Shattered

Jason

Honestly Jason had no idea why Nico hated farming so much. Sure he had to wake up early, but he got to spend the day working with animals, operating heavy machinery, and he was getting paid to do it!

For a little over two weeks now Nico, Percy, and himself had been staying at one of Demeter's farms. The one they currently occupied had the classic white two story farm house, a couple of red barns, a few smaller sheds, and four corn silos. The farm was mostly used to grow soy beans and corn during the warmer months, but Demeter apparently also kept a few chickens and pigs around to make the place seem livelier.

He had been a bit disappointed when he learned there were no milk cows around, as he secretly always wanted to try milking a cow, but Nico had been quick to scold him. Apparently the son of Hades had a beef with milk cows.

Jason hovered above the chicken pen, sprinkling handfuls of corn to the flightless birds below. As he performed the simple chore he thought back to the strange conversation that resulted in the three demigods residing in the middle of nowhere.

After Hades had dropped the bombshell that Olympus was not only inaccessible, but visible to the mortal world, the conversation quickly turned into speculating who was responsible.

Poseidon had suggested that it was Kronos, rising from the ashes to do battle once more. Hades had quickly shot that idea down, saying it would be at least one hundred years before their father could reassemble his mind. Demeter supported the god of the underworld's conclusion, stating that their father may have lurked in the shadows before, but he could be quite theatrical when it came to making his move.

Jason had thought that destroying Camp Half-Blood and making a floating city appear above the New York City skyline was quite theatrical, but what did he know?

Demeter had barely uttered the name Gaea when everyone, but Percy, rejected the possibility. The first primordial had been laid to rest by Leo, Piper, and himself less than a year ago, there was no way she could have woken up and reassembled herself in that short amount of time. Or at least he hoped so...

Nico asked if it was possible that the culprit could be Tartarus, saying that since he was the last remaining primordial it could be a power grab. No one challenged him on the idea, but no one supported it either. Truth be told there wasn't much known about Tartarus, other than he had been created by Gaea and he was the father to most of the giants.

Wanting to contribute Jason suggested that maybe it was Chaos, as everything seemed a bit chaotic. Everyone at the table groaned at the unintended pun. In a display of Father-son unity, Hades and Nico smacked the back of his head.

Jason hated to admit it, but he really missed having a prophecy to guide him, a sentiment everyone at the table reluctantly agreed with. Sure the prophecies were always vague and grim, but at least they provided some place to start and could somewhat tell them what to expect.

The three remaining Olympians then decided that they themselves would figure out who or what was responsible, which if Jason was being honest was a nice change of pace. Hades was going to question the recently deceased as well as some mortal friends (that last one caught both him and Nico off guard), Poseidon was going to monitor his domain and check in with the other pantheons (again, caught off guard), and Demeter was going to search the spaces in between.

Jason then brought up the important topic of where he and his cousins were going to stay now that Camp Half-Blood was now a crater. He had assumed it would be back off to Camp Jupiter and Poseidon had suggested as much, but surprisingly Demeter had protested the idea.

She said that if Camp Half-Blood could be wiped out with such ease, then Camp Jupiter would be just as susceptible, or as she put it: don't put all your eggs in one basket.