Hi. This is my first time writing Percy Jackson stories. Ever since I started reading the series, I wondered what it would be like to have a female Percy (Go Girl Power). Then came Jason, and I absolutely loved his character, but to me Piper was a total Mary Sue. Female Percy/Jason pairing is very rare, and the few written stories are never finished, so I thought I might try my hand at writing one.

Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to Rick Riordan even if I've always loved Greek Mythology.

Even before he got electrocuted, Jason was having a rotten day. He woke up at the back seat of a school bus, not sure where he was, holding hands with a girl he didn't know. He couldn't figure out who she was or what he was doing here.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes, trying to think. A few dozen kids were sprawled in the seats in front of him, listening to iPods, talking or sleeping. They all looked around his age… Fifteen? Sixteen? Okay, that was scary. He didn't know his own age.

The bus rumbled along a bumpy road. Out of the windows, desert rolled by under a blue sky. Jason was pretty sure he didn't live in the desert. He tried to think back… the last thing he remembered…

A girl. There was a girl, a very beautiful girl. As soon as he thought of her sea green eyes, a wave of deep longing and overwhelming sadness washed over him. Who was she to him? Everything. She is everything, his mind supplied. But why did it feel that he had lost her? And what was her name?

And now…

"Ohhh-kay," Leo interrupted. ''Look up there and tell me that they aren't flying horses."

At first Jason though Leo hadhit his head too hard. Then he saw a dark shape descending from the east – too slow for a plane, too large for a bird. As it got closer, he could see a pair of winged animals – grey, four legged, exactly like horses – except each one had a twenty foot wingspan.

And they were pulling a brightly painted box with two wheels: a chariot.

"Reinforcements." He said, "Hedge told me an extraction squad was coming for us."

"Extraction squad?" Leo struggled to his feet. "That sounds painful."

"And where are they extracting us to?" Piper asked.

Jason watched as the chariot landed on the far end of the skywalk. The flying horses tucked in their wings and cantered nervously across the glass, as if they sensed it was near breaking.

Two teenagers stood in the chariot – a tall, blonde girl maybe a little older then Jason, and a bulky dude with a shaved head and a face like a pile of bricks. They both wore jeans and orange T-Shirts, with shields tossed over their backs. The girl leaped off the chariot before it had even stopped moving. She pulled out a knife and ran towards Jason's group while the bulky dude was reining in the horses.

"Where is she?" the girl demanded. Her grey eyes were fierce and a little demanding.

"Where's who?" Jason asked.

She frowned like the answer was unacceptable. The she turned to Leo and Piper. "What about Gleeson? Where is your protector Gleeson Hedge?"

The coach's first name was Gleeson? Jason might've laughed if the morning hadn't been quite so weird and scary. Gleeson Hedge: football coach, goat man, protector of demigods. Sure. Why not?

Leo cleared his throat. "He got taken by some… tornado things."

"Venti,"Jason said. "Storm spirits."

The blonde girl arched an eyebrow. "You mean anemoi thullai? That's the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"

Jason did he best to explain, though it was hard, though it was hard to meet those intense grey eyes.

About halfway through the story, the other guy from the chariot came over. He stood their glaring at them, his arms crossed. He had a tattoo of a rainbow on his biceps, which seemed a little unusual.

When Jason had finished his story, the blonde girl didn't look satisfied. "No, no, no! She toldme she would be here. She told me if I came here I would find the answer."

"Annabeth," bald guy grunted. "Check it out." He pointed at Jason's feet.

Jason hadn't thought much about it, but he was still missing his left shoe, which had been blown off by lightning. His bare foot felt okay, but it looked like a lump of charcoal.'

"The guy with one shoe," said the bald dude. "He's the answer."

"No, Butch," the girl insisted. "He can't be. I was tricked."

She glared at the sky as though it had done something wrong.

"What do you want from me?" she screamed. "What have you done with her?"

The skywalk shuddered, and the horses whinnied urgently.

"Annabeth," said the bald dude, Butch, "we gotta leave. Let's get these three to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits might come back."

She fumed for a moment. "Fine." She fixed Jason with a resentful look. "We'll settle this later."

She turned on her heel and marched towards the chariot.

Piper shook her head. "What's herproblem? What's going on?"

"Seriously." Leo agreed.

"We have to get you out of here," Butch said. "I'll explain on the way."

"I'm not going anyway with her." Jason gestured towards the blonde. "She looks like she wants to kill me."

Butch hesitated. "Annabeth's okay. You gotta cut her some slack. She had a vision telling her to come here, to find a guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to her problem."

"What problem?" Piper asked.

"She's been looking for one of our campers, who's been missing for three days," Butch said. "She's going out of her mind with worry. She hoped she'd be here."

"Who?" Jason asked suddenly feeling sympathetic, as if he had been in the same situation before. May be that girl with sea green eyes, the only one he could remember from his past so far.

"Her best friend," Butch said. "A girl named Andy Jackson."

Jason felt his heart stop from the shock. Could they be the same person? His instincts told him he was right.

Andy Jackson….. Andromeda. That was her name.

"That's Andy, and the girl with the choppy hair, that's Thalia," someone said. Jason turned.

Annabeth was peering over his shoulder. Her expression was sad.

"Thalia is the other child of Zeus who lived here – but not for long. Sorry, I should've knocked."

"It's fine," Jason said. "Not like I think of this place as home."

Annabeth was dressed for travel, with a winter coat over her camp clothes, her knife at her belt, and a backpack across her shoulder.

Jason said, "Don't suppose you've changed your mind about coming with us?"

She shook her head. "You got a good team already. I'm off to look for Andy."

Jason was a little disappointed. He would've appreciated having somebody on the trip who knew what they were doing, so he wouldn't feel like he was leading Piper and Leo off a cliff.

"Hey, you'll do fine," Annabeth promised. "Something tells me this isn't your first quest."

Jason had a vague suspicion she was right, but that didn't make him feel any better. Everyone seemed to think he was so brave and confident, but they didn't see how lost he really felt. How could they trust him when he didn't even know who he was?

He looked at the pictures of Annabeth smiling. He wondered how long it had been since she'd smiled.

She must be really close to Andy to search for her so hard, And that made Jason a little envious.

Was anyone searching forhimright now? What if somebody cared forhimthat much and was going out of their mind with worry, and he couldn't even remember his old life?

And how did he know Andromeda Jackson? Why was he so worried about her? Why did he feel sad whenever he thought about her? Why did he miss her so much? Why did he thirst for any piece of information about her? Why did he want to abandon everything just to join the search for her? And just why… why was he jealous of the apparent close friendship between Andy and Annabeth?

Jason asked for Annabeth's advice on his quest, and at the end of their conversation,

"Thanks, Annabeth." He looked at the picture still in his hand. "So, um… you said it was dangerous being a child of Zeus. What ever happened to Thalia?"

"Oh, she's fine," Annabeth said. "She became a Hunter of Artemis – one of the handmaidens of the goddess. They roam around the country killing monsters. We don't seem them at camp very often."

Jason glanced over at the huge statue of Zeus. He understood why Thalia had slept in the alcove. It was the only place in the cabin not in Hippie Zeus's line of sight.

And even that hadn't been enough. She'd chosen to follow Artemis and be part of a group rather than stay in this cold drafty temple alone with her twenty-foot-tall dad – Jason's dad – glowering down at her.

Eat voltage!

Jason didn't have any trouble understanding Thalia's feelings. He wondered if there was a Hunters group for guys.

"Who's the other girl in the photo?" he asked. "The sea green eyed girl."

Annabeth's expression crumpled. Touchy subject.

"That's Andy," she said.

He focused again on Thalia and Andy's faces. He kept thinking this photo of them was important. He was missing something.

Jason felt a strange sense of connection to this other child of Zeus –Someone who might understand his confusion, maybe even answer some questions. But another voice inside him, an insistent whisper, said: Dangerous. Stay away.

"How old is she now? Thalia, I mean." he asked.

"Hard to say. She was a tree for a while. Now she's immortal."

"What?"

His expression must've been pretty good, because Annabeth laughed.

"Don't worry. It's not something all children of Zeus go through. It's a long story, but… well, she was out of commission for a long time. If she'd aged regularly, she'd be in her twenties now, But she still looks the same as in that picture, like she's about… well, about your age. Fifteen or sixteen?"

Something the she-wolf had said in his dreams nagged at Jason. He found himself asking, "What's her last name?"

Annabeth looked uneasy. "She didn't use a last name, really. If she had to, she'd use her mom's, but they didn't get along. Thalia ran away when she was pretty young."

Jason waited.

"Grace," Annabeth said. "Thalia Grace."

Jason's fingers went numb. The picture fluttered to the floor.

"You okay?" Annabeth asked.

A shred of memory had ignited – maybe a tiny piece that Hera had forgotten to steal. Or maybe she'd left it there on purpose – just enough for him to remember that name, and know that digging up his past was terribly, terribly dangerous.

You should be dead, Chiron has said. It wasn't a comment about Jason beating the odds as a loner. Chiron knew something specific – something about Jason's family.

The she-wolf's words in his dream finally made sense to him, her clever joke at his could imagine Lupa growling a wolfish laugh.

"What is it?" Annabeth pressed.

Jason couldn't keep this to himself. It would kill him, and he had to get Annabeth's help. If she knew Thalia and Andy, maybe she could advise him.

"You have to swear not to tell anyone else," he said.

"Jason –"

"Swear it," he urged. "Until I figure out what's going on, what this all means –" He rubbed the burned tattoos on his forearm. "You have to keep a secret."

Annabeth hesitated, but her curiosity won out. "All right. Until you tell me it's okay, I won't share what you say with anyone else. I swear on the River Styx."

Thunder rumbled, even louder than usual for the cabin.

You are our saving Grace, the wolf has snarled.

Jason picked up the photo from the floor.

"My last name is Grace," he said. "This is my sister."

Annabeth turned pale.

"Wait. There's more. Andromeda Jackson. I know her, I think she was my friend or something, but she went missing. I keep seeing her face in my mind, and she looked about twelve years old."

Jason could see Annabeth wrestling with dismay, disbelief, anger. She thought he was lying. His claim was impossible. And part of him felt the same way, but as soon as he spoke the words, he knew they were true.

Then the doors of the cabin burst open. Half a dozen campers spilled in, led by the bald guy from Iris, Butch.

"Hurry!" he said, and Jason couldn't tell if his expression was excitement or fear. "The dragon is back."

Leo reached into his magic tool belt, pulled out a flashlight, and headed down the stairs, leaving Piper and Jason alone.

Jason gave her a smile, though he looked kind of nervous. It was the exact expression he'd had on his face after he'd kissed her the first time, up on the Wilderness School dorm roof – that cute little scar on his lip curving into a crescent.

The memory gave her a warm feeling. Then she remembered that the kiss had never really happened.

"You look better," Jason offered.

Piper wasn't sure if he meant her foot, or the fact that she wasn't magically beautified anymore.

Her jeans were tattered from the fall through the roof. Her boots were splattered with melted dirty snow. She didn't know what her face looked like, but probably horrible.

Why did it matter? She'd never cared about things like that before.

She wondered if it was her stupid mother, the goddess of love, messing with her thoughts. If Piper started getting urges to read fashion magazines, she was going to have to find Aphrodite and smack her.

She decided to focus on her ankle instead. As long as she didn't move it, the pain wasn't bad. "You did a good job," she told Jason. "Where'd you learn first aid?"

He shrugged. "Same answer as always. I don't know."

"But you're starting to have some memories, aren't you? Like that prophecy in Latin back at camp, or that dream about the wolf."

"It's fuzzy," he said. "Like déjà vu. Ever forgotten a word or name, and you know it should be on the tip of your tongue, but it isn't? It's like that – only with my whole life."

Piper sort of knew what he meant. The last three months – a life she thought she'd had, a relationship with Jason – had turned out to be Mist.

A boyfriend you never really had, Enceladus had said. Is that more important than your own father?

She should've kept her mouth shut, but she voiced the question that had been on her mind since yesterday.

"That photo in your pocket," she said. "Are they people from your past?"

Jason pulled back.

"I'm sorry," she said. "None of my business. Forget it."

"No – it's okay." His features relaxed. "Just, I'm trying to figure things out. One of them is my sister. Her name's Thalia. I don't remember any details. I'm not even sure how I know, but – um, why are you smiling?"

"Nothing." Piper tried to kill the smile. Not an old girlfriend.

"Um, it's just – that's great you remembered. Annabeth told me she became a Hunter of Artemis, right?"

Jason nodded. "I get the feeling I'm supposed to find her. Hera left me that memory for a reason. It's got something to do with this quest. But… I also have the feeling it could be dangerous. I'm not sure I want to find out the truth. Is that crazy?"

"No," Piper said. "Not at all."

Then her doubts returned, "And the other girl?"

Jason's smile vanished under a veil of sadness and longing. Oh gods, she thought, could this be the old girlfriend?

"That's Andy Jackson. I'm not sure how but I used to know her. She was my friend."

"Nothing more?" Piper hoped her voice didn't betray her.

The look on Jason's face turned into embarassment, "I'm not sure. We didn't exactly have the time, I think. I just know that she is important to me,"He finished awkwardly.

She stared at the logo on the wall trying to ignore the stinging in her eyes: MONOCLE MOTORS, the single red eye. Something about that logo bothered her. Maybe it was the idea Enceladus was watching her, holding her father for leverage.

She had to save him, but how could she betray her friends?

"Jason," she said. "Speaking of the truth, I need to tell you something – something about my dad –"

She didn't get the chance.

Somewhere below, metal clanged against metal, like a door slamming shut. The sound echoed through the warehouse.

"Thalia." Jason stepped forward, his voice trembling. "I'm Jason, your brother."

For a minute, Jason and Thalia faced each other, stunned. Then Thalia rushed forward and hugged him.

"My gods! She told me you were dead!" She gripped Jason's face and seemed to be examining everything about it. "Thank Artemis, it is you. That little scar on your lip you tried to eat a stapler when you were two!"

Leo and Coach Hedge commented, but Jason was too stunned and freaked out to acknowledge them.

"W-wait," Jason stammered. "Who told you I was dead? What happened?"

Thalia tried to send both Hedge and Leo with Piper to her friend, but Jason wanted someone else there. He needed the support.

"Actually, man, could you, um, stick around?"

Leo grinned. "Sticking around is my speciality."

Thalia didn't look too happy about it, but the three of them sat at the fire. For a few minutes, nobody spoke. Jason studied his sister unsure of what he wanted to do. Thalia seemed more at ease, as if she was used to stumbling across stranger things than long-lost relatives. But still she regarded Jason in a kind of amazed trance, maybe remembering a little two-year-old who tried to eat a stapler.

Apparently Leo couldn't stand the silence any longer. "So … the Hunters of Artemis. This whole 'not dating' thing—is that like always , or more of a seasonal thing, or what?"

Thalia stared at him as if he'd just evolved from pond scum.

Jason kicked him in the shin. "Don't mind Leo. He's just trying to break the ice. But, Thalia … what happened to our family? Who told you I was dead?"

Thalia tugged at a silver bracelet on her wrist. In the firelight, in her winter camouflage, she almost looked like Khione the snow princess—just as cold and beautiful.

"Do you remember anything?" she asked.

Jason shook his head. "I woke up three days ago on a bus with Leo and Piper."

"Which wasn't our fault," Leo added hastily. "Hera stole his memories."

Thalia tensed. "Hera? How do you know that?"

Jason explained about their quest—the prophecy at camp, Hera getting imprisoned, the giant taking Piper's dad, and the winter solstice deadline.

Thalia was a good listener. Nothing seemed to surprise her—the monsters, the prophecies, the dead rising. But when Jason mentioned King Midas, she cursed in Ancient Greek.

"I knew we should've burned down his mansion," she said. "That man's a menace. But we were so intent on following Lycaon—Well, I'm glad you got away. So Hera's been … what, hiding you all these years?"

"I don't know." Jason brought out the photo from his pocket. "She left me just enough memory to recognize your face."

Thalia looked at the picture, and her expression softened. "I'd forgotten about that. I left it in Cabin One, didn't I?"

Jason nodded. "I think Hera wanted for us to meet. When we landed here, at this cave … I had a feeling it was important. Like I knew you were close by. Is that crazy?"

"Nah," Leo interrupted him. "We were absolutely destined to meet your hot sister."

Thalia ignored him. "Jason," she said, "when you're dealing with the gods, nothing is too crazy. But you can't trust Hera, especially since we're children of Zeus. She hates all children of Zeus."

"But she said something about Zeus giving her my life as a peace offering. Does that make any sense?"

The color drained from Thalia's face. "Oh, gods. Mother wouldn't have … You don't remember—No, of course you don't."

"What?" Jason asked.

Thalia's features seemed to grow older in the firelight, like her immortality wasn't working so well. She started telling Jason about their mother.

Jason's face looked more and more devastated as Thalia described their mom.

"So …" Jason wasn't able to finish the question.

"Jason, you got friends," Leo told him. "Now you got a sister. You're not alone."

Thalia offered her hand, and Jason took it. She continued on with how Zeus started to visit again when she was seven which was how Jason was born.

"How did you guys get separated?" Leo asked.

Thalia squeezed her brother's hand. "If I'd known you were alive … gods, things would've been so different. But when you were two, Mom packed us in the car for a family vacation. We drove up north, toward the wine country, to this park she wanted to show us. I remember thinking it was strange because Mom never took us anywhere, and she was acting super nervous. I was holding your hand, walking you toward this big building in the middle of the park, and …" She took a shaky breath. "Mom told me to go back to the car and get the picnic basket. I didn't want to leave you alone with her, but it was only for a few minutes. When I came back … Mom was kneeling on the stone steps, hugging herself and crying. She said—she said you were gone. She said Hera claimed you and you were as good as dead. I didn't know what she'd done. I was afraid she'd completely lost her mind. I ran all over the place looking for you, but you'd just vanished. She had to drag me away, kicking and screaming. For the next few days I was hysterical. I don't remember everything, but I called the police on Mom and they questioned her for a long time. Afterward, we fought. She told me I'd betrayed her, that I should support her, likeshe was the only one who mattered. Finally I couldn't stand it. Your disappearance was the last straw. I ran away from home, and I never went back, not even when Mom died a few years ago. I thought you were gone forever. I never told anyone about you—not even Annabeth or Luke, my two best friends. It was just too painful."

"Chiron knew." Jason's voice sounded far away. "When I got to camp, he took one look at me and said, 'You should be dead.'"

"That doesn't make sense," Thalia insisted. "I never told him."

They talked more about how Jason called the gods by their Roman names, not the Greek ones, how he spoke Latin and that he had tattoos. Then Leo gave Thalia the rundown about the other weird stuff that had happened: Boreas turning into Aquilon, Lycaon calling Jason a "child of Rome," and the wolves backing off when Jason spoke Latin to them.

Thalia plucked her bowstring. "Latin. Zeus sometimes spoke Latin, the second time he stayed with Mom. Like I said, he seemed different, more formal."

"You think he was in his Roman aspect?" Jason asked. "And that's why I think of myself as a child of Jupiter?"

"Possibly," Thalia said. "I've never heard of something like that happening, but it might explain why you think in Roman terms, why you can speak Latin rather than Ancient Greek. That would make you unique. Still, it doesn't explain how you've survived without Camp Half-Blood. A child of Zeus, or Jupiter, or whatever you want to call him—you would've been hounded by monsters. If you were on your own, you should've died years ago. I know I wouldn't have been able to survive without friends. You would've needed training, a safe haven—"

"He wasn't alone," Leo blurted out. "We've heard about others like him."

Thalia looked at him strangely. "What do you mean?"

Leo told her about the slashed-up purple shirt in Medea's department store, and the story the Cyclopes told about the child of Mercury who spoke Latin.

"Isn't there anywhere else for demigods?" Leo asked. "I mean besides Camp Half-Blood? Maybe some crazy Latin teacher has been abducting children of the gods or something, making them think like Romans."

"I've been all over the country," Thalia mused. "I've never seen evidence of a crazy Latin teacher, or demigods in purple shirts. Still …" Her voice trailed off, like she'd just had a troubling thought.

"What?" Jason asked.

Thalia shook her head. "I'll have to talk to the goddess. Maybe Artemis will guide us."

"She's still talking to you?" Jason asked. "Most of the gods have gone silent."

"Artemis follows her own rules," Thalia said. "She has to be careful not to let Zeus know, but she thinks Zeus is being ridiculous closing Olympus. She's the one who set us on the trail of Lycaon. She said we'd find a lead to a missing friend of ours."

Jason felt himself go pale at the mention of the girl whose memory was driving him crazy

"Andy Jackson," Leo guessed. "The girl Annabeth is looking for."

Thalia nodded, her face full of concern and glanced at her picture with Andy Jackson.

"I know her." Jason blurted out.

Thalia's head snapped to him instantly.

Jason hastily continued, "I keep seeing her face in my head. I don't how we knew each other only that we did for a long time, and that she is very important to me."

Thalia looked lost in thought, and then she said, "Looks like Andy has a lot to explain when we find her, but I can't dwell on that right now."

"So what would Lycaon have to do with it?" Leo asked. "And how does it connect to us?"

"We need to find out soon," Thalia admitted. "If your deadline is tomorrow, we're wasting time. Aeolus could tell you—"

The white wolf appeared again at the doorway and yipped insistently.

"I have to get moving." Thalia stood. "Otherwise I'll lose the other Hunters' trail. First, though, I'll take you to Aeolus's palace."

"If you can't, it's okay," Jason said, though he sounded kind of distressed.

"Oh, please." Thalia smiled and helped him up. "I haven't had a brother in years. I think I can stand a few minutes with you before you get annoying. Now, let's go!"

Jason had found his sister and lost her in less than an hour. As they climbed the cliffs of the floating island, he kept looking back, but Thalia was gone.

Despite what she'd said about meeting him again, Jason wondered. She'd found a new family with the Hunters, and a new mother in Artemis. She seemed so confident and comfortable with her life, Jason wasn't sure if he'd ever be part of it. And she seemed so set on finding her Andy. Had she ever searched for Jason that way?

Not fair, he told himself. She thought you were dead.

Had he ever searched for Andy that way?

He could barely tolerate what she'd said about their mom. It was almost like Thalia had handed him a baby—a really loud, ugly baby—and said, Here, this is yours. Carry it. He didn't want to carry it. He didn't want to look at it or claim it. He didn't want to know that he had an unstable mother who'd gotten rid of him to appease a goddess. No wonder Thalia had run away.

And what about Andy? Why did she leave him? Would he ever find her? Would he ever see her again?

Jason hoped he coould answer himself. He felt like a part of his own soul was missing with her. He cursed Hera again for taking his memories. His instinct told him that the answer for the mystery of "Where in the world was Andromeda Jackson?" lied somwhere in his stolen memories.

But now he should concentrate on his quest and the next god they got to meet…

"We just want information," Piper said in her most calming voice. "We hear you know everything."

Aeolus straightened his lapels and looked slightly mollified. "Well … that's true, of course. For instance, I know that this business here"—he waggled his fingers at the three of them—"this harebrained scheme of Juno's to bring you all together is likely to end in bloodshed. As for you, Piper McLean, I know your father is in serious trouble." He held out his hand, and a scrap of paper fluttered into his grasp. It was a photo of Piper with a guy who must've been her dad. His face did look familiar. Jason was pretty sure he'd seen him in some movies.

Piper took the photo. Her hands were shaking. "This—this is from his wallet."

"Yes," Aeolus said. "All things lost in the wind eventually come to me. The photo blew away when the Earthborn captured him."

"The what?" Piper asked.

Aeolus waved aside the question and narrowed his eyes at Leo. "Now, you, son of Hephaestus … yes, I see your future." Another paper fell into the wind god's hands—an old tattered drawing done in crayons.

Leo took it as if it might be coated in poison. He staggered backward.

"Leo?" Jason said. "What is it?"

"Something I—I drew when I was a kid." He folded it quickly and put it in his coat. "It's … yeah, it's nothing."

Aeolus laughed. "Really? Just the key to your success! And, you, son of J..Zeus, I believe this belongs to you." A picture floated to his hand.

It was a photo of two kids running after each other. A dripping wet blond-haired boy with a familiar electric blue eyes was caught in the middle of a laugh, while chasing after a laughing beautiful girl with long black hair and sea green eyes.

"Jason! Stop it!"

"No, you started it. Get back here, Andy."

"Never."

Jason caught up with her, and started tickling her causing her laughter to ring through the barracks of the fifth cohort like chimming bells.

"Now, where were we? Ah, yes, you wanted information. Are you sure about that? Sometimes information can be dangerous."

He smiled at Jason like he was issuing a challenge. Behind him, Mellie shook her head in warning.

"Yeah," Jason said pulling himself reluctantly from the memory, that seeing this picture triggered. "We need to find the lair of Enceladus."

Aeolus's smile melted. "The giant? Why would you want to go there? He's horrible! He doesn't even watch my program!"

Piper held up the photo. "Aeolus, he's got my father. We need to rescue him and find out where Hera is being held captive."

"Now, that's impossible," Aeolus said. "Even I can't see that, and believe me, I've tried. There's a veil of magic over Hera's location—very strong, impossible to locate."

"She's at a place called the Wolf House," Jason said.

"Hold on!" Aelous put a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes. "I'm getting something! Yes, she's at a place called the Wolf House! Sadly, I don't know where that is."

"Enceladus does," Piper persisted. "If you help us find him, we could get the location of the goddess—"

"Yeah," Leo said, catching on. "And if we save her, she'd be really grateful to you—"

"And Zeus might promote you," Jason finished.

Aeolus's eyebrows crept up. "A promotion—and all you want from me is the giant's location?"

"Well, if you could get us there, too," Jason amended, "that would be great."

Mellie clapped her hands in excitement. "Oh, he could do that! He often sends helpful winds—"

"Mellie, quiet!" Aeolus snapped. "I have half a mind to fire you for letting these people in under false pretenses."

Her face paled. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

"It wasn't her fault," Jason said. "But about that help …"

Aelous tilted his head as if thinking. Then Jason realized the wind lord was listening to voices in his earpiece.

"Well … Zeus approves," Aeolus muttered. "He says … he says it would be better if you could avoid saving her until after the weekend, because he has a big party planned—Ow! That's Aphrodite yelling at him, reminding him that the solstice starts at dawn. She says I should help you. And Hephaestus… yes. Hmm. Very rare they agree on anything. Hold on …"

Jason smiled at his friends. Finally, they were having some good luck. Their godly parents were standing up for them.

Back toward the entrance, Jason heard a loud belch. Coach Hedge waddled in from the lobby, grass all over his face. Mellie saw him coming across the makeshift floor and caught her breath. "Who is that?"

Jason stifled a cough. "That? That's just Coach Hedge. Uh, Gleeson Hedge. He's our …" Jason wasn't sure what to call him: teacher, friend, problem?

"Our guide."

"He's so goatly," Mellie murmured.

Behind her, Piper poofed out her cheeks, pretending to vomit.

"What's up, guys?" Hedge trotted over. "Wow, nice place. Oh! Sod squares."

"Coach, you just ate," Jason said. "And we're using the sod as a floor. This is, ah, Mellie—"

"An aura." Hedge smiled winningly. "Beautiful as a summer breeze."

Mellie blushed.

"And Aeolus here was just about to help us," Jason said.

"Yes," the wind lord muttered. "It seems so. You'll find Enceladus on Mount Diablo."

"Devil Mountain?" Leo asked. "That doesn't sound good."

"I remember that place!" Piper said. "I went there once with my dad. It's just east of San Francisco Bay."

"The Bay Area again?" The coach shook his head. "Not good. Not good at all."

"Now …" Aeolus began to smile. "As to getting you there—"

Suddenly his face went slack. He bent over and tapped his earpiece as if it were malfunctioning. When he straightened again, his eyes were wild. Despite the makeup, he looked like an old man—an old, very frightened man. "She hasn't spoke to me for centuries. I can't—yes, yes I understand."

He swallowed, regarding Jason as if he had suddenly turned into a giant cockroach. "I'm sorry, son of Jupiter. New orders. You all have to die."

Jason waited alone in Cabin one alone.

Annabeth and Rachel were due any minute for the head counselors' meeting, and Jason needed time to think.

His dreams the night before had been worse than he'd wanted to share. His memory was still foggy, but bits and pieces were coming back. The night Lupa had tested him and Andy at the Wolf House, to decide if they would be pups or food. Then the long trip south to … he couldn't remember, but he had flashes of his old life, most of them featured Andy Jackson. The day he'd gotten his tattoo. Then there was the day he'd been raised on a shield and proclaimed a praetor. His friends' faces: Dakota, Gwendolyn, Hazel, Bobby, and Reyna. Andy was absent that day.

He remembered scannig the crowds for her hoping that she would be there, even when he knew it to hopeless.

His feelings for Andy made him question a lot of things. Yes, they'd never been together, but he never doubted his love for her even after she'd disappeared from his life. He knew that Piper had feelings for him, but he just couldn't imagine anyone in the place he'd always reserved for Andy….

The back of his neck tingled. He realized someone was standing behind him. He turned and found a woman in a black hooded robe, with a goatskin cloak over her shoulders and a sheathed Roman sword—a gladius—in her hands.

"Hera," he said.

She pushed back her hood. "To you, I have always been Juno. And your father has already sent you guidance, Jason. He sent you Piper and Leo. They're not just your responsibility. They are also your friends. Listen to them, and you will do well."

"Did Jupiter send you here to tell me that?"

"No one sends me anywhere, hero," she said. "I am not a messenger."

"But you got me into this. Why did you send me to this camp?"

"I think you know," Juno said. "An exchange of leaders was necessary. It was the only way to bridge to gap."

"I didn't agree to it. And how did Andy Jackson become this camp's leader? I know she was with me at the other camp."

"No. But Zeus gave your life to me, and I am helping you fulfill your destiny. As for Andromeda Jackson, her situation was unique. She was the first of her kind. She belonged to both camps, and she was needed here to fulfill the first Great Prophecy. You could ask her when you see her again. "

Jason tried to control his anger. He looked down at his orange camp shirt and the tattoos on his arm, and he knew these things should not go together. He had become a contradiction—a mixture as dangerous as anything Medea could cook up.

"You're not giving me all my memories," he said. "Even though you promised."

"Most will return in time," Juno said. "But you must find your own way back. You need these next months with your new friends, your new home. You're gaining their trust. By the time you sail in your ship, you will be a leader at this camp. And you will be ready to be a peacemaker between two great powers."

"What if you're not telling the truth?" he asked. "What if you're doing this to cause another civil war?"

Juno's expression was impossible to read—amusement? Disdain? Affection? Possibly all three. As much as she appeared human, Jason knew she was not. He could still see that blinding light—the true form of the goddess that had seared itself into his brain. She was Juno and Hera. She existed in many places at once. Her reasons for doing something were never simple.

"I am the goddess of family," she said. "My family has been divided for too long."

"They divided us so we don't kill each other," Jason said. "That seems like a pretty good reason."

"The prophecy demands that we change. The giants will rise. Each can only be killed by a god and demigod working together. Those demigods must be the seven greatest of the age. As it stands, they are divided between two places. If we remain divided, we cannot win. Gaea is counting on this. You must unite the heroes of Olympus and sail together to meet the giants on the ancient battlegrounds of Greece. Only then will the gods be convinced to join you. It will be the most dangerous quest, the most important voyage, ever attempted by the children of the gods."

Jason looked up again at the glowering statue of his father.

"It's not fair," Jason said. "I could ruin everything."

"You could," Juno agreed. "But gods need heroes. We always have."

"Even you? I thought you hated heroes."

The goddess gave him a dry smile. "I have that reputation. But if you want the truth, Jason, I often envy other gods their mortal children. You demigods can span both worlds. I think this helps your godly parents—even Jupiter, curse him—to understand the mortal world better than I."

Juno sighed so unhappily that despite his anger, Jason almost felt sorry for her.

"I am the goddess of marriage," she said. "It is not in my nature to be faithless. I have only two godly children—Ares and Hephaestus—both of whom are disappointments. I have no mortal heroes to do my bidding, which is why I am so often bitter toward demigods—Heracles, Aeneas, all of them. But it is also why I favored the first Jason, a pure mortal, who had no godly parent to guide him. And why I am glad Zeus gave you to me. You will be my champion, Jason. You will be the greatest of heroes, and bring unity to the demigods, and thus to Olympus."

Her words settled over him, as heavy as sandbags. Two days ago, he'd been terrified by the idea of leading demigods into a Great Prophecy, sailing off to battle the giants and save the world.

He was still terrified, but something had changed. He no longer felt alone. He had friends now, and a home to fight for. He even had a patron goddess looking out for him, which had to count for something, even if she seemed a little untrustworthy.

Jason had to stand up and accept his destiny, just as he had done when he faced Porphyrion with his bare hands. Sure, it seemed impossible. He might die. But his friends were counting on him.

"And if I fail?" he asked.

"Great victory requires great risk," she admitted. "Fail, and there will be bloodshed like we have never seen. Demigods will destroy one another. The giants will overrun Olympus. Gaea will wake, and the earth will shake off everything we have built over five millennia. It will be the end of us all."

"Great. Just great."

Someone pounded on the cabin doors.

Juno pulled her hood back over her face. Then she handed Jason the sheathed gladius. "Take this for the weapon you lost. We will speak again. Like it or not, Jason, I am your sponsor, and your link to Olympus. We need each other."

The goddess vanished as the doors creaked open, and Piper walked in.

"Annabeth and Rachel are here," she said. "Chiron has summoned the council."

P.S. Some of the inspiration for this story came from "Children Of The Doves" and "Child Of Rome" of Irissen, but sadly they got taken down.

P.P.S. At first, I was going to write this as a oneshot, but this chapter became too long that I had to limit it to Jason's experience. Next chapter will be about Andy.

I hope you like this story and tell me what you think in a review.