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The fight was strained. Some of them got off good shots like Nancy and Zeke, others like Demi, weren’t able to get a good enough hold on the creature. Artemis fired off a dozen or so areas, some of them making their mark. ”Good shot, Nanc, Auntie!” Now that the giant was blind thanks to Nancy’s arrow, light manipulation would be no good here.

The giant got up again after Alexios’ punch, limiting the safe distance to getting close to the giant. Zeke wanted to use his sword, thinking it would do more damage, but he always wasn’t suicidal. Instead, Ezekiel pulled out his own bow, the quiver of arrows appearing on his back, to match that of his aunt and half-sister.

”Right, a volley of arrows then.” Ezekiel was too concentrated on the task at hand to notice the rainbow that appeared near Nancy. Instead, Zeke is volling arrows at the giant’s neck in hopes of impaling the brute. However, Zeke misses twice and only grazes the creature’s neck with the third shot. Well, that’s not embarrassing. Zeke glances at his Aunt and sister, hoping they saw nothing. That was when he noticed the Iris Message.

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Stella could feel the tears starting to roll down her cheeks as she blinked her eyes, and then looked to the side. She could feel her fingertips brush with Andy's as the other girl reached for her, and she reached for her as well. They both needed one another's strengths at that moment to hold up the sky, the two young girls holding the weight until the Titan could be wrestled back under it. Persephone slipped in and took the sky from them and Stella nearly fell over, and she wiggled her way out from under the sky. "Thank you sister." Stella whispered to her as she slipped out and then looked at the fight, wondering what she could do.

She watched as the titan was finally tugged and pushed under the sky, taking his place once more. She wanted to celebrate, as part of the task was complete, but the fight wasn't over. Stella was pretty much drained, but she couldn't just do nothing. She grasped her scythe once more and forced the plants to wrap around the cyclopses, trying to make it easier. She let the vines wrap around their legs, and hold them to their spots, holding them there and making them easy targets. She managed to tangle up five of the monsters, and dragged them to a halt in their tracks.

Niah stuck out her tongue at Atlas when he was back under the sky. She no longer needed to fight him. There wasn't anything he could do anymore. So she turned her attention to the cyclopes. There were many. They had hurt Mary. Niah wasn't even certain if Mary had survived. She was certain Jason hadn't and she couldn't think about that right now.

Niah didn't know Mary very well, but she was already so upset with the death and destruction. She hated the gods at the moment. Sure Persephone was helping them and Terminus had always been a sort of family member for her. But in general the gods could suck it. She turned that anger to the cyclopes and started attacking them. She stabbed one and it turned to dust and with a back swing of her hand she killed another. She moved and went after a third but it was ready for her and moved so her swing went short.

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Andy drew strength with her connection to Stella. Finally they were free from the burden. The gods were able to get Atlas back under the weight of the sky. She breathed a sigh of relief. She wanted to lay down and let her body relax. But she couldn't the fight was still going on. There were cyclopes to deal with.

She picked up the Master Bolt. Even though it was her father's tool it seemed that it was fighting her. She tried to control it but it was difficult. When she finally had it somewhat under control she was able to use it to kill two of the cyclopes. That probably wasn't enough, but the bolt wasn't easy to control.

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Demi watched as a volley of arrows flew towards the Giant, one lodging itself in the eye as more impeded themselves against its torso. He heard as Nancy answered Janelle, turning to face her when he saw the shimmering message appear near here. ”Not the best time for a collection call. Any chance they can call back later?” He remarked, already pushing Janelles' question to the side as it had been answered. Kristin, ofcourse, immediately contradicted what it was Nancy had just said. But in the throws of battle, chances were that she may not have heard. Especially not with her gawking at his boyfriend before stabbing the Giants leg.

Alexios knocked the brute down, another volley, only for the damned thing to get back up again. ”Just watch your aim. Some of us need to get closer.” Demetri said as he unsheathed his twin blades. Lightning crackling between them and down each point as he charged towards Porphyrion. He slid underneath his legs, a sword in each hand as he spun and sliced each of the Achilles tendons. Another howl of pain from the monster before Demi joined both swords together and used his free hand to call upon the shadows once more. Inky tendrils lurching up and wrapping around the wrists, neck, and legs, pulling him down onto the floor prone. ”Volley away!” He yelled before running out of the firing range.

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While Madalyne talked to her friend, Leda stood back, a bit to the side. Aside from the fact that she was supplying the rainbow, of course. Madalyne had given her privacy when she talked to her girlfriend, so she figured she could return the favor here. However, that didn't mean that Leda was blind - that she couldn't see the shimmering image in the Iris Message, that she couldn't see the fight at hand. She recognized a few faces - Kristin and Zeke, and some of the other demigods from Camp. Her eyes widened though, realizing that they had gods with them - that they weren't alone in the fight.

Maybe if she and Kiera and Sera hadn't been alone, she wouldn't have died.

The thought smarted and stung.

And as much as Leda had issues with Kristin and Zeke, she didn't wish death on them. Especially not now, especially not with the emptiness she was feeling - the realization that this wasn't some reward for glory, that demigods' deaths were tragic and needless, not filled with meaning as she had once believed.

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Nancy's heart stopped. The color in her world seemed to drain away, everything cast into various shades of gray - everything but the image before her, but the vivid rainbow hues that came together to make a face she hadn't seen in what felt like an eternity - the face of one of her two soulmates, the face of a dead girl. Mads. Mads. "Mads!" Nancy exclaimed. She didn't know what else to say. She was too stunned.

Her vision snapped back into focus, as she saw their foe be restrained - and while her mind and heart were shocked, focused on Mads and just the reality of seeing her again, that she was... somewhere - that she was... safe? - that she was Mads. Her body took over, loosing arrows into her opponent - the first missed, the second hit the shoulder, the third the belly.

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Well now she was just sort of getting mixed signals with regards to whether or not she should tell them what she got from Leandra now or later. Personally she was in more of agreement with Nancy, since they were in the middle of a fight at the moment, and the information wasn't exactly something life or death currently. It would be fine to wait until after the fight in her mind, and she still was just doing her best to stay out of the way currently, since she really needed to see about getting her surroundings straight and where everyone was located in proximity to her.

"I dink it might be best dat we wait a secahnd to discuss what I saw so we 'ave mahre time to actually figure it all out... After de fight," she said towards Kristin, clearly showing she agreed with Nancy on that one. The fighting was a bit noisy for her, so it was taking a bit for her to tell where everyone was. It did seem that people were having an easier time taking down monsters now, with some help from Artemis it seemed like. She heard Nancy say someone else's name, and she figured she was getting an Iris message, the name was familiar but she wasn't super sure who it was.

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Location: New York City

Skills: N/A

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"Lets do the subway since its the fastest way there. Plus I'd rather not get stuck in a car with a monster. Seems like it'd be super difficult to fight one in a taxi." Sera rather have more room to fight if any monsters did come at them. Even if a subway cart wasn't huge it'd be far easier to battle in if it wasn't packed with people. Hopefully they wouldn't need to deal with any creatures coming after them while they where underground or if they did it'd be just one. She follows Kiera down to the station on Fulton Street. "Hopefully its not super busy and we can get tickets quick. Its been a while since I've gone on a subway train." When had been the last time? Maybe when she was really young and traveling with her mother. Other than that usually she did buses or cars.

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San Fransico, Sierra Trail:

With their leader now bound back to carrying his burden with the weight of the sky on Atlas' shoulders the remaining cyclops seeing their leader and the two gods before them the remaining decided to retreat. Leaving them in the room alone Damon sighed slightly as he looked at the group. "We won now right?" He asked looking at them all as Persephone turned her attention towards Stella and smiled at her. "You are welcome." She said as she made her way over towards Mary to check and see if she was okay, Mary was alright just unconscious with a very bad burn on her chest where she had been hit by the Master Bolt when Atlas had hit her with it. "She's going to be okay." She said as her eyes turned towards Jason who wasn't lucky at all sadly.

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Kristin quickly charged forward with her spear managing to stab Porphyrion's side and quickly yanked it out injuring the giant very badly as he howled in pain and managed to swing at her knocking Kristin backwards, the giant was holding his side as he was bleeding very badly he tried to stand up again, when Alexios punched the giant in the face once again knocking the giant even further back, and Artemis firing two more arrows hitting him in the chest.

The Iris Message started to become very fuzzy for Nancy and the others to see, same as well on Madalyne's end as well to. "I'm really happy to see you." Madalyne said whipping away some tears to see that her friend was alright still despite calling at a really horrible time it seems. She completely ignored Demi's comment, she didn't know how long the call would last she just wanted to be able to call her best friend and one of her soulmates. "We have a plan, Leda is here with me we are going to the Doors of Death on our end. Not sure how long it'll take to get there but meet us if you can from where you are." Madalyne said, as the message started to become even more garbled before the call was suddenly dropped.

Porphyrion looked at them all and gave them an evil smile as he held out one hand towards the Doors of Death looking at the gods and demigods standing before him. "You'll never find your friends in Tartarus." He said as he made the Doors of Death suddenly disappear in a bright flash of light. The giant then collapsed onto the ground and burst into dust rather quickly.

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"Knowing that it's New York it's probably pretty busy down there." Kiera said as she started to make her way over towards the subway station and going down the flight of stairs that led to the underground station itself. She started to dig through her pockets and managed to pull out some cash she had on her and gave some of it to Sera for her ticket. "Here you go." Kiera said to her half sister giving her a slight smile.

She bought her ticket and headed inside and waited for the train to arrive, she started to look around the area seeing the people who were there which were quiet a few as they went about their day. Sera however would catch someone staring at the two of them almost like they were stalking the two girls before disappearing from her view as a group of people walked by.

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Andy shook, still holding the master bolt. The adrenaline of the fight started to fade away.

"We have the sword and the master bolt back. Atlas is returned to his place." She nodded at Damon. "We won." She didn't add for now. Or 'at what cost'. She liked Jason a bit. At first, she hadn't liked him, he had been rude to her brother. But she had warmed up to him. Now he was gone. They would have to tell his sister.

Niah was kneeling on the ground. She was crying and a primal scream came out of her. Andy went over and waited for her to calm down. Chocolate pressed up against Niah sensing that she needed comfort. Niah had been running on anger since Andy had told her what had happened to Mads.



Niah sank to her knees. Her hands were shaking. The fight was over. Jason was dead. She had more to do. She had no idea how the others were faring. How was Nancy? She definitely hadn't been in a good place when Niah had spoken to her. She had some regrets about that message but she knew she'd have more if she hadn't sent it.

Jason was dead. Mary was alright. Niah tried to let some of the anger and sadness she held slip away from her but it resulted in a scream. She wanted to kill Atlas. She couldn't but dear gods did she ever want to drive her sword into him. It would be a mosquito sting. It wouldn't make her feel better. After a moment she realized Andy was standing next to her and Chocolate was pressing against her side. She looked over at the hellhound and gave it a little pat on the head.

"Thank you." She said. Her voice cracked a little. Niah stood and dusted herself off. "Alright, what is next."

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Even though every hit didn’t land, most of them did. Things seemed to start to tip in their favour and Zeke was impressed with everyone working together so well. He watched Demetri go on the attack and was seriously impressed with his back to back attacks. Zeke smiled to himself before I looked up at the giant. It was down now. They could get past it. Or not.
Zeke watched the doors of death disappear before the giant turned to dust.

”Loipón skatá,” Zeke cursed in Greek and put his weapons away. He raised his arms and turned in a circle. ”Please tell me someone has a plan?”

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They were doing it, their combined forces were driving Porphyrion back. Another volley of arrows flew towards the brute, the others charging in and attacking alongside the gods might. Demi was about to tell Mads that they were already at the doors, so all they needed was for them to hurry there. But before he could the call dropped. He let out a sigh, turning back to face the Titan when suddenly he noticed the grin on his face and his outstretched arm. He braced himself for impact, expecting to be swatted away, but instead he gave his last words before he, and the doors, disappeared from sight. A soft whisper left his lips as all he could manage was ”No…” His swords fell to the floor, clanging loudly as the metal hit tile and bounced in place. The arcs of lightning receding away now that they weren't held.

Zeke looked crestfallen, Demi didn't dare look at Nancy for fear of what she might do. It was a bad situation, but there had to be hope. ”Janelle, please tell me the information you got has something to help us, anything! The prophecy lead us here for a reason, it couldn't have been just to fail right? Right?! Diana, Alexios, your gods! Can't you call up Thanatos? Ask him to bring the doors back? I mean he's Death with a capital D! I don't have the proper offering for him this time and…and…” Demi fizzled out, his hand running through his hair as he pressed his back against the cool wall and slid down to the floor where monster dust littered in places. ”This couldn't be for nothing…” He said as tears dripped down his cheeks.

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The fight was over, Atlas was once again holding up the Sky, the monsters were either dead or gone... but Stella didn't feel like it had been a overwhelming victory. She looked over at her sisters, to hear Persephone say that Marygold would be alright. She probably would take some time to heal, and was glad that she was alive. When she looked at Jason, it was clear that he... was gone. Stella could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she turned to look away from his body at that point, and sniffled loudly. Arbor walked over and nuzzled up against her and gave a low whine as he tried to comfort his mistress.

"Is... is... there... so...something we should..." She couldn't finish what she wanted to say, as the tears started to roll down her cheeks. It had been a long week, and losing Jason, having to hold up the whole weight of the sky? It was finally all setting in on the young girl. Her world really had been flipped in the span of those two weeks, and it was hitting her hard.

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The call was over - her mum was doing them a huge favor as it was, and Leda didn't dare whine and complain. The goddess had already been kind enough to let them make a second call. So instead, she studied Mads warily for a moment - wondering if that call had helped her morale or killed it. She hadn't wanted to eavesdrop really, but the sounds of battle were hard to mistake. "Come on," Leda nudged, holding out her hand. "Let's go find these doors."

She had a bit of an idea of something that could make things easier, at least when they got to the final dash. Mads was a witch - she had magic. And Leda was incredibly fast. If Mads could make some sort of area of effect thing happen, something that moved with them, Leda could then rush them through the swarm of monsters faster than the monsters could react, paving their way to the door through fire. It'd be risky, and not something they'd be able to pull off over and over again though - even monsters could learn - so it'd have to wait till they were closer.

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The call dropped, as did Nancy's heart. She barely got to say anything to Mads, to really understand that one of her best friends was still there, somehow, before it was over. Before Mads was gone. But at the same time, she was so close - they were at the Doors of Death on their end, and if Mads walked on through... she'd be alive again. The world would right itself. It was all she could do to keep her muscles from spasming, her breath even and steady, her hands from shaking. She could save Mads. She could do it. It was all going to be okay. It was all...

The doors vanished.

The giant collapsed, a mess of dust.

"NO!" Nancy screamed.

She rushed to where the Doors of Death had been, banging her fists against the solid wall. Her hands ached, doubtlessly bruising, but she didn't care. She was screaming at the universe itself, tears pouring down her face as her hope died. "Mads!" Nancy screamed again, kicking at the wall now. But it was still just a wall - the doors were gone. It was over.

They'd failed.

"MADS!" she howled.

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She wasn't entirely sure what had happened, but considering the lack of chaos sounds going on around her told her that the fight was over. However given what everyone else was saying near by, and then Demi instantly asking her a question before he started rambling a bit as he spoke. It wasn't over, from the sounds of it the door was now gone, which meant that they had to deal with a few different things now with regards to it. "Níl deireadh leis fós," she said to everyone there, switching to her native tongue for a moment, before thinking of how to explain what she had seen.

"We'll get to Tartarus. I know we'll. I saw a few interestin dings in 'er mend, de lesser was de 'ow she escaped frahm camp. 'owever one din I saw was much mahre 'elpful. Dedn't expect de door to disappear ahr whatever 'appened. But I know we'll get dere," she started to say, thinking of what to say next. "I saw a vision, one o' us in Tartarus. At least I'm sure it was Tartarus based ahn descreptions o' it, it stell is a bet odd to see what dings look like in de dream wahrld and ones mend. We were by, ance again ahnly dink o' dis by de descreption o' what it looks like so dahn't quote me ahn it, by what looked like a shrine o' Hermes. We'll get down to Tartarus, try to stay at least sahmewhat optimestic about it."

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San Fransico, Sierra Trail:

Persephone looked over at Niah asking what they should do next. "Next you need to head back to Olympus and return Zeus weapon back to him and finish your quest, I can return Hades sword." Persephone said to Niah they still had their quest to finish and then return to camp as well to. "I can also send Jason's body back to camp for you all as well to." Persephone offered that way they wouldn't have to find a way to carry Jason's body all the way back to camp. Damon was actually pretty glad that the quest was finally all over and done with now and he could return back to camp now as well to.

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Alexios turned to look at Demi as he asked if there was a way to contact Thanatos, he didn't know him all that well other than a few small meetings here and there really. "Maybe there is a way to contact him, i'm not sure but i'll see what I can do for you." Alexios said to Demi, as Diana nodded slightly as well to. "I'll look for the Doors of Death along with my hunters for any signs of them as well to." Diana said as she approached Nancy as she gently rested a hand on her shoulder. "We'll find your friends that are trapped in there I promise on the Styx to help in anyway I can." Diana said hopefully to try and help calm her down.

Nancy would receive a vision, she along with a few Hunters of Diana as well as the rest of their current group, and Niah, Andy, Kiera, Seraphina and Stella were standing in front of the Doors of Death in the middle of Central Park in New York, a goth kid was standing right next to the Doors as well to. One more thing that Nancy would be able to see was a newspaper with a date it was issued on July 4th which was seven months from now.

Kristin listened to Janelle as she started to mention what she had seen which was helpful at least they would be able to get into Tatarus somehow and they could save all of their friends as well to in the process. "At least we have some information that we can use then." Kristin said looking at Janelle. "Good job there Janelle." She said to her they just needed to get back to camp now by the looks of it.

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Madalyne was at least somewhat happy and relived that she was able to call and talk to Nancy at least it was enough for them to keep going, she turned to Leda and smiled slightly as she accepted Leda's hand and slowly started to stand up. She started to come up with a bit of an idea. "We need to find a location thats high enough, that way we can have a look at the lands around us and maybe a better direction where we need to go." Madalyne said, she knew that Leda was really fast in Camp Half-Blood seeing the daughter of Iris speeding around sometimes she'd be great for scouting ahead.

"Lets get the hell out of here." Madalyne said as she started to head out of the cave and started to look around the area seemed to be pretty clear. "We'll have to try and find a source of water as well to somehow and food to, not sure how long we'll be down here for." Madalyne told Leda that was one thing that she knew that they needed to survive in a place like this.

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Location: New York City

Skills: N/A

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"Oh thank you." Taking the money from her, buying a ticket that would be for the same subway that Kiera would also be taking. She walked right behind, not wanting to become lost in the sea of people as they sat to wait. Hopefully it'd be coming sooner than later. The feeling of eyes made her skin crawl. Slowly taking a glance towards the direction of the person. Only getting a quick glimpse. "I um...think someone is watching us." The girl really hoped that wasn't the case. Yet how many people just suddenly disappeared out of the blue like that?

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Nancy’s cry after the doors vanished was worse than any of her sonic screams. Ezekiel winced, glancing down and away from his half-sister. He didn’t know how to help this one. He didn’t know what he could offer her. Ezekiel listened as their aunt made a promise on the river Styx to Nancy. He looked over at his aunt, shocked and awed.

Janelle’s information was vague but helpful, Zeke supposed. She said they would find the doors, but there was no information on how or when. That left him feeling lost and in a sort of limbo. What was there to do now? Where did they even start, or where did they go? Ezekiel hated feeling this helpless. He hated feeling this lost.

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Andy nodded. "Thank you." She handed the sword over to Persephone. That was one less thing they'd have to worry about. "Can you tell Arthur hi for me." She wanted him to know she hadn't stopped thinking about him during their quest. She wished he was there with them now.

Andy stood near Stella. There was something about holding up the weight of the sky with someone that bonded you with them. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. That and with Arthur not at camp that left Andy as the youngest other than Stella.



"If you can, send Jason back to camp, that would be appreciated." Bringing him back on their own would be impossible so he'd probably end up buried here, or in whatever door the group from the Labyrinth had used and placed there until they could retrieve him. That sounded terrible.

"Terminus, will you join us at camp? All of the survivors of New Rome are at the Camp Half-Blood. We have things to do before we can win back home." Niah wished she could storm the place right that moment, but that wasn't going to happen. If Terminus went back to the camp he'd be able to let the senators know what happened, and that they were returning.

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Demetri got up and made his way towards Alexios, hugging him and holding him there for just a moment. ”Thank you. I've only met him once myself, when we lost a kid at camp. I'd made him an offering, a hecatomb, though I didn't have any cattle so I had to improvise. He came, helped me through me grief, but in the end told me I'd need a proper sacrifice next I call for him.” He pulled back from the embrace and wiped a tear from his eye. There was some hope. Janelle had seen them in Tartarus, or at the very least what she believed to be it, Alexios was going to try and get a hold of Death and Diana was to gather her Hunters and search for them doors themselves. But that left the Demigods here with little else to do in the meantime.

Demi made his way over towards Zeke, lacing his fingers into his as he stood by his side. ”We have some hope then. One side searches for a way to call them back, another for the doors themselves. There isn't much we can do here now, but Janelle if you have any information on how she escaped then we are going to need it. It's clear Camp HalfBlood has some holes it's defenses now. Something we need to shore up lest another escapes or worse…a traitor walks in. We should return back to camp, we can't stay in this Hotel any longer…we don't even know how long we've been in here in the first place.” He didn't want to say it outloud, because of Nancy, but he missed Andy and Arthur. He wanted to squeeze them tight as soon as he saw them, it had been too long since they all parted. He turned to Zeke and whispered ”You ok? You're uncharacteristically quiet.”

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The tears rolling down her cheeks left them feeling wet and cold, especially as she felt the wind pick up, and heard the howling in the distance. She felt something lick at her hands, and looked down to see that Arbor was licking her fingers, wining a bit to try to comfort her more. She knelt down, and pet him softly, and cuddled in close.

She looked over at Andy, seeing that the other young demi-god had moved closer. She felt a connection to her, but after what they had shared, how could she not? She scooted in closer to her and then took her hand, still crying a bit. Luckily her sister said she could teleport Jason to the camp, which was one worry off their backs. However it seemed that they would need to go to Olympus and return the Master Bolt.