“So,” said Percy, as Annabeth flitted through game menus to get round two of their Endless Galaxy showdown under way, “when are you going to tell me about what you know of the cluster-fuck with Zeus and what it has to do with me?”

As much as Percy would have loved to play Endless Galaxy, a wonderful bullet hell game done in the style of the old classics, he did want to get to the bottom of his involvement in the Zeus debacle. Besides, Annabeth had totally destroyed him in the first round, anyway, and he was more than a little bit sour at that.

Endless Galaxy was the one video game that Percy had put any time and effort into which he had actually turned out pretty proficient in. Regardless, all those hours of figuring out and memorizing the patterns of every fucking boss in the damn game were for naught. Annabeth had had a good three quadrillion points more than he had at the end of their half-hour long session.

Nico tilted his head at Will, trying his hardest not to laugh at the knight on bended knee in front of him.

“None of that, now,” said Nico. He motioned upward with his hand and smiled as Will rose to his full height. Nico felt a stirring somewhere in his loins at the sight of Will’s stomach muscles flexing. “Approach your prince,” he said, without a second thought.

Nico could see the hesitation in Will’s every step, but eventually, Will came to stand in front of him. Will loomed over him by a full head in height. Inwardly, Nico couldn’t help but grit his teeth. They had been the same height when they were younger. What the fuck had happened to make Will significantly taller than he was?

Jason descended the ramp slowly, warily, just in case there were people waiting in ambush to shoot him the moment he left his ship. There wasn’t anyone. In fact, the hangar was always as it was, empty and deathly quiet.

Jason walked up to the airlock that connected his personal hangar to the transparent, reinforced dome that encircled his entire property. Jason watched, with building apprehension, as Tempest connected to the infrared security system that he had had implemented within the house and on the grounds.

“Sir,” said Tempest, the crude eyes projected on the visor of the robot blinking, “There seem to be no hostiles in the vicinity. Visual and infrared scans have exposed no signs of life on the grounds. However, I believe that Octavian is waiting for you in front of the main entrance. He seems to be in a rather compr—”

When the crowd that had gathered for the early morning had begun to disperse, Nico vaulted over the banister, landed on the dusty yard, rolled across the ground, and then jumped to his feet, arms raised to either side of him as though he had just performed a great acrobatic feat.

What few spectators remained politely clapped their hands as they laughed. “Fantastic form,” said Rakan, walking up behind Nico and patting him on the shoulder with enough force to make him pitch forward and almost lose balance.

Nico looked about and spotted the field of tents that had been set up behind the royal stage for the knights that had started coming in some two or three weeks prior to the tournament.