The rest of the summer went by so quickly that Justin couldn’t believe it. He and Rose had been training almost non-stop with Chiron. They alternated days on who receive the specialized training. Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday Rose worked with him. Monday, Tuesday and Friday were Justin’s days.

Rose worked hard on controlling her strength. It took a while to be able to handle small things at first. But she was determined to master it, just like she had mastered her dyslexia and ADHD. Before long she could control her strength without her charm, though she still wore it, wanting to keep her aura from being so strong that every monster in the state could smell her.

Justin, however, took longer to master his new power of summoning, and controlling, earthquakes. A few times, Justin had to go into the sea and visit his father’s palace. He needed to be in the middle of the ocean where he could not bring harm to anyone.

Poseidon had not been particularly pleased that part of his palace was destroyed by his son. But, he was so pleased with the progress that was made that he decided to forgive Justin.

By the end of the summer, both Justin and Rose were in the best shape they had ever been in. With only one week in summer left, Rose decided to take on a project. She wanted to find out who their past lives had been.

Justin and Rose started to spend most of their free time in the attic, going through any and all records that they can find. At first, they thought it would be easy to find out which of the children of Poseidon and Athena lived at the same time and had died in the last few hundred years.

The hardest part about the search was searching through all of the records of each demigod that had come through Camp Half-Blood. As they went through all of the records, they had to sort out the children of Poseidon and Athena.

Almost all of Poseidon’s children have lived longer lives, or they weren’t demigods that would go to Elysium. Three days of searching through all the records, they finally found the only possible candidates for who their last lives could have been.

“You’re completely sure that you read that correctly?” Justin asks. Completely in disbelief. “You are telling me, that our past lives were Percy and Annabeth Jackson?”

“Well, ever since Percy, Poseidon only had daughters. So it has to be him.”

“And how do you know that you were Annabeth? Was she the only daughter around Percy’s time?”

“No, Annabeth had two sisters at the time, but a dream that I had the other night gives me a feeling that I was Annabeth?”

Justin gives a look of confusion. “What dream?”

“Well, I had visions of tunnels underneath Rome. Visions of a large spider, things that Annabeth had gone through alone. Reading through the accounts of her adventures, none of the children during Percy’s time went through those things.”

Justin’s head is spinning. The children of Poseidon had all looked up to Percy. He was the one that they all aspired to be someday. But, as it turns out, he was the reincarnated form of Percy.

A thought came into his mind then, “Are we supposed to know this information? I mean, Hades and Athena both said they couldn’t tell us who our lives were, and that it could change how we lived our lives.”

“That isn’t completely true. They said that they couldn’t tell us who we were, or what life we were on. They said nothing about knowing who our past lives were. I’ve never heard of a law that said demigods couldn’t research and find out for themselves who they were.”

“I like the way you think,” Justin says chuckling.

Tonight marks the four year anniversary since Rose and Justin had started dating, we have known each other for seven years total now. They went from being fellow campers, to camp counselors together. The crew of six had all stayed pretty close together and stayed around camp. Ally and Charley were still together, and Grace and Gabe had started dating a few months after the big quest.

But none of the couples were as strong and close as Justin and Rose. They had known each other for a third of each other’s lives. People joked and called them the old couple, even though they were both only 21. They just decided that must come from finding your soul mate three lives in a row.

To celebrate the monumental anniversary, Justin decided to put on a special night for Rose. He had set up a night with Aphrodite’s help, she owed them after they helped her escape a trap set by Hephaestus intended to catch her and Aries in an embarrassing way.

They both woke up before the other campers did so they met at the sparring ring like they usually do.

“Morning Barnacle Brain, ready to get your butt kicked again?”

“As I recall, we broke even yesterday, four each. You have no room to talk Ro,”

“Yeah, but, I let you win all those times,” Rose says playfully. “But don’t worry, I got all day to kick your butt.”

“Actually, you only have a couple hours missy. I got plans for the both of us. You gotta be dressed in nice clothes and ready to travel by 11 a.m. sharp!”

Rose steps back, caught completely off guard. “What are you planning Peterson?” She starts to squint her eyes. “You know I hate surprises, spill it. Or else I’ll spill your blood.”

Justin’s troublemaker grin comes out. “I’d like to see you try.” He gets in his ready position and brings out Riptide. “This is one surprise that you are just going to have to wait for.”

Rose draws her sword, “Fine, I guess you leave me no choice to pound it out of your.”


Rose meets Justin at 11:15 at the dining pavilion, dressed in a small black dress that goes all the way to the ground and shows off her athletic body to a point that made Justin’s brain come to a screeching halt. The butterflies were going crazy inside of his stomach, it almost made him sick. But he had to keep a hold of his nerves, tonight was important.

“You’d better have a good reason to have me out here wearing a dress in the middle of the day.” She has a scowl on her face, but she doesn’t look upset, mostly annoyed. “You know I won’t hear the end of this for another month from the Hermes cabin.”

“Eh,” he shrugs. “If they bother you, I’ll just flood their cabin.”

She smiles at him, “Or I will use my strength to throw them so far out into the sound that they will cry to their mommies.”

They start laughing at the thought of some of the campers flying through the air.

“But really, Justin, what are we doing out here dressed up in the middle of the day?”

“Well, since it is our anniversary, I figured,” he paused when he saw the bewildered look on his girlfriend’s face.

“Our anniversary? Aren’t you a couple weeks early?”

“No, it is June the 29th, the day we got back from the big quest.”
Her eyes widen to the size of drachmas. “Oh gods! I completely spaced on the date!” she hides her face with her hands. Causing a chuckle to escape from Justin. “But that still doesn’t explain what we are doing here in the middle of the day.” She says bringing her face out from hiding.

“Well, my dear, it is evening at your destination.” A voice says from behind her. As Rose turns around, she sees Aphrodite standing behind her smiling. “Your boyfriend called in a favor and I couldn’t be happier to grant this to him as a thanks for the quest you two did for me.”

Memories came back to Rose, memories of being stuck in a bronze net with Justin for five hours with Hephaestus questioning them about why they were helping Aphrodite and Aries. They both honestly pleaded ignorance, and they thought they would never get out of the net alive, until Aphrodite herself had showed up to calm her husband down and tell him she had sent them.

“Our destination? What do you mean?” Rose says puzzled. She looks up at Justin, who is looking at the love goddess.

“Thank you Aphrodite, I believe we are ready to leave?” he looks down asking Rose, who can only manage a confused nod. He smiles, “hold on Ro.” And all goes black.

“Open your eyes Rose,” she hears Justin whisper to her. When she does, she is standing on marble floor that looked to be hundreds of years old. Looking around, she sees that she is on a hill, over-looking a city. All of sudden, recognition clicked.

“Athens, the Parthenon, that’s where we are.” She turns around to see Justin walking away, toward a table with candles and plates of grilled salmon, her favorite food. He walks up to a chair and pulls it out and motions for her to sit in it.

“Wow, color me impressed Barnacle Brain.”

He chuckles, “I’ve been known to have my moments. I figured that I had better call in that favor from Aphrodite before she forgot about it.”

“Careful, she might make this fish come alive again and attack us if she hears you.” Rose chuckles at the thought of a fish slapping Justin in the face with its tail.

“Nah, I’m pretty sure she won’t do that, this is the kind of thing she lives for,” he looks at her smiling. He has been wearing his troublemaker grin all day, she can tell he is hiding something from her and it is driving her crazy.

“So what other surprises do you have in store for me tonight, Mr. Romance?”

“I guess you will have to wait and see, now eat your salmon before it gets cold.”


The rest of the night goes pleasantly. They clean their plates quickly, the salmon almost seemed to melt in their mouth. The veggies were so fresh, they must have been picked that very morning, and the champagne created bubbles in their heads and Justin had to be careful that he didn’t drink too much. His head was already spinning enough before the alcohol.

As they sat in the candlelight, looking over the city of Athens glowing in the night, Justin takes ahold of Rose’s hand and looks her in the eyes.

“I brought you here because this was the start of everything. The start of the gods, history, even the rivalry between our parents. Even after all these years, this building is still standing. It will keep standing for a long time, something to last thousands of years.” He lets out a little chuckle, trying to keep his voice from shaking or breaking. He suddenly becomes aware of how sweaty his palms are, but he keeps holding onto Rose’s hands. She is his anchor, she keeps him steady, and he can do this.

“You saved my butt when we first met. You introduced me into this world, you have kept me alive more times than I can count.”

She chuckles at the last part.

“You are the one person that I want by my side during every single adventure I go on. As we get older, the quests become fewer and further between. But I want to start another one with you. One that will last a lifetime,” he gets up from his chair and goes to her side.

Reaching into his pocket and pulling out a little black box, he gets down to one knee.

Rose’s head is spinning faster than a racecar’s tire now. She knows that the champagne is causing none of this, every bit of this high is caused by the man down on the ground in front of her now. She knows what is coming, and her eyes are watering.

“However, this quest requires a special bond, and special equipment. I have the piece of equipment you need, all I need now, is for you to answer this one question.” He opens the box and in between the cushions is a small ring that holds a blue diamond. “Rose Moore, would you be my wife on this quest?”

Justin’s heart is beating so hard and so fast that he is pretty sure that Rose can hear it. He is so anxious to hear her answer as she cups her mouth with her hands. Tears start to form in her eyes.

“Yes! Oh my gods Justin, yes!” her arms envelop his and they start laughing together.

She holds her hand out and Justin slides the ring onto her ring finger, a perfect fit.

“I’m really glad you said yes, otherwise that terrifying audience with your mother would have been completely wasted.”

Rose laughs, “You personally asked my mother if you could ask me to marry you? Why would you do that?”

“Well, if she didn’t approve of me, she could make my life miserable if I just went ahead with it. I really don’t want to be spontaneously combusted.”

They continue laughing and embracing each other well into the evening. When it was about 6:00 back home, they asked Aphrodite to bring them home. They appeared right in front of the bonfire as everyone started to gather for the sing-a-long.

As soon as they appeared, a roar of cheers and applause greeted them. Signs that said “Mr. & Mrs. Peterson” were waved.

“How many people did you tell?” Rose asked Justin completely floored.

“Only Ally, Charley, Grace and Gabe. Charley must have told people, he can’t hold a secret to save his life. I guess this is another reason it’s good you said yes.” He starts laughing, to which Rose joins. It is too good of a night to be upset for any reason. She and Justin interlace their fingers and hold their hands in the air, like they just achieved victory, which in a way, they had.


Justin sits in his favorite chair. The chair next to him stood empty, just as it had for the past couple weeks. He and Rose had sat in those chairs over the last twenty years of their retirement. But now, Justin sits there by himself. Rose had left on her final adventure without him.

He made a mental note to give her some grief when he caught up with him, but Grace told him that Rose came to her in a dream a few nights after she passed with a message for him.

“Take your time Barnacle Brain, I don’t mind waiting for you.”

So his days had been filled with sitting in the living room of their house of fifty years, looking through old photos of the life they built together. Their four kids; the twins Elizabeth and Madison, Thomas, and Sophie.

The gods had offered the young couple a house in New York, but Rose wanted to build a house that she designed. Justin wasn’t one to refuse her, so they built their house a few miles from Camp Half-Blood.

It took a long time to finish it, and at times it seemed to be way too small. But no one ever even considered moving from the small cozy home. After the kids left, it even seemed too big. That is until they started housing campers from camp who didn’t have anywhere to go during the months when no one else was at camp. They would often have a few extra faces, along with Chiron at holiday meals.

Their lives had always felt happy and complete. Justin wasn’t worried about death, he knew that he had lived a good life. He always tried to help others, even if it wasn’t the smartest choice. He had numerous scars to show for it.

After looking at the final picture of himself and Rose during her last birthday party he closed the photo album and put it on the coffee table.

Standing up, he starts heading toward his bed slowly. He chuckles in amazement at how old his body feels. A far cry from the good ol’ days when he could fight and move around with ease. He remembers fighting alongside Rose, in a deadly dance, fighting for their lives.

He also recalls all the times he took her dancing, all the good times he had with his soul mate. Another tear comes to his eye, which he moves to wipe away.

“Do not wipe the tear away young one,” a female voice says in front of him. Looking up he sees three familiar faces. Athena, Poseidon and Hades all stand in front of him.

“I’m sorry my lady, but what did you say?” Justin asks.

“I said, don’t wipe the tear away, keep it as a reminder of all the good times you had with her. She would not like it if you were sobbing over her.” The goddess had a kind smile on her face, which made Justin more uncomfortable than if she had been scowling at him. He was more used to seeing that face from her.

“It wasn’t a tear of sadness, it was one of happiness. I was thinking of all the fun we had, and all the good times.” His response is only half true, he is sad that those times were gone, but he was happier they had happened. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

“My son, you are nearing your death, and you have accomplished something few have done before,” Poseidon starts. “Hades has come a long to tell you the options you now have before you.”

“Nephew,” Hades nods.

The kind title sent a chill down Justin’s spine. “Lord Hades,” he says with a nod of respect. He still hung onto the lesson he learned long ago to not anger the god.

Almost like he was reading Justin’s thought Hades let out a small laugh. “You and your wife have achieved the Isles of the Blessed. I spoke with Rose in her sleep before she passed, I will tell you the same things I told her. You can sit if you wish, this might take a while and you will hear some big news.”

As Justin sits down on the seat near the gods, he is interested in what the god means by big news.

Hades began again, “You and your wife have been in three different lives. Each time you have found each other and fallen in love with each other. The first life you shared, you were Perseus, and she was Andromeda. The second life, as you two annoying brats found out, you were Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase.”

Justin let out a chuckle at the memory of their discovery. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

“No matter,” Hades said. “When you die and you will have a choice of which form you wish to take. Whether it is Perseus, Percy Jackson, or Justin Peterson, also you will have the memories of each of the lives. The house that you will live in together will take form to however you want it to look. You will also have certain privileges that must not be taken advantage of.”

“What kind of privileges?”

“You can have one soul come to Elysium for a period of one hour per week. As long as the soul is not in the Field of Punishment, it can be whoever you want. You will have to leave the Isles during the visit, but you can come and go to Elysium as you please. Another privilege is once a year, during the Winter Solstice, your soul can visit the mortal world for a few hours. You won’t be able to make contact with any mortals, but you can go wherever you want.”

Justin’s mind spins with all the information that he is taking in. He has a million questions about his past, and what Rose thought about all of this.

“Well, that pretty much wraps it up for me. Take care nephew.” With a nod, Hades turned to shadow and disappeared.

Justin turns his attention to his father and Athena. “Is there more big news that you guys have for me? Because I’m not sure my brain can take much more.”

They both give a small laugh.

“No my boy, I only came here to tell you that I could not be happier or prouder of you. You have shown so much bravery and compassion that any father would count themselves lucky to have you. I also wanted to let you know that it was, truly a pleasure to know your soul. I have had many children, but yours is one that I will never forget.”

The kind words of his father started to bring tears to Justin’s eyes. He had never heard his father sing his praises in such a manner and it eased any doubt in his mind that the gods didn’t care about him.

“And as for me,” Athena steps forward a bit. “I wanted to let you know that you have become one of the few men that I consider my favorites among mortals. You have shown me that not all mortals can be judged by first appearance. As your father said, it has been a pleasure knowing you.”

“Thank you, both of you,” Justin says, wiping some tears away. “I am honored by your words. However, while I may be young compared to you, my body is telling me my age now and I am afraid I need rest now.”

“Of course.” The gods say together, with a small bow of their heads, they disappear.

As Justin walks down the hallway towards his bedroom, he thinks about his evening. Never had he experienced three gods in his home at the same time, it filled him with awe.

He changed into his pajamas and crawled into his bed. Becoming sad at the emptiness he felt from the other side of the bed. He just wanted to be reunited with his soul mate. Chuckling at the irony he felt at realizing he was actually welcoming death.

“Soon Ro, soon I’ll be with you again. When that happens, there is no getting away from me.”

When next his eyes opened, he was in some lobby looking at a really old guy wearing an Italian suit.

Looking down at his own body, he couldn’t really determine what he looked like. His features seemed to change by the second and he wasn’t fully formed. Maybe it’s because I haven’t decided which form I will take.

Turning to the guy in the suit, he asks, “Where am I?”

“You are dead young man, I am here to take you into the underworld. Follow me, no payment is necessary for your soul”

A short while later, he stood before a panel of judges.

“Justin Peterson, your soul is here before us again for a third time achieving Elysium, we grant you eternity on the Isles of the Blessed. When you get there, you will be given all the memories of your past lives and you will have twenty-four hours to determine which form you will take on.”

The skinny man, who Justin recognized at William Shakespeare motioned towards a door to his right. Justin walked to the door and went through it. He walked down the road toward the Isles and when he came to the gate he paused.

With a hand on the gate he took a deep breath to calm the butterflies in his stomach, or whatever they were in his weird soul body.

Pushing open the gate he is instantly flooded with tons of memories. Some of an ancient life, which he determined were from Perseus, then some more recent, which must be from Percy.

Then he sees a girl, who his memory tells him is Annabeth, his soul mate. She looks at him and her face turns to one of pure joy.

“Oh my gods! Finally!” she says while still laughing. “Now pick a form so I can hug you!”

“Why did you choose Annabeth?” he asks.

“I’m not sure, I couldn’t decide so I just picked the middle one.”

Chuckling at the simplicity of it, he decided to do the same thing. After solidifying the mental picture of Percy in his head he heard Annabeth’s voice.

“Seaweed Brain.”

Then he was suddenly tackled by the girl who he had fallen in love with three lives in a row.

“Miss me much?” he asked.

“Doesn’t matter now, we are together and you are never leaving me. As long as we’re together.”

Notes

It's finally here! I'm sorry that it took so long. I'm in the process of moving and things are just kind of crazy right now. Thank you for being sticking with me.