OPHELIA RAN FASTER than she'd ever run, falling to her knees at Jason's side.
"Jason!" she gasped, grabbing his face. His body was steaming, his eyes rolled back in his head. She couldn't see any movement—not even the rise and fall of his chest.
She tried to shake him awake, desperate, silently begging him to open his eyes, to make a sound, to do something—something to tell her he wasn't gone for good.
"You can't do this," she whispered, tears filling her eyes. "Where you go, I go. We made a promise, you can't—you can't leave me like this."
Her vision was blurry, her hearing muffled. She could sense other people around her—more than just Piper, Leo, and Hera. Distantly, she registered Thalia kneeling down on Jason's other side, her hand on his forehead. But it all felt like it was happening on another plane of existence, outside of the bubble that was her impending grief.
She wasn't sure how long it was before Hera's voice broke through the haze. "It's no use, child."
Thalia glared up at the goddess. "This is your fault. Do something!"
"Do not address me that way, girl. I am the queen—"
"Fix him!"
"I did warn him," Hera said. "I would never intentionally hurt the boy. He was to be my champion. I told them to close their eyes before I revealed my true form."
"Um..." Leo paused. "True form is bad, right? So why did you do it?"
"I unleashed my power to help you, fool!" Hera cried. "I became pure energy so I could disintegrate the monsters, restore this place, and even save these miserable Hunters from the ice."
"But mortals can't look upon you in that form!" Thalia shouted. "You've killed him!"
Leo's voice was quiet with dismay. "That's what our prophecy meant. Death unleash through Hera's rage. Come on, lady. You're a goddess. Do some voodoo magic on him! Bring him back."
Their conversation was muffled to Ophelia's ears. She kept her eyes on Jason's face, searching for a sign of life, for anything to quell the deepening pit of fear and grief in her.
He couldn't be dead. There was no ghost, no flicker or fragment of his soul separated from his body. She had to believe that meant he was alive, that he hadn't set foot in the Underworld.
He couldn't be dead. He couldn't be.
She almost collapsed with relief as she saw the smallest sign of life. "He's breathing!" she gasped.
"Impossible," Hera protested. "I wish it were true, child, but no mortal has ever—"
Piper knelt down next to Ophelia. "Jason," she called, her voice strong, steadier than Ophelia had ever heard it before. "Listen to me. You can do this. Come back. You're going to be fine."
"Healing is not a power of Aphrodite," Hera said regretfully. "Even I cannot fix this, girl. His mortal spirit—"
"Shut up," Ophelia hissed, not caring that the goddess could stop her heart in a second. She already had—she'd killed Jason, she'd taken him away from her.
She didn't care if she offended the goddess, not anymore. Not after everything the gods had already taken from her.
"Jason," Piper said again. "Wake up."
Jason gasped, his eyes flying open. For a moment, they were full of light, glowing pure gold. Then the light faded and his eyes were blue again. "What—what happened?"
"Impossible!" Hera said.
Ophelia threw her arms around him, burying her face against his neck. "You idiot," she hissed, not even trying to stop the tears from falling.
"Crushing me," he groaned.
Thalia gripped his hand as Ophelia pulled away. "How do you feel?"
"Hot," Jason muttered. "Mouth is dry. And I saw something... really terrible."
"That was Hera," Thalia grumbled. "Her Majesty, the Loose Cannon."
"That's it, Thalia Grace," the goddess said. "I will turn you into an aardvark, so help me—"
"Stop it, both of you," Piper said.
Amazingly, they both shut up.
Ophelia and Piper helped Jason to his feet. Piper handed him the last of the nectar from their supplies and then turned to face Thalia and Hera. "Now... Hera—Your Majesty—we couldn't have rescued you without the Hunters. And Thalia, you never would've seen Jason again if it weren't for Hera. You two make nice, because we've got bigger problems."
Thalia and Hera both glared at Piper for a moment before finally, Thalia grunted, "You've got spirit, Piper." She pulled a silver card from her parka and tucked it into the pocket of Piper's snowboarding jacket. "You ever want to be a Hunter, call me. We could use you."
Hera crossed her arms. "Fortunately for this Hunter, you have a point, daughter of Aphrodite." She assessed Piper, as if seeing her clearly for the first time. "You wonder, Piper, why I chose you for this quest, why I didn't reveal your secret in the beginning, even when I knew Enceladus was using you. I must admit, until this moment I was not sure. Something told me you would be vital to the quest. Now I see I was right. You're even stronger than I realized. And you are correct about the dangers to come. We must work together."
She settled her dark gaze on Ophelia, and Ophelia suddenly regretted ever telling the queen of Olympus to shut up. "You weren't apart of my original plan, I'll admit," she said begrudgingly. "But it would be foolish of me to believe things would have turned out better if I'd been able to send Jason to Camp Half-Blood alone. I admire your loyalty—your oath proved how far you would go for each other. I must say, I'm... glad things turned out this way."
That almost sounded like a compliment.
Leo stepped in as Ophelia tried to process the goddess's words. "I don't suppose that Porphyrion guy just melted and died, huh?"
"No," Hera agreed. "By saving me, and saving this place, you prevented Gaea from waking. You have bought us some time. But Porphyrion has risen. He simply knew better than to stay here, especially since he has not yet regained his full power. Giants can only be killed by a combination of god and demigod, working together. Once you freed me—"
"He ran away," Jason said. "But to where?"
Hera didn't answer, but dread washed over Ophelia. Porphyrion had said something about killing the Olympians at their roots.
Greece.
Thalia grimaced. "I need to find Annabeth," she said. "She has to know what's happened here."
"Thalia..." Jason gripped her hand. "We never got to talk about this place, or—"
"I know." Her expression softened. "I lost you here once. I don't want to leave you again. But we'll meet soon. I'll rendezvous with you back at Camp Half-Blood." She glanced at Hera. "You'll see them there safely? It's the least you can do."
"It's not your place to tell me—"
"Queen Hera," Piper interceded.
The goddess sighed. "Fine. Yes. Just off with you, Hunter."
Thalia said her goodbyes, and Ophelia was surprised—pleasantly so—when Thalia gave her a hug, the Hunter careful of her healing side. "I'd ask you to consider joining the Hunters," she said, "but I have a feeling I already know your answer."
"Yeah," Ophelia said, smiling softly. "You do."
Thalia shook her hand. "Take care of him," she whispered.
"I will."
With the Hunters gone, the courtyard was quiet. Jason wrapped an arm around Ophelia, careful of her side, where her wound was starting to hurt again. The ambrosia was nearly out of her system by now, and the adrenaline following it out.
Piper looked at Jason and Ophelia. "What happened to you guys here?" she asked. "I mean—Jason, I know your mom abandoned you here. But you said it was sacred ground for demigods. Why? What happened after you were on your own?"
Jason shook his head uneasily. "It's still murky. The wolves..."
"You were given a destiny," Hera said. "You, Jason, were given into my service."
Jason scowled. "Because you forced my mom to do that. You couldn't stand knowing Zeus had two children with my mom. Knowing that he'd fallen for her twice. I was the price you demanded for leaving the rest of my family alone."
"It was the right choice for you, Jason," Hera insisted. "The second time your mother managed to snare Zeus's affections, it was because she imagined him in a different aspect—the aspect of Jupiter. Never before had this happened—two children, Greek and Roman, born into the same family. You had to be separated from Thalia. This is where all demigods of your kind start their journey."
"Of his kind?" Piper asked.
"She means Roman," Ophelia said. The memories were foggy, more like blurry snippets than full scenes, but the information was there. She almost felt drunk on the memories that she could finally access, even if so many were still shrouded in mystery. "Demigods are left here. We meet the she-wolf goddess, Lupa, the same immortal wolf who raised Romulus and Remus."
Hera nodded. "And if you are strong enough, you live."
"But..." Leo looked mystified. "What happened after that? I mean, you guys never made it to camp."
"Not to Camp Half-Blood, no," Hera agreed.
"You went somewhere else," Piper said. "That's where you've been all these years, it's where you came from. Somewhere else for demigods—but where?"
Jason turned to the goddess. "The memories are coming back, but not the location. You're not going to tell us, are you?"
"No," Hera said. "That is part of your destiny. Ophelia's compass will not guide you. You must find your own way back. But when you do... you will unite two great powers. You will give us hope against the giants, and more importantly—against Gaea herself."
"You want us to help you," Ophelia said, "but you're not telling us everything."
"Giving you answers would make those answers invalid," Hera said. "That is the way of the Fates. You must forge your own path for it to mean anything. Already, you four have surprised me. I would not have thought it possible..." She shook her head. "Suffice to say, you have performed well, demigods. But this is only the beginning. Now you must return to Camp Half-Blood, where you will begin planning for the next phase."
"Which you won't tell us about," Jason grumbled. "And I suppose you destroyed my nice storm horse, so we'll have to walk home?"
Hera waved aside the question. "Storm spirits are creatures of chaos. I did not destroy that one, though I have no idea where he went, or whether you'll see him again. But there is an easier way home for you. As you have done me a great service, I can help you—at least this once. Farewell, demigods, for now."
The world turned upside down, and Ophelia's vision went black.
❖
In her dream, Ophelia woke with a start. She sat up, her breaths coming in gasps as she came down from the terror the nightmare had brought with it. Her hand moved out, searching.
Jason was already awake next to her, startled by her sudden movement. "Hey," he whispered, taking her hand in his. "I'm right here."
"It was so real," she breathed, holding his hand in a vise grip. She was too afraid to let go—afraid that he's slip from her side, that the gods would take him like they'd taken so many from her.
Her free hand wiped at the tears underneath her eyes.
Jason sat up, wrapping his free arm around her waist and bringing her close to his chest. "Same dream?" he asked softly, pressing his face against her hair.
Ophelia nodded shakily, trying to count the beats of his heart to ground her back to the real world. "You were gone," she whispered. "You just... disappeared. I couldn't find you anywhere, it was like—like you'd vanished into thin air."
It had been almost two months since the final battle of the Titan War—since Jason took down the Titan Krios, since Ophelia...
Even in her dream, the memory hid.
She'd had plenty of nightmares since the battle—nightmares about the battle itself, about her role in it; nightmares about Krios crushing Jason on Mount Tam; nightmares in which every little thing went wrong and Ophelia's world turned to ruins around her.
There was no shortage of nightmare-worthy memories inside of her, waiting for their chance to steal her sleep and leave her trembling. Still, this nightmare—one she'd had every night for a week straight—scared her the most. It had driven her to sprint across the camp on the first night, scaring the life out of Jason when she banged on his door at four in the morning, needing to know he was still there.
Since that night, she's stayed at Jason's, needing the assurance that her dream was only that—a dream. But it was so persistent, so awful, so real. It was inescapable, like the grief that clung to her skin.
"It was just a dream," Jason murmured. "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."
But his reassurance didn't mean what it should have.
"You don't know that," she whispered. "You can't."
He pulled her onto his lap, bringing her as close as he physically could. The sound of his heartbeat against her ear calmed her racing heart just a little, but the terror was still there. "We're not going to be separated. I won't let that happen."
"What if you can't stop it?" she asked. "What if this is the start of something terrible?"
"We just saved the world from a Titan invasion," Jason murmured. "What else could there be?"
"Monsters aren't staying dead," Ophelia reminded him. "And there are more. Ghosts are getting antsier. Something—something's happening. Or going to happen. Something big, something—something dangerous."
"We've been through enough," Jason said. "I'm not letting anything tear us apart—we've fought too hard to get here."
"Promise me," Ophelia whispered. It was desperate—she needed the assurance, the promise that she wouldn't lose the person she loved again. She couldn't go through that kind of heartbreak twice.
The memory was missing, but the pain was as clear as anything else, too awful to ignore.
"Promise me we'll stay together," she pleaded, "even if the world tries to separate us."
Jason brushed a hand through her hair. "I swear on the River Styx—wherever one of us goes, the other goes, too," he whispered.
"No matter the place, no matter the time, no matter the danger," Ophelia agreed. "I swear it on the River Styx."
Thunder rumbled in the sky. A weight lifted off of Ophelia's chest. Jason laid back down, bringing Ophelia with him. With their oath hanging in the air, Ophelia finally fell back asleep, unaware that her entire life would change the next time she opened her eyes.
❖