Nico, Reyna, and Hedge are in Buford, South Carolina. Nico worries that shadow-traveling is taking a toll on his body, causing him to at times become more spirit than shadow. He remembers Jason suggesting that it might be “time you come out of the shadows” (214, italics in original) and realizes that for the first time in his life, he fears the dark. The Athena Parthenos has brought them to the site of the Battle of Waxhaws during the American Revolution, when the British (Roman demigods) massacred the colonialists (Greek demigods). Nico is surprised that he can’t sense any spirits at a site of so much death. When Reyna says she blames herself that they landed there, Nico encourages her to talk about her past, sharing his own anecdote of Hades gifting him a French zombie chauffeur.

Disarmed, Reyna tells her story. The Roman war goddess Bellona, a patron to her family for centuries, fell in love and had children with Reyna’s father. Bellona prophesied that the fate of Rome rested on his family, and he became obsessed. A soldier, he returned from serving in Iraq with post-traumatic stress and physical wounds that both took a toll.