Seymour the leopard howled. His mouth freezing half-open. The arcade stopped pew-pewing. The fire stopped crackling, its flames hardened like glossy glass. The masks stared down at him with their grape eyes and leafy tongues.

"Apollonia, Chiron?" he paused. " What's going—"

The legendary warrior and the old centaur were frozen too. He jumped off the couch but they just kept staring at the same spot, Apollonia had her eyes downcast and her beautiful brows furrowed. Their eyes didn't blink, their chest didn't move.

"Jason" a voice creepily said

For a moment, Jason stupidly thought it was the leopard who spoke. Then dark mist flowed out of the leopard's mouth and had an even worse thought go through his mind: Venti

He quickly grabbed his coin from his pocket, then with a quick flip, he was armed with a gleaming gold sword.

The mist formed into a woman in black robes. Her face hooded, but her eyes glowed in the darkness. Over her shoulders was a goatskin cloak. He wasn't sure how he knew but he knew this was important and he recognised it.

"Would you attack your patron?" The woman chided. Her voice echoed in his head Lower your sword

"Who are you?" Jason demanded, "How did you—"

"Our time is limited, Jason. My prison grows stronger by the day. It took me a full month to gather enough energy to work even the smallest magic through my bonds. I've managed to bring you here, but now I have little time left and even less power. This may be the last time I speak with you. You must make your soulmate fall for you, she will not like you as her soulmate at first because of your name and where you hail from but your relationship is most essential to the future."

"You're in a prison?" Jason asked still not lowering his sword "Look, I don't know you and you are not my patron"

"You know me" she insisted "You have known me since birth"

"I don't remember, I don't remember anything"

"No, you don't. That was also necessary. Long ago, your father let me choose between you and your sister as a gift to placate my anger. I picked you, he named you Jason, after my favourite mortal. You belong to me."

"Sister?" Jason asked starstruck then snapped out of it, "Look lady, I don't belong to anyone"

"Now is the time to pay your debt. Make your soulmate fall for you. Find my prison. Free me, or their king will rise from the earth, or I will be destroyed. You will never retrieve your memory."

"Is that a treat? You took my memory?" Jason asked, getting pissed.

"You have until the solstice, Jason. Four short days, remember what I said. Do not fail me."

The woman dissolved, and the mist curled back into the leopard's mouth. Time unfroze. Seymour's howl turned into a leopard cough as if he choked on a sausage. The fire crackled back to life, the arcade machine let out a few pew-pews and Chiron and Apollonia's chests went back to breathing. 

"My guess is the lady in the mist" Jason offered an answer.

Chiron and Apollonia looked at him in surprise, "Weren't you just sitting... Why do you have your sword drawn?" Chiron asked.

"I hate to tell you this," Jason said, "But your leopard just ate a Goddess"

Jason told Chiron and Apollonia about the frozen in time visit, then finished off with the mist woman figure disappearing into Seymour's mouth.

"Oh, dear," Chiron murmured, " That does explain a lot"

While Apollonia mumbled a "Fucking shit"

"Then why don't you guys explain a lot to me?" Jason pleaded.

Before either could open their mouth, footsteps were heard on the porch outside. The front door flew open, Annabeth and a redhead burst in, dragging in a knockout Piper between them.

"What happened?" Jason said rushing over to take Piper off their shoulders and bring her over to the couch.

"What happened to her Annabeth? Rachel?" Apollonia came over, kneeling over the unconscious girl and tapping the same charm from earlier receiving medical supplies from it.

"Vision, bad, very bad," Annabeth said quickly and looked out of breath.

Rachel looked up at the others while letting out a few tears, "I think... " she gulped, "I think I might have killed her"

Jason looked over to Apollonia with wide eyes but seeing Apollonia shake her head, he felt relief for his forgotten friend, "No Rachel, she's perfectly fine. Passed out probably from all the events of today finally hitting her all at once"

Chiron came forward to put a head on Piper's forehead, "Her mind is in a fragile state. Rachel, what happened?"

"I wish I knew," she said "As soon as I got to camp, I had a feeling about Hera's cabin, so I went inside. Annabeth and Piper came in while I was there. We talked, and then— I blanked out. These two said I spoke in a different voice"

"A prophecy?" Chiron asked.

"No, the spirit of Delphi comes from within. I know how it feels. This was a long-distance power trying to speak through me"

Annabeth came beside Apollonia, "Chiron, Nia, what happened back there, I just don't know. I know you two know. We have all heard Rachel's prophecy voice. She sounded like another woman. She grabbed Piper by the shoulders and told her—"

"To free her from a prison?" Jason asked.

"Annabeth narrowed her eyes onto him, "How did you know that?"

Chiron made a three-fingered gesture over his heart, to ward off evil.

"Jason tell them, please. Annabeth pass us some more lemonade on the counter, please"

Apollonia trickled some drops of ambrosia and nectar into Piper's mouth, while Jason explained what happened, leaving out the part about soulmates, while they were in Hera's cabin. When he was finished no one spoke.

"So does this happen often?" Jason asked, "Supernatural phone calls from convicts demanding to be put out of jail?"

"Your patron?" Annabeth asked, "Not your godly parent?"

"No," he said, "She said my dad had given her either my sister's or my life but she chose mine"

Apollonia let out a sigh as if she already figured out who the patron is. Everyone but Chiron and a passed out Piper looked at her suspiciously. Annabeth looked back to Chiron.

"I swear if it's Kronos again—" she got cut off.

He took another sip of his newly refilled lemonade, "It is not Kronos. That chapter has ended but..."

"But what?" Annabeth pressed.

Apollonia tapped her charm again and the supplies were gone. "Piper needs rest. We should discuss this later"

"No, we are going to talk about this right now" Annabeth almost growled.

"Sir, you and Apollonia said the greatest threat was coming. The last chapter. You can't possibly mean something worse than an army of Titans, right?"

"Oh," Rachel said in a small voice, "Oh, dear. The woman was Hera. Of course. Her cabin, her voice. She showed herself to Jason at the same moment"

"We will figure this out but Rachel is right," Jason said "The woman did seem like a Goddess and she wore this goatskin cloak. That's the symbol of—" Jason got cut off.

"Juno, of course, she would do such a thing" Apollonia growled out, not at all pleased.

"It is?" Annabeth scowled. "I've never heard that"

Chiron gave her a reluctant nod, "They're right. Of Juno. Hera's Roman aspect, in her most war-like state. The goatskin cloak was a symbol of the Roman soldier"

"So Hera is imprisoned?" Rachel asked, "Who could do that to the Queen of the Gods?"

"Yeah, well, maybe we should thank them if they can shut Hera up—"

"Mind your words, Beth. Hera may not smite you, but Juno would," Apollonia warned the blonde girl.

"She is right Annabeth" Chiron further warned, "She is still one of the Olympians. In many ways, she is the glue that holds the Gods' family together. If she is imprisoned and the danger is destruction, this could shake the foundation of the world. It could unravel the stability of Olympus, which is never great even in the best of times. Plus if Hera has asked Jason for help—"

"Fine," Annabeth grumbled, "Well we know Titans can capture a god, right? Atlas got Artemis a few years ago; and in the old stories, the gods captured each other in traps all the time...but worse than a Titan..."

"Hera said she'd been trying to break through her bonds for about a month now" Jason added.

"Of course, this is how long Olympus has been closed and I wasn't able to go back home. So the gods do know something's up" Apollonia concluded.

"But why use up energy to send me here?" Jason asked "She wiped my memory, plopped me into the Wilderness School field trip, and sent you from a dream to pick me up. Why am I so important? Why not just send up an emergency flare to the other gods— let them know where she is so they can bust her out?"

"The gods need heroes to do their will down here on Earth," Rachel said, "That's right, isn't it? Their fates are always intertwined with demigods."

"That's true," Annabeth said, "but he's got a point. Why him? Why take his memory?"

"She took his memory so he could survive here. It's the only way." Apollonia said rather quickly.

"Piper is involved somehow," Rachel said, "Hera sent her the same message—Free me. And Annabeth, this has to do with Percy's disappearing"

Annabeth fixed her eyes on the knowing duo, "Why are you guys so quiet? Apollonia, you usually have the most to say. What exactly are we facing?"

"We cannot help you, my dears, I'm sorry," The centaur said, his face looking like it aged ten years in a matter of minutes.

"But..." Annabeth mumbled, "You have never hidden anything from me, even in the last great prophecy. I knew it even before Percy—"

"Chiron, Hera took a huge gamble with this one" Apollonia muttered to Chiron Latin while pinching the bridge of her nose. Totally forgetting a third person in the room spoke Latin fluently.

"What did you say? You only talk in Latin when you don't want us to understand." Annabeth pressured.

"What gamble are you talking about Apollonia?" Jason asked.

"Shitting hell, we told you that we can't. Drop it" Apollonia glared in frustration at Jason.

"I'll be in my office," his voice heavy, "I need some time to think before dinner. Rachel, can you please watch her? Annabeth, you should speak with Jason. Tell him about the Greek and Roman gods. Apollonia, go with them to try to get information on his memory loss."

"But..." Annabeth trailed off.

Chiron turned in his wheelchair and rolled down the hall, Annabeth's eyes turned stormy, muttering something in Ancient Greek that Jason was sure was not good things against Apollonia and Chiron. Apollonia just rolled her eyes at the girl.

"I'm sorry," Jason said, "Me being here, I don't know. I've messed up things here. Apollonia and Chiron said they have sworn an oath and couldn't talk about it"

"What oath, Apollonia?" Annabeth narrowed her eyes towards her best friend.

"What part of, 'Swore an oath to not talk about it ' do you not get, daughter of Athena?" Apollonia replied tiredly rubbing her forehead.

Annabeth turned her attention to something else, "Is that gold?" Annabeth asked, looking at Jason's sword, "Do you remember where you got it?"

"No," Jason said, "As I said, I don't remember anything"

Annabeth looked like she wanted to think up a desperate plan, "If you and Chiron can't help then we need to come up with another plan, it also means Cabin Fifteen. Nia you wanna come for this?"

"Yes, I was going to bring him there any way to see if we can pull something out of that noggin of his." Apollonia lazily stood up from the chair she was sitting on.