Of Blood and Darkness

Questions Unanswered

When they neared the temple, Octavian forbade him from entering, claiming he would try to kill him again.

Although tempted to prove him right, Valen relented and waited outside. It took them a while, but when the crimson lightning finally struck the temple, Valen knew they were done. It took them a minute, but soon enough they were out of the place.

Hazel seemed downright furious, muttering curses while Percy seemed clueless. As they reached him, Percy filled him up on what he had missed.

"Wait, so this mysterious brother you've been talking about is here?"

Hazel took a deep breath to calm herself, "Yes, let's go. He'll want to meet you both."

She led them to a black crypt built into the side of the hill. Standing in front was a teenage boy in black jeans and an aviator jacket.

"Hey," Hazel called. "I've brought a friend."

The boy turned and Valen froze in his tracks. Nico did the same, a weird look on his face.

Valens eyes widened, and memories began assaulting his mind. Along with the feeling that someone was digging a trench inside his brain.

He remembered an excited child and his sister on a snow-covered land. He remembered a hideous monster nearly killing one of them. His memories went by at such a pace it was hard to keep count.

And then it was gone, the pain, the memories. All gone.

He grabbed his head, frustrated. Why, why could he still not remember?

"This is my brother," Hazel introduced, "The other son of Pluto."

"I-I know you." Percy said, "I know both of you."

"Well, welcome to the club," Valen said through gritted teeth.

Nico raised his eyebrows inquisitively.

Hazel forced herself to speak. "Um...they've lost his memories."

She proceeded to tell him what had happened the past two months, with Valen's arrival and his performance in the war games and ending with Percy's arrival and him controlling the water of the little Tiber.

"So, Nico..." she continued carefully, "I thought...you know, you travel all over. Maybe you've met demigods like Percy before, or..."

Nico's expression turned as dark as Tartarus. Hazel didn't understand why, but she got the message: Drop it.

"This story about Gaea's army," Nico said. "You warned Reyna?"

Percy nodded. "Who is Gaea, anyway?"

"The primordial of the Earth," Valen said almost instantly, "She birthed the titans."

Nico nodded, "The oldest goddess of all. She's in a deep sleep most of thetime, but she hates the gods and their children."

"Mother Earth...is evil?" Percy asked.

"Very," Nico said gravely. "She convinced her son, the Titan Kronos—um, I mean, Saturn—to kill his dad, Uranus, and take over the world. The Titans ruled for a long time. Then the Titans' children, the Olympian gods, overthrew them."

Valen frowned, that whole conversation felt really familiar, as if he'd heard those exact words before.

"The first time?" Percy repeated.

"Last summer," Nico continued, "Saturn tried to make a comeback. There was a second Titan war. The Romans at Camp Jupiter stormed his headquarters on Mount Othrys, across the bay, and destroyed his throne. Saturn disappeared—" He hesitated, judging their reaction to it.