THEY STOPPED AT THE FRONT PORCH. As Frank had feared, a
loose ring of campfires glowed in the woods, completely
surrounding the property, but the house itself seemed
untouched.
Grandmother’s wind chimes jangled in the night breeze.
Her wicker chair sat empty, facing the road. Lights shone
through the downstairs windows, but Frank decided
against ringing the doorbell. He didn’t know how late it
was, or if Grandmother was asleep or even home. Instead
he checked the stone elephant statue in the corner – a
tiny duplicate of the one in Portland. The spare key was
still tucked under its foot.
He hesitated at the door.
‘What’s wrong?’ Percy asked.
Frank remembered the morning he’d opened this door
for the military officer who had told him about his mother.
He remembered walking down these steps to her funeral,
holding his piece of firewood in his coat for the first time.
He remembered standing here and watching the wolves
come out of the woods – Lupa’s minions, who would lead
him to Camp Jupiter. That seemed so long ago, but it had
only been six weeks.
Now he was back. Would Grandmother hug him?
Would she say, Frank, thank the gods you’ve come! I’m
surrounded by monsters!
More likely she’d scold him, or mistake them for
intruders and chase them off with a frying pan.
‘Frank?’ Hazel asked.
‘Ella is nervous,’ the harpy muttered from her perch on
the railing. ‘The elephant – the elephant is looking at Ella.’
‘It’ll be fine.’ Frank’s hand was shaking so badly he
could barely fit the key in the lock. ‘Just stay together.’
Inside, the house smelled closed-up and musty.
Usually the air was scented with jasmine incense, but all
the burners were empty.
They examined the living room, the dining room, the
kitchen. Dirty dishes were stacked in the sink, which wasn’t
right. Grandmother’s maid came every day – unless she’d
been scared off by the giants.
Or eaten for lunch, Frank thought. Ella had said the
Laistrygonians were cannibals.
He pushed that thought aside. Monsters ignored
regular mortals. At least, they usually did.
In the parlour, Buddha statues and Taoist immortals
grinned at them like psycho clowns. Frank remembered
Iris, the rainbow goddess, who’d been dabbling in
Buddhism and Taoism. Frank figured one visit to this
creepy old house would cure her of that.
Grandmother’s large porcelain vases were strung with
cobwebs. Again – that wasn’t right. She insisted that her
collection be dusted regularly. Looking at the porcelain,
Frank felt a twinge of guilt for having destroyed so many
pieces the day of the funeral. It seemed silly to him now –
getting angry at Grandmother when he had so many
others to be angry at: Juno, Gaia, the giants, his dad
Mars. Especially Mars.
The fireplace was dark and cold.
Hazel hugged her chest as if to keep the piece of
firewood from jumping into the hearth. ‘Is that –’
‘Yeah,’ Frank said. ‘That’s it.’
‘That’s what?’ Percy asked.
Hazel’s expression was sympathetic, but that just made
Frank feel worse. He remembered how terrified, how
repulsed she had looked when he had summoned Grey.
‘It’s the fireplace,’ he told Percy, which sounded stupidly
obvious. ‘Come on. Let’s check upstairs.’
The steps creaked under their feet. Frank’s old room
was the same. None of his things had been touched – his
extra bow and quiver (he’d have to grab those later), his
spelling awards from school (yeah, he probably was the
only non-dyslexic spelling champion demigod in the
world, as if he weren’t enough of a freak already) and his
photos of his mom – in her flak jacket and helmet, sitting
on a Humvee in Kandahar Province; in her soccer coach
uniform, the season she’d coached Frank’s team; in her
military dress uniform, her hands on Frank’s shoulders,
the time she’d visited his school for career day.
‘Your mother?’ Hazel asked gently. ‘She’s beautiful.’
Frank couldn’t answer. He felt a little embarrassed – a
sixteen-year-old guy with a bunch of pictures of his mom.
How hopelessly lame was that? But mostly he felt sad. Six
weeks since he’d been here. In some ways it seemed like
forever. But when he looked at his mom’s smiling face in
those photos, the pain of losing her was as fresh as ever.
They checked the other bedrooms. The middle two
were empty. A dim light flickered under the last door –
Grandmother’s room.
Frank knocked quietly. No one answered. He pushed
open her door. Grandmother lay in bed, looking gaunt
and frail, her white hair spread around her face like a
basilisk’s crown. A single candle burned on the
nightstand. At her bedside sat a large man in beige
Canadian Forces fatigues. Despite the gloom, he wore
dark sunglasses with blood-red light glowing behind the
lenses.
‘Mars,’ Frank said.
The god looked up impassively. ‘Hey, kid. Come on in.
Tell your friends to take a hike.’
‘Frank?’ Hazel whispered. ‘What do mean, Mars? Is
your grandmother … is she okay?’
Frank glanced at his friends. ‘You don’t see him?’
‘See who?’ Percy gripped his sword. ‘Mars? Where?’
The war god chuckled. ‘Nah, they can’t see me. Figured
it was better this time. Just a private conversation –
father/son, right?’
Frank clenched his fists. He counted to ten before he
trusted himself to speak.
‘Guys, it’s … it’s nothing. Listen, why don’t you take the
middle bedrooms?’
‘Roof,’ Ella said. ‘Roofs are good for harpies.’
‘Sure,’ Frank said in a daze. ‘There’s probably food in
the kitchen. Would you give me a few minutes alone with
my grandmother? I think she –’
His voice broke. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to cry or
scream or punch Mars in the glasses – maybe all three.
Hazel laid her hand on his arm. ‘Of course, Frank.
Come on, Ella, Percy.’
Frank waited until his friends’ steps had receded. Then
he walked into the bedroom and closed the door.
‘Is it really you?’ he asked Mars. ‘This isn’t a trick or
illusion or something?’
The god shook his head. ‘You’d prefer it if it wasn’t me?’
‘Yes,’ Frank confessed.
Mars shrugged. ‘Can’t blame you. Nobody welcomes
war – not if they’re smart. But war finds everyone sooner or
later. It’s inevitable.’
‘That’s stupid,’ Frank said. ‘War isn’t inevitable. It kills
people. It –’
‘– took your mom,’ Mars finished.
Frank wanted to smack the calm look off his face, but
maybe that was just Mars’s aura making him feel
aggressive. He looked down at his grandmother, sleeping
peacefully. He wished she would wake up. If anyone could
take on a war god, his grandmother could.
‘She’s ready to die,’ Mars said. ‘She’s been ready for
weeks, but she’s holding on for you.’
‘For me?’ Frank was so stunned he almost forgot his
anger. ‘Why? How could she know I was coming back? I
didn’t know!’
‘The Laistrygonians outside knew,’ Mars said. ‘I imagine
a certain goddess told them.’
Frank blinked. ‘Juno?’
The war god laughed so loudly the windows rattled, but
Grandmother didn’t even stir. ‘Juno? Boar’s whiskers, kid.
Not Juno! You’re Juno’s secret weapon. She wouldn’t sell
you out. No, I meant Gaia. Obviously she’s been keeping
track of you. I think you worry her more than Percy or
Jason or any of the seven.’
Frank felt like the room was tilting. He wished there were
another chair to sit in. ‘The seven … you mean in the
ancient prophecy, the Doors of Death? I’m one of the
seven? And Jason, and –’
‘Yes, yes.’ Mars waved his hand impatiently. ‘Come on,
boy. You’re supposed to be a good tactician. Think it
through! Obviously your friends are being groomed for
that mission, too, assuming you make it back from Alaska
alive. Juno aims to unite the Greeks and Romans and
send them against the giants. She believes it’s the only
way to stop Gaia.’
Mars shrugged, clearly unconvinced of the plan.
‘Anyway, Gaia doesn’t want you to be one of the seven.
Percy Jackson … she believes she can control him. All of
the others have weaknesses she can exploit. But you –
you worry her. She’d rather kill you right away. That’s why
she summoned the Laistrygonians. They’ve been here for
days, waiting.’
Frank shook his head. Was Mars playing some kind of
trick? No way would a goddess be worried about Frank,
especially when there was somebody like Percy Jackson
to worry about.
‘No weaknesses?’ he asked. ‘I’m nothing but
weaknesses. My life depends on a piece of wood!’
Mars grinned. ‘You’re selling yourself short. Anyway,
Gaia has these Laistrygonians convinced that if they eat
the last member of your family – that being you – they’ll
inherit your family gift. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t
know. But the Laistrygonians are hungry to try.’
Frank’s stomach twisted into a knot. Grey had killed six
of the ogres, but judging from the campfires around the
property, there were dozens more – all waiting to cook
Frank for breakfast.
‘I’m going to throw up,’ he said.
‘No, you’re not.’ Mars snapped his fingers, and Frank’s
queasiness disappeared. ‘Battle jitters. Happens to
everybody.’
‘But my grandmother –’
‘Yeah, she’s been waiting to talk to you. The ogres have
left her alone so far. She’s the bait, see? Now that you’re
here, I imagine they’ve already smelled your presence.
They’ll attack in the morning.’
‘Get us out of here, then!’ Frank demanded. ‘Snap your
fingers and blow up the cannibals.’
‘Ha! That would be fun. But I don’t fight my kids’ battles
for them. The Fates have clear ideas about what jobs
belong to gods, and what has to be done by mortals. This
is your quest, kid. And, uh, in case you haven’t figured it
out yet, your spear won’t be ready to use again for twentyfour
hours, so I hope you’ve learned how to use the family
gift. Otherwise, you’re gonna be breakfast for cannibals.’
The family gift. Frank had wanted to talk with
Grandmother about it, but now he had no one to consult
but Mars. He stared at the war god, who was smiling with
absolutely no sympathy.
‘Periclymenus.’ Frank sounded out the word carefully,
like a spelling-bee challenge. ‘He was my ancestor, a
Greek prince, an Argonaut. He died fighting Hercules.’
Mars rolled his hand in a ‘go on’ gesture.
‘He had an ability that helped him in combat,’ Frank
said. ‘Some sort of gift from the gods. My mom said he
fought like a swarm of bees.’
Mars laughed. ‘True enough. What else?’
‘Somehow, the family got to China. I think, like in the
days of the Roman Empire, one of Pericylmenus’s
descendants served in a legion. My mom used to talk
about a guy named Seneca Gracchus, but he also had a
Chinese name, Sung Guo. I think – well, this is the part I
don’t know, but Reyna always said there were many lost
legions. The Twelfth founded Camp Jupiter. Maybe there
was another legion that disappeared into the east.’
Mars clapped silently. ‘Not bad, kid. Ever heard of the
Battle of Carrhae? Huge disaster for the Romans. They
fought these guys called the Parthians on the eastern
border of the empire. Fifteen thousand Romans died. Ten
thousand more were taken prisoner.’
‘And one of the prisoners was my ancestor Seneca
Gracchus?’
‘Exactly,’ Mars agreed. ‘The Parthians put the captured
legionnaires to work, since they were pretty good fighters.
Except then Parthia got invaded again from the other
direction –’
‘By the Chinese,’ Frank guessed. ‘And the Roman
prisoners got captured again.’
‘Yeah. Kind of embarrassing. Anyway, that’s how a
Roman legion got to China. The Romans eventually put
down roots and built a new hometown called –’
‘Li-Jien,’ Frank said. ‘My mother said that was our
ancestral home. Li-Jien. Legion.’
Mars looked pleased. ‘Now you’re getting it. And old
Seneca Gracchus, he had your family’s gift.’
‘My mom said he fought dragons,’ Frank remembered.
‘She said he was … he was the most powerful dragon of
all.’
‘He was good,’ Mars admitted. ‘Not good enough to
avoid the bad luck of his legion, but good. He settled in
China, passed the family gift to his kids, and so on.
Eventually your family emigrated to North America and
got involved with Camp Jupiter –’
‘Full circle,’ Frank finished. ‘Juno said I would bring the
family full circle.’
‘We’ll see.’ Mars nodded at his grandmother. ‘She
wanted to tell you all this herself, but I figured I’d cover
some of it since the old bird hasn’t got much strength. So
do you understand your gift?’
Frank hesitated. He had an idea, but it seemed crazy –
even crazier than a family moving from Greece to Rome
to China to Canada. He didn’t want to say it aloud. He
didn’t want to be wrong and have Mars laugh at him. ‘I – I
think so. But against an army of those ogres –’
‘Yeah, it’ll be tough.’ Mars stood and stretched. ‘When
your grandmother wakes up in the morning, she’ll offer
you some help. Then I imagine she’ll die.’
‘What? But I have to save her! She can’t just leave me.’
‘She’s lived a full life,’ Mars said. ‘She’s ready to move
on. Don’t be selfish.’
‘Selfish!’
‘The old woman only stuck around this long out of a
sense of duty. Your mom was the same way. That’s why I
loved her. She always put her duty first, ahead of
everything. Even her life.’
‘Even me.’
Mars took off his sunglasses. Where his eyes should’ve
been, miniature spheres of fire boiled like nuclear
explosions. ‘Self-pity isn’t helpful, kid. It isn’t worthy of you.
Even without the family gift, your mom gave you your
most important traits – bravery, loyalty, brains. Now you’ve
got to decide how to use them. In the morning, listen to
your grandmother. Take her advice. You can still free
Thanatos and save the camp.’
‘And leave my grandmother behind to die.’
‘Life is only precious because it ends, kid. Take it from
a god. You mortals don’t know how lucky you are.’
‘Yeah,’ Frank muttered. ‘Real lucky.’
Mars laughed – a harsh metallic sound. ‘Your mom
used to tell me this Chinese proverb. Eat bitter –’
‘Eat bitter, taste sweet,’ Frank said. ‘I hate that proverb.’
‘But it’s true. What do they call it these days – no pain,
no gain? Same concept. You do the easy thing, the
appealing thing, the peaceful thing, mostly it turns out
sour in the end. But if you take the hard path – ah, that’s
how you reap the sweet rewards. Duty. Sacrifice. They
mean something.’
Frank was so disgusted he could hardly speak. This
was his father?
Sure, Frank understood about his mom being a hero.
He understood she’d saved lives and been really brave.
But she’d left him alone. That wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right.
‘I’ll be going,’ Mars promised. ‘But first – you said you
were weak. That’s not true. You want to know why Juno
spared you, Frank? Why that piece of wood didn’t burn
yet? It’s because you’ve got a role to play. You think you’re
not as good as the other Romans. You think Percy
Jackson is better than you.’
‘He is,’ Frank grumbled. ‘He battled you and won.’
Mars shrugged. ‘Maybe. Maybe so. But every hero has
a fatal flaw. Percy Jackson? He’s too loyal to his friends.
He can’t give them up, not for anything. He was told that,
years ago. And some day soon he’s going to face a
sacrifice he can’t make. Without you, Frank – without your
sense of duty – he’s going fail. The whole war will go
sideways, and Gaia will destroy our world.’
Frank shook his head. He couldn’t hear this.
‘War is a duty,’ Mars continued. ‘The only real choice is
whether you accept it, and what you fight for. The legacy of
Rome is on the line – five thousand years of law, order,
civilization. The gods, the traditions, the cultures that
shaped the world you live in: it’s all going to crumble,
Frank, unless you win this. I think that’s worth fighting for.
Think about it.’
‘What’s mine?’ Frank asked.
Mars raised an eyebrow. ‘Your what?’
‘Fatal flaw. You said all heroes have one.’
The god smiled dryly. ‘You gotta answer that yourself,
Frank. But you’re finally asking the right questions. Now,
get some sleep. You need the rest.’
The god waved his hand. Frank’s eyes felt heavy. He
collapsed, and everything went dark.
‘Fai,’ said a familiar voice, harsh and impatient.
Frank blinked his eyes. Sunlight streamed into the
room.
‘Fai, get up. As much as I would like to slap that
ridiculous face of yours, I am in no condition to get out of
bed.’
‘Grandmother?’
She came into focus, looking down at him from the bed.
He lay sprawled on the floor. Someone had put a blanket
over him during the night and a pillow under his head, but
he had no idea how it had happened.
‘Yes, my silly ox.’ Grandmother still looked horribly
weak and pale, but her voice was as steely as ever. ‘Now,
get up. The ogres have surrounded the house. We have
much to discuss if you and your friends are to escape
here alive.’
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