CHAPTER LXXVII:Eureka!

"Give me a lever and a place to stand, and I'll move the world," Penny muttered under her breath, quoting Archimedes. "But give me books and a description, and I won't be able to find this fucking temple!"

Penny had gone through Joseph's journal, and possibly every world map, but still couldn't find the hidden temple. As we had learned the hidden temple was shrouded in ice and snow, and belonged to Athena. We were running on the belief that it could be in Canada, Russia, Greenland, Norway, or Alaska. It could very well be in fucking Antarctica and we still wouldn't find it.

I was next to Penny reading through Joseph Otto's journal, and all that was written about the temple was that it was in snow and it was to Athena. I sighed and flipped a page, which felt off. I didn't think much of it and continued reading through it. Penny slammed her book down, it wasn't uncommon for Kids of Athena to get upset if they couldn't solve a puzzle.

I rubbed her back slowly and whispered, "Take a break, and come back to it."

Penny looked at me and nodded. She slowly leaned against me and sighed. I continued reading through the journal and feeling the pages. Every once in a while I'd feel a thick page. I kept thumbing through and I counted four thick pages in total.

"What's wrong Mary?" Penny asked.

"There's four pages that don't feel right." I answered.

Penny took the journal and felt through the pages. She went to the one at the end of the book and gently tugged on the page. The page unfolded and it opened up to extensive notes on The Labyrinth. The several notes included possible riddle answers, puzzle solutions, and a description on the Sphinx.

"He hid his notes in between the pages!" Penny shouted.

Penny quickly moved to the next page and unfolded it. It carried extensive notes on the Old Underworld and how to get there. It even had music notes for a lyre. The notes included several locations for entrances to The Underworld, even a location that led directly into Elysium. He even had a written note in Greek signed by Kore, and a river pass stamped with '5 rivers'.

I felt envious, a mortal researcher had more access to The Underworld than I did. I looked through it and even saw the he had a few one time artifact summons. Penny opened the next section to find small note on Gorgons. There wasn't much done on them, besides that the Gorgon's form has changed over the years. And a few notes on their poison.

In the last note was examinations on lost temples, but it got us nowhere closer to what we were looking for. That's what we thought until we saw an address in the bottom right corner. 4509 Cupid's way, that address was familiar.

"That's the address for the Olympian Archives in Town Eris." I said.

"I know, that means that Athena edited this journal when she recovered it. We need the original." Penny explained.

We were getting thrown for a loop, and I was tired of it. "Could we ask Eva Rossi? If she can't tell us then she can ask for the original." I asked.

"I'll go do it." Penny said, standing up and walking out of the library.

I sat and looked at Adam who was still reading calmly. This is the longest I've ever seen him not talking or fighting. Adam turned the page and read through it. I could practically see his eyes light up as he set the book down.

Adam looked happy as could be, "This book says that the only place temples of Athena were found were in Alaska and Antarctica. In other words we only have two locations now."

Mino crossed out locations on his map, "So we only have to wait on Penny."

Adam nodded and smiled. Somewhere, Luna saw a bright light in the sky marking a miracle. I went upstairs to where Seth was looking for books.

"Find anything Seth?" I asked.

"Nothing new, I feel like I'm walking through Tartarus blindfolded." Seth answered.

I laughed a bit, "We've narrowed down the location more, and found out the location is in The Olympian Vault."

Seth nodded and pulled out a book on Hades. "Do you ever think father hates his name being used to describe that gods forsaken place?" He asked.

"Maybe, but then again, he would've killed the Roman who made that name." I answered.

Seth paused for a moment, "Hey Mary, what would you do if we weren't demigods?"

I thought for a moment, it was a hard question. "I don't know, we'd probably still have mom. Our dad would probably be nice, and we'd still live in Los Angeles," I answered. "However, we wouldn't have a for sure spot in Elysium."

Seth nodded, but based on the the lack of smile, I could tell that wasn't the answer he was hoping for. Seth was being a bit distant, I hated when he got this way. I hugged Seth and he pulled away slightly, nothing would ever break my heart more than Seth being cold and distant. Seth continued looking at books, and I sighed deeply. I sat down in an old, stiff, wooden chair and felt tears come to my eyes. Seth had a tendency to sort of, disassociate would be the best word for it, stray away from people. He had this happen after our mother died and neither of us were allowed home. It became less and less common as we got older, but Seth. would have slight dissociative episodes here and there. My guess was that the war was starting to finally take it's toll on my poor brother.

Penny walked in the library and came upstairs to me, "I got the original journal!" She was clearly excited about it, which was very evident in her voice.

Penny sat down next to me and opened the book, and her smile faded immediately. I looked over and nearly broke down laughing. Joseph Otto's journal wasn't neat at all, what we thought was a few small edits was actually a complete translation. The journal was full of maddened scribbles and several side notes that made no sense. The journal was written in varying colors of ink, and had small flecks of rust colored stains on the pages.

I could tell Penny was about to snap so I pulled her close, "Alright, alright. I gotcha, take your time." I softly whispered to her.

Penny nodded in understanding as she started reading through the journal. Eva Rossi walked upstairs and saw Penny already reading through the journal.

"I missed her, didn't I?" Eva asked.

I nodded, "Once she's started reading, she's gone."

"Oh well, she probably needs the concentration. Joseph Otto wasn't really elegant with his notes like Athena edited. In fact, Athena herself had a hard time writing everything down. I assume that was Joseph's point though, to make sure that not even the goddess of wisdom couldn't fully decipher his notes without him." Eva explained.

Penny laid across the other chairs and laid her head on my lap. I ran my fingers through her hair and smiled. I kept my legs in place and hummed DIE FOR YOU by Starset. Penny muttered out notes, as Eva walked downstairs. I kept humming as time passed on. I didn't know the exact time, but it was getting dark outside. I looked down a bit and thought about everything that has happened, or was happening now. Five minutes to midnight, I thought to myself as I kept humming and kept comforting Owl Eyes.