Hey y'all.

Been awhile, no? Finally at double digits! *cheers*

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been busy all summer. I thought I'd be a bit more active this summer, but that obviously didn't happen. I'll update ASAP in the future.

Thank you to all those who reviewed 3. That seriously makes my day.

Oh and the girl who Tempest is based off... we're on good terms again. :) It was just a rough patch. But to make it cheesy, FRIENDSHIP CONQUERS ALL!

Anyone super excited for House of Hades and The Singer of Apollo? :D

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.

Chapter 10

The Game of Love and Loss

The trek to the Plaza was quiet except for the occasional explosion in the distance. Jace and Phoebe spoke to each other in hushed voices and I followed a few steps behind. I had nothing to say. I had too much spinning in my mind anyway.

The sun was nearly set when we crossed from FDR Drive to East 42nd. Jace found a motorcycle on its side with its rider slumped over. He picked up the bike, shoved off the owner with an unfeeling, "Sorry, dude," and motioned for us to hop on. It was a tight squeeze, but after Jace hotwired the bike to life we were on our way. I tried my best not to look at the sleeping New Yorkers. I noticed a lot of empty pedestals that usually held statues. It looked a bit suspicious, but I didn't think about it too hard.

Jace gunned the bike toward a fountain in front of the hotel and sloppily parked it. I squeezed myself off and ran inside, catching Jace yelling to a statue above the fountain, "Hey Demeter! Watch the bike!"

The Plaza was far more beautiful than the movies did justice. I had a pretty good idea of where things were thanks to Eloise at the Plaza, so I made my way over the dining area, maneuvering my way around passed out rich people. A few demigods and Hunters lounged on chairs and picked at food on plates.

"We're up in the penthouse suites," one the campers said. "Percy and the Apollo Cabin aren't back yet. Have you heard anything from them?"

I shook my head and the camper sighed restlessly. "Well, I hope they're okay. We need healers here pronto."

I nodded awkwardly, mumbled a hasty "thank you," and made my way to the elevator. Just as I pushed the "up" button, Phoebe and Jace caught up. Jace was rubbing his temple. I lifted an eyebrow.

"Turns out she's not Demeter at all," he grumbled. "The bitch threw a bronze apple at me. I thought I dodged it."

Phoebe was trying hard to hide a knowing smile, and the three of us boarded the elevator. An uncommon silence fell among our little group, and I shifted, leaning against the walls. Phoebe and Jace stood near each other, but didn't hold hands; they looked at each other for the briefest of moments, a silence exchange that was way beyond me. The elevator chimed and the doors slid open.

The top floors were completely taken over by demigods. Some wounded kids nursed broken limbs and gashes as others nicked food from the minibars. If there was ever a tension between demigods and Hunters, I couldn't see it; everyone was helping and talking with everyone.

Elva looked up from a timber wolf she was petting and walked over to us. She had a nasty scrap on her cheek and her clothes were torn, but she was mostly okay.

"I'm glad you three a safe," she said and smiled genuinely. "Tempest, however, got her…" she paused for a moment and scrunched her eyebrows. "I think the phrase is, 'ass handed to her.'"

Phoebe nodded and Elva sighed in relief.

"Phrases change so often. I can never keep track of them all." She sighed again and waved us on. "I'll take you to her. She's resting in one of the bedrooms."

Tempest was on her side, her wounded shoulder facing the ceiling. She was muttering something to herself as we neared her.

"Tempest?" I asked and sat gently in front of her. "How are you doing?"

She lifted her eyes hazily at me and smiled weakly. "Oh hey, Maggie," she said in an airy voice, "I'm all hunky dory. You know, the usual. I've just decided to die. See you in the Underworld." She closed her eyes and took in a shallow breath. "Hades, here I come. Please be nice."

I turned toward my friends, my eyebrows scrunched together. They made their way around the bed and Elva rolled her eyes. "She isn't going to die."

"Says you!" Tempest tried to yell. "If I'm never able to use my arm again, I'd rather die. How else can I fight? I'm as useless as a wisdom tooth."

"Tempest, you can't take my word on this," Elva continued, "I'm not an expert. Besides, you are ambidextrous."

"Sword fighting with one hand," Tempest said uninterestedly. "How boring."

"That's how the rest of us fight," Jace said, crossing his arms.

Tempest lazily slid her eyes to meet his. "How boring."

Phoebe placed her hand on Jace's arm, silently telling him not to take the bait. He sighed noisily and tightened his arms. "I'm going to see if the others are okay," he said and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

I looked back at Tempest's shoulder and tried not to cry. The wound was really bad; the dracaenae's sword cut straight through her shoulder. It was dressed with copious amounts of toilet paper and bed sheets, but blood was slowly leaking through the bandages on both sides, the only reason that I knew the dracaenae cut through her shoulder. Tempest looked like a ghost.

"Apollo Cabin is back!" someone outside the door shouted. An audible sigh of relief echoed around the suites. Jace burst through the door, his face grave.

"Michael Yew is missing." He said. Phoebe's face fell and her hands flew to her mouth. Jace rushed over to her and held her for a moment before leading her out the room, leaving the door open this time. I looked at Elva, who shrugged before a strange laugh sounded from Tempest.

"Mikey was Phoebe's last boyfriend before she and Jace finally proclaimed their love to each other," she said, still laughing. "They went out for half a year and broke up on good terms and remained good friends."

"Why are you laughing?" I asked her, mildly disturbed. "He's missing."

"My arm is basically dead," she reminded me, pointing to it with her good hand. "And Jace hated Michael throughout the entire time. He pulled terrible pranks on him. Just the fact that he was comforting her is funny."

"I don't find it humorous at all," Elva said.

Tempest hissed out a breath. "Ah, never mind. Y'all don't understand."

Just then, a vaguely familiar boy with wavy dirty blond hair and striking blue eyes walked in, a first aid kit and flask in his hand. He sat down across from me on the other side of Tempest and started to remove the makeshift dressings.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she answered curtly and winced slightly. "You can go away now."

He ignored her and continued to unwrap the bandages. "Who wrapped these?"

"I did," said Elva, fiddling with a key necklace.

"Nice job, Elva." He said smiling. "You definitely helped with the bleeding. She could've lost a lot more blood."

Elva gave a small nod and continued to play with her necklace, a small look of concern on her face. I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong, when the boy turned his attention to me.

"Hey," he greeted. "I'm Eric."

I suddenly remembered why he looked so familiar. "You're the dude with that terrible lyre!" I accused.

He smiled sheepishly. "Guilty. Got it from Dad a few years ago. I never thought I'd be able to use it again."

"It's a terrible noise," I continued.

"Yeah, it is," he said and finally got to the toilet paper, which was drenched with blood. He grimaced, but continued to work. "It can burst ear drums if you aren't careful."

"OW!" Tempest suddenly yelped, as he peeled the toilet paper off her skin. "Watch it! Just, get someone else!"

"All the other Apollo campers are busy too," he said, mildly annoyed. "I was sent here by Will."

"Why isn't he treating me?" she complained.

"Because Annabeth got stabbed by a poisoned dagger."

"Oh," Tempest said softly, and remained quiet for a moment. She twisted her neck as far back as she could so she could look at him and stuck out her tongue. He stuck his back at her and opened the flask.

"This'll hurt a bit," he poured a gold-ish liquid over her shoulder and Tempest yelped.

"A BIT?!" she screamed. "THIS IS MORE THAN A BIT, MOTHER—"

The smell of my mom's homemade spaghetti sauce over angel hair hit my nose and followed the scent to the gold-ish liquid, awkwardly sniffing Tempest's shoulder. I caught myself, blushed, and sat back up.

Nectar, I noted, remembering when Ollie gave me some.

"What do you smell?" Eric asked as he opened the first aid kit.

"My mom's spaghetti sauce."

He nodded and broke off a chunk from a small square and put it by Tempest's mouth. "Eat this and you'll feel better."

"I know what it does," she muttered and took the chunk, biting Eric's finger in the process.

"Ow," he said pointedly and Tempest chuckled as she munched.

Eric glared at her, took out a tube and squeezed some silver paste on his fingers and rubbed it on both sides of her wound. He muttered a hymn in Ancient Greek and for some reason I instantly recognized the words he was saying, enough so to almost join in, but something held me back. His face was pale when he finished the hymn to Apollo and took a shaky breath. He grabbed a roll of gauze, and started wrapping it around Tempest's shoulder. "That's as much nectar that I dare to use at this time. I'll redress your wound in about two hours. You should be okay in about three days. Tempest," he said gravely, his face serious. I thought it looked unnatural on him. "Don't fight again. Don't you dare."

"You can't tell me what to do," she protested aggressively, slowly inching away from him and attempting to sit up.

"Don't get up!" he said, his face lit up with concern. "If you want to heal faster, you need to stay on your side!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Tempest hollered, sitting up and yelping in pain. She used her good arm to place her other arm in her lap. "This okay?" she asked sarcastically.

"I know what I'm doing," Eric stressed. "Kid of the god of healing. Temps, please. Just listen to me."

Temps? I cocked my head slightly at the exchange but—for once—had enough tact to keep my mouth shut.

"Don't call me that."

"I'll use your real name."

I recalled a conversation I had on the beach with Phoebe and Jace:

"Do you really think her parents would name her Tempest?" Jace asked. "It sounds cool for a book character, but not an actual person. She named herself when she came to camp because she hates her real name."

"Do you know?"

Jace sighed tiredly. "No. Only three people besides Tempest know." He bumped Phoebe with his shoulder. "And one won't tell me."

Only three people, and the other two were Mr. D and Chiron. I guess Phoebe failed to mention a fourth person. Or she was protecting someone.

"Don't you dare," Tempest said ominously. "Telling you was a mistake."

"Were we a mistake?" He countered.

"May-be!" she drawled, shouting the word at him. "Just let me sit here and die in peace!"

"You aren't dying," he groaned. "Your arm will be functional again. You just have to listen to me!"

"You can't and won't tell me what to do! I won't listen to you!"

"But you won't even hear me out!"

"I don't want to hear what you have to say!"

"Fine!"

"FINE!"

"I'll come and check on you in two hours!" he shouted at her as he walked out the door.

"I don't want you to check on me!" she screamed back.

"Too bad!"

Tempest pulled a pillow to her face with her good hand and screamed her lungs out.

"Gods, he's so annoying!" she said hoarsely.

I stared at her a long moment.

"Could I just be left alone please?" she asked.

I nodded and Elva and I left the room, closing the door behind us.

"That was awkward." I said bluntly.

"She and Eric were in a relationship," Elva explained as we walked to the kitchen.

"Oh," I said as it dawned on me why they were yelling at each other.

"I was at camp last year for the battle of the labyrinth and found out they were recently broken up. They were stuck on each other for a bit, got goofy real fast and ended it messily after four months."

"What?" I cocked my head at her slang.

"Confound these terms!" she said, frustrated. "Life would be easier if everyone still used slang from the 1920's!"

"Did you live during that time?" I asked, recalling that Hunters are virtually immortal.

"Yes, but that's a story for a different time." She closed her eyes, leaned against the counter, and thought for a moment. "They fell in love quickly and broke up after four months."

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?"

She looked at me and huffed.

"Okay… then if that was last year why are they still arguing? Shouldn't they have moved on?"

"I don't know," she said, a tad jaded. "Love doesn't concern me. There's a reason I'm a Hunter."

I rummaged through the fridge and offered her an apple. She shook her head and I bit into it. "Why?"

She looked at me for a bit before saying, "Because a boy I loved broke my heart."

"Want to share?" I smiled at her.

"Phoebe did mention you're nosy and don't know when to stop asking questions," she said, almost amused.

I blushed and took a small bite of my apple.

"No, I will not share now." She pushed off the counter and held out her hand. "If we survive the next battle, howver, I promise I'll tell you."

I wiped apple juice off on my shorts and took her hand. "Deal. I'll tell you about how I got to Camp Half-Blood."

She smiled at me, her violet eyes alight with a newfound friendship. "I'd like that."

We met up with Jace and Phoebe and we all decided to hit the sack; it was well past midnight and we all needed our rest.

I dreamed of gods fighting a huge monster I couldn't describe if I wanted to. Seas rose and fells. Volcanoes erupted. A female voice echoed around in my head.

"If you think this is bad," she rumbled sleepily, "wait until what I have in store for you little heroes."

Her laughter faded and I was inside what felt like a vase. A small and pale girl with curly brown hair and a white dress huddled against the side, keeping herself warm. I reached out to comfort her when she suddenly turned her face to me, her brown eyes wide.

"Don't!" she squeaked. "Don't touch me! Touch and you let go of me!"

"What's your name?" I asked her.

"Elpis," she murmured. "I am what's left in Pandora's box."

"I don't remember you being mentioned in the myth," I commented.

"It's not a myth," she stated. "You should know this by now, young demigod. You know me by my other name. Hope."

My mind flipped to the story and I remembered.

"You cannot let go of me," she said, her eyes urgent. "Some are starting to lose hope. I get cold when people doubt. But I believe in humanity. You will win this war."

I nodded. "I know we'll get through."

She smiled weakly at me, some color returning to her cheeks.

When I woke around eight, I noticed that the uneasy feeling in my stomach that I'd had since I first came to camp was gone.

I hope you all liked it! The next chapter will also be more character development as we get to learn more about Eric and Elva. Stay tuned!

Review?

Over and out,

Mahersal