𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐂𝐘 [J.G 2]

2

"𝐒𝐨," 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡 next to Meg who was kicking rocks while Grover, Dorian and Dante chose to stand. "You know of Caligula."

"I knew someone was behind our problems—the maze, the fires, this." Dante gestured in the vague direction of his mom's house. "When we were escaping through the Doors of Death, we fought a lot of villains who were trying to come back. Makes sense an evil Roman emperor would be behind a company like that."

"We knew there was a burning maze," he continued. "Coach and... and his wife told us about that." Dante recalled the last time they had met, before school started. "They said the satyrs and dryads..." He gestured at Grover. "Well, it's no secret you guys have been having a bad time with the drought and fires. Then Dorian had some dreams. You know."

All eyes turned to him as he looked away. Grover and Lester nodded. Even Meg looked over from her rocks and grunted sympathetically.

"Anyway," Dante continued, "I thought we could find the heart of this maze. I figured whoever was responsible for making our lives miserable would be there, and we could send him or her back to the Underworld."

"All without me, by the way," Dorian grumbled. "Rude."

Dante scoffed. This was not the time for it.

"So when you say we," Grover asked, "you mean you and—?"

"Grace. Yes." Dane hoped he didn't sound as angry as he felt while he said his name.

"Something happened between you," Lester deduced.

Dante scowled. "Okay Sherlock."

"Dani," Dorian warned, a hand on his shoulder.

Meg, being a daughter of Demeter, caused a few plants in a nearby bush to grow rapidly and then stop. "You guys break up or what?"

"No," Dante said, half hugging himself instead of crossing his arms across his chest. "No, we're not— At least I don't think we— no."

"You don't seem sure," Meg pointed out.

Dante glared at her.

"No we're not broken up, we're just..." He struggled to find the words, "We're having an argument."

"So, you guys came to your parents for dinner for the weekend?" Grover asked. "Must be hard having space when you guys share a dorm."

"We were fine," Dante grit his teeth. "And coming to my mom was the worst idea, I thought they would have changed by now."

"I shouldn't have asked you to consider it," Dorian hung his head.

"It's not your fault they're dicks."

"They suck," Meg said, which really captured everything.

"They do."

"We heard," Lester said sheepishly, "Some stuff. The man screaming. Calling your boyfriend..."

"I wouldn't have cared about that if he called me that," Dante shook his head. "It's a word I've been called since I pointed at a screen and said I wanted to marry an animated character that was the same gender. But he had to bring up Jason."

Lester frowned like he was ready to march into Olympus just to smite down Marcus. That thought made Dante smile.

"I don't care if these emperors of yours take away their house and ruin them. I hope they do."