Camp felt quieter after their return.
No one said anything openly, but Lucas could feel it. The glances from passing campers, the way conversations paused when they walked by. The silence wasn't filled with judgment. It was worse. It was pity.
They had failed, and Olympus blamed them.
Thalia and Luke tried to return to routine quickly. The next morning, Lucas found them in the arena. Thalia was taking on Annabeth again.
Thalia's strikes were sharp, her expression focused though faint frustration lingered in her posture.
Lucas sat off to the side on the stone bench, arms crossed, gaze distant.
"You're not joining in?" Luke asked taking a seat beside Lucas
Lucas shook his head, slowly, like he wasn't exactly in the moment.
Luke saw this and was worried. "You ok?"
He didn't respond. Just pointed upward.
Luke looked up.
The sky was clear, blue and cloudless.
He understood the message and didn't ask further.
...
The day passed slowly. Lucas wandered the campgrounds, hands in his pockets, stopping only to watch the lake ripple or the nymphs tending the fields. He didn't speak to anyone, focused on his thoughts.
When the sun began to set, Lucas found himself walking to the Big House. He climbed the steps and sat on the bench opposite Mr. D.
Mr. D sat with a glass of Diet Coke, enjoying the view.
"Come to ask for a reward?" he asked without looking at Lucas.
"No," Lucas said.
Mr. D took a sip of his drink, let out a breath of satisfaction, and finally glanced at him. "Then what do you want?"
Lucas spoke. "You once told me there's more to Olympus than the stories say. That there's more than what we're taught."
Mr. D leaned back in his chair, swirling the glass in his hand. "Did I now?"
Lucas nodded. "I want to hear them. The real stories."
A long pause.
"Asking this now?" Mr. D said. "Why?"
Lucas didn't answer.
"Let me guess. It has to do with that little stunt you pulled with Hestia?" Mr. D continued, leaning forward. Lucas could feel Mr. D's eyes studying him behind the god's sunglasses.
It seemed he didn't find anything worth commenting on, as the feeling of being studied vanished, Mr. D returning to his laid-back persona.
Mr. D exhaled slowly. "Do you know what happens when you dig too deep into the past, Lucas?"
"Pain?"
Mr. D gave a somber nod. "No kingdom is ever built without some dirt beneath its foundations. You may despise us, Lucas, but we have tried."
"I believe you. Maybe you all started with the intent of being better than the Titans, but somewhere along the way Olympus lost sight of the road and simply indulged in the rewards."
Mr. D sat there, mulling it over, before asking one last time. "You do understand there are consequences for the path you walk. You could lose everything. And who's to say the outcome will be any better?"
Lucas didn't answer with his voice, but Dionysus saw it in the demigod's eyes. Not hatred or ambition. Conviction. Promise.
'Such attitude will only make your loss hurt more' Dionysus thought dryly
"So. Where do you want to start?" Mr. D asked.
"Athena"
Mr. D set his drink aside. "Fine. Let's start with Athena."
Lucas leaned in, waiting.
"I'm sure the story you heard goes something like this: Poseidon and Medusa were lovers who snuck into Athena's temple with help from her sisters. Athena found out and, enraged by the desecration, cursed Medusa and her sisters."
Lucas nodded. That was the story he knew.
"Reality? Poseidon assaulted Medusa inside Athena's temple. Medusa screamed. Her sisters came running, but they couldn't stop him. Athena heard what happened. She couldn't punish Poseidon, no one could. Even Zeus treads carefully around his brother. So Athena did what she could. She gave Medusa a gift: the power to turn any man who tried to harm her into stone."
Lucas frowned. "And Poseidon? What happened with him?"
"He found out. Thought Athena was mocking him. In retaliation, he cursed Medusa and her sisters, turning them into Gorgons. Athena stayed silent. Let the world believe it was her doing. Safer that way."
Lucas hesitated. "She let herself be blamed? Forever?"
"She's the goddess of wisdom. She knew what would happen if she tried to drag it into Olympus. Zeus would side with Poseidon, lack of care mixed with caution towards his brother. Medusa? She would be punished by Poseidon all over again either out of anger or to mock Athena."
Lucas frowned again. "And Arachne? I heard the story of Athena's jealousy."
"Arachne bested Athena in a weaving contest, that is true. Athena acknowledged the skill. She was furious, yes, but she accepted the loss. Zeus didn't. Athena was his pride and joy, his greatest creation. To have a mortal best her was a disgrace, a stain he couldn't allow. And when he found out that she lost to a weave that depicted the gods being fools? He was furious. He struck Arachne's village with lightning. Burned it to the ground. Innocents died. Arachne took her own life from guilt, hanging herself from her winning tapestry."
"And Athena?"
"She found Arachne. Felt guilty for what happened. Turned her into a spider; making her immortal while allowing Arachne and her children to forever practice their weaving. A quiet apology. Arachne never knew this. She thought Athena was the one who was behind the village's destruction. That is why her children torment the children of Athena."
"She took the blame again even including her own children as an apology?"
"She is one of the kinder gods, just too rational at times"
Lucas stared at the porch floor. "Then why is Athena known for strategy and war?"
"Because she hated combat. That was the truth. But she learned war was inevitable. And if it must happen, then let it be smart. Controlled. Not blind slaughter like Ares came to be known for."
Lucas exhaled slowly. "And Ares?"
Mr. D gave a dry laugh. "He was once a protector. He guarded the Amazons. Executed rapists. Brutal, yes, but principled. Then came centuries of conquest, of empty war. He lost his purpose. Now he's rage wrapped in armor. Not evil. Just... lost."
"If fixing him is that simple, why hasn't anyone done it?"
"Those who want to can't beat him. Those who can? They think he's a loud child swinging a sword. Harmless to them, so they ignore him. Hera, for her part, encouraged his affair with Aphrodite; said it made him better than Hephaestus."
"Isn't Hephaestus her son too?"
"He is. But she doesn't claim him. The last time she had to, Hephaestus chained her in adamantine until she admitted it. Now she treats him with courtesy, sure, but never calls him 'son.' Ares is her pride."
Lucas shook his head. "And Poseidon?"
Mr. D's face darkened. "Poseidon is the sea. Beautiful. Powerful. Emotionally volatile. He raped Demeter after Persephone rejected him. Cursed Pasiphae for her husband's defiance, knowing it would lead to the Minotaur's birth. He hurts what he wants and recedes like the tide."
Lucas clenched his jaw. "You seem to have some hatred for him too?."
"My wife... was Pasiphae's daughter. And Perseus, Poseidon's son, followed too closely in his father's footsteps." There was bitterness and anger in his voice.
"You said Demeter was raped...Demeter was one of the original Olympians. Why didn't Zeus intervene?"
"Zeus may be many things, but he isn't a fool. Fighting Poseidon would risk a civil war on Olympus. It wasn't worth it. Especially for a woman that rejected him"
Lucas sat in silence, absorbing the weight of it all.
"What about Artemis?"
"She is nature. A hunter. She doesn't conform to good or evil. She protects the young. The innocent. Maidens. Those she believes other's shouldn't hunt. But she is a predator. She helped Apollo slaughter Niobe's children because of an insult to their mother."
Lucas was quiet for a long time.
"So are they redeemable?"
Mr. D didn't answer at first. He looked out over the camp.
"They are what they are. Some gods change. Most don't. The ones who feel guilt accept it. The others... they drown it in power."
"And what about you?"
Mr. D gave him a long look. "I'm watching. That's all."
Lucas turned to him. "Why haven't you stopped me? Reported me? You even help me."
"Because you remind me of a promise I made to Hestia, because I believe your dream will bring a better future for my boys. So I wait. I watch. But if your path brings harm to the campers..."
"Then you'll stop me."
"I will break you. I will make you suffer madness until you forget your own name."
Lucas nodded. "Understood."
Mr. D picked up his drink again.
"Enjoy your evening, Lucas. While the gods still let you walk freely."