Wildfires, Heroes of Olympus ₂

029, i'll terminus you buddy

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
PERSEUS           JACKSON

Four hours.

That's how long it took the fastest horse on the planet to get from Alaska to San Francisco Bay, heading straight over the water down the Northwest Coast.

That's also how long it took for Percy's memory to return completely. The process had started in Portland when he had drunk the gorgon's blood, but his past life had still been maddeningly fuzzy. Now, as they headed back into the Olympian gods' territory, Percy remembered everything: the war with Kronos, his sixteenth birthday at Camp Half-Blood, his trainer Chiron the centaur, his best friend Annabeth, his other best friend Grover, his brother Tyson, and most of all Sylvie—four great months of dating, and then BOOM. He'd been abducted by the alien known as Hera. Or Juno... whatever.

Seven months of his life stolen. Next time Percy saw the Queen of Olympus, he was definitely going to give her a goddess-sized slap upside the head.

His friends and family must be going out of their minds. Especially Sylvie, who already had enough anxiety to match every single demigod's anxiety combined. She probably thought Percy had forgotten her—her biggest fear, and the one thing Percy promised wouldn't happen. She had no clue that she was the only thing he didn't forget. She was probably in danger, too.

If Camp Jupiter was in such bad trouble, he could only guess what Camp Half-Blood must be facing without him.

Even worse: Saving both camps would be only the beginning. According to Alcyoneus, the real war would happen far away, in the homeland of the gods. The giants intended to attack the original Mount Olympus and destroy the gods forever.

Percy knew that giants couldn't die unless demigods and gods fought them together. Nico had told him that. Sylvie had mentioned it too, back in August, when she'd worried that the giants might be part of the new Great Prophecy—what the Romans called the Prophecy of Nine.

(That was the downside of dating the most anxious girl at camp: She over-speculates and learns so much stuff that you learn it too.)

He understood Juno's plan: Unite the Roman and Greek demigods to create an elite team of heroes, then somehow convince the gods to fight alongside them. But first, they had to save Camp Jupiter.

The coastline began to look familiar. They raced past the Mendocino lighthouse. Shortly afterward, Mount Tam and the Marin headlands loomed out of the fog. Arion shot straight under the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco Bay.

They tore through Berkeley and into the Oakland Hills. When they reached the hilltop above the Caldecott Tunnel, Arion shuddered like a broken car and came to a stop, his chest heaving.

Hazel patted his sides lovingly. "You did great, Arion."

Of fucking course I fucking did fucking great, the horse cussed. What the fuck did you fucking expect?

Percy, Finley, and Frank jumped off the chariot. Percy wished there'd been comfortable seats or an in-flight meal. His legs were wobbly. His joints were so stiff, he could barely walk. If he went into battle like this, the enemy would call him Old Man Jackson.