THURSDAY

Today was Thursday. There was nothing special about it unless there's no school or you're a demigod aboding in DGH. I was of the latter category. Today, DGH held their "Flying Chariot Races." Because we used pegasi to steer the chariots, we raced in the air. Sadly, this event was known to be so brutal it was once banned, yet Chiron reinstalled it. He cited the upcoming Titanochomy as the reason. "It'll be good practice," he said. Did he forget why he banned it in the first place?

Demigods can form into teams of how many they want. After they've built their own chariot and hook it up to the pegasi, the "race" begins. According to DGH legend, the whole scene devolves into a violent, chaotic clash that would make Ares blush. If that lunatic god of war got euphoric by the races, it was definitely a bad idea. But here we are regardless.

I frequently tried to avoid it, but Chiron was especially strict with me. Being "their savior," I had no choice but to master this game. Making a chariot was not that complicated, not after Blake, a child of Hephaestus showed me how to do it. The pegasi did not want to cooperate with me. The reason was that I smell like "the dead"(even after I used Febreeze on myself as the horses recommended me to). I guess everyone loves to discriminate against Hades. I felt sorry for my dad: everyone seemed to have it in for him. But, when I topple the gods, I'll make sure Hades is given the respect he deserves for having such an outstanding son.

Anyways, my attempts to befriend the pegasi were an abject failure. Unless I found someone willing to partner up with me, I was bound to lose. I needed someone to convince the pegasi I was a decent guy(although that should have been apparent already). Julien abandoned me for Nathan(he's picked the cult over me - such a sinner). Helen couldn't take part given how dangerous the race is, so I was left with only one alternative. To be honest, she was the best choice, and it would have been better if I teamed up with her from the start.

Fortunately, she came to me first. "Hey, Yiannis. Wanna team up with me? Spoiler: the race is in the bag if we're together," Vittoria winked. "But I'll let you decide."

"Obviously, I'm picking the option with the good spoiler," I grinned. "Knowing you, you've finished making your chariot."

"Indeed. I'm speculating you're still hated by the pegasi." She sniffed me. "I didn't think you'd go so far as to actually spray Febreeze on yourself. Sniff, sniff, and I agree with the pegasi. You reek of dead people. I rescind my offer," she joked.

"Fine. I don't want to team up with a meanie," I mock sniffled. "What's wrong with smelling like dead people? When I make it a trend, you guys better not come crying."

"Smelling like dead people may be an indicator you murdered someone," Vittoria commented. "But never mind that. You'll be the one manning the chariot since the pegasi would never let you steer them."

"Sad life fact of Yiannis Cirillo," I nodded. "Is anyone else going to join us?"

"I would love it if Helen joined, but that won't be happening. You're about the only real friend I have here, so no."

"Is that a sad life fact of Vittoria De Rose?"

"Well, no. George and Nick need to keep tabs on Nathan, or they would be with us. I have some friends among our allies who wish to burn Olympus. Anyway, enough fooling around. Time to win the race."

Our chariot almost capsized in the first few minutes of the race. I thought I was a goner not long after. Luckily, neither happened and thanks to Vittoria, we were gaining on the lead chariot. Anastasia's crew was behind me, and I decided to sidetrack them. I asked Vittoria to fall behind Anataisa's chariot, and when she did so, I hopped on her chariot. Anatasia cracked her knuckles. "You wanted to die this badly, Cirillo? Then I'll oblige."

"Oh, no. I plan to win this race." Anatasia leaped towards me, and I sidestepped. I stomped my foot on the ground, slowing time. It was by a trivial amount, but it would have some effect on Anatasia and her siblings. I used my powers and created bombs out of my shadow, letting them explode. The chariots we make are big enough for twenty people to stand on, so there was plenty of space for space and brawls. Only I had no interest in fighting. I hurled bombs everywhere and wrecked Anatasia's chariot beyond repair. Vittoria kindly picked me up, and we accelerated our way to the finish line. Anatasia, meanwhile, cursed at me and did not realize Blake's chariot speeding up behind her until it was too late. I believe that is what we call taking two birds out with one stone. The chariot in fourth place was woefully behind, so I didn't need to worry about them. Nathan was edging toward victory, and Vittoria and I pledged to make him salty.

Sadly, a lot more birds appeared, and our pledge would go unmet.

Birds blanketed the sky; only these birds had beaks made of bronze and glittery green metallic feathers. "I guess the race won't be a dub for us anymore," Vittoria groaned. "First a dragon, now the Stymphalian birds. Will the hydra be next? I should have changed residences before Brian poisoned the barrier."

"No point complaining about it now." I watched the birds attack Blake's cabin. There were way too many of them, and I was too tired to make a cannon and load it. "Vittoria, is there any way to get rid of them?"

"Other than killing them, let me think." Her eyes widened, and I knew a lightbulb turned on in her head. "We need music!"

"Good or bad?" I asked. "How does music help us?"

"When Hercules fought them, he drove them mad with awful music. Unfortunately, I don't have my phone on me, and I'm betting you don't either." A solution bubbled in my head when I saw Julien right ahead of me. "Hey, Vittoria, drop me off next to Julien."

"What? Nathan's next to him, you know! What are you up to?"

"Trust me on this. When it comes to music, Nathan and Julien both have appalling tastes. I bet their playlist would make the Stymphalian birds commit suicide."

"You seem pretty confident in that," Vittoria remarked. "Will your idea work?" Once I whispered what unholy songs they listened to, Vittoria snickered. "Even though I hate their guts, even I would feel bad for them. I think publicly humiliating them goes a bit far, Yiannis."

"Never you mind, Vittoria. Besides, we pledged to make Nathan miserable. Since we can't do that by beating him, we can at least embarrass him, although Julien's going to kill me."

"If he does, he should know Vittoria De Rose was just an innocent bystander, not an accomplice, and thus have no reason to kill me with you."

"Just drop me off." Vittoria obliged, and I hugged my two "friends," who didn't welcome me politely. "Yiannis! Now is not the time! Those birds are going to eat us all if we don't do something!"

"It's always the time," I netted Julien's phone from his pocket, who was perplexed. "Yiannis, what are you up to now?"

"Trust me on this. Nathan, I need your phone too." Once they put in their passwords, I scrolled to their Spotify and smacked my thumb on the play button. Julien blushed when he saw what I was doing. "Yiannis, wait-"

Too late. Just so you know, every song on Julien's playlist is by a rapper whose name starts with "little." Unless you're Patrick and you live on a rock, you should know what the correlation is. Basically, every rapper who has a "little" in their names is irrefutably garbage. Nathan tried stopping me too, but I shoved him away and turned up the volume to max.

The Stymphalian birds predictably lost it. I didn't expect them to start eating each other as a result, but no matter. They were killing themselves off, and the problem was solved, although a new one surfaced. Nathan and Julien attempted to end my life, but Vittoria rescued me. Even better, we won the race. The punishment for finishing last was to be assigned extra chores, so poor Blake had to scrub all the dishes after lunch for a week. The winners just got a laurel, which I thought was lame. If the losers got punished, the winners should get privileges at the very least.

More importantly, after Vittoria and I were bestowed with many praises, Chiron spoke on a megaphone. "As I'm sure you all know, the magical barrier that keeps monsters at bay has been damaged. A few dryads have died, as well as some naiads. Unless we get our hands on the golden fleece, this will continue. And so, the gods have appointed a champion to go do the deed. The hero they have selected is Julien Allard, son of Zeus!"

I eyed Julien. He was visibly nervous, but he calmed his nerves and stood next to Chiron, who continued. "Now, our champion will pick two companions to journey with him." Julien coughed. He looked at me and smiled. As if reading my mind, he shook his head when I wondered if he would pick me. "If they're willing, the two I choose are Nathan and Adan!"

Vittoria elbowed me. "Remember what I told you about Julien. Do not let your guard down, Yiannis."

"I know, Vittoria. But I think Julien's changed his ways. If he hasn't..."

"Will you let your feelings get in the way of Lord Kronos's plans?"

"Of course not. Whether Julien is a friend or not is meaningless. I'll crush the gods either way. But I'm not a fan of killing, and I'll only do it when I have to." Vittoria nodded. "That determination is enough for now. But I still urge you to listen to me. You don't want to lose Helen the same way I lost Anna, do you?"

"I understand how you feel, Vittoria. But I'm not leaving things to chance. If Julien does turn out to be an enemy, I'll deal with him personally."

"Could you kill him?" I shook my head. "Frankly, I don't have it in me. What I do have is the will to knock him out and lock him up so he won't vex us further."

"I see. But I think you know that a real war will soon start, and you'll have to kill to survive."

"I know. I plan on sorting my thoughts before then and figuring out a course of action. Besides, not everyone here isn't a cult worshipper, Vittoria. I want to save the ones who are misinformed and bring them over to our side before the gods abandon them too."

Vittoria smiled wanly. "I am amazed, Yiannis. You're nothing I imagined a son of Kronos would be. You're sly, but I never thought you'd be so kind."

"I think Helen's compassion is rubbing off of me. And I not as kind as you say I am. Remember what I did to Ares?"

"That WAS nice. I'd have gone much further. Hell, I would have made Zeus so outraged he'd make Ares an outcast and bar him from Olympus." I chuckled. I wasn't sure why, but I felt trepid when I saw what Adan looked like. "Hey, Vittoria, isn't the kid to Julien's right part of the cult?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah. Adan was one of the kids who came looking for you that night when I tried to kill you. But I don't think he's a threat we need worry about now." Vittoria tiptoed, leaning in close. Her lips were a few centimeters from my ears. "Kronos said to you that I would explain what our next move would be, right? Come to my room tonight, and I'll tell you everything, as well as answer any questions you may have. Well, see you later, Yiannis." Vittoria walked her way out of the crowd as I walked to Julien, querying why he didn't pick me. "Hey, Julien, you got a minute?"

"Sure. What is it?" I dragged him to a more isolated place. "Why didn't you pick me?" We would've made the best duo, you know."

"I was going to until you blasted my playlist and made me a laughingstock," he bantered. "Well, the real reason is that I'm a part of the cult now, so I should pick people from there. I am trying to gain their trust, after all. What better way than to travel on a life-or-death mission?. Nathan and Adan have been dying to go on a quest, and so they were the natural choices." He clapped his hands on my shoulders. "Besides, I know you won't get along with Nathan or with Adan, being as the cult has no care for Helen. I need you to be the good brother you've always been and take care of her, alright?" He waved to me. "Well, I gotta go now. Nathan and Adan are waiting. See ya." I scrunched my eyebrows. Julien seemed oddly happy to be with the cult, something I would keep in mind.

When night approached, Vittoria let me into her room. She bowed as she opened the door. "Come in, Lord Yiannis." I frowned. "I told you not to treat me like a prince, remember?"

"I know, and that's why I do it," she smiled. "Do you not like the joke?"

"No, it's cool. Anyways, about the plan..." Vittoria locked the door to her room. "A boy and a gorgeous girl are in a room, alone. The door is locked, and with curfew an hour away, everyone's getting ready to go to bed. With nobody around to overhear, what will the boy do, I wonder? Will he forcefully shove the girl to her bed and strip her to the bone? Will he-"

"Stop narrating a stupid hypothetical, Vittoria," I rolled my eyes. "I am neither that thirsty nor that desperate. I wouldn't sink so low." Vittoria nodded. "Otherwise, you would have done it when we were alone in your room." She gave me a chair to sit on and lay down on her bed. "Well, Yiannis, it's like this. We're going to ride on a cruise ship all the way to where the golden fleece is?"

"A cruise ship? Did our wealthy backers lend us that?"

"Yep. If you didn't know, the golden fleece is somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle, which is why it's a notorious sight for ships and planes to mysteriously disappear. Monsters are all over that place."

"So we just set ship, hope we don't die and get our hands on the fleece?"

"Pretty much."

"If Nathan, Julien, and Adan are gunning for the fleece too, wouldn't it be wise to have disguises? If they see us, that stunt we pulled on Nathan last year will be for nothing." Vittoria smacked her forehead. "Right, ugh, I'm such a moron. Well, I'll call someone on our side to get something for us. Wait, didn't you tell me you had a disguise already?"

"Yeah, but I'd prefer another one."

"Alright, I can arrange that. Pack your things by tomorrow night because then we'll board Pandora. Oh right, do you need help lying to Helen-"

"No," I shook my head. "I told Helen I planned on going to the Underworld tomorrow, so she wouldn't know what I'm up to. I'm guessing Pandora is the ship we were so kindly given. Thankfully, Nathan's not here, so there's no reason to worry about her safety."

"Any questions, then?"

"How exactly are we going to release Atlas and Prometheus? If we freed the former, the sky would crash down on us, and everyone would die. The latter is shackled to the ground, and didn't the myths state the bronze chains were unbreakable?"

"According to Lord Kronos, the one with Prometheus is fake. Those chains can be broken. However, the one with Atlas is not. Freeing him will be tricky since we'll need a substitute to do his part. Your father said he'll give further instructions later."

"Well, alright. If that's all, I'll head back to my room now. G'night, Vittoria."

"Good night, Yiannis."