Sorry I know it's been a while. I kind of hit a wall and lost faith in the story. But thank you to everyone who is still reading and for the favorites/follows/reviews. They really help motivate me to keep writing. Again sorry it took so long. Hope you enjoy.

~secrethalfblood

Dpov

There was no change in Laney's or Chiron's condition over the next week and despite the head counselors' attempts to keep everything running as smoothly as possible while Chiron was out of commission, people around camp were starting to feel the same gnawing sense of unease I felt whenever I thought about it.

To make things worse, more people were getting sick. Within twenty four hours of Laney's admittance to the infirmary, Kevin came down with a fever, and two days letter Jessica joined him.

No one seemed to know what was going on or who was going to be next, and the strain was starting to show in the camp. A single sneeze could set an entire group in an activity on edge, and over lunch on Wednesday I heard Adam and Thea discussing the ramifications for cancelling activities until they got a better idea of what was going on.

The infirmary had been closed off to anyone other than camp staff members, select head counselors, and the children of Apollo who were working in it. Everyone was wondering if anyone else was going to get sick, and if so, when it was going to happen.

"What are we going to do?" I asked Thea as we sat together on the roof of the Big House. It was a warm sunny day, but it couldn't have less accurately reflected my mood. Not even Thea was smiling lately.

"I don't know Dennis." she said quietly looking worried. "I just wish we could figure what was going on. It doesn't make sense. I almost thought it was a curse, but that doesn't explain why it's hitting different cabins, or why the plants are dying. And who would want to curse Chiron?"

"So you really don't have any idea what's going on?" I asked her and she shook her head. She was hugging her knees to her chest, and I knew she felt just as powerless as I did. It was strange seeing Thea so upset. Usually she had all the answers, but this wasn't something she could think around and we both knew it.

"Does Chiron have any ideas?" I asked and she I noticed she wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Thea..." I started but again she refused to look at me.

"Thea, what's going on? What do you know?"

She was one of the few people allowed in the infirmary at the moment, so if anyone knew anything it was her.

"We can't really ask him." she said quietly looking over the camp.

"What do you mean by that?"

"We're not supposed to talk about it." she said her voice still low, but this time she did look at me. "We don't want to freak people out but,"

Her sentence faded however.

"But what?" I asked feeling anxiety creep through me. Whatever she'd been about to say was obviously pretty bad.

"Chiron's unresponsive." she said eventually.

"What?" I asked in horror and she nodded glancing at her hands.

"Yeah. We can't wake him up and it looks like Laney's heading the same way."

"What do you mean unresponsive?" I asked, panic flooding through me. "He's not-"

"He's alive." she said dispelling the worst of my fears, but just barely. "We just can't wake him up."

"And you think it's going to happen to Laney?" I whispered and she nodded.

"She's showing the exact same symptoms as he was before it happened."

"But why didn't you say anything?" I asked indignantly. "We need to do something! What about Kevin and Jess?"

"You think I don't know that?" she asked. "But what exactly do you want us to do? We've no idea what's wrong with them. We didn't say anything because we knew people would take it the same way you are now. We can't have the whole camp panicking. That would be chaos."

"What do the gods think? Did you talk to Dad?"

"He's got no answers, but to be honest I don't think he really cared all that much. But, that'll probably change now that the twins are..."

"What about Adam's father?" I asked hesitantly and Thea frowned.

"He's got no idea, though I doubt he'll do anything. He's got bigger problems than a couple of sick demigods. If his kids aren't involved he won't be either."

"Can't we get Apollo down here. I mean, his daughter is one of the people that are affected."

"You'd have to talk to one his children about that. We couldn't call him. He's already doesn't like Adam 'cuz he thinks he's disrespectful, and we crashed his ride."

I reflected on this and we sat in silence for a while, before she asked if I wanted to visit Tess to go over plans for the chariot race.

I looked at her in shock.

"We're still having it? With everything that's been going on?"

"We're going to try." she said with a nod. "We're trying to keep things running as normally as possible while we try to figure out what to do and part of that is keeping activities going."

I hesitated not really sure that this was the best plan, wasting time going on with activities, when we heard a door bang open under us.

We looked at each other, then scrambled to the ledge of the roof to see several Apollo kids running out of the building, each with med kits and two of them carrying a stretcher.

"Not another one." I said softly but Thea had stood.

"Stay here." she said flatly and stepped off the roof.

She hit the ground running and caught up with the Apollo children in a matter of seconds. I waited for several minutes, feeling tense and wondering who it would be and what had happened.

I saw the crowd making their way to the Big House slowly, several people surrounding an unsteady figure. As they got closer, I felt a hollow blow go through me when I recognized the person in the center.

It was Stephanie.

She'd apparently refused the stretcher and was trying to walk on her own, but after a few unsupported steps, she collapsed.

"Steph!" I said in horror jumping off the roof and like Thea, running the second my feet hit the ground.

People were coming out of their cabins and running from their activities to see what had happened, so by the time I'd made it to the group, they'd been completely encircled by curious, and in some cases, fearful campers.

"Let me through!" I said furiously pushing people out of my way. "Stephanie!"

She turned when she heard my voice and I saw with a pang of fear that she looked extremely faint, with dark circles under her eyes and her face was white. She looked as if she wanted to talk to me, but more people had swollen the crowd and confusion was starting to spread.

"What's wrong with her?" someone yelled.

"Who is it?"

"Is someone else sick?"

People were panicking now but I didn't care.

"Move!" I shouted shoving a boy from the Iris cabin but felt someone grab me by the back of the shirt and drag me out of the crowd.

"You're not helping." Adam's voice said and I turned to face him. He looked angry but not as angry as I felt.

"She's my friend." I almost shouted at him.

"Yeah and she's sick," he said crossing his arms over his chest. "She needs to get to the Big House."

He was glaring at me in the way he always did when he wanted to remind people he was son of Zeus but though I might have been intimidated a year ago, I wasn't afraid. I was almost as tall as him now, and though I might not have been as powerful as he was, I was much faster. I was pretty sure I could take him in a fight.

"Why?" I asked bitterly. "None of you know what's going on. You can't help her."

"You think we're not trying?"

"Don't act like you care." I said my temper getting the better of me. "You hate the Aphrodite sisters."

In his anger, sparks shot from his finger tips, but his voice was controlled when he spoke.

"Of course I want her to get better. But she needs medical attention and you freaking out and starting even more of a panic is not going to help. You need to calm down."

"I need you to get of my way so I can see my friend!"

I tried to push passed him but he didn't move.

"Dennis use your head." he stiffly and I could tell his control was starting to slip. "Even if you could get into the infirmary you don't know anything about healing. You'd just be in the way."

"Get out of my way!"

"You're so hot headed." he said impatiently. "Think for a second. There's nothing you can do. This is the same exact attitude that got you stranded in Seattle and forced Thea and I to come after you."

I felt a stab of anger go through me, along with a bit of embarrassment. How could he throw that in my face now?

"At least I did something." I spat. "If it were up to you my father might still be trapped!"

Though I'd grown to accept Adam over the past few years, this was one of the things I couldn't stand about him. He was just too calm and careful all the time. He always had to do things the 'right way', even if it meant not doing everything he could to fix something. Nothing ever bothered him. He never freaked out. It was like he didn't care.

He seemed to know what was on my mind because he let out a sigh, and the anger seemed to fade from him.

"Look. I know you're upset-"

"Of course I'm upset! It's my friends in there! My brother and sister! Not yours!"

"So you should do what's best for them and-"

But I'd heard enough. I wasn't that tiny thirteen year old he'd had to rescue before coming to camp, or had to save in Seattle. I was just as capable as him in the arena, and I felt my axe grow in my hand before I was aware of going for it.

"Get out of my way." I growled.

"Dennis! Calm down!" a panicked voice said and I felt someone push my arm down.

I looked down to see Hannah, her eyes wide, looking up at me.

"What are you doing?" she hissed. "Are you trying to get electrocuted?"

I glared at Adam, but realized she was probably right. How many times had Thea told me not to start fights? And Adam wasn't a smart person to challenge no matter how furious I was with him at the moment.

I took several deep breathes and banished my weapon, but was unable to control my anger completely.

"Dad was right. I don't get what she sees in you." I said narrowing my eyes at him and he looked a little surprised. I didn't have to say Thea's name for him to know exactly who I was talking about. "It's like you're a robot."

"Dennis." Hannah snapped but I ignored her.

Didn't he realize what was happening? How bad things were getting?

"Don't you care at all? They're her brother and sister too. What if it was Thea in there? Then would you be so calm? Or would you even care?"

This had been a mistake. Fury flashed across his expression and thunder cracked above us, shaking the ground. A few girls screamed, but I was too angry to care. I almost wanted him to start a fight, but Hannah had already grabbed my wrist and started to drag me away.

"What on Olympus were you thinking?" she asked furiously when we hit the cabins, far from the rest of the campers who'd congregated outside the Big House. "You realize he could vaporize you don't you?"

"At least he'd be doing something." I muttered darkly.

"Get it together Dennis." she said. "Of course Adam has to stay calm. He could destroy the whole camp if he's not careful."

I didn't answer and she looked frustrated.

"You just had to bring your sister up didn't you? You had to push his buttons."

"Well it's an effective method." said a familiar voice and we both looked behind us to see Ryan leaning against the Aphrodite cabin, looking at us with mild interest. It seemed that she alone had resisted the temptation to see what was going on at the Big House. Apart from us there was nobody here. "It seems like she's the only that causes a lapse in his restraint. You are talking about Adam, right?"

"How long have you been there?" Hannah asked a little awkwardly and Ryan looked at her without emotion.

"I was already here. You guys brought your conversation to me. If you didn't want to be heard, you should have been a little more careful."

"What do you want Ryan?" I asked too irritated to deal with her usual manner of practiced apathy.

"Well, I figured if everyone is gone, we'd better start planning."

"Planning?" Hannah asked confused.

"What are you talking about?" I asked and she raised an eyebrow.

"We're sneaking into the infirmary tonight, aren't we?"

"You want to sneak in the infirmary?" Hannah asked in disbelief and I felt suspicion.

"Why?" I asked my eyes narrowing and she shrugged.

"Hey if you want to stick with the counselors' plan of doing nothing than be my guest. But seeing as you know everyone that's in there, I would have thought you of all people would want to do something."

"I do, but why do you care? You hate the twins, and I know you don't like Stephanie." I said and at this I saw she looked a little embarrassed. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the grass.

"I don't hate the twins. They're just annoying but that doesn't mean I wanted them to get sick and I dunno." she shrugged. "Steph's been really nice to me. I figure she's gotta be scared and, well, she might like a visit from a friend. Might make her feel better."

I stared at Ryan in complete shock, but Hannah was looking at Ryan with a strange expression. Almost as if she wanted to ask her something, but wasn't sure if she should.

"Since when are you friends with Steph?" I asked, but thinking back through the week, I realized I had seen them together quite a few times. Maybe it was just because of the fact that Ryan's default expression when she was around other campers was annoyed, that I hadn't realized this pairing had been intentional.

"Does it really matter if I'm friends with Barbie or not?" she snapped sounding much more like her usual self. "We should be planning not dissecting my social life. Thea's distracted. We should take advantage of that."

"You're right." I said then I looked down at Hannah. "You coming with us?"

She hesitated for a second, looking uncertain, but then glanced at the Big House which seemed to harden her resolve.

"Yeah." she said with a nod. "I want to see Laney. See if there's anything I can do to help her."

"Then let's get moving." I said looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was coming. "We're going to need as much time as we can get."

...

Several hours later, the plan was set. It had taken a long time, because after denying so many people the opportunity to visit their friends the counselors had taken to keeping an eye on the Big House to make sure no one did exactly what we were planning to do tonight and sneak in.

Finally, after the campfire which Ryan had attended for once, we'd gone back to our cabins to wait until the other campers fell asleep.

"Are you sure we should be bringing flower power?" Ryan muttered as we waited outside the Persephone cabin for Hannah. "She's hasn't got our abilities, what if she gets us caught?"

"Don't call her that." I said irritated. "And she'll be fine. She's got two dogs and an ex-marine for a father and she still managed to sneak out whenever I picked her up past curfew at home."

"You're such a role model."

"Hey, I have at least avoided juvy." I pointed out.

"Technically so have I."

"Will you two shut up?" a voice whispered annoyed and we both jumped when Hannah dropped from the window of her bunk room. "You're going to get us caught."

"Told you she'd be fine." I said smirking at Ryan who shrugged and we started running towards the Big House.

"You guys remember the plan right?" I asked as we crouched under the window in Chiron's office. While usually a place that needed to be avoided when sneaking around camp past lights out, Ryan had correctly assumed that it was the one place that was likely to be unwatched.

Hannah nodded while Ryan scowled.

"We're not idiots. Besides, this was my idea."

Refusing to get drawn into an argument when silence was so critical, I ignored this comment and poked my head above the ledge.

"No one." I said in satisfaction. "You were right."

"Of course I was."

I mentally unfastened the latch on the window and slid it open, then pulled myself through it. I extended a hand to Hannah which she took and I pulled her through, but when I reached down for Ryan she ignored it and climbed in on her own.

The room was dark, as was the rest of the house, and looked exactly the same as it always had when he'd called me in here to yell at me. The walls were covered in the same pictures and the desk covered in papers. It was almost as if Chiron had been here this very night.

"Ok." I said keeping my voice low as Ryan silently shut the window behind us. "We know some of the Apollo kids and a few of the cabin heads are here to keep an eye on the sick campers during the night, so we're going to have to make a distraction. I'm going to sneak up to the attic and let off these firecrackers." I said patting my book bag to make sure they were still there. "You two make sure the coast is clear and that they've all gone to find the noise. If some stick behind, find something else to draw them out."

"Right." Hannah said with a nod.

"Meet at the infirmary door in five minutes."

But as soon as I picked the lock to Chiron's door open and stepped out into the hall, the lights flickered on.

"What the-?" I started but someone grabbed my shoulder and I was dragged away from the door.

Hannah cried out in shock and I heard Ryan swear, but just as my battle instincts took over and I went for my axe, something grabbed my wrist and it was twisted behind my back.

"That won't end well for you." said a voice and I felt a surge of dread go through me.

"How did you know?" I asked as Adam let go of me and I rubbed my wrist.

I turned to see his friend Kyle had gotten a hold of Ryan and Hannah was struggling against Derek, the head of the Ares cabin's, grip.

"You think after all the time I spend around your sister I don't know how a child of Hermes thinks?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Where is she?" I asked a pang of fear going through me.

"You don't need to look so worried. I convinced her to go back to your cabin for the night." he said looking at me with disapproval. "She's been spending nights here since Kevin was admitted but she needed sleep. Lucky for you. She wouldn't be happy to see you here."

"What should we do with them?" Kyle asked a little awkwardly but was then slightly distracted by the fact Ryan was trying to elbow him.

"Get off of me creep." she said sounding furious.

Hannah was struggling too, not that it did her much good. Derek was at least twice her size.

"Let them go at least." Adam said but Kyle had already released Ryan, who's elbow had finally connected. She'd hit him in the face.

"What is wrong with you?" he asked furiously and Ryan glared at him.

"I don't like to be touched."

"Usually we'd let Chiron figure this sort of thing out?" Derek said releasing Hannah and ignoring Kyle's difficulties. "Maybe we should just bring them back to their head of cabin?"

Another pang of fear went through me when I thought of Thea's reaction to me one, getting caught in general, and two, trying to break into a quarantine. I glanced at Adam who was looking at me with a frown and a calculated expression.

"Honestly I don't know how much good it'll do." he said with a shrug. "They're just going to try again."

"So what? You just want to let them go?" Kyle asked indignantly.

"You've got to be kidding me." Derek said. "We can't let them in there! What if they get sick?"

"They knew that when they came tonight." Adam said dispassionately. "If it means that much to them, let them. If it was other campers I'd agree with you but no point in trying to keep Dennis out. He's like Thea, he'll find away in."

"That doesn't mean we should open the door for him!" Derek almost shouted.

"Then try and stop him if you want." Adam said shrugging again. "Just don't expect me to help."

I looked at Derek who was sizing me up. He was another that used to terrify me when I was younger, but I was taller than him now and I could tell he was debating if a fight was worth it.

"I still think it's a bad idea." he muttered while Kyle frowned, but didn't raise an objection.

"Why'd you change your mind?" I asked Adam suspiciously.

"I don't see the point in wasting energy trying to stop you." he said crossing his arms over his chest.

"But earlier-"

"You almost started a riot." he said. "You were one push away from getting Stephanie caught in a fight. If you want to visit them I'm not going to stop you. Though, I can't promise you'll like what you find."

I hesitated, but then started to walk towards the infirmary with Hannah and Ryan on my heels.

We made it to door and I paused remembering what Adam had said, and wondering what was waiting for me other the other side.

"Well, are we doing this or not?" Ryan said grabbing the knob and pushing open the door.

Unsurprisingly, everyone was asleep. I saw a curtain had been placed around the bed where I assumed Chiron was, probably to avoid upsetting the responsive patients, but I noticed the temperature in the room was several degrees cooler than it had been in the hall and I felt Hannah draw closer to me as we stepped into the room.

"I don't like this." she said quietly.

"Is it just me or is it darker than it should be in here?" Ryan asked looking around in the shadows.

"It's night Ry."

"Gee I hadn't noticed." she said sarcastically. "But the moon is out tonight. Shouldn't it be brighter in here?"

I looked around too and found I couldn't help but think she was right. Something about the darkness in the room reminded me of when I'd been in Hephaestus's forge, in the parts that had been taken over by the gods Phobos and Deimos. Something about that place had been unnatural, and I got the same sort of vibe from the room.

"Something doesn't feel right." Hannah said apparently thinking along the same line as I was. She looked very disturbed and I thought I knew why. Her powers were centered around youth and new life of spring. I had a feeling she was far more aware of the failing health in the room than either Ryan or I were.

I looked at her for a moment, wondering why it hadn't occurred to anyone to ask the Persephone campers to try and sense anything, but before I could say this, the light flickered on.

"What?" Ryan asked defensively as we both stared at her indignantly and the infirmary occupants started to wake. "Were you planning on just staring at them all night?"

"Dude!" said an excited voice and I looked up to see a pale, but excited looking Kevin sitting up in his bed. Jessica was rubbing her eyes but grinned when she spotted me. "How'd you get passed the counselors?"

"You know me." I said. "Thing just tend to work out."

I smiled as I walked towards their beds, but it felt a little forced. Jessica was coughing and both of them looked exhausted.

"What are you doing here?" Jessica asked in amazement as Hannah drifted over to Laney and Ryan hesitated glancing at the twins, but then went to sit on the foot of Stephanie's bed. "Aren't you afraid you'll get sick?"

"I'm not afraid of a couple of germs." I said sitting on her bed and Kevin groaned, looking a little dizzy before laying down again.

"You should be." he said between rasping coughs. "This suuuuuucks."

I glanced at Laney, who seemed to be having trouble sitting up as well as she tried to talk to Hannah.

"Is anything helping?" I asked glancing at Stephanie who'd pulled Ryan into what looked like a bone crushingly tight hug.

"No." Jessica said shaking her head looking a little scared. "I mean sleep helps a little but we're afraid to for too long."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because that's how Chiron ended up not waking up." Kevin said. "It's all Laney does now. She only wakes up for meals and when the Apollo kids are trying to heal us."

He sneezed then groaned holding his ribs which must have felt awful after a week of coughing so much.

I looked at my siblings and felt a wave of sadness threaten to overwhelm me. Any other summer and we'd have spent this time plotting pranks and trying to find ways of causing trouble right under Thea's and Chiron's noses. Why was everything going so wrong?

"Laney looks a little better right now." Jessica said with a slight hopefulness in her tone and I glanced over at her bed. Hannah had brought her a couple of daffodils from the Persephone cabin's green house. She'd managed to sit up, propped on several pillows and was smiling asHannah changed the colors of the petals for her amusement.

I glanced at Stephanie's bed where she was quite happily braiding Ryan's hair. Ryan didn't look as happy, but I could tell she was refraining herself from complaining while to cheer up her friend.

Hannah noticed this as well, then caught my eye. She grinned, obviously amused.

"At least it's not freezing in here anymore." Jessica said. "We've been complaining to the Apollo kids to turn up the heat for days. Looks like they finally did."

This confused me for a moment, until I realized that it was suddenly much warmer in the room. What was going on?

"Hey, if Hannah's doing flower deliveries, can I get a few daisy next to my bed?" Jessica asked bringing my attention back to her. "I'd like to have something to stare at other than Kevin."

"Why? Are you jealous that I'm the better looking one?" he asked with a smirk and she tried to throw a pillow at him, but I caught it before it could make contact.

"Play nice. You guys are sick you don't need to be trying to kill each other with pillows." I said trying not to cringe when I realized that was exactly the sort of thing Thea would have done when in 'counselor mode'.

"Ok Dad." Jessica said rolling her eyes.

"Dude, we've got Thea checking up on us every hour, we don't need you to do her job for her." Kevin said annoyed.

"Well can you at least try and not kill each other while I go say hi to Laney and Steph?" I asked.

"But we're bored." Jessica complained.

"Yeah, you know how it is, we're not meant to be confined to a room. Hermes kids are supposed to run around and cause havoc."

"Well you can do that when you get better." I said amused while handing Jessica back her pillow and crossing the room to where Stephanie's and Laney's beds were. Stephanie was still 'beautifying' Ryan's hair, so I decided to talk to Laney first.

"Hey." I said and both she and Hannah looked up, Hannah from the foot of the bed where she was sitting.

"Hey." Laney said then coughed. I felt my stomach sink when I heard how weak her voice was. "You didn't come here 'cuz you broke anything did you?" she asked with a wheezing laugh.

"Nope." I said trying to smile. "I am perfectly alright."

"Physically maybe." she muttered. "Mentally I think we've got some work to do."

Hannah laughed.

"So you don't have any idea what's going on?" I asked her and she shook her head. Even that minuscule movement seemed to drain her of her energy because she closed her eyes and leaned farther back against her pillows.

"I wish I did Dennis." she said quietly. "I really do but I've never treated something like this before. I can't figure out what's causing it or how people are getting it. My siblings have called my dad, and even he can't seem to find a cure."

"How is it possible that no one knows what this is?" I asked as she coughed again. She was even paler than Kevin.

"I couldn't tell you." she said weakly. "I wanted to use my time here to research, I even had your sister pull some books for me." she gestured towards a stack of them on her nightstand. "But I'm just so exhausted."

"You don't need to be doing anymore work." Hannah told her in a comforting manner. "Just focusing on getting better."

"Do you mind if I take a look at these?" I asked picking up one of the books.

"Go ahead." she said vaguely. "At least someone will be reading them."

I opened the book to see that Laney had been reading the old mythology stories, obviously trying to find a story with similar circumstances, but none came to mind. I made a mental note to ask Thea. I had no memory for these kinds of stories, but having lived at camp for years Thea was full of them.

"Hannah." Stephanie said brightly and we all turned to look at her. She was looking extremely happy having pulled Ryan's hair into an very pretty but complex braid. "Do you think you could find some flowers that would set this off?"

Ryan glowered but kept her mouth shut, and I could tell it was taking everything in Hannah's power to keep herself from laughing.

"I've got just the thing."

She took one of the daffodils she'd brought Laney out of the vase on her nightstand, then after a look of concentration, there was a flash and she was holding a handful of small flowers with blue petals.

"Perfect!" Stephanie cried happily as Hannah held up her hand so Stephanie could set them in Ryan's hair.

Ryan shot Hannah a look that promised pain, which Hannah ignored and I walked over to Stephanie.

"How are you feeling?" I asked as Stephanie continued to strategically place flowers.

"Well today kind of sucked." she said admiring her handy work as she positioned the last blossom at the end of the braid and looked up at me. "But it's great now."

"For you." Ryan muttered.

"Hey, I'm sick." Stephanie said looking positively cheerful about it. "You, miss storm cloud, have to be nice to me."

"Do you have any idea what's going?" I asked. She looked much better than the others, but I knew it was only a matter of time before she ended up like Laney, hardly able to talk.

"If I did don't you think I would have told someone?" she asked raising an eyebrow. "Ryry's got a theory though." she said nudging Ryan. "I can tell."

"Shut up Steph." she muttered and I had the feeling she was avoiding my gaze.

"What is it?" I asked quickly.

"It's nothing." Ryan said still not looking at me.

"Ryan if you think you know something you need to tell someone."

"It's probably just a coincidence."

"What is?"

"Well." she said a little awkwardly. "Look around Dennis. What's the one thing these people all have in common?"

"Nothing." I said frowning. They weren't in the same groups at camp. None of them with the exception of the twins were in the same cabin. And from what I could tell, they didn't even have a lot of activities together. "What are you talking about?"

She hesitated again, and I was amazed to see she looked worried. She'd completely abandoned her usual indifferent attitude. She looked as if she didn't want to say what she was about to.

"Haven't you noticed Dennis?" she asked quietly. "They're all close to you."

I felt a cold sense of dread spread through me as I looked around the infirmary. What I saw made my blood turn to ice. My siblings, my friends, and behind the curtain, my mentor. Ryan was right and I was wrong. These people were connected. Through me.

I fell into a chair next to Stephanie's bed and put my head in my hands.

"I told you you wouldn't like what you'd find." Adam said and I looked up to see he was leaning against the wall next to the door, his expression unreadable.

"You knew?" I asked him furiously.

"Thea figured it out." he said. "After she saw it was Stephanie who'd collapsed earlier."

"Why didn't she tell me?"

"Because you're her little brother." he said shrewdly. "She wanted to protect you. She'd rather you didn't find out. But you had to have it your way."

"But if it's my fault-"

"It's not your fault." he said flatly. "You didn't spread this thing around. Whoever did is to blame, but whoever it is is probably angry at you."

"Is that why you let us in?" Ryan asked. "You wanted us to figure it out?"

"But what good does that do?" Hannah asked looking upset. "All it does it make Dennis feel bad."

"Because he can start trying to figure out what he did that put all this into motion." He said and I was surprised to see he was looking at me very intently. "Can you think of anything you might have done? Anyone powerful enough to do this that you might have angered?"

"I-I don't know." I said very aware of everyone staring at me. I'd been on a lot of missions where I'd killed powerful monsters, but nothing I could think of to cause something like this.

"That's not an answer." he said sounding frustrated. "Think."

"Why does it matter to you?" I asked in confusion. I couldn't seem to get my thoughts in order. Panic was clouding my mind.

"Well that's obvious." Ryan said and we all looked at her. "If whatever is going on is targeting people you care about, I think Adam's figured out that there's a good chance that his fiance is next."