They were blasted out of bed.

Emilia was already awake after tossing and turning all night, worrying about Hylla's dream and wondering if her mother was done fighting or cooking up something particularly horrible to send her way. Eris could give Emilia the sensation she'd lost everything to break her spirit if she tried.

(She hated acknowledging it might not be so difficult for Eris to shatter her mind if she made it seem that she'd lost everything.)

She'd been doing her eyeliner with her mirror propped up on her knees when a ship horn blasted so loud and suddenly that she flinched and made a sharp line across her temple. Frustrated, she started to clean it, only succeeding to smear it.

Then, the horn boomed again and with a loud curse, she rushed out of bed, not even bothering to change out of her pajamas. If something was wrong, she'd fight wearing the ridiculous taco pajamas that Leo got her when they were in San Francisco.

Everyone was as hastily dressed as her. Frank's Vancouver Winter Olympics shirt was inside out. Percy wore pajama pants and a bronze breastplate. Hazel's hair was all blown to one side and Leo had somehow set himself on fire, his T-shirt in charred tatters and arms smoking.

About a hundred yards to port, a massive cruise ship glided past. Tourists waved at them from fifteen or sixteen rows of balconies. Some smiled and took pictures. None of them looked surprised to see an Ancient Greek trireme. Maybe the Mist made it look like a fishing boat, or perhaps the cruisers thought the Argo II was a tourist attraction.

The cruise ship blew its horn again, and the Argo II had a shaking fit. Coach Hedge plugged his ears. "Do they have to be so loud?"

"They're just saying hi," speculated Frank. Emilia flung a shadow to cover Hedge's mouth before he could yell at the ship. The ship edged past them, heading out to sea. The tourists kept waving. If they found it strange that the Argo II was populated by half-asleep kids in armor and pajamas and a man with goat legs, they didn't let on.

"Bye!" Leo called, raising his smoking hand.

"Can I man the ballistae?" asked Hedge.

"No," Leo said through a forced smile.

Hazel rubbed her eyes and looked across the glittering green water. "Where are—oh...Wow."

Without the cruise ship blocking their view, the demigods could see a mountain jutting from the sea less than half a mile to the north. This was the sort of impressive thing Emilia had been looking forward to– a massive fist of blinding white rock thrust into the sky.

On one side, the limestone cliffs were almost completely sheer, dropping into the sea over a thousand feet below. On the other side, the mountain sloped in tiers, covered in green forest like the shape of a sphinx, with a massive white head and chest, and a green cloak over its back.

"The Rock of Gibraltar," said Annabeth in awe. "At the tip of Spain. And over there—" She pointed south, to a more distant stretch of red and ochre hills. "That must be Africa. We're at the mouth of the Mediterranean."

"We're here," muttered Emilia worriedly.

"What now?" asked Piper. "Do we just sail in?"

"Why not?" said Leo. "It's a big shipping channel. Boats go in and out all the time."

Annabeth gazed at the Rock of Gibraltar, a brooding expression appearing as if she anticipated trouble. "In the old days, they called this area the pillars of Hercules. The Rock was supposed to be one pillar. The other was one of the African mountains. Nobody is sure which one."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" asked Emilia, joining Annabeth in staring intently at the white cliffs.

Annabeth explained, "For Greeks, the pillars marked the end of the known world. The Romans said the pillars were inscribed with a Latin warning—"

"Non plus ultra," said Percy.

Annabeth looked stunned. "Yeah. Nothing Further Beyond. How did you know?"

Percy pointed. "Because I'm looking at it."

Directly ahead of them, in the middle of the straits, an island had shimmered into existence. It hadn't been there before, they surely would've noticed it sooner. It was a small hilly mass of land, covered in forests and ringed with white beaches. Not very impressive compared to Gibraltar, but in front of the island, jutting from waves about a hundred yards offshore, were two white Grecian columns as tall as the Argo's masts. Between the columns, huge silver words glittered underwater— maybe an illusion, or maybe inlaid in the sand: NON PLUS ULTRA.

"Guys, do I turn around?" asked Leo nervously. "Or..."

"No," said Emilia, gesturing to a figure standing on the beach. "We couldn't turn back even if we wanted to... is that–?"

The man had dark hair and purple robes. His arms were crossed and he stared intently at their ship as if he were expecting them unhappily.

"Hercules," confirmed Jason. "The most powerful demigod of all time."

"I think he's guarding these straits," deduced Annabeth. "If that's really Hercules, sailing or flying away wouldn't do any good. He'll want to talk to us."

In other words, Emilia assumed Annabeth meant this was a necessary interaction before they passed into the Mediterranean.

"Won't Hercules be on our side?" asked Piper hopefully. "I mean... he's one of us, right?"

Jason grunted. "He was a son of Zeus, but when he died, he became a god. You can never be sure with gods."

"I've heard all sorts of things about him," said Emilia uncomfortably. "Atlas mentioned him..." She trailed off, looking toward Percy, who'd known Zoë Nightshade. "I've heard he's not in his right mind."

"Great," said Percy. "Eight of us against Hercules."

"And a satyr!" Hedge added. "We can take him."

"I've got a better idea," said Annabeth. "We send ambassadors ashore. A small group—one or two at most. Try to talk with him."

"I'll go," said Jason. "He's a son of Zeus. I'm the son of Jupiter. Maybe he'll be friendly to me."

"Or maybe he'll hate you," suggested Percy. "Half brothers don't always get along."

Jason scowled. "Thank you, Mr. Optimism."

"It's worth a shot," said Annabeth. "At least Jason and Hercules have something in common. And we need our best diplomat. Somebody who's good with words."

All eyes turned to Piper, who probably wished she hadn't been picked. "Fine," she decided after a moment of consideration. "Just let me change my clothes."

Leo anchored the Argo II between the pillars. They waited on the deck as Jason summoned the wind to carry him and Piper ashore. Once they were gone, Emilia wished she'd told Jason not to mention Hera at all– while his life was screwed up by her, it wasn't in the way Hercules experienced. It might just piss him off to find out why they were here. She hoped Piper would be able to stop him if he began to say anything about her.

Two seconds later she wished they hadn't sent Jason because he, like Percy and Leo, had no concept of holding his tongue in front of gods and demigods. She wouldn't have been much better at it and had no desire to meet Hercules, but she surely would've followed Piper's lead.

When they didn't come back within five minutes, Emilia got nervous. Then, Jason and Piper started to walk deeper into the island, blocked from their view by rows and rows of trees as they moved up the hill.

They used the time to focus on the rest of the repairs. Leo gave them instructions for where to work and what to do. They'd just finished the most emergent issues when Piper sent them an Iris-message, letting them know things were notgoing well and she and Jason would need their help to make a quick escape from Hercules. Leo needed to have the ship ready to fly away– oars in aerial mode, anchor up.

This only served to make them all more anxious. When Jason and Piper landed on the deck, Leo prepared the ship to rise. Jason summoned a gale so strong, it pushed them into the sky, while Percy sent a ten- foot-tall wave against the shore, knocking Hercules down a second time, in a strange cascade of seawater and pineapples. Emilia didn't understand why there were pineapples.

By the time the god regained his feet and started lobbing coconuts at them from far below, the Argo II was already sailing through the clouds above the Mediterranean.

Piper hastily explained a terrible encounter with Hercules (Jason had mentioned Hera) and the river god Achelous which left them with a new tool– a strange horn that could shoot out all sorts of food, enough so it could bury a god in a mountain of plenty. Emilia could tell she was shaken by it. And not just because of Hercules and Achelous. She could tell something about Jason was bothering Piper, too.

She waited until evening to say anything. The Mare Nostrum was already testing them even without them being in the water, with attacks multiple times an hour. A flock of flesh-eating Stymphalian birds swooped out of the night sky, and Festus torched them. Storm spirits swirled around the mast, and Jason blasted them with lightning. While Coach Hedge was having dinner on the foredeck, a wild pegasus appeared from nowhere, stampeded over the coach's enchiladas, and flew off again, leaving cheesy hoof prints all across the deck.

Emilia Iris-messaged Hylla briefly before taking her turn on guard. She'd be strongest at night and was sure she'd be fine keeping Festus company while they dealt with whatever the Mare Nostrum wanted to throw at them. Jason and Percy couldn't be out there all night, they needed sleep.

Hylla was still worried. The nightmare had returned, and it did Emilia no favors as she prepared herself to go up to the deck alone. She thought of her mother again, instinctively, but buried the thoughts quickly out of fear of what summoning Eris in the middle of the Mare Nostrum would do. No news was good news... or so she told herself. If Eris wasn't outright causing a problem, maybe she was still debating or had already been convinced to abandon Gaea.

Before heading up, Emilia made sure to pop by Piper's room.

"Hey there," she said, poking her head in. "You up for a chat?"

Piper had been reorganizing her entire cabin. "Sure, if you'll help me move a few things."

"Of course. The shadows can do the heavy lifting for you."

She smiled. "Wish I could charmspeak furniture."

"You can charmspeak Buford." Emilia grimaced just thinking of that strange thing. "Anyway, I wanted to ask you about today. I could tell you weren't feeling okay."

Piper's shoulders slumped, and she gave up on moving her desk. Emilia summoned a group of shadows to shuffle it to the corner where she meant to place it. The girl lowered herself onto her bed, gesturing for Emilia to sit with her.

"You can tell, can't you?" asked Piper miserably. "The discord I feel towards Jason."

"I wasn't sure what it was but I could tell you were upset about... whatever happened out there. Related to him, I assumed. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to but I just wanted to bring up what I could sense."

"I should feel amazing," mumbled Piper. "I saved myself, I saved Jason, I got us into the Mediterranean. I put Hercules in his place. And I still feel so useless."

"Oh, Piper, that's not true. You just mentioned all the great things you did. What is it about that that convinces you that you're useless?"

"When it comes to Jason, I feel powerless. My mother was so focused on all of you the other day, it's like... this doesn't interest her. As annoying as she can be, I was just so eager for her to ask me about how it's going, considering what happened last time we spoke. She didn't care and lately I've thought so much about Reyna. Jason's memories never fully came back the way Percy's did and I feel so awful. He deserves to fully remember... and still I can't help but feel jealouswhen I think of Reyna. I'm glad he doesn't know more about her and I know I shouldn't be glad about it."

Emilia offered her a tissue box off her nightstand as Piper began to tear up. "Our whole relationship is a lie. Hera manipulated it and I'm trying to make it work but what Achelous said... that warning about being involved with sons of Zeus/Jupiter... It did worry me. I don't want to believe Jason would ever hurt me but do I even really know him?"

"Have you talked to him about this?" asked Emilia. Piper shook her head. "Maybe that's a conversation to be had since both of you have seemingly been trying to keep this relationship up because you feel like you have to. I remember when he talked to me about sharing the few things he remembered about Reyna with you. I know he'll appreciate you communicating your worries with him. I think it's okay if you decide you need a bit of a break to sort of find yourself. You two are so young and like you said, Hera orchestrated this. You don't have to continue if you don't want to. The sooner you talk about that, the better. You don't want resentment to build up. If you end up wanting to be together in the future, that's great. But if you feel unsure now... address those doubts sooner rather than later."

Piper sniffled. "You don't think he'd be mad?"

"No, of course not. He cares for you and you care about him. You mean too much to each other to be upset over something like that. You'll both do what's right. I'm so proud of you, you know?"

She blinked, eyes still watery. "You are?"

"Of course. After everything you've been through, you care so much. Make sure to extend that to yourself. You matter, too. You're not useless, Piper, you are badass. You helped me feel at home in this family, you taught me to value myself. You don't always have to be the strong one. We're going through something ridiculously hard now. No one would blame you for needing a moment to yourself, least of all Jason. He's very in-tune with what's right and wrong and he can keep things peaceful no matter how the conversation goes."

"Thanks, Emilia," said Piper, blowing her nose and smiling weakly. "I'll see if I can talk to him now when you send him down."

"Alright. Let me know if you need anything, okay?" She gave her a hug, rubbing her back firmly. "I'll be on the deck if you need anything."

She made sure to send Jason down to Piper once she took his place. He looked exhausted but insisted he could come back after talking to her and help Emilia keep guard. She assured him it wasn't necessary and promised she'd be fine on her own. If anything went wrong, she had Leo there to help. She trusted him with her life.

She stood with Leo, who was manning the helm and refusing to go to bed. He still felt it was his fault the Skolopendra had attacked, despite everyone insisting otherwise.

"You need to be more gentle with yourself," she said, blowing on her fingers after she made the shape of a gun and shot a bolt of dark energy at a harpy that'd been making its way toward them. "You forgot. It happens."

"I shouldn't have forgotten," said Leo, hands clenched tight on the controller. "How am I supposed to keep anyone safe?"

"Are you still thinking about what Nemesis said?"

"Somewhat. But also, Frank said something... we made up, it's whatever, but he said I care more about this ship than my friends. That's the only reason I'd be so careless." He raised his hand to stop her when her expression darkened. "It's okay. He um, he told me about something after that. His weakness. The reason he was scared of me. His strength, it comes with a price and I... I get it. He finally sees I'm not making a move on Hazel. I guess the words are just still swirling in my head."

"Leo, you built this ship to protect us. Obviously you care about it but you cared about us first. You cared about the other four people in the prophecy before we even knew who they'd be. You made sure everyone had a cozy cabin, you took every measure to make sure we'd be safe. It slipped your mind and that's not your fault. There's so much going on... allof us should've remembered, it shouldn't have been a burden placed solely on you."

"Just 'cause you say it, doesn't mean I can believe it," he muttered glumly. "It's like I can't get it out of my head... I always just feel inferior compared to the rest of you."

"Nobody here is inferior to anybody else. It may feel like it, but I assure you that's not true. Everyone has a weakness to offset the amount of power they have. Nemesis made it sound like a bad thing, the way she worded that whole eighth wheel stuff. But it doesn't have to mean what you think it means... hell, I don't think it's that you stand out or don't fit in with us– trust me, you do, we're all trauma-bonded at this point– I think it might just mean that in the end, you see things differently. Which you do. You solve problems in a way we can't. We could have all the power in the world and none of us will figure out the things that you do. We can't build our way out of things. If we can't fight, some of us are nothing. You stand out in the very best way. I love you. Piper loves you. Jason loves you. I'm sure the others already care very much and if they say the Skolopendra attack wasn't your fault, then they mean it."

"This is gonna sound really stupid," muttered Leo, "but I... kind of dislike how all of you are happy in relationships and I'm just... not."

Emilia sighed. "That's not a stupid thing. You're sixteen, it makes sense that you're thinking about that stuff, especially when all of us are practically rubbing it in your face. What is it that bothers you most about it?"

"Eighth wheel... okay, so, maybe I'm not gonna find a girlfriend among the group, nobody who understands this the way we do... but nobody has ever... liked me. Just for me. What's wrong with me?"

"Oh, Leo, nothing is wrong with you! No, no, please don't think that. The demigod pool is just too small... Camp Half-Blood is tiny. Plus, everyone is either too old or too young... you haven't gotten to know anyone in New Rome! I bet there are Amazons who would really like you. Pollux happened upon Krista as an eighteen-year-old. I bet when this quest is over, you'll have a real chance to know people there, out in the world, in New Rome.

"You have so much to offer. Anyone can see easily that you're ridiculously smart, super charismatic– you bring a smile to everyone's faces even in our darkest moments– and most importantly, you are strong. You've survived a ton and have this different outlook on the world. You know how to be realistic, make the most of a bad situation, and show empathy for other demigods and creatures who you have barely gotten to know. Once you care for someone, you will give them the world. You did it with all of us.

"The opportunity may not arise now but it will arise someday, maybe someday soon. Don't psych yourself out thinking of what might not happen. Our lives go on. Good things come even amidst all this torment. Percy and Annabeth have known each other since they were twelve. Hazel and Frank didn't know each other long and it was honestly a random chance they happened to be in the same cohort-thing– whatever it's called– and were put together to get to know each other. And Jason and Piper, well, you know how that happened. As for me and Hylla... a random decision to go to a tour led me to get invited to this party. None of this was planned, you know, it's all... chance sometimes. Maybe if you go looking for it, you won't find it. It'll come when you least expect it. And it can only come if you love yourself first. Otherwise... you won't be ready to completely surrender yourself to another person."

Leo shrugged, not dismissively but perhaps still unsure if he believed her words. "Maybe you're right. I just do prefer someone who would understand. Probably not an Amazon, either, I don't think I wanna be one of the boyfriends in orange jumpsuits. Maybe New Rome will offer... something. Maybe."

"And if you're ever interested in mortals, I'm sure Xochitl would like to get to know you."

He made a face. "Your little sister?"

"Not the littlest one– Blanca's only twelve. But Xochitl is fifteen. Just one year younger than you. She knows about this world and she knows about you. She's said before that you sound very cool and she knows I mean it when I tell her how smart you are. Plus, you speak Spanish. She'd like that very much. Another option, in the future."

He blushed. "I guess... the future could be bright."

"It will be," she corrected. "Keep an open mind. It's hard not to let things get to you... trust me, I used to let it happen all the time. That's why I had to be in therapy for so long. But eventually... if you trust yourself... it'll be ok. I believe we're all destined to come out of this alive. After everything... we have earned it. And I will make sure it happens. I'll make sure we all get a chance at a good future."

They kept each other silent company for most of the night. Ever so often, Emilia had to get up to blast something else out of the sky. The darkness kept her from growing fatigued, though it was a bit of a struggle to stay awake with Leo.

They set down in the water at about four in the morning, once the fog had become too thick for them to keep sailing. A warm drizzle had set over them, annoying Festus (who they could hardly see through the fog). Leo insisted she should get some sleep and wake Percy– he could handle the sea until sunrise.

She woke Percy up first, apologizing that he hadn't slept very much. Then, she went to Hazel's cabin, where she could hear her already awake and heaving as the sea rocked the boat violently. She brought her more saltine crackers, ginger ale, and a water bottle with some Dramamine in case it got really bad. She sat with her for awhile as she dissolved the crackers on her tongue then drank the ginger ale, tucking her back in bed and promising she'd have more ginger ale for her at breakfast.

She didn't make it to sleep.