THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES [J. GRACE]

TWENTY-ONE

the goddess sighed, maybe a small part embarrassed, the other exasperated. "i could not stay idle. your father, jupiter believes he can withdraw from the world, and thus lull our enemies back to sleep. he believes we olympians have become too involved in the affairs of mortals, in the fates of our demigod children, especially since we agreed to claim them all after the war. he believes this is what has caused our enemies to stir. that is why he closed olympus."

that made jason think of chandler. all her hard work of getting demigods claimed, and here was his dad closing olympus because he was being naïve. he couldn't help the bad taste that lingered in his mouth at the thought. gods never learned their lessons. "but you don't agree," he said to the queen of gods, not even phrasing the statement as a question as he knew it to be true.

"no," she agreed with him, her tone softened completely. "i often i do not understand my husband's moods or his decisions, but even for zeus, this seemed paranoid. i cannot fathom why he was so insistent, and so convinced. it was...unlike him. as hera, i might have been content to follow my lord's wishes. but i am also juno." her image flickered, and jason saw armor under her simple black robes, a goatskin cloak, the symbol of a roman warrior across her bronze mantle. "juno moneta they once called me – juno, the one who warns. i was guardian of the state, patron of eternal rome. i could not sit by while the descendants of my people were attacked. i sensed danger at this sacred spot. a voice – "

she hesitated, before continuing. "a voice told me i should come here. gods do not have what you might call a conscience, nor do we have dreams; but the voice was like that – soft, and persistent, warning me to come here. and so, the same day zeus closed olympus, i slipped away without telling him my plans, so he could not stop me. and, i came here to investigate."

"it was a trap," jason guessed.

the goddess nodded in response. "only too late did i realize how quickly the earth was stirring. i was even more foolish than jupiter – a slave to my own impulses. this is exactly how it happened the first time. i was taken captive by the giants, and my imprisonment started a war. now, our enemies rise again. the gods can only defeat them with the help of the greatest living heroes. and the one whom the giants serve...she cannot be defeated at all, only kept asleep."

"i don't understand."

"you will soon," juno assured him, nodding encouragingly. the cage began to constrict, the tendrils spiraling tighter. juno's form shivered like a candle flame in the breeze. outside the cage, jason could see shapes gathering at the edge of the pool – lumbering humanoids with hunched backs and bald heads. unless jason's eyes were tricking him, they had more than one set of arms. he heard wolves too, but not the wolves he'd seen with lupa. he could tell from their howls this was a different pack – hungrier, more aggressive, out for blood. "hurry, jason," juno said gravely. "my keepers approach, and you begin to wake. i will not be strong enough to appear to you again, even in dreams."

"wait," jason tried, "boreas told us you'd made a dangerous gamble. what did he mean?"

juno's eyes looked wild, and jason wondered if she really had done something crazy. "an exchange," she said finally. "the only way to bring peace. the enemy counts on our divisions, and if we are divided, we will be destroyed. you are my peace offering, jason, a bridge to overcome millennia of hatred."

"what? i don't—"

"i cannot tell you more," the goddess dismissed him, trying to usher him awake as her keepers approached where she was being held. "you have only lived this long because i have taken your memory. find this place. return to your starting point. your sister will help."

"thalia?"

the scene began to dissolve. "good-bye, jason. beware chicago. your most dangerous mortal enemy waits there. if you are to die, it will be by her hand."