Gods, I'm such a horrible person. A fan wrote two one-shots based around ITPS and I didn't even mention it in my last chapter! One of them was even gifted to me!

They're on AO3 by the name of lucifersfavoritechild (users/lucifersfavoritechild/pseuds/lucifersfavoritechild). One is an AU called Scars (works/8823247), and the other is from Luke's POV during Chapter 24 called Please Don't Leave Me (works/8900980). You should totally go check them out. I'm just over the moon that someone loves my stories so much that it's inspired them to write these one-shots. So thank you! I'd also like to thank them for their lovely, thought-out comments! ^_^

While I've got you here, I'd also like to give a special thanks to Queen-of-Ice101, here on FF, because she also leaves such lovely, thought-out reviews that I always look forward to reading, and that always make me smile. Thank you, too!

All right, with that, forward march!

Over the Hills and a Great Way Off

I was just exiting the arena when I heard, "Psst!" coming from the woods. I froze and looked at them warily, my hand going to my sword. I couldn't see anyone. As I've stated before most of the campers here—demigod, nympth, and satyr alike—knew not to sneak up on me or surprise me in any way, lest I attack them. So whoever was trying to get my attention was pushing their luck.

"Over there," they stage whispered. I was too far away to determine which direction the voice was coming from, but doing another scan of the woods, I saw movement to my left. Someone was peeking out from behind a tree, waving their hand. I narrowed my eyes, trying to get a better look at who it was. They continued waving. Looking around to make sure no one else had noticed, I started toward them.

As I got closer, I noticed it was TJ, and was thoroughly confused. It'd been at least a month since the three newbies had arrived and saved Hera (I still hadn't visited Bunker 9, and it seemed Leo had gotten caught up in building the ship, he didn't have much time to talk to me again). I saw TJ around camp and sometimes we'd chat, but since I didn't go out on extraction missions anymore (I was afraid Gaea hadn't repealed her reward for my death, despite my dream), I didn't interact with him for long periods of time.

Side note: speaking of dreams, I was starting to get them again. Demigod dreams. Not just that, but they were most likely prophetic dreams, as children of Apollo got (we also got feelings and flashes, too, if you were wondering). This one involved music, what sounded like a child's nursery rhyme. Unfortunately, only the melody played, there were no lyrics, so I couldn't determine what it was. (My mom didn't sing nursery rhymes, she sang music from her generation or requests from me.) This came along with the feeling of helplessness and a grainy vision of what I thought was a flower as it'd been shot on a very old camera. It was too out of focus to determine what kind of flower. All I knew was that it was yellow.

Anyway, I finally got to TJ and was about to ask him what was with this cloak-and-dagger thing he had going on when he quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me behind the tree. I tensed and struggled not to react instinctively and accidentally hurt him.

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

TJ ignored me and instead asked, "This is your free period right?" releasing my arm and looking over his shoulder, around the tree to check for…something. Probably someone, but no one was around that I could see.

"Why are we whispering?" I asked in a whisper.

TJ's eyes darted around. "The trees have ears."

I sighed. "We're in the forest," I deadpanned in a normal voice.

"Shhh!"

I gave him a look, a bit put out at his shushing. "If you wanted to go somewhere more private, maybe you shouldn't have picked a forest full of tree nymphs."

"That won't be a problem. I just want to make sure we're far enough away," TJ responded, looking around again.

"Far away from what? TJ, what's this about?" I crossed my arms.

"Let's take a walk, then I'll tell you." TJ started to clop away, but I moved to stand in front of him.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what this is about," I told him.

TJ looked uncertain and pained at the ultimatum I was giving him but he finally sighed. He looked away, reaching a hand up to rub his arm, shifting on his hooves. If I wasn't mistaken, he was blushing. Finally, he mumbled something, but it was too quiet for me to hear.

"TJ," I sighed.

"A tree nymph, it's about a tree nymph," TJ finally exclaimed, dropping his arms and clenching his hands into fists. His face had gone completely red.

It took me a moment to comprehend what he was talking about it. When I did, I was shocked that he was coming to me. For…relationship advice. Of all things. I knew he knew my story, and I just couldn't believe he thought, me, out of everyone here at camp, would have the best advice for dating. Me!

"Wouldn't someone from the Aphrodite cabin be better suited for this discussion?" I asked.

TJ looked away again. "The Aphrodite cabin scare me."

I wanted to laugh, but it got caught in my throat as I thought of Drew and Piper. Maybe it was unfair to lump Piper into Drew's category of mean, but all I needed to know about her was that she was a charmspeaker. "Fair enough." I looked around and let out a breath. "But why me?" I asked, looking back at TJ. "There's got to be a much better option at camp than me, of all people. Not even in the Aphrodite cabin. One of your satyr friends? Or any of the nymphs as camp. I'm sure they'd be happy to help."

"I don't want my other friends making fun of me or pushing me to do something I'm uncomfortable with," he mumbled, looking down at the ground. Suddenly, TJ's head snapped back up and he looked at me like he'd just realized something. He blinked, looking stunned or…surprised?

"What?"

TJ started like he'd been shocked. "Well I just thought—" he broke off, frowning.

"That I'd be the best option because of my relationship with Luke?" I prodded. "Because if that's the case, you might want to sit down and reassess your life choices."

TJ's frown deepened. "No. It's just that Nick—" He broke off again.

I jumped at Nick's name. Why was he mentioning Nick? I mean, sure these past few weeks, I'd been hanging out with him after elementary swordsmanship. But that was only because I wanted to see a new magic trick. He always delivered. I really enjoyed getting to see him doing what he loved, because he wasn't blushing or stuttering or nervous. It was a nice change. I didn't have to worry about doing or saying something wrong and causing him to turn red in the face.

"What about him?" I asked carefully.

TJ lifted a hand, weakly pointing at me. "You mean you and him aren't—" He broke off yet again, his eyebrows furrowing. I wanted to scream. "Never mind." TJ shook his head and lowered his hand. "Why don't we just…talk about my relationship struggles—" TJ tried to head off, but I blocked his path, reaching out to grasp his upper forearms.

"No, wait, what? We're not what?"

TJ blushed, his eyes full of regret. I glared at him, staring him down. I kept my hold on his arms.

"Notacouple," TJ finally mumbled so quickly, all his words jumbled together.

My hands dropped and I took a step back. "What? Has he been telling people that?" I growled. "He won't be for very long." I started to head out of the edge of the forest, grabbing my dagger and unsheathing it.

TJ ran in front of me, holding out his hands. "No!" he exclaimed, trying not to trip as he walked backward because I was forcing him to. "No, he hasn't said anything like that." I stopped, not quite believing him. "I swear on the Styx, he hasn't been saying anything about you guys being together." I huffed before sheathing my dagger. Now I was agitated and worked up.

TJ relaxed, lowering his arms. "It's not like he has to anyway," the satyr muttered, looking at a bush.

"What does that even mean?" I snapped.

TJ looked back at me, his eyes wide in surprise. "You don't see it? You…honestly don't see it?"

"See what? What are you talking about?"

"It's so painfully obvious—"

"Well not to me!"

"He is crushing so hard on you," TJ half-laughed. I straightened up, for I'd been hunching my shoulders in frustration, and looked at TJ, bewildered. I suddenly felt lightheaded and stumbled. I automatically reached out for something to steady me and found a boulder large enough for me to sit on. In a daze, I sat down, looking around at the forest to my left and the camp to my right.

I just…couldn't believe someone had a crush on me. It was hard to fathom. Not just because it seemed impossible that someone could seemingly fall in love so fast, but also that I could ever love someone else again after Luke.

I knew, just because Nick had a crush on me, that didn't mean I had to like him back. Still…it just didn't register in my brain that someone liked me. Had he heard anything of my predicament? Of my part in the war? What about Luke? What had his siblings been telling him about Luke? And my relationship with him, especially?

"Oh, I should've never even mentioned it," TJ groaned, pacing.

"I just…just need a moment to sit and think about this," I said in a weak voice.

"Okay, great. But do you think you could sit and think about it further into the forest, maybe?"

My eyes slid over to him so I could glare. He grinned, equal parts shit-eating and nervous. It was actually quite impressive.

I shook off my shock and my swirling thoughts, physically waving my hand noncommittally. "It's just a crush. He'll get over it." I quickly rationalized, standing. "What…what relationship stuff did you want to talk to me about?" I locked away this new information, I'd think about it later. Or, potentially, not at all.

"Come on," TJ said, heading further into the forest. I followed, looking behind me to make sure no one had spotted us for how long we were standing at the edge of the woods, and tried to follow us.

Once I determined no one had seen us, I faced forward and walked alongside TJ quietly.

We reached the river before he finally stopped. We found a dry spot close to the bank of the river and settled down.

"It's a tree nymph," he finally said quietly. "Wait, did I say that already? I said that already, didn't I? Well, anyway, her name is Willa. She's one of the willow trees near the lake. You know the one hanging over the water. Her flowers are a gorgeous pink during the spring. I've seen her gossiping with the water nymphs. She's really outgoing and likes to chat with everyone as far as I can tell. She talked to me once, I was so nervous I didn't hear half of what she was saying." TJ laughed, then realized this or that he'd accidentally said too much and abruptly stopped. Blushing he glanced worriedly at me.

"Look, if this is too painful or something, because I know that you…well, lost Luke, then you don't have to listen to this." TJ rubbed the back of his neck nervously, continuing on in a rushed voice. "You were right, I shouldn't have come to you. I don't know what I was thinking." His hands flew out in front of him as he got animated. "I mean, we're friends, right, and that's what friends talk about? Friends help each other out, give each other advice?" He turned to look at me again. "We are friends, aren't we? I didn't just jump to an uncomfortable conclusion, did I?" I opened my mouth to respond, but TJ's eyes widened in horror and he turned away, putting his head between his hands.

"Oh my gods, I did, didn't I. The only time we really interact is on missions. I'm so sorry. You probably don't want to hear about my personal life. Much less my relationships—" I put a hand on TJ's shoulder and squeezed, to make him stop.

Slowly, he lowered his hands from his head and looked over at me with nervous eyes.

I gave him a small, sad smile. "We're friends." I assured, removing me hand from his shoulder. "And if I'm being honest, it hurts sometimes." I looked away, out across the river. I was suddenly reminded of the time I'd first learned of Luke's betrayal, when he'd almost killed Percy.

"To see people so happy with their significant other," I continued. "But just because I lost Luke doesn't mean others should have to suffer like I have." My voice lowered. "Like I still am." I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. "Ah, sorry, that got a little…well, anyway, I don't mind you coming to me at all." I looked back at TJ and gave him a slightly bigger smile.

TJ looked at me for a long moment. I couldn't read the expression on his face. Shock, maybe? Or…was it some sort of wonder? A mix? It was hard to tell.

"Thank you," TJ finally said with so much emotion behind his words, I was stunned. TJ looked away. "The problem I'm having is getting to know Willa better," he murmured in a low voice, his nervous energy practically gone, subdued. "I want to so badly, but…I'm scared that she won't like me back."

"Well, I mean, you'll never know if you don't try," I told him honestly. TJ let out a choking noise. "Did…did I say something wrong?"

TJ looked over at me with an odd expression before he burst out laughing. I frowned, confused.

"What's funny?" I asked.

"You're just…you're just very…blunt," TJ managed through his snickers. "I just…wasn't expecting it. I mean, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but that certainly wasn't it." He fell into another fit of giggles.

I still didn't quite see what was so funny, but at the very least, I no longer felt insulted. I'd gotten enough comments about my bluntness from my siblings, I knew this about myself.

TJ was wiping his eyes when he finally calmed down.

"Oh, gods, I'm so sorry," he said, some snickers escaping now and again. "I guess…I guess I'd stressed myself out about this more than I thought."

"It's all right," I murmured. His laughing fit had given me time to think. "I may have simplified it a bit, I'm realizing. I honestly don't know what to tell you about how to start talking to her more. Try and find something you love so much that you don't even remember to be nervous to talk to her about, maybe?" I suggested, briefly thinking of Nick before quickly locking away that problem again. "If you'd like, I can come with you to help…break the ice…" I trailed off, thinking about my chat with Leo, then. I was still pretty sure, I did better with ice.

"Here's what I know," I finally said, looking down at the flowing river, letting the sound of the water running over the rocks soothe me. "You have to be brave. Even though you're scared. You've got to find the strength to push through that fear and open up. It's true, what they say, that opening yourself up to the good also means opening yourself up to the bad. The bad seems…so much worse." I paused, swallowing hard. I felt bile build up in my throat, and tears flooded my eyes.

I blinked to dispel the tears and continued in a thick voice. "But the good is a million times better." I had to stop again, bracing myself. I felt so exposed. "My time with Luke was…very short," I managed, my lower lip trembling. I reached up to wipe away some stray tears and took a deep breath to keep the sobs at bay. "But it was…one of the best times of my life. And…" My voice lowered to a whisper. "I wouldn't trade that for anything."

I blinked, tears spilling from my eyes. I took a deep, steadying breath. TJ was silent, letting me recover. I was grateful for that. When my hands stopped shaking and my heartrate slowed, I let out another small breath before looking over at TJ.

"Does…does that help?" I finally asked, glancing at him through my peripherals. He was staring at the river. Slowly, he blinked once before turning his head to look at me. I turned my head, too, to face him directly.

"Yeah," he said in a soft voice. Blushing, he cleared his throat and spoke a little louder. "Thank you. I…I have some thinking to do. If…if I need to talk…"

I smiled. "You can come to me."

TJ gave me a relived smile. "Thanks. I'll…see you later." He stood, brushing off dirt from his backside.

"Yeah, I'll see you later." I watched him go, disappearing into the trees. Once he was completely out of my line of sight, I turned back to face the river and let my emotions wash over me, taking deep breaths, letting my tears fall. I curled in on myself, pulling my legs to my chest, and burying my face in my arms that were resting on my knees, as my sobs resurfaced.

I went up to the bronze brazier to scrape some of my food into the flames, more out of habit than anything else. If I had a decision that wouldn't get me killed, I would have chosen to stay at my table and just eat. As it was, I was more afraid Mr. D would punish me for not honoring the gods than Apollo. So I continued to offer tribute.

I wasn't really paying attention to anyone else around me, but across the flames of the brazier, a voice floated toward me. I stiffened and my eyes slid up to her as she said, "Victoria, just the person I was looking for."

Drew gave me a smile. To anyone else it would look harmless, a friendly smile exchanged with a camp-mate. But I could see the venom in her eyes, to me it looked like the grin of a snake. My alarm bells went off, but I struggled to keep my mask of indifference and turned.

"Go away," I muttered. I heard the scuffle of quick feet and suddenly Drew was there again, standing in front of me, holding out a hand in a stop gesture, coming this close to physically touching one of my arms. She must've known, though, not to touch me. I'd probably snap if she did.

"That's not way to treat a fellow camper, is it?" she asked in an innocent tone, but it was too loud, she was purposefully projecting her voice.

I could hear the dining pavilion still around me. Conversations died down, silverware stopped scraping against plates, the people at the brazier stopped shifting.

I glared at her, wondering what she was up to, not trusting the look in her eyes, the tone of her voice. "Go. Away." I tried to get past her, but her next words froze me to the spot.

"I wanted to ask you why you don't go to the climbing wall with the rest of your siblings," Drew said. I gripped my plat to keep from dropping it.

"That's really none of your business," I hissed. I could feel my heart racing in my chest and I glanced at the rune on my wrist. With more practice, I was becoming better at controlling it, but I was afraid in a real situation I might lose the control I'd worked so hard to gain. Not only that, but my chronic pain was acting up again today, so I wasn't in the mood for Drew's pettiness. Which also made it hard to concentrate on control.

"Actually," she responded, nearly shouting. Not like she needed to. She already had the camp's attention. "I think it is my business. And your siblings' business. I'd even argue it's the rest of the camp's business."

"What are you going on about?' I growled through gritted teeth.

"Drew, please," Chiron said, maneuvering his way out from behind the head table and making his way over to me and Drew. "If you have a problem with scheduling, come see me. I am the activities director."

Drew ignored Chiron. "All I'm saying is that I think it's unfair that you don't have to do the climbing wall at all anymore," Drew exclaimed, shrugging. I felt the charmspeak wash over me, leaving an overly sweet aftertaste in my mouth. "When the rest of us have to do it." Around me, I heard people start to whisper and mutter. Chiron slowed his trot until he'd stopped completely.

Piper was the only one not entranced, probably because she knew what charmspeak felt like, too. She stood, her every-changing eyes hardening.

"Drew, just sit down," she hissed, her hands balling into fists. Piper may know how to handle Drew in private, but in public? That was a whole different battleground. Drew simply ignored Piper, only momentarily giving her attention by way of a snide look before facing me again.

"These are special circumstances, Chiron cleared it," I defended myself.

"Oh, so you're special now, are you?" Drew asked.

"No! I didn't say that—"

"I believe that technical term for what you claim you have is…" Drew looked away, pretending to think, tapping her chin with her pointer finger. "Chronic pain?"

My breath left me as if someone had just literally stolen it and my plate almost fell out of my hand. The world grew silent. She'd just told the whole camp something so personal, something I didn't want anyone else knowing, other than the people I chose to tell, I felt betrayed. I wasn't sure why, because it wasn't like I trusted her…but maybe I expected more from her than I should have, like common decency.

Furthermore, how did she know? How did she figure it out? It couldn't have been one of my siblings. Not Nico, either. He was good at keeping secrets. Nick didn't know, despite his inquiries about what'd happened the day I'd sparred with Nico and collapsed afterward. Maybe…one of my siblings had accidentally let it slip to the wrong person. That seemed the only explanation.

Maybe she had charmspoken to them.

I felt the anger appear and start to slowly grow.

Drew's words rang in my ears and I realized something. I forced myself to come back to the real world and focused in on Drew, my eyebrows furrowing in resentment.

"And what's that supposed to mean? 'Claim to have'?" I repeated, bearing my teeth in a snarl. I could feel my anger growing ever more, and with it the magic and Mist. Like I'd practiced with Lou, I tried to split my concentration—one part focused on controlling the magic and the other part on what was happening now.

"Exactly what it sounds like," Drew retorted haughtily. "I think it's a cop-out. I think you just don't like the climbing wall and wanted to get out of it. It's not like you can prove you've got chronic pain or anything. Even if you have, you're being kind of wimpy about it. Take some ambrosia or something and push through."

Blood roared in my ears, I could feel myself shaking. I wasn't even sure if I was still controlling the magic anymore. At the same time, I felt frozen, paralyzed even. I wanted to move, to shove her, sock her in the nose, yell at her, anything to stop her from talking more, but it was like there was a disconnect between my brain and my body. I thought these things, but nothing was translating to movement in my muscles.

Drew continued, seemingly unaware of my growing rage.

"Does it have something to do with the first time you fell off the climbing wall? At the end of this past summer? Couldn't use grief over Luke any longer and realized you needed some new excuse?"

The line between my brain and my body reconnected with an audible snap. I felt it. I heard it. I threw my plate down and lunged toward Drew, but was held back by two of my siblings, who rushed forward as soon as Drew had mentioned Luke.

"Let go of me!" I screamed, fighting against them. Turns out, two wasn't enough. I broke free and started toward Drew again, who'd taken a few steps away, eyes wide with fear. Real fear. Good.

But I didn't make it far before my other siblings had stood and pulled me back. They were are holding onto me now, hands on my arms, arms around my waist. Their hands, their arms, my struggles… it was too reminiscent, too familiar—orderlies holding me down, strapping me to a bed like an animal.

My heart went into overdrive. My mind panicked. My emotions shifted so violently from rage to fear, I was left breathless and dizzy.

"Let go! Let go, please!" I gasped, still struggling, but my tone had changed. The way I pulled against them became desperate. They immediately recognized this and the weight left me. I lurched forward, toward the edge my cabin's table, leaning heavily on it. I was trembling, my heart racing, my breath gasping and ragged. My chronic pain had skyrocketed. I could barely think. My whole body wanted to collapse.

I put a hand over my mouth, squeezing my eyes closed, trying not to completely break down in front of everyone. This was a mistake, though, because I was having a panic attack, and already felt like I couldn't breathe. I turned and high-tailed it out of there, removing my hand from my mouth as I did.

I tripped a few times on my way to the Apollo cabin, but I forced myself to get back up. My vision was blurring, darkness closing in the more I ran. Despite my desperate gasps for air as I ran, my head felt like it was going to split open from the oxygen deprivation. I had to make it back to my cabin, though. I wasn't about to collapse out in the open, for everyone to see.

I refused.

I managed to somehow get back to the cabin, but as I was going up the steps of the porch, my foot caught on one of them. I went flying forward, and hit the wooden floors painfully. What little breath I felt I had was knocked from my lungs. I didn't have the strength to get back up, but as I laid there gasping for breath, I feebly reached toward the door knob, my vision steadily going black until it covered my vision and I passed out.

The music started up again, a haunting, melancholy tune played on the piano. For some reason, it made my heart ache. Like an old Super 8 camera starting up, an image flickered in my vision before steadying out. The picture was clearer now. I still couldn't tell if it was a flower yet, but the outline of it was more defined than last time. Instead of being a yellow blob, it looked more like the shape of, presumably, a flower.

The melancholy vanished, suddenly, replaced by that horrible helpless feeling. The feeling I hated most. It reminded me of when my mom had been killed, or when Luke had died. Both times I'd felt so utterly and completely helpless to do anything to prevent the inevitable. And this frightened me. Every time I felt such crippling helplessness, it was when loved ones had died. Did that mean someone close to me was going to die?

I didn't want to think about it too much, because it only sent me into a panic. My brain first went to Dan. I wouldn't be able to handle life if he died. When I tried to rationalize my brain away from that, it went to any or all of my siblings. If one of them had died, I'd probably lose it, too. Out of everyone at camp, they stood by me, despite my reputation. Even if they didn't quite approve of Luke or my relationship with him, they didn't let that get in the way of my relationship with them.

I jerked awake with a small whimper. I couldn't think about my dream for too long because as soon as I'd fully awoken, prickles invaded my mind, wholly and completely. I could barely think, barely even breathe. I couldn't even get up and move to take some pain meds. All my mind could think about or focus on was the pain, the static, the noise. Today wasn't going to be a productive day.

Among the static, though, a thought burst to life: my chores. I felt my heart jerk in my chest, breaking up the pin-pricks every time my heart beat, pushing them away, only for them to come crowding back in.

What time was it? Was it the next day? Did I already miss the morning? Was I going to be punished any moment now for neglecting my duties?

I was afraid of Mr. D more than most anything in this world, so I decided I'd be getting up, despite the pain I was in. With a grunt, I pushed myself up, trying to get out of bed. My body didn't like this and I tumbled out of bed, rather than actually standing. Groaning, I pushed myself into a sitting position. By now, my siblings had approached me. They seemed to have just appeared out of nowhere, but I was also barely aware of most things that weren't immediately around me.

They got me to my feet and tried to set me back in bed, but I feebly struggled against them.

"No," I mumbled weakly. "No…chores. I have…" I trailed off, forcing breath through my teeth as the pain consumed me for a moment before dying down a little.

"We'll take care of everything for you today," Kayla said. She was squeezing my shoulder.

I shook my head, afraid they'd be punished for doing my chores. "I can't…"

"You need to rest," Will said firmly, pushing my back down onto the bed.

"It'll be fine for a day," Cressida assured soothingly.

I wanted to object more, but blackness was encroaching on my vision yet again. Giving in, I carefully laid back down, pulling my legs back up onto the bed, feeling like they each weighed a ton.

"Thanks," I mumbled, rolling over and closing my eyes, hoping I'd either fall asleep or pass out, whichever came first.

As the days passed, I avoided Drew and the Aphrodite cabin. After talking to Chiron about it, it was tentatively decided that I would no longer have to do cabin inspections, to avoid another confrontation. All my activities that had any of the Aphrodite cabin in them were rearranged, so they were no longer in my class. I felt a little bad, because the only Aphrodite kids in any of my classes were elementary archery and swordsmanship. Still, Chiron didn't want to risk it.

He also said he'd be having a stern talking to with Drew. I only hoped Drew wouldn't use her charmspeak on him. Though, I hoped, if she tried (because she struck me as the person who'd do that) he wouldn't be swayed. He was at least three centuries old, at this point, he should've been immune to a lot of magic that was similar to charmspeak as well as charmspeak itself. (Maybe it was me being too optimistic.) Chiron also assured me he'd have a separate talk with Piper about being a head counselor and making sure these things didn't happen, and if they did, to try and break it up, and how to go about it while keeping it civil.

To be quite honest, I wasn't keen on either of his strategies—I wasn't sure what a simple talk was going to do. Honestly, I was kind of angry we kept Drew here, with her history of abuse toward other campers because she knew how to charmspeak. Then again, it wasn't like Chiron to throw a demigod out and have them fend for themselves.

Still, Piper didn't seem like the type to be able to get Drew under control. Since they both could charmspeak, it wasn't like that magic was going to work on either of them. Maybe it would, but they'd be able to snap out of it faster than most, because they knew what it felt like, recognized that sort of magic.

Whatever the case, however, the damage had already been done. As I walked around camp I could feel people's stares on my back. Some of it was pity, some of it was disappointment or displeasure (they probably thought I was faking it, too), some of it was just out of curiosity. When I passed, they'd lean over to their friend and whisper something, eyes still on me. It was starting to get annoying.

Not only that, but I was and would always be angry at Drew for revealing something so personal. Why did she think she was so high and mighty that she could reveal someone's personal information? She needed to be knocked down a peg. Or fifty.

I decided I wasn't going to investigate how she'd found out though. It was a waste of the precious energy I barely had enough of from day to day. It didn't matter anyway, because the fact was that the information was out there now. Everyone knew. Finding out who'd told her, accidentally or not, wasn't going to change that.

Besides, I had more pressing matters to worry about, because my dreams—little did I know—were starting to affect me in a way I wasn't prepared for. Unlike my other dreams, I wasn't so nervous about staying up for as long as I could. It wasn't disturbing per se, but waking up with flashbacks of my mom and Luke's death didn't do me any good. Despite that, though, the rest of the dream seemed pretty innocuous.

Every night I had them, the vision becoming clearer and clearer until I could make out a daffodil. It sat in a black void, a light making it almost glow against the background. A small pile of dirt covered its roots, but the flower drooped as if it hadn't been watered in a while. The picture was just slightly out of focus, but not so much that it still looked like a blob.

I was unsure of what the symbolism there was. Maybe it meant something in flower language, but it wasn't like I studied that, so I didn't know. I was tempted to ask the Demeter cabin, but interacting with anyone at camp aside from my siblings and the kids in my elementary classes made me anxious. I didn't want to see their looks of pity or disbelief or curiosity like I was some kind of specimen. I didn't want them to snub me or insult me if I tried to have an earnest conversation, which had happened more often than you'd think.

So I set it aside, hoping that if I could take my mind off it for long enough, I'd have an epiphany about what it could possibly mean. Maybe something would be added to my dreams or they would become clearer alongside the flower.

Because the music played so often in my dreams, the tune would get stuck in my head. I'd unintentionally start humming without thinking about it. Sometimes, I was very aware of it, and would even stop listening to my music to hum it, thinking maybe doing so would get it out of my head. Listening to other songs, for some reason, didn't seem to work. It only seemed to distract me from my task.

Strange things started happening, though. They were little at first, nothing to really catch my attention and hold it. Or to make them think there was a connection between these incidences.

It started in the morning, when I hummed the tune to Peleus as we watched the sunrise. He stilled, didn't even rumble contentedly every now and again like he usually did when I sang to him. When I'd finished to go clean the outside restrooms, Peleus shifted and shook his head like he was coming out of a trance.

As I cleaned the restrooms, the camp seemed silent. Too silent, like nothing was moving at all. You know the kind of silence I'm talking about. It was like being in a classroom with people shifting, writing notes, the sound of people breathing, the sound of people even though no one was talking. It was like that with the camp, it seemed alive even if no one was talking. Tree nymphs and wind nymphs, only helped with animating the camp. When I hummed that tune, though, the camp stilled. The breeze stopped, the bugs, animals, and monsters seemed to freeze. As soon as I stopped, the movement picked back up.

The same thing happened when I was cleaning the stables, humming the nursery rhyme. The horses in their stalls stilled. They stopped neighing and whinnying. They were utterly silent and still. As soon as I stopped, they resumed whatever they'd been doing. They shifted on their hooves, shook their heads, whinnied and neighed.

At this point I was starting to get a little suspicious. Perhaps the song was enchanted? Could it be an Ancient Greek nursery rhyme? Or more like an incantation? Maybe that's why it wasn't completely affecting the animals, because I didn't know the words.

Still, despite my best efforts, I would catch myself humming the tune again and again.

It wasn't until the first kid showed up while I was doing laundry, did I really start to get worried.

Don Dun. Cliff-hanger! (Hanging on a cliff!) Well, anyway. Here's the next chapter! Rejoice!

Again, ya'll should totally go check out those two stories by lucifersfavoritechild (users/lucifersfavoritechild/pseuds/lucifersfavoritechild) on AO3. Here are the end of the links again so you don't have to scroll all the way up.

Scars: works/8823247; Please Don't Leave Me: works/8900980.

They're amazing, and well-written. I thoroughly enjoyed them, and if you love my stories and Tori/Luke as much as I do, you'll definitely also enjoy these one-shots.

Not much else to say. Sorry for the total radio silence these past three days. I went on a trip to Vegas to celebrate my 21st and didn't want to pay for the wifi or have non-password protected wifi.

Title is taken from a version of "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son."

As always hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated ^_^

Thank you for reading,
TheBrightestNight