola shrugged, “Can’t complain. You comin’ to the campfire tonight?”Esperanza tilted her head, “I’m not sure, I might just stay in and get settled.” Nola nodded, “Whatever floats your boat. But let me know, we can go together.”“Thanks, Nola,” She smiled. The head counsellor of Cabin 9 returned her smile.“Well, I am off to the forge!” She said, letting Esperanza pass into the cabin before closing the door.“Bye!” Esperanza called as the door clicked close. She moved toward the back of the Cabin, ignoring the stares of her half-aunts and uncles.Thankfully her bed was untouched. She placed her duffel on top of the mattress and began to unpack what she could. Clothing went under the bed, toiletries were in the basket under her small bedside table, random machinery parts were on the desk and the small flower pot her mom gave her went next to the bed.It was only after putting the last of her design booklets on the desk that she noticed it.The corkboard above her desk was covered in writing that was not her own. It was hard to make out the letters, but one word stood out; Titan.A lump formed in her throat. She knew who had done this, three of her half-aunts and uncles; Thea, Karla and Spencer. Ever since they came to Camp and learned of her heritage they had hated her. It made living in Cabin 9 very awkward.In fact, most of the Camp either hated her or was scared of her – not that she would ever tell her parents that.She sighed and grabbed her mini printer from her bag.
It was going to be a long summer.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The next morning, Esperanza was out of Cabin 9 and into the chilly morning air at 7:30 am. She dragged her feet to the Big House, silently cursing her parents for signing her up for this. She could have been at home, in warm Texas, seeing her friends and working on a car with her dad, or at the very least sleeping in until Nola woke them all for breakfast. But no, she just had to show a bunch of kids around camp with Silena Rodriguez.“Ah, there you are. Good morning Esperanza!” Chiron – now in wheelchair form – greeted, as she entered the Rec Room. Silena was already there, looking just as happy to be awake before 8 am as Esperanza felt. There were also about six kids of varying ages sitting around the ping-pong table. They all stared at her as she closed the door behind her.“Morning,” Esperanza said, slipping into the open chair next to Silena. Silena didn’t make eye contact with her. Great. Silena any time of day is difficult but Silena at 7 am, is even better.Chiron clapped his hands bringing the attention back to him. “So, good morning everyone! I hope you are all excited to be here at camp, or for a few of us back at camp,” He added, gesturing to her and Silena. “Now for those of us who are new, today you will be given the full tour of Camp Half-Blood. Esperanza and Silena have kindly volunteered to show you the ropes today, but first, it is time for the orientation video!”Beside her, Silena groaned, causing Esperanza to stifle a laugh. Chiron fiddled with the projector, starting the video as the new campers leaned forward in their seats.The film was old, or at least it was to her, but it was not the oldest version. Before Esperanza’s dad had made it to Camp, they had decided to remake the film, however, the Titan and Giant Wars had gotten in the way so half of it was filmed before the Battle of Manhattan and the other half was filmed after Gaia was destroyed.It was strange to see everyone looking so young. In some of the scenes Percy and Annabeth weren’t even dating yet, Rachel was just new to being the Oracle and Nico di Angelo’s jacket swamped his entire frame. Thaila of course hadn’t changed or Renya.Renya and other Romans were featured in an extra scene, depicting the friendship between the two camps. Hazel, Frank, Jason and Piper were in it but Leo wasn’t — technically he had been dead when they filmed it and according to her Uncle Jason, he had been really upset to learn he missed out.Esperanza saw tears in Chiron’s eyes as the film showed demi-gods who had long passed like Charles Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard. She could feel Silena Rodriguez tense. It feels weird to be staring at the face of the dead person you were named after. There were only a few surviving photos of her grandmother, but she understood what Silena felt.After the film finished, Chiron switched the lights back on and Esperanza cringed at the brightness.“Well,” Chiron said with a smile, “It is now time for your tour guides to take you around Camp for the day. Make sure you stay with your group and if you have any questions, Esperanza and Silena will answer them. Now, good luck!” With that, the centaur swept — or rolled — out of the room.Silence fell until Silena stood up. “Alright! Here’s how this is going to work. You all are going to follow us and do what we say, no questions asked, alright? No. Questions.”The demi-gods looked around the room nervously and Esperanza bit back a laugh, Silena could be intense. “Alright?” Silena asked again. After no one spoke, Esperanza decided to save them.“Okay, Silena. I think they get it.” She faced the newbies. “Hi everyone, my name is Esperanza, but you can just call me Espie. And this is Silena. We are your guides for today, as Chiron explained, so if you will just come and follow us, we can start.”That was met by a much more positive response than Silena’s barking orders and the six demi-gods stood to follow the two out the door.After learning all their names – Melanie and Mabel (twins, age 9 and unclaimed), Newton (age 14 and child of Hypnos), Bree (age 15 and child of Aphrodite), Cooper (age 6 and unclaimed), and Laurissa (age 13 and unclaimed) – they began with a tour of the Big House, the volleyball court and arts and crafts area.Skipping the Cabins – the campers had already settled in there last night – they began to make their way to the Mess Hall for breakfast.On their way, they passed New Athens.Like New Rome in Camp Jupiter, New Athens was a place where older demigods could live after Camp and go to school.Will Solace ran a hospital there, for any major injuries or surgeries that the infirmary couldn’t handle. He lived in New Rome with his husband Nico di Angelo – the third Camp director; more officially the Camp funeral director – and their daughter Bianca.The Greeks had started building New Rome a few years after Gaia’s defeat and Apollo’s adventures as a mortal. Apollo had practically funded the whole endeavour, wishing to help the demigods as much as Zeus would allow.“I have a question?” Cooper asked suddenly.“Yeah?” She prompted the little boy.“What does unclaimed mean?” He asked shyly.Silena and Esperanza shared a look. How to explain this to a child?Silena took the reins, “Well, kid, being unclaimed means your godly parent hasn’t stepped up yet. We don’t know who they are yet but we will soon. There is a law that the gods have to claim their kids by thirteen, that's why Newton and Bree know who theirs is already.”Laurissa spoke up, “So I should get claimed soon?”Silena nodded, “I am surprised you haven’t yet.”“How do you get claimed?” Mabel asked.“That depends on the god,” Esperanza explained, “For the most part, your parent’s godly symbol will appear above your head, but in some cases like Aphrodite, you get a blessing.” She gestured to Bree, who still had the blessing of Aphrodite.“So Bree’s mom is Aphrodite and Newton’s dad is Hypnos?” Melanie asked. Esperanza nodded.“Who are your godly parents?” Newton asked her and Silena.Silena laughed, “We don’t have godly parents.” The kids looked confused. “We have godly grandparents.”“See,” Esperanza jumped in, “Our parents are demi-gods, not us.”“We are called legacy campers,” Silena added, “I am an Ares-Hermes legacy. My mom is the daughter of Ares and my dad is the son of Hermes.”Newton nodded, “Interesting. What about you Espie? Who are your godly grandparents?”Esperanza tensed, “Oh, my dad is the son of Hephaestus and well, my mom…”“Her mother’s a Titan.” A voice said.Esperanza turned around to see Thea and Karla standing there with a few girls from the Nike Cabin. They were all snickering.The older newbies who understood enough looked between her and the girls. “Your mom is a Titan?” Bree asked.Esperanza started to panic, “Well, no!... sort of. My mom is a daughter of a Titan… two Titans.”“Soooo, she is a Titan herself then?” Newton said expectantly.“I guess so, yeah. But she has also been described as a goddess, nymph or sorceress.” The kids looked shocked. “She isn’t anymore though! She gave up her immortality and her powers. But she has some of her powers back now, and because of that I have some of her powers and maybe some of my grandparents' powers but I hope not because that would be—”“Her grandpa is Atlas,” Silena jumped in, saving Esperanza from her ramblings.Karla, Thea and their posse laughed, “Yeah, and she is just as dangerous.” The newbies backed up.“No, she is not!” Silena said curtly, “Now fuck off!”The younger kids’ eyes widened. Karla and Thea wisely backed off and continued into the dining pavilion. Esperanza's heart warmed at Silena’s defense of her. Though she may be intimidating, Silena truly had a heart of gold.“Thanks, Silena,” She said quietly.The girl shrugged, “No problem. Now the rest of your buggers, to answer the question I know is burning in your minds; who is Espie’s mother? I give you one answer; anyone here read the Odyssey?” Bree, Newton and Laurissa raised their hands, “Damn okay, only three of you.”“The others are in like kindergarten!” Esperanza chided.Melaine and Mabel looked offended, “We are in grade 3!”“Sorry.”“Anyway!” Silena continued, “Her mom is Calypso. You know daughter of Atlas, Queen of Ogygia, water nymph of some sort–”“Okay Silena, thank you.” She tried to cut in.“Sorceress and goddess, traitor of the gods—”“Wow.”“Lover of Odysseus—”“Okay!”“And Francis Drake—”“Silena.”“And Percy Jackson—”“Nope!”“And now Leo Valdez. She is also a great cook and gardener. If you ever get the chance you neeeed to try her homemade tomato sauce. Best I have ever had.” The demi-gods looked at each other uneasily. Esperanza didn’t know what to say. “The point is, she is a great person and not at all like what people say. Unfortunately for us, Espie takes after her father.”“Wow. Okay, thanks Silena.”Silena smiled at her, “You’re welcome. Now let’s get some food!”Without further adieu, Silena turned on her heel to enter the dining pavilion. Esperanza gave their group an apologetic smile before following, making sure the others were too. As they entered the hall, she realized they had a problem.“Where are we supposed to sit?” She asked Silena. The Ares, Hermes and Hephaestus tables were filled with demi-gods. They were supposed to stay as a group, but she didn’t see a way for them to do that and follow the rules.The Hermes-Ares legacy shrugged, “Too bad neither of us has one of the Big Three as grandparents, at least then we would have a table on our own.”“I am sure Jasper wouldn’t mind if we used the Zeus table.”Silena nodded, “Yeah, but Zeus might.”“True.”“I have an idea!” Silena suddenly announced, “Everyone grab a plate, and follow me.”After grabbing plates, and showing the kids how to get food and give an offering to the gods, Silena led them out of the Mess Hall and towards the strawberry fields. They settled on a small hill overlooking the fields, by the Pegasus stables.They ate their lunch in relative silence, answering the odd question from the newbies. Esperanza sat beside Silena, watching as the Demeter Cabin harvested the strawberries.“How was your school year?” She asked Silena.Silena shrugged, “It was school. You?”“I had a good year actually.” Silena nodded. Esperanza poked another piece of waffle off her plate, watching Silena out of the corner of her eye. “I am sorry about Capture the Flag last summer.”Silena laughed, “Is that why you have been so nervous around me today? Don’t worry Valdez, I am not still mad at you.” She bumped her shoulder with Esperanza’s. “Though if you do it again, I may have to despise you for the rest of my days.”Esperanza smiled, “I will keep that in mind for Friday.”“You better! I have already started planning. Ares, Hermes and Hephaestus are all on one team, and there is no way I am letting the Athena Cabin beat us again.”Already plans for different gadgets they could use popped into her head. “That sounds like a pretty stacked team. I mean Ares does all the fighting, Hephaestus does the building and Hermes does the executing of said builds!”“Yeah,” Silena agreed, “As long as Zoe doesn’t find a way to break our defenses.”Esperanza nodded in agreement. Behind them the new campers were chatting quietly to each other. The rays of the afternoon sun beat down upon the grassy hill and the Demeter campers below. A cold wind blew in from the lake and Esperanza shivered.As much as she missed Texas, she had to admit that Camp Half-Blood was very beautiful. It offered peace and tranquillity that was hard to find in a machine shop in Houston. Perhaps this summer wouldn’t be too bad. Silena and her were good, and these newbies didn’t seem too turned away by her Titan heritage. As long as she stuck by Jasper when he was here and avoided her half-aunts and uncles and Zoe Jackson like the plague she would be fine.Esperanza was brought out of her thoughts by a sudden bang and subsequent screams from the fields below.The Demeter kids were the ones screaming as colourful smoke bombs went off around the field, coating them and their plants in a vibrant array of colours.“What was that?” Bree asked, looking towards the chaos below. The other kids gathered around to watch. Silena groaned and Esperanza laughed.“That,” Silena said through clenched teeth, “was my idiot cousins.”“What?”Laugher echoed up the hill from the fields. Silena grumbled, standing up. “I swear to Zeus. Out of all his half-siblings, why did my dad have to stay in touch with those two idiots?!”“What is happening?” Cooper asked. Esperanza just laughed, watching as Silena stomped down the hill.“STOLLS!”“Who are the Stolls?” Newton asked.“Rose I swear to Hades, stop strangling your brother with strawberry vines! Max! Xavier! Put that down! Bella, you’re 15 years old, what the fuck are you doing?”Esperanza glanced between the shocked faces of the new campers to the Stoll cousins, reigning havoc over the strawberry fields.“The Stolls are the most troublemaking demi-gods known to man,” She explained. “Their fathers, Travis and Conner Stoll used to destroy this camp with their pranks years ago.”“I see…” Bree trailed off, watching as Silena grabbed her cousin by the hood of their sweater before she was tangled up in a wine.“Bella, Clover, Rose and Holden are the children of Travis Stoll, son of Hermes and Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter,” Esperanza said, gesturing to the four kids fighting with the Demeter campers over control of the plants.“And that’s their cousins Max and Xavier, sons of Conner Stoll, son of Hermes and Tara Felix, daughter of Tyche.” She pointed to the two boys running from Silena. “Whatever you do, don’t play poker with them.” She added.The six demi-gods nodded absently.“STOLLS!” Silena screamed again. Esperanza couldn’t contain her laughter.—Later in the day, after Silena sorted out her cousins, they showed the kids the canoe lake, the lava climbing wall, the woods, and the forge. Now, Silena led them to the arena.“Here we come! The best part of Camp!” She cheered.Esperanza shared a look with Bree as if to say, Ares kids.They entered the arena to the sounds of metal on metal, Greek battle cries and the rhythmic sound of pounding feet on dirt. The new Campers looked around with wide eyes. The Apollo cabin was busy practicing archery at the archery range, and the Ares kids were pummeling dummies next to the weapons wrack, as kids ran to avoid the debris.Eric Dawson, head counsellor of the Apollo Cabin met Esperanza’s eyes from across the arena. He ran a hand through his light brown hair, sending her a blinding smile. Unconsciously, Esperanza twisted a piece of hair between her fingers. Beside her, Bree, her Aphrodite senses already showing, nudged her shoulder and raised an eyebrow.“Who is that?”She rolled her eyes at Bree, giving Eric a small smile. “That’s just Eric.”“Just Eric?”“Yes, just Eric.”Thankfully, Bree let it go and turned back to the arena. Silena started to lead them over to the weapons rack, explaining each fighting style as she went.That's when Esperanza saw her.Long dark hair pulled up into a ponytail, armour perfectly done up over her orange Camp t-shirt, grey eyes calculating and accessing, sword at her hip as she directed the Athena Cabin through their exercises.Zoe Jackson stood on the other side of the arena.Even though there were many Campers between them, Esperanza stopped, eyes searching, both hoping and dreading that Zoe would meet her gaze.She knew it was stupid. This was a girl who hated her. She shouldn’t hope for any form of friendship – or more – but she did.They used to be friends, once upon a time when they were young. But then, when Esperanza was twelve and Zoe was thirteen, Zoe’s parents realized she was old enough to hear about some of their adventures. And so, one summer, on the first day of Camp, Zoe wouldn’t even look at her. Esperanza didn’t know why until rumours reached her ears; Zoe knew about Percy and Ogygia. She knew about the curse.Ever since then, through her strong sense of loyalty and pride, Zoe had held a grudge against her. When Zoe began avoiding her and people started to understand why, that was when the whole camp seemed to come to the realization of who Esperanza truly was.She remembered one summer just a few years ago when she was fifteen. While she was sleeping Karla and Thea had painted the bottom of the top bunk above Esperanza’s head with stars while Spencer sawed at the beams holding it up. She had awoken to the sound of splintering wood and had been forced to hold the weight of the top bunk as the beams gave out.Thankfully, no one had been on the top bunk and Esperanza had managed to set it down without destroying anything but she didn’t sleep peacefully for a week. The three other demigods had laughed and laughed at her predicament, waking the rest of the Cabin up. Nola had been furious. She was ready to storm off to the Big House and grab Chiron but Esperanza stopped her, she knew that would only make it worse.In the end, Nola forced Spencer, Thea and Karla on dish duty for a month and made them remake the bunk bed – inspecting it for any hidden traps of course.Esperanza made the rest of Cabin 9 promise not to tell, but the three bullies spread the rumours like wildfire. Jasper had nearly electrocuted them on the spot and even Charlie Jackson had come up to her to make sure she was okay. Somehow Chiron and Mr. D didn’t catch wind of the incident – not that Mr. D would have cared – and Bianca managed to keep her mouth shut and not tell her Dads.That was the first time it had ever gotten that bad. That was when she really started to hate Camp.She was brought out of her musings by Silena waving a hand in front of her face. “Valdez!” She called. “Quit staring at Jackson and help me with these kids!”Esperanza blushed, mumbling an apology to Silena. She gave Zoe one more glance, meeting her harsh grey eyes. Zoe’s eyes narrowed and Esperanza quickly looked away, making her way to where Silena was showing the new campers different weapons. She felt Zoe’s stare burning a hole in the back of her head but she did not look back.The rest of the day went by smoothly. After spending a few hours in the arena they showed the kids the rest of camp, even venturing into New Athens. While there, the group had bumped into Bianca who gave them a tour of the hospital and then the infirmary.Bianca only addressed Esperanza directly once; asking her how her school year had gone. She had asked her the same and that was the end of their conversation.At the campfire, the Apollo kids led them all in song and they roasted marshmallows. Esperanza generated a small fire with her hand, letting Cooper and the twins roast their marshmallows there. She smiled as they giggled while she made the flames dance in her hand.That night, Larissa was claimed by Hebe. The rest of Cabin 18 cheered when the glowing goblet of nectar appeared above her head.After making sure all the kids made it to the respective cabins, Esperanza and Silena split off for the night, none too pleased at having to get up early again.Esperanza had stayed up late staring at the bottom of the top bunk, unable to sleep. She was homesick and wanted nothing more than to wake up back in her room in Texas.Eventually, she fell asleep and had weird dreams of riding a bright red horse through a snowstorm, while lightning rained overhead. It was certainly not the weirdest dream she had ever had but when she woke up, she was shivering.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The next few days before Friday wore on.Silena and her showed more groups of campers around, helping introduce them to their new Camp life. She worked in the forges for a few hours and trained with the Hephaestus Cabin, welcoming the distraction it brought. She also spent some time in the strawberry fields, helping the Demeter Cabin harvest the berries and dodging a few prank attempts from the Stolls.Finally, after a week that felt like an age, Friday dawned bright and clear.The camp was abuzz; today was Capture the Flag Day. Today was the day the Romans would arrive. Today was also the day that the Seven, along with other older demigods would reunite.Esperanza was so excited.The first to arrive were Percy and Annabeth, They arrived early in the morning, just as everyone was finishing their breakfast. Chiron had announced them with an air of pride in his voice. All the campers clapped when they entered the dining pavilion. A few of the new campers looked confused and others had to quickly explain the significance of the two demigods.Percy waved off their applause and Annabeth had flushed red. I guess even when you save the world two times you still don’t feel like acting like a celebrity.Zoe and Charlie had laughed at their parent's embarrassed faces and ran from the Poseidon table to give them each a big hug.For the rest of breakfast, Percy and Annabeth had joined the head table where they were talking animatedly with Nico and Will. At one point Percy had caught her eye across the dining pavilion and raised his hand in greeting. Esperanza smiled back. She may not get along with his kids anymore but Percy, and Annabeth, still remained some of her parent's best friends.After breakfast, in a way to pass time before her parents would arrive, Esperanza went to the strawberry fields. She kneeled beside Clove Stoll, picking strawberries and placing them in the basket that sat in between them.The sun was hot, but not as hot as Esperanza would have thought for early July weather. Still, she was sweating and constantly pushing her hair off her sticky forehead.Beside her Clove, who was smart enough to wear a green baseball hat with the print “Save the Bees” written on it, was going on and on about some classic middle school drama at her school.“And then, Janice asked Mandy to go to the Valentine’s Dance with her even though she knew Jerimiah liked Mandy and had planned to ask her the next day. It was so uncool!” Clove ranted, shoving her trowel forcibly into the ground to dig out a stubborn weed.Esperanza smiled. Clove went on, talking more about the kids in her class and how excited she was about going to high school. Esperanza didn’t mind the constant chatter, but as she looked around she noticed how some of the Demeter kids were looking over at them with guarded expressions.The Demeter kids were a quiet bunch, but Clove took after her father in her ability to talk anyone’s ears off. It was one of the only things she had inherited from her Hermes side. She wasn’t as interested in pranks or thievery as her other siblings or cousins. She would much rather garden than pull a prank.The younger girl sighed, finishing her story about the end-of-year dance. “I can’t wait until I am your age and all this petty drama is behind me.”“Well,” Esperanza started, examining a drooping plant, “It is not always left behind.” She said, thinking about her own experiences at school and camp.“Oh.” Clove shrugged. She leaned over and worked her Demeter magic on the plant Esperanza had been examining. It perked right up again and its leaves turned a brilliant green. “Still, I am excited for high school.”“That’s good!” Esperanza said, not wanting to disappoint the younger girl anymore. “High school is fun.”Clove smiled. The two continued to work side by side while Clove talked about anything and everything.“Plant kids!” A voice rang out through the fields. Esperanza looked up from where she had been sharpening a pair of shears.Jayde Tanaka, daughter of Drew Tanaka stood at the edge of the fields. Her long black hair was done up in a high ponytail, and she had cropped her camp t-shirt to show off the belly button ring she had gotten last summer from the Hermes Cabin on a dare.Jayde was technically only a quarter god. Her dad was a mortal with whom Drew fell in love in college. Drew had raised her as a single mom after her father died in a car crash when she was two.Of course, Chiron didn’t discriminate and Jayde was treated just like a full demigod.She was lucky though, she had fewer monsters on her tail. Esperanza was jealous of her, she had the most normal life out of all of them.Though Drew had been a bit of bitch when she attended the camp, she had matured over the years and her daughter was much nicer, though she still stayed clear from Esperanza, but she didn’t hold it against her. She wasn’t the only one.“I have been told to inform you all that the Romans are here!” Jayde yelled. “Chiron wants us all to go welcome them!”Esperanza dropped the shears, standing quickly. Her heart beat spiked as excitement coursed through her veins. “Jasper?”Jayde shook her head, “No, not yet. The other Romans.”“Oh.”Clove laughed. She stood, dusting dirt off her knees and grabbing Esperanza’s elbow. “Come on, let’s go say hi!”Esperanza let Clove lead her and the rest of the Demeter Cabin toward the Cabins where the Romans had indeed arrived.Frank, Hazel and their children Emily and Sammy were standing talking to Percy and Annabeth.As they came toward the green, Emily spotted her. She came forward and gave her a big hug. Esperanza was surprised yet grateful as she hugged her back. Sammy, less affectionate than his twin, hung back and gave her a wave instead.“It is good to see you again!” Emily said, pulling back from the hug.Esperanza couldn’t help but smile, “It’s good to see you too.”Then Nico, Will and Bianca appeared and Esperanza let them run off to greet their cousin.She stood awkwardly by as Hazel threw her arms around Nico, and Frank and Will shook hands. She started toward the Hephaestus Cabin when she bumped into someone behind her.“Sorry!” She said quickly.The person laughed, “It’s alright, kid.”She gasped, turning to see Jason Grace behind her. “Uncle Jason!” She cried, pulling him into a hug. Jason squeezed her tight. “I missed you.”Jason laughed, “You saw me at Christmas, Espie.”Esperanza pulled back from the hug, “Yeah and that was what, 6 months ago? That is a long time!”Jason ruffled her hair, “I missed you too, kid.”A loud roar echoed through the sky above them. Esperanza looked up immediately. She knew that sound.Festus same soaring into view, the bright sun glinting off the celestial bronze. A smile spread on her face.“WOOOHOOO! GUESS WHO IS BACK?”Jason groaned fondly beside her, and Esperanza laughed.By the time Festus landed on the grass, She was already running. By the time her parents stepped off of the dragon she was already there, jumping into her dad’s arms and holding on tight to her mom.“I missed you guys so much!”Leo laughed, “It was only a week.”Esperanza groaned, “A week too long!”Jason, who had followed her, reached out to ruffle her hair again. “She seems to be missing a lot of people.”“Hey!”Leo let go of her to crush his best friend in a hug. Jason hugged him back just as hard.Calypso put her arm around Esperanza as they watched the boys in their “hug-off”. She smoothed down Esperanza’s hair. “Oh boys.” She squeezed her daughter. “It is okay to miss people, darling.”“That is what I am saying,” Esperanza grumbled.Over the next hour or so other demigod families began to arrive; Clarisse and Chris, Travis and Katie, Conner and his wife, Drew Tanaka, Grover and Juniper, Coach Hedge, and Rachel.Finally, when everyone had been settling down for lunch, Piper, her wife Shel, their daughters, Eloise and Meghan and Jasper, arrived.Esperanza squealed when she saw her best friend, jumping up from the Hephaestus table.She didn’t care how stupid she looked running across the field to grab Jasper in a hug. She hadn’t seen him since Christmas, and FaceTime and Iris Messages were not the same.She was dimly aware of her dad running with the same urgency toward Piper.As she got close, Esperanza jumped, knowing Jasper would catch her. Jasper laughed and caught her in his arms easily. He spun her around a few times before playfully dropping her on the ground.“Ow!” Esperanza gasped. She glared at him, raising her hand in hopes he would help her up.“Not until you say ‘Jasper is the best person to ever exist and totally beat me in the arena last summer’.” He said looking down at her with a smirk.She gasped, “Oh fuck no! I can get up myself,” She climbed to her feet, dusting off her pants. “And for the record, I slipped! It was unfair! We called it a tie!”Jasper crossed his arms, “Say it.”“No.”“Say it.”“No.”“Say it.”“Jasper is the best person to ever exist and totally beat me in the arena last summer.” Esperanza gasped, her hands coming to cover her mouth. “You bastard! You can’t charmspeak me!”“I just did.”The two glared at each other for a moment before breaking out into laughter.Jasper slung an arm around her shoulder and started to walk in the direction where her dad was laughing with Piper. “How was your school year?”Esperanza smiled, “It was good! Except for the school part.”Jasper laughed, “Yeah I feel about the same. And how was your first week at Camp? I heard you were signed up for tour duty with Silena.”“That was actually the best part! Turns out Silena forgave me after the last Capture the Flag, and all of the kids were really nice. Plus, it was so funny to watch the Stolls prank someone everyday just to piss her off.” Jasper smiled, a playful glint in his eyes she couldn’t quite place. Esperanza smiled back, but it faltered. “The rest of it was okay… the usual.”Jasper stopped walking, “Who do I need to electrocute? Oh, or charmspeak into running naked through the whole Camp?”“No one,” Esperanza said forcefully. “I have it handled.”Jasper didn’t look like he believed her. Finally, he sighed, “Whatever you say.”“Espie!” Piper called out. She smiled, putting her arms out for a hug. She fell into her hug, soaking in the warmth and smell of flowers that always came with her Aunt Piper.Shel gave her a hug next and then Eloise and Megan were attacking her legs. Esperanza laughed as she was almost brought down by the force of the young girls. Jasper grabbed Eloise, throwing her over his shoulder. His sister giggled uncontrollably, and soon Megan was letting go of Esperanza in favour of getting picked up by her older brother.Suddenly, Chiron spoke up, “Attention everyone! I would like all of you to help me welcome some old friends back to Camp!” The crowd of demigods cheered. “These are great heroes of their time to whom we owe our lives. We thank them heartily.”He gave a fond smile to the older demigods. “Now! Let us begin the celebratory day!”—Later that day, after helping Jasper get settled in the Zeus Cabin the two of them walked around camp talking about school and the beginning of summer. He told her all about the Roman ceremonies he had to perform and she told him of her tours with Silena and the kids.“Are you ready for Capture the Flag tonight?” He asked as they sat on the beach of the canoe lake.She shrugged, drawing shapes in the sand, “It will be fun, I hope.”Jasper bumped his shoulder against hers, “It will be. It'll be a lot of fun when team blue kicks your red team’s asses!”She laughed, “We shall see Lighting McQueen, we shall see.”Jasper groaned, “I told you to stop calling me that.”“But it fits so well!”Jasper rolled his eyes, “Whatever you say, Fire Girl.”He looked out at the water gently lapping against the sand, “It is kinda ironic how the Aphrodite and Hephaestus cabins are on opposing teams.”“Yeah, and Ares and Hephaestus are together.”Jasper sighed dramatically, “Oh the woes of Greek mythology!”Esperanza snorted and punched him playfully, “You are acting like an Apollo kid.”“Ow!” He rubbed his arm where she had punched him, laughing slightly, “And you are acting like an Ares kid!”“No, that’s just my Titan side coming through…”She paused. Jasper stopped laughing. The air grew tense. Esperanza cursed softly, she knew she messed up. Jasper didn’t take these things lightly. He hated when she talked about her Titan heritage.“Espie…”“It was a joke!” She said defensively. She looked away from him, studying the sand.She felt Jasper shift beside her, “You are not a Titan Espie.”“I know! I didn’t mean it!” She really wished she hadn’t brought this up. “Can we just drop it? Please?” She pleaded. Jasper opened his mouth like he was going to say something but after a moment he simply sighed and nodded.The two sat in silence for a moment before Esperanza asked about his sisters and Jasper happily took the bait. He began gushing about Meghan and Eloise.Esperanza smiled as she listened to him. She leaned her head on his shoulder.She didn’t have siblings and that was normally okay with her, but hearing Jasper talk about his sisters made her slightly jealous. That being said, if she had to consider anyone her sibling it would be him.Just as Jasper began to ask her about her recent projects in the garage, Charlie Jackson came running. “Jasper!” He called, his blond hair tangling in his eyes.“Yeah?” Jasper called back.“Come on man! Big Three training!” He said, gesturing to the arena. “Let’s go!”Esperanza’s heart sank. She lifted her head from his shoulder.‘Big Three training’ was a special training regiment Chiron had Nico establish for the legacies of the Big Three gods. She knew it was important so they could all learn how to control their powers that were stronger than the average demigod. She also knew that because they were not always together, when they were they liked the opportunity to train together.Despite knowing all this, she wanted to spend time with Jasper. And she was not a Big Three legacy.Jasper looked at Esperanza apologetically. “I’m sorry.” He was already getting up and brushing the sand off his shorts.She shook her head, “It’s alright.” It wasn’t alright but she wasn’t about to say that. “We will see each other later.”Jasper nodded, and jogged after Charlie, leaving Esperanza alone at the beach.She sighed, bringing her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on top.She stared at the Long Island Sound. Her hair whipped around her face in the wind. Birds flew overhead, their shadows on the ground the only other sign of life. The sand beneath her began to itch at her skin but she didn’t move.She didn’t want to face the rest of Camp. So she sat on the beach, Jasper’s retreating footprints beside her, listening to the sound of the waves along the shore and ignoring the sinking feeling in her stomach.She tried not to think too hard about the irony of it all.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Esperanza pulled the strap of her arm brace tight, wincing at the pressure as it cut off blood circulation. She loosened it slightly as she trailed behind the Hephaestus Cabin on their way to the woods. Her red-plumed helmet was tucked under her arm, tickling her bicep.She finally got the arm brace just the way she wanted as they stepped into the canopy of trees. The other campers began to spread out, mingling among their fellow red team while they waited for the games to start.Esperanza noticed Sammy and Emily by themselves, standing away from the action. They looked out of place with their Roman legion attire.She smiled as she walked up to them, “They couldn’t find you any Greek stuff?”Emily smirked, doing a little twirl, “We look better in purple anyway.”“No purple tonight, only red!”Emily shook her helmet in front of her like a prize, “You know it!”The three stood in silence, not quite knowing what to say. Sammy picked at the leather of the band on his shield, Emily adjusted the string of her bow and Esperanza stared at her feet, shifting them in the dirt. Her fingers unconsciously tapped on the side of her helmet.It hadn’t always been so awkward between them. Once upon a time, they had been able to talk about anything and everything. Nothing bad had happened between them, there was no bad blood like there was with her and Zoe, they had simply drifted apart.“I like your hair,” Emily said, breaking the silence.Esperanza reached up to touch the braid her mother had plaided a few hours before. “Oh, thanks. My mom did it. I don’t have the patience to deal with my curls.”“Tell me about it! My mom has to force me to actually do wash days!” Emily complained, “Sammy is even worse.”“Hey!” Sammy protested, taking a step closer. “Like I tell Mom, I will just wear a hat.”Esperanza smiled, “Well, you two have great hair, you should take of it.”“Who has great hair?”She nearly jumped out of her skin. “Holy fucking Hades! Bella! You can’t scare people like that. I could have set you on fire!”Bella rolled her eyes, “Wasn’t trying to scare ya.”Emily and Sammy watched Bella with weary eyes. Even though they didn’t go to Camp Half-Blood they knew of the legendary pranks the Stolls liked to play.“Do you wanna buy my weed?”Esperanza blinked. “Your what?”“My weed,” Bella said like it was nothing. Like a 15-year-old offering to sell their own weed was an everyday occurrence.“Where did you get marijuana from?” Emily asked.“Yeah isn’t that illegal?” Sammy added.Bella shrugged, “Not in New York or Colorado. Considering that's where I spend most of my time, I sell it.”“Well, it's illegal in Texas,” Esperanza muttered.Bella smirked, “Exactly why you should buy it from me.” She waved a small bag in front of Esperanza’s face. Inside were crushed-up marijuana leaves and some rolled joints. Esperanza took a step back.“May I ask again where you got that?” Emily said, pointing to the bag.“Oh easy,” Bella hopped up on her toes, “I grow it.”“Oh.” That was all Esperanza could say. She should have known though. What better for a granddaughter of Hermes and Demeter to do but grow and sell her own weed?“How can you do that?” Clearly, it didn’t make as much sense to Sammy or Emily. “Don’t you need a permit?”Bella nodded, “I have one.”“But you are like 15,” Emily said in disbelief, “I am 16 and I know I can’t sell that. How did you get a permit?”A mischievous glint came over Bella’s eyes. “I have my ways.”“And your parents know of this?” Sammy asked, looking quite concerned.Bella rolled her eyes, “Duh.”“Bella!” The four of them looked over to see Silena practically charging over to them. “Are you trying to sell people your weed again?”“Why is that your problem?”Silena scowled, “Just go with the rest of the Hermes Cabin, now!”Bella gave them a salute, “That’s my cue to go. Oh! before I do though I hope none of you ate the chocolate chip cookies at dinner. Max and Xavier put a little something in there to make you throw up. They were going to pass them out to the blue team but they got mixed up with the rest… anyway, bye!”Silena rolled her eyes. She already had her helmet on her head, spear in hand, looking as fierce and battle-ready as ever.“All ready?” Esperanza asked. Silena nodded absently, looking between her and the Roman twins awkwardly. Sammy was looking at his feet and Emily was staring at a point over Silena’s shoulder. Esperanza’s eyes narrowed. “Oh yeah. I always forget y’all are sorta related.”Emily nodded, “It is a little weird.”Silena snorted, “You are telling me.” She shook her head, “Anyway. Zhangs, you guys are on the offence with the Ares cabin. Espie you are defense with the Hephaestus, Dionysus and Hecate cabins. Don’t mess it up this year.”Esperanza gave a mock salute, “Yes ma’am!”Silena shook her head before heading back to where the Ares campers were lining everybody up.“POSITIONS!” Matthias Reyes, the Ares head counselor screamed.Esperanza sighed and put on her helmet. “Well, I guess that is our cue. See y’all later and good luck!”“Good luck!” Emily called as she and Sammy moved toward the front of the lines. Esperanza made her way to where Nola and the rest of Cabin 9 were. She stood beside one of her half-aunts, waiting for Chiron to blow the horn.The centaur was standing between the two teams, who stood on opposing sides of the river.“Remember, the aim of the game is to get the flag, not hurt your fellow campers!” Chiron called, earning a few displeased mutters from the crowd. “Also if you are a legacy camper, remember that you are only allowed to use the powers of the god whose team you are on.”Esperanza sighed in relief, at least she wasn’t going to get electrocuted or drowned today.“That goes for you, Miss. Stoll.” Chiron chided gently. Bella groaned, letting the plants she had been controlling fall to the ground.Chiron smiled, “Thank you. Now, everyone; have fun and be safe! I will see you all at the campfire with our camp alumni!”The conch horn blew and everyone scrambled into action. Matthias let out a battle cry and the Ares cabin charged.Esperanza ran back to the flag with the rest of the defensive.“Cabin 12! Cover the left side. Cabin 9, you guys take the right!” Ollie from the Hecate cabin yelled, giving out instructions, “Us in Cabin 20 will guard in front of the flag.”Nola waved the Hephaestus campers over to the right side of the flag. Esperanza followed. She took off her Greek, stylized dragon armband and pressed the amber eye. In the blink of an eye, she had her gold sword and matching shield in hand.She stood beside her aunts and uncles, keeping watch on the woods for any activity.For a long time, nothing happened. She twirled her sword around to pass the time but her patience was wearing thin. They could hear distant shouts from the other side of the woods, but couldn’t see anything past the thick trees.The sun had just begun to set when rustling was heard from in front of them and blue helmets were spotted.“On guard!” Nola called out. Esperanza raised her sword as the first of the blue team attackers came upon her. It was a boy one year older and much bigger than her; Nigel Howe from the Nike cabin.The sound of metal on metal filled her ears as she blocked her opponent's strike. The vibration from the collision rattled up her arm. She grimaced, twirling her sword free and sidestepped out of the way of another blow.She ducked, bringing her shield up to intercept the sword Nigel swung her way. Using her lower height to her advantage she swiped at Nigel’s leg. He jumped back. She pressed the advantage, trying to force him back away from the flag.She could hear the rest of the Hephaestus cabin fighting around her, but she couldn’t get distracted. Chiron said no maiming, but Nike campers liked to win. Who knows if he would let her go unharmed.Nigel intercepted her strike to his left side, forcing her to pivot to avoid his swing at her shoulder. She tried to ram her shield into his side but he anticipated her movement and used all his might to kick it hard.Esperanza stumbled back at the force of the hit. Her shield went flying. She cursed in Greek as she heard it clang against the side of a tree. She took a few steps back as Nigel came stalking towards her.Her foot caught on a root and she fell hard against the forest floor.
Esperanza.
She froze at the sound of her name. She looked around the grove but no one else seemed to notice, they were all too busy fighting.Who would be calling her name?She was brought out of her thoughts by Nigel’s laugh. The son of Nike was advancing on her like a monster with its prey. She had only a moment to roll away before his sword impaled the ground where her head had just been.
Damn, this boy wanted to play dirty.

Two could play that game.
She rolled out of the way of another strike and when he came for a third she had no choice but to light her hand on fire, shoving it toward his face.He screamed, backing away quickly from the heat.Esperanza jumped to her feet, giving the boy no chance to recover as she swung her sword hard at his head. Even though he was still blinking spots out of his eyes from the light of the flame he managed to get his sword up in time to block it.She wasted no time in throwing another strike, forcing him to play defense rather than offence. She attacked his left, then his right, pushing him further into the trees. Her swings became faster and his blocks more frantic.He stumbled on the uneven ground and Esperanza took her shot. Thrusting forward she nicked the exposed skin above his arm brace and the armour on his shoulder. The cut drew blood. Nigel yelped in pain.“What the hell? Stupid Titan girl!” He yelled.She froze.He ran at her, anger burning in his eyes.
Esperanza. Follow my voice.
He bowled into her with such weight that they both crashed to the ground. With force, he grabbed a dagger from his belt and stabbed her in the arm.Esperanza screamed in pain.The searing pain shot down her arm and through her body. Sparks burned along her hands. Without thinking about anything but defending herself, She used all her strength to push Nigel off of her.He went flying.With a crunch, he fell into a bush about twenty feet away. She sat up quickly, staring at the bush where he had landed in disbelief. Slowly, she got to her feet. She looked down at her hands in horror. What had she just done?For a moment she thought she had killed him. There was no way someone could survive that, right? She took a hesitant step toward the bush. Thankfully, after a few seconds, there was the sound of rustling and Nigel groaned.She sighed in relief and was about to go to him when the voice called her name again.
Esperanza!
She paused. The voice seemed to be coming from the lake.“Cabin 9! Defend the flag!” Nola yelled over the chaos.She stood still. Fighting was still happening all around her. The blue team was almost upon the flag but so far the red team’s defenses were working.She was so unsure what to do. Should she follow the voice or take up arms with her teammates?Silena’s voice came back to her, urging her to not make the same mistake as last time. She didn’t want to let everyone down like last summer, but she was also terrified that she had just almost killed someone in the heat of battle.“Espie!” Nola called. Esperanza looked back at her and then towards the lake. She had to make a decision and fast.
Esperanza Valdez.
After a moments hesitation she followed the voice.The light of the stars and the moon shone against the water of the lake, turning it into crystal. Esperanza looked around trying to find the source of the voice.No one was there. She was alone.Confused, she looked back at the forest where she could still hear the sound of the Capture of the Flag game. She didn’t believe she had dreamed of the voice, but she didn’t know what to think.She was about to head back to the forest when she heard it again.
Esperanza.
She turned toward the lake. Through the reflection of water, she saw the stars grow brighter. Confused, she looked up at the sky and gasped. The constellation of the huntress – her half-aunt, Zoe Nightshade – was glowing and growing larger.Much to her amazement, right before her eyes, the stars came down from the sky and took the form of the Huntress of Artemis. In awe, Esperanza lifted her helmet off her head.“Zoe Nightshade?”The huntress was still glowing with the light of the stars, but Esperanza could make out her dark hair braided over her shoulder and the silver coat which marked her as Artemis’s lieutenant.“Hello,” She spoke, her voice echoing.“Wha-what are you doing here?”Zoe’s expression shifted, growing darker. “I have come to warn you.”Esperanza’s heart skipped a beat. “Warn me?”“Yes,” She nodded, “You must take care, Esperanza. I fear this summer heat will not last.”“Why? Did Persephone get into a fight with Hades or something?”Zoe ignored her, beginning the pace the length of the beach. “The snow goddess now does his bidding. If you do not act quickly, summer will turn into nothing but a distant memory. Not that it shall matter if the world falls.”“What?!”
“He is coming, Esperanza.”
Esperanza looked around desperately, whether on lookout for who Zoe was talking about or for someone to come help her, she wasn’t sure. “Who?”Her half-aunt continued to pace up and down the beach. “The 14th of July, that is when doom will come upon us all. You must work quickly. I do not want to think—”“Zoe!” She interrupted, “Who is coming? Who is he?”The huntress stopped her pacing, turning to face Esperanza. Her eyes shone with great sadness and fear? She sighed, “My father. Your grandfather.”Esperanza took a staggering step back. She felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her lungs and she took a shuddering breath to get it back. “Atlas.”It was not a question, yet Zoe answered anyway. “Yes.”Panic swirled in Esperanza’s gut. She felt her breathing go ragged. Her face and hands felt hot and she knew sparks were flickering from her fingers. She tried to take a few deep breaths but it only made the panic worse. She tried to think of happier things, listing them off one by one in her head.Mom. Dad. Playing hide and seek in the garage. The Waystation. Jasper. Festus. Laughing at lunch with her friends. Her grandmothers. The smell of cinnamon cookies. The feeling of oil grease on her hands. The fairy lights in her room. Mom. Dad. Mom. Dad. Mom. Dad. Mo–
“Esperanza.”
Zoe’s voice broke her out of thoughts. With great difficulty she calmed the flames that had engulfed her hands and met the gaze of the dead immortal huntress.“I must go. And so should you. Go tell the others what I have told you.” Esperanza nodded absently. Zoe began to glow brighter. She could barely look at her. “Remember the past Esperanza, and do not be afraid.”She covered her eyes and the last bright burst of energy and when she opened them, Zoe Nightshade was gone. She was once again alone on the beach and the slithering snake of anxiety was growing tighter around her throat.She fell to her knees on the sand.—She wasn’t sure how long she stayed like that until she pulled herself to her feet slowly. Forcing herself to turn from the lake, and make her way back into the woods.The sounds of Capture the Flag had died out a while ago. The signs of battle had all but disappeared from the forest, leaving an eerie atmosphere as she made her way toward the campfire.A glint of gold caught her eye about halfway through her trek. It was her shield. She picked it up from where it had fallen. Clicking the eye of the dragon emblem at its center with her sword, it transformed back into her armband. She secured it on her bicep as she continued through the forest.She walked as if in a daze until the trees cleared at the light of the campfire could be seen.“Espie!” Jasper ran up to her, grabbing her shoulders. “Are you okay? Where have you been?”“What the fuck was that, Valdez?!” Silena was screaming.Esperanza ignored them both, brushing off Jasper’s hand. Her armour felt heavy as she stumbled her way to the campfire – to her parents.“Mom. Dad.” She called out. They were both already on their feet, coming to her quickly.“What is it Espie?” Her mom asked, gently laying a hand on her cheek. “What has happened?”She swallowed. Looking between her mom and her dad. She let out a small, hysterical laugh. Her dad’s brows were drawn close together. “You can tell us, Espie.”“I-I think I just got a quest.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“What happened exactly?” Chiron asked. Esperanza fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat.She was in the Rec Room of the Big House, sitting at the head of the Ping Pong table between her parents, with Chiron, Mr. D and most of the Camp alumni around the rest of the table – staring at her.It was nerve-wracking, to say the least.“Um…” She didn’t know quite how to explain what had happened to her. Part of her thought it had just been a dream, but she knew it was real. Her dad gave her a reassuring smile. She took a deep breath. “I was playing Capture the Flag, when I heard my name being called.”“How did you get that?” Will Solace interrupted. Nico elbowed him in the ribs.“What?” Esperanza stuttered, thrown off by the interruption.Will pointed to her arm, “Looks like a nasty wound.”She looked down at the spot where Nigel had stabbed her. In her dazed and confused walk through the forest, she had managed to heal most of it, but Will was right, it still looked nasty.Eventually, it would heal. The healing powers she inherited from her mother made it so she to never have a scar or mark on her body – unless of course, it was really bad.“Oh, that?” She laughed, not wanting to give away how she was sure Nigel would have killed her and how she almost for sure killed him. “It’s just a scratch! It will be fine.”The son of Apollo raised his eyebrow at her but let the matter drop. Her mother was more concerned though, leaning over to gently touch the wound. Esperanza shook her off, focusing her gaze on Chiron on the other side of the table.“Who was calling your name?” Piper asked, sensing her wish to move on.Esperanza smiled gratefully. She fiddled with the pencil on the table in front of her. “Um, this may sound a little crazy but turns out it was Zoe Nightshade?”“Zoe?!” Percy, Annabeth and Calypso cried in unison.Esperanza nodded, “Yeah.”“How did you know it was her?” Annabeth questioned.“Oh, well, I saw her.”“You saw her?” Her dad laughed, “Are you feeling okay?”He put a hand on her forehead. She swatted him away annoyed. She just wanted to get this over with. “I am serious! Her constellation was glowing and then, she was just… there.” Silence filled the room. Esperanza couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes.“What did she say?” Hazel finally asked.Esperanza swallowed, “She um… she told me some pretty ominous things. I guess the “snow goddess” is going to make an eternal winter, so… you might want to put away the summer clothes and grab some mittens!” She chuckled. No one laughed along with her.“Khione,” Piper growled from the other side of the table. “That bitch.”“Language,” Chiron chided, though his focus was entirely on Esperanza and the matter at hand. “Go on Esperanza, that cannot be all Zoe Nightshade told you.”She winced but nodded, “Yeah… Khione isn’t alone, apparently, she is working with someone. Someone who is running the show, so to speak.”“And that would be?” Mr. D asked, with an impatient wave of his hand, clearly bored with all this.She looked at her mom, who was looking back at her with a concerned expression. She had to tell them, she knew she did. But she knew it would bring only pain to her mother and that was something she couldn’t bear to do.But she had to.“That would be…” She faltered, looking into her mom’s warm brown eyes, shining with love and concern. “That would be Atlas…”Just had she had predicted, her mom’s face fell. Panic flared in her eyes for a moment before she cooled her expression into a guarded stare. Her dad reached over to grab Calypso’s hand in support, she squeezed it like a lifeline. Esperanza felt her heart squeeze in turn.Everyone else’s faces ranged from blank stares to horrified expressions.“Again?” Percy whined.Esperanza shrugged, “That is what Zoe Nightshade told me. She also told me that July 14th is ‘Dooms Day’, so… that’s fun.”Nobody moved.Clarisse growled, “Let’s go pummel that Titan’s ass.”“And Khione’s while we are at it,” Piper added.Jason rubbed his temples. “We can’t just go and attack them. Isn't there a protocol for these sorts of things? Espie was given a quest, now she needs a prophecy.”“We need Rachel,” Annabeth announced.Grover Underwood nodded, “I will go get her.”He left the room and an awkward silence descended on the Rec Room.Esperanza felt like everything was happening too fast and and nothing was in her control. She didn’t want to go on a quest; she wanted to get through a month at Camp and then head home to see her friends.As if sensing her destress her dad rubbed her back, “It’ll be alright, firecracker.”Esperanza sighed and managed a small smile as she felt the familiar Morse Code phrase being tapped on her shoulder. She reached out and tapped back on the back of her dad’s hand. I love you too.The door opened to reveal Grover and Rachel, who looked like she had just walked through an intense paintball match. Her red hair was pulled into a braid and her clothes and face were covered in paint splotches. She had a folder of artwork under her left arm.“I found her!” Grover said, sitting back in his seat.“Hello everyone,” Rachel greeted, sinking into the seat beside Annabeth. “I hear we need a prophecy.”Esperanza smiled hesitantly, “Yep, that would be for me!”Rachel pulled out the folder she had been carrying and laid out the artwork on the ping-pong table. “Let’s see here.”Esperanza leaned over to see what Rachel had painted. There were scenes of snowstorms, which made sense to her, some of the sky, and some of that were just blotches of colour which made less sense.Rachel hummed, “Nothing is quite clear…”Everyone seemed to be holding their breath. Rachel stared at the painting for a few moments before she suddenly collapsed.Esperanza was about to ask if she needed help before she sat up, eyes glowing green and smoke pouring out of her. Esperanza nearly jumped out of her skin. Everyone else seemed to think it was normal.The room seemed to go cold as the ragged voice of the Oracle oozed out of Rachel’s body, her green eyes fixed on Esperanza.
“The children of the seven and the eclipse shall go west,
To restore the protection that has since left,
Actions of sires they must repeat,
The curse of the winter will meet their defeat,
All shall end with storming fire,
And the curse that was broken will again transpire.”
Rachel collapsed again. Will jumped up to help her as she came to, no longer in the trance of the Oracle.“Well then…” Nico spoke slowly, “Looks like we are breaking the ‘only three to a quest’ rule again.”Annabeth nodded, a thoughtful look on her face, “Obviously Esperanza, Zoe, Charlie, Jasper, Emily, Sammy and Bianca are going on this quest – Bianca being the eclipse. And we know from Zoe Nightshade that they are facing Atlas and Khione.”“That’s what the ‘curse of winter’ means,” Percy nodded. Annabeth gave her husband an exasperating fond look.“Thanks for that Captain Obvious.”Percy smiled, “You’re welcome, Wise Girl.”“And what of the curse that was broken?” Piper asked.“Well,” Annabeth said, “That would be Atlas wouldn’t it?” She looked to Chiron for confirmation.The old Centaur nodded in agreement, “If Atlas is preparing to take over most likely, his curse of holding up the sky has been broken and must be restored.”“Actions of sires they must repeat,” Her dad said, puzzled, “What does that mean?”Annabeth’s voice was quiet as she answered, “I think it means that they are going to have to repeat some of our actions.”Esperanza snapped her fingers, “Zoe Nightshade, mentioned something like that! She told me to remember the past.”“So we are expecting our children to go through some of the things we had to?” Jason sked wearily.Hazel gasped, “No! That cannot happen! I died!”“So did I!” Leo said, horrified. He looked at Esperanza and not for the first time that day, panic filled her stomach. She was trying to be strong. Trying to think everything was going to be okay, but the dread in her dad’s eyes filled her with terror. “You are not going on this quest.”“They have to!” Mr. D said suddenly. “You cannot deny a quest.”“Even if it means sending them to their deaths?” Hazel’s voice was like steel. She shook her head, “I agree with Leo.”Mr. D opened his mouth to speak again but Nico spoke up, “Of course, I don’t want anyone to die, but this doesn’t automatically mean they will die.”“That is true,” Percy reasoned, “But what about everything else we have been through?”
He looked at the rest of the demigods at the table. “We cannot let them go through all that.”Annabeth nodded in agreement. “We fought for a better world so our children wouldn’t have to go through the same things we did. We cannot let them go on this quest.”“You don’t have a choice!” Mr. D argued. “Look at a quest as if it is a debt to the gods.”“We went through two wars,” Percy’s voice was shaking with anger, “We sacrificed our childhoods, we gave everything up, and we lost countless friends and family for you gods. I think we have paid our debt.”Esperanza sat in silence. She was panicking. This wasn’t how this summer was supposed to go. Not at all.Mr. D spoke quietly, “Your children haven’t paid their debt yet.”“Then let us go!” Hazel stood from her seat. “Let us do your dirty work, leave our children out of this!” Her eyes filled with tears and Frank pulled her down, holding her close as she cried.“We don’t have a choice. It has to be them.” Jason said quietly, “Unless you want Atlas and Khione to take over the world.”“Jason–” Piper started.“We cannot protect them from this world forever.” Jason interrupted. A solemn silence settled over the group as Jason’s words sunk in, each demigod realizing the weight of the prophecy on their children.Piper bit her lip, keeping herself from protesting. Percy was visibly shaking and Annabeth put a gentle hand on his arm.“Jason is right,” Calypso spoke for the first time since Esperanza had revealed they were facing Atlas. “And so is Nico, we do not know what aspect of our lives they would have to fulfill.”The rest of the demigods nodded uneasily.Leo eventually sighed, nodding at his wife, “You are right, sunshine.”“What is the protection that has left?” Frank asked suddenly. Esperanza looked around at the other demigods. Nobody had an answer to that. Even Annabeth looked confused.“Chiron?” She asked.The centaur looked thoughtful. “I am not sure, perhaps—”He wasn’t able to finish his sentence before the door was thrown open and Connor Stoll stood panting in the doorway.“What’s got you all frazzled, Stoll?” Clarisse asked harshly.“It's gone!” Connor exclaimed through gasping breaths.“What’s gone?” Chiron asked. Everyone’s attention was fixed on the son of Hermes, even Mr. D perked up from his seat in the corner.Connor pointed toward the Camp border, “The Athena Parthenos!”“What?”“Holy Hades!”“Are you serious?”“Connor this isn’t a funny prank!”Connor shook his head, “It isn’t a prank! I am serious! Somehow it's gone!”Percy was the first to move, standing from his seat and making his way to the door. Annabeth and Chiron followed closely behind. The rest of the demigods filed out, leaving only Esperanza her parents and Mr. D in the room.Mr. D threw his head back on his recliner in the corner and started snoring.Esperanza didn’t want to go outside. She didn’t want to face the fact that the fucking Athena Parthenos was gone. She didn’t want to present the prophecy. She didn’t want to go on a quest with Zoe, Charlie, or Bianca. She didn’t want to be a leader of a quest. She didn’t even want to go on a quest at all.This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.“Damn,” Her dad said quietly. “Things are getting bad again.”Her mother smacked him hard in the arm, “Leonidas Valdez! You will scare her!”Leo rubbed his arm, “First of all; ow. Second of all; she is seventeen, she is fine!” Calypso glared at him hard. Leo held up his hands, “Fine, fine. Espie, it will be fine. It is obviously not as bad as when we had to stop Gaea. This quest will be a piece of cake!”Esperanza smiled weakly at her dad’s attempt to make her feel better. “I am not so sure about that… from what I know Atlas is no joke.”Her eyes sought her mom’s. Calypso was tense but she nodded stiffly, “That is true. But I also know that he is only one man. One horrible, manipulative, immortal, beast of a man, but one man all the same. The monsters and Khione will be easy work, then you can deal with Atlas.”Esperanza nodded, her gaze unfocused on Rachel’s drawings still sprawled all over the table. She suddenly wanted to be anywhere else. She stood, her chair squeaking against the floor, “Let’s go check out the situation outside.”When the three stepped onto the porch of the Big House, all of camp was in chaos. All the campers were gathered around Half-Blood Hill, staring at the spot where the Athena Parthenos had once stood.Chiron, Percy and Annabeth were standing by Thalia’s pine tree, looking in the dark for any signs of what could have taken the statue. Nico was amongst the campers, trying to calm down the swirl of panic that had begun to spread around the camp.“Espie! Uncle Leo!” Jasper called, jogging over to the steps of the Big House. A few of the Aphrodite campers followed, looking scared. “What is going on?”“Are we going to be attacked?” A young camper, who could be no older than ten, asked.“No! Of course not!” Calypso said softly, falling into her role as caregiver easily. She stepped down to put her arm around the kid. Esperanza smiled as she watched her mom. “We are not quite sure what is happening, sweetheart.” She answered Jasper’s question.“It will all be okay!” Leo assured the Aphrodite cabin, though he was watching the hill carefully. “No need to worry. Uncle Leo is here to keep you all saf—”Before he could finish his sentence a chilling screech filled the air and campers began to scream in panic.From the forest came a swarm of Stymphalian birds. Esperanza stood frozen in terror.Demigods began to run for cover. The Apollo Cabin ran for their bows and arrows as the Ares Cabin grabbed their spears. The Athena Cabin immediately made for the armoury, handing out shields as the birds rained down sharp, knife-like feathers on the demigods below.Without thinking Esperanza grabbed her dad’s arm, he pushed her back toward the overhang of the Big House, running forward to help her mom usher as many campers as possible under the roof.A young camper from the Iris Cabin gripped Esperanza’s shirt tightly. She wrapped her arm around the young girl, trying to comfort as many of the scared kids as possible.Crashing was heard through the trees as more screams echoed. Esperanza looked up to see three giant hellhounds bounding through the forest and another two prowled up the Half-blood Hill. She gasped.“Jasper!” She yelled as he ran toward the fray.“I have to find my sisters!” He yelled back. Esperanza swallowed, she understood but she couldn’t help but panic as she watched him go.The ground rumbled as skeleton soldiers dragged themselves out of the dirt, courtesy of Nico and Bianca. Some of the kids screamed at the look of the undead soldiers but Esperanza shushed them, reassuring them that they were here to help.Clarisse had started barking orders at the Ares Cabin, Matthias stepping aside in favour of the more experienced demigod. The Hermes and Hephaestus Cabin were throwing explosives at the Hellhounds while the Apollo Cabin shot at the birds still swarming above them.Esperanza hesitated. She wanted to be out fighting but she couldn’t leave the young kids to fend for themselves. Her parents were on the lawn in front of the Big House, grabbing onto Festus as he swooped into the sky to shoot fire at the birds.Lightning narrowly missed the bronze dragon as Jason struck one of the Hellhounds headed toward the Cabins.Esperanza watched as Percy, Zoe and Charlie managed to force one of the hounds toward the lake, drowning it with their combined powers.Near the forest, the Aphrodite and Demeter Cabins were fighting one of the monsters. The Demeter Cabin had managed to tangle the hound’s paws in vines while the Aphrodite Cabin tried to charmspeak the monster to sleep.The birds, sensing their fellow monster’s distress, swooped away from Festus and the arrows of the Apollo Cabin toward the forest.Esperanza gasped as two of the Demeter campers went down and the Aphrodite campers were forced to flee into the trees for cover.She looked down at the children around her.“Espie!” She breathed a sigh of relief as Jasper ran up to her with his stepmom and sisters in tow. He had a cut across his shoulder and left cheek, but was otherwise unharmed.“Good!” She called as they reached her, “Watch the kids, I have to go help the Demeter and Aphrodite kids!”Jasper placed Eloise on her feet, “Wait! I am coming with you.” He looked back at Shel, “Watch them.”Shel was helpless to do anything as the two took off across the camp to the forest, dodging the sharp feathers of the birds. By the time they reached the woods, the hellhound was on its feet again, using its sharp paws to swipe at the campers.Esperanza ran to one of the downed campers, using her healing powers to take away the pain and applying pressure on the wound until the Apollo kids could come help.Jasper immediately took to the sky, summoning lightning to strike the monster and take out a few birds while he was at it. Using his control of the winds he managed to sway the birds off course where Festus was waiting. The dragon torched many of the birds, even snapping at a few with his teeth.Her dad was throwing tools at the birds as her mom cast spells.It was working but it was also causing fried birds and heavy tools to rain down on the campers below.The hellhound had backed into the cover of the trees and Esperanza had to agree with its tactic. “Into the forest!” She yelled to the Demeter kids, helping the injured camper to their feet.They ran into the forest after the hellhound where the Aphrodite kids had already set up a defence. Jasper stayed behind, focusing on the birds.Esperanza gently set down the injured demigod against a tree and turned to assess the situation. The Aphrodite campers were dodging the hellhound as they swiped at its face and stomach. They weren’t winning.“What do we do?” Bella asked, suddenly beside Esperanza and nearly causing her a heart attack.Esperanza recovered quickly, “Do what you were doing before; get the rest of the Demeter kids to use their powers to bring it down. I will cover you.”“I can sneak onto its back once we get it down! Stab it in the eye while the Aphrodite kids keep it still.” Bella suggested.Esperanza nodded absentmindedly, her brain was still trying to comprehend that this was all really happening. “Whatever you think.”Bella ran off to join Clove and the rest of Cabin 4. Quickly, vines and roots began to emerge from the ground, forcing the Hellhound down. Esperanza spotted Jayde, next to Chloe Letterman, the Head Councilor of Cabin 10. She ran over to them, as they held daggers against the beast.“Ugh!” Chole complained as she ran up to them, “We can’t charm speak the thing to sleep without accidentally putting the plant kids to bed.”Esperanza got her sword and shield ready, “Just try your best, Bella has a plan.”“Bella Stoll?” Jayde asked, one eyebrow raised. “Great, we are fucked.”Esperanza ignored her as the Demeter kids successfully managed to bring the hellhound to its stomach. It struggled against the plants holding it to the ground. Esperanza saw the strain in the faces of the members of Cabin 4.They didn’t have much time.She found herself slow as she avoided the teeth of the hellhound and stabbed its shoulder. The Aphrodite charms seemed to be working a little too well, just like they had feared.Suddenly, two figures appeared on top of the monster, Bella and Clove. They had their swords out and ready to stab the monster in the head.Esperanza watched in horror as the Demeter kids' eyes began to droop, their looks of concentration faltering. She opened her mouth to call out to the sisters but found her brain too slow.With the vines loosened the hellhound used the last of its strength to surge to its feet.Bella and Clove went flying as it stood, hitting the ground with a sickening smack. Esperanza screamed. The Aphrodite kids stopped charmspeaking in shock and the Demeter kids snapped back into action, but it was too late.The hellhound was headed straight toward where she, Chole, Jayde stood, but Esperanza wasn’t going to let it get away with hurting the Stolls.She didn’t even realize her hands were already on fire when she threw them out in front of her, shooting fire at the monster. It roared in pain at the flames and went sailing back with the force of her fire.Gold dust filled the air but Esperanza couldn’t see beyond the flames.By the time her fury cleared, the forest was on fire. She gasped as trees fell under the destruction of the flames. Had she really just done that?She glanced down at her hands. Her hands, that held nothing but the power of destruction.Campers screamed as they ran past her to safety.Esperanza stared frozen, before Clove’s voice snapped her back into action, “Espie!” She yelled.Without a second to waste and the fire grew stronger, Esperanza ran through the flames to the sound of her voice. The young girl was kneeling next to her older sister who was unconscious. Bella had a nasty cut on her temple which was dripping blood into her hair. Esperanza winced.“Help!” Clove coughed.Esperanza nodded, her lungs unaffected by the smoke. “Here,” She carefully pushed Clove away and hoisted Bella over her shoulder. She turned and started to run toward camp, making sure Clove was following.Flames licked at their feet. Esperanza couldn’t feel it, but Clove screamed. Using all of her strength, while still keeping hold of Bella Esperanza focused her mind on the flames and cleared a path in front of them. “Go!” She yelled at Clove over the crackling of burning trees.Clove took off at super-human speed. Esperanza faltered for a moment, watching the young granddaughter of Hermes prove why he was her grandfather, but surged on, mindful of Bella on her back.Finally, she made it out of the forest, but she was met with horrible silence.The battle had ended and almost every member of Camp Half-Blood was staring in shock at the burning forest. The only sound that was heard was the crackling of flames like a freight train and the whimpering of the wounded as the Apollo Cabin, led by Will took them to the infirmary.Esperanza set Bella down as an Apollo camper, Eric she realized, rushed forward to care for her. Katie, Travis, Clove and the twins were not far behind.“I-” Esperanza stuttered, trying to look anywhere but at the Stoll family. But everywhere she looked she saw Bella’s still face. “I-I am sorry–”“She will be okay,” Eric sighed in relief. He wouldn’t look at Esperanza.Katie almost sobbed. Esperanza nodded shakily. “O-okay. Good. And, I-I didn’t mean to. I swear.”Eric shook his head, “Sure, Esperanza. Just stay away and let us real demigods do our job okay?”It felt like someone had slapped her across the face. She stood stunned before forcing herself to turn around and face her destruction.The trees looked like torches against the night sky. Smoke curled up into the air, creating a dark haze over the camp. The forest was almost completely destroyed. Nymphs stood crying as they watched their homes burn to the ground, others burning themselves, their screams of agony a symphony in the night.Most of the surrounding demigods had backed away as the heat became unbearable and more trees fell, burning to the ground and lighting the surrounding grass on fire.Without warning, a wave of water surged from the lake, dosing the forest and flooding most of the camp’s grounds.Now the trees looked like charred sticks, sloppily stuck in the mud by a child at recess.Turning and almost slipping in the mud Percy’s flood had created, Esperanza faced the camp. Most of the campers were looking at her in a mix of fear and disgust. The Demeter Cabin and nature spirits particularly looked at with fury burning in their eyes.Whispers began to spread fast. Esperanza felt her heart rate increase and she found that despite being unaffected by the smoke, she could barely breathe. Her vision started to go blurry but then through the haze, her dad was in front of her.“Hey, hey,” He was saying. He grabbed her hands. “It’s okay. Breathe Espie, breathe. Just like how I taught you. It’s alright.”She took a shuddering breath, gasping as a sob attempted to make its way up her throat. She didn’t even realize her hands were on fire again until her dad brought them to his chest, letting her calm down to the beat of his heart.“It’s okay.” He kept telling her. She couldn’t get the faces of the crowd out of her mind. The sight of Bella’s face. The screams of the trees as they fell.Esperanza shook her head, taking a deep breath, “It’s not okay.”Her dad smiled softly at her, “It happens. It will be okay, my girl.”“No!” She hissed, mindful of the crowd of people around them. “This doesn’t ‘happen’! I set a forest on fire! I-I hurt people.”He continued to squeeze her hands, his heartbeat steady under her palms. “Everything has a fix. It’s alright. We will figure it out.”“How is this alright?” Mia Berry of the Demeter Cabin asked. “Do you know how many trees you have just killed? How many nymphs and nature spirits are now without homes?”“Not to mention that fact that you could have killed us?” Chloe yelled, crossing her arms. “You nearly killed Bella!”Esperanza looked over to where Bella was gingerly sitting up with the help of her dad and Eric. She was looking around confused and studying the burns that ran down the left side of her arm. Esperanza looked away quickly.“Yeah, she almost killed me too during Capture the Flag!” Nigel called out. Leo looked at her sharply, his eyes going to the knife wound on her arm. Esperanza just shook her head. She just wanted to get out of here.“Now, now children!” Chiron finally intervened. “It was an honest mistake and one that can be fixed. Besides, Miss Valdez killed the last hellhound, for that we should be grateful.”That was met with silence. She pleaded to her dad with her eyes, begging him to take her away from here. Finally, he seemed to get the idea and gently steered her away from the center of the crowd where her mom was waiting.As they walked through the hoard of campers, She could hear the whispers stirring through the crowd.“I told you she is a Titan.”“Did you see the way she just killed without mercy?”“I heard she left all the younger kids to fend for themselves while she set the woods on fire.”“Did you see how her eyes started glowing golden? Like Luke’s.”Esperanza snapped her head up at Jayde’s comment. Golden eyes? Oh fuck.Zoe Jackson glared at her from across the clearing, her eyes hard as if to say ‘I told you so’. The rest of the legacy campers couldn’t meet her eyes – not even Jasper. She felt as if a blade had been stabbed and twisted in her heart.She wanted nothing more than to fall into her mom’s arms and hide away from the world forever, but she couldn’t. Instead, she just stood beside each of her parents as they both put an arm around her shoulders in support.“Chiron is right.” Nico’s voice was heard over the murmuring voices. Thankfully, everyone’s attention turned to him. She let out a shaky breath. Her mom squeezed her shoulder. “We have bigger things to worry about now. The Athena Parthenos has been stolen. And a new quest and prophecy have been given out.”The whispering started again. Everyone’s eyes turned to her again. Esperanza cursed under her breath.Chiron stepped forward again, “The children of the seven and Bianca di Angelo-Solace are to go West to defeat the goddess Khione and the Titan Atlas.”The whispering grew louder.“It is also presumed that along their journey they will recover the Athena Parthenos and repeat the actions of their parents.”The whispers turned to shouting now.Esperanza’s eyes sought Jasper’s again; this time he was looking right at her.“I am not going on a quest with her!” Zoe yelled over the noise of the other demigods. “And with Atlas in the mix? Are you all insane?”“This is what is happening!” Chiron shouted, “No questions!”More campers began to protest. The noise deafening in the still night.“Get me out of here.” She whispered to her parents. Leo nodded, grabbing Calypso’s hand and keeping an arm around Esperanza’s shoulders, he turned them back to the Big House without another word.Esperanza couldn’t believe this was happening to her.The second they were away from all other ears and eyes she began to cry.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The landscape of Pennsylvania blurred out of the train window. The sun had dipped low below the horizon, the emerging lights of the passing cities dotting the landscape.Esperanza sat with her head against the cool pane of the window, watching sleepily as Jasper and Sammy played a game of cards beside her. Across the aisle, Zoe and Charlie were fast asleep and across the small table between them, Bianca was drooling on her cousin’s shoulder while Emily read a book.“Yes!” Jasper cheered quietly, reaching to take a stack of cards from Sammy’s side of the table. Esperanza didn’t know what game they were playing and she was too tired to figure it out.Sammy shook his head, reaching for another card from the middle pile. “You got lucky with that one, Jasp.” Jasper smirked.The train car was dark, with only the soft glow of Emily’s reading light to see. Most of the other passengers were asleep or staying quiet.Esperanza glanced down at her watch, it was 11:34 pm. Her head ached and she wished she could simply close her eyes and sleep but she couldn’t and it wasn’t just because of the boys beside her.Her mind kept replaying the events of last night and the morning.After the battle with the hellhounds and the subsequent fallout, she had been so scared to talk to her parents. For years she had been acting like everything was just dandy at Camp, so to have them see first hand some of the things she had to deal with all the time was terrifying.However, she didn’t have to worry because they assumed the only reason anyone was saying bad things about her was because of the quest and her momentary loss of control. She didn’t have the heart – or courage – to tell them otherwise.Last night her dad had talked her through ways to control her fire powers. “Just take a few deep breaths” he had told her, “Think of a happy place, but not too happy unless you want to combust with excitement.”They had already been through this all when she was little but she was grateful for the distraction.Both her parents had showered her with reassurances that the quest would go amazingly. Esperanza wasn’t so sure but she mustered a smile for them as they helped her pack.It had been well past midnight by the time she was completely ready for sleep even if she felt like she had felt she would collapse the moment Zoe Nightshade had first called her name. He had forced herself to stay awake, wishing to spend more time listening to her mom’s comforting voice or laughing with her dad.She didn’t go back to the Hephaestus cabin that night. Instead, she crawled into her parent’s bed in one of Nico and Will’s guest rooms and fell asleep between them like she had when she was a little girl.Thank Hypnos no dreams haunted her that night.But if she thought the previous night had been bad, the morning after was even worse.After a quick breakfast at Nico and Will’s with the rest of the seven that consisted of attempts at conversations between the adults and awkward glances/glares from the kids, Esperanza visited Bella in the infirmary.Upon seeing the burns adorning the younger girl’s arms Esperanza had nearly cried, but she kept it together and apologized profusely. Bella had only smiled and handed her a small daisy.“To wish you luck on your quest,” Bella had said in response to Esperanza’s hesitant look. “Anytime my day is going wrong I simply throw some daisies in the air. Perhaps it will help you too.”Esperanza smiled and cradled the daisy close. She still had it tucked away in her pocket.Saying goodbye to her parents had been hard. She hugged both of them tight and didn’t let go until Jasper called her name for the third time.Even though she was not a fan of camp, she hadn’t wanted to leave. As she looked out from the top of Half-Blood Hill at the sprawling landscape and lake shimmering in the distance, she clung to the hope that this would all be over soon and she would be back in New York, and then Texas in no time.After all of the children of the prophecy had said their goodbyes to their parents, Argus had driven them to the nearest train station. They all knew that something would prevent them from taking the train all the way to California but for now, they enjoyed the easiness of the quest.Now, they had been on the train for nearly 12 hours and nothing had happened. It put Esperanza on edge.“How are you guys still awake?” She asked Sammy and Jasper quietly. “It’s 11:30 for Hades' sake!”Jasper shrugged, putting a card down with a triumphant smile. Sammy grumbled and drew from the pile. “We are still on West Coast time, Fire Girl. It’s only 8:30 to us.”Esperanza groaned, “These time zones are going to kill me.”Jasper’s expression turned more serious. He looked away from the game to glance at her, “Are we keeping you awake? We can stop if needed.”She shook her head, “No you guys are good. I am just thinking.”Jasper gave her a sympathetic look, “You can use my shoulder as a pillow?” He offered.She smiled and leaned away from the window to lean her head on her best friend’s shoulder. He twisted his head to kiss the top of her hair, “Night Espie.”“Night Jasper.” She murmured. It took a few moments but finally, she was lulled to sleep by the hum of the train and the quiet mutterings of Jasper and Sammy as they played their game.—Just as she predicted the quest didn’t stay smooth sailing for long. She was awoken by the lurching of the train coming to a sudden halt. The screech of the wheels set her teeth on edge as she braced herself against the table.The sun was up and a quick check of her watch showed it was well into midmorning. She looked out the window, noticing the rest of the demigods doing the same. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.Over the loudspeaker, the train conductor’s voice came on. “We apologize for the delay. There is something obscuring the tracks that we are attempting to move as soon as possible.”Zoe stood. Esperanza saw her hand go to the hilt of a dagger tucked into her belt.Charlie tugged on her arm, “Where are you going? Let’s just stay under the radar.”Zoe shrugged him off, “I am just going to the bathroom.”As she moved into the aisle, Bianca and Emily also stood. “A bathroom break sounds great,” Bianca commented.The three girls moved to the front of the car and before they could reach the dividing door, Esperanza jumped up.“What are you doing?” Jasper asked as she climbed over him to get to the aisle. She nearly tripped on his feet, catching herself on Zoe’s abandoned seat across the aisle.“What?” She said, meeting all three boy’s confused faces, “Girls go to the bathroom in groups all the time.” She sped away, catching up with the other three girls just as they made their way into the next compartment.“Okay, so what’s the plan?” She whispered as she reached them. Emily jumped out of her skin.“Holy Jupiter! Espie! You can’t sneak up on someone like that!” She started frantically fanning her face, a habit she had picked up from her mother.Esperanza smirked, “You know, for a granddaughter of Pluto, you are surprisingly easy to scare to death.”Emily rolled her eyes.“What are you doing here?” Zoe hissed as they continued through the train.Esperanza shrugged, “What does it look like I am doing? I know you don’t actually have to go to the bathroom and I wasn’t about to let you guys have all the fun. It is my quest after all!” Zoe glared at her but Esperanza wasn’t phased, “So what’s the plan?” She asked again.Zoe sighed, “Fine. We are getting to the front of this train to see whats the matter. I’ll bet anyone a thousand bucks it’s a monster.”“Yeah, I am not taking that bet.”They made their way to another sliding door between compartments. Zoe slid it open easily and they followed her through.“What are we going to do once we find this monster?” Bianca asked, stepping around someone’s foot blocking the aisle. As she passed, Esperanza kicked the foot. The guy woke from his sleep disoriented, but couldn’t tell what had woken him. Esperanza held back a giggle.“Well,” Emily started, answering her cousin. “Once we find this monster we will kill it, watch as its blood waters the ground and crush its bones back into the earth, all the way down to Tartarus where it belongs.”All three of them paused. Emily nearly bowled Bianca down.“What?” She asked.Zoe shrugged uncertainly, “Just wasn’t expecting that from you, Em.”Emily raised her eyebrow as they began to move through the train car again. “I am a granddaughter of the god of war.”Esperanza shook her head, “Yeah but you are also the girl who just spooked like a horse when I came up next to you.”“Maybe she is afraid of you?” Zoe commented dryly.Esperanza scoffed, “Who would be afraid of little old me?”“Well–”“Don’t answer that.” She added hastily.They fell silent as they followed Zoe onto the next car; the first-class car. A bar was set up in the middle of the space, with fancy crystal glasses and golden bar stools. The seats were as large as armchairs, each covered in a soft layer of blue velvet.The passengers all sat around, sipping champagne and looking very annoyed at the delay.“Woah.” Bianca breathed as they stepped into the space. Esperanza had to agree with her. This was something else, it almost felt like a scene from the Titanic.“Let’s keep moving,” Zoe said, but before she could move further into the cabin a security guard stood in front of them.“Excuse me girls but I will need to see your first-class tickets before I can allow you to go further.” He said in a gruff voice.Zoe smiled sweetly, “Sorry sir, but we are just making our way through to the bathroom.” She went to step around the guard but he sidestepped into her path again.Suddenly the train rumbled, shaking slightly and causing Esperanza to have to grip one of the backs of the velvet seats to keep her footing.“Finally,” One of the first-class passengers said, dusting off her expensive-looking coat. “This delay seemed like it would last forever!”“I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” Emily muttered, looking at the door leading towards the front of the train warily. Esperanza followed her gaze, a dark shape could be seen through the tiny window. It was moving toward them and fast.Esperanza gulped. Zoe continued to argue with the guard. “We really need to get to the front of this train.”“Ma’am, I cannot allow that.”“Don’t ma’am me!”The door between cars brust open. Passengers screamed as the glass window shattered. Esperanza saw an older gentleman spill his wine all down his suit and swear.Two Cyclopes stood in the doorframe of the train car, their collective two eyes searching through the crowd until they landed on the four girls at the back.“Fuck.” Zoe cursed, unsheathing her sword and stepping in front of the rest of them.The security guard’s turned his attention from them to the two invaders, lumbering towards them. Esperanza didn’t know what he saw through the veil of the Mist but it mustn't have been good because his hand went to the hostler at his waist.“Hey!” He shouted, stepping forwards. Passengers ducked in their seats as the Cyclopes came closer. “Get off this train! Put your up hands where I can see them!”The Cyclopes didn’t listen – obviously (monsters aren’t really known for their attentive listening skills).With one swing of it’s club the security guard went flying. He smashed into the nearest window, cracking the glass and falling in a heap on the floor.The other passengers were screaming, running over each other in an attempt to escape the enclosed car. Someone pulled the emergency alarm and sirens started blaring over the sound speakers. Red lights flashed, adding to the already chaotic environment.Emily grabbed Bianca’s shoulder and forcefully pulled her behind her. The younger girl protested as she stumbled into Esperanza who put her arms out to steady her.The first Cyclops launched at Zoe who easily blocked the strike with her sword. She pushed it back with all her might and the Cyclops stumbled backward into the more open space of the train car. Zoe stalked after it.The second Cyclops chose his moment to turn from where he had been taunting some of the cowering mortals to strike at the other three girls. They ducked as its club swung at them.Esperanza wished she could unleash her sword and shield but between the door, Bianca and the seats on either side of her she was boxed in. She was sure Bianca didn’t feel like becoming a Bianca-kabob anytime soon.Emily too had no weapon but that didn’t mean she was defenseless. She shoved her shoulder into the chest of the monster, forcing him away from Bianca and Esperanza. Then, like freaking Wolverine claws extended from her right hand and she slashed at the Cyclops’s chest. It howled in pain as gold ichor leaked from the wound.Not to be out done Bianca, armed with a dagger, surged forward. She stabbed the beast in the leg, as Emily scratched at its face.Confident in the Underworld cousin’s abilities to defeat the Cyclops, Esperanza turned her attention to where Zoe was fighting one on one with the other Cyclops.She was holding her own well. Oh course she was she was Zoe Jackson for Hera’s sake!Her hair was pulled back from her face in a long braid down her back that swung over her shoulder as she dodged an attack from the Cyclops. Esperanza could see the muscles in her arms moving under the exposed skin her blue tank top provided as she expertly kept the monster at bay.Her steely grey eyes flashed in determination as she backed the Cyclops against one of the large windows and with one last thrust of her sword sent it to Tartarus in a cloud of dust.Esperanza shook herself and looked away as Zoe turned around. Don’t get distracted.A cell phone came flying at her head as the Cyclops Bianca and Emily were fighting abandoned it’s weapon in favour of throwing a suitcase instead. She caught the luggage with ease before it could hit the small family huddling behind the seats beside her.The cell phone clattered to the floor at her feet. The train shook again and Esperanza looked up to see three more Cyclopes making their way from the engine, headed towards them.“Styx.” She murmured. Her mind was working a mile a minute trying to find a fix. Bianca and Emily were still engaged with the second cyclops and Zoe was crouched beside a little girl who was shaking uncontrollably. No one else had seen the other monsters coming there way.Come on Esperanza! She chided herself as she thought hard. Her eyes landed on the phone and she suddenly knew what to do.She wasted no time in picking up the phone and popping off the back with a bobby pin from her hair. Her hands went to her belt pulling out the small tool kit she always kept there. The phone seemed to hum in her hands as she pulled out wires and restructured the motherboard.The Cyclopes were getting closer. Her hands worked faster.The unmistakable sound of smashing glass interrupted her and she looked up just in time to see Emily stab the cyclops in the chest with a broken bottle from the bar.For a moment everything was silent. Say something dummy!“There are more coming! We have to get off this car! Now!”“What?” Emily questioned rushing toward her. Esperanza gestured over to the far door with her head, her hands still occupied. “Oh.” Emily said as she watched the monsters get closer. “Oh!”“Don’t worry I have a plan! We just need to get everyone out of here.” She said, stepping forward. “Everyone get to the back of the train now!” She yelled at the mortals who surprisingly followed the advice of a teenager disassembling a cell phone.Emily and Bianca herded the first-class passengers out of the car. Esperanza stood in the middle, her eyes never leaving the approaching monsters. They had about 15 seconds.“Zoe!” Bianca yelled behind her.Esperanza turned her head for a split second to see the older girl throw the little girl she had been comforting earlier over her shoulder and rush to safety.
10 seconds left.
Her hands fumbled with the contraption she was making.Emily called her name, but Esperanza didn’t move. 5 seconds.“Come on, come on.” She muttered to herself, finally looking away from the Cyclopes to fumble with the last piece. Her hands shook but now was not the time for errors.
3…2…1!
Finally the last piece clicked and Esperanza threw the phone as hard as she could just as the Cyclopes stepped over the threshold onto the first-class car.With a bang the phone exploded, sending the monsters reeling back. Smoke filled the cabin and the fire alarms started blaring anew. Esperanza turned back and ran through the smoke to where Bianca, Zoe and Emily were waiting.“What was that?” Zoe asked.Esperanza shrugged, pushing past them to head back to their seats. “I told you I had a plan. That should delay the Cyclopes a bit but we need to find the boys and get out of here.”“Here? We don’t even know where here is?!” Zoe complained as they pushed past mortals who were cramming out the now open doors of the train.Esperanza chose to ignore her, focusing on getting back to their cabin, but before they could reach their seats, Jasper, Charlie and Sammy were in front of them, each holding one of their bags.“I am guessing you guys had something to do with this?” Jasper asked, one eyebrow raised as he handed Esperanza her backpack. She shrugged with a smirk. “Bathroom break my ass.” Jasper muttered quietly.Esperanza barked a laugh as the other girls grabbed their bags and all seven demigods filed off the train.They were in a tunnel. The crowd of people, the smoke coming through the train windows, and the low light admitting from the tunnel lights made the atmosphere oppressive. Esperanza fumbled in the dim light for Jasper’s hand. He grabbed it and squeezed.“What now?” Sammy whispered. Esperanza barely heard him over the panicked noise of the mortal crowd.Through the haze the smoke and lights had created in the tunnel, two large shapes emerged from the shadows of the train. Zoe saw them first, she cursed under her breath, “Now we run. How do we get out of here?”There was a moment of hesitation as the Cyclopes spotted the demigods and vice versa. Then, Emily jumped into action, “This way!” She yelled, grabbing her brother’s hand and running away from the crowd of people.Using her sense of the underground she began to lead them out of the train tunnel, while the Cyclopes were hot on their trail.Emily stopped in front of a rusted ladder on the side of the tunnel. When nobody moved she rolled her eyes, “Up!” She gestured to the ladder.Sammy went first, opening the hatch at the top of the tunnel and climbing out onto what Esperanza assumed was a street of some kind. Light poured in from the now open hatch allowing the rest of their ascends up the ladder to be much easier than Sammy’s but also putting a direct spotlight on them as the Cyclopes came around the corner.They saw them and charged, their eyes (collectively) staring them down with a look of hunger.“Espie!” Jasper called, pulling her from her thoughts. He had a hand reaching down for hers from the top of the ladder. She realized just her and Emily were left. Quickly she pulled herself up the ladder.“Where are we?” Emily asked as she climbed onto the street behind Esperanza.“I don’t know. I have been trying to find any landmarks that might give it away but I got nothing.” Charlie said with a sigh.“Great!” Bianca threw her hands up, “Here we are, one day into our quest and we are already lost!”Zoe crossed her arms, “Well if someone didn’t set off the fire alarms, maybe we would still be on the train.”“Hey!” Esperanza said. Not in the mood to see Zoe’s irritated expression pointed at her she looked around. They were definitely in a city. Highrise buildings dominated what little of the skyline she could see beyond the dusty ally they currently found themselves in. “I got us out of there!”“Yeah, but if we had just defeated the Cyclopes normally the train would be up and running soon.”Esperanza scoffed, looking down the ally at the shops that lined the street across from them. “Like the police wouldn’t have showed up after that and evacuated the train. Or maybe more monsters would have come and— wait.” Her eye caught the sign of a small bakery on the bottom floor of an apartment building. “I know where we are.”“So, then we would have— wait? What?”“I know where we are.” She repeated.Jasper smiled, “That’s great! Where are we?”“We are in Indianap–”She was cut off by a scream as the Cyclopes emerged from the hatch they forgot to close. Emily screamed as one of the monsters caught Sammy off guard, stabbing him in the thigh with a rusty spear. He crumpled with a pained groan.A strong gust of wind, forced the Cyclopes against a brick wall as Jasper rushed forward to haul Sammy to his feet. Emily went to his other side, the two of them each throwing one of Sammy’s arms over their shoulders.Everyone was looking at Esperanza. “Oh right! This way!”She took off at a run, leading the group as they raced through the ally to the busy streets of downtown Indianapolis. She could hear the roars of the angry Cyclopes behind them.“Why couldn’t they be more like Uncle Tyson?” She heard Charlie complain to Zoe as they ran.Esperanza risked a glance over her shoulder as they pushed past mortals on the sidewalk. Sammy was struggling; his left pant leg was soaked with blood and his breathing seemed ragged. Jasper and Emily were using most of their strength to keep him moving but it was not fast enough to outrun even the dumbest, slowest creatures; the Cyclopes.They didn’t have much time.With her fingers crossed that the rest of the demigods – despite their rocky relationships – would blindly trust her enough, Esperanza veered off the sidewalk and onto the busy intersection.“Are you insane!?” Zoe yelled, but kept pace with her, only slowing to grab Bianca’s hand and yank her to the left as a car swerved to avoid them.“Maybe?” Esperanza answered honestly.Cars were honking and people were yelling as Esperanza led them on a very dangerous tour of the downtown, but thankfully it was slowing the monsters down, just like she intended.Her lungs were aching by the time the familiar brick building with the rose stained glass window came into sight.They were almost there! Everything was working out according to plan! Well, her newly made up, super fast brain stormed plan, but still!So, of course that is when Charlie Jackson decided to fall on his face.“Charlie!” Zoe called, backtracking to pick her brother and his bloody nose off the sidewalk. Instinctively, Esperanza stopped, Bianca barreling into her and taking them both off their feet.Her back hit the pavement hard and she gasped as the wind was knocked out of her. Bianca was slightly better, because well, she had a nice Esperanza shaped cushion to fall on.The Cyclopes, seeing this opportunity with three demigods on the ground, one limping, one with a bloody nose and the other three preoccupied with the injured two, sped up, their weapons poised above their heads like trophies.Jasper let go of Sammy, turning to face the oncoming monsters and Zoe reluctantly abandoned her bleeding brother to do the same. Emily forced her own bleeding brother to move faster but Sammy looked one step away from collapsing.Jasper and Zoe fumbled for their weapons but before they could strike two arrows came flying from somewhere behind Esperanza, hitting both Cyclopes straight in the eye and sending them into dust.“Woah.” Bianca said impressed, pulling herself off Esperanza and to her feet. The girl put out her hand and Esperanza took it appreciatively, getting to her feet and turning to face their saviour.Her dark brown hair flowed freely down her back and she was wearing a yellow blouse with blue jeans. She lowered her bow, letting one hand drop to land protectively on her pregnant belly. Wait what?!Esperanza gaped at her, and just as she thought her jaw couldn’t be any lower the air above the woman glowed in an intense bright light and a golden lyre appeared above her head.Beside Esperanza, Bianca gasped.Georgina looked up and rolled her eyes, “About damn time.” She looked away from the lyre above her head and smiled at Esperanza. “Hi Espie!”Esperanza stood still, staring at her aunt, “You’re pregnant!?”Georgina looked down at her swollen belly an back up at Esperanza, “Surprise! You are going to have a cousin!”When she didn’t move or respond, Jasper stepped forward, “Hey Georgina! It’s been a while.”“Jasper!” She called running forward to give him a hug, “Last time I saw you, you were shorter than Espie! And that is no small thing.”“Hey!” Esperanza called finally coming out of her stupor at seeing her aunt – who had no boyfriend as far as she knew – pregnant. “I am not that short.”Georgina rolled her eyes but waddled over and enveloped Esperanza in a hug. “Whatever you say pipsqueak. Now how about we go inside and you introduce me and the rest of the family to your friends, because it looks like we have a lot to talk about.”She paused and looked at Sammy’s pale face. “And your friend looks like he is about to drop dead.”—Once inside, Georgina had practically skipped off to excitedly tell her mothers she had been claimed and that they had company.Despite the emotional whirlwind of the past few days and the fact that Sammy and Charlie were both bleeding, Esperanza couldn’t stop the smile that came to her face when she saw her grandmothers.Though they were both now in their eighties, Jo and Emmi were still as youthful as ever. Emmi gasped upon seeing her and both her and Jo hugged Esperanza tight. She smiled into the hug before reluctantly letting go and directing their attention to the injured.Emmi immediately whisked Sammy and Charlie to the Waystation infirmary with Emily and Bianca in tow. Zoe stayed back, knowing her brother was in good hands with Bianca.Jo went off to the kitchen to get a snack and Georgina led the other three demigods to the living room.Georgina sat down heavily on one of the armchairs. Esperanza settled on the couch, sighing in satisfaction at the comfort. Jasper took the seat beside her. Looking a little awkward, Zoe finally perched herself on the edge of the other armchair in the room.“So—” Georgina began but Esperanza cut her off.“No! I know you have questions but so do I and I get to go first!” Georgina looked slightly taken aback by her outburst but stayed quiet, allowing Esperanza to continue. “Who? What? Where? Why? When? How?” she gestured to the pregnant belly.Georgina sighed, “Who? I don’t know. What? A baby. Where? In my uterus. Why? Because I wanted one. When? Due date is in August. How? Maybe you should ask your parents that one.”Esperanza rolled her eyes, “Okay, I know how! But what do you mean you don’t know who?”“I wanted to have a baby but don’t want to be in a committed romantic relationship with anyone so I did it myself.” She said with a shrug.“Oh.” Esperanza said. She looked at Jasper and Zoe. The latter looked really uncomfortable with the whole conversation but Jasper nodded supportingly.“That’s great Georgina!”She smiled at the boy, “Thank you Jasper.”Just then the door to the living room opened at a very sleepy Lityerses walked in. His black hair was messy with bedhead and stuck up in all different directions. He was wearing a red hoodie and sweat pants. Esperanza checked her watch; it was 12:23 pm.Lityerses was rubbing his palms over his eyes so didn’t immediately notice their presence in the living room until Georgina coughed.He blinked and took in the scene of the living room. “Wha–?”“Oh good you are awake.” Jo said, pushing past Lityerses from behind and bringing a tray of snacks and drinks to the coffee table. “For our guests.” She smiled warmly at Esperanza, Jasper and Zoe.“Hi, Lit!” Esperanza cried, smiling brightly at her sleepy uncle.Lityerses still in daze could only wave as Jo pushed him into the spot beside Jasper and took the last seat on the third chair in the room. “So,” She said, patting her legs, “You have a lot to explain Miss.”Esperanza smiled sheepishly, “Mom and Dad didn’t tell you anything?”“No, they failed to mention anything about a quest during our last call.”“Alrighty then,” Esperanza looked at Jasper who gave her a smile before turning back to her grandmother, “Well I better explain then.”For the next ten minutes Esperanza explained everything that had happened since Capture the Flag until Georgina saved them outside the Waystation. Jasper and Zoe butted in every few minutes to add something Esperanza forgot and by the time they had finished Jo looked pensive, Georgina worried, and Lit? Well he looked more interested but no less tired.Esperanza held her breath. She knew this was a lot. They knew how dangerous Atlas was, they know the lines of the prophecy. She can see all three of them putting the pieces together.Finally, after what felt like hours Jo gave her a warm smile, “Well, we should certainly make sure you are well rested and fed before we send you on their way.”Esperanza felt her heart drop with disappointment. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to hear; maybe she wanted them to protest, to not let her go on this shitshow of a quest. Maybe she just wanted a hug or a reassurance that she could do it; she could beat Atlas and make it home in one piece, with all seven of them alive.But that was not what she got so she forced herself to smile and nod, “Only if Grandma Emmi cooks, we all know you will just poison us accidently.”Jo rolled her eyes but smiled at her granddaughter, “Of course.”—The rest of the night went as smoothly as it could. Emmi emerged from the infirmary not long after Esperanza had finished explaining their quest with the rest of the demigods in tow. Charlie’s nose was as good as new and Sammy’s leg was bandaged up.They all crowded around the table, enjoying Emmi’s homemade lasagna – Esperanza’s favourite – and surprisingly delicious cupcakes for desert made by Lit.The atmosphere was nice and homey, reminding Esperanza of her childhood spent wandering these halls and baking treats with her grandmas.It was weird having the other demigods here, in a place where they were so out of context.The Waystation part of her life and the Camp Half-Blood part of her life were so separate; they never mixed. Even Jasper who had met her family multiple times in Texas had never been here. It felt as if she was exposing a private part of herself.She stayed quiet during the dinner, but Emmi and Georgina filled the silence with stories and questions for the other demigods.Jo and Lit, the more reserved of the bunch stayed mostly silent and Esperanza could feel Lit’s eyes on her throughout the dinner. She met his gaze once and stuck out her tongue to which he just chuckled.Once everyone had finished their dinner, Emmi led the other six demigods to the guest rooms, with strict orders to get some rest – especially Sammy. Esperanza stayed behind, sitting at the dining room table with Georgina to her right.She fidgeted with the blue table cloth, tapping her fingers in the familiar Morse Code pattern her dad had taught her.Emmi returned, taking the seat to her right and reaching out to squeeze her hand.“So,” She said with a small smile, “Your first quest!”Esperanza snorted, “Yeah. Let’s not get too excited though. I really don’t want to be doing it.”Her grandmother rubbed her back soothingly. Across from her Jo pushed another cupcake toward her. Esperanza grabbed it and took a bite, thankful for something to take her mind off the prophecy.“These are really good, Lit,” She complimented around bites of the dessert.Her uncle shrugged, “I tried my best.”Georgina rolled her eyes, “I didn’t know trying your best meant setting the kitchen on fire.”“Hey now!”“What?” Georgina said, cradling her baby bump, “I really wanted cupcakes but I thought you would just get them from the store!”“See? I was being a supportive brother by making you some.”“Yeah but then you burned them and I had to wait like 3 hours for my cupcakes!”Jo sighed, “Kids! Not now.”Esperanza snickered as Lit made a face at Georgina who showed him the finger. They were just like real siblings it was crazy.“Back to Espie,” Jo continued, looking at her again.Esperanza sighed. Did it really have to go back to her?“Are you scared?” Georgina asked almost timidly.“Yeah,” Esperanza answered honestly, “But I am also not super worried. I have the rest of the gang with me and I don’t think we will fail.” She faked a smile.In truth she was terrified. Absolutely, positively terrified. About the prophecy. About Zoe. About Khione. About Atlas. About herself. She knew they could succeed, but she also knew that they could fail. Horribly. She knew that they all might not make it home. It made her feel sick.She wanted – no needed she grandmother’s to tell her everything would be alright. She needed Georgina to promise she would be there when her little cousin was born. She needed Lit to be able to look her in the eyes when he told her he would see her soon.Instead, Jo and Emmi only nodded supportively, their smiles pained. They were agreeing with her but not daring to say it out loud. She felt nauseous. She pushed her half eaten cupcake away.“How is Sammy?” She asked. She needed to change the subject.Emmi sighed but it seemed to be a sigh of relief. “He is fine. His leg should heal perfectly. I would suggest he get a few days of rest before you set out again, but I don’t think that is a possibility.”Esperanza nodded. She wanted to stay here forever, in the safety of the Waystation walls, waiting out the storm that was brewing and let someone else deal with it. But she couldn’t.“You should take the bus as far as you can,” Jo said then. “At least then he will be off his leg for as long as you can manage it.”“That’s a good idea because I don’t think Bianca wants to do an amputation on her cousin in the middle of this end of the world quest.” It was meant to be a joke but all she got was pitying smiles.She stood abruptly from the table, “I am going to go check on the others and probably should get some sleep.”Emmi stood up and hugged her tight. “Okay, love. Get some sleep.” She kissed her hair. Jo and Georgina each gave her a hug as well. She waved to Lit and left the kitchen. She needed to get out of there.Taking a deep breath she followed the pathways of the Waystation away from the bedrooms to the workshop.As she pushed the doors open and the familiar sights and smells greeted her she suddenly felt like she could breathe again.She ran her hands along the workbench, feeling the hum of machinery under her fingertips. Grabbing a handful of wires she settled on an overturned crate near the brick wall and began to fiddle with them, twisting and turning them absently.She wasn’t aware of time passing until the door cracked open. She jumped to her feet reaching for a weapon but slumped in relief at the familiar sight of her uncle.“Oh,” She said, settling back onto the crate, “It’s just you.”Lit smiled at her, “Sorry for scaring you.” He sat beside her on the ground, putting his head against the wall. His black hair fell in front of his face and stirred slightly every time he breathed but he didn’t move it.The two sat in silence for a while, Lit staring at the opposite wall and Esperanza fiddling with the wires.She looked down at her hands and realized she had been twisting into the shape of a flower; an Anemone. Her mom’s favourite flower.“Your mother was afraid of death,” Lit said suddenly, his low voice making Esperanza jump.She looked at him strangely, “What?”Lit sighed, his eyes not leaving the wall across from them. “When she and your dad first started settling in here. Without the constant threat of danger, I think it began to sink in that she was no longer immortal; she was going to die one day.”“I think most mortals are afraid of death,” He continued softly, “Your dad was too, don’t get me wrong, but when you are immortal and then all of sudden you bleed red instead of gold… that is different.”Esperanza was unsure what to say. “I can see how that would be… difficult.”Lit nodded, “Your parents were going through a rough patch when they first arrived. Calypso didn’t know what to do in this strange new world she was thrown into but I had some idea so we bonded. When she asked about death I told her one thing.”“What?” Esperanza asked, wanting to know about a part of their lives her parents rarely talked about.. “What did you tell her?”“I told her not fear death. Living is scarier.”“You think so?” Esperanza asked quietly.Lit nodded, finally meeting her eyes for the first time since he entered the workshop. “Death isn’t a choice. Living is. It’s your choices while you are alive that matter.” He paused. “I think you will face many choices on this quest Espie.”Esperanza waited for him to say more but he just smiled at her. She sat frozen as he stood a ruffled her hair before heading to the door. “Goodnight,” He said over his shoulder as he left.“Night.” She said quietly.In the dark of the workshop, Esperanza suddenly pictured her mother as a teenager. Her soul thousands of years old but with body and mind of a 16-year-old. She pictured her scared and lonely in the strange new world she had suddenly become apart of, wondering what it is like to die after she cut herself on the kitchen knife and her blood flowed red instead of golden.She wondered how alone she felt despite the fact she was in a bustling city with a boyfriend and a new family, attending a high school full of students but trying not to cry when the teacher mentioned another war she had never heard of but the whole class knew. She wondered if she got angry when the Odyssey was placed on her desk and every word painted her as vindictive sorcerous. Or if she was sad when she found out everyone knew her father’s name but no one knew her mother’s. Was she angry when she realized she could barely remember herself?Esperanza remembered a story her Grandma Emmi had whispered to her when she begged for one, one night in bed. Her parents had just started high school after getting over their “rough patch” as people often called it.It had been a long day and when her dad had gone to bed he had awoken a few hours later to her mom crawling under his covers and crying into his shirt. Her dad had held her close and made her laugh until she fell asleep against his shoulder, her hand curled protectively over his heart. Her grandma’s had been furious when they found them lying together in the same bed the next morning but one look at her mother’s tear stained face and they let it slide.Esperanza wondered if that had been the night she had talked to Lit. If death had been on her mind that night she crawled into her dad’s bed.She didn’t know how long she sat there, but the moon was high in the sky by the time a very sleepy Jasper came to get her. She smiled when he asked what was wrong and followed him back to the bedrooms without a word.— The next morning had the demigods up bright and early and waiting outside the Indianapolis bus station for the next bus to Illinois.The residents of the Waystation had come to see them off and Esperanza fought back tears as she said goodbye to her family. She had already almost burst into tears at breakfast and then again when they left the Waystation, watching as the red brick building got smaller and smaller.Jo and Emmi wrapped her in a hug first, kissing her hair and whispering reassurances. Esperanza hugged back tightly, not wanting to leave the warmth of her grandmother’s embrace.Georgina was next, hugging her around her baby bump. “When you come back your new cousin will almost be here!” She said crying, “Sorry, hormones.” She apologized.Esperanza smiled, “It’s okay.”“Come back safe so you can be there for the birth!”“I won’t miss it. I promise.” Esperanza said, hugging her again.To her surprise, when Gerogina pulled back Lit took her place. His arms felt awkward around Esperanza, like he wasn’t used to hugging people – he wasn’t. She hesitated for only a second out of surprise before she was squeezing him tight.“Good luck kid.” Lit laughed, ruffling her hair as they pulled apart. Then more quietly he added, “You’ll make the right choice.”Esperanza swallowed nervously, but nodded. “Thanks.”Then the bus pulled up and Esperanza gave one last wave to her family before following the rest of the demigods up the stairs and trying not to trip, her vision blurred with unshed tears.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Esperanza knew the second they stepped on the bus that something was going to go wrong. Firstly, Bianca was acting strange; fidgeting with the skull ring on her finger and glancing at the sun. (Yes she could stare right at the sun and not go blind – stupid Apollo genes.)When Sammy asked her quietly if she was okay, she just shrugged, “I think it's fine, just my gut telling me something is off.”That got Esperanza even more worried. Sure, her and Bianca didn’t spend a lot of time together but the one thing she knew was that when Bianca felt something was off, you listened.Bianca was actually a child of Hecate. Her father had been killed in a car accident before she had been born, so the goddess at brought her to camp as a baby. Almost immediately after seeing her, Nico and Will had gladly adopted her into their family.Hades and Apollo both recognized her as their granddaughter and blessed her with some of their abilities. Thus, Bianca could raise the dead, shadow travel, etc. And because Apollo is such a show-off, try-hard, she had about every Apollo ability known to man, including some form of prophecy/future telling.So when Bianca said something was off, something was off.Secondly, the moment they set foot on the bus, all the passengers eyed them strangely. Sure, it could be because they were seven teenagers getting on a bus to Illinois on a random Tuesday morning, but they were demigods and when someone was staring at you, you were on your guard.Either way they sat down in seats at the back of the Greyhound Bus. They fell into their usual groupings, Jasper beside Esperanza, Zoe and Charlie, Emily and Sammy and then Bianca on her own across the aisle from her cousins.A few more people got on after them and then the bus was moving forward. Esperanza sighed, her head hitting the back of the seat as the bus lurched forward.The feeling of unease didn’t let up as the bus made its way through Indiana. They tried to shake it off, playing travel games like eye-spy or Twenty Questions.“Is it a place?” Emily asked in their 5th round of Twenty Questions.Charlie nodded, “Yep!”“Is it a place have all been?” Bianca asked, leaning over the back of her seat.Charlie nodded again.“It’s Camp Half-Blood isn’t it?” Zoe asked, not looking up from her book.“How did you get that?” Charlie asked his sister, disbelief in his voice.A chorus of “Come on Zoe’s" followed. “Not all of us are a descendant of Athena! You got to give us time to think!” Jasper complained.Zoe laughed, “It was so obvious!”“No!”Esperanza smiled. It was nice that they were all getting along. It felt good to have a bit of comradery between them all. She remembered a time when they all used to be best friends, running around Percy and Annabeth’s backyard or teaming up together for Capture the Flag at Camp. That was before they grew up and let old grudges of the past come between them.“Alright, alright!” Emily interrupted Zoe and Jasper’s argument. “Let’s play another round! Who’s up?”Before anyone could answer the bus jolted to the side, like it had been hit with something. Esperanza fell into Jasper, who managed to keep them both from tumbling to the ground. The twins were not so lucky.“What's going on?” Bianca asked, helping Emily to her feet.Charlie shook his head. “I don’t know.”The other passengers were looking around nervously, and one little girl had started to cry into her dad’s side. The bus driver stopped the bus and swore, getting up to check the damage.“It’s alright folks!” He called out, “I am sure it’s nothing.” But unfortunately, with demigods involved it is never ‘nothing’. As he opened the door to get out and check the vehicle he was ambushed and let out a scream as three bloody cheerleaders ripped him to shreds.The rest of the bus started to scream and Esperanza wanted to as well before she realized they were going to have to be the ones to deal with it.The three empousa entered the bus, their bronze limbs echoing on the floor.“Get out! Everyone get out!” Zoe yelled, snapping everyone into action. The mortals scrambled, trying to dodge the empousa (or whatever they saw) as they jumped out of the bus.The monsters advanced on the demigods at the back of the bus. They pulled out their weapons to defend themselves but it was difficult in the tight space of the bus.“What do we have here?” The lead empousa cooed, staring at them. “Seven little demigods, ripe for the taking!”“I am sure your blood tastes goooood!” The second one cried, eyeing Esperanza like she was a piece of prized meat. Ew!They were huddled to together with no where to go and their weapons were practically useless in the tight space. Esperanza thought hard on what to do before she was interrupted by the sound of erupting dirt and screams from the last of the mortals on the bus.Skeletons swarmed the bus, following Bianca’s call. The three empousa seemed torn between continuing to pursue the demigods or fight off the swarm of skeletons.Two of them turned to face the skeletons while the other one lunged at Bianca. Before anyone had any time to react, the empousa had Bianca in her grip. Charlie lunged forward to try and grab her but Zoe pulled him back as the second emprousa came their way.Bianca struggled in the monster’s grip, losing her concentration and letting the skeletons fall to useless bones on the floor of the bus. Now, with no skeletons to contend with all three empousa could go straight for the demigods.Emily leaped forward in the small space to defend her cousin but was stopped when the lead empousa put her teeth against Bianca’s neck. “Back off or she’ll bite.” The third one warned. Emily reluctantly stepped back.“That is better.” The second one said with a disgustingly bloody smile. “Now little demigods drop your weapons and surrender or your friend gets it.”Bianca struggled weakly but it was clear she didn’t want to get bit but a freakish vampire cheerleader.“Why should we?” Jasper asked, “You’re just going to kill us anyway.”They laughed, “Maybe. Maybe not.”Esperanza gritted her teeth. How were they going to get out of this one?Only a few days into their quest – her quest – and things were already going horribly wrong. Then another dreaded thought entered her brain; they were supposed to be repeating history right? Well, one Bianca had already been on a quest against Atlas.No, don’t think that. She yelled to herself in her head. They were going to get through this, it was just one bad day, where everything was going wrong.Wait.A day going wrong.She reached into her pocket and grabbed the crumpled flower Bella Stoll had given her before they left for the quest. At first she had thought the eldest Stoll has simply given her a flower for good luck, but knowing the Stolls, perhaps there was a different meaning.She had nothing to lose but her pride if throwing the flower in the air turned out to be just that. Nobody except Jasper really respected her anyway so, oh well!With her decision made, she threw the flower in the air. For a moment nothing happened and both demigod and monster looked at her like she was crazy. Then, with a flash of light, the flower exploded.Esperanza gasped as she was thrown in the air. Bright spots of yellow and red danced behind her eyelids. She landed hard on her back and then everything went dark.—When she woke up next the first thing she became aware of was the uncomfortable feeling of her cheek against rough pavement. The second thing she noticed was her head was pounding like she had been hit with a hammer and her leg felt like it was being torn off. She opened her eyes slightly and groaned as the piercing rays of the sun invaded her vision. She closed her eyes against its intrusion.“Es–pie” A voice was calling her name but it sounded far away and she grumbled as the uncomfortable feeling didn’t go away.“Espie!” The voice called again, clearer this time. With effort, she opened her eyes and saw the blurry form of Jasper dragging her against the rough pavement of the road by her left leg.She blinked up at him, “Jasper? What are you doing?”He didn’t answer until he managed to drag her into the tall grasses at the side of the highway the bus had been driving along. “You can stop dragging me now!” She yelled but he shushed her.It was then Esperanza realized that they were not alone, the rest of the seven demigods were there in various stages of distress. Sammy’s leg wound had opened again and Bianca was leaning over him, helping him heal despite being battered and bruised herself.Emily was helping wrap a bandage around Zoe’s hand which was scraped and bleeding. Charlie was next to a small creek that ran along the highway, using the water to heal his various wounds.“What happened?” Esperanza asked quietly, still not entirely sure why they had to be quiet.Jasper gave her a strange look, “You don’t remember when you blew up the bus?”“Blew up the bus? Wha—”But then she did remember. The empousa. The skeletons. The flower Bella had given her. The flash of light. Oh shit. “Oh yeah,” She said sheepishly, as Jasper sat down beside her in the grass. His temple was bleeding and the blood was making a thin line down the side of his hairline and chin.She looked around for her backpack which Jasper had also dragged with her to the grass. She dug around in it for a moment before pulling out the medicinal herbs her mother insisted she pack. With gentle, yet shaking hands she cleaned Jasper’s cut, humming softly to take away the pain.“What happened after?” She asked softly.Jasper sighed, “Well, Emily and I were the only ones conscious so we dragged you all over here to the grass. I didn’t want to leave you there last but I figured if anyone could survive beside a burning bus it would be you.”Esperanza nodded, his reasoning made sense and she tried to not let her mind take it in a different direction. He explained why. It’s not because he wants to leave you behind. “Why to the grass?” She asked.“Because when the police and ambulances showed up we knew we couldn’t get mixed up with all of that.” He said, still keeping his voice low and glancing over at the road. “And without Sammy to manipulate the mist I had to bring out the charmspeak.”“Oh yeah?” She said, finishing with his cut and packing her stuff back up. Her humming not only helped Jasper but also helped heal most of her wounds as well. Her head was still pounding but it was much better than it had been.“Yeah.” He said quietly, gingerly touching his temple.The rest of the demigods were slowly getting to their feet. Sammy was out of danger thanks to Bianca, but as the younger girl went to stand up her legs gave out and she collapsed. Using his fast reflexes, Sammy was able to catch her before she hit the ground.“Bianca!” Charlie called, uncaring about being quiet. He rushed over to her with Emily right behind him.Esperanza was on her feet in an instant, rushing forward. She gently pushed Emily and Charlie out of the way and examined the Hades-Apollo Legacy. With Bianca herself out, Esperanza was the next best thing to a healer.She placed her hand on her forehead and began to hum a soft tune but nothing happened. Obviously. Esperanza couldn’t exactly heal, just take away pain and she suspected that Bianca passed out from using up her powers.“I need ambrosia and nectar!” She called, and gently fed them both to Bianca after Emily passed her some. The wounds on Bianca’s arms and legs began to close up and heal. Bianca stirred but didn’t wake up.She tried humming again, putting all her power into it. This time Bianca opened her eyes slightly, blinking up at the sun pooling down on her face.“You’re okay Bianca.” She said softly. The young girl nodded slightly and tried to sit up. “Woah! Woah!” Esperanza held her down, “Not yet.”“We need to get out of here,” Zoe said, looking around. Esperanza could hear the voices of the police and paramedics asking witnesses questions.She nodded slowly, “We will have to support Bianca.”Charlie and Sammy immediately stepped up and supported Bianca on either side. Emily grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. Zoe took the lead and Esperanza and Jasper hung back.Zoe led them through the grass and toward the cluster of buildings.As they entered the outskirts of the city a sign told them they had entered Peoria, Illinois. By the time they were in the heart of the city the sun was going down and Bianca could walk on her own. They ignored the strange looks they were getting from people passing by and kept their heads down around the police.“We need a place to rest and be safe from monsters,” Jasper said to the group, as they stood trying to read a map of the city on the main road.“What about there?” Emily asked, pointing to a spot on the map beside the Illinois River. Esperanza squinted, trying to make out the words. Her dyslexia was making it difficult.“A museum?” She said, finally managing to figure it out.The rest of the group agreed and started to make their way to the Riverfront Museum.They got there an hour before closing and Jasper got them in for free. They walked around for a while, grabbing food at the food court with mortal money and checking out the exhibits, waiting for it to close.When the museum finally closed they hid behind a display case of taxidermized animals. They watched as a security guard patrolled the area before moving on to a room with closed doors.They sneaked out from behind the display and walked through the museum until they found a large room with doors. They stepped inside, checking for guards before closing the doors behind them. Sammy did a bit of Mist work and when he was satisfied they moved further into the exhibit.Bianca sat down heavily on a bench, still drained from her healing work earlier in the day.Moonlight and the last of the glowing rays of the sun, streamed in through the high windows, casting a warm glow over the room. Esperanza set up a small controlled fire in the center of the room for better light.“Woah,” Charlie breathed, once he could see better. “What are the odds?”Esperanza turned to see what he was looking at an felt her breath catch in her throat. The walls were lined with statues of Greek gods and goddess, staring down at them like they were better than them. What else is new?“Why are there Greek statues in a museum in Illinois?” Jasper asked, gazing up at a statue of Zeus.Zoe shook her head, “I don’t know, but I don’t think this is normal. The Fates are at work here.” Her voice echoed in the large room, bringing a haunted quality to it.“Maybe the Athena Parthenos is here!” Charlie asked, his voice hopeful.Zoe scoffed, “Yes, and maybe the gods have given us a free pass!” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm and she ruffled her brother’s blond locks, “Sorry bud, but I don’t think it’ll be that easy.”Esperanza silently agreed.Ignoring the imposing figures of their ancestors looking down on them they settled on the marble floor of the museum. Sleeping bags were rolled out around the small fire and a watch list was made. Esperanza volunteered to go first.Bianca stayed awake just long enough to hear she wasn’t going to be on watch, and send a disgusted look in the direction of a naked Apollo statue before her head hit the pillow and she was asleep instantly.The others were quick to follow. Zoe gave her one last look that seemed to say “don’t fuck this up”.Jasper was the last to fall asleep, fighting to keep his eyes open as he leaned against her shoulder.“Jasp,” She said quietly to not wake the others, “Go to sleep. It’s been a long day.”“I don’t want you to be alone.” He mumbled.Esperanza rolled her eyes, her fondness for this boy growing with every second. “That is very sweet, but I volunteered for the first watch you know? I’ll be okay. You ain’t gotta worry about me.”He smiled sleepily, “Ain’t?”“Hey!” She said, pushing him lightly. “I am from the South, what do you expect?”He laughed quietly and finally settled down in his sleeping bag. “Night Espie.”“Night Jasper.” She said, patting his head as his eyes drifted closed, “Thanks for saving us today.”She stayed still for a few minutes, listening to the trees outside the window blow in the breeze and the distant footsteps of the security guards roaming the halls. She leaned over and put the fire out, casting the room into darkness with only the light of the moon spilling through the windows.She stood up and walked away from her sleeping companions. She lit a small flame in her hand and watched in dance in front of the imposing marble statues of the Greek gods. The gods who didn’t give a damn about the lives they ruined or about the children they sent off to die.The gods who forced her mother to live in isolation for 3000 years and who didn’t intervene when her father was young, practically orphaned and living on the streets.She scowled at the statue of Zeus, looking all mighty and proud.She moved on from the gods to the corner of the room where she could see more statues lining the walls. She walked forward, only stopping to pause in front of the statue of Hephaestus. At least he cared about her enough to send her a birthday gift every year.She continued forward, putting her hand in front of her to see what she was looking at.When she got to the nearest statue she recoiled, her hand coming back to darken the face staring back at her. The moonlight fell behind it, creating a cold glow and bathing her in the imposing shadow of the marble.She felt like she couldn’t breathe. Fear prickled at her heart like the cactus she accidentally stepped on when she was ten. But more than fear, red-hot anger clouded her vision.She stared at the face of Atlas – her grandfather.He was bent over, his shoulder bearing the weight of the globe. His face was contorted in struggle but his cold, lifeless marble eyes seemed to stare into her soul.She wanted to kill him. For everything he had ever done, to her mother, to Zoe Nightshade, to the world. She wanted him dead.Her mind went back to when she had first discovered her grandfather was the ruthless Titan. She had been five years old, awoken by the sounds of her mother’s distress. She had walked to her parent's room clutching her stuffed dragon and saw her father in the middle of calming her mom down from a nightmare. Then he shuffled her back to bed.The next morning she had asked what was wrong and her mom told her about her grandfather and how he was very curel, even to his own daughters. Calypso told her how he had forced her to train in the ways of combat and how he promised to protect her but stood silent and smug as the gods banished her to Ogygia.From that day forth, Esperanza had hated her grandfather and the more she learned from word of mouth, pop culture and Chiron's history lessons only fueled the fire.She stood before his statue, her hands engulfed in flames, wishing nothing more than to melt his face off. But as she brought her hands up instinctively to fight the inanimate object she suddenly realized that she was acting exactly as how they all expected her to act.She was acting like her grandfather.She was acting like a Titan.She staggered back. Anger was replaced by horror as she stared at the marble face. She was just like him. No matter how hard she tried to deny it, or how much time she spent acting like the goofy, sweet daughter of Leo and Calypso, deep down she was her grandfather’s granddaughter and it killed her.Not for the first time she fell to her knees and prayed for any god or any of the Fates to hear her. She wanted to be normal. She didn’t want to be a demigod. She didn’t want to be the daughter of a fire user or a Titan. She wanted to live her normal mortal life where she didn’t have to worry about monsters killing her, or even worse; her killing someone.“Esperanza?” A voice called out. She startled, staggering to her feet and turning around. She hastily wiped her tears.Standing there hesitantly was Emily. “It’s time for the second watch.”
Had she really been standing here that long?
Esperanza forced a smile, knowing full well Emily could see her silver tears in the moonlight. “Oops! Clearly I got too caught up exploring! My bad.”Emily’s eyes flickered between Esperanza’s frightened eyes to the statue of Atlas behind her. “That’s okay. You should get some sleep,” She said softly. “We have a long road ahead.”Esperanza nodded, her smile threatening to falter. “Yeah, we do.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“This is horrible.”Esperanza had to agree with Bianca’s complaint. This was horrible, but at least this time it wasn’t all her fault… okay maybe it was; she did blow up a bus.The seven demigods were trudging along a dirt highway, surrounded by nothing but open fields of crops. It looked like every child of Demeter’s dream, only none of them were related to Demeter. Esperanza made a mental note to tell Lit about this place the next time she saw him.“Yeah, it is horrible,” Jasper agreed with the younger girl. “But at least it is not as hot as it could be on a dirt road in July with no shade in sight.”It was true, though the sun was high above their heads, a cold wind blowing in from the West offered comfort against the otherwise scorching heat. Khione’s curse was starting to take hold and they were only halfway across the country.“Isn’t that a bad thing because of the whole impending eternal winter doom?” Charlie questioned. “Or climate change?” He added quietly.Jasper shrugged, “For now I am not complaining.”They had been walking for what felt like hours. The landscape didn’t seem to change, only endless fields of corn and wheat. Sammy had the map, but not knowing where they were was not helping him in figuring out where they needed to go.“How can you read that thing?” Zoe asked as she inspected the map with Sammy. “All the letters are moving around.”He looked at her startled, “I don’t have dyslexia…”“Oh.”Jasper whistled, “Damn, that is lucky bro.”“Yeah, I wish.” Esperanza chimed in, “My English mark is so bad it's not even funny.”Sammy shrugged, “Even if I can read it, I still don’t know where we are.” He squinted at the map for a moment before sighing, “We just need to make sure we are heading West. Does anyone have a compass?”“Oh!” Esperanza dug into her bag and pulled out a rusty compass. The needle spun around widely. She hit it a few times against the heel of her palm. Slowly the needle came to a stop, pointing North. “There you go!”She handed it to Sammy. He studied it for a moment, turning in a slow circle. “Alright, seems like we are going the right way!” He paused, scratching his head. “At least I think so…”Zoe sighed, “Let’s just keep following the road until we find a gas station or something.”They all agreed and continued down the ever-winding road.Esperanza swung her bag around, digging in the front pocket for something to hold her hair back. Jasper dropped back to walk beside her. They walked side-by-side in silence for a few moments as she continued her search. Finally, Jasper broke the silence, “You okay?”“Hmm?” She responded, distracted. Finally, her fingers closed around a green scrunchie and she used it to throw her hair back into a low ponytail.“You just seem kinda quiet.”Esperanza looked up at Jasper, “Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Just tired.”Jasper nodded in understanding, “Yeah, I’m tired too. If you want I can charmspeak you into being more awake?”She laughed, “That would be nice, but I would rather you not mess with my mind.”Jasper smiled, nudging her shoulder, “Oh come on! You find it fun! Remember that one time I charmspoke you into telling Chiron he looked like a donkey? Or when I made you confess your crush to that kid in your grade 8 class, James MacDonald?”She rolled her eyes but couldn’t help but smile, “Well, I guess I do have to thank you for that one, I did get my first kiss out of it!”“See!” Jasper spread his hands out, “You love my charmspeak!” She shoved his shoulder playfully as they walked.About half an hour later, the rumbling of a car was heard in front of them. At first, they thought nothing of it, waiting for the car to pass and trying their hardest not to look like seven runaway children. The car, however, did not pass them, instead the closer it got the more it slowed down.Esperanza tensed, sharing a look with Jasper. He put a hand on his sword and she followed his lead, hovering her hand over her armband. Ahead of them the rest of the demigods were doing the same.The green Mini Cooper came to a stop beside the demigods. The windows were too tinted to see who – or what – was inside. In an effort to protect the younger ones, Jasper, Zoe and Esperanza stepped in front of the others.The front door of the Cooper opened and out stepped one of the most beautiful women Esperanza had ever seen. She had long wavy dark hair and warm brown eyes. She wore a long pale yellow sundress with pink flowers dotted across the fabric. At her feet a red golden retriever jumped out of the car, its fur glowing in the sunlight.Esperanza knew instantly they were looking at a goddess. If she hadn’t met Aphrodite once at Jasper’s 13th birthday party she would have thought she was looking at the goddess of love. Not that she thought this woman was more beautiful! Please don’t kill me, Aphrodite!“Hello, children.” The goddess's voice was as warm as honey. Esperanza thought she was in love. The goddess's gaze darkened as she looked past Jasper and Esperanza. “Sam. Emily. Bianca.”The three grandchildren of the Underworld bowed, “Lady Persephone.”Jasper, Zoe and Charlie scrambled to follow suit but Esperanza stood transfixed, staring at the goddess. Jasper shoved her side, “You are drooling.”Esperanza snapped her jaw shut and mumbled an apology as she gave the world’s most outrageous curtsy.Persephone smiled, “Please, be at ease children.”They all straightened up. When the goddess didn’t say anything, only smiling expectantly at them, Esperanza shifted on her feet, playing with the edge of her shirt. Holy Hades; his wife was hot!“Um… not to sound rude, Lady Proserpina— I mean Persephone — but why are you here?” Emily asked cautiously.The goddess's eyes flashed, her smile disappearing as she looked at Emily but she seemed to gain control of herself and the smile came back. “Oh! I am here to help you! I heard about your quest and of course, I wish to crush that slimy, backstabbing Khione before she destroys Spring forever! I mean can you believe her? Trying to take over my domain! The nerve!”Esperanza nodded a goofy smile on her face. “That makes sense, Lady Persephone. You are so smart.” Jasper hit her shoulder hard. “Oh right! But um, how can you help us?”“Oh yes! You cannot continue the way you are going.”Sammy smiled ironically, “Well, that’s good because I have no idea where we are or where we are going.”Persephone rolled her eyes, “Of course, you don’t.”“Oh.” Sammy looked down at his feet. Beside the goddess, her dog barked. Sammy looked offended. “Hey! That was rude.”Esperanza met Jasper’s eye and tried not to laugh. She often forgot that Sammy could talk to animals.“Khione is spreading her…” The goddess shuddered, “Snow storms, across the country, you must go North to try and evade the worst of it. I have a map you can use.”Esperanza sighed in relief, it was good to know they had some divine help on their side. Especially if that help came from such a beautiful source. Maybe this quest wouldn’t be so bad.Zoe stepped forward. “Lady Persephone, we truly appreciate your help but if you don’t mind me asking, what is the catch?”“The catch?”“Yes,” Zoe nodded, unphased. “What must we do to get this map?”“Oh!” Persephone laughed, “I only need a small favour. I seem to have misplaced my crown and if my mother or husband finds out I will be in big trouble. All I need you to do is fetch it for me!”Zoe sighed. Esperanza didn’t know why she seemed so upset by that! Sure, the gods were known for their manipulative ways that used demigods like pawns and left them to die, but Persephone wasn’t like that, was she? She was too beautiful for that.Esperanza smiled at the Queen of the Underworld, “We will do it.”Beside her, Zoe groaned.Persephone clapped her hands, “Perfect! It is just in that barn over there.”Esperanza followed where she was pointing to see an old run-down barn that she swore had not been there a few minutes ago. It sat in the midst of an overgrown cornfield, a few cows roamed around it, munching on the grass.Jasper adjusted his backpack strap, ready to get this over with. “Alright, let's go!”“Wait! Not all of you will go,” Persephone said with a smile. Suddenly, Esperanza realized she may have made a mistake. That smile was not as pleasant as she remembered from a few minutes ago. “Can’t have you running off on me, now can I? Sammy, Emily and Bianca will stay behind.”The three cousins shared an uneasy look. The dog barked. Sammy glared at it.Esperanza opened her mouth to argue when Zoe interrupted her, “Very well. We will get your crown back for you, Lady Persephone, but please don’t hurt our friends.”The Goddess of Spring nodded her head at the demigod, “Of course! Thank you muchly. Run along then.” She made a shooing gesture towards the barn. Esperanza, Jasper, Charlie and Zoe gave the Underworld cousins one last look before turning toward the field.Esperanza bit her lip as they began walking. Did she really just get tricked by a goddess’s beauty into doing a quest? Damn, she was no better than a mortal.They walked in silence, working their way through the tall stalks of corn. Jasper led the way, using his sword to clear a path by downing some of the taller, thicker corn stalks. Esperanza followed behind him, and the Jackson siblings behind her.“Ow!” She complained as she was hit for the third time in a row by one of the pieces of corn Jasper was hacking at. “Do you mind?”Her best friend gave her a smirk over his shoulder, “No actually.”Esperanza gave him the finger which only succeeded in making him laugh.“Could you two be serious for once!” Zoe called from behind. “We are here to get a stupid crown not to goof off!”Esperanza fake gasped, deciding she needed something to take her mind off her possible mistake. Though Zoe didn’t agree with the gods she did her best to respect them. “Did Zoe Jackson just call something from the gods stupid?”“I never thought I would see the day!” Jasper said, playing along.“That’s it!” Zoe grumbled pushing past Charlie and Esperanza to stand behind Jasper, “I am separating you two!”Esperanza smirked, “Like that is going to stop us. Yo, Jasper! Let’s play a game!”Jasper smiled, “Yeah, how about eye spy?”“Oooh, I like the way you think. Alright, I spy with my little eye… something or someone that wants to ruin our fun.”“Hmm, that's a hard one… is it a certain Zoe Jackson?”“Yes sir!”They both laughed at Zoe’s annoyed face. Even Charlie cracked a smile. “I will kill you both and I don’t even care.”The game, which became more of ‘who can annoy Zoe the most’ than ‘eye spy’ continued as they got closer and closer to the barn. By that point, even Charlie was annoyed with their antics, but neither Esperanza nor Jasper was planning on stopping anytime soon.“I spy with my little eye,” Jasper continued, “Something with a bad attitude.”Esperanza laughed, “Must be Zoe! Again!”Zoe rounded on her, finally fed up enough. “Shut the fuck up! This is ridiculous! We are on a quest for the gods not a run to the fucking grocery store!”“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” Jasper quipped.“I didn’t wake up in a bed! I woke up on the floor of a fucking museum because someone decided to blow up the bus!”Esperanza frowned, “Hey! That wasn’t all my fault, okay? Bianca and her skeletons—”“Bianca is just a kid! You are 17 years old! You should know better!”Jasper jumped in between the girls. “Woah! Zoe, you cannot blame Espie for everything!“Um, guys?” Charlie tried to interrupt.Zoe smiled at Jasper, “Oh yeah? Watch me.”Esperanza scoffed, “Now, that is not fair!“Well, life isn’t fair! Get used to it!” Zoe yelled.Charlie tugged on his sister’s sleeve, “Zoe?”“What?” She snapped, turning to her brother sharply.Charlie pointed to the cow pasture, “Those cows are looking at us weird and coming closer. I have a sneaking suspicion that they aren’t regular cows.”Esperanza followed his gaze and sure enough about a dozen cows were slowly ambling over to the group. They seemed to be moving like zombies and their eyes were shining an unnatural shade of red.“I agree with Charlie, those are not normal…” Esperanza looked between Zoe and Jasper.“Are they moving faster?” Jasper asked. She turned back to the cows that, sure enough, had moved from a slow walk to a fast trot. Then, they broke out into a run, sprinting toward the demigods.“Yep, yep, yep!” Esperanza scrambled. “Run!”She grabbed Jasper’s hand and took off toward the barn, Zoe and Charlie right at their heels. The cows were not far behind, ploughing through the corn faster than any human could.The barn was only a few meters ahead. Esperanza ran faster. She let go of Jasper’s hand and focused on getting to the old barn.Lighting struck behind her, making her hair stand on end, as Jasper tried to take down some of the cows. Esperanza kept her powers away, not wanting to set the whole cornfield on fire.She made it to the barn first, throwing herself against the doors. They opened in a cloud of dust and hay. She coughed. As soon as the others were inside, Zoe and Jasper shoved the doors close, just in time.The door rattled as the first cow rammed into it, opening it a crack.“It isn’t going to hold!” Zoe yelled.Esperanza ran forward, putting all her weight on the doors, trying to keep them closed. “Grab that pole over there! I will keep it closed.” She yelled at the others, pointing to a metal pole lying in the hay on the other side of the barn.Jasper immediately ran over to the pole with Charlie, struggling to lift its weight. Zoe watched her brother and Jasper with worry but continued holding the door.“Go! I got it!” Esperanza yelled at her. Zoe hesitated but eventually nodded and let go.Esperanza grunted as more weight was put on her. The cows rattling the doors sent vibrations up her arms, making her grimace. She focused all her attention on keeping the doors closed. Her hands began to heat up as her powers grew stronger. They needed that pole and fast.Finally, after what felt like forever, the other three demigods managed to drag the pole over to the doors. Together they lifted the pole across the latch of the door, giving extra support. Esperanza let go of the doors, sighing in relief. Where her hands had been, charred, hand-shaped wood remained.The cows still rattled against the frame but with the pole reinforcing the doors, they were safe for now.“That was a close one,” Esperanza sighed, catching her breath.Charlie nodded, “You can say that again.”“That was a close one.” She winked as Charlie rolled his eyes.Zoe sighed, “Let’s just look for the damn crown.”The four of them searched the barn for the crown. Jasper and Esperanza took the left side while Zoe and Charlie searched on the right.The barn looked like it hadn’t been used in years. Cobwebs covered every corner of the place, the hayloft creaked with each step and the ground was covered in hay and dust. The cows still rammed against the door, making Esperanza wince. She really hoped the door would hold.She coughed as she looked through a pile of hay in what she assumed had once been a horse stall. Rats scurried under her feet and she had to bite her lip in order to not scream.There was still no sign of the crown anywhere.She was just searching through an old wood pile when across the room Zoe let out an ear-piercing scream.She whipped around to see the eldest Jackson cowering in fear, her little brother hiding right behind her back. In an instant, she had her sword and shield in hand and was beside the two siblings.“What is it?” Jasper asked as he too ran up with his sword drawn. Esperanza couldn’t see what was amiss but it had to be something because she had never, ever heard Zoe to scream like that.“S-s-spider,” Zoe choked out, pointing to one of the high beams above their heads. Sure enough, there was a large spider about the size of a quarter dangling from its web.Esperanza laughed, putting her sword away and reaching up to allow the spider to crawl onto her hand.“What are you doing!” Charlie hissed.“What?” She asked, putting her hand out to the Jacksons and smiling as they jumped back in fear. “There is no need to be afraid of this little guy! He is so cute!”Zoe looked shocked, “Cute? You better be fucking joking, Valdez! That is not cute!”Esperanza let the spider crawl onto the back of her hand and brought it closer to her face, studying the small creature, “I think they are fascinating. Can you believe a little creature like this can make such beautiful and intricate webs?”“I can believe that a spider is the reason our parents fell into Tartarus!” Zoe yelled.Jasper sighed, “Espie, get rid of it please, we need to focus.”“Oh come on! Can’t I terrorize them a little more?”“No. It is not nice to exploit people’s fears.”Esperanza scoffed, “Since when did you get all goodie-two-shoes?” Jasper just glared at her. “Alright, alright. I will put it up in the hayloft.”“The hayloft?!” Charlie shrieked. “Just kill it!”“What? No! It’s an innocent little creature, I can’t just kill it!” Zoe and Charlie began to protest but Esperanza was already two steps onto the hayloft ladder. She reached the hand with the spider up onto the wood flooring of the loft. The creature scampered off her hand and into the hay.She was about to step down but then something caught her eye, glinting in the sunlight. She gasped, taking the last few steps up the ladder and into the hayloft. “Guys, I found the crown.”“What?” Jasper asked climbing up after her. Esperanza pointed to the crown, partially covered by hay in the corner. It was made of intricately woven gold wiring, adorned with dark green emeralds and spring flowers. He scratched his head, “I swear I looked there before.”Zoe and Charlie hadn’t moved from the bottom of the ladder. “Aren’t you guys coming?” Esperanza called down to them.Zoe scoffed, “Just after you put that spider up there; hell no!”Jasper shrugged, “Alright we will grab it” He moved in front of Esperanza to grab the gold crown, moving the pile of hay from on top of it.Just as his fingers brushed it the doors of the barn slammed open with a bang. The evil devil cows poured in.Despite her fear, Zoe didn’t hesitate, pushing her brother up the ladder and slashing at the cows with her dagger. As soon as Charlie had made it up to the hayloft, Zoe climbed up after him.Her hands had just gripped the top rung when one of the cows rammed head-first into the bottom of the ladder, breaking it easily. Zoe screamed, as splintered wood flew everywhere and the ladder gave way under her.Esperanza rushed forward, grabbing Zoe’s hand before she could fall to the floor and be trampled by the cows like Mufasa in The Lion King.One of the cows jumped up and bit the end of Zoe’s pant leg, pulling her down. Esperanza grunted at the extra weight and scrambled to catch herself with one hand on the edge of the hayloft while also keeping her grip on Zoe.Jasper and Charlie clambered to help before she tipped over the edge, but the cows ramming into the support beams of the loft threw them all off balance. Zoe let out a yelp of pain as her shoulder was violently ripped from its socket.Another cow nipped at Zoe’s leg. Esperanza had to work fast.Using Jasper’s arm for support she pulled up hard, dragging Zoe over the edge of the hayloft and to safety.“Are you okay?” Charlie asked his sister in concern.Zoe grimaced, “My shoulder hurts like hell and I have shards of wood in my legs but other than that I am swell.”The cows rocked the loft again. Jasper looked down at the floor, “What are these cows?”“They look like the cows from the Underworld,” Zoe said through gritted teeth, clutching her shoulder.“Why would underworld cows be here?” Esperanza asked, “How would they even get— fuck. Persephone.”Jasper swore, “So the goddess who was supposedly helping us sends killer cows after us?” He looked down at the crown in his hands, “Is this even her crown?”“What about Bianca, Sammy and Emily?” Charlie asked in a small voice. “I mean if she was trying to kill us or at the very least injure us, what is she going to do to three living reminders her husband cheated on her?”Esperanza cursed. How could she be so stupid? She let a pretty face stop her from seeing real danger and now her friends could be killed.“Shit,” Zoe stood shakily on her feet, “We have to get out of here.”All four of them stared down at the cows below. The angry cattle hadn’t stopped their rampage of the barn. Hay, wood and dust flew through the air. It was impossible to see the floor of the barn in between the red and black of the cows.There was no water around for Zoe or Charlie to use and Esperanza and Jasper couldn’t use their powers in fear of setting the wood, straw-filled barn on fire.“We could climb out the window?” Esperanza suggested slowly. They glanced back at the singular small window in the hayloft.“Looks like a long drop,” Charlie said cautiously.Jasper shrugged, “I could catch us.”The cows, clearly annoyed that they were coming up with a plan, took out one of the loft’s support beams, tilting the surface they were standing on backwards dangerously. The four demigods slid backwards and scrambled to keep their feet.When they looked back the window was now out of reach.“Well there goes that solution,” Esperanza said dryly.Jasper bit his lip, looking down at the cows before glancing back at the others “Cover your ears.” He told them. Without hesitation the three did what he said, putting their hands over their ears, as he began to yell. “Yo, cows! Stop!”Immediately the cows stopped what they were doing and Esperanza, Zoe and Charlie froze.“Now, sleep,” Jasper commanded. The cows dropped to the floor, their snores filling up the small barn. Esperanza felt her eyelids droop at Jasper’s voice but brought herself out of the trance quickly when Jasper smiled. “Easy peasy.”“You couldn’t have done that before?” Zoe asked, annoyed. Jasper just shrugged.One by one, Jasper flew them each to the ground, careful not to wake the sleeping cows. Once all four of them were safely on the ground they made their way slowly out of the barn.As they crossed the cornfield, Persephone’s green Mini came into sight, and to their horror, only she and her red retriever could be seen. Esperanza retrieved her sword as they stepped onto the dusty highway and came face to face with the goddess. She was determined not to be distracted this time.Persephone was perched on the hood of her car, lazily making a flower crown out of some of the wildflowers that dotted the side of the road. Her dog sat at her feet, barking at a potted green cactus in front of it.“You’re back!” The goddess said with a smile, “How nice.”“No thanks to you and your killer cows,” Zoe growled.Persephone’s face transformed into one of feigned shock, “I don’t know what you are talking about. I only wanted my crown back, I would never think to hurt any of you!”“Oh yeah, then where are our friends?”“Friends?”“You know, Emily, Sammy, Bianca. Where are they?”“Oh them,” The goddess laughed, “Look around you, they are here, trust me.”The dog barked again and Esperanza’s eyes were drawn toward the cactus plant it was staring at. Beside the cactus was a sunflower and a sprig of lavender that had obviously not been there when they left for the crown.“Oh my gods,” Esperanza looked between the plants and the goddess.“What?” Jasper asked, looking around his feet, “What is it?”“She turned them into plants!”“What?!”The other three demigods followed her gaze to the three potted plants in front of the car. The dog barked again and Persephone shrugged. “They were being annoying.”“Turn them back now,” Esperanza demanded, pointing her sword at Persephone. Zoe swore, trying to tug her hand down. Esperanza shook her off, uncaring that she was threatening an Olympian.The Queen of the Underworld stared coolly at the sword. She raised a single perfectly manicured eyebrow, “My crown.”“Turn them back first.”Goddess and demigod stared at each other silently, neither willing to back down until finally Persephone rolled her eyes and sighed, “Fine.”With a flick of her hand, the three plants disappeared and Bianca, Emily and Sammy stood in front of them, each looking a little shaken.The dog barked at Sammy, trying to bite at his heels as he jumped away, “Bad dog!”“Holy Hades!” Bianca cried, “What the hell just happened?”“You were a sunflower,” Charlie answered, “A cute sunflower,” He added quietly. Bianca blushed and Charlie’s eyes widened. He looked away quickly.Still with her sword to the Goddess of Spring, Esperanza shared a look with Jasper who had a knowing smile on his face.“I did what you asked,” Persephone drawled, “My crown now.”Zoe stepped forward, “Not without the map.”“You cannot make more demands of me,” Persephone scoffed.“A deal is a deal. The crown for the map.” Zoe tilted her head, “Unless you want an eternal winter?”“This is why I never have children with mortals,” Persephone muttered, pulling a map out of the front seat of the car. “Always so pretentious.”She threw the map to Emily, who caught it quickly. Jasper threw the crown to Persephone who put it on her head. It glowed golden for a few seconds before the light faded.“Well this has been fun,” She said with a fake smile. “We should totally not do this again sometime.”With one last wave from the goddess and bark from the dog, the Cooper Mini was speeding down the road and out of sight, leaving the demigods in its dust. Literally.Emily coughed, waving a hand in front of her face. She shuddered, “I won’t be able to look at lavender the same again.”Esperanza leaned over and smelled her shoulder, “Well, on the bright side you smell great!”Emily gave her a small smile, “Thanks, Espie.”“At least we got the map,” Jasper said, coming over to snatch it from Emily’s hands. She protested. He unfolded the pages, and studied it for a moment, “I can actually read this one! It must be demigod friendly. Still I don’t want it.” He threw it at Sammy.Sammy rolled his eyes at Jasper but took a look at the map, “Well, it looks like we are somewhere in Illinois and have to head North. Khione is turning the South and Midwest into a winter wonderland.”“Which way is North?” Bianca said, shaking off some of the dust off her shirt.“Well,” Sammy thought for a moment, “It’s this way.” He pointed down the road.Zoe sighed, “Let’s rest for like twenty minutes and then hit the road again.”They all agreed and went about getting snacks and water from their packs. Esperanza sat beside Jasper and Emily on the side of the road while they watched Bianca patch up Zoe’s injuries.Zoe’s face was scrunched up in pain as Bianca adjusted her shoulder. Esperanza wanted to go and help. She knew with one touch and a gentle song she could take away some of Zoe’s pain, but she also knew it wouldn’t be appreciated, so she sat and watched as Charlie tried to help Bianca with his sister, blushing every time their hands touched.“What did you do to piss off Persephone so much?” Jasper asked the twins sitting on Esperanza’s other side between bites of a granola bar.Sammy blushed and Emily smiled sheepishly, “Tensions were high and we got into a little argument… and then we called her Grandma.”Esperanza and Jasper shared a look and then exploded with laughter.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Esperanza sighed as the third herd of carnivorous sheep attacked them in the dead of night. She swung her sword at the nearest one, sending it into a cloud of golden dust.“These stupid fucking sheep!” Jasper complained as he stabbed one through the head, golden dust flying, just for another to appear in its place.She nodded in agreement, “First cows, now sheep! What did we do to piss off the gods of farm animals!” The two went back to back, protecting each other as another round of red-eyed sheep headed their way. They slashed and dodged, growing more exhausted by the minute.It seemed ever since they had left Persephone they hadn’t been able to take a moments rest without a monster on their tail.They were all exhausted. They had been travelling on foot for nearly a week now. According to the map they were now in South Dakota. Rolling hills and fresh plains lay out before them though it all looked the same as Illinois to Esperanza.To make matters worse, it had rained the past two days, only stopping the evening before, making them both exhausted and wet. It was not a good combination. Misery and tension hung in the air between the group as they tried to carry on with the same enthusiastic energy as before.The fire Esperanza had set in the middle of their makeshift camp provided just enough light for them to fight the sheep intent on killing them.“We need to end this!” Zoe yelled from across the fire.Esperanza glanced over at her. Her black hair was falling out of her ponytail. In the light of the flickering fire, her grey eyes shone with determination. She had a shallow cut on her left cheek and was favouring her right arm – her left was still sore after the incident with the Underworld cows – but still, she fought with all she had.She is amazing. Esperanza thought.“Espie!” Jasper called out, pulling her from her musings.She turned around just as one of the sheep was about to charge into her, its jaws open, showing off rows of sharp teeth. She braced for impact but it never came.Jasper jumped in front of her, taking the blow to his side. He grunted in pain and fell to the ground, as Esperanza jumped on the sheep, stabbing it and falling onto Jasper as it dissolved into dust.Jasper screamed in pain as she landed on his wound.“Shit!” She cried, rolling off of him, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Are you okay?”Jasper only groaned in response.She jumped to her feet as another sheep rushed toward her. She took a protective stance over Jasper. Her eyes scanned the clearing, ready to protect her best friend.Before the sheep could reach her, however, a large pointed crystal impaled it. The ground began to rumble and the earth in front of her feet gave way, sending the sheep tumbling into its depths.Esperanza took a step back, standing with either foot on either side of Jasper. The giant hole cleared up as fast as it appeared. She looked over her shoulder to find Emily, but the Roman demigod was nowhere in sight.No one was.She was alone.Only the sheep remained, looking just as confused as she felt.“What?” Esperanza asked out loud, to the now empty clearing. All of their stuff was gone. The fire she had made, their bags, the makeshift camp, it was all gone. The sun peaked over the horizon, providing light in the absence of the campfire and signalling the coming of the morning. “Jasper, are you seeing this?” She asked but when she looked down he was gone too.For a moment panic seized her, the familiar weight of the world settling on her chest. They couldn’t have just left her? How could this be happening?The sheep seemed oblivious to her panic. Oblivious to her. They stood around for a few minutes, their noses in the air. She held her breath but they didn’t seem to notice her. Then a crashing sound echoed somewhere over the hills to their right.The sheep took off after the sound, disappearing beyond the rolling hills.With a flash, the clearing went back to normal. The campfire was back, as were all of their things and the rest of the demigods.“What just happened?” Esperanza questioned, her heart still beating out of her chest.“The twins happened,” Zoe answered. She clapped a hand on Sammy’s shoulder, “Nice trick with the mist.” Sammy nodded, blushing slightly.Jasper muttered lowly below Esperanza. “Wha…? Espie?” Her eyes widened and she dropped to her knees beside him.“Jasper!” His side was bloody where the sheep’s sharp teeth had punctured his skin. His blue eyes were blown wide and glossed over in pain. Gently, Esperanza placed her hands over his wound and began to sing softly.Jasper let out a sigh of relief as the pain subsided.“Bianca!” Esperanza called, pausing her song for a moment. “Help!”The younger girl rushed over, bringing her satchel with her. She kneeled beside Esperanza, who had begun her song again. The others gathered around nervously as Bianca performed some Apollo healing magic.After a few minutes, between Esperanza’s pain relief and Bianca’s healing, Jasper was carefully sitting up. Bianca passed him a piece of ambrosia and some nectar which he took gratefully.As soon as he seemed okay, Esperanza slapped the back of his head.“Ow! What was that for?” He cried.“Don’t do that ever again!” She said through gritted teeth, swallowing back tears. “You are such an idiot!”“Do what again? Save your life?” He asked back.“Yeah!” She said, her voice cracking slightly.Jasper laughed, “Like you wouldn’t do the same for me?”She glared at him, “And like you wouldn’t give me shit for it?”“Fair enough,” He agreed, reaching out to put his arm across her shoulder and pulling her close. “How about a deal? From now on, no sacrificing ourselves for the other?”He held out his pinky for a pinky promise. Esperanza linked her pinky in his and nodded, wiping her eyes quickly, aware of the five other demigods watching them. “Sounds good, Lightning McQueen.” Jasper groaned, pushing her head away and earning a laugh from her.Bianca helped her get him to his feet, and only when it seemed like he was in no danger of collapsing in on himself did Esperanza let herself breathe.“Let’s keep moving,” Zoe said, breaking the silence that has descended on the group. “Morning is upon us.”Emily and Sammy shared a look. Both of them looked dead on their feet – ha! Get it! – from using their powers to defeat the sheep. Bianca was slow as she began to pack her things and even Charlie sighed heavily at his sister’s proclamation.Jasper reached down, attempting to grab his bag and winced as it pulled his injured side.Esperanza understood that they needed to keep going, but couldn’t Zoe give them a little break? They had been going at a breakneck speed since Illinois and weren’t getting much sleep between the harsh terrain and the monster attacks.“Can’t we rest a bit more?” Esperanza asked. Everyone turned their eyes to her. “I mean Jasper just got injured and the rest of us are sore and tired. We have time Zoe, it's okay.”Zoe glared at her. Esperanza could feel heat crawling up the back of her neck. “We have time? You do understand that we are on a quest to save the world, right? That every second counts? Or are you too dumb to figure that out? This may be your quest, but I am here to make sure you don’t fuck it up.” She snapped.Esperanza felt like she had been punched in the gut. She stood stunned. Dumb? Was she really that oblivious to the urgency? She knew the stakes—of course, she did—but she also knew the group’s limits. They were all exhausted, and pushing themselves past the breaking point wouldn’t help anyone.Zoe's words stung, not just because they were harsh, but because they suggested Esperanza didn’t care enough or understand the gravity of their situation. She hated the implication.“Hey!” Jasper started but Esperanza pulled him back.“It’s fine. Just leave it.”He looked like he wanted to protest but she shook her head. She didn’t want to start anything right now. Not when she was running off of two hours of sleep.“Are we clear?” Zoe asked harshly. Esperanza nodded. “Good. Now put out the fire Esperanza.”She sighed and did what she was told, ignoring the looks of the rest of the demigods.Putting out the fire was easy, but trudging around muddy ground in damp clothing while lugging equally wet packs and running on three hours of sleep was not. South Dakota seemed to stretch on forever as Zoe led them at a relentless pace.Bianca was dragging her feet, her face up to the sun to try and recharge her energy. Her blond braids shone brightly against her black Nirvana t-shirt in the morning sun. Charlie walked beside her, hugging his blue zip-up around him.Jasper, trying to lighten the mood, nudged Esperanza and wiggled his eyebrows as Charlie’s hand “accidentally” brushed Bianca’s.“They are in love,” he whispered to her in a sing-song voice. Esperanza rolled her eyes. Jasper always loved a good love story, often more excited than her to sit and watch a cheesy rom-com for movie nights.“They are fifteen,” Esperanza whispered back, “Everyone thinks they’re in love with someone at fifteen.”“Did you?” Jasper said, raising his right brow. Esperanza stayed silent but her gaze slid to the dark-haired Jackson sibling leading them across the state, Sammy with the map at her side.She had never outright told Jasper of her secret crush on Zoe Jackson but he knew. Not only was he her best friend but her was the grandson of Aphrodite; he knew these things.She tore her gaze from Zoe to catch Jasper’s knowing expression. She rolled her eyes again, “Shut up.”“Hey guys,” Emily said, coming up on Jasper’s other side. Her hair was frizzy from the rain and she wore a purple Camp Jupiter sweater to starve off the increasing cold. The temperature kept dropping the more West they got. “Watch ya talking about?”Jasper smiled at the younger girl, throwing an arm around her shoulders, “Oh you know, love.”“Love?”“Yeah,” Jasper said, smirking at Esperanza. Her heart dropped. He wouldn’t. Would he?It’s not like she didn’t trust Emily; it wasn’t like she thought she would tell Zoe, but this was a big secret. Her big secret. Would Jasper truly tell Emily? He did see Emily more than her, living in the same state in all. Maybe they had gotten closer than she realized. Maybe her privacy didn’t mean that much to Jasper.“We were talking about how your cousin and Char are totally in love.” Jasper finished.Esperanza let out a breath. Holy Hades.She should have known Jasper would never reveal her secret so causally like that. Her heart beat hard in her chest and guilt ate away at her. Why would she think that about her best friend?“Oh!” Emily said a little too loudly, “Bianca and Charlie?”“Shhh!” Jasper and Esperanza hissed. The two demigods in question turned around and the three gave them their most innocent smiles.Emily ducked her head, “Sorry.” Then she looked thoughtful, studying Bianca and Charlie. “I guess they would be cute together. I don’t know much about love or sexual attraction. But, Bianca did seem really excited about him and Zoe coming to camp. I thought that was because she wanted another legacy camper there though!”“She didn’t seem too excited to see me,” Esperanza murmured.“Oh! Sorry!” Emily said her eyes wide, “I am sure she didn’t–”Esperanza waved her away, flexing her bicep muscle, “Nah, it’s good. I’ve got others in the Espie Fan Club.” Jasper laughed and she elbowed him in the side, “Don’t laugh. You are the president of that club.”The three of them laughed and talked as they continued down the road. The forest they had been hiking in came to an end, opening up to a small town. They entered the town just as the workday started.Zoe stopped them outside of a convince store. “Let’s stop here for a moment. If anyone needs a bathroom or a snack let's do that now.”They all nodded and piled into the store, eyes open for monsters. Emily rushed off to the bathroom first, so Esperanza took her time wandering the shelves and stalking up on snacks. She smiled as she grabbed a handful of Kit-Kats and Snickers, it had felt like forever since she had eaten chocolate.As she continued through the store her eye caught the packets of gum beside the counter where a bored-looking teenager sat on his phone behind the desk. Esperanza reached for the bubble gum when she was intercepted.“Hey!”Zoe rolled her eyes grabbing four packets of the blueberry bubble gum. “Calm down Valdez, I am just grabbing some gum.”Esperanza smirked, “Blue as always. I am surprised your teeth haven’t gone blue by this point.”Zoe shoved her with her shoulder, sending her stumbling back into the magazine rack. The cashier didn’t even look up. “Watch your fucking mouth.”“Woah, woah there sweetheart,” Esperanza put her hands up in surrender, “What’s got your panties in a twist? That defensive over blue food?”“At least I am not defending a Titan,” She said, turning on her heel and stalking over to where Charlie was looking at the Gatorade.Esperanza couldn’t breathe. All the colours of the store seemed to blur together. She dropped the snacks in her hand, reaching to clutch at her chest as pain erupted. Tears blurred her vision and the music of the store seemed to pound in her ears.She stumbled backwards, trying to steady herself on the rack of magazines. A row of magazines with Taylor Swift’s face fell to the ground, scattering across the tile. Esperanza was so focused on getting away from the overwhelming senses of the corner store that she didn’t realize the edges of the pages were singed.She stumbled her way to the door without any of the other demigods noticing and fell to the curb the second she made it outside.The sleepy small South Dakota town moved on around her, oblivious to her torment.Zoe’s words kept ringing in her ears.She wasn’t defending a Titan, she was defending her mother.Is there a difference? Her mind argued.“Yes. There is a difference. There is!” She argued back. She wanted to scream but she couldn’t get the words to leave her mouth in anything louder than a whisper.She put her head in her hands and only after she was almost blinded did she realize they were on fire. That sparked another wave of panic, remembering the last time she couldn’t control her powers. The image of Clove leaning over her older sister’s unconscious body, littered with burns was still etched into her brain.She desperately ran a hand through her hair, hoping the motion would remind her of her mother braiding her curls before sleep to soothe her mind.It didn’t.The thought of her mother made her think of Zoe’s comment and the grudge Zoe had held against her since they were pre-teens.Changing tactics she moved her hands down on either side of her on the sidewalk. She began tapping I love you over and over again in Morse code. Her breathing still rang harshly in her ears and she was well aware of her heart beat pounding in her chest.She repeated the Morse code over and over again, trying her best to breathe in time of the bell tower clock she could see across the street.Eventually, after what felt like hours but was more likely only a few minutes she managed to get her breathing under control and stood up, her legs shaking. She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her hoodie.Taking one last deep breath she turned and walked back into the store, still tapping on the side of her thigh.As she opened the door, she almost ran straight into Sammy.“Are you alright?” He asked, taking in her frazzled appearance.Esperanza nodded quickly, throwing a smile on her face. “Yeah, I just thought I saw a monster outside. We are all good though.” She pushed past him, bending to pick up the chocolate bars she dropped during her panic attack.Sammy knelt beside her helping her pick up the snacks without a word. His gaze then turned to the magazines that fell and put them back, only raising an eyebrow at the singed pages.Esperanza didn’t meet his eye. She knew he could smell the smoke on her and saw the burns, putting two and two together. Thankfully he didn’t say anything and by the time everyone gathered around the counter to pay for their food, Esperanza had managed to pull herself together.They headed back outside and continued Westward. If the others noticed the tear stains on her cheeks they didn’t comment. Only Sammy sent her concerned glances every few minutes. She ignored him.They walked until nightfall, passing through a few towns before setting up camp outside of an abandoned motel. They settled next to a small river that ran behind the building.Charlie, Bianca and Jasper volunteered to scout the motel out for monsters and search for supplies while the rest of them set up camp.Sammy started to manipulate the Mist, adding protective charms around the area. So far on their quest the charms hadn’t really been working, as evident by the murderous sheep just the morning before but oh well, can’t blame a guy for trying.Emily and Esperanza collected sticks from the nearby trees to make a campfire while Zoe scouted the area for monsters.Esperanza was just lighting the fire when Zoe came back, her expression hard as she sat heavily on the ground.“Everything alright?” Esperanza said cautiously, standing and brushing the dirt off her knees where she had been kneeling beside the fire.Zoe shot her a dark look, “Why do you care?”The twins shared a look from where they were setting up their sleeping bags. Esperanza swallowed, “Just want to make sure you didn’t see a monster that’s about to attack us right now.”“It’s clear,” Zoe said rolling her eyes. “Now lay off me Valdez.”Esperanza nodded and sat down to unload her backpack.The tension hung in the air so thick it was suffocating. She hated that Jasper wasn’t here. Anytime she was left alone with anyone else in the group she felt stupid and alone. He was the only one who really understood her – or at least part of her. He was the only one who went out of their way to make her feel included and not like the awful monster she knew she was.Everyone else hated her, she was sure of it. Even if the twins acted nicely to her she knew that even if they didn’t hate her they were at least afraid of her. She saw it in the way Emily flinched every time she lit a fire or the way Sammy always seemed to be watching her warily.“So, are we going to talk about it?” Sammy asked after a few minutes of silence.“Talk about what?” Zoe asked. Sammy was always so quiet, that no one really expected him to brooch a topic. Even Emily looked confused.He looked between the three girls, “You know, the obvious tension in this group that could be the undoing of the quest?”“Tension?” Zoe furrowed her brow. Esperanza stared at her in shock. And she called her dumb earlier today? Was she truly that oblivious?Sammy huffed, “Yeah tension, Zoe! Ever since we left camp Espie has been acting weird and so have you. Like despite this being Espie’s quest you have taken over as the leader and have been pushing us like we are workhorses!”Emily’s eyes widened but she didn’t dispute her brother’s claims. Esperanza looked at her feet but she could feel Zoe’s eyes on her from across the fire.“Maybe I have had to step up because Esperanza isn’t a leader?”Sammy shook his head. “Who saved us in Indianapolis?”“Who almost got us killed in Indianapolis? And on the train? And the bus?” Zoe shot back.“Zoe, Espie was just trying to help? Didn’t she save you during your quest for Persephone?” Emily added gently. Esperanza didn’t look up. Trying, Emily didn’t say she did help she said she was trying to help, but she kept fucking things up.Esperanza heard Zoe get to her feet, “Yeah and dislocated my shoulder in the process!”“At least you aren’t dead!” Emily protested.Sammy stood as well, “Just because you hate Espie for some reason—”“Some reason?” Zoe was shouting now. Esperanza lifted her eyes to find her grey ones staring straight back. Nothing but pure blinding hatred seemed to stare back at her. “Some reason? She is a Titan! She is going to betray us!”“Hey!” Esperanza said getting to her feet. She couldn’t take this anymore, not when the one person she had always wanted to look at her with love and pride was staring back at her with hatred. “Who says I will betray you?”“The prophecy–”“I can make my own decisions! The prophecy doesn’t decide anything!” She yelled back. The fire had started to glow brighter, the flames dancing higher in the sky. Out of the corner of her eye, Esperanza could see the river churning faster in time with the roaring flames.“It makes the most sense! We are going to fight Atlas, your grandfather! Your flesh and blood! And the prophecy told us we would have to relive things from our parents' past. You will betray us just like my parents were betrayed by Luke,”“But I thought you didn't think of me as your friend! Luke was their friend!”“You will be the doom of us all,” Zoe kept going like she hadn’t even spoken. Emily and Sammy were starting to look nervous, regretting their decision to ever bring it up. “You could start a war even!”Esperanza felt tears brimming in her eyes as Zoe stepped closer, around the fire which was almost touching the first branches of trees surrounding them. The older girl stood right in front of her, her finger pointing accusingly at her face.Zoe’s voice was low as she uttered, “You will join Atlas, just like the coward your mother was.”Esperanza saw red. Pure blinding rage consumed her body. She knew the blow was coming. She knew that Zoe Jackson had every tool in the toolbox to get under her skin and was not afraid to use them, but it still felt like a slap to the face.She pushed Zoe back so hard that she went flying over the fire and landing in the river. Big mistake.The water rose as Zoe rose with it, not wasting a second to charge Esperanza, her sword raised.Esperanza already had her sword and shield in hand when Zoe stuck the first blow, aiming for her stomach. Esperanza blocked the shot, and the next aimed at her head. She lunged for Zoe’s left side but anticipating the movement, Zoe stuck on her foot and tripped her.Esperanza fell hard on her side.Zoe went to kick her but Esperanza blocked her foot with her shield. Zoe growled in frustration and kicked again, this time aiming for her wrist and Esperanza wasn’t able to block it.She grunted in pain as Zoe crushed her right wrist with her foot. Esperanza jammed her shield into Zoe’s shin. She stumbled back, releasing Esperanza’s wrist. Rolling quickly to her feet she swiped at Zoe who blocked it easily.Zoe was the better sword fighter, that much had always been clear.She remembers being 8 years old, sitting in the arena of Camp with the rest of the Hephaestus Cabin, watching 10-year-old Zoe Jackson lead a sword demonstration with Nico, and knowing she wanted to be just like her.Her father had always used tools or fire rather than actual weapons, whereas her mother relied on her spells and the occasional dagger. Neither of them used swords. So, when Esperanza had announced to her parents she wanted a sword they looked at her like she had grown two heads.She had spent hours with her parents designing the perfect sword, sitting beside her mother at the kitchen table as she worked to put the images in Esperanza’s head into a sketch. Then a whole weekend was taken up working alongside her dad in the workshop to make it real.A few years later for her thirteenth birthday, her parents surprised her with the armband that her mom had enchanted to transform into her weapons and she had never been happier.She had been so excited to show it off to Zoe at camp that summer but when she got there Zoe wouldn’t even look her in the eye.That summer had brought so much pain. Almost as much pain as she was now as she dodged another swipe of Zoe’s sword. She hated fighting Zoe but every time she felt remorse her words came back to her.She fought harder, the fire rising with each clash of their swords.Esperanza could hear Emily and Sammy yelling at them, trying to get them to stop but neither was willing to give up. The tension between them had reached a breaking point and now they were paying the consequences.Zoe backed Esperanza against a tree. The bark dug painfully into her back. Their faces were inches from each other. Esperanza’s gaze unconsciously fell to her lips. Zoe used the distraction to push harder. The cool steel of her sword pressed against her neck. Esperanza snapped out of her daze, pushing back with all her might, forcing Zoe toward the raging fire.Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sammy take off at a run toward the motel.She could feel the heat on her skin as she locked eyes with Zoe. She knew the flames were reflecting in her eyes right into Zoe’s. The older girl planted her feet, pushing back. Their swords were locked, neither willing to budge.Where Esperanza lacked in skill she made up in strength to the point where Zoe was nearly bent over backwards, trying desperately to not get burnt.She didn’t look afraid though. Esperanza couldn't tell if she admired that fact or if it made her nervous.The answer came when Zoe screamed and the river exploded behind them, soaking the entire clearing, dosing the fire and leaving Esperanza stumbling back, dripping wet. Zoe was perfectly dry as she advanced, easily disarming the other girl.Esperanza panicked, using her shield to protect her against Zoe’s brutal attacks.“Guys stop!” Emily was yelling. But neither of them paid her any mind.“Fuck,” Esperanza swore as Zoe nicked her side, drawing blood. Using the distraction to her advantage, Zoe managed to knock Esperanza’s shield from her hands.Esperanza was forced to duck and slipped on the mud created by Zoe’s flood. She managed to save her footing but gave Zoe the perfect opening. She thrusted her sword forward, straight at Esperanza’s stomach.There was nothing else Esperanza could do, so as the sword came close to her skin she grabbed it by the blade with one hand. The sharp steel dug into her palm, oozing blood between her fingers. It hurt like hell and Esperanza almost dropped the sword but managed to hold strong.“What the hell?” Zoe demanded, staring at the other demigod in shock.Esperanza wasted no time, pulling forward hard and taking the sword from Zoe’s hands despite her blood making it slippery. She threw it away where it embedded itself in the bark of a tree. The imperial gold owl handle the only part visible.Zoe was at a loss for her words but the fury in her eyes spoke volumes.“Zoe,” Esperanza panted, the exertion from the fight taking her breath away. Her hand hurt and the wound on her side ached. She needed to end this before either of them got seriously injured. She didn’t want to fight Zoe, no matter how much her words stung. She really didn’t. “Listen. Let’s just talk this out. I really don’t want to have to fight you anymore.”“Then let me win.”“Come on Zoe!” Esperanza whined, “I am trying to make things work. All I have ever wanted is to be your friend and yet you can’t let go of something that happened before we were even born!”Zoe scoffed, taking a step closer. “I am loyal to my family, to my mother. And unfortunately, you are too.”Esperanza was at her wit's end. She held up her hands in surrender. “Please. Let’s just figure this shit out, otherwise—”“What?” Zoe sneered, “What are you going to do? Curse me?”All plans of surrender and truce were wiped from her mind. How dare she? Esperanza charged her, with no weapon but her flaming hands.Zoe was prepared, the water from the river bending to her will and dosing the flames on Esperanza’s hands as the two girls met in a clash of punches and kicks. They fell to the ground, still kicking at each other.Zoe pushed her face into the mud, as Esperanza thrashed around, trying to force her off of her.Suddenly her weight was thrown off and Esperanza sprang to her feet, spitting mud out of her mouth and flames on her hands.Charlie had pulled his sister off her and now both he and Jasper stood between them. The Underworld cousins stood off to the side, panic on their faces.“Stop!” Jasper yelled, his words laced with charmspeak. Zoe stopped fighting her brother but didn’t release the water behind her.The two girls continued to stare at each other from across the clearing, both breathing heavily. Zoe with her water hovering behind her and Esperanza with her flaming hands.“What the fuck are you two thinking?” Jasper continued, voice hard. “This is a quest, not a fucking bullfight!”“It’s my fault,” Sammy said quietly.“It’s not your fault,” Zoe and Esperanza responded in unison, not looking away from each other.The blood from Esperanza’s hand slowly dripped to the ground as all seven demigods stood still, afraid to break the tension that had befallen their camp.Zoe spoke first, “Esperanza and I were just airing out our differences.”“She called me a Titan,” Esperanza said quietly, finally looking away to meet Jasper’s eye. “She said I would join Atlas just like my mom and that I would curse her.”Jasper’s eyes hardened, and he shot a glare toward the granddaughter of Poseidon and Athena. When he turned back to Esperanza his expression softened, “Okay. That still doesn’t mean violence is the answer.”Esperanza nodded, tears coming to her eyes, the flames on her hands extinguished as she looked at Zoe again. “I just don’t understand Zoe. We used to be friends. You know me. You know I would never betray you guys.”Zoe shook her head, “My dad trusted your mom and look what happened? She cursed my mother as if being in Tartarus wasn’t enough. You are her daughter, she may have proven herself since then, but what have you done to prove yourself? Set our camp on fire and make everyone afraid of you.”“I am not my mother,” Esperanza said desperately.Zoe continued, ignoring her, “You know what’s more dangerous than a demigod who can wield fire, a Titan who can wield fire. You are your father’s daughter and you are your mother’s daughter and that is a scary ass combination.”“I am not my mother,” Esperanza repeated, almost pleading.“Zoe stop!” Jasper said, putting an end to their fight. “This is over.” He grabbed his pack and Esperanza’s arm, “Come on.” He said, leading her away.“I guess fire and water don’t mix!” Zoe called out as Jasper led her away, yanking on her elbow when she tried to turn back.Esperanza could hear Zoe arguing with her brother and the dripping of water from the trees. The sounds began to fade and give way to the gentle noises of the night as Jasper kept his grip on her arm, dragging her away.For once in her life, Esperanza couldn’t tell what Jasper was thinking. He was silent as he led them through the small forest to a large boulder near the edge of the river. He sat down without looking at her.Hesitantly Esperanza joined him, eyeing the river warily, as if she was afraid Zoe was still watching and would unleash the power of the river on them. Even once she sat down, Jasper didn’t acknowledge her.Between the time of day, the incoming winter in July storm and the fact she was still drenched from Zoe’s river rampage, she was cold – something that rarely happened. She shivered despite herself. Jasper, seeing this, sighed and shrugged off his letterman jacket, putting it over her shoulders.“Thank you,” She whispered. Still shivering, she gently lit a fire in the hand furthest from Jasper. The warmth crawled up her arm and into her body.Jasper only nodded.“I am sorry.” She whispered this time.Jasper sighed again and turned to face her. “I know.” His blue eyes flickered in the firelight. “But we need to all be there for each other and support one another.”She nodded, “I know.”“We are scared Espie,” Jasper added quietly. “And I know you are too, but you are the leader of this quest. You can be scared in front of me, but Bianca and Charlie are only fifteen.”“Gods, I know,” Esperanza said her voice catching. Tears fell, creating tracks through the mud on her face. “I know. I am sorry. I shouldn’t have fought with her but I am just so sick of it. I have admired her for years, I thought– I thought maybe we could be friends again or… more.” Jasper gave her a sympathetic smile. “I see now how stupid I was… or well, am.”“No,” Jasper shook his head, “You are not stupid. A little delusional maybe, but not stupid.” He gave her a teasing smile.Esperanza laughed, wiping tears and mud from her eyes. “Oh well, I know now she will never see me the same. It’s for the better I guess.”Jasper wrapped his arm around her shoulders, “Well, you got me. You always got me.”The river flowed lazily in front of them and the small flame in Esperanza’s hand flickered in the soft breeze that came through the trees. She smiled at her best friend, placing her head on his shoulder.“Yeah, you are the only one I got.”Jasper shook his head, “Nah.”“Yah.” She responded, sitting up straight again. “It’s okay though, I learned long ago I don’t belong anywhere. I am a lone wolf.” She laughed with no real joy, “Maybe I should have gone to Camp Jupiter and been raised by wolves like your dad.”Jasper didn’t laugh, he looked at her seriously, “What do you mean you don’t belong anywhere? What about Camp?”Esperanza stared at him, “You are kidding me right? Are we talking about the same Camp? Because the Camp I mean is the one that bullies me or is scared of me or openly avoids me!”“Espie–”“No, because you don’t seem to understand!” She said, suddenly desperate. “Even in the mortal world, I don’t belong. I have to lie to my best friends about who I am! About where I go every summer! I am not godly enough to be accepted with the demigods and I am definitely not mortal enough to be a part of the mortal world either!” A laugh of frustration bubbled up. “So yeah, demigods hate me and mortals would if they knew the truth but they can’t know the truth!”“Do you understand what it is like to sit in a damn Classics class and read about how your own mother was a horrible vindictive person but can’t say anything to defend her? Or having little kids at Camp you just met run from you because they found out who your grandfather is?”“I hate it!” She yelled, uncaring if anyone else heard. Uncaring if even a monster were to show up and attack them. “My whole life I have been “different” and I am so done. I wish nothing more to be normal. To have no powers, normal grandparents, normal parents. I would give anything for that.” Her voice went quiet.Jasper put a hand on her arm. Esperanza flinched. “Espie,” He said, “You don’t mean that.”She shook her head, “I do. I really, really do. I love my parents but I really wish they were normal. I wish I was a normal mortal.” She sighed, “Did I ever tell you about the time I killed a rabbit in our backyard?’“No,” Jasper said quietly, his eyes filled with pain as he looked at her. Esperanza looked away.“I was only five years old but I remember it. My mom and I were out in the garden and I was exploring while she was planting some of flowers or something. All of a sudden out of the bushes came this little brown bunny. It was small, I assumed it had to be a baby and I was so excited so I ran over and caught it. It was squirming and clearly wanted to get away but I still held it tight.”Jasper nodded, and she continued, “I ran over to show my mom, I was so excited. When she saw it she told me to put it down and let it be but I didn’t. It continued to squirm but I still held it. I was getting angry both at the bunny and my mom who kept telling me to let it go. My anger got the best of me” She paused, “I didn’t even try to control it.”“What happened?” Jasper said quietly.She turned to meet his gaze, “I set it on fire.” Jasper sighed, “It wasn’t a quick or easy death.” She added quietly.“You were young Espie,” Jasper said, “You didn’t know how to control your powers yet.”“I still killed it.” She said, her voice choked with emotion.Jasper shook his head, “It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault. You are a wonderful, amazing, kind person Espie. I wouldn’t be your best friend if you weren’t.” He paused, “And as for me not understanding not belonging, you are right, I don’t know. But I do know feeling out of place.”His blue eyes looked hazel in the reflection of her orange flame. “Being both Roman and Greek is difficult and I hate having to split my time between the Camps. And not only that but I am practically a child of divorce.” He chuckled slightly. “My moms live in LA and my dad is in Colorado so…”Esperanza felt her heart clench. She knew Jasper wasn’t trying to make her feel bad but she couldn’t help it. How had she been so wrapped up in her own damn problems that she couldn’t see her own best friend was struggling with something similar? How could she call herself his best friend?“Jasper,” She began, her voice soft. “I am so sorry. I should– I should have realized sooner what you are going through or at the very least thought about your feelings.”“Espie,” Jasper said, cutting her off. “It’s okay. We all have our own shit to deal with. I am not trying to make you feel guilty, I am just trying to tell you you are not alone. You’re my best friend and I love you.”He reached over and grabbed her hand and she had to breathe deeply to stop more tears from falling at his declaration. She managed to give him a small smile, “I love you too Jasper.” She said.He grabbed her hand and she put her head back on his shoulder. They both stared in silence at the river in front of them. They both knew they should head back before the others got worried or came looking for them. They both knew Esperanza should get Bianca to look at her wounds, but for the moment they were right where they needed to be.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The morning after Esperanza and Zoe's fight was tense. The atmosphere between the group was awkward.Zoe reclaimed her role as leader, sticking close to her brother Charlie while Esperanza stuck by Jasper's side near the end of the pack. Bianca, Emily, and Sammy made up the middle group trying in vain to start a conversation to bring back some of the ease that had existed before.Zoe didn't acknowledge Esperanza and everyone make the decision not to bring up their fight. It would only make things worse.It took a few days but finally, the tension began easing between the group. Esperanza was surprised at how easily they seemed to settle once more into their old ways.There was more laughter and talking than there had been even before they blew up on each other. Sure, it wasn’t the same as when they were kids, but Esperanza was happy not to have to wake up and walk on eggshells all day. Even still, Zoe and Esperanza ignored each other like the plague, but that seemed fine with everyone else as long as they were going for each other's throats.By the time they reached Montana, there was a semblance of normalcy. They reached Lewistown, Montana on the 5th of July. Exactly a week and two days away from “Doomsday” as Esperanza was so affectionately calling it.After much bickering and a few bribes and maybe some of Jasper’s Charmspeak the group managed to convince Zoe to let them stay the night at a small Inn off the main street of the city.They only had enough money for two rooms so they split it into girls and boys.When they made that decision Bianca and Emily both looked scared as if they were afraid Zoe and Esperanza would murder each other in the middle of the night. Esperanza laughed to herself as if she'd ever be able to sneak up on Zoe Jackson and kill her.Even still Bianca and Emily insisted on splitting up and sharing a bed with the other two girls just in case. Bianca ended up sharing with Zoe and Emily and Esperanza took the second bed.Though a bed sounded amazing, the thing Esperanza was most excited about was the shower. With Zoe keeping them off main roads and not stopping for more than one night, Esperanza hadn't had a chance to shower since the Waystation. Her curly hair was as greasy as her dad's hands after a day of work in the shop and she was sure she reeked of sweat and body odor.It felt too good to get all the grime and grease of the road off of her.She came out of the bathroom to find the rest of the girls huddled on Bianca and Zoe’s bed with two cups of what looked like murky mud in between them.“Espie!” Emily called, beckoning her over. “You are just in time! We are about to play Truth or Dare!”Esperanza sat between Emily and Bianca on the edge of the bed, her hair twisted up in a towel to keep from dripping. “Okay… but what is that?” She asked pointing to the cup in the middle.Bianca smiled evilly, “That is the punishment if you don’t want to do the truth or dare. You have to drink that instead.”“What is in it?”The other girls shrugged, “Whatever we could find.” Emily answered way too cheerfully. “Are you in?”Esperanza thought for a moment. They were on a quest to save the world and after what had happened between her and Zoe perhaps they should stay focused on their task. But then again, they were also just teenagers and she was being invited to do something so normal with people she never would have expected to let her in. She has to say yes.“Let’s do it!”Emily clapped and turned to Zoe, “Oldest asks first! Go ahead, Zoe!”Zoe looked up at the group from where she had been studying her nails. Her eyes locked with Esperanza’s and she felt her breath catch in her throat. It was the first time they had looked at each other since their fight.For a moment Esperanza let herself get lost in the stormy grey eyes of the eldest Jackson. Despite everything that had happened between the two of them when she looked into her eyes she seemed to forget everything.Zoe’s eyes hardened and Esperanza suddenly panicked. What if she asked a truth or dare that revealed her crush? What if she said something stupid that ruined the tentative truce that had befallen them?Then, her gaze moved past Esperanza and landed on Bianca.“Bianca,” She said, a hint of teasing in her voice, “Truth or dare?”The blonde thought for a moment, squirming under the intensity of Zoe’s gaze. “Um… truth?”Zoe’s lips stretched into a smirk. Emily and Esperanza shared a look. “Is it true that you have a crush on my brother?”Bianca’s face went bright red and she started to stutter, “Wha–what? Me? Have a… a crush on Charlie?!”Emily started laughing at her cousin’s face and Esperanza couldn’t help but join in. “It’s kinda obvious Bia.” Emily nudged her cousin’s shoulder. Bianca somehow got redder.“Let’s just move on,” She grumbled under her breath.“Wait, wait wait,” Zoe said smiling, “You didn’t answer the question.”Without missing a beat Bianca locked eyes with Zoe, picked up the cup in the middle and drained it in one go. The other three girls squealed and gagged.“Oh my gods! Bia!” Emily screamed. “I can’t believe you just did that!”Bianca shuddered, a hand over her mouth. They all expected her to throw up over the side of the bed but nothing happened. Bianca looked green but refused to give in to the nausea. She reached over to the nightstand and chugged the glass of water. The other girls were shocked. Then turning to Esperanza she said, “Truth or Dare?”Esperanza’s anxiety suddenly spiked. She had things to hide from these girls – or at least things she was sure they would rather not know. Her heart rate quickened and she could feel her palms start to heat up. She rubbed them anxiously between her thighs to try and smother the small sparks. “Um…” She bit her lip. Which was better, truth or dare?She thought about it for a moment, then squared her shoulders. “I choose dare.”Bianca smiled, “Okay… I dare you to go to the boy's room and profess your “undying love” for Jasper.”Esperanza’s mouth dropped open, “Ew!!” She cried, “Jasper is like my brother!”“So you want to drink the drink then?” Zoe asked, raising her brow and pointing to the second cup of disgusting drink in front of them.Well, what could she say to that? She didn’t want to back down in front of Zoe Jackson. She had to do it. “Ugh, fineee!” She groaned, getting off the bed as the other girls cheered.They followed her to the door across the hall, where the boys were sleeping. They hid around the corner of the hallway. Emily gave her a thumbs-up while Bianca made disgusting kissy faces and Zoe just rolled her eyes, but she was smiling, which made Esperanza smile.Then with a sigh, she turned back to the door. Jasper would know she was lying, she knew it, but it still felt so weird. However, she wasn’t about to drink whatever concoction they had cooked up back there.She knocked at the door and only had to wait a moment before a sleepy Sammy answered, looking at her strangely.“I need to speak to Jasper,” She said, getting straight to the point.Jasper emerged behind Sammy, having heard her. His shoulder-length hair was damp from a shower and he was wearing his sky-blue pyjamas with little pink hearts on them (Megan and Eloise had gotten them for him for his last birthday).“What’s up Espie?” He asked, giving her a questioning look.Esperanza sighed dramatically and grabbed his hands, dragging him forward and almost knocking Sammy over in the process. In the background, she could hear the other girls laughing.“Wha–” Jasper started to say but she cut him off.“Jasper McLean-Grace, there is something I have been meaning to tell you for a while now.”“Okay…”She bit her lip to keep from laughing and said in the most lovesick voice she could muster, “I love you! I know you may not see it but I truly believe you are my soulmate and my one true love! I cannot imagine my life without you. You are my everything and I love, love, love, love you!”Jasper blinked at her in shock before he said in a small voice, “Are you drunk right now?”Esperanza couldn’t help it, she laughed out loud. Behind her, the other girls began to laugh too. Charlie and Sammy, who had come to see just what the commotion was looked quite confused and Jasper was no better.Esperanza let go of his hands to clutch her stomach as her laughter rolled over her in waves. She tried to get herself under control but anytime she looked at Jasper’s face her laughter started again.Finally, after what seemed like forever Sammy figured it out. Looking between Esperanza and his sister he sighed, “Are you guys playing Truth or Dare?”They nodded, their laughter still ringing throughout the hallway as Jasper sighed. “I should have known.”A door to the left of them opened and another motel guest poked their head out, their face the picture of annoyance, “Hey!” They yelled, “Keep it down, will you! People are trying to sleep!”Even though it shouldn’t have, that just sent them into another round of laughing fits.—“I have an idea!” Esperanza yelled as they raced across the busy streets of Billings, Montana. They were currently being chased by three giants who were yelling insults at the demigods and throwing mailboxes and parking meters.After their game of Truth or Dare last night they had all fallen asleep fairly quickly but got up late, much to Zoe’s dismay. They had just been grabbing breakfast at the McDonald’s down the street from the motel when the giants found them.They had been running for a while now, dodging cars and blowing past pedestrians, when Esperanza, feeling rejuvenated after their fun girls' night the night before, came up with her brilliant idea. (Or at least she thought it was a brilliant idea.)She spotted a red sports car parked on the side of the road and ran towards it.She stopped in front of it, looking back at where the giants were stuck behind a few cars. They had only a small window of opportunity.Fishing in her backpack she pulled out a small tool and set to work on busting the front door of the car open.“What in the Hades are you doing?” Zoe demanded, reaching out to grab her wrist, stopping Esperanza from prying the door open.Esperanza scowled and pulled her arm free, “You got a better idea? We need to get away from those giants, and fast!” For once, Zoe didn’t protest and Esperanza used the opportunity to force the door open.Once she got it open she opened the panel under the wheel and got to hot-wiring. The others stood around protecting her.“Um… Espie?” Jasper said cautiously. Esperanza lifted her head to see the giants getting closer. She swore under her breath and worked the wires faster.“Come on. Come on.” She murmured to herself until finally with a roar the engine came to life. “Yes!” She jumped up, “Now who wants to drive?”She was met with six blank faces.“I am only fifteen,” Bianca said. Charlie nodded in agreement.Emily and Sammy shared a look, “We haven’t got around to getting our licenses yet.”Zoe shrugged, “I don’t have a driver's license.”“What?” Esperanza said, shocked.“Me either,” Jasper added.Esperanza was dumbfounded, “How can you not have a license?”“I live in New York City,” Zoe said, pushing her hair over her shoulder. Jasper just shrugged.“Okay,” Esperanza said, getting behind the wheel, “I guess I’m driving.”Jasper ran around to the passenger side while the five other demigods piled in the back. It was a tight fit but they didn’t have time to worry about that before the giants were upon them. Esperanza pressed on the gas hard just before the giant’s club hit the pavement where they had just been.The streets were busy. Flurries of snow began to fall and Esperanza had to swerve around people, other cars and even patches of ice.Jasper began to fiddle with the radio and ACDC’s Thunder Struck began to blast through the speakers. Esperanza let out a whoop, “Whoo! The perfect song for a car chase!”The others groaned and Sammy looked like he was going to be carsick.“Watch out! Behind you!” Bianca yelled, and Esperanza looked in the rearview mirror just in time to see one of the male giants with a mullet coming up on their left. She swerved right, blasting through a red light and nearly hitting a cyclist.They raced down the next street, the giants undeterred behind them. People screamed and jumped out of the way as they went by, pushing 100 km/hour in a 60 zone.Emily gritted her teeth as she looked out the back window. “Open the sunroof!” She yelled over the hum of the engine and the music. Jasper pressed the button above the rearview mirror.Using her brother and Zoe for support Emily stood on the backseat and stuck her upper body out the sunroof. Esperanza watched out of the mirror as she readied her bow and began to aim at the giants pursuing them.Her attention was so focused on what Emily was doing that she didn’t notice the family crossing the street until Jasper yelled out, “Esperanza! Watch out!”“Shit!” She swore as she swerved onto the sidewalk to avoid hitting the people. The other pedestrians on the sidewalk dove out of the way and by some luck of Tyche they didn’t hit anyone.Emily smashed her hip on the side of the sunroof, griping onto the roof with all her might to stop herself from falling. The second Esperanza steadied the car she had her bow at the ready again, hitting the mullet giant and his friend in the eye and sending them both to Tartarus in a cloud of golden dust.Esperanza jerked the wheel to the right to send them back onto the road and ignored the complaints from the back seat.“You’re going to kill us, Valdez!” Bianca growled.“Hey! No backseat drivers please!” She yelled back. Bianca groaned as Esperanza hit another turn rather sharply and sent her and Charlie falling onto the floor of the car. Sammy was holding onto his sister for dear life while also seeming to fight off a bout of car sickness.They had just hit a trashcan when sirens began to sound around them.“Oh, Styx!” Zoe muttered, “The police are on our tail!” One look in the side mirrors proved Zoe’s statement to be true. About five police patrol cars were racing down the streets after them, lights flashing.Out of the corner of her eye, Esperanza spotted an alleyway just large enough to fit the sportscar.“Don’t worry I got it!” Esperanza said. She jerked the wheel harshly, sending them in a spiral, so they were facing the police cars approaching them at all speed. She pressed on the gas, playing chicken with the cops.Beside her, Jasper was clenching the seat rest like his life depended on it. “Uh, Espie?” He asked, his voice laced with panic.The others in the back seat started to freak out too and Emily ducked back into the car with a gasp. “What in Jupiter’s name are you doing?”Esperanza didn’t answer, instead, she turned at the last second, right before she hit the first patrol car, facing the front of the car away from the ally and in one movement, pulled the gear into reverse and shot down the small laneway backwards as the cops sped past.Everyone was breathing heavily as Esperanza navigated them out the other end of the alley, only hitting one large garbage bin, sending the right mirror flying. “Duck down! I can’t see around your heads.” She barked, and Sammy, Emily and Zoe immediately put their heads down.They weren’t out of the woods yet, as the second Esperanza got them back onto a main road the last of the giants appeared. This one looked female with its hair in a ponytail and horribly done sparkly makeup all over its face. It looked like a Drag Queen gone wrong.It came upon them so fast that Esperanza couldn’t swerve out of the way in time but with a flick of her wrist, Zoe sent the nearest fire hydrant a blast. Water spurted out, hitting the Giant and sending it staggering back. Then another twist of godly magic and the Giant was disintegrating into dust as the water pushed it back onto the sharp steeple of a church.The demigods cheered.“Nice one Zoe!” Esperanza yelled, looking back over her shoulder at the older girl.For once Zoe was looking back at her with a smile, her grey eyes filled with warmth and excitement.“Thanks!” She said, laughing and looking proud of herself. Esperanza smiled back, her heart bursting with joy. The world could blow up right now and she would die a happy woman. Then, Zoe’s expression changed and Esperanza was aware that everyone was yelling at her. “Watch out!”When Esperanza looked back at the road in front of her she was too late to swerve and miss the large pine tree in the Billings Waterfront park.With a prayer to her grandfather (Hephaestus, but who else were you expecting?) and any other god that may be listening, she and the other demigods braced themselves for impact.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Esperanza’s first thought as she got into the back of the police car was that she wished one of the Stolls were here; if anyone could escape the clutches of the law it was them.The backseat of the police patrol vehicle was cramped and uncomfortable. Obviously, all seven of them couldn’t fit in the back of one police car and obviously, the police did not know about their difficult relationships, so, Esperanza was stuck sitting in between Zoe and Bianca.Neither girl would look at her and she figured they both blamed her for their arrests, just like they blamed her for everything. Needless to say, the air was tense with frustration and unspoken blame.But to their credit, Esperanza did crash a car into the tree which caused the cops to catch up to them… so you know, maybe this time they weren’t wrong.The heat blasting from the front console of the car, mixing with her overly high body temperature and being pressed so close to Zoe and Bianca was making Esperanza sweat.She shifted uncomfortably on the seat, trying to see out the frosted-over window at the passing landscape. Zoe swatted at her head when she leaned across her. The glare she received was enough to make her sit back straight and try not to move.“Well,” Esperanza whispered, trying to break the tense silence, “This adventure took an unexpected turn; who knew we would get caught by mortals and not monsters?”Zoe scoffed keeping her gaze out the barred window, and Bianca gave her a look that read; What the hell are you on?“What did you say back there?” The police officer driving asked in a gruff voice, glancing at her through the rearview window. He did not look very happy if the scrunch between his brows and narrowed eyes meant anything.Esperanza met his eyes in the rearview mirror, putting on her most charming smile, “Nothing officer. Sorry, didn’t mean to be a bother.”The officer did not look pleased. “Yes, because Grand Theft Auto is an unintentional bother.” He muttered just loud enough for her to hear. His voice was filled with sarcasm.Esperanza slumped in her seat, annoyed, the handcuffs around her wrist jingling. “Damn, no need to be so judgmental.”“Oh my gods,” Zoe whispered beside her, banging her head against the side of the barred window. The rest of the ride to the small Montana town police station was in complete silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts.Esperanza was so bored she started to fiddle with the handcuffs. She twisted her wrists to and fro trying to figure them out. The Hephaestus legacy in her was signing as she discretely tried to access the structure of the mechanism.She hummed softly under her breath. The song reminded her of her mother tending to her garden or baking in the kitchen. It was a comforting distraction.It took a bit of maneuvering and a perfectly placed bobby pin but by the time they made it to the station, she had the cuffs off her wrists and her hands free.When a female officer came to the side of the car to lead them inside the station they stared in shock at her unbound hands. “What the—?”Zoe groaned when she saw what was happening, “I swear to fucking Zeus…”The policeman who had been driving the car just rolled his eyes, “This one is trouble.”Esperanza met Jasper’s eye from across the parking lot where he, Charlie, Emily and Sammy were being led out of another police vehicle. He smiled at her unbound hands. She struggled not to laugh.The female officer grabbed her arm rather forcefully and re-cuffed her hands before dragging them inside.They were led through bright, fluorescent-lit, white highways with a police officer at their side, the harsh lighting making her squint. Finally, they ended up in an equally bright room where their thumbprints were stamped with black ink and pressed roughly to a sheet of paper. A few quick clicks on a computer revealed each of their identities.Esperanza whistled lowly as her full name, date and place of birth flashed on the screen. “Impressive.” She mumbled to Jasper who shook his head with a small smile. Then, they were each given a mugshot board and had their photos taken against a white wall. Zoe went first, then Charlie, then the twins, then Bianca, then Jasper and finally Esperanza herself.It was a slow process that left Esperanza bored out of her mind. She tried her best to distract herself by looking around at the small room. A board filled with wanted posters hung on the left wall. Esperanza studied it with interest, wondering how many of those were monsters – or demigods.“Um, excuse me…” She said tapping the shoulder of the officer in charge of taking their mugshots, when she was given her board. The officer turned to her with a blank stare, her black hair pulled back into a bun so tight, Esperanza swore it was giving her a face lift. “Will I get a copy of this?” The officer rolled her eyes and shoved her into the room. “Damn, okay, no need to be rude.”She stood against the wall, holding her sign with pride. She smiled on the first few takes and it was not until the officer yelled at her that she did one with a straight face. The camera flash was blinding. Esperanza was forced to blink back spots as she was led out of the room.When she met up with the others in the hallway, Emily gave her a look, fiddling with her handcuffs. “Why does it seem like you are enjoying this, Espie?”“You’re not?”“No!” Emily cried as they were led away from the mugshot room and through the maze of corridors.She shrugged, “I just think this is great! I mean most of our lives we spend our time fighting for our lives or running from monsters,” She said in a low voice, “This is something different, something new, something a mortal would have to deal with. It’s practically normal and that is great!”“This is not normal, even for mortals!” Emily hissed, “I would argue that this might actually be more common for demigods than mortals. Or at least Greek ones.” She added quietly.Esperanza gasped, “Hey!”Before she could say more double doors in front of them revealed a large room with three holding cells against the left wall and a few desks on the right. An officer occupied each desk, looking through stacks of paperwork, taking phone calls and occasionally yelling at one of the occupants of the cells. Security guards armed with batons and guns walked up and down in front of the cells. They looked like lions in a zoo, pacing in front of the humans watching on the other side, though in this case, the lions were not the ones behind bars.The seven demigods were herded to the last cell in the room. All the while the other cell occupants stared at the kids with interest. Some faces looked at them in curiosity, others in hostility and some in confusion. Thankfully, the seven of them were led to an empty cell. Esperanza had no desire to get into a prison fight with someone double her age and size.At the door, their handcuffs were undone and they were unceremoniously shoved into the space.She and Emily were shoved in first. The cell was about a quarter of the size of one of the cabins back at Camp. The back and side walls were lined with cold, metal benches that looked as uncomfortable as a bed of nails. The air was stale; a mixture of sweat, disinfectant, and something unidentifiable that made Esperanza wrinkle her nose.“You each have one call,” The officer said in a gruff voice, locking the door behind Charlie. “Since most of you are minors and this was a first-time offence we will keep it easy; bail is $10,000 each.”“$10,000!” Emily gasped, rubbing at her wrists where the handcuffs had chaffed her skin. “That is not easy, that is a lot of money!”The officer merely shrugged, “Let me know when you want those calls.” With that, he turned and walked to one of the desks on the other side of the room.Esperanza stood against the bars, taking in the sights of the small jail. The harsh lights cast shadows on the walls, adding to the feeling that they were being watched. Charlie and Zoe sat on the bench against the far wall, Zoe putting her arm around her brother as a dude with tattoos and arms the size of tree trunks laughed at him from the adjoining cell. The laughter added to the uneasiness of their cell, putting them on edge.As much as Esperanza had been secretly – or not so secretly – enjoying the experience, she was starting to understand the discomfort of the others.“There goes my college fund,” Jasper said sitting on the metal bench closest to Esperanza.Bianca, sitting beside him, rolled her eyes, “Oh please, your grandfather is a movie star and your mom is a semi-famous fashion designer, you will be fine!”Jasper scoffed, “And your dad’s a doctor, you will be fine too.” He turned his gaze to where Emily and Sammy stood against the wall, “And so will you Em, it may be a lot of money but all your mom has to do is sell like one diamond ring and there you go!”“Now is not the time to be comparing how much money our parents make.” Zoe rolled her eyes, “Though my dad is just an employee at an aquarium so, he doesn’t exactly make bank…”“Your dad is literally a marine biologist and your mother is a professor who works for New York City, I think you will be fine,” Esperanza pointed out, staring at the small, barred window high above Zoe’s head. “Some of us – not to name names – me, don’t even live in a house.”“Oh my gods!” Bianca through her hands up, “Your family has its own thriving business. Forgive me for not worrying about how you are going to pay your bail.”“Hey!” Esperanza pushed off from the bars, “Just because we own a business doesn’t mean we have $10,000 to spare!”“Maybe it's the same with my family! My dad may be a doctor but it is at Camp Half-Blood and not an actual institution!”Zoe stood, walking toward the two girls, “All right you two, shut up! I don’t even know why we are having this conversation while we are in jail! Which is your fault by the way,” She said pointing to Esperanza.“My fault?” She laughed, “Well excuse me for saving all of our asses from becoming monster food, next time I will just let us all die.”They were getting looks from the occupants of surrounding holding cells and the officers who were roaming the halls but neither girl seemed to notice.“You are full of shit Valdez! You just wanted to be reckless and drive a fancy car! And now you seem to be enjoying being stuck in jail!”“Maybe, but did I not also destroy the giants who were intent on killing us?”The tension that they had managed to wave off in the motel was back in full force. Forcing Zoe and Esperanza at each other’s throats and causing everyone to be on edge. Not wanting another fight like in South Dakota Jasper jumped up and put himself in between them. “That’s enough! Zoe, you yourself said this is not the time for this sorta thing. We need to figure out what our next steps are because I am not sure if the two of you forgot but we only have a week until the deadline and we are currently in a fucking jail cell.”One of the security officers gave Jasper a strange look but he simply smiled and turned back to the girls, his face serious again. “Alright?”After a tense moment, Esperanza finally looked away from Zoe, “Fine.”She sat in Jasper’s previous seat. Bianca stood walking over to sit beside Charlie, who blushed when their fingers accidentally touched. Esperanza watched her move with a bitter taste in her mouth.Following her lead, Zoe went back to her previous position on the other side of her brother.“Okay,” Jasper began, taking Bianca’s spot beside Esperanza and seemingly taking charge of this situation. “Do we call our parents?”The question hung in the air. The constant chatter and clanging of metal was not making it easy to think. Esperanza rubbed at her temples, trying to prevent the headache she could feel coming. The others looked in similar states of distress.Charlie was the first to speak up, “Isn’t calling home, like against the quest laws? If we call doesn’t that mean we are giving up or something?”“Well, we don’t have much of a choice do we?” Bianca said, “It’s not like we each have $10,000 dollars in our pockets we could use.”“Why don’t you just charmspeak the police?” Emily asked Jasper, a hint of hope in her voice.Jasper shrugged “I could certainly try.”“Why didn’t you do this before?” Esperanza asked her friend with a smirk as he stood. Jasper gave her the finger as he reached the bars of their small cell.“Hey, officer!” He called to one of the men patrolling the hall.The man sighed, lumbering over to the young man. “What kid?” He asked, annoyance dripping from his voice.Jasper smiled, “I think you should let me and my friends go without charge and without a criminal record.”“My friends and I,” Zoe stressed under her breath.The officer seemed to be mulling Jasper’s words over. Esperanza held her breath. This had to work.He leaned close to Jasper, “How about… no.”“What?” Jasper’s voice was filled with confusion. Esperanza shared a look with Emily who seemed just as confused. How could someone resist charmspeak?The officer smirked at their stunned faces, “Nice try demigod, but do you really think we weren’t prepared?” He tapped the bars with his baton. “No powers work within these cells. Sorry to disappoint.” With that, he turned on his heel and walked down the hall.The seven demigods sat in stunned silence.“I guess we will be taking those phone calls then!” Jasper called out to the officer’s retreating back.—Esperanza sat alone in a small room. In only her navy Houston Astros t-shirt – her jacket left behind in the cell – the metal table was cold as she rested her forearms on its surface.Her hands were once again handcuffed, this time with a chain keeping her attached to the table. A two-way mirror occupied the wall across from her. A corded phone, connected to a recording device sat on the table in front of her.She fidgeted nervously as she waited for the policeman to come back but didn’t dare try to uncuff herself again. She was well aware of the officers behind the mirror watching her every move.There was a beeping sound and then with a bang, the heavy door swung open as the officer strode back inside.“Esperanza Valdez.” He stated as he flipped through a folder in his right hand. With a sigh, he sat in the seat across from her. “Bail of $10,000 and one phone call.”He slapped the folder on the table, making her jump at the loud sound. She smiled, regaining her confidence. “That’s me!”“My name is Officer Collins.”“Nice to meet you.”He gave her a blank stare. A piece of her hair fell in front of her eyes and she attempted to swipe it away when she remembered her hands were attached to the table. She settled for blowing the curl away instead. Officer Collins sighed impatiently as he waited for her to finish. Esperanza stopped blowing, sensing the awkwardness in the silence.“Here is the phone for your one phone call,” He pushed the corded phone towards her. “It will be recorded, and I will be listening.”Esperanza nodded in understanding. Officer Collins sighed and looked at his watch, “You have fifteen minutes, kid. Make it count.”Scrambling forward, she grabbed the phone and held it up to her ear. She waited until the responder asked on the other side if she would be willing to pay for a collected call. After a glance at Officer Collins for reassurance – he simply waved his hand in a ‘get on with it’ gesture – she answered yes. She put in her parent's number with a slightly shaky hand. Holding her breath she began to tap out I love you on the back of the phone as it rang, and rang, and rang. Officer Collins gave her a strange look, no doubt recognizing Morse code.The phone continued to ring and Esperanza held her breath. “Pick up, pick up, pick up.” She muttered under her breath, not because she wanted to tell her parents she was in jail and not because she needed the $10,000 but because she needed to hear their voices.Her heart sank as she recognized the last ring but quickly lifted again at the sound of the voicemail message.
“Hey there! You have reached the Valdez residence, home of the Super-Sized McShizzle; Leo, the beautiful and terrifying Calypso and our little firecracker; Esperanza.”
She nearly sobbed at the sound of her dad’s voice calling her by the nickname he had given her. She forced herself to calm down and focus on the rest of the message.
“Sorry, we are unable to come to the phone right now. We are probably off fighting monsters or something — I am joking! Jeez, sunshine! — anyway, please leave your name and number and we will get back to you as soon as we can! Oh also, if you are looking for Leo and Calypso’s Garage: Auto Repair and Mechanical Monsters the number is 222-222-2222. Have a totally awesome day!”
She laughed softly at her dad’s voice. Looking up at Officer Collins she asked, “Can I leave a message?”He nodded, “Go for it.” The phone beeped and Esperanza took a deep breath.“Um… hi Dad, hi Mom, It’s Espie. I know this isn’t what you are expecting, like at all, but I am in jail right now. We are somewhere in Montana, I think. Don’t worry I am okay! All seven of us are together and doing well. We had to make a quick getaway and I guess they frown upon Grand Theft Auto.” She laughed weakly, blinking back tears. “Our bail is $10,000 each, and well you didn’t pick up so, I am sure Aunt Piper can cover me and Jasper for now and you can pay her back or whatever. Um… we are almost to California,” Her voice cracked and she was forced to take a deep breath. Her parents deserved her wholeness, not the bits and pieces she was slowly breaking into. She had performed for them for years, she could do it for a few more seconds.“I-I miss you both like crazy. And Festus, I miss him too. I can’t wait to come home and taste some of Mom’s delicious cookies and work on another car with Dad. I will see you both soon. I love you guys so, so much. Sending hugs and kisses! Bye.”Reluctantly she put the phone back. The click echoed in the small room.Officer Collins took the headphones out of his ears and clicked off the recording device. He met her watery gaze with a look of sympathy. He sighed and stood. Nodding once to the mirror he grabbed a key from his belt and unlocked her handcuffs from the table. She let herself be led out of the room by him, using the sound of her footsteps to ground herself. She couldn’t show weakness in front of the rest of the demigods.By the time she got back to the cell, she could muster her usual carefree smile for the rest of the group.“How was it?” Jasper asked standing up in anticipation as Officer Collins unlocked the cell door and led her inside.Esperanza shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant, “They didn’t pick up.”Jasper frowned and opened his mouth to say something before Officer Collins interrupted. “Alright,” He said, “Who’s next?”Jasper stepped forward, “I’ll go.”Officer Collins nodded, reaching out to grab Jasper’s wrists so he could handcuff him, but just as he was about to secure them, the end of a silver bow was placed just under his chin, stopping his movements.“That won’t be necessary.” A steely voice said.Jasper gasped, “Aunt Thalia!”“Hey kiddo,” The Lieutenant of Artemis smiled at her nephew. Behind her stood five other girls in silver coats, each wielding their own silver bow.“What is the meaning of this?” Officer Collins asked, his hand reaching for his gun. Every other officer in the room stood ready for action. The occupants of the other cells leaned on the bars, curious to see what would happen next.Thalia sighed, “You will release these seven kids into my custody and drop the charges against them.”Officer Collins scoffed, looking at Thalia in disbelief, “They are being charged with Grand Theft Auto and endangerment of minors and citizens! I cannot just release them to you.”Thalia rolled her eyes, pulling the Officer close and whispering something in his ear. Esperanza strained to try and understand what she said but it was nearly impossible. Whatever she said seemed to work because when she pulled back Officer Collins looked a little pale and nodded insistently at the Huntress. “Of course,” He said, his voice wavering slightly. “They will be released immediately.”Thalia smiled triumphantly, “That is what I thought.”The next few minutes were filled with shuffling through hallways, paperwork, apologies from the officers and confusion and delight from the demigods. By the time they were let out the doors of the police station and into the pale sunlight and chilly air, they were free of criminal charges. Thalia threw her arm around Jasper’s shoulders as they walked across the parking lot toward where the rest of the Hunters of Artemis had gathered. “So, how is the quest going?” She asked with a smirk.Jasper laughed, “You just sprung us from prison! Doesn’t that tell you anything?”Thalia shook her head, smiling. “Too much like your mother you are.”“Hey!” Jasper put a hand to his heart in mock hurt. “You love my mother!”They reached the rest of the Hunters, standing by a frost-covered tree in the parking lot, staring up at the sky which had begun to spew snowflakes.“Reyna!” Jasper called, leaving his aunt’s side to envelop the former Roman Praetor in a hug. Reyna laughed, hugging Jasper back.Esperanza was familiar with the Hunters of Artemis as they often visited the Waystation for special occasions. It was strange after all these years that they never aged, whereas each time she saw them, something about her had changed. Thalia still looked like she was fifteen and Reyna was frozen in time as her sixteen-year-old self.“Oh hey, Valdez,” Reyna said affectionately to Esperanza.“Hi Reyna,” She said with a smile.“Thanks for getting us out of there,” Zoe said to Thalia, breaking up the reunion.“How did you know where we were?” Emily asked.Jasper scratched his head, “Yeah, wait, how did you know we were in trouble?”Thalia shrugged, “We stopped by the Waystation a few days ago and heard about your quest from Jo and Emmie. I figured you would end up getting yourselves into trouble, so we tracked you here and sure enough; trouble!” Reyna scoffed, but Thalia put up a hand to silence her. “It’s a good thing we came.”Esperanza raised her eyebrows, looking at Jasper who tilted his head at his aunt. “Wha–” He started to say but was interrupted by a new voice, coming from behind the Hunters.“Thalia, please be honest to your fellow demigods.”From behind the Hunters, a young woman stepped forward. She looked about fourteen years old, her auburn hair was pulled back in a braid thrown over her left shoulder. She wore a similar outfit to the rest of the Hunters and could easily have passed for one of them if not for the sparkle in her eyes and the immense power radiating from her being.“Lady Artemis,” Zoe breathed in shock.She nodded her head at the assembled demigods. “Hello, demigods.” She gestured to Thalia, “What my lieutenant here, told you was not entirely true. My Hunters did stop by the Waystation and heard of your quest from Josephine and Hemithea, however, we were given a hint about your whereabouts and the predicament you found yourselves in.”“A hint?” Esperanza asked with uncertainty.Artemis smiled, her expression fond yet exasperated. “My brother couldn’t let you go without some help it seems. Though I think he is incredibly stupid to test our father’s wrath by meddling on a quest again, he insisted.”Bianca perked up at the mention of her grandfather, “Apollo is helping us?”The Goddess of the Hunt nodded and gestured to something across the parking lot. Esperanza glanced over to see a beautiful Cadillac Escalade in a bright sunny yellow – of course. A smile grew on her face, maybe things were looking up after all.Artemis stepped forward, handing Bianca a slip of paper. “That is from him as well.” The goddess said.“Thank you.”Thalia tossed the keys to the Cadillac to Zoe. She caught them clumsily, juggling them in her hands for a moment. “Have fun driving Jackson.”Zoe looked startled, “Oh. I don’t have my license.”“What?” Thalia and Reyna cried in unison. Even some of the Hunters looked shocked.Zoe shrugged, “I am from New York, why would I need a car?”Esperanza smiled, walking over to pluck the keys from Zoe’s grasp. “I am the only one with a license, so I will be driving this beautiful vehicle.”Thalia shook her head, “Oh boy. Remind me next time I visit to teach you how to drive Jasper.”“I wish there was more we could do to aid you on your quest, but this is all we can do without punishment.” Artemis stepped in. She looked each one of them in the eyes. “Unless of course, any of you young ladies wish to escape your demigod duties and join my Hunters?”Esperanza blinked, looking between Emily, Bianca and Zoe. The latter shook her head, “No thanks, Hunters named Zoe don’t exactly have the best track record.”Thalia raised her eyebrows and Artemis gave Zoe an unimpressed look.“Same goes for me,” Bianca threw in.“I’ll pass,” Esperanza voiced her agreement. Emily nodded.Artemis sighed, “Fine. Have it your way.” She eyed the boys with disapproval. Sammy shifted uneasily under the goddess’s sharp gaze.“Okay then,” Reyna cut in. “Do you guys need anything else?”Esperanza looked between the rest of the demigods. They had gotten their packs and weapons back from the police. Her armband was cool against her skin from where it had been sitting in police custody. She shook her head, “I think we have everything.”“Well,” Thalia said with a sad smile, “I guess that means it's time for you to head off.”She came over and gave each of them a hug, lingering to say a few words to Jasper. Reyna was next, and when she made it to Esperanza she smiled, “I’ll see you at the Waystation next, yeah?”She smiled and nodded, “Yeah.”Once Thalia was done speaking to Jasper, Artemis addressed them again. “Young demigods, I wish you all the best on the rest of your quest.”They nodded to the goddess.“Thank you, My Lady,” Sammy said awkwardly. Artemis raised an eyebrow and Sammy immediately blushed and looked down at his shoes.Jasper and Charlie began to pack the truck of the car with all of their bags, while Emily and Bianca climbed into the back. Just as Esperanza was about to join them, Artemis stopped her, “Esperanza Valdez, come here.”She turned around hesitantly and made her way over to where Artemis was standing expectantly. Her heart thudded in her chest as she tried to think of all the reasons why the goddess would want to talk to her.“Come.” Artemis said again, a twinge of annoyance in her voice as Esperanza hesitated.She crossed the rest of the distance between them in quicker strides. “Look Lady,” She said as she stopped in front of Artemis. “I am flattered and all but I really don’t want to join your Hunters. I have a life that I want to con—”“That is not why I want to talk to you.”“Oh!”Artemis sighed, “My brother has a message for you.”“Oh?”“Well, I guess it is more of a warning.”“Oh.”Artemis gave her a sympathetic look. Esperanza had been getting too many of those recently. “He says that you must be prepared for what the prophecy is asking you to do.”Esperanza tried to smile, “Well, yeah. That seems pretty obvious.”“But do you know what it is you must do?”Her smile fell, “Um, no? But I am prepared to do what I must.” Her voice wavered and she felt her stomach twist.Artemis stared at her for a moment and it took everything in Esperanza not to look away from the pity in her eyes. “Very well.” She said, though Esperanza knew she didn’t believe her.She nodded slowly and turned back toward the Cadillac. The rest of the demigods were waiting for her. Jasper gave her a quizzical look as she walked up to the driver's side door. She smiled to let him know she was alright. She started the car – this time with a key – while the rest of the demigods buckled up. Jasper sat in the passenger seat with the map, while Charlie and Sammy sat in the middle and the girls squished in the back seat.“Head left out of the parking lot,” Jasper said, pointing to the street.Esperanza nodded. As they pulled away from the curb, she rolled down the windows so they could wave to the Hunters. Thalia and Reyna gave them big smiles and Artemis nodded her head to the demigods.“Alright!” Esperanza said, smacking the steering wheel. “California here we come! You guys excited?” She looked back over her shoulder at the others.Beside her Jasper was flipping the map around to make sure he knew where they were going, Emily had her head resting against her cousin’s shoulder, already half-asleep. Charlie had already pulled out a book, Zoe was ignoring her, looking out at the window and Sammy just nodded politely.Bianca, who had been reading the note from her grandfather looked up, her eyes widening as she looked out the windshield.“Espie! Eyes on the road!”Esperanza looked forward and sure enough, there was a red light. She slammed hard on the breaks. Everyone lurched forward. Charlie’s book went flying and Emily was wide awake now.Through the mirror, Esperanza gave an apologetic smile to all their glaring faces. “Oops! Anyways, who wants the aux?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The drive to Washington State was a lot less eventful than their last time in a car together. Esperanza drove the whole way despite Jasper’s protests and offerings to drive (even if he didn’t have a license).Esperanza refused his offers, she had gone nights without sleeping before, whether she was travelling with her parents somewhere or helping her dad with a project late at night. She made sure to stop at Starbucks for a Grande coffee every so often and played music to keep herself awake.Still, the others were worried for her and made sure someone was always awake to keep her from falling asleep behind the wheel.Charlie, Bianca and Sammy would usually sit quietly, but start up conversation every so often to make sure she was alert. If Jasper or Emily were on “keep Espie awake duty” they would often talk quietly with her, laughing and gossiping.When it was just Zoe and Esperanza, the tension alone kept Esperanza awake.Though things had been better since South Dakota, it certainly wasn’t peachy. Zoe would quietly read her book, looking up every so often and meeting Esperanza’s eyes in the rearview mirror before going back to what she was doing.It wasn’t ideal but it was better than trying to kill each other.What was killing Esperanza most about the drive was trying to focus on her ADHD. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel a lot which caused the others to complain, she would ask to play games a lot, which by the eighteenth round brought around a lot of groans and she would sing quietly to herself which would put the others to sleep.The one thing she was thankful for was that it seemed Apollo’s magic yellow car was powered by the sun and didn’t need any gas or fuel which made getting to Washington quickly much easier. Oh, and they encountered almost zero monsters along the way. Esperanza thought Apollo might have something to do with that as well.In the end, it took them just under a week to reach their destination. By the time they rolled into snowy Seattle, it was July 10th, which meant they had four days to reach San Francisco before Atlas went all “Kronos” on the world.With some mortal money and a little charmspeak, Jasper was able to secure them one room to share at a hotel along the edge of the coast.When they settled into the room they made a plan. With what little money they had left they could get tickets to a ferry which would take them from Seattle to San Francisco in the morning. So, for the moment there was nothing to do but wait.“Ugh, I am bored.” Charlie groaned from his position flopped on one of the beds. He had a handful of room service Twizzlers in his hand (the blue kind of course) and was staring at the ceiling.Zoe rolled her eyes, “We only just got here, kid.”“Yeah, well I am bored.”“We could play a game or do something?” Bianca suggested, sitting down beside Charlie on the bed.Charlie immediately sat up, almost knocking into Bianca. He had a blush on his cheeks and was looking at her like she had hung the stars. “Yes, that is a great idea! You are a genius!” Then he seemed to remember everyone else in the room looking at them and reddened further, “Uh… I mean, that-that sounds cool.”Esperanza and Jasper shared a look, chuckling at the younger teens.To save Charlie from his embarrassment, Sammy finally spoke up, “I like that idea too, Bia.”“Great!” She said. They all settled down around the room, forming a loose circle as best they could in the space. “Let’s play ‘Would you Rather’!”After some grumbling and a few choice words from Bianca in Italian, so who knows what she was saying, they all settled down, some more mournfully than others and got ready to play.“I’ll go first!” Charlie said, backing Bianca up. “Would you rather eat slugs every day for the rest of your life or fish?”Esperanza laughed, “Fish, obviously! What kind of question is that?”Jasper nodded in agreement, “That is like asking what would you rather have ice cream or broccoli!”Charlie pouted, “But it hurts the fish’s feelings.”Jasper and Esperanza shared a look and unable to contain themselves, proceeded to laugh themselves silly for the next few minutes. Zoe sighed and ruffled her brother's hair, “Some people just don’t understand.”“Okay!” Bianca said, “I will go next. Would you rather go on a date with Tom Holland or Timothee Chalamet for those who like boys, or Margot Robbie or Zendaya, for the girl lovers in the room?”“Ooh that is a good one,” Zoe said thinking it over.Esperanza sighed dramatically, putting a hand to her forehead like a damsel in distress in one of those cheesy old Disney movies. “Why do you do this to my precious bisexual heart?”Bianca giggled, “Sorry.”“Gotta be Margot Robbie,” Jasper said, “Oh or Sydney Sweeny.”Sammy made a noise of agreement.“She wasn’t even an option!” Bianca protested.“She is always an option,” Jasper said with a tilt of his head.“Ew!” Zoe cried, “Fucking boys.”Esperanza bashed him in the back of the head with a pillow. “You’re disgusting.” Jasper hit her back.“But you agree?”Esperanza rolled her eyes, “I am a woman, it’s different.” Jasper shrugged.“Anywayyy,” Bianca whined, “Back on track. Answers people!”Zoe cocked her head, “Timothee Chalmet. Not in that stupid Willy Wonka movie though.”Bianca looked shocked, “Not Spider-Man! Tom Holland all the way!”Esperanza nodded, “I have to agree with Miss Sunshine of Death over here,” She continued, ignoring Bianca’s death glare. “Tom Holland, if I have to pick a guy. Zendaya for a girl.”“Maybe you should be their third,” Jasper quipped, earning him another pillow to the head.“What about you Emily?” Zoe tried, wanting support, “You are Team Timothee, yeah?”Emily looked uncomfortable, shifting back and forth in her seat, “Is it okay if I say no one? I mean I guess they are conventionally attractive but I just don’t think boys, or girls, or anyone for that matter is really attractive, at least for me.”“Oh.”Sammy gave his sister an encouraging smile. Esperanza reached over to grab her hand. She knew how hard it was to come to terms with a part of your sexuality and she was proud of Emily for being open about it with them. “Of course it is okay!”“Yeah totes, Em! I just didn’t know!” Zoe added, looking a little remorseful.Emily shook her head, “It’s okay! I get it! Thanks for being supportive.”They all gave her encouragement and love before starting the game back up again. It felt nice to be doing this. It felt like something normal teenagers would be doing on a Saturday night in their parent’s basement while their parents were away. Just for tonight, they could act like there were no Greek gods, or monsters or prophecies, they were just a group of friends playing games and raiding the hotel mini-bar.“Okay, okay!” Jasper said, after many rounds of “Would you Rather?”, “I’ve got one more and then we are switching things up. Would you rather take after your one side of the family or the other? And I am talking godly family of course.”“Ooh, that is a good one!” Bianca said, putting a hand under her chin to think, “I am going to say my Apollo side, just because the other side isn’t exactly known for happiness. Though in the recent past, I guess Apollo isn’t either… oh well I am still going with Apollo.”Emily nodded, “I am going to throw a curveball then and say my mom’s side or my Pluto side.”“Agreed,” Sammy said, much to everyone’s surprise.“Wow, okay, we will unpack that later,” Zoe said with a laugh, “This one is hard but I am going to say my mom’s side.”“Really?” Charlie looked surprised, “I thought you were going to say Dad’s side. That is what I am saying anyway.”Zoe shrugged, “Got to keep you on your toes somehow little brother! What about you Jasp?”Jasper smiled, “My mom’s side. I would much rather be associated with love and beauty than deadbeat fathers and infidelity.”Sammy did a spit take, unfortunately having taken a drink of his coke just as Jasper was speaking. They all laughed at Sammy’s sputtering, ignoring the thunder rolling in the distance.“And you Espie?” Charlie asked once everyone had settled down.Esperanza knew that Charlie hadn’t meant for his question to sound so threatening. It is not his fault he and his sister’s eyes gleam the same way when they ask a question, or the way their head tilts at such an angle that it seems like they are judging you. Still, it set her on edge.“Well,” Esperanza said quietly, fiddling with the lid of her expensive, hotel minibar water bottle. “I would have to say my dad’s side. Obviously.”She let out a humourless little laugh. Nobody seemed to know what to say or do. The vibes in the room had immediately changed and Esperanza felt bad for ruining the perfect night they had been having.She heard Zoe’s whispered comment, “We will see in the end” but chose to ignore it.
Stupid, stupid Esperanza. Always ruining everything.
Thankfully, Emily. Amazing, kind, golden-hearted Emily came to her rescue. “Right! How about a game of charades?”And with that, the lighthearted mood was back. Other than a quick whispered, “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking” from Jasper, everything went back to the way it was.They split off into teams, East Coast versus West Coast, and Esperanza as the wildcard, choosing a different team each time. They could have called it Greeks versus Romans, but they weren’t thinking about the gods anymore tonight.The game went on for about an hour, in which they all nearly pissed themselves laughing and got multiple noise complaints from the front desk which Jasper just waved off with a spattering of charmspeak.By the time the East Coasters had been awarded the victory, and Zoe, Charlie and Bianca were dancing around with their prize, the coveted Lindor Chocolates, Esperanza’s face and stomach hurt from laughing.Having worked for both teams, Bianca gave Esperanza one of the red-wrapped chocolates much to Emily, Sammy and Jasper’s dismay. They complained about unfairness and cheating for the next few minutes but they all knew it was just for fun.“Do you remember when we used to hang out like this as kids all the time?” Jasper asked once they had all gone quiet, and settled down in places across the room.Esperanza was wedged on the giant bed between Emily and Bianca. They were lying horizontally so they could all fit. Bianca’s black cat socks at her head, and Emily’s curls tickling her forehead, as she braided together colourful string.Charlie was on Bianca’s other side. The two were hesitantly holding hands and quietly finding faces in the hotel’s popcorn ceiling.Zoe who was leaning up against Jasper’s left side on the small loveseat in the corner, with her feet on the windowsill as she looked out at the stars nodded, “Yeah, we were so young back then.”Esperanza flipped over from her back to her stomach, almost hitting Sammy with her hands from where he was sitting against the bed in between it and the couch. He and Jasper absentmindedly threw a ball back and forth.“Do you remember that one time you guys all came to Texas and we almost set the garage on fire?”Emily paused her braiding, “Oh yeah! You convinced us flying Festus would be a great idea.”“Hey! I was like eight!”“Wait what? We set Leo’s garage on fire?” Charlie said, sitting up on his elbows, Bianca not far behind.Zoe laughed, “You must have been too young to remember. But yes, it was quite an adventure!”Jasper smiled, catching the ball from Sammy and hitting it against his elbow. “I can only imagine what Uncle Leo must have been thinking when he came into the garage to see that we had accidentally knocked over the lighter fluid. We are scrambling to put it out, meanwhile, Espie was dancing in the middle of the flames!”Esperanza reached in front of Sammy to snatch the ball as Jasper threw it and threw it hard back at her best friend. It dinked off his head and landed in Zoe’s lap, “Dancing in fire is a lot of fun!”“Do you guys remember when we tried to bake a cake for Uncle Nico’s birthday?” Sammy said.Bianca gasped, “Wait! Yes! I remember this! I must’ve been like nine and I wanted to do something special for him so you guys helped me!”Emily chuckled, “All I remember was the flour. I had so much of it in my hair my mother was cruising in Latin so much my dad’s face was bright red!”“And Zoe and Charlie made us make the cake blue, but Charlie poured too much in it looked like a fucking paint can had spilt!” Jasper said, laughing even as Zoe gave him a shove.“I didn’t have a lot of coordination as a child!” Charlie defended himself.Bianca patted his cheek, “It’s alright. I get it.” He blushed, “I remember wanting to put little skulls on top but none of us knew how to make them so I just grabbed some real skulls from the ground and put them on!”“Oh and then Espie lit the candles and almost blew everyone’s eyebrows off!” Emily added.“Only because somebody bought us fireworks instead of candles,” She said looking at Jasper.Jasper put his hands up in surrender, “Hey, the Stolls said they were candles!” That was met with a lot of protests.“Travis and Connor gave an eleven-year-old, fireworks?” Charlie said, not believing it.“Of course not, Bella gave them to me! Well, more like sold them to me for my lunch money, but still.”They all groaned. “Where does a nine-year-old even get fireworks?” Emily muttered.Esperanza laughed, “She is a Stoll, she finds a way.”They laughed and reminisced for the next few hours, barely registering the fact that it was now 3 AM in the morning. Esperanza yawed, covering her hand with her mouth. This had been the best night of the quest for far and she didn’t want it to end.“We should go to sleep,” Zoe said, blinking heavily from her spot on the couch.The others agreed sleepily, but like Esperanza, they seemed hesitant to let the night end.“Wait!” Emily said, “Before we go to sleep I have something for all of you.” She pulled out the string she had been playing with to reveal seven friendship bracelets made up of different colours. “Each colour represents one of us, and then I found some charms at the old antique shop we stopped in for a rest in Idaho.”She handed out the bracelets to all of them. Esperanza smiled as she put it on her wrist. It fit perfectly. Unlike her sword or the pendant she wore around her neck, the charm Emily had picked out for her was not a dragon but rather a seashell with a green gem. It was a symbol often associated with her mother.She drew in a deep breath, trying to push down the feelings that erupted in her chest; homesickness, sadness, anger.“I chose purple for myself,” Emily continued and Esperanza clung desperately to her words, trying to get out of her own thoughts. “Green for Sammy, pink for Jasper, grey for Charlie, blue for Zoe, yellow for Bia and red for Espie.”Esperanza managed a smile as everyone thanked Emily. She stared down at her bracelet of braided colours, admiring the way they all fit together nicely, as they should.She tried her best to ignore the pang in her heart at the seashell as they all settled down for sleep and she closed her eyes to the beat of Emily’s heart beside her and the rhythm of Bianca’s breathing on her other side.Esperanza Valdez was just that; a Valdez.She was not a nameless godly creature like Atlas, who destroyed cities and sought to destroy the gods. But… she was also not one of the gods either, who let their children go to war for them and did nothing as they lay dying. She was not some fire user who seemingly destroyed everything in her path.Perhaps she was just Esperanza.But then again no; a flaming chamber would not be her end.No, she was just Espie. That is what Jasper called her. She could be Espie, she thought as she glanced at the pink and red string braided together on her wrist.
Yes, she could be Espie.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

July 11th dawned clear and bright. The white snow blinded them as the seven demigods waited at the ferry terminal.Esperanza watched as her friends shivered in the snowstorm even under the layers of warm sweaters and coats, and thanked her own internal fire for keeping her warm.Zoe and Jasper stood at the ticket booth, scraping together what money they had left for seven tickets to San Francisco. She knew for a fact they were going to try and make Charlie and Bianca pass as 12-year-olds if only to get some sort of discount.What she didn’t expect was for Zoe to call Emily over, “Em! We need a guardian to sign for Bianca. You are her over 18-year-old cousin right?”Emily looked startled, but to her credit stood with an air of confidence and walked over to the booth like she was, in fact, an 18-year-old.It took a few more minutes, in which Esperanza played with a few wires she had found at the bottom of her backpack. She formed them into a small sun, giving it to Bianca when she was done. The younger girl smiled at her and took it with thanks, twinging it in one of her braids.Esperanza felt warmth spread in her chest. Bianca and her had been growing closer over this quest and it felt good to know that once they got back to Camp she just might have one more friend.If they ever got back that is.Before she could think further on that matter, Zoe, Emily and Jasper came back with the tickets. Jasper handed her hers and she clutched it tight, not wanting to be the one to lose it and set them all back.They made their way towards the docks, following the signs that said San Francisco. They had to wait about another fifteen minutes before a large fairy pulled up. They followed the crush of people on board.Most people made their way to the inside portions of the ferry, avoiding the decks where the cold wind and snow made it nearly impossible to stay warm.So of course, they were stuck out on the deck.They huddled close together to avoid freezing and watched as the ship pulled away from the harbour.Once the ship was moving and the passengers had a little more freedom they were able to move around more.They recreated scenes from the Titanic, played tag on the deck, much to Zoe’s disapproval and went to the cafeteria to buy food.Esperanza and Jasper were in line to get some French fries when the ship jolted, sending things flying and unbalancing everything. Jasper fell back into her and Esperanza had to spread her feet to keep her balance and not send the two of them falling back into the buffet.The jolting stopped as quickly as it started leaving passengers worried and frightened. An announcement came over the speakers telling everyone to remain calm and that the situation was under control.Esperanza caught Jasper’s eye and they both immediately abandoned their quest for French fries in an effort to rejoin their original quest.By the time they made it up to the deck, the rest of the demigods were already looking over the side, scanning the icy water for any threats.“What was that?” Esperanza asked the group as she and Jasper rejoined them.Sammy shook his head. “I don’t know. I sent one of the seagulls to scan the water to check it out but they saw nothing unusual.”Charlie and Zoe stood off to the side, their eyes closed as if they were using their powers to sense what was lurking in the waters below.“Could it have been a whale or something?” Emily asked, still peering over the edge.“Ooh! Maybe it was a group of those Orca whales that have been sinking ships and shit,” Jasper piped up, seemingly, excited? Why?That was beyond Esperanza.She gave him a questioning look, “Do you want it to be killer whales intent on sinking us?”Jasper shrugged, “Well no, but I would rather that than like a sea monster or something.”Just as he said something – because he had to say something – the boat jolted again. Esperanza braced herself with her hands on the cold railing in front of her. She looked over the edge once the boat had righted itself again and saw the water rippling.“Uh, guys?”Zoe and Charlie rushed over as the others looked at the water with her. The ripples got worse and through the black depths, a pair of glowing eyes appeared, getting closer and closer until they breached out of the water.Esperanza gasped. The thing was giant.Its body was bigger than the boat with long tentacles that spilled onto the deck. Its eyes were the size of her face, maybe bigger and its gigantic mouth was open, showing rows and rows of pointed, razor-sharp teeth.The demigods backed away, as the tentacles made their way toward them. The ship rocked back and forth as the monster wrapped itself around them like an octopus on a rock.Esperanza could hear the screams of people below deck as the ferry rocked dangerously to the side. She barely had any time to react before she and her fellow demigods lost their footing.She was thrown onto her back, sliding down the deck to the other side. Cold water rushed over them, making the deck even more slippery. Her fingers groped along the ground as she sped past looking for anything she would be able to dig her fingers into and stop herself from tipping over the edge into the cold water below.Just as her head hit the opposite wall her fingers wrapped around one of the ropes on deck and she held tight with all her might. The motion pulled at her shoulder and she gasped as pain shot down her arm but she ignored it. The blood rushed to her head and she couldn’t hear anything past the roaring in her ears.The boat righted itself as the monster focused its attention on the other side. On shaky legs and an even shakier deck, Esperanza slowly stood up, keeping her arms out to keep her balance.She shook her head to try and rid herself of the ringing in her ears.When the ringing finally stopped she began to recognize the screams of the other passengers, the whipping of the wind and the splash of the sea. Above all the noise though was the panicked screams of Sammy.“EMILY!” He yelled. And before anyone could react Esperanza watched as he threw himself over the side of the boat to follow his twin.She gasped, stumbling over to where the Roman demigod had dropped off the deck. Part of the railing was missing, ripped away from the giant creature.She looked over the side but all she could see was water. Zoe ran up beside her, obviously having seen Sammy and Emily go over the edge. They locked eyes for a moment before Zoe took a deep breath and jumped in.Esperanza’s first instinct was to grab for her which she attempted to do, before her feet slipped and she clawed at the broken railing desperately. She watched as Zoe disappeared into the dark water and out of sight.Her heart leapt in her throat. She knew she shouldn’t worry, Zoe was a Poseidon legacy after all.
She would be fine. She had to be.
There was a loud creaking sound and suddenly Esperanza was tackled to the ground. Blonde hair covered her vision and water sprayed around them, sending cold shivers down her spine.“Sorry.” Bianca apologized, getting off of her and giving her a hand up. Esperanza waved away her apology as she glanced around the ship.Where she had just been standing was covered in splintered wood, a purplish tentacle sticking up and waving through the deck. “Woah.”Charlie leapt onto the tentacle, stabbing it with his sword and watching smugly as it slithered away with a cry. Jasper was right behind him, cutting at other limbs assaulting the deck.“Where are the others?” Charlie asked, out of breath, moving his wet hair from his forehead.Esperanza hesitated, the other three demigods looked at her. None of them saw what she had seen. She swallowed heavily before answering. “The twins went over the side. Zoe jumped in after them.”“What?!” Bianca yelled, rushing to the side of the boat as another wave rocked them to the side. She would have lost her footing if Charlie hadn’t rushed forward, grabbing her to his chest.“What do we do?” Charlie asked as he steadied Bianca. Esperanza realized with a start that both younger demigods were looking at her and Jasper for answers. She didn’t know what to say. She turned to Jasper for help.He cleared his throat, “We kill this fucking beast.”Esperanza smiled. Straight forward and to the point, she could always count on Jasper. She activated her sword from her armband and dove into the fray.If anyone tells you it is easy to fight a giant sea monster while on a possibly sinking ship that is being rocked more than a baby on a rocking horse, they are most certainly wrong.It was nearly impossible to keep her footing as she fought with the giant tentacles wrapped around the boat and more than once she got a face full of freezing cold water.Jasper tried to use his lightning but that was more effective in making the raging winds around them worse so he stopped.No matter what they did the sea monster did not want to let go of the boat and the longer they fought on the deck the more time Zoe, Emily and Sammy spent somewhere in the depths, face-to-face with the monster.Just as she was ready to fall back into the lower deck and come up with a new plan one of the tentacles wrapped around her waist and Esperanza found herself hoisted fifty feet in the air above the raging sea.Her screams were drowned out by the noise of chaos below, but by some miracle someone must have heard or seen her because a black feathered arrow zipped past her ear, nearly nicking her in the neck and missing the tentacle by a hair.Down below she could make out the blurry shape of Bianca as she aimed her bow again. Esperanza’s sword arm was trapped against her body, rendering it useless but she punched at the monster with her free hand, trying in vain to get it to let go. The flames she usually could rely on were nothing more than sparks on her palm.A second arrow was released this time hitting the thick skin of the outer tentacle but only leaving a scratch.She was being whipped around violently, her head growing dizzy as the world spun around her. She could hear Jasper scream and her heart dropped but she couldn’t for the life of her see him.There was a crash and she looked down as much as she was able to see the ship crashing sideways into the sea. Though she was not the biggest fan of the gods, she prayed to Poseidon as it splintered and cracked. Please let nobody die because of us. Please.She prayed for the mortals on the ferry and for Bianca, Charlie and Jasper who were going down with it. She prayed for Zoe, Emily and Sammy who were already in the cold water and she prayed for herself.She knew she may sound a little selfish but she didn’t want to die. There was so much more she wanted to see and do. She couldn’t die like this, at the hands of a sea monster before she had even finished her quest.If they failed now the world would forever be encased in white snow. Their parents would have to mourn their children as Atlas marched on Olympus prepared to take down the Olympians once and for all. The world as they knew it would end and all because of a stupid sea monster.Esperanza closed her eyes and awaited her fate, hoping against all hope the sea monster wasn’t about to drag her down to her death.As the ship and its passengers crashed into the ocean one last arrow came flying true. It embedded itself in the soft tissue of the under part of the tentacle. The pressure around her waist loosened and Esperanza gasped as for one second she became weightless. Then, she was falling.The breath was knocked out of her as she hit the water with a smack. The cold pressed into her and she couldn’t even force air from her lungs. Her body felt frozen. Then, it came back to her all at once.She kicked up with all her might and broke the surface with a gasp.Pieces of metal and wood floated around her, the hull of the ship still partially floating to her left. People were scrambling in bright orange life vests that reminded her of the Camp Half-Blood shirts they wore.Helicopters circle ahead, US Coast Guard printed on the side.The sea monster was still at large, thrashing out and pulling people under. But from this new perspective, she could see that Zoe, Sammy and Emily were fighting it.Esperanza let out a breath of relief.Emily had wings growing out of her back, circling the giant squid-like creature from the air and aiming arrows at its eyes. Sammy was on a small raft with Zoe, stabbing at the monster with his sword as Zoe used the current to steer them.Esperanza swam in their direction, ignoring the mortals flailing around her.She made it there just as Charlie arrived, pulling Bianca behind him. He helped her into the raft with the help of his sister and dove under the water to attack from below.“Aim for the soft spots!” Zoe yelled. Esperanza nodded, swinging her sword at the monster as she attempted to tread water as well. She wasn’t necessarily a bad swimmer but growing up in land-locked Texas didn’t leave much room for practice of swimming in the ocean.However, maybe it was the legacies of Poseidon or her own spontaneous prayers but she seemed to be holding herself well in the water. Well, enough to fight and still survive that is.A flash of lightning lit up the sky as Jasper came swooping in, flying to join Emily in her assault from the air.The sea monster was ignoring the mortals now, totally focused on the seven demigods trying to take it down. Its teeth chomped at Emily’s wings and its tentacles thrashed. More than once Esperanza had to hide under the water to escape.One such time, as she dove under she startled at the sight of hoards and hoards of skeletonized fish and sea creatures rising from the depths. Made of bones that reflected the light coming from above they attacked the sea monster with a vengeance.Esperanza watched amazed as Charlie grabbed onto the vertebrae of a giant grey whale skeleton, thrusting his sword out like a knight ready for battle.Live fish joined the fight too. A combination of Charlie and Bianca’s powers, fighting in the sea.When she broke the surface again, it was just in time to see Jasper get smacked down into the water. “Jasper!” She yelled, abandoning the fight to swim to his aid. Thrown off by the distraction, Emily too was thrown to the “ground”. She hit the raft with her brother, cousin and Zoe, tipping it as they all fell into the water.The raft began to sink, but Esperanza wasn’t paying attention as she grabbed onto Jasper’s unconscious body, keeping his head above the water.The sea monster took advantage of the demigod's current disadvantage and grabbing each of them with one long tentacle, began to pull them into the deep.Esperanza kept her hold on Jasper, kicking her feet with all her might to try and keep them afloat, but the monster was too strong.Charlie and Zoe did their best to keep them all calm, attempting to cover them all in an air bubble. Bianca was struggling, attempting to get back to the sunlit surface. Emily’s lower half had turned into a dolphin tale but despite her best efforts, it was no use.Sammy seemed to have accepted his fate, taking big gulps of air when the air bubble passed him, but otherwise, he stayed still.Esperanza didn’t want to accept what was happening to them. She continued to struggle, barely breathing when the Jackson’s bubble passed her so Jasper could breathe. She kicked and fought with all she had but she could feel the past hour of fighting catching up to her.Her vision went dark as the water got colder. She felt her struggles dim. Her hands stayed tight around Jasper’s middle. She could hear Zoe’s voice desperately calling out to her grandfather.“Poseidon!” She yelled, but it sounded a million miles away.The last thing Esperanza heard before her vision went completely dark was a new voice, calming and cool, calling to her, “Do not struggle, dear. All will be well.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The calming sound of waves crashing against the shore was the first thing Esperanza noticed upon regaining consciousness. The second was that she was warm and dry as if she had not just been fighting for her life in the cold water only moments before.A groan issued somewhere beside her. Tiredly she blinked her eyes open.She was lying on cushions on the ground of what looked like a cabin. The wood floors and cream-coloured walls were covered in sea-themed trinkets and blue furnishings. Esperanza had never found a reason to enter the Poseidon cabin at Camp, but this is how she imagined it looked.She sat up slowly. Around her, the rest of the demigods were coming to as well.“Where are we?” Sammy asked.Esperanza shakily got to her feet with Jasper’s help. She studied the room around them. A small fire was crackling in the fireplace. They seemed to be in a living room of sorts. There was a staircase to their left and a hallway beside it. “I don’t know.”Zoe looked down at herself, “Why are we in different clothes?”Esperanza looked down at herself instinctively and sure enough, her pants, shirt and coat were replaced by a light-weight, flowy shirt and pants. Looking around everyone else was wearing the same.“Because your clothes were wet, dear.”The seven of them jumped at the voice, reaching for weapons that weren't there and standing at the ready.An older woman stood at the entrance to the living room, with a tray of tea in her arms. She wore a light blue dress with a white apron over top. Her pepper-salt hair was plaited in a braid over her left shoulder. Wrinkles lined the corners of her green eyes and mouth. Her smile was warm and inviting. She reminded Esperanza of a younger Sally Jackson.
But something about her eyes reminded her of someone else…
“I am sorry to startle you!” She said in a sweet-as-honey voice. “I am glad you are all awake!”Usually, facing a newcomer – who is most likely a god – with a sweet smile would put Esperanza on edge, but for some reason, this stranger put her at ease.“I brought tea!” The goddess (presumably) came into the living room, placing the tray of tea on the coffee table. When none of them moved, she waved them over, “Come! Come! I mean no harm.”“Usually when someone tells us that, they do mean harm,” Jasper muttered.The goddess laughed, “Well, you can trust me.”Esperanza knew words like that should bring her guard up like they did for her friends, but something inside her was telling her she could trust this woman. She came forward, settling on the couch and taking one of the tea cups from the woman.Ignoring the looks of warning sent her way, she took a sip of the hot liquid. It was warm, and sweet and tasted just like the herbal tea her mother made. “This is really good.” She complimented their host, who smiled.“I am glad you like it.”Hesitantly, Emily came forward, sitting beside Esperanza and taking a cup of tea. Sammy followed his sister, as did Jasper and Bianca. Zoe and Charlie stayed on the other side of the room, but seeing as the rest of them were not dropping dead, or seizing on the floor, Zoe relented and Charlie followed. The seven of them sat on the couches and chairs in the room, as the woman bustled around them, making sure they had enough to eat and stoking the fire. She hummed softly as she did so and in the warm cabin. Esperanza was almost lulled to sleep.“Where are we?” Jasper asked suddenly, startling her out of her daze.“You are on Victoria Island.”“Victoria Island? As in Canada?” Emily asked, looking at her brother for confirmation. They shared an uneasy look as the woman nodded. They needed to get to California as soon as possible and now they were in Canada. Illegally too as none of them had passports with them.Silence filled the room.“Who are you?” Bianca asked suddenly.Before the woman could answer, Charlie jumped in, “Did our grandfather send you to rescue us?”The woman shook her head, kindly refilling Sammy’s empty tea cup. “No, I am afraid Poseidon and I do not get along very well.”Instantly, Charlie and Zoe’s guards went up. Esperanza could see it in the way their shoulders tensed and Zoe’s eyes began to search the cabin walls.“I was out on the water when I saw you were in trouble and came to your aid,” The goddess continued showing no sign of noticing Charlie and Zoe’s distress. “Some of my otters helped drag you in. It seems in your fight with the sea monster, you had all lost your energy, so I brought you here to recover.”Esperanza nodded, “Thanks for that by the way. I appreciate not being dead at the bottom of the ocean.”The goddess smiled, “You’re welcome.”“And thank you for the tea,” Emily said, taking another sip. Her brother nodded in agreement. “This reminds me of tea my mom used to make. You seem very motherly.” She added quietly.The goddess laughed, “Thank you for your compliments. I must admit though I have not always been the most motherly. Especially not to my own children.” She added softly.“How many kids do you have?” Sammy asked.“Oh, my husband and I have over 6000 children.”Esperanza felt her jaw drop. 6000 kids?!? The others seemed to agree with her sentiment.“That is a lot of children!” Jasper said.“How do you keep track of all of them?” Bianca asked, genuinely curious.The goddess looked thoughtful for a moment, “Unfortunately I don’t. I know many of my sons and daughters have gone on to become minor gods or goddesses. I know some of them have died and I know some are living their lives, but most I don’t.”A small smile graced her features, “I know my one daughter is living in Australia and working as the CEO of a diving company, another is often seen terrorizing a small village in northern Denmark and another…” She paused for a moment, “Another one of my daughters is running a machine shop with her mortal husband in Houston, Texas.”Esperanza took a sharp breath. Her heart skipped a beat. “You are Tethys. My grandmother.”The goddess – no Titaness – smiled, “I am.”“Woah, so you are like really old…” Jasper commented. Esperanza elbowed him in the ribs.Zoe sat up straighter, “You are a Titan. And you helped us?”Tethys nodded, “Yes. Like I said, I was not the best mother, but I am trying to do better. Might as well start with saving my granddaughter.” She shared a smile with Esperanza.Zoe was keeping her face very still. Tethys seemed to sense her unease. “It is alright, darling. As much as your grandfather and I do not get along, I do not think he meant to not send help. I am sure he was just busy.”Zoe nodded stiffly.Tethys smiled at each of them, “Now I am sure you are hungry. Why don’t we have some dinner?”—Dinner was a quiet affair, each of them enjoying their first real meal in weeks. Tethys cooked salmon and roasted vegetables for dinner and they enjoyed cookies and sponge cake for dessert.After that, Bianca, Charlie, Sammy, and Emily went upstairs to bed, but Zoe asked Jasper and Esperanza to hang back.“We need to talk about where we are going from here.”The three of them gathered around the coffee table in the living room. Tethys drifted out of the room to give them privacy.Jasper fiddled with a seashell coaster on the table, “Somehow we need to get to San Francisco by the 14th. Or better even, earlier than that.”“How are we going to do that?” Esperanza asked. “We don’t have much money left and by all rights, the police might stop us if we are in Canada illegally.”“And we are headed into a Khione-sized snowstorm,” Jasper added.Zoe sighed, reaching for her bag and pulling out a map and the travel packets they had picked up at the ferry terminal. “We have two days until the 14th and about 1,500 km to travel. How do we do that?”Jasper looked to Esperanza who shrugged; she had no idea what to do in this situation. Give her a handful of random parts and she could make you a clock, but in an almost impossible situation, with no money and limited options, she didn’t have a clue.“We could try another boat?” Jasper suggested.Zoe shook her head, “A commercial boat? No, it is too dangerous. Besides, I don’t think we have enough money.”“Okay then, a car? Train? Bus?”“I don’t think so,” Zoe said, counting the money they had left and looking at the map, “With the weather Khione is creating taking a car or bus will get us nowhere. The train is the best option, but it still comes with the same problems as the boat.”“So what? We are going to walk to San Francisco?” Jasper asked, clearly frustrated with their circumstances.Zoe ran her hands through her hair, “I don’t know Jasper!”“Well, that is what I am hearing! You are supposed to be the granddaughter of Athena, goddess of battle strategy, give us a strategy!”Esperanza looked back and forth between her best friend and her… I guess frenemy would be the best term. Then she remembered something. During dinner, Tethys filled the silence with chatter about her life on the coast of British Columbia and mentioned something that might be useful to them.“What if we had our own boat?”Zoe and Jasper stopped their arguing as they turned to look at her. “What?”“Well, you said it would be hard to get to San Francisco on land because of the weather and we can’t get on another boat because we don’t have enough money, so what if we had our own boat to sail into San Francisco?” She asked.Zoe nodded, “That would solve most of our problems, but we don’t have our own boat.”Esperanza smiled, “I think I got that covered. Tethys!”The Titaness entered the room from the kitchen, a drying towel and mug in her hand. “Yes, dear?”“At dinner, you mentioned having a boat. Could we possibly borrow it?”Jasper’s eyes lit up with hope. Now, she really hoped her grandmother would say yes. She didn’t want to let her friends down.Tethys smiled, “Of course! Though I do warn you, I have not used it in a while, it might need a bit of fixing up!”Esperanza smiled widely, “I can do that! Thank you.”“It is my pleasure.”Zoe nodded, “Alright then, we leave as soon as possible. I will scout out the best route for us to take.”“I can go look at the boat now and see how many repairs it needs,” Esperanza suggested. Zoe nodded in approval.Tethys gestured to the kitchen, “I will show you the boat, come with me.”Esperanza stood and followed her grandmother through the house to the back door. A gust of cold wind and snow blew in as they stepped outside. Esperanza shivered. “I miss Texas.”The Titaness laughed and led her granddaughter to the dock in the small inlet. There in the water was a small cabin cruiser-style fishing boat. It was a little beat up but after a quick examination, Esperanza deemed that it just needed a few repairs to be up and working again.“This shouldn’t take me that long.” She looked at the sun that was just beginning to set, “I should do it now so we can get on the road tomorrow.”“I will help,” Tethys said, smiling at her.Esperanza smiled. She grabbed her bag and tools Tethys provided and got to work, her grandmother by her side. For a while, they worked in silence, repairing rusted siding and reinforcing the hull. As Esperanza was working on adding some motivations to the steering, Tethys broke the silence.“What is your plan for the future Esperanza?”Esperanza paused, the wrench in her hand faltering for a moment. “I-I don’t really know. The life of a demigod is so uncertain. Before this quest, I would have said finishing school, going to university, working in my parent’s garage, and fending off the odd monster… but now… I don’t know.”“You will survive this quest and make it home,” Tethys said with such conviction that Esperanza believed her.“You’re probably right. I mean I'm too awesome to die this young,” She laughed, but Tethys didn’t join in.She looked at Esperanza seriously, “You worry about the line in your prophecy; Actions of sires they must repeat.”The demigod blinked, “Yeah, I guess so. I don’t really know what that means, but with the nature of the quest, let's just say everyone expects me to join ‘Team Atlas’.”Her grandmother gave her a sympathetic look. She stepped down from the stern of the boat to settle beside Esperanza, near the wheel. She looked into Esperanza’s eyes, as seeing into her mind and her greatest fears about the quest. “Your mother was and is a good person.”“I know she is,” Esperanza said defensively, her response coming just a bit too fast and a bit too sharp.“I know you do, but please listen,” Tethys urged her. Esperanza forced herself to relax and nodded hesitantly, “Your grandfather is a cruel being. He killed many, many people and he forced our children to do the same. He manipulated your mother and many of her siblings into fighting in his battles. He promised them glory, and happiness, but left them out to dry when the gods won.”Esperanza watched her grandmother, watching as her immortal face gave way to pain and regret. “I let all of it happen,” Tethys spoke quietly, “I watched as my children were used as weapons in a war they didn’t care about.”She may have only known this woman a few hours but it hurt her to see her in pain and blame herself for things that happened centuries ago.“If it makes you feel any better,” Esperanza shrugged, “the gods do the same thing.”Tethys gave her a tight smile, “Thank you, darling.” She took a deep breath, “What do you know of your mother before Ogygia?”Esperanza shrugged, “Not much. She can only remember a little bit, I think the millennia on the island messed with her memories.”“Then I shall tell you what I remember,” The Titian said, a slow, gentle smile coming to her face, “Calypso was very spirited as a young girl. Her favourite thing to do was chase her sister’s around the castle, watch the flowers bloom in the garden, and use her magic to prank her brothers or catch butterflies on the mountainside. She was never one for fighting and weapons – though she learned as all my children did. However, your mother was more inclined toward healing than killing.”“She loved gardening, music and animals. I used to have to drag her inside after she would spend days in the garden, singing to the birds. When the war began everyone started to choose sides. Atlas manipulated your mother and convinced her to join him on the promise of a peaceful life after the war where she didn’t have to use her skills for ill. He also promised her that if the war went south he would protect her from the wrath of the gods.”Esperanza huffed, “That was a lie.”Tethys nodded in agreement, “That it was.”A cold simmering anger burned in her chest. Not unlike the feeling she had felt staring at the statue of Atlas in Illinois. But along with the anger came this horrible feeling of longing and nostalgia for something she never even knew.Hearing her grandmother talk of her mother before her punishment, the war, Ogygia, Odysseus and all the other heroes made something hurt in her chest. It brought her back to sitting on the floor of the Waystation workshop, thinking of her mom at sixteen, clinging to her dad as thoughts of death swirled in her mind.As much as the myths painted her out to be a horrible, vindictive sorceress, she was nothing more than a little girl, and a teenager, and a woman who wanted peace, and love and happiness like anyone else in this world. She was just another young girl pushed around by men – and the gods no less.Esperanza looked at her grandmother, who had the same green eyes as her, and the same smile as her mom. “What happened to you? Were you not punished?” She asked quietly.“Oh,” Tethys waved her hand, “I was exiled and told never to return to Greece or any sacred land of the gods. But that is well, for look at the beautiful place I now get to live, in peace.” She gestured to the scene before them.The sun had gone down but the last of its rays tinted the night sky purple, as the moon rose to meet it. It was beautiful. Esperanza wished she could stay here forever and not have to face what the next days would bring.Tethys turned back to her granddaughter, “Remember Esperanza, no matter what anyone tells you; you are not a bad person, and neither is your mother. Atlas is the villain, even though I am not blameless, but you are perfect. Do not hide the parts of you your mother gifted to you; she is a force to be reckoned with, as are you.”Esperanza tried to smile, but tears were quickly forming in her eyes. On instinct she stood and turned away from Tethys, hiding her pain. “Well, the ship looks good. Thank you for lending it to us. Now I should get to bed.”Tethys stood as well, nodding, “I will walk you.”Silently they made their way through the riverside cabin. Tethys led the way to the bedrooms, stopping at the first door on the left. “Goodnight granddaughter,” She said.Esperanza mustered a smile, “Goodnight.”Tethys turned and went back down the stairs, leaving Esperanza alone. She sighed, leaning against the door for a moment. This quest – her quest – was weighing on her. She wanted to be done with it but at the same time, she was terrified of how it would end.Taking a deep breath she opened the door behind her and walked into the bedroom… where Zoe Jackson was sitting in bed, reading a book.“Oh sorry!” She said, going to close the door before Zoe’s voice stopped her.“No, you are in the right place. This house has a limited amount of bedrooms. The boys are sharing one and I guess Bianca and Emily beat us to the first pick.”“Oh,” Esperanza entered the room, trying to ignore the tension that filled the room. She silently cursed Bianca and Emily. After their fear of sharing a room with them in Montana, you would think they wouldn’t put her and Zoe in a room together again.She noticed her bag had been brought up to the room and made a bee-line for it. Zoe went back to her book, as Esperanza tried to quietly get changed.The silence was heavy and thick, causing anxiety to fill her chest. After finishing getting changed, she tried her best not to disturb Zoe as she climbed into the large bed.The lamp beside the bed was still on, casting a golden glow throughout the small room and allowing Zoe to see the words on the page. Esperanza didn’t want to disturb her, but couldn’t fall asleep with the light still on. So, she tried in vain to sit still and not fidget while she waited for Zoe to stop reading.Finally, Zoe sighed and her book on the side table, shutting off the lamp as she did so. Esperanza breathed a sigh of relief and burrowed under the covers, Zoe doing the same to her right.Minutes passed, and try as she might, she could not get to sleep. She knew that Zoe was still awake beside her. The only sound was the odd rustle of the sheets and the sound of the waves crashing on the shore.Unable to take the awkward silence any longer Esperanza blurted out, “The sound of the sea reminds me of home.”“What?” Zoe asked, her disbelieving voice filling the quiet room. “You live in Texas.”“I know! But when my parents first got the garage and the house my mom suffered a lot of insomnia because she missed the sound of the sea. So my dad built her a sound machine that sounds like the ocean,” Esperanza smiled at the darkened ceiling. She could feel Zoe looking at her. “When I was little I would climb into their bed when I had nightmares or I just wanted to be close to them. So, I would also fall asleep to the sound of the waves.”“I think I can always hear the sea,” Zoe said after a few moments of silence. Esperanza turned towards her. Through the darkness, she could just make out her eyes. “I didn’t use to notice it but when it is quiet, no matter where I am I can hear it. Must be a Poseidon thing…”Her voice trailed off and Esperanza could sense the uneasiness rolling off of her. “I think Tethys is right you know?” She said to try and comfort the older girl, “Your grandfather didn’t mean to not help us, he is probably just busy. I mean isn’t the world mostly made up of water and oceans anyway? That is a lot of ground to cover! If that was me—”“Thanks, Esperanza,” Zoe interrupted. Esperanza took the hint and kept quiet. “I appreciate that.” She paused as if what she was about to say felt awkward on her tongue. “And I am sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have assumed that all the Titans were bad. Your grandmother saved us and my grandfather didn’t.”Esperanza shrugged, “That’s okay. I get it.”It wasn’t just okay though, it was amazing! Warmth blossomed in her chest. Zoe Jackson had just apologized to her and even said that all Titans weren’t that bad.Silence fell again, but suddenly Esperanza didn’t feel tired like she did a while ago. She realized she didn’t want to stop talking to Zoe.“What was that book you were reading about?”Zoe hummed, “Well, it is a work based on the themes of capitalism in society and how that informs our everyday lives.”“Oh,”“It is reaallllly boring!” Zoe added, and through the darkness, Esperanza could have sworn she was smiling.She laughed, “Why in Hades' name are you reading that then?!”“My grandmother recommended it to me and I am a bit of a people pleaser.”“Let me guess, it was Athena, not Sally?”“How did you know?” Oh, yes, Zoe was definitely smiling.Esperanza smiled back, so happy that some sort of friendly truce and befallen them. “I had a hunch.”Zoe laughed, catching Esperanza off guard. Zoe smiling at her was one thing, but laughing? That was something she thought was confined to the rosy haze of their youth; when everything was easier. When they were friends.“Did I just make Zoe Jackson laugh? I really am the funniest person to ever exist!”She could feel Zoe’s glare, “Now I may have laughed, but let’s not go that far, Valdez.”Esperanza huffed in mock annoyance, “Whatever you say, Ms. Perfect.”She was sure Zoe was rolling her eyes, “Let’s get to bed, we have a long day of sailing ahead of us.”Esperanza heard the ruffling of the covers as Zoe turned over. She smiled and did the same, enjoying the feeling of friendship she thought was long gone.“Goodnight, Zoe.”After a moment, the girl answered, “Goodnight, Espie.”A warm feeling spread through her chest, and for the first time in a while, she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The morning sun was weak against the threatening snow clouds and the air was chilly as the seven demigods prepared to leave the cottage.Tethys had given them back their clothes, now fully dry and also provisioned them with extra layers and food for the road.“Ugh, why does the sun have to be hidden?” Bianca complained as she looked out the window at the grey sky. “I need my vitamin D!”Esperanza rolled her eyes, but even she too was beginning to feel the weight the absence of the sun brought. For now, she focused on repacking her bag and getting prepared for what was ahead.Jasper handed her an extra pair of gloves which she took with a grateful smile, slipping them into her bag.Zoe stood by the back door of the cottage, tapping her foot and glancing out the window. The two hadn’t talked since their surprisingly healthy chat last night. Esperanza knew the other girl was impatient to get going but she herself was happy to stay here in this little corner of peace.A cold gust of wind rattled the window pane and she sighed, they had to end this before summer heat became a distant memory and her grandfather took over the world.“Everyone ready?” Zoe asked. They all nodded and slowly they wandered out of the house toward the boat.Jasper and Sammy began to pack the boat as Charlie and Zoe inspected the water. Bianca and Emily were setting up crates to sit on, so Esperanza turned to Tethys.“Thank you,” She said quietly, “For everything.”Her grandmother smiled, raising one hand to rest on her cheek. Green eyes met green eyes and Esperanza tried not to think about the fact that her grandmother’s smile was sad and her eyes were glossy.The uneasy feeling that had been persistent ever since they left Indianapolis settled in her gut.Tethys sighed, “You look so much like your mother.”“Really? I have always been told I look more like my father.” Esperanza said.The Titaness only smiled.“Espie!” Jasper called, “We got to go!”Tethys brought her other hand up to cup her cheek and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “Be safe.”She nodded and turned toward the boat before she remembered something. Turning back to her grandmother, she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a crumbled business card. “If we manage to stop your crazy husband and the conceited snow queen from taking over the world, you should stop by sometime.”Tethys looked down at the card. “Leo and Calypso’s Garage.” She muttered, and then she smiled. “We shall see.”Esperanza nodded, turning to the dock. She was about to grab Sammy’s outstretched hand to help her onboard the boat but she stopped.“What are you doing?” Sammy asked.Esperanza felt around her bag, pulling out a red spray can, “Just need to add one last detail.” She answered Sammy, shaking the can. She popped the lid open as the five other demigods came to the side of the boat to watch.After a moment she stepped back. “There. Now we can go.” She smiled up at her crew. The Argo III was now painted in sloppy letters on the side of the rusty boat.“Oh my gods.” Emily laughed.Jasper shook his head, “It is only fitting.”“Let’s go,” Zoe said, arms crossed. Though Esperanza was pleased to see a small smile on her face as she turned away.Esperanza smiled as she accepted Sammy’s help onto the boat. She set her bag down and headed to the wheel, fiddling with the controls. With a roar and a plume of smoke, the engine came to life.“We need to head West out of the bay and then South,” Charlie told her looking at a map. Esperanza nodded, slowly backing the boat away from the dock.Tethys raised her hand in farewell and the demigods waved back.“Thank you!” Emily yelled over the hum of the engine. The Titaness nodded her head.Esperanza stared after her, not looking away until she had to turn the boat around. When she looked back again, the Titaness was gone.They headed North West, following the bay out to the Pacific Ocean. The cold wind was almost unbearable. Emmy, Sammy, Bianca, Zoe and Jasper huddled together on the main deck, trying to keep warm.Thanks to her higher-than-average body temperature, Esperanza wasn’t feeling the cold like the others. Beside her, Charlie was shivering. His hands were red and shaking as he held the map, trying to keep it from blowing away.“Here,” She said, handing him her gloves.Charlie looked startled, “You don’t have to…”Esperanza gave him a small smile, “I am not that cold anyway.”He nodded reluctantly, taking the gloves. Esperanza pulled the sleeves of her sweater up over her hands and summoned some heat toward her hands. She just hoped she didn’t set the steering wheel on fire.—They were about two hours into their journey. The swirling snow was making it hard to see, and the wind was blowing the boat back and forth. Esperanza kept her grip tight on the wheel, trying to keep them steady. Waves were slamming against the side of the boat, wetting the deck and soaking through their shoes and socks.Another gust of wind sent the boat tipping to the left. Esperanza cursed, wrenching the wheel to the right.“Jasper!” She yelled over the wind.“Yeah!” The demigod yelled back, making his way unsteadily to the helm. A wave rocked the boat, and Jasper lost his footing. Charlie reached out and grabbed his elbow, steadying him against the walls of the small cabin. “What do you need?”“Can you do something about this wind?”He shrugged, “I can try.”“Better than nothing!” Esperanza said, “And try to get Zoe to do something about the waves!’Jasper gave a thumbs-up, heading back to the deck.She felt bad asking her friends to use their powers when she knew they were going into a battle against a Titan. Esperanza sent a silent prayer to Poseidon to help them get through this storm.After a few minutes, the wind died down and the waves were less harsh: Jasper and Zoe were working their magic. The journey from there on was smoother. Only two hours later they saw the shoreline of San Francisco.Esperanza tried to bring the Argo III into the harbour but closer to shore the water was covered in a thick layer of ice.“Any chance you can control ice?” She mumbled to Charlie, trying to find a way past the blockage of ice.Charlie shook his head, “I don’t think so. We will have to go on foot from here.”Esperanza grimaced but nodded. There was no other way.Charlie told the others what they had to do as she stopped the boat as close as she possibly could to the thicker parts of the ice.Once she got the boat stopped, she gathered her backpack and joined the others on deck. Emily was peering over the edge at the ice below. “Is it going to hold our weight?” She asked.“It better,” Zoe replied. “I will test it out, at least if I break through I can still breathe.”“Careful Zo,” Charlie cautioned his sister.Cautiously, she stepped up into the railing of the boat and put one foot on the ice. The rest of the group held their breath as she put her other foot down, but thankfully the ice held.They had to move fast because the boat was in danger of floating off. Bianca went over next followed by Emily, Charlie, Sammy and finally Jasper.“Come on Espie!” Jasper called to her. He put out a hand for her to grab.Esperanza stared at the ice warily. Snow and ice didn’t exactly mix with fire. She looked at Jasper. Her best friend saw the worry in her eyes and sought to reassure her. “It will be fine.”The boat was slowly drifting away. It was now or never. She grabbed Jasper’s hand and stepped out onto the ice. She breathed a sigh of relief when nothing happened.Jasper bumped her shoulder, “I told you it would be fine.”“Don’t jinx it,” She teased, her nerves easing slightly.From a few meters ahead Zoe called out, “Come on you guys!”Slowly, they followed Zoe toward the shore. As they made their way along, Bianca lost her footing on the slippery ice, but Sammy managed to catch her before she fell.With every step Esperanza took, she could feel the ice shifting under her feet. A few times she stopped, wincing at the cracking below her.They were almost to shore when Esperanza’s feet slid out from underneath her. She gasped, her arms pinwheeling as she tried to regain her balance, but she couldn’t stop herself from falling.Jasper reached for her. She felt something pull but he never touched her.She hit the ice hard, knocking the wind out of her. For a moment she lay there, stunned, staring up at the sky.“Are you okay?” Jasper called, concern etched in his voice.She tried to respond but she couldn’t answer. All she could do was gasp for air, trying desperately to catch her breath.Pain throbbed in her back from the impact. She closed her eyes. The cold seeped in through her coat and shirt. She tried to assess whether or not anything was broken. With her luck, she probably gained a concussion or at least a bad headache.Then she felt something.The ice underneath her back was wet.Too wet.Her eyes widened in horror as she realized what was happening but it was too late. All the effort in trying to save herself had summoned heat to her already overheated body temperature. Before she could react, the ice melted and gave way beneath her and she plunged into the freezing water below.The shock of the cold ocean stole her breath away, and panic surged through her as she struggled to the surface. Instinctively, she gasped for air. Her clothes and boots weighed her down as she fought against the current pulling her away from the hole she had left in the ice.The further she sunk the colder and darker it got.She tried to kick up, but her body felt like lead. She struggled against the clothes and current that were stopping her from reaching the light she could see far above. Jasper and the others’ voices called out to her but she couldn’t tell if she was imagining it or not.With each passing moment, the cold water dragged her further down, and her strength began to wane. She kicked desperately, but her movements felt sluggish and weak.Sparks danced along her fingertips, dying out as quickly as they came. The small amount of light they gave off lit the way of her descent into darkness.She sobbed when she realized she was not going to make it back up. Her boots were too tightly laced to kick off and her body too weak to struggle. She was going to die before her quest was even done.Suddenly, she stopped sinking.Suspended in the water, Esperanza couldn’t move. A comforting warm current enveloped her from the west, as stars began to dance in her vision.“Esperanza.” A voice called out to her.“Your quest is almost at an end. You can no longer deny what you must do when you face your grandfather. You have known in your heart since you left Camp."She wanted to shout, NO! She didn’t know what to do!“Do not be afraid.” The calming voice spoke again. “You must be brave.”Just as her vision began to go dark, a hand appeared in front of her and bubbles began to surround her body.Her panic ebbed away, replaced with a sense of clam and clarity. With the last of her strength, she reached up and grabbed the hand. With a whoosh, she was lifted drom the water and back onto the ice. The light from the pale sun was blinding her as she coughed and hacked up water.Hands were on her shoulders and voices were drumming in her ears but she ignored them in favour of greedily sucking in gasps of air.As she regained her breathing and her mind began to focus, she realized Charlie must have been the one to pull her out of the water. But when she turned around, pushing away Jasper and Emily’s worried hands, to thank the youngest Jackson, she was surprised to see it was Zoe, not Charlie, who was magically drying themselves.“Zoe?” Her voice faltered, breath hitching. She mind was too muddled to comprehend what had just happened.Zoe looked at her for a moment. “Don’t go dying on us Valdez.” Then she turned to Bianca, “Give her some ambrosia and get her up. We have to keep moving.”Bianca rushed forward with her medic pack and did what she was told. Esperanza grabbed the square of ambrosia from her. It tasted like the fresh cinnamon cookies her mom made on special occasions. She let the taste linger in her mouth. The words of the mysterious voice still rang in her head.Savouring the warmth the ambrosia gave her, she allowed herself to be hauled to her feet by Jasper and Emily. Sammy grabbed her bag from the ice.“My bag didn’t get wet?” She asked, shivering. She wanted to summon some fire to warm her up but with Jasper and Emily supporting her, she couldn’t risk burning them.Jasper shook his head. He looked a little white in the face and kept glancing at her like she might disappear. “It fell off your shoulder when you fell. I caught it but not you.”“It’s okay Jasper,” She said softly. She laughed. “At least none of my stuff got wet! That is the important part.”Jasper made a wounded sound in the back of his throat.Emily shook her head, “You are the important part Espie.”Esperanza shrugged but didn’t comment. Her mind was reeling and trying to make sense of what just happened to her.A few minutes later, they made it safely to the shore of the harbour. They took a moment to rest against a frozen bench.She had been to San Francisco before to visit her Aunt Piper and Camp Jupiter. It was strange to see it now, covered in a layer of ice and snow. Esperanza shivered as a cold wind blew in from the East. They needed to defeat Khoine soon or they would be facing a Frozen situation; eternal winter. She chuckled to herself, thinking about defeating Khoine with “sisterly love”.Taking a moment to herself, she summoned fire to warm herself up. She was dry in a few seconds, coming back over to the group and accepting the seat beside Jasper. He put his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder. Gratefully she lent into his body heat.“Shouldn’t we stop at Camp Jupiter?” Emily was asking.Zoe, who was looking over the map shook her head. “No. It will waste too much time.”“We still have a day! We need resources and rest.” Emily said, standing up. “We would just stay for the night!”Esperanza looked back and forth between the two, sharing a look with Jasper. Bianca was going through her medic pack, counting their supplies and giving her cousin a wary look. Charlie stood behind his sister, shifting from foot to foot.“We can’t Em,” Zoe told the Mars-Pluto legacy. Sammy stood beside his twin but looked too scared to get in between the two girls.Emily scoffed, “You seriously cannot expect us to go into a fight with Atlas in this state. We are exhausted! We did all your Greek stuff, now let us do something Roman!”“I said no.” Zoe pinched the bridge of her nose.Emily threw her hands up in the air. “You are insane. Espie just almost died! You cannot—”“Well, that is her problem!” Zoe yelled. Emily looked taken aback. “I will not delay our quest because you are tired or someone almost died! Wake up, Emily! This is the life of the demigod! Now we are not stopping, this quest must be completed.”“Why don’t we ask Espie?” Jasper said.“What?”Jasper shrugged, “It is her quest. Why don’t we ask her what to do?”Six pairs of eyes turned to face her. She took a deep breath. What did she want to do? They could go to Camp Jupiter and get some rest. Or they could continue on their quest and have this done once and for all – one way or another.She thought of what the voice had told her. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do and she wasn’t ready to find out.“Emily is right, we should stop at Camp Jupiter.”Emily beamed at her. Zoe scoffed, “Of course.”“Look,” Esperanza said, directing her gaze at Zoe. She was disappointed that after their talk last night, they now seemed to fall into old habits again. “I want to go home as much as you do, but we need rest and somewhere safe to do so. Camp Jupiter is our best bet.”Zoe, looking at all their hopeful faces could only sigh, “Fine. One night at Camp Jupiter, nothing more.”“Yes!” Emily cheered. “Let’s go!”With that, the seven of them gathered their supplies off the snowy ground and began making their way by foot to the Roman Camp. Emily and Sammy led the way through the icy streets of San Francisco and onto Berkeley.Jasper stayed by Esperanza’s side, insisting on holding her backpack despite her protests. “You almost died and I couldn’t save you,” He said when she tried to grab it back, “Please, let me do this.”The look in his eyes was one of sincere love and concern, it made her breath catch in her throat and she had no choice but to let him.They were well aware that they were deep into enemy territory and at any moment a monster could leap from the shadows to attack, so they kept close together and tried to stay as silent as possible.The snow and wind kept up, almost blowing them off their feet. It took them nearly three hours but finally, after entering the Oakland Hills, they could see the Little Tiber – and the entrance to the camp – in the distance.They stopped to catch their breath and figure out their next course of action when a small bird fluttered toward them. Landing on Sammy’s shoulder, it tweeted a message to the Roman demigod before taking to the skies again.“We must be careful,” Sammy said, “Though most of the animals have gone into hiding in this snow, Lupa and her wolves are still patrolling the Hills… and the lares.”Charlie shifted, “Well, we should be fine right? I mean you three are all Roman,” He gestured to the twins and Jasper, “And Bianca knows ghosts.”Sammy nodded, “You’re right, we should be fine.”“Should!?”Jasper slapped his back, “Just stay close kid.”The walk through the Hills was tense, each one of them flinching at every sound. Esperanza swore her heart rate had never been higher. To be walking through a snowy California, which wasn’t supposed to get snow made it all the creepier.Thankfully, the wolves and ghosts seemed to be taking the day off because they ran into neither by the time they made it to the edge of the Little Tiber.The small river was completely frozen over, so they made their way across on foot. Jasper clutched Esperanza’s hand so tight she began to lose feeling in the limb but she let him do it anyway.“Well,” Emily said with a smile, “We made it! Now—”“Hold it!” A voice called out through the blistering snowstorm. The demigods froze, Zoe’s hand went to her weapon but Jasper stopped her with a gentle hand on the wrist. “Declare yourselves!”“Maura?” Emily said tentatively.The girl – presumably Maura – stepped forward. She was wearing full Roman legion gear, her blonde hair escaping her helmet in the wind. “Emily?” She asked, peering closely through the snow.Emily nodded and Maura squealed. Both girls ran toward each other jumping up and down. Maura enveloped Emily in a large hug. “Oh my gods! You are okay! Thank the gods! Your parents came back like a week ago and said you were on some quest. I was so worried!”“Our parents are here?” Sammy asked before Emily could respond.Maura brightened, “Oh hey Sammy! Yeah, they are.”“Could you take us to them? These are all friends of the Romans,” Emily said gesturing to the rest of the demigods behind her.“Oh, of course!” Maura grabbed Emily’s hand and started pulling her further into the camp. The rest of them followed behind.Emily looked over her shoulder, “Guys, this is Maura, daughter of Venus and my best friend here at Camp. Maura, you know Jasper and Bianca, but this is Zoe and Charlie Jackson, and Esperanza Valdez.”Maura smiled at them, “Hi! So nice to meet you! And great to see you again Bianca, and my sweet wittle nephew Jasper.”Jasper scowled, “Great to see you too Maura.”Esperanza cracked a small smile at Jasper’s expense, he looked at her sideways.“Is it just you on border patrol?” Emily asked as Maura led them toward New Rome.Esperanza had been at Camp Jupiter about half a dozen times and she was shocked at how different it looked in the snow. All the temples were covered in a think layer of white and demigods were shovelling snow rather than training in war games.Maura shook her head, “No, we have so many patrols it's crazy! I was just heading back from one of my shifts when I found you guys. We have had so many monsters on the borders lately, and as you probably noticed the wolves and ghosts have mysteriously disappeared for a time. On top of that, we are not used to the snow so it’s been a tough few weeks. Lots of people in the infirmary.”Emily sighed, “Well hopefully tomorrow that will all change.”“That is when your quest deadline is?”“Yeah.”Maura took a deep breath, “Well, we better get you to your parents then.”The rest of the walk to New Rome went fast and before Esperanza knew it they were standing in front of the Zhang household.Maura knocked on the door, “Hey, Mr and Mrs Zhang, I’ve got a surprise for you!” She gave them a small smile.The door opened to reveal Hazel, her hair tied back and an apron that read “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” around her waist. Her eyes first landed on Maura before they settled on her children behind her.“Em? Sammy?” She smiled brightly before rushing forward to hug both her children tightly. “Oh thank goodness!”“I missed you, Mom,” Emily whispered.As she watched the family reunion Esperanza could feel the back of her throat burn and her eyes grow wet. Her stomach churned painfully. She wanted to hug her mother and have her run a hand through her hair and tell her everything was going to be okay. She needed it like she needed air to breathe.“Oh, dears!” Hazel said, wiping her eyes and looking at them all, “Come inside before you get sick in this cold.”She herded them inside the warm house and greeted them with the smell of freshly baked bread. “I was just making some bread,” Hazel said, “Come to the kitchen and I will make you something. Frank! Come here!” She called further into the house.Frank came down the stairs at his wife’s call, stopping when he saw the seven demigods in his front foyer. He hopped down the rest of the stairs, enveloping his children in a hug before doing the same to the rest of them.After greeting everyone, Hazel ushered them into the living room, urging them all to take a seat. She rushed around, handing them fresh soup and bread while Frank poured hot cocoa. Their cat, Shadow, weaved in and out of their legs underneath the table.A fire was roaring in the fireplace and the familiar scent of smoke and cedar filled the air. The house was cozy and felt so homely that Esperanza thought she might cry. She laid her head on Jasper’s shoulder, closing her eyes and savouring the taste of a homemade meal. She smiled softly as she felt Jasper lay his head on top of hers.“We aren’t really supposed to be here,” Bianca told her aunt and uncle. “It technically goes against the rules of a quest.”Frank smiled sadly, “We will take what we can get.”“We know we can’t help you with plans or anything,” Hazel nodded in agreement with her husband, “But please let us give you some comfort before you face the end of your first quest tomorrow.”Emily hugged her mom from the side, “Of course, Mom.”“Maura said you guys only got back a week ago. What took you so long?” Sammy asked.Frank and Hazel shared a look. Esperanza’s stomach dropped. “What happened?” She asked.Frank took a deep breath, “Without the Athena Parthenos, Camp Half-Blood has been more susceptible to monster attacks. We were there helping establish border protection and helping to come up with a plan to keep the camp safe.”“Is everything okay?” Bianca asked quietly.Hazel wrapped an arm around her niece, “There was a small battle.”“What!”“Oh my gods!”“Is everyone okay?”“What about our parents?”“What happened?”They all were talking over each other, desperate for answers. Esperanza’s chest felt tight, the snake of anxiety was uncoiling in her stomach and she thought she might be sick.“It’s okay,” Hazel said, putting her hands up, “Camp is fine. No one died, and only a few major injuries. Eric Prose from the Apollo cabin lost an ear, and Chloe Letterman broke her arm. There was also a whole thing with the Stolls, Silena and Jayde… but everyone is fine!” She added quickly.Esperanza buried her head in her hands, her breathing erratic. Everything felt out of her control and she didn’t know how to fix it. She felt Jasper put his hand on her back.“As for your parents,” Frank said, “They are all okay. Will and Nico are helping with the injured. Jason stayed behind to help with border patrol, as did Percy and Annabeth. Piper and family have been going back and forth, as have Leo and Calypso. They have even called in the Hunters of Artemis. I have full confidence that nothing bad will happen with all those powerful demigods on the frontline.” He gave them each a reassuring smile.Hazel smiled too, “Camp will survive. They have all the plans they need with Annabeth on board to keep them a float. We are going back tomorrow, and your parents are as well,” She said, gesturing to Esperanza and Jasper. “Right now though, you all don’t need to worry. You need to focus on your own mission.”“Yeah, speaking of that, we better get all our plans for tomorrow settled,” Zoe said, apologetically. Esperanza lifted her head from her hands and sighed. Zoe glanced at Hazel and Frank who took the hint and disappeared upstairs.“So, tomorrow is the big day and we have yet to fulfill the prophecy.”Sammy, who sat with Shadow on his lap, closed his eyes, “We should figure out how we are going to do that. I mean, Bianca’s part seems pretty straightforward; she needs to shadow travel the Athena Parthenos back to Camp Half-Blood.”Bianca nodded, “Yeah, piece of cake!” She said sarcastically.Zoe sighed, “But where the Athena Parthenos is, is the question.”The others began to discuss their theories and what they thought was the best course of action. Esperanza groaned and closed her eyes. A thousand questions ran through her mind.How could she have forgotten that they didn’t even know where a vital part of their quest was? Why would Atlas and Khoine even need the statue? And how would the sky not have fallen if Atlas had been rising to power?Her brain was going a mile a minute and all she wanted was to fall asleep and not think about tomorrow at all.
Wait.
She opened her eyes and lifted her head. “Wait.” The rest of the demigods looked at her puzzled, “Atlas was no longer holding up the sky, and the Athena Parthenos is missing.”“Yeah? Did you forget the whole purpose of this quest?” Zoe asked.Esperanza ignored the tone in her voice and continued, “No, Atlas isn’t holding up the sky and a giant statue is missing…” No one seemed to get what she was saying, “Guys, he is using the Athena Parthenos to hold up the sky.”“Oh my gods,” Bianca whispered.Jasper cursed, “Of course he is.”“Which means, to get it back we need someone to hold the sky up before we can push Atlas under it again,” Zoe said quietly, sharing a look with her brother. “We are going to have to hold up the sky.”“Like our parents,” Charlie added. Zoe nodded.“How are we supposed to get Atlas back there?” Jasper asked. “I mean, last time Percy held up the sky because he knew Artemis would be the only one powerful enough to defeat him. We don’t have a goddess on our side this time.”“Maybe you could charmspeak him?” Bianca shifted in her seat, picking at the knitted throw pillow.Jasper shook his head, “I don’t think so. My mom beat Khione, that is my job now.”Emily sighed, “Well then I guess it is up to myself, Sammy, and Espie to get him back under there.”Zoe met Esperanza’s eye from across the room. She could tell Zoe felt uncomfortable with sending her against Atlas. She could understand why, he was her grandfather, and he had convinced her mother to turn against the gods before. But she wouldn’t let that happen.She couldn’t let that happen.Zoe sighed, “Yeah, well, we will have to figure out the rest of it when we get there. I guess we can’t plan ahead for everything.”“Winging it; it’s what we demigods do best,” Esperanza said with a tired smile, trying to ease the tension in the room. She was rewarded with smiles from almost everyone.Zoe nodded tensely, “Okay.”More talk of preparations began. They discussed what supplies they needed to stock up on, how they were going to get to Mount Tamalpais and backup plans. By the time Hazel came downstairs and suggested they all get some sleep, Esperanza felt so drained she could have fallen asleep standing up.She ended up sleeping on a mattress on the floor of the guest bedroom, Jasper beside her while Charlie and Zoe slept on the bed.“You okay?” Jasper whispered into the dark room after she shifted on the mattress for the fifth time in ten minutes.For a moment Esperanza thought about faking sleep but she knew Jasper was well aware that she was wide awake. With a small sigh, she turned to face her best friend.His blue eyes met her green ones in the faint orange glow of the nightlight Charlie insisted they had to have on. “Are you alright?” He asked more seriously.Esperanza shrugged, her movement hindered by the elaborate fluffy green pillow Frank had thrown onto the makeshift bed. “I am mostly fine. I’m just worried about tomorrow.” She admitted quietly.Jasper nodded, “Yeah, me too. But we will make it through; we always do.”His smile was so sincere and comforting that Esperanza felt tears sting her eyes. She nodded, reaching across the blanket to take his hand in hers. His smile grew as he squeezed her hand tight. Outside the wind battered the windows and the cold seeped through the walls, she burrowed deeper into the blankets.“Everything is going to be okay.” He whispered again as if he could charmspeak their fate into existence. She desperately wanted to believe that was possible.She wanted to believe him.A tear slid down her temple and into her tangled hair that lay across the pillow. He reached out to wipe it away gently with his thumb.“I’m tired.” She whispered softly.Jasper nodded, and let her shift to face the ceiling. He followed her lead and lay on his back, letting go of her hand for only a moment to switch hands so it would be more comfortable. More tears sprang to Esperanza’s eyes. She forced herself not to sob out loud.Minutes passed and the soft breaths of Jasper, Zoe and Charlie filled the otherwise silent room. Esperanza stared at the dark ceiling trying to make sense of how she could of ended up here.She turned her head to glance at Jasper. He looked so calm in his sleep, the worry gone from his face. His shoulder-length brown hair fell in front of his eyes and fluttered softly with each breath he took. His hand was still in hers, though in sleep his grip relaxed until it was as if he was resting his hand on top of hers.Her heart clutched as she watched him sleep. He was her best friend in the whole world and she didn’t think she had ever cared about someone the way she cared about him.They were platonic soulmates. Connected in every universe.Deep down she knew that everything was going to change tomorrow, one way or another. They had a prophecy to fulfill and either way she played her part she had the distinct feeling it was going to hurt him and she would rather break her own arm than do that.She didn’t want tomorrow to come.Her voice was no more than a whisper in the night when she said, “I love you Jasper McLean-Grace.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Esperanza shivered against the cold wind biting at her cheeks. The air was tense with frightening anticipation. All seven demigods knew what they were up against.Nearly a month of questing had led to this moment.The sun was hidden today as if it too knew what was about to happen.They took a taxi from the city across the Golden Gate Bridge to the base of Mount Tamalpais, otherwise known as Mount Othrys.“Are you sure you kids want to hike that mountain in this storm?” The taxi driver asked them as they climbed out of the cab. Esperanza cringed, he had a point. On the ride here the car had almost sewered off the road about five times and the closer they got the mountain the less they could see.Jasper gave his most reassuring smile, “Thank you sir, we will be fine. We like the extreme weather.”The cabby gave them an odd look, “If you say so. Good luck.”“Thank you, sir.” Jasper nodded before closing the door. They all stood and watched as the taxi disappeared down the road into the cloud of snow.Esperanza took a deep breath and turned to face the mountain. The snowstorm was clearly coming from the mountain. Large white snowflakes flew down around them in a harsh breeze. She cursed Khione under her breath.“Well,” Emily said, following Esperanza’s gaze. “Let’s get this over with shall we?”The others gave their agreement and with one last look at the road they all shouldered their packs, adjusted their weapons and began the hike up the trail to the top of Mount Othrys to face their fate.—By the time they made their way to the peak of the mountain they had shed most of their winter gear, the hike having worked them all up.They were getting closer to their final destination, Esperanza could feel it. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and her skin was tingling, like something was simmering just below the surface.There was ancient power here, she could feel it from the tips of her toes to the top of her head.Sammy led them through the frozen undergrowth of the mountainside. They walked along, weapons drawn as they tried to stay as quiet as possible. The snow crunched under their boots, which made it hard to stay completely silent.They continued along, each of them keeping their eyes and ears peeled for any monsters.Esperanza almost bowled Jasper down when Sammy held his hand up for them to stop. They made more noise than they wanted, tripping over each other’s feet. The Roman demigod glared at them and put a finger to his lips.Beside them, a bush rustled and they all ducked down fast. But it was just a rabbit and thankfully not a flesh-eating one, like Esperanza once encountered on a school field trip that almost ate her. Good times.The rabbit hopped over to Sammy and after making a few rabbit noises, which just sounded like sniffling to Esperanza, it hopped off.Sammy watched it go before turning to the group. “Okay, so Atlas and Khione’s camp is about half a mile from here. There are a lot of monsters patrolling the area but the rabbit gave me a good sense of where to go so we might be undetected.”The rest of the groups’ eyes fitted between Sammy and Esperanza. And she realized they were waiting for approval as the quest leader.She nodded her head and smirked at Sammy. “Whatever you say! Lead the way, Snow White.” He rolled his eyes and, if he wasn’t so proper and Roman she was sure he was going to give her the finger.They continued to walk through the snow, following the path only Sammy could see. The wind and snow got more intense the further they walked on. Esperanza pulled up the edges of her coat around her face to strive off the worse of the windburn.Finally they made it to the edge of a grove, and froze as they heard the low murmur of voices.Sammy led them to a large bush which they all crouched behind. Carefully, to not alert anyone to their presence, Sammy moved the branches of the bush and used a bit of Mist magic so they could see into the clearing.Esperanza crept closer and when she had a clear view her breath caught in her throat and panic seized her insides like a clamp on hot metal.There, just a few feet away from them was Khione, standing in all her snow queen glory. She was surrounded by monsters. Large white wolves with snow-covered backs and glowing eyes stood at her side. Cyclops, Cretan bulls, empousa, Ventus, and Gryphons roamed around.Beside her, Charlie gasped, “Look!” He whisper-yelled, “We were right!”Esperanza tore her gaze away from the hoards of monsters to where he was pointing. There in all her golden glory was the Athena Parthenos, slanted slightly to to the side under the weight of the sky. Her golden shield was half buried in snow and her spear pointed directly into the stars.“Holy shit,” Esperanza whispered, unable to keep the fear out of her voice. Jasper reached over and clutched her hand. She squeezed back like a lifeline.Suddenly, out of the snowy clouds on the opposite end of the clearing came an imposing figure, flanked by two, relatively small – thank the gods – giants.As the figure became clearer, Esperanza’s fear grew. She knew who it was, she could feel it in her bones. Her Titan blood was singing in recognition, some ancient powers pulling her toward him.It was Atlas.He was tall. Almost as tall and imposing as the giants at his side. He was wearing Greek armour, and his breastplate was a stony grey. His black hair was slicked back and he held a helmet under his arm.The worst part about him was his eyes. They were grey, but not like the beautiful stormy grey, ever-shifting, intelligent eyes of Zoe Jackson, but rather hard and devoid of all emotion.She felt that if he locked eyes with her he could turn her into stone as easily as Medusa. She could feel her body going cold just by thinking of what his eyes would tell her as she looked into them.“Okay,” Zoe said, ripping her from her thoughts with a gasp. She tore her eyes away from her grandfather and instead focused all her attention on Zoe. Her grey eyes were hard and determined, but Esperanza could see the hope and life swirling beneath the surface. “It’s time to put our plan into action.”“We are never going to be able to get to Atlas with all these monsters in the way. So, Charlie, Bianca, Jasper and I will go around to the other side and attack the monsters. Jasper you go after Khione, we need to try and get rid of this winter weather as much as possible.” Jasper nodded.“Bianca, you need to get the Athena Parthenos out from under the sky. Once we eliminate enough of the monsters, Charlie and I will hold it while you shadow-travel it out from underneath. Don’t try to do more than that yet. We need you to keep your strength up.”“Okay,” Bianca agreed.Zoe nodded, “Good. Then, twins and Espie, you guys come in as the surprise attack. Focus on taking down Atlas and helping with the monsters. The second Atlas is back under that sky, Bianca and Emily you shadow travel us out of there. Everyone got it?”Esperanza nodded along like the rest of them but in her heart, she knew something was missing from this plan.“Okay,” Zoe said, “Any last inspiring words from our quest leader?” Her eyes locked with Esperanza’s.She could feel her heart beating wildly in her chest but forced down the panic at the slight softening of grey in Zoe’s eyes. She rubbed her sweaty palms together as she met the eyes of every one of her quest mates. Her friends.It didn’t matter that they had once been as close as siblings and were now grown up into different people. It didn’t matter that they didn’t always get along or that they hadn’t been all together like this in years.What mattered right now was that they were about to go to battle together. What mattered was that they had travelled this far as friends and as brothers and sisters in arms.She loved every single one of them.She forced on a smile. There was so much she wanted to say, but she didn’t know how to say it, so instead all she said was, “Let’s kill these bastards.”She was rewarded with six smiles and looks of hope and for a moment Esperanza believed everything would be alright. But then Jasper was kissing her forehead and gripping his sword, and the panic, fear and desperation came flooding back.“See you in a minute, Fire Girl.”She gave a watery smile back, “In a minute, Lightning McQueen.”Sammy, Emily and Esperanza watched as the other four demigods charged into the fray. The monsters scrambled at the sudden onslaught. Khione faltered in her storm-making as Jasper went straight for her.Esperanza’s heart caught in her throat as she watched Jasper battle the goddess. Khione’s eyes hardened as she looked at the grandson of Jupiter and Aphrodite.Lightning crashed over the cliff, mixing with the swirling of the snow. It reflected the electric blue in Jasper’s eyes as he stared down the goddess. Raising his sword he swung at her, only for her to pull out a blade of pure ice and block the swing.Electricity shot out of the front of Jasper’s sword, shocking the goddess, but it barely seemed to affect her. The wind and snow swirled around them, making a blizzard tornado as both used their powers to try and disadvantage the other.Esperanza had to look away as Khione swiped at Jasper’s shoulder.She focused her gaze on where Zoe, Charlie and Bianca were battling the monsters surrounding the Athena Parthenos.They were holding their own well. Skeletons rose from the ground at Bianca’s call and Zoe and Charlie protected each other’s backs as they got closer and closer to the sky.Esperanza noticed that Atlas hadn’t joined the fight. He stood back, watching as Khione battled Jasper and the other three demigods got closer to their goal. It was if he was waiting for something. Or someone.With a sickening feeling in her stomach, she realized that Atlas was waiting for her.He knew that she was here. In fact, as Esperanza looked closer she knew that he was looking right at her, crouching behind the bush while her friends fought for their lives.That realization made her more scared than anything on this quest so far.She still was unsure of what part she had to play in this prophecy. Jasper was going to deal with Khione, Charlie and Zoe were going to hold the sky and Bianca was going to shadow travel. It was all there.But what about her? What about the twins?Prophecies were never direct, and most of the time they weren’t what you thought.Esperanza knew at the very least she would have to stop Atlas. But what about the Romans?She could never defeat Atlas by herself. She knew that. But did that mean Emily and Sammy had to help her? They were most likely meant for something else in this battle. Something that would reflect what Hazel and Frank did all those years ago.Was there some army of ghosts for Emily and Sammy to command? Some rising of riches and gold? Were they supposed to get the blessings of Mars or were they supposed to kill the giants guarding Atlas?Esperanza thought hard, barely registering when Bianca and Zoe ducked under the sky. Not even looking as Bianca touched the statue and dissolved into darkness only to reappear a few feet over. She didn’t even see as the girl she thought she was in love with since she was eleven fell to her knees under the weight of the sky and her brother scrambled to help her.She didn’t hear as Emily and Sammy shifted, pulling out their swords and readying to jump into the fray. She didn’t look as Bianca staggered to her feet, tired but prepared to fight the monsters surrounding her.She didn’t comprehend any of it because, as Atlas’s steely eyes met Esperanza’s green ones from across the clearing, she suddenly knew what part they had to play.“Espie!” Emily’s voice cut through her thoughts, though she sounded far away as if she was shrouded in the mist that had fallen over Esperanza’s mind. “We have to go now!”That caught her attention and she snapped her gaze from her grandfather to her two friends beside her. Her eyes met theirs and they seemed to sense a change in her as they didn’t say anything more.“I know what I have to do. And what you have to do too.”They exchanged a look. “What is it?” Sammy asked. He gripped his sword tighter, awaiting orders.Esperanza couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud so all she said was, “Whatever happens, get the others out of here.”“What—”“You have to.” Esperanza interrupted, “Emily stick with Jasper, shadow travel him away. Sammy make sure Bianca gets the rest of you out. When I give the signal get them out, okay?”“Espie,” Emily said, reaching out to grab her arm, “What about you? What does this mean?”Esperanza shook her head, “I hope it doesn't come down to it. I really hope I can find a fix. But if not you have to promise me you will leave me and get the others out.”Realization dawned on Emily’s face. “Wait! No, Espie–”“Promise me!”“I-” Emily hesitated, but Sammy stepped forward. “We promise. Right, Em?”After a moment, Emily nodded reluctantly, tears coming to her eyes. “Fine, I promise.” Then she reached out to pull the older girl into a hug. “But you have to promise me you will find a fix, Valdez. There has to be another way.”Esperanza smiled shakily, “I promise.”The twins looked at her with so much sorrow and pity she had to look away. She forced a laugh and lifted her sword and shield, “Now, may the best Roman, or Greek win.” She winked, “It’ll be the Greek.”Sammy rolled his eyes and Emily let out a watery laugh but they both lifted their swords and charged behind her into battle.The monsters attacking Bianca were flustered at the unexpected assault from behind, and the twins went straight into attacking with gems, mist and swords. Esperanza focused her attention to Jasper for a moment, sending a blast of fire at Khione’s white wolves as they circled the fighting pair.The wolf yelped as its fur got singed and it jumped towards her, jaws snapping. But Esperanza was ready. This was her quest and her final battle, she was not about to be taken out before she had even started.She threw her shield out blocking the first of the wolf’s attack and sending it spiraling back. Then, with her now flaming sword, she swiped at its face, taking out its right eye. It squealed in pain, but that only seemed to make it angrier.It came back faster, using its claws and teeth to snap at her. It went up on its hind legs, towering over her. She kicked at its belly and it fell on its back.The snow beneath her feet was melting as her body grew warmer the more she used her powers.The second wolf, not a fan of what she was doing to its sibling, charged at her from the left. She dove out of the way, landing in the snow, and immediately put her shield up to protect herself as it threw its body on top of hers.It was heavy and she groaned under its weight. The first wolf – one-eye – grabbed her hair with its teeth and began pulling her along the snow. Esperanza yelped as pain flared up from her scalp but she wouldn’t give up.Dropping her sword for a second and keeping her shield up to block the second wolf she dug into the pocket of her jacket, fiddling around for anything she could get her hands on. A piece of wire, a screwdriver, anything!One eye was dragging her towards the cliff and the second wolf was on top of her leaving scratches all over her legs. It was growling at her as if taunting her. She stuck her hand deeper into her pocket and felt the smooth edge of a packet of seeds her mom kept all over the house.With no other options, Esperanza dug the packet from her pocket and ripped it open with her teeth. She pushed her shield up as hard as she could, throwing the wolf on top of her back as far as possible. She then turned as much as she could into her stomach and grabbed a handful of the seeds.She smiled as she read the label, “Southern Sneezeweed”. One eye still had her hair but with the seeds in her hand, she blew as hard as she could into its face.The wolf staggered back, dropping her hair as the seeds invaded its nostrils and eyes. It began to sneeze uncontrollably, wiggling around as it tried to stop the irritation.Esperanza smiled to herself as she watched the wolf get closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. Her smile only grew as with one last sneeze the wolf went tumbling off the cliff, howling as it tried to find purchase on the crumbling rocks.Her smile didn’t last long as the second wolf charged. Esperanza rolled away in the snow, hoping to her feet and racing back to where her sword lay abandoned in the snow. Picking it up she turned just as the wolf sprang at her. She thrust her sword out and by the luck of Tyche, she impaled its heart.The wolf twitched, then, dissolved into a swirl of gold dust and snowflakes.Panting, Esperanza stood in the middle of the clearing. She could see Jasper gaining the upper hand against Khione and prepared herself to join him when all of a sudden the hair on the back of her neck stood up and an air of ancient evil fell over her.She swallowed as she felt the presence behind her. Gripping her sword tighter she steeled herself and turned around.Her grandfather stood in front of her, his cool grey eyes boring into hers.“Impressive,” He said, his voice booming. It made something inside her squirm and all she wanted to do was crawl up into a ball under her bed. She was shaking. That seemed to make Atlas more amused as he looked her up and down, smirking at her.“I have been waiting for you, granddaughter.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Esperanza’s heart pounded in her chest as she stared at her grandfather. She gathered what strength she could and in a shaky voice said, “Waiting for me? So I could kill you?”Atlas barked a laugh so loud it shook the ground. The sound echoed off the trees, causing some snow from the branches to fall around them in clumps, adding to the chaos. “Kill me? No granddaughter, I want you to join me.”Atlas took a step closer, his heavy boots leaving imprints in the snow. Around them, the other demigods continued to fight. Jasper and Khione were locked in battle. Bianca and Sammy were taking down monsters left and right while defending Charlie and Zoe who looked pained as they held the weight of the sky.Just a few feet away Emily was battling Atlas’s literal giant bodyguards but the Titan seemed unfazed by this, his focus solely on Esperanza.“Look at the world around you. The way the gods use you and your fellow demigods as playthings. As soldiers to fight in the wars they start. The Olympians do not care about you and your friends. You are pawns to them and nothing more.”“Like you would be any better! Like you would care!” Esperanza spat, some of her fire coming back as she forced her panic down.Atlas smiled, “Oh child. If I ruled Olympus I would bring a new order. There would be no more hiding in the shadows, relying on the Mist to cloud the mortal's judgment. The mythological world would be free! Demigods would finally get the recognition they deserved from all of humanity!”Esperanza shook her head, “That– that can’t happen.” This was all starting to sound a little too much like what Kronos had promised Luke and all the demigods who fought for him.“It can granddaughter, with your help. I cannot overthrow the gods alone, I need help. I need someone as my right hand, to help me eliminate all who would oppose my cause, to help me be free from the chains the Olympians put me in to free all of humanity!”“The Olympians are better than the Titans will ever be!” Esperanza yelled, but her voice wavered, she could feel the doubt creeping into her mind. Did the Olympians really care?She couldn’t remember the last time she had heard from Hephaestus. He used to visit when she was little, giving her Christmas gifts and showering her with any tool she could think of, but then that all stopped as she got older. Where was Hephaestus when she was getting bullied and told she wasn’t a true demigod? Where was he when she lost all her friends? Where was he when she got this quest? Where was he now?Esperanza shook her head, Atlas was burying his way into her mind.“I would give you anything you ever wanted,” Atlas continued, stepping closer now as Esperanza took another step back. “What would you like? A garden on the side of a mountain? Perhaps a lovely machine shop of your own? You could have all the friends you could ever want! You would be worshipped Esperanza, as a saviour to all mankind. You would finally get the respect you deserve.”Esperanza knew this was coming. She had been prepared for this since the moment Zoe Nightshade descended from the heavens and told her she had to face Atlas. She had known this was going to happen since Rachel Elizabeth Dare had spewed green mist and told her she would have to recreate her parent's past. And yet…And yet it still felt like a punch to the stomach. She could feel panic welling in her. Her mother had once been in her shoes, standing before this powerful Titan who could rip the hair from your skull with one flick of his wrist. She had heard the same words Esperanza was hearing now. The same promises.And she had said yes.She looked over Atlas’s shoulder to where Zoe was holding the sky on her shoulders. Her hair had fallen half from her ponytail in front of her face, covering her grey eyes as she strained against the weight. Even from this far of a distance and with the snow all around them, Esperanza could see she was sweating, her arms shaking with effort.“Ah, I see,” Atlas said, following her gaze. He smiled a slow smile. “You can have her too.”Esperanza was startled, looking back at Atlas with wide eyes. He chuckled. “It is clear you want her, but she doesn’t want you, does she? If you join me I will spare her and you may have her all to yourself.”Her mind was reeling, all of Atlas’s promises playing over and over again in her head like a broken record. “Wh-what about the others?” She stuttered.“I can spare them too.” He said. His voice had dropped from the loud booming it had been earlier to something more… soft? “Whatever you wish Esperanza, it is yours, if you join me.”He put out his massive hand for her to take.Esperanza felt like throwing up. Here was someone offering her everything she ever could want; a peaceful life, friends, respect and Zoe Jackson’s love. She could ask for anything and he would give it.It was oh so tempting – all she had to do was take his hand.But then, Tethys’s words came back to her. Explaining how Atlas had manipulated her mom into joining him by promising her everything she could want, only to turn his back on her in the end.Seeing her hesitation, Atlas’s face grew tense. He looked impatient. “Come now, Esperanza. Look around you. If you do not join me you will never win.”Esperanza looked around and realized things had taken a turn for the worse in the few minutes she had been talking to Atlas. Bianca and Sammy were being overrun. Sammy had a large gash on the side of his face, blood pouring into his eyes and blocking his vision.Bianca was getting tired, between fighting and summoning the undead she looked like she was about to drop dead. The skeleton soldiers broke apart easily as the monsters grew bolder, their white bones falling to the snow before sinking back into the earth.On the other side, Emily had defeated one of the giants but the other was stronger and larger. Esperanza watched as it grabbed her by the quiver of arrows on her back and threw her against a nearby tree. She crumpled to the ground, unmoving.Esperanza stood in shock, unable to even summon a fireball to save her friend.Jasper noticed though, and abandoned his fight with Khione to protect the unconscious demigod. His golden sword glistened as he unsheathed it from his side and attacked the giant. A bolt of lightning came from the sky, easily stunning the giant so Jasper could fly above its head and stick his sword into its brain. It exploded in a cloud of dust.Unfortunately, this victory was short-lived as Khione used the opportunity to attack. Esperanza couldn’t so much as cry out before Jasper was picked up in a whirlwind of snow and thrown hard against the ground.The goddess pounced on top of him, her icy fists connecting with his face and chest. Jasper struggled against the assault.“See my dear.” Esperanza turned her head from where she was watching her best friend being pummeled by the goddess to once again meet the eyes of her grandfather. “There is no winning this fight. Your friends will die when you could have had the chance to save them. You can end this here and now, just join me!”She looked at his outstretched hand.All she had to do was reach out and take it and this would be over. Jasper would be saved from Khione. Emily, Sammy and Bianca would live to fight another day and Zoe and Charlie would be freed.It was so easy.All she had ever wanted was a normal life… and this was certainly one way to get it.She could join Atlas and help him take down the Olympians and then she would never have to lie to her mortal friends again. She would never have to face the disapproval of her fellow demigods for being a Titan because they would all be ruled by Titans.And maybe if she was beside Atlas she could have some influence in how things are run. Maybe she could stop world hunger, or build houses for all the homeless people around the world. She could stop wars and see criminals get what they deserve.She could change the world, and have everything the way she wanted it.She smiled to herself as she thought of that.But then another thought came in. What about her parents?Sure, she had told Jasper she wanted normal parents, and that if she had had a choice she would run away from the life she has now. But did she really mean that?Ever since she could remember her parents had been there for her. When she had accidentally killed that rabbit in their backyard her mother hadn’t gotten mad at her for not listening. Instead, she had held her in her arms as she sobbed, rocking her as she cried herself to sleep.Her dad had taught her everything she knew about being a demigod and always knew how to make her laugh.When she had gotten a really bad case of the flu in eighth grade and had to stay home for a whole week, her parents closed the shop to take care of her. Her mom had made her soup, given her medicine and held her hair back when she threw up. Her dad had stayed by her side the entire time, telling jokes, watching movies with her, getting a cool cloth for her forehead and rubbing her back as she slept.What would they see if she joined Atlas? Their baby girl turned saviour of the world? Or their baby girl turned destroyer of the world? Evil just like everyone expected her to be.She could imagine her dad’s face falling as he watched her march on Olympus beside Atlas. She could see her mother’s heart breaking as she watched her make the same mistake she had made all those years ago.As much as Esperanza didn’t want to bear the thought of going back to her life of lies, of everyone's rude comments, the bullying, the glares. As much as she couldn’t bear all that. She couldn’t bear the thought of her parent's disappointment even more.And perhaps the only way out of this was the way she had wanted to avoid all along. No matter what she promised Emily; there was no fix.Her heart stung a little at the thought but as she looked up into the horrid eyes of her grandfather she knew it was the only way.With a shaking arm, she reached out and clasped her hand with his.Atlas beamed, his grip on her hand tightening as he began to laugh. The trees shook and the ground beneath their feet grew wobbly.“I knew you would make the right choice granddaughter.”Esperanza smiled grimly at him. “Yes, it is what heroes do.”Then, she set her hand on fire.Atlas screamed as the fire touched his skin, trying to pull back but Esperanza held strong. He almost managed to pull her shoulder out of her socket but she wasn’t about to let him get away.The Titan roared in anger and pain, using his free hand to swipe at her head. Esperanza ducked, landing her own punch in Atlas’s ribs. Unfortunately, the effect was rather like punching a brick wall.Atlas punched her across the face and this time she didn’t have time to duck. She got whiplash from the impact and she went flying backwards, landing on her back in the snow.She was winded but she only took a second to regain her breath before she was rolling to her feet. She deployed her sword and shield once more, just able to get it up as Atlas charged towards her.She pivoted right as he unsheathed his sword and swung at her. She blocked his next attack, trying to throw him off balance.The Titan was relentless in his attacks. Esperanza was forced to dodge, weave, block, parry and everything else to avoid getting her head chopped off.Multiple times Atlas managed to clip her, drawing blood on her face, arms and legs.Her face throbbed from the earlier punch, and her right eye was quickly swelling over and blocking her vision. She was getting tired easily, her breath coming in short bursts as she struggled to keep her grandfather at bay. Her fire powers were practically useless as she didn’t have the time or energy to conjure even a small flame.Atlas kicked her in the shin and Esperanza crumpled to her knees on the ground. Atlas brought his sword down upon her head and Esperanza had just enough time to block.Their swords were locked, gold with silver. Their eyes locked green with grey.Atlas pushed, his strength keeping Esperanza on her knees. An evil glint gleamed in his eye as he forced her down, practically bending her backwards.Esperanza gritted her teeth. She closed her eyes, focusing on fueling all of her strength. With shaking legs she forced herself to her feet, pushing back against the Titan.Standing now, it was easier to push back. But Atlas was relentless. Her feet began to slide through the snow, getting dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. It took all her strength to hold him back, but her feet couldn’t find a hold.Her breathing was harsh in her own ears.She began to panic, her body heating up. It melted the snow under her feet making it even more slippery with slush and mud. She desperately pushed forward but even with her demigod/Titan strength, there was no beating Atlas.He had a smirk on his face as he pushed her harder.Suddenly, the hair on the back of Esperanza’s neck stood up. The air felt like static and a lightning bolt came thundering down from the sky, right at Atlas.He growled in pain and jumped backwards at the shock of electricity, giving Esperanza the perfect chance the scramble away from the edge of the cliff.Her gaze met Jasper’s from across the clearing. Khione was nowhere to be seen and the snowstorm they had been trapped in was gone. The snow and ice covering the ground and trees began to melt. Esperanza smiled; he had defeated the snow goddess.Monsters sensing the downfall of the goddess swarmed Jasper instantly, cutting him off from Esperanza. She gasped, watching her best friend struggle for his life.“Give it up girl!” Atlas bellowed, getting to his feet and advancing on Esperanza again. “Join me or die!”“No!” Esperanza yelled, getting in a defensive position. She held her shield aloft and brandished her sword. “You will not win.”Atlas laughed, snapping his fingers and Esperanza’s heart pounded as her sword and shield instantly disintegrated into nothing. All the hard work and love she had put into her design was gone in an instant.Her anger literally burned and she could feel the flames dancing along her fingertips. Her breathing was heavy as she looked at her grandfather. He was still laughing.Laughing at her pain. Laughing at the hard work and love her mom and dad had put into her weapons. That sword and shield had meant so much to her and now it was gone. The armband was back on her bicep but it felt cold and empty, devoid of the magic and power it once held.Here was this man who had manipulated her mother. Left her to be abandoned for thousands of years on a deserted island. A man who killed thousands of innocent people and was now willing to kill her and her friends. And he was laughing at her.Her anger boiled.Atlas smirked silently, “You cannot defeat me. No demigod can.”Esperanza stared into his cold, lifeless eyes. She could feel power shimmering beneath her skin. Something had awoken in her, something that she had been fighting and running from for far too long. She smiled, a slow painful smile. “You seem to forget grandfather, that I am not just a demigod.”She took a deep breath, “I am a Titan.”And with that, she let the power she had been holding back for so long burst forth. She met Atlas halfway as he attacked. With nothing but her bare hands, she pulled Atlas’s sword from his hands and stabbed him in the side.He roared in pain, grabbing the Ichor-covered blade and tossing it away. The two then were in a battle with just their hands. Punching, kicking and dodging were all a blur to Esperanza as she fought with all she had. She used her fire to her advantage, but Atlas seemed unfazed.After a while, just as they had locked swords the two locked hands, pushing against each other as they tried to defeat one another. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Jasper and Emily fighting back to back. And near the sky, Bianca and Sammy were standing guard over the Athena Parthenos.Esperanza had to end this now. She could feel Atlas’s strength and knew that the only chance she had was to use the full extent of her unlocked powers.“Get ready!” She yelled. She knew the others would be confused but hoped Emily and Sammy would understand.Then, with a burst of flaming energy, she pushed Atlas back. He went stumbling towards the sky. Esperanza’s entire body was engulfed in flames. She could feel the fire, hotter than any she had ever summoned, licking at her skin.She knew for a fact her eyes were shining golden, just like a Titan.Atlas stared in disbelief, but Esperanza wasn’t done yet. She needed to get him back in his prison and kill the rest of these monsters. There was only one way to do that.Tears came to her golden eyes but she knew this was the only way. She turned her head, making out Jasper threw the golden light of the fire and the hoard of monsters surrounding him. They locked eyes for a moment and she gave him a shaky smile.“I love you,” She mouthed, hoping he would understand. Then out loud she shouted, “Now!”Thankfully, despite their reluctance to follow her plan earlier, like good Roman soldiers Emily and Sammy snapped into action without hesitation. Emily grew wings and grabbed Jasper under the arms, flying him high away from the battle.The son of Jason and Piper struggled in her grasp, seeming to understand what was about to happen.Sammy dove across the clearing, grabbing Bianca’s hand and reaching for Charlie’s knee under the sky. Zoe understood his intentions and put out one hand, her entire body shaking as she held the sky with one hand and her brother’s shoulder with the other.Bianca also understood, grabbing the Athena Parthenos and Sammy.All this happened in less than a second. Esperanza could see the shadows condensing around the demigods near the sky and just as Bianca shadowed them away, Esperanza let herself explode in a ball of fire.Atlas was blown back under the sky from the explosion. The monsters disintegrated around her, and Emily and Jasper were flown off course in the sky.The hot flames surrounded Esperanza but she couldn’t stop it. For the first time in her life, she felt what it was like to burn.Everything hurt. Her outer layers of clothes were gone. She could feel her skin peeling off her bones and the smell of burning hair filled her senses. Smoke was filling her lungs and making it hard to breathe. All she could see was red and all she could feel was burning pain.But then it stopped and her body felt numb as her vision began to blacken.The last thing she registered before everything went dark forever was the comforting and familiar sounds of her father tinkering in the garage, Green Day playing softly in the background in tune with her mother’s humming and the smell of cinnamon cookies filling the air.So, as she died in a fiery explosion just like her father and her grandmother before her, she smiled.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Voices.There were voices.The sound was like the low hum of the sea.Zoe opened her eyes. A flash of blond hair was covering her vision.“Zoe? Oh Zoe!” Her mother’s voice sounded over the dim of voices surrounding her. Zoe shook her head to rid herself of the fog that had settled over her brain. Wearily, she propped herself up onto her elbows and blinked slowly. Everything seemed to be moving as if in slow motion.Her arms and back hurt as if she had been carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Which she had.
Suddenly, she was much more alert.Atlas. The Athena Parthenos. Charlie holding up the weight of the sky beside her. Sammy reaching for her. Bianca shadow travelling.She looked down at herself. Her knees were bloody and scuffed from where her jeans had ripped as she kneeled on the rocky mountainside. Her skin was red, and her shirt and coat were covered in grime. She sat up further and a whiff of what smelled like a campfire filled her nostrils.Only, there wasn’t a campfire anywhere near them. No. It was coming from her clothes. Why did they smell like burning? And why did her face feel hot?“Bianca!” Will’s cry broke through her muddled mind and suddenly the safety of her friends was in the forefront of her mind.She pushed away from her mother as she slowly stood up. Charlie lay beside her on the grass, half-passed out from exhaustion like her. Her father hovered over him with worried eyes, probably wondering what had done such damage.Bianca and Sammy stood a few feet away. The Athena Parthenos was on its side atop the grass of Half-Blood Hill.They were back at camp.A crowd had surrounded the bottom of the hill, looking on with curious eyes.They had done it. They had completed their quest.But as she looked closer at Bianca and Sammy she realized something was wrong. Bianca’s face was ashen as she stared at her cousin. Sammy’s expression was one of anguish and guilt.“No.” Bianca said her voice dull yet full of emotion. Not pleading or doubtful but rather angry. “No!” Her cry caused a sudden silence to descend over the gathered crowd. Zoe watched as Bianca's eyes sought her father in the crowd. When they locked eyes, Nico gave a small shake of his head.The granddaughter of Hades turned back to her cousin. Her expression was one of fury. “You knew!” She shouted, as the ground began to shake and the grass at her feet withered and turned brown. “You knew and you did nothing!”Sammy was crying now, tears spilling over his cheeks as he stood strong against his cousin’s rage. “I am sorry. But the prophecy. I–I had to.”Confusion settled over all those watching. Zoe felt a knot of fear begin to grow in her stomach. She searched the hill for the faces of her other three companions; they were nowhere to be found. But before she or anyone could ask, thunder boomed above their heads and two figures emerged from the shadows beyond the pine tree.Lightning filled the air and the normally sunny skies over Camp Half-Blood turned dark with thundering storm clouds.Jasper was fighting against Emily with all his might as the granddaughter of Pluto and Mars, tried desperately to stop him.“No!” Jasper was yelling, each cry accompanied by a strike of lightning. “Let go of me!” Emily relented and quickly brought her bow up to block the sword Jasper aimed at her throat. “You take me back this instant! You hear me? Shadow travel me back now!”Zoe could see Hazel and Frank stepping forward worriedly, as Piper and Jason pushed themselves to the front of the crowd.Emily shook her head, her voice eerily calm despite the tears streaming down her face and the sword pointed at her throat. “No Jasper. I can’t. You know I can’t.”For a moment nobody moved, and then Jasper dropped his sword, falling to his knees.“Where is Espie?” Leo’s voice stopped everyone in their tracks.The knot in Zoe’s stomach tightened. Suddenly everything made horrible, yet perfect sense. The smell of smoke on her clothes. The look on Bianca and Sammy’s faces. Jasper’s screams. The prophecy.Zoe watched as Jasper got himself together and struggled to his feet. He stumbled down the hill to where Leo and Calypso stood, his sword still clasped in one hand. In his other, he held something that caught what little sunlight was weakly pouring through the thunderclouds.“I’m sorry.” He said in a quiet broken voice, but it felt like an echo in the silence that had descended over the camp. He held out his hand and Zoe saw the dragon armband Esperanza always wore. “I’m so sorry.”Beside her, Zoe’s mother gasped and suddenly Zoe felt like she couldn’t breathe.For a second nothing moved. Even the thunder and the storm clouds that had been brought on by Jasper’s grief seemed to stop. Zoe braced herself for the storm of fire she was sure to come but nothing happened. Instead the wind began to whip through the air and the ground seemed to shake.Calypso’s screams echoed off the trees.Zoe had never heard such a horrible, gut-wrenching sound in her life. She was both terrified and heartbroken.Then, everything started to blur. Zoe tried to focus on what was happening but to no avail. The world swayed beneath her feet.“Zoe!” Her mom’s concerned voice was the last thing she heard before the exhaustion she had been fighting for the past few minutes took hold. Her knees gave out and her vision turned black.—Zoe slowly came back to consciousness to the sound of rushing water. With a groan, she turned to her side and opened her eyes slowly. The sights of Cabin Three greeted her. For a moment she thought it was just another normal day at Camp, but then reality set in.The exhaustion that had plagued her mind since she first held up the sky was gone, and she quickly sat up in bed. Swinging her legs around she clumsily got out of bed and stumbled toward the bathroom.The sight that greeted her in the mirror caused her to falter. The bags under her eyes were stark against her unusually pale skin. Her hair was a mess; sticking out in all directions and when she looked closer she realized that a strand of her hair at her temple had turned grey.She looked down at herself, taking in the crumbled old camp t-shirt and shorts. Somebody – most likely her mom – must have changed her clothes for her and tucked her into bed.Quickly Zoe got dressed and headed to the door. She stopped with her hand on the handle and took a deep breath. Slowly she opened the door and stepped out into the blinding sunlight.She had half expected to walk out to find the camp burned to the ground with storm clouds raging overhead, but everything seemed normal, which didn’t seem right at all.She made her way towards the Big House, hoping to find her parents or Charlie. Campers still moved about, going to their activities for the day or chatting in their cabins. Some gave her sympathetic looks as she passed, others congratulated her on a successful quest.
It wasn’t her quest though… it was Espie’s.
As she passed the arena she noticed that part of the roof had been damaged and the surrounding trees were either sporting burn damage or had fallen down. Children of Demeter and the Dryads were tending to the trees as Hephaestus campers brought ladders and tools to fix the damaged roof.“What happened here?” She asked out loud to no one in particular.Silena, who had been shouting at the Hephaestus kids to make sure they didn’t wreck her arena, turned at the sound of Zoe’s voice.“Jackson. You’re awake.”Zoe nodded, “I am.” Then she asked again, “What happened here?”The other girl’s smile faded. “A grief-stricken giant mechanical dragon happened.”Zoe gasped. “Festus.”Silena nodded. “Yeah. Festus. We got him under control though. Nyssa and Harley almost lost their hands but eventually, they were able to shut him down. He is in Bunker Nine now.”Zoe nodded. Poor Festus.“Hey, I am really sorry about Esperanza.” Silena’s normally loud voice was quiet, and Zoe was quite shocked to see tears in the younger girl’s eyes. “I know that it is probably strange hearing this from me, but she was an amazing person, despite what a lot of people think.”“Yeah,” Zoe said, releasing a slow breath. “People did treat her kinda shitty didn’t they?”“You most of all.”Zoe was surprised by the venom in Silena’s voice. She swallowed and looked at the ground awkwardly. “I shouldn’t have done that.”“Like hell, you shouldn’t have!” Silena’s expression was fierce. “Just because she isn’t a grandchild of the Big Three doesn’t mean you and the other legacies can treat her like that!”“Wait, what? I thought this was about the whole ‘Titan’ thing?”“That too! But you all also left her out all the time. Believe it or not, she and I got really close whenever you guys ditched her.”Zoe felt a stab of guilt in her stomach, but it was soon replaced by bitterness. What did Silena know about their lives or their relationships with Esperanza?The two stared at each other for a moment, as if waiting to see who would make the next strike. “Whatever.” She said, shaking her head. “Just tell me where my parents are and I will leave you to your little construction project.”Silena glared at her, tears still in her eyes. “They are at Nico and Will’s.”“Thank you.”Zoe turned on her heel and stomped away from the arena towards New Athens. As she got closer to Will and Nico’s house she slowed her frantic pace. She wasn’t sure why she was so annoyed with Silena; clearly, the girl had been closer to Esperanza than she thought.The streets of New Athens were quiet compared to camp. She only passed one demigod on her way to the di Angelo-Solace residence. She took the steps two at a time and by the time she reached the door she felt a lot less agitated than when she had been talking with Silena.She took a deep breath before knocking on the door. She wasn’t sure what she was about to walk into.Nico opened the door and upon seeing it was her, opened it wider as an invitation for her to come in. “Everyone is in the dining room.”Zoe nodded and followed the son of Hades through the hallway to the kitchen and the dining room beyond. Her parents sat at one end of the table and gave her a small smile as she entered. Bianca was sitting with her dad on the other end, and Frank, Hazel and Emily were on the left side of the table. On the right, Jason sat beside Leo, who looked like he hadn’t slept a wink.Calypso, Sammy, Piper, Jasper, and her brother were nowhere to be found.Carefully, Zoe slipped into the seat between her dad and Jason, while Nico moved to stand behind Will’s chair. Percy reached over and squeezed her hand and Zoe returned his tight smile.“It is good to see you awake.” He said softly.Zoe smiled. “It feels good to be awake. How long was I out?”Her dad sighed, “About a day and a half.”Zoe blinked. It sure hadn’t felt like she had gotten more than a couple hours of rest, but clearly holding up the sky took a lot of you. “Where is everyone else?” Zoe asked cautiously when no one spoke.“Calypso is resting upstairs,” Leo answered, his voice unusually rough. Zoe nodded slowly.Jason shifted in his seat, “Pipes and Shel are with Jasper now. The girls are with Grover and Juniper.”“Sammy went to the archery range,” Hazel said, her normally cheerful face, downcast.“And your brother is leading some of the younger campers in canoeing on the lake.” Her dad said.Zoe nodded. Nobody seemed to want to break the silence. She could tell that everyone was trying hard not to stare at Leo where he sat, completely still for the first time in his life and staring off into space.Bianca wouldn’t make eye contact with her, and Emily only offered her a small smile when she caught her eye across the table. Strange.An awkward – and if Zoe was being honest; tense – silence filled the room. Nobody knew what to say or do. It was as if they were waiting for something.Almost as if the universe had read her mind, the doorbell rang and everybody but Leo seemed to jump a little in their seat. Nico moved to answer the door and the rest of them sat in silence.A few moments later Nico reentered the dining room with Piper, Jasper, Sammy and Chiron. The latter was in his wheelchair, and Will quickly vacated his seat to make way for the centaur. The remaining three newcomers stood in various places around the room.“So,” Chiron began, “The quest is now done.”“It was successful, right?” Zoe asked, cutting the centaur off. “I mean, we won, right?”Chiron smiled warmly at her, “Yes Zoe, your quest was successful. Atlas is restored to his proper place and Khione will not be bothering anyone for a while.” Zoe nodded. Her first official quest was successful. But at what cost?Chiron took a deep breath before continuing. “So, now that it is complete, we must deal with the aftermath.” Everyone knew what he meant, yet no one spoke. “We must now plan Esperanza’s funeral–”Leo stood up abruptly, coming out of the daze he had been in since Zoe had entered the room. Everyone started at him. For a moment he didn’t say anything, then, “I think I am going to go check on Calypso.”“Leo,” Piper said, coming to stand in front of her best friend, “I-I think you should be here for this.”He shook his head, “No. No. You’ve got this. I trust you.”Piper only nodded sadly. “Okay.” With that Leo turned and walked from the dining room.Chiron cleared his throat, “Well then. I guess we will continue without Mr. Valdez. Does anyone have anyone have any ideas of what Esperanza would have wanted?”“I know who doesn’t,” Bianca muttered under her breath.Zoe’s heartbeat increased.“Bianca!” Will chided.She shrugged. “What? Somebody at this table didn’t give a fuck about Espie when she was alive so why would they care about her now that she is dead. ”She heard gasps from the adults. Nico was chiding Bianca in Italian and Will was shaking his head. Zoe knew exactly who Bianca was talking about and it seemed everyone else did too. Sammy wouldn’t meet her eye, Emily was biting her lip and Jasper was outright glaring at her.She felt the anger start to build up. What the hell did Bianca know?“Apologize now! To everyone.” Nico was saying.Bianca only shook her head, angry tears in her eyes. “Why should I? I am telling the truth.”Zoe stood up, “What the fuck Bianca?! What do you know?”“What do I know? More than you!” Bianca yelled back. The glasses of water on the table began to shake as Zoe felt her anger rise.“I didn’t not care about her.”Jasper stood up too, “Bullshit! You hated her!”“I did not!”“Yes, you did! You almost killed her!”Thunder began to rumble outside.“Esperanza was my friend! She and I just didn’t get along!”“And whose fault was that? She tried to be your friend Zoe and now she is gone! She is dead!”“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Zoe’s dad’s voice rang through the room, bringing her out of her ranging thoughts. Bianca and Jasper were both still stood glaring at her, and all three of them were breathing heavily. “You three need to get your acts together! We are here to plan the funeral of your friend, not to fight. Now sit down!”One does not simply ignore an order from Percy Jackson; they all sat.“Well,” Chiron began once they were all settled. “Percy is right, let us all settle down. Now–”“I think Zoe should leave.”Zoe looked up in shock to meet Emily Zhang's eyes. Even Emily was against her now?“I think that is a good idea.”“What? Mom?” Zoe couldn’t believe this. Her own mother was kicking her out.Annabeth gave her a look that meant there was no arguing with her. “I am serious Zoe. I think it is best if you leave.”“But–”“No buts.”Zoe looked around the room but no one would meet her eyes. Chiron only gave her a small sad, smile. She turned to look at her parents. “I want to help. I know I wasn’t the best friend to Esperanza when she was alive but that doesn’t mean I don’t care. Please. I want to help.”Her parents exchanged a look. Finally, her mother sighed. “Alright.” She turned to Jason and Piper who now seemed to be in charge of this whole thing since Leo left. “Is there anything she can do?”After a moment of hesitation Jason spoke up, “We need someone to collect her things from the Hephaestus cabin.”Zoe nodded, “I can do that.”The son of Zeus nodded, “Thank you.”Awkwardly, Zoe got up from her seat at the table and left the dining room, unable to make eye contact with anyone. First Silena and now everyone else? Did they all think she was such a bitch?The walk to the cabins felt longer than usual. Zoe was keenly aware of everyone’s eyes on her as she walked past. It almost seemed like she had suddenly become camp enemy #1. It was almost as if they blamed her for Esperanza's death.Making it to the cabins at last, Zoe was about to turn toward the Hephaestus cabin when she ran smack into her brother – literally.“Charlie! Oh, my gods!” She pulled him into a hug. Though he was taller than her now, he still rested his head on her shoulder. She pulled back to see his face. “Are you alright?”Charlie smiled tiredly. He looked less pale than she had in the mirror this morning, and his eyes seemed brighter than when she had seen him last. There was a shallow cut on his cheek that was slowly healing and he too was sporting a streak of grey hair. “Yeah, I am all good. I woke up yesterday with a pounding headache but I am feeling much better today. What about you? You okay?”Zoe’s excitement at seeing her little brother alive and well faded. “Yeah, I am alright. I just woke up a few hours ago. That was somehow the best and worst sleep of my entire life.”Charlie laughed, “Right? Anyway, what are you up to now? I just got done teaching some of the younger campers how to canoe and you would not believe how many of them cannot swim. I had to save nearly half of them. I was gonna grab a bite to eat if you want to join?”“I would love to,” Zoe said, forcing a smile on her face. “But I can’t.”“Why?”She sighed. “I have been sent to collect Esperanza’s things from Cabin 9.”“Oh.” Charlie looked around as if just noticing how much attention was on the two of them. “I see.”“Bianca and Jasper hate me now. Even Sammy and Emily didn’t want me to help plan her funeral. Mom too.” Zoe sighed, biting her fingernails, and looking down at her brother’s shoes. “Everyone thinks I hated her.”Charlie was silent for a moment. “I know you didn’t.”Zoe’s head shot up to meet his eye. He gave her a small, sad smile. “It's… its just complicated. I-”“I know. I should go.” Charlie interrupted, speaking louder. “And so should you. I will see you later Zo.”She watched him go for a moment, wanting to call out to him but not really sure what she would say. Finally, she shook her head and walked toward the Hephaestus cabin. The door opened before she could knock and Nola Donovan, Head of Cabin 9, stood on the other side.Nola’s dark hair was pulled into a messy braid, and her eyes were red and puffy. Clearly, she had been crying. Zoe felt a stab of guilt; she hadn’t cried.Nola looked her up and down as she stood on the porch of the cabin, unsure of how to proceed. “You are here for Espie’s things?”Zoe blinked. “Um, yes. How did you know?”“Why else would you be here? We don’t have a fish tank.”Zoe was taken aback. She didn’t know what to say. Thankfully, Nola seemed to have said her piece and simply held the door open wider for Zoe. She entered the cabin cautiously. She had only ever been in Cabin 9 once or twice before but she knew to watch out for flying machinery. However, today there was nothing, not even the sound of a drill.She got to the middle of the cabin before she realized she had no idea which bunk was Esperanza’s. She turned back towards Nola, who scoffed. “The left-hand corner.” She said before turning away.Zoe nodded, heading over to the left corner of the cabin. There were only a few campers in the cabin, the rest must have been doing their activities or in the forge. The campers who were in the cabin were resting on their bunks reading or fiddling with machinery at the small desks beside each bed. A few looked up as Zoe passed but most kept to themselves.Three campers were lounging on a bed close to the corner Zoe had been looking for, talking quietly. They looked up at her as she walked past. The two girls giggled, whispering in each other’s ears, while the boy just looked at her.Zoe ignored them. She found Esperanza’s bed at last and for a moment she was struck by how well organized it was. Her bed was made, with multiple decorative pillows piled on top, shoes were placed neatly at the foot of her bed, and though at first glance the desk looked messy, there was organization to the chaos. Trunks of clothes lay neatly underneath the bed, a bulletin board full of photos hung above the desk, posters of action movies and a Monet painting print were over the bed, and a small wilting plant sat on the nightstand.It was not what Zoe was expecting from the daughter of Leo Valdez, though was not quite sure what she had expected. Just things to be a little more dirty she supposed.Sighing, Zoe started with the desk, organizing the scattered papers, and putting the bits of wire and machinery into a bin. She then began to unpin the photos hanging on the bulletin board.There were photos of cars, landscapes, flowers, and a few of some machines of some sort. The majority of the photos, however, were those of her with her family and friends. Selfies of her and her parents in the machine shop, her and her mother in the garden, a baby photo of her dad holding her on top of Festus, her with Joe and Emmi at Christmas, her and Georgina with their nails painted crazy colours, and Lityerses and her at the Waystation.There were also photos of her and Emily and Sammy both from now and as children. She had a selfie with Bianca in the infirmary. There was even a photo of her and Charlie after a game of Capture the Flag.There were many of her and Jasper, some when they were babies, and more with them as they got older. In Camp t-shirts, playing on the beach in California, in front of the Eiffel Tower in France, dressed up as pirates for Halloween, at a campfire, sparring in the arena and even a picture of the two of them and Jasper’s little sisters.The only photos Zoe was in were group photos.There was an old photo of the seven of them as little kids on Zoe’s grandmother’s couch. Sammy and Emily sat on the left with matching purple t-shirts, holding baby Bianca on their lap. Zoe was on the right, holding her baby brother, her mouth stained blue after eating too many of her grandmother’s cookies. Jasper was beside her, clutching his bear stuffed animal tight. And there, right in the middle was Esperanza. Her curly hair was pulled into two high pigtails tied with white bows. She wore a red dress with grass stains on the knee and on her face was the brightest smile Zoe had ever seen.Zoe stared at the photo for a long moment. She vaguely remembered that day. It had been her dad’s thirtieth birthday. Everyone had come to New York to celebrate at her grandmother’s apartment. It had been a hectic party filled with blue food, babies, godly visits and a monster who stood no chance against an apartment full of demigods.Back then life had been so easy.It had been easy to be friends.“Oh my gods!”Zoe was brought out of her musings by the giggling of the girls from before. She glanced over her shoulder to see them laughing outright in her direction. The boy joined in. She couldn’t remember their names, but she wanted to call them out.Before she could, however, the boy spoke up. “She deserved it you know?”“What?”He nodded toward the bunk. “Valdez. She deserved what she got in the end. I am—”“OUT NOW!”Zoe startled at the sound of Nola’s voice, ringing through the cabin. Everyone froze. The girls sat up in the bed and the boy glared at Nola as the Head Camper came around the corner. “I SAID OUT! NOW!”One of the girls began to protest. “But we didn’t even do–”“Shut up Thea! I don’t care! You, Karla and Spencer, have been little assholes since you got here! You disrespected Espie in life, I will not have you disrespect her in death. Now… GET OUT!”The three demigods looked around as if they expected one of their siblings to jump to their aid but no one did. Finally, Spencer rolled his eyes and left the cabin, Thea and Karla in tow.For a moment nobody spoke but then eventually the rest of the campers went back to what they were doing before.Zoe looked at Nola. “What was that?” Instead of a response, Nola simply jerked her head to point to something behind Zoe before turning away.Curious, Zoe turned back to the corkboard and gasped softly. Since she had removed the photos covering the board, words drawn in red marker were now visible. Each message Zoe read was worse than the one before, but there were so many overlapping she could barely make it out. However, the one word she could make out was written in big block letters right in the center.
Titan.
Zoe’s breath caught in her throat. Esperanza had covered the insult and each hateful message with things she loved. Photos of her machines, her artwork, flowers, travel photos, her mortal friends, her demigod friends, her parents… everything.The Poseidon-Athena legacy looked down at the desk which held the photos. Esperanza’s designs, sketches and math that Zoe knew she could never understand no matter how hard she studied, were littered across it. She looked at the bed, the posters, the shoes, the clothes and the dead flower.She had been alive.She had been alive and had had so much potential.She would have become an engineer and would have graduated before any of them.She would have travelled the world and spread her inventions to new places.She would have taken over her parent's shop or made her own shop one day.She would have met someone perfect and fallen in love.Zoe took a shuddering breath. She was dead.
Esperanza Valdez was dead.
Suddenly the air inside that cabin felt too stuffy and the walls too close. Quickly, Zoe took everything from the desk into a bin and fled from the cabin. She would come back for the other stuff later.She bypassed campers' questioning looks as she hurried to the Poseidon Cabin. She heard someone call her name but she ignored them. She ran up the steps of Cabin 3, gripping the bin in her hands with all her might.She made it through the door and placed the bin on her desk. Then she turned back and bolted the door before sinking slowly to the ground.Esperanza Valdez was dead.A bang on the door behind her back startled her into action. She jumped up, grabbed her knife and opened the door swiftly.“Whoa there!” Grover stood there. His hands up in surrender to the knife pointed at his chest. “I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”Zoe lowered the knife shakily and sat down on her bed. Grover moved slowly, stepping into the cabin and closing the door softly behind him. He came to sit on the edge of Zoe’s bed, eyeing her carefully.“What is it Zo?”“Esperanza Valdez is dead.”“Ah.”“She didn’t deserve to die.”“No, she didn’t.”“I was so mean to her, all because I held some stupid grudge. And now all my other friends hate me for it. And I think I am starting to hate myself for it…”Grover nodded softly and drew her into a one-armed hug. “I am sorry.”Zoe looked at him. She was the granddaughter of Athena, she was never supposed to be unsure of anything. “What do I do?”The satyr sighed. “I don’t know kid. I wish I had all the answers that could make this situation all better, but I don’t.” Zoe nodded miserably. “But what I can tell you is that your parents are the strongest people I have ever met. You are the daughter of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, it will all work out and if it doesn’t you will make it right yourself.”Zoe smiled and returned the side hug. “Thank you, Uncle Grover. I feel better.” She yawned. “Though I am still really tired.”Grover kissed her hair. “Get some sleep kid. I will tell your parents you are alright.”She nodded, “I will.”Grover gave her one last kiss on the head before, getting up and leaving the cabin. For a long while Zoe sat staring at the wall, trying to process everything that had happened over the past few hours.She didn’t go to the dining pavilion but ate some snacks her brother hid in his secret stash drawer. Then she lay in her bed and stared up at the high ceiling. Everything was different now. Nothing would go back to the way it was.Sleep began to consume her once more and in the fading light of the evening, Zoe Jackson cried herself to sleep.—When she woke up the next morning it was to the sound of her brother calling her name. “Zoe!”She turned to block the light from her eyes. “What?”“Sorry to wake you but we are going to be late for breakfast and I know for a fact you haven’t eaten much these past few days.” When she didn’t react, Charlie smacked her with a pillow. “Get up lazy head!”“Ugh. Fine!” Zoe complained. “Stop hitting me!”Charlie laughed and dodged her attempt to hit him back as he danced out of the cabin. Zoe groaned but got herself up, dressed and out the door in less than ten minutes.She made it to the dining pavilion where it seemed everyone either wouldn’t meet her eye, was whispering about her or gave her a sympathetic smile. She tried to wave to Bianca, Sammy and Emily at the Hades table but Bianca wouldn’t look at her and the twins only gave her a small smile.Charlie had opted to sit with the Athena kids but kept sending longing glances at Bianca. Zoe rolled her eyes and left him to his day dreams.Sitting alone at the Poseidon table, Zoe tried to get through breakfast without throwing it all up again as she watched the other campers avoid her like the black plague. Her gaze drifted over to the empty Zeus table and she wasn’t sure if she was worried or relieved that Jasper decided not to come to breakfast.She looked up to the head table where only Mr. D was present. He was laughing at something she was sure only he would find funny and scowling at anyone who looked his way. He seemed like the only being at camp not bothered by what had happened.Zoe hated him for it.He was the perfect example of a god; unbothered with the fact that another mortal died cleaning up their mess. They didn’t care about one mortal dying. They were selfish and pompous and the reason Esperanza was dead.She hadn’t deserved it yet they still killed her. It wasn’t right.Zoe had never felt so helpless.
"You are the daughter of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, it will all work out and if it doesn’t you will make it right yourself."
Grover’s words from the day before echoed in her head, and as she continued to stare at Mr. D an idea struck her.It may not have been her brightest idea; but hey, while she may be a descendant of Athena, she was first and foremost the daughter of Percy Jackson.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Zoe finished her breakfast fast and wasting no time headed back to Cabin 3. After a phone call on her monster-proof phone, she grabbed her sword and a backpack, quickly filling it with food, water and some ambrosia. Then, she gathered her dark hair into a ponytail and strapped her knife to her ankle.As she made her way across camp, no one stopped her until she reached Thalia’s tree.“Where are you going?” Piper’s wife Shel stood at the bottom of the hill with Eloise and Megan.Zoe barely slowed her steps, “I just have to run an errand! I will be back soon!” She ran the rest of the way down the hill.Thankfully the ride she called was already there. Smiling, she waved to Argus who looked surprised to see her run past and got into the passenger seat of the blue Honda.“Whatever is about to happen better not put a single scratch on my car, okay? I just bought this!”Zoe laughed at her aunt. “Don’t worry Aunt Estelle, I just need a ride, nothing more. We won’t be fighting any monsters or anything… hopefully.”Estelle gave her a pointed look. “You are lucky you are my favourite niece.”“Aren’t I your only ni–”“Be quiet before I change my mind.”Zoe laughed. “Okay.”The drive to Manhattan was long but they passed the time by giving each other updates on life. Estelle told Zoe about the new guy she was seeing, how her master’s degree was going and about a friend’s wedding she was in. In turn, Zoe told Estelle all about the quest, what monsters she had fought recently, and her plan.“Are you sure this will work?” Estelle asked as they neared their destination.“Nope, not at all. But I have to try.”Estelle nodded, “I know. Just… be safe alright.” She pulled the car over to the curb.Zoe smiled. “I will. Thank you for the ride and everything Aunt Estelle.”“Anytime.”Zoe climbed out of the Honda and onto the streets of New York.“Oh! Will you need a ride back to camp?” Her aunt yelled over the sound of NYC traffic.Zoe shook her head. “No, I will figure something out. Thanks!”“Okay. Good luck!”Zoe nodded and watched as her aunt’s car disappeared into the lights and sounds of the city. Taking a deep breath Zoe turned around and entered the Empire State Building.She walked through the lobby, trying to blend in the the swarms of tourists that outnumbered the men and women in suits walking to work. She made a bee-line for the elevators, hoping in vain not to get caught by the security guard.“Do you have special authorization, Miss?” He asked in a curt voice, stepping in front of her.Zoe fought back the urge to roll her eyes, “No. Now move.”She moved to step around him but he blocked her path. “I can’t let you in without special authorization.”“Do you know who I am?”The security guard gave her a tight smile. Zoe felt her already slim patience begin to wear out. “I know you are a demigod.”“Oh, well look at you smarty pants!”“You need authorization to go to Olympus.”“I am the daughter of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, saviour and architect of Olympus, who saved the world and your lazy immortal asses more times than I think you can count. I think that is authorization enough, and if not I will take it up with Zeus himself.”The guard blinked at her, unsure how to react to her outburst.“Move,” Zoe said again.This time he did, with little hesitation. Zoe marched straight into the elevator, pushing the button for the 600th floor. She took a deep breath when the doors closed in front of her, the rush of adrenaline from her encounter with the security guard slowly leaving her system. She played with the beads on her camp necklace and tapped her foot on the floor.Finally, the elevator dinged and the doors opened to the kingdom of the gods.She had been to Olympus once before when she was really little. Her mother had been visiting to ensure the construction she was in charge of was going well and brought a six-year-old Zoe along. She had found it beautiful and overwhelming back then and she felt the same now. Only this time she was on a mission, not a pleasant visit.The long walk to the throne room felt even longer than it had at age six. Dread was creeping up into the back of her mind. What if this doesn’t work?Guards stationed on either side of the long walkway to the throne room didn’t even acknowledge her presence though she knew that all of Olympus had to know she was here by now.To her surprise, as she stepped into the large chamber, almost all but one of the seats were occupied. Only, Mr. D’s was of course empty.“Zoe Jackson.”Zoe took pride in the fact that she did not jump at the booming voice calling her name. She only looked up, slightly faster than normal.Zeus sat on his throne, looking at her, his blue eyes crackling. She was pleased to see him looking agitated and the only logical conclusion she could come up with was that he was mad her name did not have a longer version he could scream in her face like a misbehaving child.“Zeus,” She answered simply. She would not bow to the king of the gods, not now. His look sharpened, but before he could say anything more, Athena interrupted.“My dear, come closer. I believe we must chat.”Zoe did as her grandmother bid, stepping closer into the room and trying not to let the unyielding gaze of twelve immortals break her resolve. Thankfully, the small smile Poseidon sent her way gave her courage.“I am assuming you are here to claim your prize?” Hera drawled. The queen of the gods was lounging upon her throne, her gold crown glinting off the sun – or was that just Apollo’s throne?“My what?” Zoe asked, confused.Around her, amused laughter broke out. Even Zeus cracked a smile. “My wife asked if you were here to claim your prize, that you believe you are entitled to after helping save the world. We knew sooner or later one of you demigods would show up and try.”More laughter. Zoe clenched her fists at her side.“I am not here for my prize.”“Oh?”Silence descended on the throne room.Zeus leaned forward in his chair, examining Zoe. “What are you here for then?”“I am here to bargain for the life of Esperanza Valdez.”As she expected, her declaration was met with confusion and uncertainty. She could hear the gods muttering among themselves. Zoe noticed Hephaestus's hands had gripped the arms of his throne tighter. Athena’s eyes blazed with warning – she did not approve of this plan.Poseidon was looking at her with such concern in his eyes that Zoe didn’t dare look for fear that of what that might mean. This had to work.The sudden noise of the room was cut off by the sound of Zeus’ laughter.“You came to do what?”Now, Zoe could feel her blood boiling. The familiar tugging in her gut started and she noticed the pools of water along the sides of the room begin to ripple.“I said,” Her words came out short and biting, “I came here to bargain for the life of Esperanza Valdez.”“Ah,” Zeus finally said, after a moment. “And who is that again?”She knew deep down that he was doing this deliberately. That he wanted to get a rise out of her so she would do something stupid like attack him and he would have the right to smite her where she stood. But despite all that, she felt herself on the brink of losing control.The water had begun to swirl dangerously, but only Poseidon seemed to have noticed and he did nothing to stop her. She felt the burning words she wanted so desperately to say build up inside of her. But before she could open her mouth, a voice stopped her.“She is—was, my granddaughter.”Zoe turned at the sound of Hephaestus’s voice, surprised.“She was Leo Valdez’s daughter,” he continued, “Leo and… Calypso.”Zeus’ face hardened, “Oh, yes, her. She is dead. Why change that?”“Why?” Zoe yelled, unable to hold back anymore. “Why? Because she didn’t deserve to die! Because she was kind, funny, smart, and witty, and she always gave everything to others and never asked for anything in return. All her life people treated her like shit – myself worst of all – and yet she still smiled, and made jokes, and laughed and loved every one!”“Why change that she is dead? Because she was alive and now she is dead because she gave her life for you fucking idiots!”Her voice echoed through the chamber. Nobody moved.As she gave back to herself she realized her chest was heaving and her shoes were wet. She looked down and was shocked to see she had created a small flood. She took a deep breath and looked up to meet the eyes of the king of the gods once again.“Well?” She asked irritably.Zeus cleared his throat, “I don’t know what you expect us to do Ms. Jackson. Esperanza Valdez is dead. We cannot bring someone back from the dead.”Zoe felt her heart drop.“Um, well…” She turned to see Hades, the King of the Underworld shifting in his seat, “It is possible…”With new hope, Zoe stepped closer to Zeus’s throne. “Please. If it is possible you must make it happen.”“I mean the girl did sacrifice herself for us,” Poseidon said, ignoring the dark glare from his brother. Zoe shot him a grateful smile.“And the world,” Demeter added, “Who knows what havoc Atlas and Khione would have had on this world. Could you imagine an eternal winter?” She shuttered. “My poor plants would never survive such a thing.”Hera rolled her eyes. “No one cares about the plants.”“I do!”“Besides the plants,” Apollo cut in, “this would be following the prophecy; ‘actions of sires they must repeat’. Leo died in a fiery explosion and came back, now it's Esperanza’s turn.”Zoe looked pleadingly at the King and Queen of Olympus. “If Hades says it can be done, then it must. Esperanza deserves to come back. Please.” She added no matter how much it hurt to use her manners in front of the gods.Zeus and Hera shared a look. Zoe held her breath.“We shall vote on it,” Zeus announced suddenly. “All against bringing Esperanza Valdez back from the dead, raise your hands.”With her heart pounding Zoe watched as Zeus, Hera, Ares, Artemis, and to her surprise, Athena raised their hands.“And all those in favour of bringing her back?”Zoe mentally did the math, but with her nerves and ADHD, she was having a hard time focusing. Five said no…Demeter, Apollo, Poseidon, Hermes, Hades, Aphrodite and Hephaestus raised their hands.Zeus sighed, “For wins.”Zoe could have cried, she could have run around the throne room and jumped for joy but she kept her emotions in check, only smiling proudly to herself.“However,” Her smile fell at Zeus’s words. “I have a condition.”Zoe ground her teeth together, trying to keep her cool. “What is it?”The King of the gods smiled, “Esperanza Valdez will be brought back to life, but, she will not be brought back here.”“Where will she be then?”“Since she has already shared in her father’s fate, I do think it is high time she shares in her mother’s.” Zoe had a sinking feeling in her stomach. “She will be brought back to life and put on the island of Ogygia.”“What?” Zoe shouted, “But Ogygia is almost impossible to find.”Zeus shrugged, “That is not my problem Ms. Jackson. If you wish to bring your friend home, you must find the island yourself. However, you are to tell no one about this. Not a single soul can know where you are going or what you are doing. You may have no help. You are on your own in this.”Zoe’s head felt dizzy. She had to find Ogygia all by herself? “That could take forever,” She murmured.“Well then,” Zeus clapped his hands, “You better get started now, don’t you think?”Zoe looked up, “Wait—”Zeus snapped his fingers and there was a flash. Zoe stumbled forward and hit her head on the statue of Poseidon in Cabin Three.She was back at camp.Rubbing her forehead to try and ease the pain, Zoe let out a frustrated sob. What was she supposed to do? There was no way she could find Ogygia by herself!She sat on the edge of her bunk, head in her hands as she mulled everything over. She shouldn’t have gone to Olympus, she shouldn’t have tried to meddle in things she had no part in. Now, Esperanza was alive but stuck on an unmappable, magic island, alone, forever.Zoe groaned. Then jumped as the door swung open. Surprisingly, her mom walked into the cabin, taking in her startled appearance.Annabeth was instantly concerned. “Are you okay?’“I-I’m fine.”“Where have you been? Shel said she saw you leave camp like six hours ago.”Zoe stared at her mom, had it really been six hours? It had felt more like a couple of minutes. “It doesn’t matter. I just had to run an errand.”She gave her a disbelieving look, “An errand?”Zoe nodded, “Yeah, an errand. What’s wrong with that?”“Nothing, nothing. Just seems like an odd time to run an errand.”Zoe sighed, “Seems like an odd time for anything really.”Annabeth nodded in agreement. She came and sat beside Zoe on her bed. Without speaking she threw her arm around her daughter’s shoulders. She sighed, “I am proud of you.” She whispered into Zoe’s hair.Zoe felt tears spring to her eyes, “Someone died, Mom.”Annabeth nodded softly, “I am sorry Zo. I really, really hoped you would never have to go through this. I thought all your dad and I went through would have changed things. But it seems like demigods will just keep dying. It’s our fate.”“She didn’t deserve it.” Zoe said quietly.“No one does.” Her voice broke and Zoe realized that her mom was crying. Zoe knew she was thinking about all the friends she had lost in the past.Zoe sighed, leaning heavily into her mom’s side. “I wish I could have done something. If she had only told me, I-I could have come up with a plan. I understand why she wouldn’t trust me, but if only she told me.”“Oh Zo.” Her mom said, squeezing her tighter, “We can’t plan for everything. We can’t control what other people do. And I know it is really hard, but there are just somethings we don’t know.”Zoe felt a tear run down her cheek. She wanted to tell her mom everything. She wished she could tell her about the gods' decision and how she somehow had to find Ogygia before Esperanza was stuck forever. But she knew she couldn’t.The two sat in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts before Zoe’s stomach began to growl.Annabeth chuckled. “Let’s get some food.”Zoe nodded, not really wanting to leave the cabin, but knowing she would have to eventually. Slowly she stood and made her way to the door before she stopped and asked her mom. “Hey Mom?”“Yeah?”“Do you know what happened with the funeral plans?”Her mom looked at her sadly, “Piper and Jason got it all figured out. It’s tomorrow. I will help you pick out a black dress.”“Oh,” Zoe swallowed. “Okay, cool.”Then with that, she stepped out into the evening light, her head spinning. What was she going to do?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Zoe sighed and shifted in her seat. Her black dress was itchy in the hot summer air. The amphitheatre was filled with demigods dressed similarly in black. The sun shone brightly above, mocking the sombre mood of the day. Nico and Chiron were standing in the middle of the amphitheatre, watching as the last of the demigods filed in.Zoe sat beside her parents and Charlie. She leaned forward in her seat, looking to her left where Jasper was sitting in between Jason and Piper. He was slumped in his seat, his eyes red from crying, staring blankly at the spot in front of him.Beside her, her mom reached out and grabbed her hand, squeezing softly. Zoe gratefully squeezed back.A horn blew in the wind, and the crowd went silent as the Hephaestus Cabin entered the amphitheatre, carrying the burial shroud with Leo and Calypso.At the back of the procession Karla and Thea were whispering to each other. Zoe’s eyes narrowed. How could they continue to be so disrespectful, on today of all days?Thea laughed, the sound echoed through the open space. She quickly put her hand over her mouth.Somewhere behind Zoe, Emily gasped. She could see Silena rising from her seat out of the corner of her eye. But before Silena could do anything Thea suddenly tripped on a root that Zoe swore wasn’t there before. Karla followed suit.Silena sat back down, bumping fists with her cousin Bella, who had found a sudden interest in her nails.Zoe couldn’t help but smile.Her smile faded as Chiron cleared his throat. “Welcome everyone. We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Esperanza Valdez. Though it will not bring her back, may it ease all our hearts to know she died a hero.”Nico stepped forward, “Esperanza sacrificed her life so that the Titan Atlas would be put back in his rightful place. She saved us from a world of torment at the hands of the Titan and the snow goddess Khione. As a child of Hades, I know for a fact that she will be granted Elysium and rest there peacefully for eternity.”Zoe’s heart hammered in her chest. She knew Esperanza was not in Elysium, but rather alone on Ogygia, with no sense of how she got there, and no way home. There would be no peaceful rest for her unless Zoe managed to find her.After Nico had completed the opening remarks, Nola said a few words in honour of her half-niece. A newer demigod named Brie, daughter of Aphrodite stood up next, praising Esperanza for helping her get settled into camp.Zoe fidgeted in her seat, her mind racing. How was she going to find Ogygia?Jasper stood next, and with shaky hands, he took out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. He fumbled as he tried to unfold it. Finally, he got it open and cleared his throat.“Everyone said that Esperanza Valdez was my best friend,” His normally strong, confident voice was weak, almost inaudible against the wind whipping through the amphitheatre. “If we took into account our godly side, we would be considered cousins. But in reality, we were more like siblings. She was my sister.” He choked out.
Gods.
Zoe could feel her throat constrict. Around her, everyone had started to cry, but she held back. She needed to focus. She had to figure out a way to save Esperanza and stop all this misery.She cursed Zeus under her breath. He just loved to see them all suffer.Despite her efforts to not cry, when Leo and Calypso began to speak, she couldn’t hold back.“Hi everyone,” Leo said awkwardly, one hand placed on the funeral shroud, the other clutching Calypso’s so tight it looked painful. “Um… thank you all for coming. We really want this to be a celebration of Espie’s life, not a mourning of her death. So we wanted to share some stories.”He looked to Calypso. There were tears streaming down her face but straightening her spine she turned to face the audience, “Our daughter was the best daughter you could ever ask for. She was so insanely smart, and funny. I never hoped to have kids one day, but she was –is – my miracle and my girl.”Zoe’s mom put her arm around her shoulder, pulling her tight.“She had such big dreams…” Calypso’s voice trailed off. “I’m sorry.” She turned her face into Leo’s shoulder.Leo kissed her head, before wiping a hand across his eyes and continuing where she had left off. “I will never forget the first time Espie burst into flames.” He chuckled, “Cal was so scared she screamed bloody murder, which made Espie start screaming. I was laughing so hard I almost dropped her on the way to the sink to put her out.”The crowd laughed softly. Leo had a small smile on his face, “Much to my disappointment she grew her first flower before she made her first machine. But she was so proud, I didn’t stay disappointed for long. However, I can happily say she flew on Festus before she could walk!” Calypso swatted at his arm. Leo laughed, “Cal still hasn’t forgiven me for that one yet.”Zoe smiled, tears still on her cheeks. “Her and Festus were inseparable,” Leo continued, “Ever since that first ride. They used to play hide-and-seek in the garage together. Espie would hide and Festus would find her and vice versa. I can remember a time…”Leo kept going but Zoe was no longer listening.
Festus.
Festus had to have travel logs.Festus had been to Ogygia.Zoe stood up, finally a plan swirling in her mind.“Zoe! What are you doing?” Her mom hissed at her.“I have to go.”“What?” Her dad leaned over from his place beside Charlie. “Go where?”“I can’t explain,” Zoe said quickly, “I have to go.” Her mom reached out to try and stop her, grasping the hem of her dress. Zoe yanked her skirt away and made her way down the aisle.Quickly she made her way through the seats of the amphitheatre. Ignoring the glares from Jasper and Bianca. She knew everyone was judging her right now, wondering why she would run out of Esperanza’s funeral but she had to act fast.Thankfully, already armed with her sword, she ran through the woods towards Bunker 9, her feet getting caught on loose rocks and twigs tangling in her hair.Finally, the steel doors of the bunker came into view.“What are you doing here?”Zoe stopped in her tracks. In front of the bunker was JC Cordova, a son of Hephaestus. He was studying her, trying to figure out why she was there.“I could ask the same of you?” Zoe said by way of explanation.JC shrugged, “We needed someone to stay behind to guard the dragon and I volunteered. I don’t do well with funerals…” He added quietly.Zoe felt bad, but she had business to attend to, “You don’t suppose you can open the bunker for me and don’t tell anyone I was here?”JC looked her up and down, “No. I can’t do that.”“Damn. I thought you would say that.”Zoe grabbed her sword and hit him over the head with the pommel. He crumpled to the ground. “Sorry,” She mumbled as she dragged him toward the bunker doors and used his hand to get it open. “Thank you.”As the steel doors opened, Zoe was greeted by the smells of oil and smoke. Cautiously she stepped into the bunker. Workbenches and tables filled the space that wasn’t taken up by half-done machines and gadgets. The place was a mess, blue prints, tools and scraps lay in all available space.Zoe tip-toed around the mess on the floor to the back of the bunker where she could see the bronze dragon temporarily shut down in the corner.Standing in front of Festus Zoe was at a loss. How does one turn on a dragon?She did what any sane person would do; started pressing buttons.Nothing happened the first few times so she just kept trying, waiting to see if Festus would wake up.Finally, after a few minutes of pressing buttons, a whirling sound filled the garage and the bronze dragon’s eyes glowed ruby red. Festus reared up, startling Zoe. She jumped away, crashing into a table behind her. Her hip hit the corner and she bit back a painful groan.Festus roared, knocking over shelves and tools. The bunker was filled with the sounds of metal and clanging.“Whoa!” Zoe called out, dodging a swipe of the dragon’s tail. “Festus!”Festus didn’t seem to hear her, intent on finishing the job he had started when Harley and Nyssa shut him down.“Festus!” She tried again. Zoe was starting to regret her idea to use Festus as she threw her hands over her head to protect herself from a rain of bolts and screws. “I need your help! I am going to find Esperanza!”At Esperanza’s name, the dragon paused, smoke curling from his nostrils. He fixed Zoe with a sharp glare. “Esperanza,” Zoe repeated her hands up in front of her in surrender. “I need your help to find Esperanza.”The dragon took a step closer and Zoe winced, but instead of hurting her, Festus sniffed her black dress and his ruby eyes flashed as if he were blinking. Taking her chance, Zoe continued telling him her plan, “Do you remember Ogygia? That is where we have to go.”She couldn’t tell if he understood what she was saying but he was calm and staring at her expectantly. Zoe took it as a good sign.Gently and slowly she began to gather supplies from around the workshop. When it became clear the dragon wasn’t going to attack her again, Zoe carefully walked toward him. Festus allowed her to lift her bag onto his back and attach it.“Okay,” Zoe took a step back. “Now how do we get out of here?”Festus clicked, tilting his head toward a panel on the wall behind Zoe. The panel was made up of about thirty different buttons. Zoe hesitated to press any. Festus snorted smoke impatiently.Zoe hesitated for a moment but then pressed the big red button, praying silently to Tyche that she picked the right one.The sound of grinding metal filled the air. Zoe looked up to the feel of the wind on her face. She gasped. The roof was slowly opening, revealing the blue sky above. “Woah.”Festus walked over to her, nudging her side. Zoe took the hint, climbing unsteadily onto his back.“Now what?” She asked sitting comfortably on the dragon’s back. Festus roared, taking off without warning. Zoe screamed, gripping the saddle with all her might. Festus didn’t seem to sense her distress, flying higher and higher in the air.She had no idea how to control him, but thankfully he seemed to know where to go.They flew over the forest and the strawberry fields. Festus swooped low over the amphitheatre. Zoe heard gasps and shouts from the assembled demi-gods.“Festus?” Leo called. The dragon ignored his owner.They flew towards the lake. Zoe looked over her shoulder at the people becoming tinier, like ants. “ZOE!” She heard her dad scream. Zoe closed her eyes. She wished she could have warned them about what she was going to do, but that would be against the gods' rules.“I will be back.” She said quietly, watching as the shores of Camp disappeared rapidly before her eyes.—Zoe didn’t know how long she was in the air when the first monster attacked.They were flying low over the Atlantic when all of a sudden the water erupted around them and a giant crab emerged from the depths, snapping at Festus’s leg with its pincers.The dragon hissed, breathing fire on the creature. It ducked beneath the waves for protection, pulling Festus down with it by the leg.Festus whirled in panic, flapping his wings to try and stay above the water. Zoe, who had been gripping onto the saddle for dear-life, pulled out her sword and slashed at the crab. It let go of Festus, who immediately began to fly away from the water.The crab wasn’t done with them yet.Zoe cursed as it sprang up again hitting Festus with a wave of water and throwing him off balance. The dragon pitched to the side and Zoe lost her balance, falling into the water below.For a moment she was disoriented as the water and the crab swirled around her. The crab reached out, grabbing her in its pincers and dragging her into the depths below.Zoe laughed. Did this crab know who it was dealing with?Obviously not. It’s a crab.She didn’t try to fight it as it dragged her down. She could use its arrogance to her advantage, she just had to wait for the right moment to strike.She pretended to panic at the ‘“loss of breathing” and let herself go limp as the water got colder and darker around her. Then, just as the crab began to loosen its grip on her, she grabbed her sword from the belt around her waist and stabbed it in the eye.The crab jerked back, letting her go fully. Gold ichor swirled in the water around them. Zoe swam under the crab, stabbing the soft underside of its belly and smiling in satisfaction as it turned to gold dust.Zoe stayed still for a moment, enjoying the calmness of the sea. Her sides ached from where the crab had grabbed her but the water dulled the sensation.
“Zoe Jackson”
Zoe startled at the voice. “Hello?” She called out.
“Why are you doing this?”
She tried to peer through the water to find the source of the voice but there was none. “Why am I doing what? Saving Esperanza? Because she deserves better than to die in the name of the gods! Because she is a good person and deserves a good life. And Because she is my fr– because she is my friend.”
“Is she?”
“Yes… or at least she was once. Isn't that enough?”For a moment the voice didn’t say anything. Zoe stayed still.
“Are you sure you are not saving her to save your own guilty conscience?”
“What? No, I’m–” Zoe began to protest. Then she stopped. Why was she doing this? “Maybe that is part of it. But I still don’t want her to die.”
“It is funny, the way you criticized her for being too much like her parents when you are just like yours. You two are more similar than you realize Zoe Jackson.”
Zoe felt hot tears sting her eyes.
“You seem to forget, Esperanza is a child of the sea as well.”
Then the voice was gone.Zoe waited a few moments to see if it would say anything else but heard nothing. She took a deep breath and shook her head. What did it matter why she was saving Esperanza? She was and that was enough.Zoe propelled herself to the surface. She hadn’t realized how much time had passed under the water. The sun was now setting over the ocean, turning the water a beautiful bronze.Speaking of bronze, where was Festus?The dragon was nowhere to be seen. Zoe groaned, trying not to panic. There was no way he just abandoned her. Right?Zoe was about to consider swimming to try and find land or praying to her grandfather for help when a whooshing sound whistled past her ear and she was being lifted into the air.She screamed and tried to slash at whatever had her in its grasp with her sword. The monster clicked unappreciatively and that was when Zoe realized it was not a monster but Festus.“Oh crap! Sorry!” She looked up apologetically at the dragon. Festus only huffed as she climbed cautiously back onto his back. “I didn’t know it was you.” She shrugged.Festus kept his eyes fixed on the darkening horizon. Zoe sighed.It was going to be a long way to Ogygia.—Zoe lost track of how many days it had been since they left camp pretty early on into their journey. Between the monster attacks, the endless sea and her growing exhaustion she could only do so much to remember how long it had been.They were flying over the Pacific, near Hawaii, when two Venti attacked. Festus acted on his own accord, diving low to avoid the storm spirits. Zoe screamed in shock, holding on as tight as she could to the dragon.The Venti came after them. Forcing herself to feel confident enough to lift her hands from their death grip on Festus, she used one hand to raise the water and the other to grab her sword.When the first of the Venti dove toward them, Zoe blasted it with water. It shrieked. She slashed at the second Venti with her sword. Gold ichor arced through the air as she made contact, but it swerved before she could do any real damage.It flew at her again.Zoe’s mind was working at double time speed, she just needed to hit it where it would hurt. Quickly she repositioned herself on Festus to get a better angle, but just as she was about to thrust her sword into its chest, the first storm spirit came back.Festus flew upwards, throwing Zoe off balance and forcing her to drop her sword arm to stay on. The Venti’s sharp claws dragged across her side, ripping her dress and spilling blood. Zoe grunted in pain but ignored it. She threw her sword arm back in an attempt to stab the monster again.It howled as she made contact, but she wasn’t able to check if she had killed it before the other one was back. Festus blew fire in its direction but the storm spirit used its powers to blow the flames back in their direction. Zoe shrieked as fire licked at her skin, throwing her arms up to protect her face.Water burst up from the ocean some twenty feet below, soaking her and the dragon and bringing some relief to her singed skin.The Venti thrashed under the onslaught of water. Now was her chance. As if sensing her plan, Festus shot forward, giving her the perfect shot to stab the monster straight through the chest.Gold dust flew into Zoe’s face as Festus raced away.Zoe breathed a sigh of relief. There was no sign of the other storm spirit; she must have killed it.Festus took them higher into the air. She figured it was to avoid the possibility of another sea monster attack, but personally, Zoe would have rather stayed close to the water than the clouds.As the adrenaline began to wear off Zoe felt the pain in her side and the burns on her arms acutely. Gingerly she touched the cuts along her ribs and gasped at the stinging sensation. Her fingers came away sticky with blood. She groaned.“Festus,” She called to the dragon. “Bring me down to the water.”If she could just get to the ocean, the water would be able to heal her. The dragon however was not listening. He seemed intent on staying as far away from the water as possible. She guessed he was mad at her for soaking him with water during the attack.“Fine.” At least the wounds weren’t deep. She reached down and pulled out a cloth and some ambrosia from the bag on Festus’s side. The warm taste of her grandmother’s cookies filled her senses and the pain eased. “I guess machines and water don’t really mix, hey?” She asked Festus absently. The dragon didn’t give any signal of having heard her.Zoe felt a sting of panic. She had said almost those exact words to Esperanza once before when they fought in South Dakota.
“I guess fire and water don’t mix.”
She had to find her.Yet here she was in the middle of the ocean, with no clue as to where she was going or what she should look for, with a mechanical dragon she didn’t know how to control and now seemed to be holding a grudge against her.Gently, Zoe placed the cloth against the wound on her side to stop the bleeding and tried to make out where they could be. All she could see was the ocean; no remote, unfindable island anywhere in sight.She found herself biting back tears of frustration. She wished her mom was here with her now. She would know what to do.A few tears escaped and rolled down her cheek. She sobbed silently. Festus, sensing her distress took pity on her, flying low towards the water.“Thank you,” Zoe reached forward to pat the dragon’s neck. “You are a good dragon.”Festus clicked. Zoe took it as ‘you’re welcome.'Zoe was just about to reach down to touch the water when the other – not dead, only injured – Venti came back for revenge. It came out of nowhere, ramming into Festus’s side. The dragon pitched to the side, his wing skimming the top of the water and almost throwing Zoe.Festus flew upwards, this time Zoe was expecting it and held on tight. She fumbled for her sword, letting go of the bloody rag she had been pressing to her side.The storm spirit attacked again, piercing through Festus’s right wing and causing an explosion of bronze and bolts. Alarms started wailing. Festus flapped his wings as fast as possible, trying to stay afloat.Zoe ducked as a piece of bronze sailed past her head. She sat up fast, grabbing a knife she had strapped to her ankle and throwing it hard at the monster before it could redirect the wind back at her.The Venti gasped as it dissolved into dust.“Festus!” Zoe called in a panic as the dragon pitched forward. Alarms were blaring. Something was smoking. “Oh my gods!”They were plummeting through the clouds. The wind was making Zoe’s eyes water. Festus was breathing fire in panic. Zoe tried to concentrate on the water, making sure they wouldn’t hit it like concrete. She would survive in the water, but Festus wouldn’t make it.There was no way she would make it to Ogygia without him.To Zoe’s great surprise as the clouds cleared a small island was seen on the horizon. Zoe gasped. “It’s Ogygia!”They were descending too fast. They were going to crash into the island, not the water and both of them would be dead. Esperanza would be trapped on Ogygia forever with her dead body and the broken parts of Festus.Festus reared up, flapping his unbroken wing as much as possible, slowing their rapid descent toward the island. It worked, but even still Zoe didn’t give in to hope.She closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact.With a crash, they landed on the island. Sand sprayed everywhere. Every bone in Zoe’s body jarred on impact, the pain was almost unbearable. She was thrown from Festus, landing hard in the sand, on her already injured side.She lay stunned in the sand for a moment, unable to move.She breathed deeply through her nose and gritted her teeth. She propped herself up on her elbow and staggered to her feet unsteadily.Everything hurt. She had sand and blood in her hair. Her black dress was ripped to shreds on her left side. She lifted her hand to touch her wound, it stung.They were on an island. Waves lapped against the shore, a tree line covered the cliffs that lay to the left. A crater sat in the sand about fifteen feet ahead. It certainly felt like a magical island.She turned around to try and assess the damage to Festus. He was a smoking pile of scraps. Zoe winced, she desperately hoped he was salvageable.“Zoe?”Zoe whipped around. There, standing on the sand, alive, was Esperanza Valdez.She was dressed in a white and gold chiton. Her skin shone golden in the sunlight.
Gold sandals wrapped around her feet and ankles. Her soft brown curls were braided over her shoulder with gold thread and decorated with small shells. A gold band rested across her forehead and disappeared into her hair.She looked like a goddess.“Espie!” Zoe gasped. Ignoring the pain in her body, she ran forward to wrap Esperanza in a hug.For a moment Esperanza stood frozen, then she wrapped her arms around Zoe and held her tight.“What are you doing here?” Esperanza asked.Zoe fought back tears, “You are alive!”Esperanza laughed, “Yeah I think so! Why are you here?”Zoe pulled back from the hug. “I came to rescue you.”Esperanza stared at her, an array of expressions coming across her face. At first, she looked confused, then shocked, and then she looked at Zoe as if she were the sun. Zoe’s breath hitched.Tears filled Esperanza’s eyes and she gathered her in a hug again. Zoe ignored the stabbing pain in her side and let her hug her tight.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When Esperanza Valdez had woken up on the shores of a beach two weeks earlier she was shocked. She hadn’t expected to come out of her encounter with Atlas alive. Hell, she had felt herself die! How was she alive?She was even more surprised to look down and find herself dressed in a traditional Greek chiton, complete with braided hair and golden sandals. What was happening?Her dragon armband was gone and her bicep felt weird without its familiar weight.She stumbled to her feet and looked around the island. It was a large island, with a long beach and a beautiful grove of trees and hills behind her. On shaky legs, she made her way over to what looked like a cave near the hills.She had no weapon but she lit her hand on fire just in case she encountered an enemy. But aside from the birds flying overhead, the island seemed empty.As she made her way towards the cave she passed a large crater in the sand.That was her first clue.Something in her subconscious tugged at her brain, letting her know something about this place was reminding her of something. The further she got, the more the Deja vu increased.There was a makeshift workbench that looked long abandoned. Scraps of metal, celestial bronze and stray wires lay sprawled around the area.The garden beside the cave was overgrown, weeds and vines twisting this way and that around the jungle of vegetable plants and flowers. A fountain stood in the middle of the chaos, almost completely covered in vines and bone dry.All of this was ping-ponging around Esperanza’s brain but it wasn’t until she got to the cave that she realized. She stopped in her tracks, her eyes roaming over the shelves of jars filled with herbs, the crystal ceiling, and the untouched loom in the corner.Esperanza let out a harsh breath between her lips. “Ogygia.”The word was spoken quietly into the air, heavy with the realization that she was on the island her mother had stuck on for centuries.Esperanza didn’t know what this meant. Was she stuck here too? Was she being punished? Or maybe this was some weird afterlife thing?Either way, she was at a loss for what to do next. Her eyes continued scanning the room as if accessing it for the secrets it held about her mother. About a time in her life she rarely spoke about it with her daughter.Her eyes caught on a small golden chest on the bedside table. Curious, Esperanza approached. Carefully she picked up the box, coughing as waves of dust rolled off the top of it.The hinges squeaked as she opened it carefully. Inside were about fifteen leatherbound journals, each with detailed golden inscriptions on the outside.As if in a trance, Esperanza sat down heavily on the untouched bed, sending another cloud of dust into the air. She set the box aside and spread all of the journals around her. Carefully, she picked the first one up, and opening it to the first page began to read.Her breath hitched as she realized it was her mother’s journal. A diary of all her time spent on Ogygia.For the next three hours, Esperanza poured over the journals, her mind easily translating the Ancient Greek.The names, Odysseus, Atlas, Francis, Penelope, Elizabeth, Zoe, Percy and Annabeth caught her attention as she read. Her heart broke the more and more she read, her fingers tracing the tears stains her mother left after a particularly sad or angry entry.The dates swirled on from 2000 BC to 2009.It wasn’t until the last journal that a more familiar name popped up; Leo.She smiled as she read her mom’s initial thoughts on her dad. She laughed outright as she called him an “unsufferable, stuck-up son of Hephaestus” and was nearly brought to tears while she read about her falling in love with him.She kept reading through her mother’s heartbreak at Leo leaving, until one day, suddenly the journal abruptly stopped. Esperanza knew it was because her mom had been rescued by her dad and Festus, but she couldn’t help but want to keep reading.She knew the rest of the story but seeing everything from her mother’s perspective? That was different. She could see her inner thoughts; what brought her happiness during the days of isolation and what made her sad. She could read about her fears, her insecurities, doubts and anger toward her Titan heritage.It reminded Esperanza so much of herself that guilt started to eat her up inside. She had been doubting herself and wishing to run away from it all, while not letting the one person who could understand in.Tethys was right. She was like her mother and for the first time in a really long time that didn’t come with a twinge of sadness, annoyance or anger. Warmth settled into her chest as she thought of being like her mom.But then the overwhelming realization that she might never see her again hit her like a truck.What if she was stuck here forever and never saw Festus, Nicole, Marina or Lyla again? Or Emily, or Bianca or Jasper? What about her parents? What about the shop?Death was supposed to be the answer. She was supposed to sacrifice herself to kill Atlas, save the world and then wait in Elysium or wherever to reunite with everyone once they too died.But now she was stuck on an unfindable island with no sense of how to escape, surrounded by memories of her mother’s (and father’s) past with no way to reach them.She sat on the bed and cried for what felt like hours.But then she had pulled herself together and decided that if she was going to be stuck here, she might as while make a home out of it.She was Leo Valdez’s daughter, and if she had learned anything from him it was that there was always a fix.—The next two weeks were a blur of taking stock of what supplies her mom had left behind, cleaning up the garden and seeing what was salvageable from her dad’s makeshift work station.She had fallen into a quiet routine over the weeks, tending to the garden and tinkering with the metal until that routine was abruptly broken by the sound of an explosion and subsequent rattling of the island.Esperanza hesitated as she came out of the cave, grabbing a knife she had found in one of the chests and moving slowly toward the sound.There was a giant plume of smoke on the other side of the beach. Slowly, she made her way towards the wreckage. Through the haze of the smoke, she could make out a figure standing there.Shit! She thought. Not only was she stuck on her mother’s island of the unforeseeable future but was she stuck with her curse as well?As she got closer she could see that the person was a woman, with long dark hair, dusted with sand and blood. She was wearing a black dress that was torn and ripped. A large gash oozing blood covered her left side.Esperanza narrowed her eyes, realizing the girl looked familiar. She had a sword at her hip with the familiar head of an owl embossed on the handle.Esperanza gasped. “Zoe?”The older girl whipped around, wincing in pain as the movement pinched her wound. Her grey eyes shone with pain, disbelief and… relief?Esperanza could barely comprehend it all. She didn’t know what was happening or why Zoe was here. All she knew was that she was here and currently, she was calling her name and racing forward to pull her into a hug.She stood in shock for a moment. Her mind was slow to understand the fact that Zoe Jackson of all people was hugging her before she hugged her back just as fiercely.—It had been a few days since Zoe’s unexpected arrival. The two had stared at each other in disbelief as Zoe explained what had happened since Esperanza’s “death”.She had cried as she heard about her parent’s pain and how Jasper wouldn’t leave his cabin. She was surprised to hear about Silena’s fierce defense of her but it warmed her heart and she couldn’t stop smiling for a while after.It wasn’t until Zoe got to the part about Festus that Esperanza really took a look at the smoking wreckage behind her and gasped as she saw Festus’s mangled body.Zoe was so apologetic as they studied the dragon, but Esperanza waved her off. Festus was still alive (well as alive as a machine could be). His ruby eyes flickered in happiness as he heard Esperanza's voice and his limbs moved.“I can fix him,” She had said, thinking of the metal scarps left behind by her dad. “I just don’t have the proper tools.”“Will this help?” Zoe asked, pulling out a slightly singed bag from the wreckage and dumping out its contents to reveal a plethora of tools and metal.Esperanza had nearly tackled the girl in a hug. Thank the gods for Zoe Jackson’s brain always thinking three steps ahead! “That will be perfect!”The next order of business was to clean and bandage Zoe’s wounds, which Esperanza did with supplies from the cave and a bit of magic. Then, they got to work on fixing Festus.Which led them to today, sitting side-by-side on the beach with a picnic between them for dinner.“When do you think we will be ready to go?” Zoe asked.Esperanza could tell she was getting antsy and wanted to leave. She did too. “Hopefully by the end of the week.” She answered, looking at Festus.The dragon could now stand on his own but his navigation was still shot and his right wing still needed to be replaced.Zoe nodded, settling back on her elbows and wincing at the movement. Esperanza noticed immediately and looked at her concerned. “Are you okay?”Zoe nodded, “Yeah, I am fine. Totally fine.”Esperanza didn’t believe her but didn’t want to push so let the matter drop. The sun was just beginning to set over the sea and Esperanza sighed, going back on her elbows to mirror Zoe’s position.The sunset was beautiful, the gorgeous orange and purple hues painting the sky. She glanced over at Zoe to see the other girl was looking out at the sea as well. The colours in the sky reflected in her eyes and Esperanza couldn’t help but stare.Zoe, clearly sensing her stare turned to meet her gaze. Esperanza freaked out, looking away quickly and blushing. To try an get rid of the tension in the air she said the first thing that came to her mind.“So, why did you take a gap year after high school?” Zoe sighed as if she had been asked this question a hundred times. “You don’t have to answer,” Esperanza added quickly.Zoe shook her head, “Nah, it’s fine.” She took a deep breath, “The truth is, I have no idea what I want to do with my life.”Esperanza furrowed her brows, “Really? But you are… well, you! You always seem so put together.”Zoe scoffed, “Well, I am not.” She looked down at her bare feet, playing with the sand between her toes. She seemed to be preparing herself for what she was going to say next. Esperanza stayed quiet beside her, not wanting to pressure her.“Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to be a hero like my parents. I thought I could make a name for myself in the demigod world and then… I guess I didn’t think that far ahead.” Zoe’s expression was pained. Esperanza knew it must have been heard to admit that, especially as a granddaughter of Athena. “That is why I stayed at Camp longer and didn’t go to College. I don’t know what I want to do and I guess I wanted to hold on to my childhood fantasy a little while longer.”Esperanza leaned closer, gently putting her hand over Zoe’s where it rested on her knee. Zoe looked up, startled but didn’t pull away. Esperanza smiled, “I think you have made a name for yourself. Everyone loves Zoe Jackson.”The older girl rolled her eyes, laughing without humour, “Everyone loves Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase’s daughter. I thought I would be able to prove myself on this quest. It was supposed to be my last shot… and I blew it.”Esperanza was shocked, “You didn’t blow it!”“I tried to kill you!”Esperanza went quiet. Between her “death” and the arrival of Zoe on Ogygia, Esperanza had forgotten about the murderous glint in Zoe’s eyes during their fight in South Dakota.Zoe looked into her eyes, no longer burning with hatred but rather guilt. “I am so sorry about that, by the way. I wasn’t thinking, all I could think about was how this was my last chance before College took over my life.”“It’s okay,” Esperanza said automatically.“No,” Zoe shook her head, “It is not okay. I am so sorry. For everything. Literally everything for the past four years. I treated you like shit and I shouldn’t have.”Esperanza shrugged, “Many people did.”“That doesn’t make it okay! You can be angry at me Espie! You can be angry at them all.”Esperanza nodded, “Okay.” She said softly.Zoe was right, she should feel angry. She had felt the anger when she had been fighting Atlas, but now she just felt drained. She was happy to be alive but she was tired of feeling angry and sorry for herself when people treated her like shit.Zoe sighed. She looked down at where their hands still rested together on her knee. Esperanza watched as her face went blank and she pulled her hand away.Esperanza panicked, “I am not mad at you! You are right! And for the record, I am sorry too. I should have never fought you either.” She tried for a smile.For some reason that made Zoe angry. “Oh my gods Esperanza! Shut the fuck up! I tried to kill you and you are apologizing! I was the one who treated you like shit for years over something you didn’t even do!”“I-I,” Esperanza didn’t know what to say. “I am sorry.”Zoe seemed to deflate, letting out a long breath, putting her head in her hands, “Please stop saying sorry.”“Okay,” Esperanza said. She was about to say “sorry” but stopped herself. “Are you okay?”Zoe didn’t say anything, her head still in her hands. Finally, after a few minutes, she looked up and stared at the ocean. The rhythmic motion of the waves rolling against the shore seemed to calm her. She took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, I am fine. I am sorry for snapping at you. I was just thinking.”“About?”“Just something someone said to me on my journey here.” She didn’t elaborate and Esperanza didn’t want to push.They stayed in silence for a few minutes watching the stars reflect on the surface of the water. Esperanza could feel herself getting restless. Her hands itched for something to fiddle with, but all of her usual mechanical fidgets were by Festus. She played with the sand instead.Finally, she couldn’t take the quiet anymore and spoke. “You know,” She chuckled, “I had a big crush on you… still do actually.”Zoe looked over, surprised. “Really?”Esperanza began to fiddle with her the end of her braid. She tended to speak before thinking and she was regretting bringing this up. Her heart beat fast in her chest. Oh well, she was in too deep now. “Yeah.”“Oh,” Zoe looked out at the water again. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “I-I don’t know what to say… I am flattered. But, um, I uh don’t like girls.”Esperanza’s heart dropped, “Right! Yeah, oh, of– of course!”Zoe gave her a gentle smile, “Besides, I don’t really think we would be good for each other.”“Why not?” Esperanza asked, half curious, half dreading the answer.“Really Esperanza?” Zoe gave her a look that made her feel stupid, “I bullied you for years, we both tried to kill each other, you are bisexual, I am straight, also our personalities are complete opposites—”“Opposites attract don’t they?”“We may have been close at one point but not anymore.”Esperanza opened and closed her mouth, looking for answers, “We could become close!”Zoe closed her eyes and shook her head, “Espie. I am going to College and you are going back to Texas.”“Well, there are Colleges in Texas…”“Espie!” Zoe was looking at her in disbelief. “Why are you fighting this? We cannot be together, okay? We are barely even friends.”“But, you came and rescued me,” Esperanza said, her voice small. “That has to count for something.”Zoe took a deep breath, “Okay, look. I want to be friends with you Esperanza. I really do. I want to put all the past behind us and try again. I don’t think we will become as close as we were as kids, but we can still be friends.” She paused, her eyes were cool grey in the fading light. “I came to rescue you because I thought you deserved another chance… and because I felt guilty about the way I treated you.”“Oh.”“That is not to say I don’t like you or don’t want to not like you. I want to be something akin to friends again. But don’t mix this up as some misjudged idea of a knight in shining armour, okay?”Esperanza swallowed, tears burning her eyes. “Yeah, okay.”Zoe sighed again, “I am a selfish person Esperanza. I came here because I had hurt my pride when I realized how shitty I had treated you and I had to set it right. I wanted to rescue you, believe me, I did. But I wanted to rescue both of us. I also wanted to put that stupid grudge behind us.”She looked at Esperanza for a long moment. Esperanza could feel tears begin to slip down her face as Zoe continued. “I am loyal to a fault but I am also prideful. That is the reason I held that grudge against you for so long.” She shrugged, “I guess I inherited both my parent’s fatal flaws.”Esperanza wiped tears from her eyes. She laughed humourlessly. “I inherited my parent’s flaws too. I am insecure, and a hopeless romantic. I am willing to lower my standards so far to feel loved because I don’t think I deserve more.”Zoe closed her eyes, “You are worthy of love Esperanza. And you are loved. Just… just not by me.”A tear fell from Esperanza’s cheek and onto the sand below, “But I love you.” She said in a quiet voice.Zoe smiled sadly, “Then where is the raft?”And she was right because though Esperanza may not know a lot about what was happening right now, she knew one thing; if she truly loved Zoe the magical raft that had come to take away all her mother’s lovers would come to take her away too. But tonight, the shores of Ogygia remained empty, as they would forever more.—It took Esperanza four more days to fix Festus. During those days, after their heart-to-heart, something in the air had shifted between Zoe and Esperanza. The initial excitement of Zoe’s arrival had died down and everything felt less… intense.Sure, Esperanza was sad about Zoe’s rejection. She had walked away from that night and cried in her mother’s cave for a good hour. But in hindsight, she was also happy that they had cleared the air.It was a talk they had needed to have for a long time.Though deep down she knew she shouldn’t, Esperanza forgave Zoe for all that had happened between them. Despite what Zoe thought, she didn’t think she was a bad person. She was simply a person with flaws and issues just like everyone else.Hearing her call her out for not truly loving her did change something in her. The more she thought about it the more Zoe was right. The absence of the magical raft proved it.Esperanza had spent years blind to all else but Zoe. Why?Was it because she loved her? Or was it because she loved the idea of being loved by her?Like her father and all Hephaestus children, Esperanza’s brain had been hardwired to believe that everything had a fix. Coupled with her mother’s tendencies to fall for people who don’t love her and subsequently try to convince them to, and Esperanza’s love for Zoe boiled down to the fact that she saw her as a challenge.Esperanza wanted Zoe to like her so much (just like she did most people), that she was so obsessed with making it happen. She wanted to fix what had broken between them with such desperation that she ignored all the red flags.Zoe was right in the fact that even if she did like girls they never would have worked. They were simply two different people who happened to be friends because their parents were stuck on a boat together for six months to save the world.Zoe had been a bitch to her. She had always known it, but instead of acknowledging it she had always pushed it aside and believed she could beat it. Now she knew that even if Zoe didn’t hate her anymore, things would never be as they once were.Still, in an effort to rekindle the friendship of their youth, Zoe and Esperanza chatted about the future and about how they thought everyone would react when they got back to Camp. There was laughter, banter, teasing and even the beginnings of a friendship. And even if it was not what Esperanza had wanted in the past, she was coming to terms with it.Zoe promised that when they got back to the real world they would exchange numbers so they could keep in touch when they parted ways in the fall. Zoe told her that she would take the fall semester at Camp to apply to Colleges and then start somewhere in January.Esperanza talked about her plans for College once she was done high school. “I am thinking of Mechanical Engineering.” She said as they put the finishing touches on Festus’s wing.Zoe laughed, “Of course you are. Where?”“I don’t know. There is this cool program I was looking at in Sweden, but I don’t know, that is really far.” She shrugged her shoulders, “I will probably just end up going to Texas A&M.”“Espie!” Zoe said, her voice excited, “You have to go to Sweden! That is so cool!”Esperanza tilted her head, “I don’t know. What about my parents? Or the garage?”Zoe rolled her eyes, “Who cares? Okay, wait, I mean that matters yes, but you are young! You will be spending your whole life in that garage, or making your own! Now is the time to see the world and then you can go back to good ol’ Texas!”“I basically just died, Zoe.”“Which makes it even better! Isn’t a near death experience supposed to make you want to do more with what little time we all have?”“Or it makes you want to spend more time with your loved ones,” Esperanza muttered.“Okay, true!” Zoe said, “But you need to get out there! Please tell me you will at least apply?”Esperanza hesitated. Zoe looked at her expectantly, “Alright! Fine, I will at least apply.”“Yes!” Zoe cheered. Esperanza smiled.Using her fire powers she melted to the last piece of metal to Festus’s wing panel. “And done! You ready to get out of here, Jackson?”Zoe laughed, “You know it, Valdez.”They spent the next few hours packing for their journey. Zoe gathered food supplies while Esperanza went into the cave to gather up some water and clothes. As she looked around to find some blankets her gaze landed on the box of journals.After a moment of hesitation, she picked it up, making sure it was locked and gathering it up with the clothes.She took one last look around the cave, memorizing the the way the sunlight filtered in through the curtains, the way the crystals shone and the wind chimes sang in the wind. Her mother had spent so many years here, it was almost a pity Esperanza didn’t have more time to explore it.With one last look, she walked back onto the beach where Zoe and Festus were waiting.Zoe smiled, “Let’s get out of here.”Esperanza nodded, she packed the last of their belongings into a bag on Festus’s side and then hopped up onto the dragon. She put her hand out for Zoe who took it and sat behind her.With one simple command, Festus was in the air, and the island of Ogygia grew small beneath them.It had been in interesting last two weeks in which Esperanza had learned a lot about herself and come to terms with her past. But now, she was ready to go home, and most importantly see her parents again.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Esperanza took a deep breath as the coastline of the Long Island Sound came into view. Zoe was asleep behind her, her even breaths soft against the back of Esperanza’s neck. There was something so intimate about their position but it didn’t make her heart beat faster the way it used to.What did make her heart beat faster was the thought of what was about to come.Nobody but Zoe and the gods knew she was alive. Zoe had stolen Festus in the middle of her funeral to come get her, and now they were coming back unannounced. Esperanza wasn’t sure how everyone was going to react.Her parents would probably go into shock and start crying all over her, and to be honest she would probably do the same.As for Jasper, he would probably squeeze her in a hug so tight she couldn’t breathe or sock her across the face with a punch. Which she probably deserved.Either way, she was both dreading and looking forward to seeing her loved ones again.Festus clicked to let her know they were almost there and Esperanza tapped his head in thanks. She turned around in her seat, cautious of Zoe’s body weight against her and gently shook the older girl. “Zoe?” She said softly.Zoe stirred awake, her grey eyes blinking wearily. She sat up and ran a hand through her windswept hair. “Are we almost there?”Esperanza nodded, “Festus said we will be there in about two minutes.” She turned back around and saw the outline of New York City on the horizon and the shores of Camp coming rapidly closer.Her breath caught in her throat as she tried to take a deep breath. Her hands felt tingly like she needed to move them or she would simply combust (again). She quickly began to fiddle with some spare wires from the top compartment of Festus.Zoe seemed to sense her anxiety because she leaned forward and patted her on the shoulder, “Hey, it will be fine. Everyone will be so overjoyed to see you.”“I hope so…” Esperanza muttered.Festus clicked and whirled as he started his descent. As they got closer to land, Esperanza could see the orange-clad campers rushing around, training and loitering near the cabins. Someone looked up as Festus’s body glinted in the sun and began to shout.Chaos broke loose, campers ran towards the open field near the cabins where Festus was headed. Someone ran off towards the Big House and someone else to New Athens. Festus circled above the camp and Esperanza could see Percy and Annabeth running from the Big House porch.Percy was shouting something that she couldn’t quite catch but by the way everyone cleared a landing spot on the grass Esperanza had to assume it was an order directed at the campers to move.Behind her, Zoe tensed at the sight of her parents and Esperanza figured it was because of the way she abruptly left camp. She assumed they would get past that pretty quickly though.With one last sweep of his wings, Festus brought them down on the lawn. Dust and dirt kicked up into the air and everyone within a few feet began to cough. Esperanza patted Festus on the head but hesitated to get down from the dragon.Zoe hopped down, kicking up more dirt as her feet hit the floor. She turned and held a hand up to Esperanza. Zoe gave her a hesitant, reassuring smile. Esperanza took a deep breath and taking Zoe’s hand, jumped down from Festus.“Zoe!” Annabeth’s voice came from the cloud of dust. As it began to settle Esperanza could see that half the camp was gathered around them, looking curiously and hesitantly at the bronze dragon. Esperanza remembered what Zoe had told her of Festus’ rampage and figured they had a right to be cautious.Percy and Annabeth stepped forward followed closely by Charlie. “Where have you been?” Percy asked his daughter.He stopped in shock when he took note of Esperanza standing beside her. Charlie nearly bumped into his dad before he saw her too. It seemed that everyone gathered around seemed to notice her at the same time.Gasps and exclamations of shock rippled through the gathered crowd. Esperanza wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. She was used to attention and whispers wherever she went but she had gotten so used to the quiet of Ogygia that coming back to Camp was overwhelming.Annabeth, ever the logical one, saw right through her and quickly strode up to her side. She gave Zoe a quick once over and grimaced at the sight of her ruined clothes but clearly didn’t see anything too worrying.She put an arm around Esperanza and gave her a warm smile. “Hi. Are you alright? Forgive me for being so blunt, but how are you here?”Esperanza smiled softly, tears springing to her eyes, “Ask your daughter.”Annabeth glanced in shock at her daughter as Percy and Charlie just stood there, their mouths opening and closing like fish.Before they could ask any follow-up questions, the crowd parted to let Chiron, Nico, Will, Bianca, and the twins through. Esperanza could see Hazel and Frank following behind.“Zoe!” Bianca exclaimed, “What happ—”Just like with the Jackson’s this group of newcomers stopped in their tracks at the sight of Esperanza and stood in shock. It only lasted a moment though as Bianca, Emily and Sammy rushed forward to throw their arms around her.It was a pile of tears and arms which quickly expanded further and further as more people joined. Esperanza could barely keep track of it all. She was aware of Hazel giving her a huge hug and Frank nearly breaking her ribs.She vaguely remembers when Piper, Shel and Jason entered the scene and suddenly she was surrounded by more crying people.Bella Stoll, perfectly recovered from her burns when she had first left gave her a hug, laughing and asking if she had used her daisy. The rest of the Stoll kids were next and Esperanza could barely tell who was hugging her when.Silena came charging through the crowd next and for the first time in her life Esperanza watched as Silena Rodriguez cried. The other girl threw her arms around her neck and sobbed into her shoulder and if Esperanza hadn’t been in shock she would have registered how good it felt to be held by her.The sounds of crying, cheering, questions and chattering were starting to get too much for her. She stood in the middle of the crowd feeling like she was back facing Atlas. Her palms were sweaty, her fingers were sparking and she was so close to hyperventilating.Chiron was yelling over the crowd to try and get them to give her some space but no one was listening. The heat from Festus behind her and the internal furnace radiating in her body was making her more overwhelmed and reminded her of the last few moments in her fight with Atlas where she could feel her skin burning off.The world seemed to be spinning and she thought for sure she was going to faint but then the crowd parted like a wave and standing there amidst the loud chaos on the cabin lawns was her parents.Her mom looked like she had been crying, her eyes red and her face pale and lifeless. The bags under her dad’s eyes made it look like he hadn’t slept in weeks (which was probably true) but they were both there, real and right in front of her.The overwhelming pain and stress that had been building in her since Zoe Nightshade had told her about the quest broke.The world seemed to move in slow motion as she let out a strangled cry. Her feet stumbled through the uneven ground towards her parents.For a moment they stared at her, in absolute shock, positive they were seeing a ghost, but then they broke out of it.They met her halfway. Calypso reached her first and without a second thought Esperanza collapsed in her mom’s arms. Leo crashed into them next, wrapping his arms around his girls as they sank to the floor.Esperanza sobbed, not caring that the entire camp was watching them or that she hadn’t cried this much since was a little girl. She cried and cried and felt as her parents did the same, their tears falling on top of her head.She was dimly aware of Chrion finally bringing order and evacuating the area, but all Esperanza could focus on was the warmth and overwhelming sensation of being back where she belonged; in the loving embrace of her parents.—The next few days were a whirlwind. Zoe and Esperanza were rushed to New Athens Hospital as Will tended to what Esperanza couldn’t fix of Zoe’s injuries and made sure Esperanza wouldn’t have any lasting effects from her “near” death experience.Her parents decided it would be best if they stayed at Camp for another week, letting Esperanza recover and rest. So, they were given one of the guest houses in the city to stay in.All Esperanza really wanted was to go home, but she was willing to wait for the sake of her parents. While they figured out some last things, Esperanza went back to living as a camper.It felt weird to be back at Camp. Not only did she lead a quest and come back from the dead, but people seemed to have changed their opinions on her.Instead of the usual avoidance, glares, whispers or straight-up cruelty, people were actually being nice to her. Chloe and the Aphrodite girls came up and hugged her, congratulating her on a successful first quest. (If you call dying “successful”).Numerous campers clapped her on the back in congrats or simply smiled when she came past.It was weird.Even Thea, Kayla and Spencer apologized which shocked her to her core.Were Silena and Bella standing behind them holding giant spears and controlling the grass around their feet, maybe? But either way, Esperanza was too shocked to say anything but nod, which was probably a good thing because she wasn’t really sure she wanted to forgive them. Ever.Nola had decorated Cabin 9 with the help of the rest of the cabin members and they all cheered when she walked in. She had laughed and maybe cried, and then she definitely cried when she saw all of her things gathered in a box.“Zoe was sent to collect your things,” Nola told her quietly. “I made sure she did it respectfully, don’t worry.”Esperanza gave her a watery smile, “Thank you.”Instead of sitting at their usual tables, all the legacy campers decided to sit together at the Poseidon Table. It felt good to be all together again without the pressures of the quest. Plus Jayde and Silena made for good conversation and the Stolls always kept things lively.Chiron let it slide, temporarily renaming it the Legacy Table.They were all there. All except Jasper.Esperanza hadn’t seen him since returning to camp. He stayed hauled up in the Zeus cabin, not letting anyone but his parents and sisters see him. Piper assured her that he knew she was back, but he just needed some time to adjust to the news.Though her heart ached for her best friend, she knew she had to give him space. She had just put him through a lot. He needed time.Zoe and Esperanza didn’t talk like they did on Ogygia but they still smiled and laughed with each other and that was enough for her. She was glad that they had had their conversation.At that thought she sighed as she sat in between Silena and Emily, looking over at New Athens where her parents were staying. There was still one more conversation she needed to have.Excusing herself from the dining hall, she slowly made her way through the Camp, the terrain transitioning from grass to cobblestone under her sneakers. She passed statues of the gods lining the streets until she made it to the guest house.The door opened easily when she knocked, Calypso was on the other side. A smile lit up her face and she warmly embraced her daughter.“Hello, Espie.” She said, pulling back to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “Come in! I have dinner in the oven. How was Camp today?”Esperanza smiled, following her mom inside. “It was good. I still didn’t see Jasper.”Calypso frowned, “I am sorry sweetheart. He just needs–”“Time,” Esperanza said with a sigh, “I know. I really wish I hadn’t put him through all this.”Her mom cupped her cheek. Esperanza leaned into her touch. “It wasn’t your fault.” Esperanza nodded. Calypso tilted her head, studying her. “Are you alright? It looks like something is bothering you.”Esperanza sighed again, turning her head to avoid her mom’s gaze. “I need to speak to you and Dad.”A frown appeared between her mom’s brows but she nodded, “Of course.” She led Esperanza further into the house, stopping in the kitchen where Leo was sitting at the small wooden table, fidgeting with some wire.“Hey, Firecracker!” Leo smiled at her as she walked in behind her mom. He stood up to give her a hug. Esperanza hugged him back, smiling a little as he ruffled her hair.“Leo,” Her mom said calmly, “Esperanza needs to speak to us.”“Oh!” He looked at her, “You okay, kid?”Esperanza felt her heart warm at his concern. “I am fine, Dad. Or at least… yeah, I just need to speak to you.”Her parents nodded, exchanging a look and sitting at the table. Esperanza sat in the other chair, her fingers tapping on the tabletop. She flushed, not sure where to begin. She had rehearsed what she was going to say in her head about a million times, yet now as she sat in front of them, she froze.She hadn’t been this scared to talk to her parents since she was fourteen and came out as bisexual.Finally, she found her voice. “I… well, before the, ya’ know… quest.” She kept her eyes glued to the tabletop. “Um… my life here at camp was not good. I was bullied. A lot. Zoe hated me since I was twelve and made my life a living hell. Others followed her lead.”She heard a sharp intake of breath but ignored it. “She held a grudge against me for the curse on Annabeth in Tartarus.” Her mother cursed in Greek. “Everyone thought I was going to pull a Luke and join the Titans, because, well, you know I am half Titan. When I got this quest and then blew up half the forest, well, what you saw wasn’t new. The past was going to repeat itself and they all thought that meant I would join Atlas. And by all I pretty much mean everyone but Jasper.”“They all thought I was a monster. I mean,” She chuckled without humour, “A Titan is one thing but a Titan who has fire powers is a whole other dangerous ballpark.” She took a deep breath. “Because of all this, I-I ended up resenting myself and who I was.”Tears sprang to her eyes and she hastily wiped them away. She could hear her mom silently crying. “I hated that I was part Titan and demigod. All I have ever wanted was to be normal and get away from all this mythological shit. I have been running from it since I was twelve years old.”“If I was given the choice I would have never been born this way. I would be normal and living off somewhere far away from Olympian gods and bloodthirsty Titans. I hated, absolutely hated that I was picked for this quest. That I had to be back with all my old childhood friends who wouldn’t even look at me anymore.”“But it did teach me one thing. It taught me that if I was given the choice…” She took a deep breath, “I would choose you two as my parents every single fucking time.”She finally looked up, her cheeks soaked from tears to meet the eyes of her parents. Both were crying, their eyes full of pain, sorrow and love. For a moment none of them moved before her dad practically leapt across the table to tackle her in a hug, her mom not far behind.Esperanza felt a weight lift from her shoulders as she finally told them the truth. She cried and laughed as they hugged her, their hair tickling her nose. “I love you.” She said over and over again as they whispered it back.When they were calm again and the tears had dried they talked about everything over the now cold meal her mom had prepared.Esperanza told them more about the bullying and how it had improved since the quest. She told them about her love for Zoe which turned out to be a love for acceptance more than anything else. And she told them of the guilt she felt for burning the Camp and getting Bella hurt.Most importantly she told them how, for a moment, she was tempted to take Atlas’s offer before she was reminded of what Tethys had said. She told them about how, when she was fighting her grandfather, some deep power inside her that she had been trying to keep down had been unlocked.Calypso grew still as she spoke about her encounters with the Titans and began to cry again when she heard what her mother had said.“I am sorry,” Esperanza spoke quietly through more years. “I am sorry I have pushed the gifts you have given me aside. And all the wonderful aspects of you I have buried because I was afraid. But I want to be brave now. Can you help me? I think there is a lot more I can learn from you.”Her mom smiled, “Of course, love. And I am sorry.” Her voice broke. “It is my fault Zoe ever hated you. You should have never gone through that, it was my burden to bear.”Her dad put her arm around his wife’s shoulders, “It is not your fault, sunshine. I know that Espie knows that.” He looked to her for confirmation and she nodded enthusiastically. “See, we love you. We don’t blame yourself.”There were more tears after that when she presented the box of journals she had taken from Ogygia and they finally spoke about everything they needed to.Finally, as night fell they made their way to the large bed in the main room of the guest house. Esperanza once again curled up between her parents like a little girl.“I think next year will be different,” She spoke into the quiet room. “I think I will actually like Camp. But for now, I wanna go home.”She felt, rather than saw her mom nod, “Then we will go home.”—Esperanza stood in the empty Hephaestus Cabin, gathering up the last of her things for the year when the creaking of the floorboards startled her. She whipped around, hand ignited to find Jasper staring back at her.She let out a sigh of relief, dropping her fist and bringing her hand to her rapidly beating heart. “You scared me.” She said.Jasper scoffed, “Consider it payback.” His voice was as cold as ice.She couldn’t see his eyes or the expression on his face. The sunlight from the open door streamed in behind him casting a warm glow around his dark silhouette. Esperanza swallowed.“I am sorry.” She said quietly. “I didn’t want to scare you.”For a moment he still stood rigid before he seemed to deflate before her.“Why did you do it?” He asked, sounding more defeated than Esperanza had ever heard him.“There was no other way,” She looked down at her hands, “I had to defeat Atlas.”Jasper scoffed again, “We could have found a different way. Fuck the prophecy! We are a team! You are my best friend and I had to watch you die! I almost murdered Emily to let me get back to you, but when we did, there was nothing left. THERE WAS NOTHING LEFT!”She flinched as the door slammed shut behind him in the strong wind generated by his outburst. In the now dark cabin, as her eyes adjusted, she could see his face. He was crying.Guilt gnawed at her stomach and she felt like throwing up. She began to cry too. “I am so sorry Jasper. I did what I had to do and I knew it would hurt you but I did it anyway because it was the only way I could think to save you and the world.”“But why didn’t you tell me?” His voice was small. Esperanza felt like she had been hit by a busload of bricks.She swallowed before speaking, “You would have stopped me.”He sighed, running a hand through his hair, causing it to stick up in different directions with the static coming from his hands. “Of course, I would.”“You’re a fucking Roman Jasp, you’ve got to understand sacrifice.” She gave him a lopsided, watery smile.“Half Roman,” He corrected. Then quieter, “Sammy and Emily knew.”“That was their role in the prophecy.”He froze for a moment, then finally nodded, “I am sorry for yelling.”Esperanza shrugged, “You’re basically my brother. You have siblings. All siblings fight don’t they?”Jasper rolled his eyes, “Siblings don’t do nothing when they could have saved each other though.”“Jasper, we were all fighting there was no way you could have defeated Khione and saved me from Atlas—”“I meant afterwards. Zoe saved you. She went to the gods and begged and fought for you and what did I do? I sulked in my cabin and fucking cried.”Esperanza let out a soft sigh, “Please don’t beat yourself up. You were grieving. I would have expected nothing less.” Jasper opened his mouth to argue but Esperanza cut him off, “Please don’t argue this with me. I just died and came back to life. I want a hug from my bestie instead.”A small smile grew on Jasper’s face. “Okay.” He opened his arms and Esperanza flew into them, hugging him back with all her might. A thud echoed on the ground behind her and she turned to see a pink duffle bag at their feet that she hadn’t noticed before.“What is this?” She asked.Jasper gave her a smile, a true smile. “I heard our next quest is to Huston. Leo and Calypso’s Auto Repair and Mechanical Monsters is the final destination I believe.”“What?” Esperanza took a step back, nearly tripping on the duffle. “What is happening?”He laughed at her startled expression. “You really thought after I got my act together I was going to let my best friend who just came back from the dead out of my sight? Never.”“You are coming with us to Texas?”Jasper nodded, “Yeah, my Moms’ said I can stay until school starts and Uncle Leo said it’s fine as long as I help out in the shop, which I assume is where you are going to be so I don’t mind. Does mean I am losing a week with Dad, but that is alright, I just owe him a couple of extra long weekends instead.”Esperanza couldn't believe what she was hearing, Jasper was coming back with her to Texas? She wasn’t going to be alone (other than her parents) as she tried to settle back into everything.She squealed excitedly, jumping into Jasper’s arms and sending him stumbling back at the unexpected assault. “Woah there!” He laughed.Esperanza couldn’t help but smile, “This is amazing!” Then she looked down at the duffle and back up Jasper, “Pink, huh?”He rolled his eyes, “A Christmas gift from my Grandma. Can’t piss off a goddess, plus Eloise and Megan are so jealous. And pink is my colour.”Esperanza laughed, “I missed you when I was dead.”“Yeah,” Jasper pulled her in for another hug and mumbled into her hair, “I missed you when you were dead too.”—The sun was shining down brightly, glinting off of Festus’s bronze coat as Esperanza stood with her parents, helping pack Festus for the trip back to Texas.Behind them, on top of Half-Blood Hill, Jasper was saying goodbye to his family. Esperanza watched as Megan and Eloise tackled their older brother in a hug. She smiled, she knew how hard it was for him to be away from his family and here he was giving up the rest of his summer to be with her instead.She didn’t feel like she deserved it.She looked down at her upper arm where her armband now sat in its rightful place. Jasper had given it back to her the day of their reunion and she hadn’t taken it off since. She was still really upset about losing her weapons, but now the rest of the summer would be dedicated to crafting an even better sword and shield than what she had before.The rest of the legacy campers and their families stood around to see them off after having celebrated a proper reunion that didn’t involve prophecies or Hell Hound attacks.She said goodbye to them all, even Jayde Tanaka. Silena didn’t hug her again like she had when she first got back, and for some reason, Esperanza felt disappointed by that – but that was crazy because Silena Rodriguez didn’t hug anybody.Bella gave her a bouquet of flowers and after Clove reassured her they wouldn’t explode this time she took them, tearing up at the note attached that read;
Thanks for saving the world!With love,Bella, Clove, Rose, Holden, Max, and Xavier (aka The Stolls)
She hugged them all again.Next, Bianca, Emily and even Sammy gave her a hug. When she pulled away, Emily reached down and placed something in her hand. Esperanza looked down and saw a colourful friendship bracelet with a seashell charm just like the one Emily had made in Washington.“Thank you,” Esperanza said softly.“Of course! I know you lost yours in the battle,” Then, she picked up Esperanza’s hands, squeezing them gently. “Make sure to text me! And come visit us in LA sometime!”Esperanza smiled, “Of course! But only if you come and visit Texas.”Emily laughed, “Alright you cowboy!”She looked at the twins seriously for a moment, “Thanks for keeping my plan a secret. I owe you guys.”Emily's eyes filled with tears and she pulled her back into a hug, Sammy joining. “Of course, Espie.” He said quietly.Esperanza hugged Frank, Hazel, Nico and Will thanking them for their hospitality and help before and after the quest. Before she moved on she ruffled Bianca’s blonde hair and gave her a wink, “Good luck with Charlie.”“Charlie? What?” Nico asked. Bianca’s face went as red as hellfire.“Nothing, Dad!” She said. Thankfully Jasper stepping up to say his goodbyes stopped any further questioning from Nico, but Esperanza could see him and Will exchange a look.Esperanza laughed, moving on to Jasper’s family while her parents and Jasper himself said goodbye to the others.Eloise and Megan gave her a drawing of a dragon in the sky and she gave them each a kiss on the top of the head. Her Aunt Shel and Aunt Piper wrapped her in a huge embrace. “I am proud of you kiddo,” Piper said in her ear.Esperanza closed her eyes to savour the warmth of the embrace. “Thanks, Aunt Piper.”Jason ruffled her hair as she pulled back and turned to him. “You take care of Jasper, okay?”“I think he will be taking care of me, but yeah, okay.” She laughed and Jason joined her.“He can be quite the Mother Hen,” He chuckled.From behind them, her dad laughed, coming up to sling an arm around Jason’s shoulders. “I wonder where he got that from because it ain’t Piper.”Esperanza laughed at Jason’s annoyed face and Piper’s eyes roll. Jasper started to defend himself but it was too late. Esperanza let them say their goodbyes and moved on to the last family of the group.Percy and Annabeth both gave her a hug as she walked over to them, wishing her well with school. She grimaced at the reminder of school but thanked them all the same.With Charlie she gave him the same treatment as Bianca, making his face flush before he gave her a quick hug (which was asking a lot from a fifteen-year-old boy so she didn’t complain).When she got to Zoe the two just looked at each other for a moment before Zoe pulled her into a hug. It didn’t last very long and Esperanza waited for the familiar pang of disappointment that usually followed, but this time it never came.“Bye Espie.”“Bye Zoe,” She smiled, “Good luck with getting into college and everything.”The older girl smiled, her gray eyes lighting up, “Yeah thanks. I am sure by next summer I will have my whole life figured out.”Esperanza chuckled, “Hey, nobody said anything about your whole life. It’s okay to not know everything.”“You are right,” She put a hand on her shoulder, “And it’s okay to not fix everything.”Esperanza took a deep breath but nodded, “Yeah. I think we both learned something new this summer.”Zoe nodded in agreement, “Yeah.”Esperanza stepped back to let her parents and Jasper say their final goodbyes and took a last look at the Camp for the year.The sun was high in the sky over the strawberry fields as the Demeter Cabin worked tirelessly to harvest the berries. The training grounds were filled with action as the Ares and Athena cabins led drills, their barking orders echoing across the grounds.The Aphrodite and Hermes Cabins were in Arts and Crafts as the Hephaestus Cabin followed the Iris Cabin to the Pegasus stables. Mr. D was lounging by the Big House, yelling out campers' names (wrongly) as they ran past. Chiron, who had seen them off at the Big House was overseeing the training in the arena.Esperanza smiled, this place may not have been her home like it was for Percy or Annabeth growing up or even Bianca (literally) or Zoe now, but maybe it wasn’t as bad as she thought.As long as no one had a grudge against her or she didn’t have to lead any quests, maybe going to Camp Half-Blood next summer wouldn’t be so bad.Her parents finished their goodbyes to their friends and after one last hug from his Moms, Jasper was jogging over to them as Leo made the last adjustments to Festus. Calypso, put her arm around Esperanza’s shoulders as they both looked out at the Camp.“You ready to go?”Esperanza sighed and nodded, smiling at her mom, “Yeah.”“Come on girls! The Leo Express is leaving!” They both rolled their eyes as he yelled at them from atop Festus, Jasper at his side. They made their way over and just as Esperanza was about to take Jasper’s hand to help her up a voice cut across the hill.“Wait!”Esperanza turned back to see Silena jogging over to her. Esperanza frowned, confused. She looked back at her parents and Jasper, asking a silent question. Jasper shrugged.“What’s up?” She asked Silena cautiously, taking a step forward. Over Silena’s shoulder, she could see everyone watching them curiously. Bella and Jayde were talking excitedly behind their hands.“Um…” Silena began but then stopped. “Well, I-I.”“Are you okay?” Esperanza asked, for the first time noticing how flushed the other girl’s cheeks were and how the usually confident Silena couldn’t even meet her eyes.Silena looked over her shoulder and Esperanza followed her gaze. Chris was giving his daughter a thumbs up and Clarisse made an impatient shooing gesture. They both quickly looked away when they noticed she was looking.Esperanza was even more confused now. She looked back at her own parents, only to see Jasper laughing behind his hand. What was happening?Silena turned back to face her and taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders she seemed to gain control of herself. “I just wanted to tell you that I am glad we got to hang out at the beginning of the summer and that I think I will be volunteering as a tour guide again next year… the kids aren’t so bad. So, if you wanted to do it again with me that would be… nice.”“Oh.” Esperanza felt her cheeks heat up but she didn’t know why. “Yeah, okay. That would be nice. I also enjoyed hanging out.”“Cool,” Silena said, she opened her mouth to say something else but then closed it again.Esperanza hesitated, “Is that all?”“Um, no,” Silena said, her eyes looking at a point just above Esperanza’s shoulder. She started to speak but then stopped cursing softly. Finally, she met Esperanza’s eyes, and Esperanza felt her breath hitch. “I also wanted to give you this.”She handed her a crumpled piece of paper that Esperanza carefully unwrapped to reveal a chain of hastily scrawled numbers.“It’s my phone number.” Silena verified. “I thought maybe we could chat over the school year. You know, as friends, or… or maybe something else?”Esperanza felt her heart skip a beat. Something else? Was this really happening right now?Her cheeks felt like they were on fire and she was pretty sure her hands were on fire. She quickly put the flames out and tucked the piece of paper with Silena’s number into her back pocket for safekeeping.She didn’t know what to say. Just weeks ago she had been pining over Zoe Jackson and now Silena Rodriguez had just given her, her number.It all felt so sudden! Since when did Silena like her?But looking at the equally terrified, equally hopeful look in Silena’s eyes, and thinking back to their time spent together Esperanza thought that maybe it wasn’t so sudden. Maybe she had just had her head turned the other way… looking at Zoe.She smiled, her cheeks still burning, “Yeah, okay. I would like that. Friends… or something else.”A look of shock crossed Silena’s face like she didn’t believe Esperanza was going to say yes. Then a beaming smile replaced it. “Great! Okay! Well, um, okay. Great.”Esperanza laughed, “I will text you when I get home.”Silena nodded vigorously. “Right. Well, okay. I have said okay a lot, sorry. Okay. No!” Esperanza bit her lip to stop herself from laughing, she had never seen Silena so flustered. “I mean, have a safe trip home. I look forward to hearing from you.”Esperanza smiled, “Thank you. Goodbye Silena, for now.” She winked and Silena flushed even more.“Yeah, right. Bye.” She waved hastily before turning on her heel and marching back toward her parents. Bella and Jayde were practically squealing and Esperanza saw Silena send them a dark look.Esperanza laughed and turned back to her own family. Her parents had a knowing smile on their faces as she walked up to Festus.“What?” She asked.They both shook their heads. “Nothing.” Her dad said.“Yeah, nothing sweetheart.” Her mom said just as innocently.Esperanza glared, her cheeks flushing as Jasper helped her onto the dragon. He was laughing, clearly enjoying her embarrassment.With one last wave to the crowd, Leo gave Festus a sharp command and the dragon took off into the air. Jasper clung to Esperanza tightly as the zipped through the air, clearly not expecting such a fast start.As Camp faded from sight beyond the clouds, Esperanza could feel Jasper relax as they entered the clouds. He was still laughing.She groaned, “Stop.”“I am sorry!” He held up his hands. (Yeah, definitely more comfortable now that they were in the sky).“You knew about this didn’t you?” She turned to glare at him, ignoring her parent's laughter from in front of them.Jasper smirked, “I am the grandson of the Goddess of Love, you know.”Esperanza smacked him hard in the chest, “Ugh! Why didn’t you tell me!” Jasper only laughed. She hit him again. “I hate you!”Jasper smirked, “I love you too, Esperanza Valdez.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Come on! Everybody time for cake!” Calypso called from the dining room. She sighed when nobody listened, “One second, girls,” She marched toward the kitchen, “Leonidas! Come here now!”Esperanza laughed from her seat at the head of the table. Her friends gathered around her, looking over her shoulder at the cake in front of her.“What does a “quest” mean?” Lyla asked, pointing to the red frosting that read Happy First Quest!“Oh that,” Esperanza said, she shrugged. “It’s just a term we use at the Camp to describe these sorts of mission things.”Nicole gasped, “Are you a missionary?!”“Espie!” Lyla squeaked, “Is that why you are so secretive about it?”Esperanza groaned, letting her head fall forward onto the table with a thunk. “No! I am not a missionary! Geez!” She looked at her three friends, “Don’t worry, I will explain everything… soon.”Nicole and Lyla shared a look. “Ooh! Espie spilling her secrets!” Lyla sing-songed. Esperanza laughed.From beside them, Marina let out a sigh, her eyes firmly fixed on the kitchen where Calypso was trying to herd everyone their way.“Everything okay there, Marina?” Esperanza asked. She didn’t respond. “Marina!” The other girl startled, Lyla giggled and Nicole rolled her eyes. “You good?”Marina nodded quickly, before leaning over to stage whisper to Esperanza, “Why didn’t you tell me your Camp friend was like mega fucking hot!”“Ewww!” Esperanza gasped as her friends giggled, clearly agreeing with Marina. She followed their love-sick gazes to see Jasper helping her dad bring in the bowls of chips to the dining room. “Gross. He is like my brother! But, ugh, I guess if you think he is hot… I mean...”“Oooh! Do I have your permission to give it a try?” Marina asked. She quickly shotEsperanza a desperate look before turning to fix her eyes on Jasper as he got closer.“Oh my gods,” Esperanza whispered, silently cursing Aphrodite and Marina. But if there was one thing she learned from her experience with death it was that there was no time to waste. She sighed and shrugged, “Go for it, but you better hurry, he goes home tomorrow.”Marina squealed as Lyla, Nicole and Esperanza shared a fondly exasperated look.Finally, Calypso managed to wrangle everyone into the room. “Finally.” She sighed sitting to Esperanza’s left.“Why are we having cake again?” Lityerses asked, “It’s not her birthday… right?”Georgina smacked his arm, “Oh shut it! She survived her first quest, it is a time for celebration!”Jasper smirked, “Well, “survived” isn’t too accurate.” Esperanza stuck her tongue out at him, ignoring her mortal friends' confused looks.“Lit, your sister is right,” Jo said, passing the fussy one-month-old, baby girl Aurora to Georgina, who settled her baby easily. “This is quite a time for celebrating.”“I know there are no candles but I can still light the cake for you, Firecracker,” Leo said with a wink.Esperanza gave a fond smile, “Thanks Dad, but I think I will just cut it.”Calypso passed her the knife, “Go for it.”Esperanza cut up the cake, handing the pieces to Emmie, who dispersed them around the room. Her mom had made a chocolate cake with vanilla icing and strawberries, and Esperanza thought she was in heaven. Everyone else enjoyed it just as much.After cake they all sat around the living room laughing and playing games, enjoying the last days of summer.Esperanza watched her family and friends and felt a light bubble of warmth grow in her chest. It was a comforting feeling that reminded her of cinnamon and the soft glow of fire.Despite the paradise and peace Ogygia had offered, it could never compare to this.Esperanza felt a pang of gratitude for Zoe Jackson for saving her and letting her experience this feeling again.“Here kiddo,” Leo said throwing her a package from across the room. Esperanza caught it easily, looking curiously at the paper packaging wrapped in a small string of twine. “It’s from your grandfather” Her dad explained.Esperanza’s mouth formed a soft “O”. She smiled as she read the note attached.
Good luck at school this year! And good job with the quest.Proud of you.

– Hephaestus
She opened the paper carefully and laughed as she pulled out a large screwdriver pencil case. Inside there were some pens, pencils and a few small tools (of course).Nicole, plucked it from her hands, inspecting the gift with Lyla and Marina. Esperanza looked up to the ceiling and mouthed a ‘thank you’ to her grandfather while her mortal friends were occupied.Jasper nudged her shoulder, “Ready to get back to school?”“After the summer we had? Yeah, kinda actually.”Jasper laughed, “Never thought I would hear you say that!”Esperanza shrugged. Her phone buzzed twice in her pocket as she picked it up.There was a text from Bella on the new legacies group chat; a meme of a cat wearing sunglasses and a pink feather boa she claimed was Jayde. Esperanza chuckled, hearting the message.The second text was from Silena.Esperanza couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face at the name. Beside her Jasper scoffed and muttered something about “love birds”. She ignored him, texting Silena back and ending the message with a smile emoji, her own heart beating fast as she waited for the response.Instead of the ding of an incoming text, the doorbell rang instead.“Were we expecting anyone else?” Her dad asked her mom.Calypso shook her head, standing to answer it, “I don’t think so.”Curious, Esperanza excused herself and followed her mom to the door. Calypso opened the door and gasped at who was on the other side. Esperanza felt a huge smile grow across her face.“Mom?” Calypso asked, her voice small. It reminded Esperanza of when she would call her mom’s name and it brought a flood of happiness and nostalgia through her body.“Hello, Calypso,” Tethys answered. The Titaness looked unsure as she stood in the doorway of the apartment above the garage. She was dressed in a simple blue blouse and jeans, her green eyes darting quickly over her daughter’s face. In her hand was a slightly crumpled business card.Neither mother nor daughter moved, so Esperanza stepped in, “Grandma Tethys! Welcome! Please come in. You are just in time for charades.” She moved around her mom to grab Tethys’s hands. “You missed cake but don’t worry, we have leftovers.”Calypso seemed to snap out of her shock and closed the door behind them before taking the lead. “Yes, yes! Come on Mom,” She grabbed her other hand. “We will introduce you to everyone.”Esperanza fell back a step to let her mom take over. Calypso glanced over her shoulder to meet her daughter’s eye. Happiness shone through like the sun on her face and Esperanza was reminded of her mom’s true goddess form.‘Thank you’ Calypso mouthed to her. Esperanza nodded, feeling her throat grow tight. Everything was as it was supposed to be and she couldn’t have been happier.Hey, maybe being a half-blood or a hero isn’t what everyone wanted, but for Esperanza Valdez, in this moment, it was worth it.