The life of a demigod is all about choices. Do you pledge your allegiance to the Greeks or the Romans? Do you go off on your sacred quest to save the world, or do you stay under your covers to hide from the Minotaur? When battling a Drakon, do you go for the head, or plunge your blade into its chest? Thankfully, the gods have given us plenty of coins when we need some help making these fateful decisions.
The Mark of Athena
Don’t expect to add this coin to your collection. It’s a special gift crafted by Athena herself, one that the goddess of wisdom only hands out to her most deserving children. The coin is meant to lead her chosen champion on a dangerous quest to recover the Athena Parthenos whenever it’s stolen. On the plus side, the coin always returns to its owner after it’s lost or spent. So you know what that means: unlimited minutes on your parking meter.
Ivlivs
One of our favorite weapons from The Heroes of Olympus was Jason’s gold coin. Depending on whether it landed on heads or tails, it could change into a lance or a double-edged sword. And because Jason is inexplicably good at everything, of course he kicked butt with it in either form. Unfortunately for him, Ivllivs was destroyed by a giant on Mount Diablo. Juno eventually replaced the coin with a transforming gladius, which was definitely more powerful, but not so easy to carry in the pocket.
Golden Drachma
As the chief currency of the Greek gods, these coins are used for practically everything, from sending out Iris messages, summoning the Gray Sisters’ taxi service, or bribing Charon for passage into the Underworld. Just don’t spend them all in one place. The gods are way stingier with drachma than they are with lethal weaponry.
Jordan and Bird’s Rigged Coin Toss
We can’t think of anything more nefarious than cheating the noble tradition of the coin toss. Okay, we can, but there’s still no excusing what the twins Jordan and Bird did to Zane, Brooks, and Hondo in The Storm Runner. These dudes thought they could cover up their big, centuries-old lie about defeating Ah-Puch by tricking our heroes into playing a rigged game of basketball. Moral of the story: Make sure to bring your own coin when playing on the enemy’s home turf. Second moral: If you are facing two ancient Hero Twins who changed their names to Bird and Jordan, maybe suggest a round of golf instead of basketball.
