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“And, Apollo? Don’t come back. You hear me?” Piper’s voice was hoarse, barely more than a whisper. “Just, just go.”
“Pipes,” Tristan said gently. “It’s not their—”
“Go!” she screamed. It wasn’t charmed, but the force of her grief made them back away.
Neither Meg nor Apollo said a word as they climbed the stairs. She buried her face in Jason’s torn shirt, her cries echoing off the cliffs surrounding her home.
“Please,” she begged, “Someone, anyone, please. I can’t lose him. I can’t lose another friend.”
Her voice cracked, her shoulders shook. “Please, Hera. He’s your champion, your hero. You can’t let him die.” She rocked back and forth, holding him closer. “Mom, please. I love him. Please.”
“Piper,” Tristan murmured, resting a hand on her shoulder. “He’s gone. You can’t—”
She shoved him off, “Yes, I can,” she choked out. “I saved him once. I can do it again.”
Desperation clawed at her chest. She would not lose him. Not again.
“Jason.” Her voice was steady, commanding. “Listen to me. You can do this. Come back. You’re going to be fine.”
Nothing.
“Jason,” Piper called again, her voice raw with desperation. Still, nothing.
The only sound was the quiet snap of twigs behind her.
“Please, Jason,” she begged. “Please, please, please come back to me. I need you. I love you. Please, Jason, please.”
“Begging won’t bring him back, daughter of Aphrodite,” a female voice said from behind her.
Piper jolted, spinning around.
A woman stood there, regal and unapproachable, her beauty almost surreal with her licorice-black hair braided with golden ribbons, and large brown eyes. Gold jewelry adorned her neck and wrists, and she wore an elegant white gown, with a cloak of peafowl feathers draped behind her.
Standing beside her was a man with short salt-and-pepper hair and a well-trimmed beard, deep crinkles lined his eyes. He wore a white lab coat hung over his business suit, and a stethoscope rested around his neck.
And then, there was the third figure, a man. He was lean yet muscular, with golden-honey eyes, long black hair that cascaded down his shoulders, skin as rich as teakwood, and large wings that shifted shades like the night sky itself.
Piper’s breath hitched. “Hera,” she whispered to the goddess.
“Hera?” Tristan repeated, incredulous. “As in, the Queen of Olympus?”
Piper nodded numbly, her eyes darting to the gods before her.
“I’m here too, you know,” the man in the lab coat said with a touch of amusement. “Asclepius. We met before”
Piper nodded, “But, how are you here? Your imprisonment—?”
Hera let out a soft, knowing laugh. “I am the Queen of Olympus,” she said smoothly. “Do you really think I cannot bend the will of the gods? Do you think I cannot do as I please?” She lifted her chin. “I brought Greeks and Romans together, something no other god has ever done.”
The winged man scoffed, rolling his eyes at Hera’s words.
Asclepius shot him a warning glance and elbowed him lightly, though the other god didn’t seem concerned.
“Hera, please,” Piper choked out. “Will you save him?”
Hera stepped forward, kneeling beside Jason’s body. Her fingers brushed over his cold face, gentle yet distant, as if examining a broken artifact.
“What a pity,” she murmured, “It seems my husband enjoys meddling in my affairs, imposing his own ideas on what is ‘just.’”
Piper’s breath hitched. “Hera—”
“Funny, isn’t it?” the goddess continued, ignoring the plea. “A punishment meant for one son ends up killing another instead. Hades and Poseidon care for their children, flawed as they may be, but Zeus?” She sighed as she stood up, shaking her head. “What a waste of a life.”
“Fate was altered the day Zeus cast Apollo from Olympus,” she said. “The Moirai, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, had already woven their designs for the Seven. I saw them. Their paths were set.” Her voice grew wistful. “There was pain. There was love. But there was no death. Not for a long, long while.”
Piper swallowed thickly. She felt Asclepius and the winged man step towards Hera.
Hera turned her gaze back to Piper. “It’s a shame you and Jason ended things,” she mused. “I thought the two of you were something special.” A pause. Then, with a small smile: “But love changes. I see that now. You were destined to love each other, but not in the way I first imagined.”
Piper’s voice shook. “Why are you?” she demanded. “If you’re not going to heal him, then why bother showing up at all?”
Hera’s sad smile held no warmth. “I cannot save him, child,” she admitted. “That is a power I do not have.”
Piper broke down, as Tristan wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.
Tristan’s face twisted as he turned to Hera. “So then why are you here?” he snapped. “To gloat? To remind us how little you care? You claim to be their parents, yet you let them die like pawns in your games! You’re no better than the monsters you send them to fight!”
Hera’s expression hardened.“Mind your tongue, mortal,” she said sweetly, but there was no love in it. “I do not want my champion to die, but that does not mean I will hesitate to kill you if you insult me again.”
Tristan swallowed but did not look away.
Piper, wiping her eyes, gestured toward the three gods. “Then why are you here?” she asked, voice hoarse. “You already said you can’t save him. Apollo already told us there’s nothing we can do. The Physician’s Cure won’t work.”
“Yes, there is no way to bring back the spirit of the demigod you once knew,” the winged man said.
“You don’t have to speak in riddles, Thanatos,” Asclepius muttered.
Thanatos rolled his eyes. “She is,” he said, gesturing toward Hera.
“And she is our queen,” Asclepius responded firmly. “We’re just minor gods.”
Piper’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?” she demanded. “What are you talking about?”
Hera sighed, her gaze drifting back to Jason. “He cannot return as a demigod,” she said. “That body is gone, there is no way to restore it, unless the Doors of Death were opened and chained.”
For a fleeting second, Piper considered it, finding the Doors and chaining them herself if it meant bringing Jason back.
But Hera shook her head as if sensing her thoughts. “That is not possible. One side of the Doors lies in Tartarus, and the other is hidden somewhere in the mortal world. Even if you could find them, it would take too much time.”
Piper stared at her, mind racing. “So,” she said slowly, “you’re saying Jason can’t come back as a demigod, but he can come back as something else?”
Thanatos and Asclepius exchanged a look, as Hera smiled. “Ah, you are beginning to see the picture, daughter of the dove.”
Piper’s heartbeat quickened. “What can he come back as?” she asked, barely above a whisper. “Are you talking about something like in Cherokee mythology? Where spirits continue after death, some becoming animals, unseen forces, or returning through the cycle of life?”
“No,” Hera said. “Not like that.” Her gaze darkened, “I mean like a god.”
Piper’s breath caught. A shiver ran through her as the weight of Hera’s words hit her like a crashing wave. “Are you saying, you’re offering him godhood?”
Hera nodded, her expression unreadable. “I brought the gods of healing and death for a reason.”
Piper’s breath hitched. “But, I thought you had to do something heroic to earn that,” she said. She knew Percy had been offered godhood after the Battle of Manhattan, but had turned it down.
Hera’s eyes softened, “I believe dying to save your friends and the world is heroic enough.”
Piper’s heart pounded. “So, you’re saying you can make him a god?” The words felt impossible.
Hera lifted her hands. “I have the power of life creation, after all.”
Piper felt like the ground beneath her was shifting.
“Charon has not yet brought Jason’s spirit to the Underworld,” Thanatos spoke up. “But we were able to speak with him, and he wanted you to decide.”
Piper’s eyes snapped to him. “You, you talked to Jason?”
Thanatos nodded solemnly.
“And he wanted me to make this decision for him?” Piper asked, her voice quivering.
Asclepius gave a small, reassuring nod. “He said that you were one of the smartest people he knew, and that he trusted you to follow your heart and do the right thing.”
Piper felt her throat tighten. The weight of Jason’s trust and faith in her was overwhelming.
“You have a decision to make, demigod,” Hera said..
Piper turned to her father, her voice barely above a whisper. “Dad, what should I do?”
Tristan cupped her face gently, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. “You already know, Pipes.”
Piper took a shaky breath and turned to Hera.
“Okay,” she said, her voice steady. “I want him to accept godhood.”
Hera smiled. “A wonderful choice, child.” She extended her hand toward Piper. “Now, please stand up and step aside. Leave his body where it is.”
Piper nodded and bent down to kiss Jason’s forehead.
Hera helped Piper up, and Tristan placed a gentle hand on Piper’s shoulder as they walked toward the stairs.
Once they were there, Hera said, “Close your eyes, mortal and young hero. I would rather not see more lives lost today.”
Piper and Tristan obeyed, and Hera turned back to Jason. Thanatos and Asclepius moved into position, Thanatos on the left, Asclepius on the right, as the air began to hum.
“Άνοδος, γιος του Δία και του Βηρυλίου, άνοδος” Hera’s voice rang out.
“Σήκω, ήρωα.” Thanatos and Asclepius echoed.
Hera continued, “Πέθανες σώζοντας τους φίλους σου, σώζοντας τον κόσμο. Ζήσατε ως ήρωας και έχετε πεθάνει ως ένας.”
“Σήκω, ημίθεε.” Thanatos and Asclepius said again.
Hera lifted her hands. “Τώρα σήκω! Αφήστε το θνητό σας σώμα πίσω και βγείτε μπροστά, πνεύμα, στη μορφή ενός θεού..”
“Σήκω, γκόντλινγκ.” The gods of Death and Healing spoke.
Hera’s voice carried through the air, “Εγώ, η Ήρα, θεά των γυναικών, του γάμου, του τοκετού και της οικογενειακής αγάπης, βασίλισσα του Ολύμπου, ονομάστε σας, Τζέισον Γκρέις: ο χαμένος ήρωας, ο πρωταθλητής του Ήρα, ο ήρωας του Ολύμπου, ο γιος του Δία, ο γιος της Ρώμης, ο Ποντίφικς Μαξίμους: ένας Θεός.”
“Σήκω, Θεέ μου.” Thanatos and Asclepius voiced.
Silence fell.
Then, Hera whispered a single word: “Αύξηση.”
Everything was quiet, then light erupted, so blinding that Piper saw it through her shut eyes.
For a moment, nothing.
Then, thump.
Soft at first, but then again, thump-thump.
A heartbeat.
“You may open your eyes now,” Hera said.
Piper’s breath hitched as she did.
Hera was cradling Jason’s head in her lap; his chest rose and fell steadily.
With a choked sob, Piper rushed forward, dropping beside them.
Jason was alive.
Hera’s lips curled into a smile. “Piper McLean, meet Jason Grace, God of Companionship and Found Families.”
She placed a hand over Piper’s. But instead of speaking, Piper lunged forward and wrapped Hera in a hug. For a moment, the goddess stood still, then, with a sigh, she returned the embrace, for a second.
Apollo and Meg came rushing down the stairs.
“What’s going on? We saw the flash and—” Meg started, but then froze.
“Hera, what are you—” Apollo began, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the gods.
Hera cut him off as she placed Jason in Piper’s lap. “Wake him, child.”
Piper’s hands trembled as she cupped Jason’s face. “Jason,” she whispered, “Wake up.”
Jason gasped, his body jerking upright as his eyes snapped open.
For a moment, they glowed, pure, blinding gold.
Then, slowly, the glow faded, and his eyes were electric blue once more.
Jason blinked, “What, what happened?”
Piper didn’t answer. She just threw her arms around him, sobbing into his shoulder.
Hera smiled, “You died, my champion,” she said softly. “But now, you are a god.”