The night was quiet, but Lucas could not sleep.
The dream still clung to him, the voice from the pit, the promise cloaked in certainty. Kronos had reached out to him, not with threat, but with invitation. And even though Lucas had rejected it, the feeling had left a heavy weight upon him.
He sat outside the Hermes cabin, the stars overhead unmoving, the firelight at the camp's center little more than dying embers. The camp was silent, but it didn't feel peaceful.
It was then he felt it.
A pulse. A fold. A tug at the edge of the mind.
Lucas stood. He returned to his bed, and the moment his head touched the pillow, the world vanished.
...
He found himself in a forest filled with mist but not suffocating, moonlight filtering through twisted branches and the trees curved in unnatural ways.
The Mist guided him, pulling at his senses, so he followed.
He found her where the forest met a still, mist-laced lake. Torches floated in the air like silent sentries, casting light that barely touched the water's edge.
Hecate turned when he approached, her cloak blending with the dark, her gaze unreadable.
"I tried reaching you earlier," she said, her voice calm but edged with curiosity. "But I couldn't connect with you. Were you already in a dream?"
Lucas stopped a few paces away. "I had a dream. I was contacted... by an old friend of yours."
She tilted her head, not surprised. "Kronos."
His eyes widened. "You knew?"
"I didn't know he'd reach you. But I know he's no longer silent. He's been active lately."
Lucas lowered his voice. "He offered me a place beside him. Said Olympus would turn on me. That I'd be imprisoned or worse. He made it sound like he was offering peace."
Hecate's expression tightened, not in shock, but in grim recognition.
"You're not the only one he's reached out to," she said. "Minor gods. Spirits. He's been sowing words in quiet places, feeling for cracks in Olympus' armor. Testing for desperation."
Lucas folded his arms. "Does Olympus not know? Surely they'd respond."
"Some spirits tried to warn them," Hecate said, a bitter note in her voice. "But Zeus dismissed the claims. Called them delusions. Said Kronos was scattered, severed into a thousand pieces and sealed in Tartarus alongside the rest of his kind, under guard by their oldest allies.
"If he was cut into a thousand pieces" Lucas asked, "shouldn't he be dead?"
"His body is gone," she said. "But an immortal's existance is not a simple thing. They can be stopped, their physcial form destroyed but their essence will always exist and one day, they will return whole."
Lucas let that settle. The idea that something could wait in pieces, gathering strength, was disturbing enough. But worse was the thought that the gods simply chose to ignore it.
"So he has returned?"
"Not yet. But soon. He's watching. Whispering. And the gods are too consumed by pride and politics to see what's crawling under their foundations, he seeks to use this as an opportunity to gather allies and fully return."
She stepped closer.
"You're already being watched. Zeus fears what you might become. Especially because of your closeness to his daughter."
Lucas blinked. "Why does that matter?"
"There's a prophecy," Hecate said. "One that led to the oath of the Big Three. It spoke of one of their children rising up and destroying Olympus."
Lucas's brows knit. "So you think Zeus believes I'm tempting Thalia? That I'm going to use her against Olympus?"
"You don't need to try," Hecate replied. "Your presence alone is enough. She's already conflicted. Combine that with the words of your own prophecy, 'to end divine decree' and it paints a picture Zeus doesn't like."
"I would never use my friends like that," Lucas said firmly. "I may resent Olympus, but I have no desire to mimic them. I won't weaponize the people I care about."
Hecate regarded him for a long moment. Then, softly, she asked, "Then what do you want?"
Lucas looked up at the moonlight reflecting on the water.
"To fix the world," he said. "I don't want a throne. I want a school. A home. A place where no one's cast aside. Where the children of forgotten gods aren't shoved together like afterthoughts. Where monsters wronged by gods find justice and peace. Where demigods can recieve not just protection but opportunity and knowledge, no longer having to wander through different schools as an outcast due to their nature."
He turned to her.
"I want a sanctuary where demigods aren't treated like weapons or burdens."
For a moment, there was no sound but the lapping of the lake.
"And that's why you're dangerous," Hecate said softly.
Lucas met her gaze.
"Because what you're offering is hope."
For a moment, there was no sound but the lapping of the lake.
They stood in silence, mist curling around them like breath.
"You'll have my support," she said. "And I'll speak to others quietly. Not all will listen. But some will."
As she turned to leave, Lucas called after her.
"If Kronos returns..." Lucas called after her.
She didn't look back. "Then you'll have to choose."
And with that, she vanished into the Mist.