Rachel decided she wanted to join us as well. We stopped to check on Sally and Paul first. They appreciated the gesture and fed us lunch. We told them we would keep them updated with any news. Then we swung by and asked Pollux in his hometown, Pine Buff, Arkansas for any updates. He said he hasn't seen anything in the state as of yet, but he's still looking.

For the next three days, we've traveled from New York to Oregon. It seemed no matter which trail we picked up on, it led to nowhere. I was growing frustrated and restless. It was like whoever took Percy was trying to hide his existence from the world. There was also the matter of the countless monsters we've killed within these three days.

My heart tightened at the thought. We were flying over Northern California when I recognized the city. My frown deepened and my stomach twisted. Down below in Napa, somewhere, was my mom's winery. Annabeth and Seth were talking quietly to themselves. Rachel must have sensed my mood change.

"Ivy, you okay?" Rachel asked.

"This is my hometown." I informed her.

"Wait, so your mom's winery and vineyard is somewhere down there?" Annabeth questioned.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Well, do you think she will give us a free meal?" Seth placed a hand on his stomach. "I'm starved."

"If she's even there." I grumbled. I glanced at my friends to tell they were hungry for an actual meal. "We can stop and try though. I still have some money left over just in case."

"I can pay for it, if need be. Don't worry Ives." Rachel said. "Where is it?"

I scanned the city below us. Closer to the direction of San Fransisco, was a large vineyard. You could see the huge winery building from up here.

"Down there." I pointed in the correct direction. "Sugar, head down to that winery."

The pegasi flew to the left, lowering towards the vineyard. My heart started to race at the thought of meeting my mom again. I haven't seen her since I was ten. Worry crawled in my throat as all the worst possible scenarios ran through my head. What if she kicks us out? What if she doesn't remember me? What if she does actually hate me?

"Ivy..." Annabeth said carefully as the pegasi landed. We hopped off and started to walk the dirt road to the winery. "You okay?"

"Just nervous." I fiddled with my hands.

"Hey, we got your back." Seth patted my shoulder in reassurance. "Worse case, we just take the food to go."

"Yeah, we don't have to stay if you don't want to." Rachel added.

Classical music played from the speakers. There was definitely an expansion to the building. It was bigger than before. More dinning tables were outside with fancy umbrellas over head. Lights strung from the building to the wooden posts that overlooked the vineyard. The parking lot was full of cars. When I was younger, it was never this packed. There were even people parking in the grass.

I could already imagine my mother's face if she saw four teenagers walking into a winery covered in monster dust and grime. Plus, we were dressed in our armor as well. I wonder if people would think we were cosplaying or what the saw through the Mist.

I swallowed thickly and led the group to the bar where you could order food. People were laughing and drinking wine at the outside tables. The inside of the building was full of people eating and sampling wine. We stood at the sign that read "Order Here".

"Hello, what could I get you guys today?" A girl named Sophie, according to her name tag, greeted us with a grimace. She didn't like our dirty appearance.

"Four hamburgers, please." Seth said. He then turned to look at us with a teasing grin. "What do you guys want to eat?"

"Stop." Annabeth rolled her eyes and playfully smacked his arm. Seth laughed. "And four bottles of water."

"Can you make that to go?" I asked, my eyes flitting around to see if I can spot my mom.

"Sure thing." Sophie nodded. She rang us the total and handed Rachel the receipt. "Whose name shall it be under?"

"Ra-"

"Ivy?" Someone called from behind the decorative wine barrels. I haven't heard that voice in years. I winced, turning to look at the person who called me. Mom looked at me with wide eyes. Her dark brown hair was pulled neatly into a low bun. "Ivy...is that you?"

"Hey...mom." I grimaced a smile.

"I see you've brought friends." Mom noted, studying the girls and Seth. Her eyes ran us up and down as she held back a sneer. She cleared her throat and turned to Sophie. "Have someone bring their order to the back, please."

"Of course, Mrs. Wilson." Sophie nodded.

Wilson.

I felt my heart skip a beat. She married. Her business blossomed now that I was gone and no monsters followed me home. She found herself a husband. Now that I was out of the picture, she could have her perfect life.

"Follow me." Mom gave us a forced smile and led us to the back room.

"You doing okay?" Annabeth whispered to me as we followed after my mom.

"Peachy." I grumbled.

The back room was remodeled. It looked more elegant and classic. A sleek black table with matching chairs sat in the middle of the room. Pictures of wines decorated the walls with black light fixtures above them, shining the light onto the picture. We sat at the table with my mother at the head.

"This place is nice." Seth muttered out, looking at the sunlight pouring in through the floor to ceiling windows.

"I've seen better." Rachel commented, making sure my mother heard it.

"I see you're doing fine." Mom said, clasping her fingers together.

"I see the business boomed." I shot back.

"Yes, well..." Mom eyed my friends. Her eyes focused on Annabeth's dagger strapped to her waist. "We haven't had any monsters destroying the place and having to fix things."

"Look," I narrowed my eyes at her, "we're not here to chit chat. We just happened to be in the area and needed some food. We'll gladly leave you alone once we get it."

"Ivy-"

"Mommy!" A little girl in pigtails rushed in. Pink bows were tied off at each pigtail. She looked about four. Her pink corduroy dress billowed as she ran to my mom. She held out a a paper with a crayon drawing of three people. "Look what I made with Daddy!"

My heart cracked. I swallowed back tears and bit my lower lip. Annabeth and Rachel looked at me worriedly. Seth narrowed his eyes at the scene in front of us, his arms crossed.

"That's beautiful, honey." Mom smiled at her perfect little girl. She glanced at us and her smile dropped. Licking her lips, she looked back at the little girl. "Why don't you go tell Daddy to hang it up on the fridge? I'm talking to some important people."

"You're not even going to tell her about me?" I scoffed, standing up. I shook my head, the tears blurring my vision. "That's fine. You can stay with your daughter. Clearly, she's the only one you have. Come on, guys. Let's go see if our food is ready."

"Mrs. Wilson, here's the food-"

"We'll take that." Seth stood up and plucked the to go bags from the worker. He gave her a sweet smile. "Thanks."

"Let's go." Annabeth said as we started to walk out the room. Her cellphone rang in her pocket. She furrowed her brows and took it out. When she saw the caller ID, she quickly answered. "Hello?"

We stopped as she talked to the other person on the line. Her eyes widened and she turned to look at us. My heart raced. Maybe it was news about Percy.  She must've seen my expression and slightly shook her head. I swallowed thickly and nodded. Mom studied us.

"That was Chiron." Annabeth hung up the phone and placed it into her pocket.

"And?" Rachel asked.

"Anything about Percy?" I questioned, hope laced in my voice.

"Sorry, Ives." She shook her head. "But Jason, Leo, and Piper are back at camp. They saved Hera. They're calling a council meeting. Apparently...what they discovered is worse than we thought, Ivy."

"Let's go."

"Ivy-"

I ignored my mother. The four of us ran out of the winery and to the pegasi. We needed to go home.

🍇

We ran into the Big House. Chiron waited for us in the rec room. He gave us a warm welcoming smile.

"Were you able to find anything?" He asked.

"No." I frowned, walking over to Seymour and petting his head. The leopard purred, leaning his head further into my hand. "Hey, boy. They feeding you okay?"

"We met Ivy's horrible mother." Seth commented, sitting down at the ping pong table. "She's great. Food there is amazing though."

"Where's everyone else?" Annabeth questioned.

"They're on their way." Chiron informed us.

We sat down next to each other, besides Rachel who sat next to Chiron. I fiddled with my fingers, staring quietly at the table. Annabeth kept eyeing me. The senior counselors started to trickle in. Clarisse came in first. She sat across from us.

"What's wrong with Ivy? Why's she quiet?" Clarisse nodded toward me. "Everything okay?"

"It's just been a crazy couple of days." I raked my hands down my face with a heavy sigh.

Clarisse raised a brow.

"She met her mother after six years." Annabeth informed her.

"Didn't go well?" Clarisse assumed as more counselors came in.

"Honestly, it could've been worse." Rachel said.

"Hey." Will nodded toward Seth as he sat next to his brother. The two had decided after the Titan War to be co-counselors. "Everything go okay?"

"We had these amazing burgers today man." Seth grinned.

The two went on talking about food. At one point, Will started to absently wrap and unwrap an Ace bandage around his wrist. Clovis was already snoring at the table. Butch was trying to see how many pencils he could fit in Clovis' nostrils. Travis was holding a lighter under a ping pong ball to see if it would burn. Jason, Leo, and Piper sat quietly next to each other. Lou Ellen was playing "got-your-nose" a little too seriously with Miranda Gardiner. She had magically disconnected Miranda's nose and Miranda was trying to get it back.

"Let's come to order." Chiron said. "Lou Ellen, please give Miranda her nose back. Travis, if you'd kindly extinguish the flaming ping pong ball, and ButchX I think twenty pencils is really too many for any human nostril. Thank you. Now, as you can see, Jason, Piper, and Leo have returned successfully... more or less. Some of you have heard parts of their story, but I will let them fill you in."

We all looked at Jason. He cleared his throat and began the story. Piper and Leo chimed in from time to time, filling in the details he forgot. It took a few minutes from the quest to Hera's visit right before the meeting.

"So Hera was here." Annabeth said. "Talking to you."

"Look," Jason nodded, "I'm not saying I trust her-"

"That's smart."

"-but she isn't making this up about another group of demigods. That's where I come from."

"I had a suspicion." I exchanged glances with Annabeth.

"Romans." Clarissse tossed Seymour a Snausage. "You expect us to believe there's another camp with demigods, but they follow the Roman forms of the gods. And we've never even heard of them."

"The gods have kept the two groups apart, because every time they see each other, they try to kill each other." Piper sat forward.

"I can respect that." Clarisse said. "Still, why haven't we ever run across each other on quests?"

"I think I may have when I was younger." I brought up. Everyone turned to stare at me. "When I was stilling living with my mom. There was a girl called Lucy who wore a purple shirt with SPQR and had a tattoo similar to Jason's."

"Yes, like Ivy has mentioned, you have." Chiron said sadly. "Many times. It's always a tragedy, and always the gods do their best to wipe clean the memories of those involved. I'm assuming, in your case Ivy, you just remembered this encounter?"

"A few days ago, yes." I nodded. Jason turned toward me with furrowed brows. "Sorry, Jason, but I wanted to make sure about this...I'm assuming Hera may have revealed it to me."

"I believe you are correct." Chiron nodded. "The rivalry goes all the way back to the Trojan War, Clarisse. The Greeks invaded Troy and burned it to the ground. The Trojan hero Aeneas escaped, and eventually make his way to Italy, where he founded the race that would someday be in Rome. The Romans grew more and more powerful, worshipping the same gods but under different names, and with slightly different personalities."

"More warlike." Jason said. "More united. More about expansion, conquest, and discipline."

"Yuck." Travis put in.

Several others looked equally uncomfortable at the thought. Clarisse shrugged like it sounded okay to her.

"And the Romans hated the Greeks." Annabeth twirled her knife on the table. "They took revenge when they conquered the Greek isles, and made them part of the Roman Empire."

"Not exactly hated them." Jason corrected. "The Romans admired Greek culture, and were a little jealous. In return, the Greeks thought the Romans were barbarians, but they respected their military power. So during Roman times, demigods started to divide-either Greek or Roman."

"And it's been that way ever since." Annabeth guessed. "But this is crazy. Chiron, where were the Romans during the Titan War? Didn't they want to help?"

"They did help, Annabeth." Chiron tugged at his beard. "While you, Ivy, and Percy were leading the battle to save Manhattan, who do you think conquered Mount Othrys, the Titans' base in California?"

"Hold on." Travis said. "You said Mount Othrys just crumbled when we beat Kronos."

"No." Jason said. "It didn't just fall. We destroyed their palace. I defeated the Titan Krios myself."

My mind raced as I tried to piece it all together. Annabeth's eyes turned stormy.

"The Bay Area." Annabeth stated. "We demigods were always told to stay away from it because of Mount Othrys was there. But that wasn't the only reason, was it? The Roman camp- it's got to be somewhere near San Fransisco. I bet it was out there to keep watch on the Titans' territory. Where is it?"

"I cannot say." Chiron shifted in his wheelchair. "Honestly, even I have never been trusted with that information. My counterpart, Lupa, is not exactly the shading type. Jason's memory, too, has been burned away."

"The camp's heavily veiled with magic." Jason explained. "And heavily guarded. We could search for years and never find it."

"But we have to...right?" I asked.

"But you'll try, won't you?" Rachel said at the same time as me. "You'll build Leo's boat, the Argo II. And before you make for Greece, you'll sail for the Roman camp. You'll need their help to confront the giants."

"Bad plan." Clarisse warned. "If those Romans see a warship coming, they'll assume we're attacking."

"You're probably right." Jason agreed.

"Can we send some kind of message ahead of time. To warn them that we're not planning on attacking?" I suggested.

"I can work on that." Leo raised his hand with a nod.

"We have to try." Jason continued. "I was sent here to learn about Camp Half-Blood, to try to convince you the two camps don't have to be enemies. A peace offering."

Something clicked in my mind. I held back a gasp. If Jason was sent here to learn about Camp Half-Blood... does that mean Percy was over there learning about the Roman camp?"

"Hmm." Rachel said. "Because Hera is convinced we need both camps to win the war with the giants. Eight heroes of Olympus-some Greek, some Roman."

"Your Great Prophecy," Annabeth nodded, "what's the last line?"

"And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."

"Hayes had opened the Doors of Death." Annabeth said. "She's letting out the worst villains of the Underworld to fight us. Medea, Midas-there'll be more, I'm sure. Maybe the line means that Roman and Greek demigods will unite, and find the doors, and close them."

"It makes the most sense." I shrugged.

"Or it could mean they fight each other at the doors of death." Clarisse pointed out. "It doesn't say we'll cooperate."

"We have to." Annabeth said.

There was silence as the campers let that happy thought sink in. My mind went to Percy and the possibility of him being at the other camp. Hope grew in my chest and determination ran through my veins.

"I'm going." I turned to Jason. "Jason, when you get his ship built, let me go with you."

"I was hoping you'd offer." Jason said. "You of all people-we'll need you. Annabeth, you as well."

Annabeth gave a curt nod.

"Wait." Leo frowned. "I mean that's cool with me and all. But why Ivy of all people?"

Jason and I studied one another. Jason knew I put it together. We glanced at Annabeth, already knowing she pieced it together as well.

"Hera said my coming here was an exchange of leaders." Jason explained. "A way for two camps to learn of each other's existence."

"Yeah? So?" Leo said.

"An exchange goes two ways. When if to here, my memory was wiped. I didn't know who I was or where I belonged." Jason explained. "Fortunately, you guys took me in and I found a new home. I know you're not my enemy. The Roman camp-they're not so friendly. You prove your worth quickly, or you don't survive. They may not be so nice to him, and if they learn where he comes from, he's going to be in serious trouble."

"Him?" Leo asked. "Who are you talking about?"

"My boyfriend." I said grimly, not liking the risk of Percy being at the Roman camp away from me. "He disappeared around the same time Jason appeared. If Jason came to Camp Half-Blood-"

"Exactly." Jason agreed. "Percy Jackson is at the other camp, and he probably doesn't even remember who he is."

End of Act III!!!

Onto Act IV 😆😆😆

Couldn't wait, had to upload the last chapter of the Act today