SAFE . . . reyna ramirez-arellano

102 - after

THE NEXT DAY, there weren't many answers.

Briar and Jason had apparently been plucked out of the sky by giant eagles and brought to safety, but Leo didn't reappear. The entire Hephaestus cabin scoured the valley, finding bits and pieces of the Argo II's broken hull, but no sign of Festus the dragon or his master.

All the monsters had been destroyed or scattered. Greek and Roman casualties were heavy, but not nearly as bad as they might have been.

Overnight, the fauns — no, satyrs and nymphs disappeared into the woods for a convocation of the Cloven Elders. In the morning, a satyr named Grover Underwood reappeared to announce that they could not sense the Earth Mother's presence. Nature was more or less back to normal. Briar, Jason, and Leo's plan had worked. Gaia had been separated from her source of power, charmed to sleep and then atomized in the combined explosion of Leo's fire and Octavian's man-made comet.

An immortal could never die, but now Gaia would be like her husband, Ouranos. The earth would continue to function as normal, just as the sky did, but Gaia was now so dispersed and powerless that she could never again form a consciousness.

At least, that was the hope . . .

Octavian would be remembered for saving Rome by hurling himself into the sky in a fiery ball of death. But it was Leo Valdez who had made the real sacrifice.

The victory celebration at camp was muted, due to grief – not just for Leo but also for the many others who had died in battle. Shrouded demigods, both Greek and Roman, were burned at the campfire.

The hardest part was afterwards, when Briar, most of the crew, and Nico met on the porch of the Big House. She understood why Jason didn't come. He was mourning Leo in Bunker Nine, and he refused to talk to anyone else. Even her.

Briar wiped away her tears, leaning against Reyna. "We should have been there at the end. We could've helped Leo."

"It's not right," she agreed, kissing the crown of Briar's head. "All that work getting the physician's cure, for nothing."

Hazel broke down crying. "Briar, where's the cure? Bring it out."

Briar reached into her pocket. She produced the chamois-cloth package, but when she unfolded the cloth it was empty.

All eyes turned to Hazel.

"How?" Annabeth asked.

Frank put his arm around Hazel. "In Delos, Leo pulled the two of us aside. He pleaded with us to help him."

Through her tears, Hazel explained how she had switched the physician's cure for an illusion – a trick of the Mist – so that Leo could keep the real vial. Frank told them about Leo's plan to destroy a weakened Gaia with one massive fiery explosion. After talking with Nike and Apollo, Leo had been certain that such an explosion would kill any mortal within a quarter of a mile, so he knew he would have to get far away from everyone.

"He wanted to do it alone," Frank said. "He thought there would be a slim chance that he, a son of Hephaestus, could survive the fire, but if anyone was with him . . . He said that Hazel and I, being Roman, would understand about sacrifice. And he knew that Reyna would tell Briar. But he knew the rest of you would never allow it."

At first Briar was angry. But, as Frank and Hazel talked, her anger subsided. It was hard to be mad at Frank and Hazel when they were both crying. Also . . . the plan sounded exactly like the sneaky, twisted, ridiculously annoying and noble sort of thing Leo Valdez would do. Briar just wondered what she would tell Jason.

At that, she let out a choked sob, before shaking those thoughts off. "If he were here right now, I would kill him. How was he planning to take the cure? He was alone!"

"Maybe he found a way," Percy said. "This is Leo we're talking about. He might come back any minute. Then we can take turns strangling him."

The next day, the second since the battle, Romans and Greeks worked side by side to clean up the warzone and tend the wounded.

The Romans bivouacked next to the strawberry fields, where they insisted on building their standard field camp. The Greeks pitched in to help them raise the earthen walls and dig the trenches. Dakota shared Kool-Aid with the kids from the Dionysus cabin. The children of Hermes and Mercury laughed and told stories and brazenly stole things from just about everyone. And Piper, Annabeth, and Briar were inseparable, roaming the camp as a trio to check on the progress of the repairs. Chiron, escorted by Frank and Hazel, inspected the Roman troops and praised them for their bravery.

By evening, the general mood had improved somewhat. The dining hall pavilion had never been so crowded. The Romans were welcomed like old friends. Coach Hedge roamed among the demigods, beaming and holding a baby boy and saying, "Hey, you want to meet Chuck? This is my boy, Chuck!"

The Aphrodite and Athena girls alike cooed over the feisty little satyr baby, who waved his pudgy fists, kicked his tiny hooves and bleated, "Baaaa! Baaaa!"

Clarisse la Rue, who had been named the baby's godmother, trailed behind the coach like a bodyguard and occasionally muttered, "All right, all right. Give the kid some space."

At announcement time, Chiron stepped forward and raised his goblet.

"Out of every tragedy," he said, "comes new strength. Today, we thank the gods for this victory. To the gods!"

The demigods all joined the toast, but their enthusiasm seemed muted. Briar understood: We saved the gods, and now we're supposed to thank them?

Then Chiron said, "And to new friends!"

"TO NEW FRIENDS!"

Hundreds of demigod voices echoed across the hills.

At the campfire, everyone kept looking at the stars, as if they expected Leo to come back in some dramatic, last-minute surprise. Maybe he'd swoop in, jump off Festus's back and launch into corny jokes. It didn't happen.

After a few songs, Piper and Frank were called to the front. They got a thunderous round of applause from both the Greeks and Romans. Up on Half-Blood Hill, the Athena Parthenos glowed more brightly in moonlight, as if to signal: These kids are all right.

"Tomorrow," Piper said, "we Romans must return home. We appreciate your hospitality, especially since we almost killed you –"

"You almost got killed," Annabeth corrected.

"Whatever, Chase."

Oooooohhhhh! the crowd said as one. Then everybody started laughing and pushing each other around. Briar finally felt relaxed, for the first time in a while.

"Anyway," Frank took over, "Piper and I agree this marks a new era of friendship between the camps."

Piper clapped him on the back. "That's right. For hundreds of years, the gods tried to separate us to keep us from fighting. But there's a better kind of peace – cooperation."

Briar smirked. "Are you sure you're not growing soft, McLean?"

"Yes, Lovelace," Piper said. "It'll take years before that happens. But from now on we fight together!"

That got a big cheer.

Frank raised his hand for quiet. "You'll all be welcome at Camp Jupiter. We've come to an agreement with Chiron: a free exchange between the camps – weekend visits, training programs and, of course, emergency aid in times of need –"

"And parties?" asked Dakota.

"Hear, hear!" said Connor Stoll.

Piper spread her arms. "That goes without saying. We Romans invented parties."

Another big Oooohhhhhhhh!

"So thank you," Piper concluded. "All of you. We could've chosen hatred and war. Instead we found acceptance and friendship."

Then she walked up to Nico, who was standing to one side in the shadows. She grabbed his hand and pulled him gently into the firelight.

"We had one home," she said. "Now we have two."

She gave Nico a big hug and the crowd roared with approval. But as Briar clapped and forced a smile, all she felt was emptiness.