My Heroes

I finished that book.

It was Rick Riordan’s, The Blood of Olympus. And it was incredible.

As you lovely dancers know, I have been obsessing over the Percy Jackson books since February of this year. Originally, my little brother had to talk me into reading them, and now, I can’t even begin to picture my life without the cast of characters that make up the heroes of our generation. I feel like I’ve spent my entire life watching them become more than they ever thought possible, and yet it’s only November.

If I don’t write this out, it will be a very long time before I accept the fact that my reading is over, so the following is my formal goodbye to Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Percy Jackson, Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang, Annabeth Chase, Reyna Ramirez-Arellano and Nico di Angelo.

~Spoiler alert! If you have not yet read The Heroes of Olympus, but plan to do so at some point, I would suggest returning to this post later on, when your life is five books better off.~

Jason – Meeting you: “Top of the World” by Greek Fire

I spent the entire series calling you, “The ever-perfect Jason Grace” because your morals impressed me so much. You came into The Lost Hero as an amnesic and left with little more than a vague sense of your past. You knew that you were on top, a child of Zeus, and you knew that it was hard. The most important thing, though, is that you left with friends, and by The Mark of Athena and The House of Hades, those friends had you questioning where you truly belonged. You were born a Roman, but–or so you realized–you’re a Greek at heart.

Saying goodbye: “Jason grinned. He loved the Greeks. They had no organization whatsoever, but they made up for it with enthusiasm.” – The Blood of Olympus

Piper – Meeting you: “Complicated” by Bon Jovi

Aquinnah’s Dictionary definition of “complicated” in The Lost Hero: Piper McLean. You were beautiful, and you tried not to be. You radiated, and you tried to hide. You had a voice, and you didn’t speak. So, you changed the Aphrodite cabin’s definition of beauty. When it mattered most, you stepped out. And when you spoke, everyone listened. Congratulations, Pipes. All those times that you asked, “What would Annabeth do?” I learned that the better question was, “What would Piper do?”

Saying goodbye: “Without the agony of the last few months, Piper never would have… discovered her own courage.” – The Blood of Olympus

Leo – Meeting you: “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” by Eurythmics

I couldn’t believe it when you swore to return to Ogygia for Calypso, even though I should have; you pulled stunts like that the entire series. I hope you’re happy that I now use words like, “sucktastic” and “peeps,” and that I couldn’t stand to read for two days straight because I thought that you were dead. And everyone is now confused as to why “Sweet Dreams” is my theme song for you. Honestly, it took ME a while to find you in that song, but you’re there. You’re everywhere, I guess– living, dead, on an invisible island. Thank you for saving the camps. Now, please go let everyone know that you’re alright.

Saying goodbye: “I’m all about doing the impossible.” – The Blood of Olympus

Percy – Meeting you [again]: “What’s Left of Me” by Bon Jovi

The first few chapters of The Son of Neptune were murder! The entire world screamed, “Wrong place!” when you ran into Camp Jupiter. We screamed again when the hippie turned out to be Hera. We basically lost our voices when Nico di Angelo acted as if he didn’t know you. And when you finally overcame your amnesia, you were given exactly one book to crack jokes, and then you fell into Tartarus with Annabeth! And when you got back, we stopped screaming and started crying for joy because we all knew how this was going to end.

Saying goodbye: “College in New Rome…. Four years with no monsters to fight, no battles, no stupid prophecies. Just me and Annabeth, getting our degrees, hanging out at cafes, enjoying California…” – The Blood of Olympus

Hazel – Meeting you: “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)” by U2

I feel as though your story shouldn’t have surprised me at all. But it did. A child of Pluto, back from the dead, having stirred up the infamous giant war 70 years prior. All you wanted was a little respect, a friend, but with a story like that, you figured you’d never have anyone (except Nico, of course). When Frank and Percy challenged your expectations, though, you became a warrior– claiming Arion, controlling the Mist, looking forward. You brought honor to the Fifth Cohort. You are seriously miraculous.

Saying goodbye: “Getting a second life is one thing. Making it a better life, that’s the trick.” – The Blood of Olympus

Frank – Meeting you: “Have a Nice Day” by Bon Jovi

You make me laugh. When you marched up to Nico at the beginning of Son of Neptune without a care in the world– priceless. And yet you saw yourself as such a klutz. Archery being your “only” skill, you didn’t expect to amount to much of anything. But when you finally accepted yourself as a child of Mars… well, I’m glad that the others were on your side, or they may have ended up just like those katobleps in Italy. When Jason made you Praetor, I couldn’t help thinking, “No one deserves it more than him.”

Saying goodbye: “… Reyna and Frank were called to the front. They got a thunderous round of applause from both the Greeks and the Romans.” – The Blood of Olympus

Annabeth – Meeting you [again]: “31 Days” by Zee Avi

I’m going to cry. For once, I have no words.

Saying goodbye: “… Reyna and Frank said we could live in New Rome as long as we like.” – The Blood of Olympus

Reyna – Meeting you: “Raised by Wolves” by U2

My song choice seems really shallow, seeing as you actually WERE raised by wolves, and seeing how drastically my perception of you has changed since The Son of Neptune. Reyna, you wowed me. I never expected to get over my utter dislike of you, trying to steal Percy and whatnot, but I did. Your story, along with the care you showed to Nico… I was blown away. Living with ghosts looked pretty good a couple of times, shadow-traveling across the world with their king, but you never stopped believing in the team. Thank you.

Saying goodbye: “We had one home…. Now we have two.” – The Blood of Olympus

Nico – Meeting you [again]: “All Alone” by Kutless

I could draft this a billion times and not get it quite right. You surprised me. Over and over and over again. Sometimes, I was happy for you, and other times, I flat-out wanted to slug you. Like Reyna and Coach Hedge, I felt your pain, but I also saw you let it go. I was proud of you for letting go.

Saying goodbye: “… I think I should clear the air.” – The Blood of Olympus

This ended up being longer than I had anticipated, so if you’ve made it to the end, I applaud you. Summing up 2,500+ pages of outstanding literature was a lot more difficult than I expected it to be.

But they won. <3