Leo POV

Reyna gestures for me to stay outside the door whilst she goes in to calm Adoncia down. The others haven't followed so I assume they are still a bit shocked. I can faintly hear the conversation going on behind the cupboard door.

"Addy, I'm sure they won't judge you. Come on, we can go and we can have another reading and writing lesson." Reyna is saying in a soothed voice. "Come on, Leo's waiting out there for you."

I hear a light, delicate sniffle. "Okay. Okay, yeah. Just don't tell them about anything, about the scars or lessons or anything. Just pretend they don't exist." Adoncia's voice is muffled, as if her face is buried in Reyna's shoulder. I had no clue they were so close.

The cupboard door lock clicks open and Reyna and Adoncia emerge from the darkness and Adoncia runs up and embraces me, snaking her arms around my neck, I peck her cheek. We break apart and all three of us go down to face the others. They are all still gathered discussing something in muted tones. When we walk in, they all seem to develop an interest in the sea of dark blue carpet lapping under their feet, like eagles stalking their pray. We walk in, Reyna leading and Adoncia and I are falling slightly behind, forming a triangle. Reyna heads straight for the settee. Adoncia and I follow. The others keep their mouth shut. Apart from Jason, as usual. He opens his mouth to start to form a sentence, but I shoot him a look, and if looks could kill, let's just say he would drop like a fly. Reyna and Adoncia sit on the settee and I sit on the armchair next to it. The armchair is blue and speckled with white whilst the settee is white and spotted with blue flowers. We begin to talk about random stuff when I notice the dark circles under Adoncia's eyes.

"Addy, how did you sleep last night?" I ask her assuming she will say she didn't sleep too well.

"I don't sleep." Is the short response I get snapped back at me. Reyna shoots me a look. As if she is telepathically communicating with me, I immediately understand that she wants to speak to me outside.

"I'm going for a pee." I blurt out. It's the first thing I thought of.

"Oh far too much information!" Hazel responds. I head out of the dark oak doorway and into the red corridor. I feel bad for leaving her there on her own. Of course I do, but if Reyna has any insight into why Addy snapped at me like that, I would really like to hear it. After a couple of minutes, I turn towards the doorway and begin to make my way towards it when I see Reyna. She walks and doesn't slow down. I consider calling to her but when she passes me, she grabs my collar. She starts to drag me down the hall and I don't fight it.

"She reminded me in there, that's why I am asking you now," Reyna starts in a hushed tone. I am still confused as to why she has chosen to speak to me out here, "I need to ask you something, have you been hearing any screaming or shouting in the night?" I nod because I have, I am more intrigued now, "Oh no, I have as well but I wasn't sure if I was making it up. It's Addy, her dreams aren't about the future, ever, unlike most demigods. Always the past. She screams and screams. She hasn't slept in 2 months. I think the dreams are turning into flashbacks. Screaming and shouting to let the anger and pain out. And trust me, there is a lot of anger and pain to get out. ". I don't know why, but this has kind of angered me. I had a horrible past experience. Reyna, well she just had hell!

"Yeah, but you and I, mainly you, had horrible moments in our childhoods but we don't scream and shout about it. A bad experience doesn't give you the right to be moody all of the time-" I am interrupted before I say something I can't take back and I can tell from the look on Reyna's face that I am lucky if I am forgiven. I had no right to say that did I? I mean, I don't know anything about her childhood. Who am I to assume everyone who had a horrible childhood likes to make a big show and dance about it, I don't.

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN! WHAT ADONCIA HAS BEEN THROUGH IS NOTHING LIKE ME AND BY THE LOOKS OF THINGS, NOTHING LIKE YOU!" She shouts at me, tears welling in her eyes, either from the memory of her old childhood or actually in sympathy for Addy. "I'm sorry, you're not the only one who has been fooled by her doll face. I just thought that you would be able to see through it, see the truth in her eyes. I'm not going to tell you everything. I can't. I won't. But her mother... well, you saw the scars right, well her mother did them. Her mother did that to her, completely sober. Her mother tried to kill her as well, so many times. Locked her in cupboards, whipped her and her brother-" I am shocked by this. I immediately feel a twang of guilt for saying that earlier stuff. She really did have a hard childhood and by the sounds of things, that isn't all of it. But brother? What? Since when did Adoncia have a brother?

"Addy didn't have a brother." I say with a hint of uncertainty.

"Sadly, she did. I very much doubt she would have ever told you. He went missing when she was 7. They were twins so they were very close. He just disappeared one day, just before her mother got a lot more violent and started beating Addy a lot harder and more often." I don't know how to respond. It's a mutual feeling. We both exchange a look that says more than words could and we separate, entering the main room at separate times.

We both sit down in the same places that we originally sat it. There is a silence cast over the group. I go to smash it with my words when I hear a low voice shout. Once I figure out what was said, I am shocked.

"Adoncia! Addy! At last! Addy!"

Adoncia bolts up next to me. She starts to run towards the voice's origin, tears streaming down her face. She starts to scream, but she's also smiling. The full on grin that shimmers like the sun.

"Ad! Adolpho! Oh my Gods!"

I look up to see where she is shouting to. I see a silhouette of a boy. About the same height as Adoncia, maybe a little taller actually. Wait, could this be the "brother".

The figure starts to move towards Adoncia at a fast pace and she returns the movement. When they meet each other in a bear hug, I notice the uncanny resemblance they share. Twins. Just like Reyna had told me. Mixed gender twins yet they look so similar I would get them confused if they had the same haircut. Adoncia's twin brother, it sounds strange just thinking it, has short cropped hair, the same colour as Adoncia's. When they break apart, I see Addy gesture to me, telling her brother about me. He starts to walk up to me and I notice how Addy is ever so slightly smaller than her twin.

"Hola. I am Adolpho De Le Fuente, Adoncia's twin brother. ¿Hablas español?" He asks me, in a strong Spanish accent, slightly weaker than Adoncia's.

"Si. I lived in Texas, fluent in Spanish, well, a little rusty." I reply.

"Call me Ad by the way. Not Addy because well, that's Adoncia's nickname. Ad. Ad and Addy. Adoncia and Adolpho. Mother never really had a knack for naming twins." They both chuckle when Adolpho says this.

We walk back to meet the others.

"Guys! Guys listen! This is Adolpho. Adoncia's twin brother. Ad for short. Adoncia and Adolpho, Ad and Addy." They all greet each other. The conversation goes strong for a good few hours when all of a sudden it crashes like two cars. That one subject that nobody should have mentioned. Family. Particularly, mothers. Maybe she'll open up. I really hope she does.

I have no clue how the conversation steered to that but somehow it did.

"I can't remember much of my mother. I was taken from my family by one of the neighbours. He heard my mother...erm... her beating us. Addy, did she carry on once I left? Did she...she... she get worse?" Adolpho says but I can tell that he gets his answer to his question from the look on Addy's face. Her mask is slipping, revealing the pain and sorrow inside but she pulls it up again and confidently yet unemotionally says,

"Yeah, she got very bad, lots of scars to prove it." As she says it, her mask slips again. The tears well up in her eyes as she looks down, taking an interest in the ground.

Adoncia POV

"EVERYBODY GET AS FAR AWAY FROM THE HULL AS POSSIBLE!" Leo starts to scream, we're crashing. Everybody obeys him, but not me or Leo. I squeeze Reyna and Ad's hands and I follow Leo as he goes to the control room. "Somebody needs to stay and steer, Addy it's not safe here, go back with the others."

"No! I won't let you!" But then a plan starts to form in my head.

"Addy get back now!" He shouts but suddenly I press my lips against his. I start to push him towards the door, which is open. When he is near enough out of the door, I pull away and rest my cheek on his shoulder, whispering "I love you Leo". Then I pull back completely and push Leo out of the door slamming it in front of him and locking it. I kiss the glass where roughly where Leo's head is then I turn away to try and stop the ship from crashing. It's an impossible task. I heard Leo mutter it under his breath before, "It's impossible, even with me.".

A jolt is sent through my body and I fly forwards. Smacking my chest on the wheel. As I struggle for air, I peel myself off of the wheel. Only to be flung to my right. I land on a disregarded sword that pierces straight through my leg. I let out a scream of pain as I then pull the sword back out of my leg. I gasp for air as I begin to smell the smoke. I whip my head around and see the amber flames begin to rise. A surge of panic runs through me. I try to shuffle across the ground, to get as far away from the fire as possible but I soon realise, I already am, and the fires getting closer. The smokes filling my lungs, slowly suffocating me. I grip onto the wall and shuffle upwards so I end up standing up with all my weight on the wall. I push myself off and reach up and grab the fire blanket, I slowly limp across the ground and throw the blanket over the fire. I stand back up and grip onto the wheel, turning us away from the mountain that has already destroyed the ship. This is why Leo needed somebody here, not to avoid the crash but to steer it after to avoid another crash. If we crashed again then we defiantly won't survive. We seem to be out of danger of crashing, I limp over to the door and unlock it to be greeted with a group of concerned people. As soon as the door opens, my knees buckle and everything goes black.

I awaken with a startle, with faces around me merging to one. I shut my eyes again and open them hoping things would be less blurry, unfortunately not. I bolt up only to be supported by Leo. I swing my legs of the couch and stand up but stumble and begin to fall when Frank puts his hands behind me and catches me and helps me back up. I start to walk back to my room. My knee buckles but I manage to study it.

"Oh Hades no! You're not going anywhere till we say you can! Now sit back down, your too weak! Well done back there by the way, you saved our lives." Percy says whilst he holds my arm supporting me back to the coach. Before I can get there, I am surrounded in a group hug of people thanking me. Reyna, Leo and Ad come up to me and hold on to me for longer. Leo pecking my lips, Adolpho my lips and Reyna just hugs me. I start to get dizzy but I don't mention it. I can't breathe. When we break apart, I stumble but yet again am caught, this time by Adolpho. I stand back up. Everything's blurred. I grip onto the wall for support. I place my forehead on it, trying to catch my breath but still failing. I start to tear up. From the pain, my lungs and leg are on fire. I still can't catch y breath and things aren't getting any clearer. That's when my knees completely buckle and I collapse onto the ground and everything fades. The last thing I hear is Leo, Adolpho and Reyna shouting my name and coming closer to me. Then everything is lost.