We were getting close to Olympia. Jason, Piper, and Annabeth had gone on a small quest. It didn't go as well as they had hoped. Jason came back with a  nasty wound. A blade had pierced him all the way though. It was a miracle he was still alive. Piper was currently trying to wrap up his wound. Apparently it was a lot worse back on land.

After they came back and Jason was given some ambrosia and nectar, they called for a breakfast meeting. Piper had quickly gone to go get Leo. Buford took over the role as our "adult chaperone". Leo had laminated a magic scroll that projected a pint-sized holographic simulation of Coach Hedge. Mini-Hedge would stomp around on Buford's top, randomly saying thinks like "CUT THAT OUT!" "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" and "PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!" Luckily he wasn't bothering us for our breakfast meeting.

I sat beside Percy, a breakfast sandwich and two hashbrowns on my plate. As I was drinking my apple juice, I noticed Percy pouring a lot of maple syrup on his blue pancakes.

"Shark Boy, that's waaaay too much syrup." I chided, taking the bottle of syrup away from him before he flooded his plate. He pouted, trying to reach for it. Annabeth helped out by taking it from me. "There's more syrup than there is pancakes. You're drowning them!"

"Listen to your girlfriend, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth raised a brow at him, using the syrup for her waffles.

"Hey, I'm a Poseidon kid." Percy gave me a troublemaker smile, waving his fork at me. "I can't drown. And neither can my pancakes."

"At least add another pancake on there to balance it out. You're going to get sick." I told him, shaking my head.

"You're right." Percy nodded. I was about to comment when he gave me a mischievous grin. "Then I can add even more syrup!"

I groaned, rolling my eyes and taking a bite out of my sandwich. Percy chuckled, leaning over to peck my cheek. I gave him a look that only made his smile grow. Frank and Hazel sat to our left as they used their cereal bowls to flatten out the Greece map.

"Hold still." Piper changed Jason's bandages at the head of the table. His shirt was raised above his sternum. "I know it hurts."

"It's just cold." Jason said, his voice laced with pain.

I frowned when I noticed that the entrance wound on his back was a nasty shade of purple and steaming. Piper was trying her best not to look worried or upset. Her eyes met mine and tears glistened in them. I gave her a small reassuring smile.

I had opened up to the girls about some of the things Percy and I experienced in Tartarus. One of the things I brought up was fighting the arai and having to watch Percy slowly die in front of me. I knew Annabeth has been wanting to talk to me one on one. She could tell that Percy and I weren't the same since coming back from Tartarus. The amount of nightmares I had and not being able to sleep unless I was in the same room as Percy was a big red flag.

"What's up, guys?" Leo strolled into the mess hall. "Aw, yes to brownies!"

Leo grabbed the last one -from a special sea salt recipe they'd picked up from Aphros at the bottom of the Atlantic. The intercom crackled. Percy had snuck the bottle of syrup again, pretty sure Leo did it, and was pouring more of it on his blue pancakes. He did add two more pancakes to his stack.

"PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!" Buford's Mini-Hedge yelled over the speakers.

We all jumped. Hazel ended up five feet away from Frank. Percy spilled syrup in his orange juice. My apple juice somehow turned to grape juice. Jason awkwardly wriggled into his t-shirt, and Frank turned into a bulldog.

"I thought you were getting rid of that stupid hologram." Percy glared at Leo.

"Hey, Buford's just saying good morning. He loved his hologram!" Leo defended. "Besides, we all miss Coach and Frank makes a cute bulldog."

Frank morphed back to his regular self. I picked up my grape juice and took a sip from it. It tasted like freshly made grape juice. Percy noticed the satisfied face I pulled. He grabbed my cup and took a sip. He nodded in approval.

"Just sit down, Leo." Frank grumpily said. "We've got stuff to talk about."

Leo squeezed in between Jason and Hazel. He took a bite of his brownie and grabbed a pack of Italian junk food, Fonzies. I snatched Percy's fork and cut a piece of his pancakes. He frowned as he watched me take a forkful of his breakfast and eat it. I gave him a smile as I chewed.

Percy playfully narrowed his eyes at me, snatching his fork back. He set it down on his plate and grabbed my breakfast sandwich. He stared at me as he took a bite and place the breakfast back on my plate. I bit back a smile.

"So..." Jason winced as he leaned forward. "We're going to stay airborne and drop anchor as close as we can to Olympia. It's father inland than I'd like-about five miles-but we don't have much choice. According to Juno, we have to find the goddess of victory and, um... subdue her."

Uncomfortable silence filled the room. The new drapes covering the holographic walls made the mess hall darker and gloomier than it should've been. Apparently, while Percy and I were in Tartarus, Kerkopes dwarf twins had short-circuited the walls. The real time video of Camp Half-Blood often fuzzed out, changing into a video of a playback of extreme dwarf close ups-red whiskers, nostrils, and bad teeth.

Percy sipped his syrup flavored orange juice. He seemed to be okay with the flavor of it. My nose scrunched in disgust.

"I'm cool with fighting the occasional goddess-"

"Of course you are." I commented, earning a look from Percy.

"-but isn't Nike one of the good ones?" Percy continued. I flashed him a grin. "I mean, personally, I like victory. I can't get enough of it."

"It does seem strange." Annabeth drummed her fingers on the table. "I understand why Nike would be in Olympia-home of the Olympics and all of that. The contestants sacrificed to her. Greeks and Romans worshipped her there for, like, twelve hundred years, right?"

"Almost to the end of the Roman Empire." Frank agreed. "Romans called her Victoria, but same difference. Everybody loved her. Who doesn't like to win? Not sure why we would have to subdue her."

"All I know...the ghoul Antinous said Victory runs rampant in Olympia." Jason frowned. A wisp of steam curled from the wound under his shirt. "Juno warned us that we could never heal the rift between Greeks and Romans unless we defeated victory."

"How do we defeat victory?" Piper wondered. "Sounds like one of those impossible riddles."

"Like making stones fly or eating only one Fonzie." Leo popped a handful of the Italian snack into his mouth.

"That stuff is going to kill you." Hazel wrinkled her nose.

"You kidding?" Leo told her. "So many preservatives in these things, I'll live forever. But, hey, about this victory goddess being popular and great- Don't you guys remember what her kids are like at Camp Half-Blood?"

Hazel and Frank had never been to Camp Half-Blood, but the rest of us nodded gravely.

"He's got a point." Percy said. "Those kids in Cabin Seventeen-they're super- competitive. When it comes to capture the flag, they're almost worse than the Ares kids. Uh, no offense, Frank."

"You're saying Nike has a dark side?" Frank shrugged.

"Her kids sure do." Annabeth stated. "They never turn down a challenge. They have to be number one at everything."

"I was shoved off the climbing wall by Evie, because I was the top rank at camp with the newest level." I shivered. "I broke my arm. While I was recovering, she beat my record."

"But then you beat her record." Percy's lip tugged into a proud grin.

"And then you had to hide from her for a good few days until she cooled off." Annabeth reminded us. She turned her attention back to the others. "If their mom is that intense..."

"Whoa." Piper put her hands on the table like the ship was rocking. "Guys, all the gods are split between their Greek and Roman aspects, right? If Nike's that way, and she's the goddess of victory-"

"She'd be really conflicted." Annabeth finished. "She'd want one side or the other to win so she could declare a victor. She'd literally be fighting with herself."

"Well, that makes it even more fun." I grumbled as I took a sip from my cup.

"But we don't want one side or the other to win." Hazel nudged her cereal bowl across the map. "We've got to get the Greeks and Romans on the same team."

"Maybe that's the problem. If the goddess of victory is running rampant, then between Greek and Roman, she might make it impossible to being the two camps together." Jason stated.

"How?" Leo asked. "Start a flame war on Twitter?"

"Maybe she's like Ares." Percy stabbed at his pancakes. "That guy can spark a fight just by walking into a crowded room. If Nike radiated competitive vibes or something, she could aggravate the whole Greek-Roman rivalry big time."

"You remember that old sea god in Atlanta-Phorcys?" Frank pointed at Percy. "He said that Gaea's plans always have lots of layers. This could be part of the giant's strategy-keep the two camps divided; keep the gods divided. If they'd the case, we can't let Nike play us against each other. We should send a landing party of four-two Greeks, two Romans. The balance might help keep her balanced."

"I think Frank is right." Annabeth said. "A party of four. We'll have to be careful who goes. We don't want to do anything that might make the goddess, um, more unstable."

"I'll go." Piper volunteered. "I can try charmspeaking."

"Not this time, Piper." Worry lines deepened around Annabeth's eyes. "Nike is all about competition. Aphrodite...well, she is too, in her own way. I think Nike might see you as a threat."

"Who should go, then?" Piper nodded and scanned the group.

"Jason and Percy shouldn't go together." Annabeth stated. "Jupiter and Poseidon-bad combination. Nike could start you two fighting easily."

"We don't need that." I eyed the boys.

"Yeah, we can't have another incident like in Kansas." Percy gave me a sideways smile. "I might kill my bro Jason."

"Or I might kill my bro Percy." Jason said amiably.

"Which proved my point." Annabeth told us. "We also shouldn't send Frank and me together. Mars and Athena- that would be just as bad."

"Okay, so that leaves three people to choose from for the Greeks." Hazel brought up.

"It's probably safest if Ivy doesn't go. I feel with your control of the madness... Nike could some how manipulate or encourage you to use it and it will most likely not be pretty." Annabeth mentioned, looking at me.

Percy glanced at me as he leaned back in his chair. He raised a brow at me. I bit the inside of my cheek, my mind flashing back to how I controlled the madness with Akhlys. Percy must've read my expression and slipped his hand into mine. He gave it a small squeeze.

"No, I agree. It's probably for the best I don't go." I nodded in agreement with Annabeth.

"Okay." Leo broke in. "Percy and me got the Greeks. Frank and Hazel for the Romans. Is that the ultimate non-competitive dream team or what?"

Annabeth and Frank exchanged looks.

"It could work." Frank decided. "I mean, no combination is going to be perfect, but Poseidon, Hephaestus, Pluto, and Mars...I don't see any huge antagonism there."

"I still wish we could've gone through the Gulf of Corinth." Hazel traced her finger along the map of Greece. "I was hoping we could visit Delphi, maybe get some advice. Plus it's such a long way around the Peloponnese."

"Yeah." Leo glanced at the map. "It's July twenty-second already. Counting today, only ten days until-"

"I know." Jason cut in. "But Juno was clear. The shorter way would have been suicide."

"Should we listen to her though?" I mumbled under my breath, crossing my arms and slouching. The corner of Percy's lips tugged as he fought a smile. He glanced at me, as if saying that we sadly had to listen to the goddess who took him away from me and wiped his memory. "What? It's the truth."

"And we for Delphi..." Piper continued. She leaned toward the map. The blue harpy feather in her hair swung like a pendulum. "What's going on there? If Apollo doesn't have his Oracle anymore..."

"Probably something to do with that creep Octavian." Percy grunted. "Maybe he was so bad at telling the future, he broke Apollo's powers."

"If that were the case, I feel that Apollo would have let the whole world know about it with a haiku." I raised a brow as Percy shrugged in agreement.

"Hopefully we can find Apollo and Artemis." Jason managed a smile, though his eyes were cloudy from pain. "Then you can ask him yourself. Juno said the twins might be willing to help us."

"A lot of unanswered questions." Frank muttered. "A lot of miles to cover before we get to Athens."

"First things first." Annabeth said. "You guys have to find Nike and figure out how to subdue her...whatever Juno meant by that. I still don't understand how you defeat a goddess who controls victory. Seems impossible."

"We'll see about that." Leo grinned as he rose to his feet. "Let me get my collection of grenades and I'll meet you guys in deck."

First chapter to the last Act!