TRIGGER WARNING: suicidal thoughts, contemplation and talk of suicide, mentions of PTSD.

Hic Sunt Dracones

The room Leo had been talking about was Annabeth's. But after hearing that she and Percy were currently in Tartarus, I didn't feel comfortable at all using her room. Leo showed me the lowest deck, then, but we had to squeeze around the Athena Parthenos, which basically took up the whole lower deck. Her feet were in the sickbay, her body taking up the corridor, and her head in the stables. I would've stayed in the infirmary—it was fitting—but felt uncomfortable there, too, as I didn't know how I'd react to waking up to giant toes in my face.

Maybe I'd just sleep in one of the chairs in the mess hall. They were very comfortable. Though, it wouldn't be great if someone wanted something to eat. From what I could tell, they also held meetings in the mess hall, so that wouldn't do, either.

I was too tired to talk to Leo about other options, so I told him I'd find a place somewhere just for the night and we could work it out tomorrow. I was exhausted, dead on my feet, but I still refused to go to sleep. Instead, I asked Leo to tell me what time it was in New York because I wanted to IM my siblings.

It was midnight here, in Italy, so that meant it was six in New York, my siblings' free time.

I wanted privacy, but I didn't want to go anywhere below decks that would give me privacy. It was a bit of a catch 22, so I ended up at the very end of the stern, far enough away from the helm that Leo wouldn't be able to hear, and not anywhere near Festus. It wasn't that I didn't trust any of them if they happened to overhear me, but I wanted this to be private because this was something important to me. I'd made a promise to my siblings that I'd do my best to make it back to them.

I took three pain meds before setting up the prism and flashlight, making a rainbow against the side of the railing. I sat on the floor, shifting and trying to find a somewhat comfortable position before giving up and taking out the coin purse from my backpack. I'd kept it for the coins, but used my fancy leather wallet for my paper money.

I grabbed a coin and threw it into the rainbow.

"O, Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering," I managed through my dry mouth. "Show me my siblings."

An image flickered within the rainbow before I saw inside the Apollo cabin. My siblings were in their bunks. Some of them were lying down with their eyes closed, but I could tell that they weren't sleeping. Some of them were sitting up, staring off into space, looking despondent. Before I even had time to react to just seeing them, Kayla passed by the IM. She was walking with her body angled away from it slightly, but it caught her eye and she froze. She had to do a double take before her face lit up, lips stretched with a huge grin.

"Tori?" she exclaimed, coming up to the IM. It was all I could do to nod. "Guys, get up! Get up! It's Tori!"

They all started to say my name, some questioning, some excited. As soon as they saw the IM, they were all excited. They didn't even notice they were using my nickname and I wasn't correcting them. (Which I didn't mind.) They were all talking at the same time, asking questions, saying stuff I couldn't understand.

Watching them, listening to them, I felt tears well up in my eyes. My throat closed completely and I covered my mouth with my hand as sobs bubbled up to the surface. I missed them, and how much I missed them overwhelmed me in that moment, for I'd been holding it all back until now. But I was exhausted—mentally, emotionally, and physically drained. I couldn't control my emotions so well anymore.

Then Dan and Viola appeared, and I nearly lost it. Tears blurred my vision, but I could hear Viola's excited chirp. When my vision cleared, Dan looked relieved, with a tired smile stretched across his face.

I sat and watched them, holding back outright sobs as Dan quieted them down and got them all organized. They brought chairs from the infirmary so they could all sit and see the IM. Dan sat with Viola in his lap.

"Tell us what happened," Dan requested in a soft voice.

I let out a big breath, and wiped away more of my tears. I had to gather myself as best I could, which they were all respectfully silent for. Finally, when I felt I had it somewhat under control, I began to tell them what happened. I could tell it was hard for them to hear that I'd somehow ended up in Tartarus, but they kept quiet and let me continue. I left out my lack of will to live, and some of the conversations that'd occurred between me and the titans, feeling it was for the best. I didn't want them to worry about me any more than they did, and considering that I wasn't going home any time soon, I didn't want them to object too vehemently.

I also didn't mention that it was most likely Mr. D who'd sent me purposefully to the Underworld to be ambushed. Though, I'm sure if they thought about it long enough and connected the prophetic dream they'd had before then, they'd figure it out. I was afraid they would at some point, but right now, there was nothing I could do about it other than keep the truth from them as long as possible. I wanted them to stay safe.

As safe as they could, anyway, with the Roman camp on their way to CHB.

Speaking of, as good as it was to see my brother, I wanted him to go back to the city and stay there. I knew that'd never happen, and I didn't voice any of these thoughts to him because I didn't want to start an argument. Not right now.

I told them about my fight with the giant, but had left out everything about Gaea. No one could know. This was something I had to do on my own. The wheels had been set in motion, now I had to follow through. No matter the cost.

I was reluctant to tell them about meeting Apollo, but decided that I kind of had to, considering they knew that giants could only be defeated with a god and demigod working together. I left out the awkward conversation about how he was avoiding Zeus—definitely the fact he was scared of Zeus—and that he'd given me a rather large present.

This was the first time they interrupted. It was Will, who looked particularly tired. I mean they all did, really.

"Did Dad mention…" Will trailed off, looking uncertain. "Did he mention anything about—" He broke off again, and looked away. My siblings all exchanged looks and I had a feeling I knew what Will was getting at. I had wondered myself and realized I'd forgot to ask Apollo about it because of how our conversation had gone.

"You feel it, too?" I asked quietly.

They all looked back at me and nodded, with worried expressions.

"He hasn't answered any of us," Cressida said.

"We've been praying to him, asking him as we give our food offerings," Lyra chipped in.

"No prophetic dreams," Will added.

"Not even feelings or premonitions anymore," Reed said.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, I didn't think to ask. If I find out why, you'll be the first to know, though, I promise."

They all nodded. Then Austin prompted me to finish my story. I could tell immediately they didn't like how it'd ended (despite "forgetting" to mention my little spat with Jason).

"You're not…coming home?" Viola asked, her voice watery, eyes already filling with tears.

"Oh, sweetie," I cooed, wishing with all I had that I could just pick her up and hold her in my arms right then. "I'm sorry, but there's work to do here. I have to stay with them and help them get to Epirus. It's really important."

She started crying and my want to hold her intensified tenfold. Just watching her crying made my eyes well up with my own tears. Dan held her closer, rubbing her back soothingly.

"You'll IM us, though?" Dan asked. "Update us about what's happened, how you're doing?"

"Of course," I managed, as I realized just how upset this decision made my siblings. Viola was the only one outright crying. But she was eleven, so it made sense. "You can IM me any time, too." I added quickly.

"You'll come back to us," Austin said after a short silence. "Promise you'll come back to us."

I took in a breath, hoping they couldn't hear it. I thought about everything that'd transpired following my trip to the Underworld up to this point, what was at stake with this war, and realized that was just something I couldn't promise.

"I promise I'll do my best," I finally said, my voice shaking. I could tell they didn't like that at all, but they didn't say anything.

Viola started crying harder, sobbing in fact, and buried her head into Dan's neck. All my siblings responded, trying to comfort her, and I wished I could've been there to hold her, because nothing else seemed to calm her down.

So I started singing, "You'll Be in My Heart" by Phil Collins. I modified it a bit to better fit my relationship with her, and the situation surrounding us. When I was finished, to my relief, Viola had fallen asleep. I gazed at her sleeping form for a long moment before looking at all my siblings.

"Tell her I love her when she wakes up for me, will you?" I asked, my voice ragged.

"Of course." Will nodded.

"So, I, uh…see you've still got Nick's lucky coin," Kayla commented with a suggestive smile despite everything that'd just happened. I started, and looked down at my wrist, where the quarter still hung on the Celestial bronze braid. I couldn't help the blush that stained my cheeks, and looked back up at my siblings just as Kayla said, "He's been asking about you, you know. Quite a lot."

I opened my mouth to respond, thought better of my original response and instead asked, "You're not going to tell him, are you?"

"No, we'll just tell him you're okay," Dan assured.

"You're staying at camp?" I asked, perhaps a little too sharply.

Dan frowned. "They need me here."

"Dan—"

"Let's not do this now," Will interrupted in a soft voice. "We're all tired. It's been a long day. Tori you look like you could really use some rest."

I sighed and blinked away the tears in my eyes, looking away. "You're right." I blew out another big breath and looked back at the IM. "I love you guys," I said, my throat constricting. "You know that, right?"

I got some smiles from that, albeit small ones, followed by a quiet chorus of love you too's back.

"You guys should get some sleep," I sighed. "Or try to, at least."

"Same to you," Dan responded with a rueful look.

A small laugh bubbled up to the surface, which shocked me, but felt good. "I'll IM you soon."

I didn't want to turn the flashlight off, but I could feel my body giving out from pure exhaustion. I would IM them, most likely, tomorrow. I tried for a small smile and waved before I slowly reached for the flashlight and clicked it off.

The darkness was almost overwhelming for a moment, nonetheless, I put everything back into my backpack, took two more pain meds, and then got comfortable in my little corner (as comfortable as I could, anyway). I set my backpack in my lap, holding it to me, and closed my eyes. As much as I didn't want to fall asleep, I was out like a light.

Monsters roared in the distance. My vision flickered from utter darkness, to the flicker of firelight from the Phlegethon, to the blood-red clouds with black creatures flying in and out of them.

My heart was beating out of control. Blood roared in my ears in time with the monsters. I reached for my weapons, but they were no longer there. My panic hit a whole new level. My ears started ringing so loud, it blocked out the sound of everything else, even my own rapid breathing. But I could feel my heart racing, pounding in my chest so hard it hurt. My whole body was going numb.

I was going to die down here.

Alone.

Helpless.

My vision became hazy, blurring, giving me a headache. My chronic pain was slowly rising, like someone turning up the volume of a radio, but all I could hear was static.

Before me, something was moving. A dark figure, but I couldn't tell through the haze of my own panicked vision and the red-black-orange hues what it was. All I knew was it was big and coming toward me. Slowly, though, like it was stalking me.

I couldn't move, paralyzed without any of my weapons. Completely alone. None of my other senses seemed to be working properly.

Even as the monster got closer, I couldn't make out what it was. But suddenly it stopped. I held my breath and a moment later, the black shadow came flying at me. I can't remember if a scream escaped my lips, but just as it got to me, something touched my arm.

My eyes snapped open and I reacted instinctively—grabbing whoever had touched my arm, twisting their arm behind their back and slamming them up against the floor, face down, holding them there by their twisted arm. Before I'd even fully woken and my vision cleared, I'd unsheathed my dagger and held the blade to the person's throat.

Someone was saying something to me, panicked, but I couldn't make out distinct words. I blinked away the haze and grogginess, only to realize that it was Leo underneath me.

Before I could breathe again, let alone get off him and apologize, thunder crashed. A sharp, painful shock ran through me and the next thing I knew I was airborne. I hit the deck and rolled right into the side of the railing.

Gasping, my whole body buzzing, my head feeling like it was trying to float away from my body, I reached up and grasped the railing. I struggled to my feet as my ears rung. My chronic pain had been amped up to a nearly unbearable level, it was all I could do to stay standing.

Leaning heavily against the railing, I looked across the ship. I was now near the bow, that's how far I'd been thrown. It was still dark, but I could feel dawn just on the horizon.

Jason was standing where I'd held Leo, glaring at me murderously. He had his sword out, and electricity crackled around him so strong I could see literal sparks coming off him. It surrounded him in an eerie glow with bursts of bright, white light. Leo was next to him, now standing and facing away from me. It looked like he was trying to talk Jason down, but the son of Jupiter was having none of it.

I turned away, my chest still heaving.

I couldn't blame him, really. I'd just attacked someone I called a friend. One wrong move and I could've killed him! Maybe Jason had been right, maybe it hadn't been a good idea to let me on this ship. Clearly I wasn't fit for whatever battles and quests they were going to face before we made it to Epirus. Not to mention that we'd have to go back into the House of Hades and face our ghosts just to get to the Doors. Which were protected by a giant and that scary lady.

Still gripping the railing, I looked over the edge of the ship. We were still airborne, flying over what looked to be grassy, hilly landscape. In the distance a city glowed, almost simulating the sunrise in the north. I was unsure of which city, though.

A fall from this height would surely kill me. It would be all too easy to just throw myself over the side.

It was becoming obvious, I could barely cope after what happened in Tartarus, so I was of no help to any of them here. My siblings were constantly worried about me, and I only seemed to cause them stress and heartache. What little friends I did have were probably in the same boat. I was just a burden to everyone.

But if I was dead, no one would worry about me anymore. They could grieve and move on with their lives. Fight the war, hopefully save the world. They could do that without me. They didn't need me.

No one needed me.

I couldn't save the ones I'd cared about most, and now I was utterly useless to those I had a chance of helping.

My hand tightened on the railing, the muscles in my body tensing as I prepared to throw myself over the side. Just before I made the leap, a voice shot through the silence like a bullet.

"Don't."

I looked away from the edge, at Nico. He was standing a few feet away from me. Far behind him, near the helm, Jason and Leo still stood. They were both staring at me, Jason still glaring, but Leo's expression was worried.

Amidships were the rest of them—Frank, Hazel, Piper, and a satyr I recognized but couldn't recall the name of. They were all staring at me with varying degrees of anger, confusion, and concern. No one was moving.

"Tori." Nico brought my attention back to him. "Don't," he repeated. I couldn't read his expression.

I glared at him, tears welling up in my eyes. "What are you gonna do? You understand? Tell me it gets better? I'm making a mistake?" I spat, venomously, not letting go of the railing. My chronic pain was fighting to invade my mind. I'd need to make a decision soon or I wouldn't have the wherewithal to throw myself over the side.

"I do understand," Nico said, taking a small step toward me. I regarded him warily, but he stopped. "But if I'm being honest, life is still just as shitty for me as it was back then. And, you know, your life may follow the pattern of mine."

"Inspiring."

"The goddess of misery cut us a break, what can I say?" Another step toward me.

"If this is your attempt at talking me down—"

"I know, I'm not doing a great job. I've always felt I related more to the dead than the living." Another step.

"And I wouldn't call running through the House of Night 'a break.'"

The edge of Nico's lips pulled up slightly for a fraction of a second as he took another small step toward me. "If you really want to go through with it, there are much better places to do it."

"Better than Italy?"

"Better than off of a flying trireme," Nico amended, closing the distance between us. He lifted his hand and I shifted away from him, but he held it up in a surrender gesture, keeping my gaze, before slowly lowering it onto mine. As soon as our skin came into contact, we were shadow-traveling, Nico gripping my wrist. I sucked in a sharp breath and grasped for his wrist.

When we landed, we were in a small alley. Across the cobbled, narrow street was a small café just opening up for the day.

Nico let go of my wrist and I blew out a breath, tears streaming from my eyes. I fell back against the wall and slid to the ground, keeping my knees bent because the alley wasn't very wide. Nico sat down across from me, mimicking my position, with his ankle pressed up against mine, and let me cry.

Afterward, Nico shadow-traveled back to the ship to grab my bag so I could take some pain meds and so I had my money. Then we went across the street to the small café and ordered hot chocolate. (I'd had no idea Nico knew fluent Italian.)

We sat at one of the small tables, as the street came to life around us and the sun slowly rose in the East. We were in Florence. His mother had taken him and his sister here at some point before she'd died. It was a fuzzy memory for him, but I was impressed he remembered it at all. Of course, I could understand, seeing as he seemed to love his mother a lot, despite not having known her for very long.

I held the handle of my mug as it rested on the table and stared at it silently, listening to the noise of the city. I stroked the rim, suddenly reminded when Will had brought me a mug of hot chocolate, when I'd sat vigil for TJ.

"Chocolate activates the endorphins in your brain," I said, smiling at the memory. It was bittersweet, of course, but thinking about how the harpies had taken to me, and my siblings had sat with me made it just a little sweeter. I looked up at Nico. "Scientific fact."

A smile pulled at Nico's lips and he took a sip of his hot chocolate before asking, "Still want to find a high place to jump from? I know a few buildings in Florence that'd be perfect for dying."

I sighed. "No, I think the chocolate is working."

Nico snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Don't tell Will," I said, staring at my cup, thinking about the first time I'd said that to him.

"I won't," Nico replied softly. "I promise."

I finally looked up and met Nico's gaze again. "Thank you."

"Of course."

Convincing Jason to let me stay on the ship was a whole other issue. We couldn't stay too long in Florence without the Argo II completely flying away without us. (I think Leo may have slowed the ship a bit when we'd disappeared, but I'm sure Jason wasn't going to let him completely stop it. This was just a hunch, however, because I never asked.) So we spent as much time as we dared at the little café. But once we finished our hot chocolate, I paid, and we headed back to the small alley we'd appeared in.

By that point I was too tired to argue and have our rivalry match. At least my chronic pain had subsided into something I could handle by this point. Nearly going through with the decision to kill myself was exhausting, both mentally and physically. I wanted to lie down and rest, go to sleep, but that meant more dreams. (I wasn't sure what I was going to do about that, yet, but one problem at a time. I'd burn that bridge when I got there.)

The air around me crackled with electricity, making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, and my ears popped as soon as I arrived back on the ship. Nico stood next to me as the son of Jupiter approached us with a glare so strong he didn't need the electricity to make a point. When he stopped a few feet away, Nico opened his mouth to say something, probably argue my case, but I held out my hand for him to stop, keeping my eyes on Jason.

I met his glare evenly, having seen worse in Tartarus. I did my best not to glare back at him, but even in my exhausted state, I found myself annoyed with his attitude.

"If you will allow me to stay long enough," I started in as even a voice as I could. "I would like to explain, apologize, and ask if you will allow me to continue with you on your journey to Epirus."

I waited, tense, for his reaction. At first, I was afraid he was going to blast me right over the edge himself, but then the static around me lessoned and I relaxed (slightly). Jason stiffly nodded once before turning and heading back toward the helm, where Leo was still stationed. The other crew members were nowhere to be seen. (I wondered if Jason had ordered them to stay below decks until he worked out what he'd be doing with me when I returned.)

When we got close enough, Leo grinned, looking surprisingly relieved even though I'd almost killed him.

"Evil Enchantress!" he called. "You came back!"

I gave him a lopsided smile, baffled he still wanted to remain my friend. "Hey, Leo." We came to a stop a few feet away from the helm and Leo moved out from behind it. Jason went to stand next to his friend. Nico stayed by my side.

"I just wanted to apologize—" I started.

"You don't need to—" Leo interrupted.

"Please," I said in a forceful tone, keeping his gaze. "Let me apologize. You're my friend, and I imagine I hurt you. I could've accidentally dislocated your arm or broken it. I could've killed you. So I'm sorry that I attacked you." I turned to Jason, took a deep breath, and swallowed my pride. "I apologize to you, as well, for hurting your friend."

Jason's icy gaze dropped for a second, surprise flashing across his face. When he got over it, his glare didn't return, much to my surprise.

"Jason," I continued. "May I ask you a question?" He nodded. "How long have you been in the legion?"

"Just about ten years now," he answered slowly. "Why?"

"Then, surely, after so long there, you've seen cases of PTSD in your comrades. In your elders. I apologize for attacking Leo, but I will not apologize for my PTSD. Which is also why I ask that I stay on the ship. I can still help you. I just ask that you all be more careful about waking me up or startling me." Despite Jason hating my guts, he was also very Roman, so I figured if I appealed to the logical, rational side of his Roman training, he'd respond in kind.

I could see the gears turning in his head as he thought about this. Finally, "What are you going to do to keep what happened from happening again? You said it yourself, you very well may kill one of us."

"I have someone I can talk to," I assured. Though, I wondered if Rowan would be available still. How that'd work with our time differences and the fact that monsters may attack us and the ship at a moment's notice, disregarding therapy appointments.

Jason paused and thought again. "Fine. You can stay. But—"

"I know." I interrupted.

"You don't know what I was going to say," he complained, frowning.

"I'm saving you the trouble of repeating yourself."

"All right, great!" Leo exclaimed, making me jump and breaking through the tension. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Let's get to work!"

As it turned out, while Nico and I'd been gone, Leo had devised a plan of making the sickbay more comfortable so I'd have somewhere below decks to actually lay down. Before Nico and I got back (even though he didn't know if I'd even be staying), he'd had Frank change into a gorilla (to say I was surprised Frank could shapeshift into animals would be an understand) and push the statue as far into the stables as it would go, until the feet just barely hit the frame of the wide doorway to the sickbay. Then, he'd hooked up some kind of pulley system to the Athena Parthenos at specific points of the statue. With all the crew working together (minus Hedge—I came to learn his name from Nico—who was manning the helm, though I could tell they didn't feel comfortable leaving Hedge alone), we pulled on the ropes and turned the statue until it was resting on its other side.

The small Nike that the statue held in its hand scraped the top of the ceiling a little, but Athena's outstretched arm missed the engine, which is why Leo had Frank push the statue up. Not only that, but since her toes were now sticking into the armory, he wanted to keep it as accessible as possible, seeing as it was an important part of defending the ship. Afterward, we (minus Leo and Hedge) moved all the stuff around her feet so that everything in the armory was relatively easy to get to.

I was so grateful I could've cried. And it wasn't just that, I was grateful he still cared about me so much after I'd nearly killed him.

So I had a place to sleep other than in a corner on the top deck. How I was going to go about healthily handling my PTSD so I wouldn't attack anyone else was a mystery to me. I managed to get hold of Rowan—who seemed really unused to talking to someone over IM—but after talking with them, we decided it wasn't going to work with the time difference and me being on a huge quest. They mentioned a therapy animal, but it was really off-hand since I wouldn't feasibly be able to take care of one while on a giant flying war ship. The best they could do was send over some papers on exercises I could do by way of wind nymphs. There was no guarantee that it would work, it was a lot of trial and error, but I appreciated the effort all the same.

Hopefully, the crew would all just avoid touching me to wake me up in the future so I wouldn't have to worry about it too much. At least until I received those papers.

Once everything had settled down and shifts were switched, I let out a weary sigh, leaning back in one of the beds in the sickbay. I'd just taken two pain meds and desperately wanted to go to sleep. I closed my eyes for a moment, but talking with Rowan had reminded me of all my therapy sessions, the progress I'd made before I was thrown into Tartarus. We hadn't managed to get to Luke or TJ, but I wondered…. Ever since I'd finally worked through most of my grief over the loss of Luke, I'd felt more at peace than I'd ever had before. Even with TJ's death, I didn't feel so heart-heavy. It was like my grief surrounding all the deaths that haunted me had finally been worked through, that tight ball in my chest loosening.

I opened my eyes and sat up, looking at the door to the small bathroom contained there. It was dark inside, and the mirror was out of my view. My heart already starting to pound, I slid off the bed and slowly made my way toward the bathroom. I flicked on the light, keeping my eyes on the floor as I walked up to the sink.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and resting my hands on the sink's edge to steady myself.

Before I could lose my nerve, I opened my eyes and lifted my gaze. And for the first time, in a long time, I saw myself. What was more astonishing was the fact that my reflection stayed, even after staring a few seconds, which turned into minutes, easily.

Once getting over the shock—and, honestly, elation at seeing myself—I realized that I looked a bit like Nico, but maybe not as bad. I didn't realize how sickly I looked, but my time in Tartarus must've been the biggest factor. I guess Apollo could only do so much without interfering too much in his children's lives.

Then it dawned on me…how long had it been since I'd eaten when I was in Siena? Now that I thought about it, my stomach let out a mighty growl, feeling painfully hollow. My throat felt dry and my tongue like a Brillo pad in my mouth.

I was about to turn away and go get food from the mess hall when something caught my eye. It was barely noticeable unless you knew what you were looking for, but since I'd been looking at the big, ugly version since I was thirteen, I kind of had an idea. Now that I'd noticed one, I suddenly found myself noticing more and more, all across my body—more in the back than the front.

Scars.

So many scars, long and thin, and almost perfect, like they'd been made from a scalpel. Much like the three an empousa created starting at my collar bone and going down underneath my arm. She'd attacked my brother one night, when the camp's border had been weakened, and in an effort to save him, the she-demon had nearly killed me.

Except, this time, instead of three, there were many, crisscrossing all over my body. I was startled and worried for a moment, trying to think what could've possibly caused this without my knowledge when I remembered being attacked as I'd gotten into the Underworld. Those demons of disease had scratched at me multiple times.

I guess, while the Phlegethon could heal, it wasn't perfect at it. Much like nectar and ambrosia. Most of the time, depending on the injury, it could help a demigod make a full recovery. But if was too bad, there were multiple, and you had to limit your intake, the best it could do was help the wound scar faster.

I was kind of astonished that no one had mentioned this to me sooner, but then again, scars were a part of a half-blood's life. Still…this was an obscene amount of small scars. Maybe they hadn't noticed. They were pretty thin. Then I remembered Bridget and couldn't believe she wanted to be my friend after seeing my appearance. Either way, all this new information was almost too much to take in.

I turned away and quickly exited the bathroom, turning off the light. I was about to lie back down, but my stomach rumbled again. With a groan, I changed my direction, hiked up the stairs, and made my way to the mess hall. After struggling to eat some scrambled eggs and drink water, I went back to the sickbay and fell onto the bed, out before my head even hit the pillow.

I woke to a terrible shrieking. It didn't sound human. At first, I thought I was still dreaming, but when I opened my eyes, I was staring at the wall of the sickbay. I jolted up as muffled voices yelled and the odd, nonhuman crying sounded again. I was covered in a cold sweat, and my heart was pounding from my dreams. Nonetheless, I got to my feet and clumsily strapped my weapons to me, readying my bow and an arrow.

I quickly made my way upstairs, to the top deck. The fresh air blowing against my skin felt good, if not a bit chilling because of the fact that I was drenched in sweat.

I looked around, trying to determine where everyone was, what was going on. When the cry sounded again, I spun around to see Leo, Hazel, and Nico surrounding something. (I guess they'd switched shifts while I'd been sleeping.) They had it pinned in a corner, up against the ship's railing, but they were obscuring my view of what it actually was. Most likely a monster, but why hadn't they killed it yet?

Still gripping my bow and arrow, I started toward them, making sure to make noise, to alert them of my presence.

They all quickly glanced at me before going back to the monster they had cornered.

"Everything okay?" I asked as I came up to them, peeking between their heads. I was startled to find it was a small dragon, about the size of a cat. I hadn't known they could be so small. And a dragon had been the last thing I expected to see. It was very pretty—scales a dark golden color mottled with splotches that looked like a blend of a dark emerald and sapphire color. Its eyes were topaz. Currently, the dragon's pupils were slits at it cowered in the corner and wailed (it'd been the strange crying I'd heard earlier).

"It just flew onto the ship," Leo explained.

"And it won't leave," Hazel added.

"When we realized wasn't doing any harm, we tried to shoo it away, but it won't leave." Nico frowned.

For some reason, and maybe it was because I'd spent a lot of time with Peleus, I found myself feeling bad for the poor thing because it sure looked scared. I put my arrow back into my quiver and let my bow spiral back into a ring on my finger.

"Let me try," I said, pushing between Nico and Hazel.

"I wouldn't—" Hazel tried, but I ignored her, taking careful steps forward, a hand outstretched. Only when I got too close, it blew fire at me and I leaped back, pulling my hand to my chest, feeling residual heat on my hand, like when you accidentally touch something hot.

"You guys have scared it too much," I said, looking at them.

"Not our fault." Leo held up his hands. "We didn't know what to do. We're so used to monsters wreaking havoc."

"Fair enough," I sighed. I squatted down, then and held out my hand, palm up. I watched as the dragon's pupils widened a little as it regarded my hand and then my face. But it didn't move. I tried to think of something that'd help calm it down when I remembered how much Peleus had enjoyed my singing.

Thinking of a song was the harder part, but this time a song instantly came to mind. Granted, it felt a bit childish, but I'd grown up with it and one of the songs I particularly liked, especially when they'd sung it acapella, trying to get Toto unstuck from the sewer pipes.

Trying to ignore the other people around me, I took a steadying breath before I started to sing, "Together We Can" by the Cheetah Girls. As soon as I started singing, I saw the instant change in the dragon. Its pupils widened even more and it lifted its head, tilting it to one side. I continued to sing, stretching my hand out further. Slowly, the dragon came forward (I didn't miss that it seemed to be limping), sniffing my hand before bumping it with its snout, much like a cat.

When I was finished with the song, I smiled as the dragon came even closer and I realized it was rumbling, like Peleus did when he was content. Though, since this dragon was smaller, its rumbling sounded more like a cat's purr than a large, hulking dragon's. I think it wanted to leap into my lap or something, but it seemed to have forgotten its injured leg and let out a small wail before collapsing onto its side.

"Oh, it's all right," I cooed. "I'm going to pick you up now, okay?" I slowly reached my arms out and carefully took it into my arms, making sure to nurse its injured leg. The dragon nuzzled its head underneath my chin and snorted.

I stood and turned toward the other three, watching me with morbid fascination.

"Problem solved." I smiled before heading past them.

"Where are you going?" Hazel called.

"To the sickbay," I answered over my shoulder. "It's injured."

"Can I come?" Hazel asked, to my surprise. I wasn't sure how she felt about me because I didn't interact with most of the crew. Frank seemed more okay with me than he had when I saw him that dream Gaea had shown me, but perhaps it was because he hadn't known it was me he was talking to. I didn't know about Piper or Hedge, either, but again, I didn't really interact with them much. I preferred the shift with the two people who I knew were my friends.

I turned and smiled. "Sure." Then I turned back around and continued below decks. I heard Nico exchanged some words with Leo before I heard an extra pair of footsteps follow me down the stairs. A quick glance behind me told me that Nico had also followed.

When I got to the sickbay, I gently set the dragon on my bed before going to get some supplies. When I turned back to the bed, the dragon had gone to the corner again, and was looking at Hazel and Nico warily.

I gently sat down on the edge of the bed, setting my stuff beside me. "They're okay," I assured. "They were scared, too. But they won't hurt you now." I held out my hand again. Slowly, with topaz eyes flickering from me to them, the dragon inched toward me. I took it into my lap and started to examine its hurt foot. Hazel and Nico took hesitant seats on the edge of the bed across from mine.

Thankfully, as far as I could tell, just a bad cut, most likely from a sword. No broken bones. I carefully cleaned the cut and then wrapped a bandage around its foot. When I was done, the dragon was rumbling again and puffed smoke happily.

"It's so cute," Hazel commented. "Do you think I can pet it?"

"I think so." I looked down at the dragon again. "Can Hazel come closer?" I pointed to the girl across from me. The dragon gave her a weary look, but I gently patted its stomach. "She won't hurt you, I promise. Neither will he." I pointed to Nico. I waited a moment before the dragon finally turned its eyes away from the two and rested its neck in the crook of my elbow. I looked up at Hazel, then, and nodded.

She slipped off the bed, staying low to the floor and inched forward. The dragon's eyes flickered toward her, but otherwise stayed still. Slowly, Hazel began to stroke its back. After a moment, it rumbled, closed its eyes, and shifted a bit to get more comfortable.

"I think it likes that," I said quietly, smiling at Hazel who smiled back.

"So…are you going to name it?" Nico asked after another quiet moment.

"I think so." I looked up at him. "Do you want to pet it?"

Nico shook his head, looking uncomfortably at the dragon snoozing away in my lap. "Animals don't…really like me. I smell like death to them."

"Do dragons really count as…animals?" I asked, more as a rhetorical question than anything.

"I would think so," Hazel answered, thoughtfully, still stroking the dragon's back. "There's the komodo dragon, right? That's, like, a proper dragon even though it's not…mythical."

"I suppose that makes sense." I said. Then I looked at Nico. "Hazel seems to be okay petting it."

"Yeah, well…she's Hazel, so she doesn't count," Nico responded.

Hazel pouted and turned to look at Nico with a sour expression, her hand stilling. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You befriended a horse god that eats gold and bit off another person's whole arm," Nico deadpanned. "You're much better with animals than I am."

Hazel relaxed and turned back to petting the dragon.

"Did you really?" I asked, amazed.

Hazel hunched her shoulders, blushing. "Arion," she said, nodding. "He runs so fast, he can run on water, up cliffs, no problem. I mainly like horses. But this little dragon is pretty cute."

I looked down at it and smiled. "It really is."

We headed back up to the top deck after that, because we were still on duty to protect the ship. Well, Hazel and Nico were. I guess they hadn't woken me up because they either thought I could use the sleep, or didn't want to be attacked. The latter was a fair point. If it was the former, I was a little annoyed because I wanted to contribute as much as I could. Jason was letting me stay as a courtesy, I wanted to be useful.

Anyway, I asked Leo to help me determine if the dragon was male or female because I wanted to stop referring to it as, well, "it." Since he had that nifty Archimedes sphere and a computer installed into the helm, I figured he'd be able to do it.

"So, then, have you been thinking of a name?" Leo asked as he pressed some buttons and fiddled with his Archimedes sphere. I had no clue what he was doing, but I didn't question it.

I paused, thinking. "Either way, I think I'll name this dragon Audrey II." I told him.

Leo gave me a weird look, as did Hazel and Nico.

"What happened to the first one?" Leo asked, hitting a button on the console and flipping a small switch before turning to look at me.

I rolled my eyes. "It's a reference to a musical: Little Shop of Horrors?"

Leo shrugged. "Never heard of it."

I looked over at Hazel and Nico, who also shook their heads.

"Well, it's a great musical, we should watch it some time," I said. "Long story short: there's a character named Audrey. And the other main character, Seymour, has a crush on her, and after finding a sentient plant that he doesn't know is sentient just yet, he names it the Audrey II, after Audrey. It was one of the productions my brother was in."

"And, uh…what exactly happens in the end? From what I know of the media I have seen, sentient plants aren't…good." Leo asked.

"Oh, they all get eaten by the plant," I told him, nodding. "But it's not some ominous foreshadowing. It's just a reference to a good musical. And, obviously, this isn't a plant." I held out Audrey II slightly before bringing it back to my chest.

"I think it's fine," Nico commented.

"I think that's so cute!" Hazel said.

I smiled at them, as a silent thanks for their support before looking at Leo again. "So?" I prompted.

Leo continued to give me a worried look for a long moment before turning back to the helm. "This is why your nickname is Evil Enchantress, you know." He gave me a look. "One of these days, you're gonna get me killed."

"Hopefully not because of my PTSD, though," I joked. Leo faltered, letting out a nervous laugh. "It's fine. I apologized, I'm still on the ship, and you said we're still friends." I also loved gallows humor.

Relaxing, his smile becoming more genuine, he finally answered my question, "Female."

"Great, thanks!"

"We're seriously going to keep…Audrey II?" Leo asked.

I shrugged. "Already named her, too late now."

"And how are you going to feed her?" Nico questioned.

"I'll figure something out," I told him.

I think one of them was going to ask another question, but we were suddenly interrupted by three gryphons swooping down onto the Argo II. Festus sounded the alarms and started blowing fire at the others that were coming toward us. Audrey II stirred. Not wanting her to get more hurt, I dashed to the stairs, dodging beaks and talons as I went, to go set her in the sickbay on the bed, before sprinting back up the stairs and helping out the other three to fend off the monsters.

"You're driving me insane," I commented in a tired voice, glaring at Leo over my shoulder. I was currently lying on the bed in the sickbay. I was facing the wall, on my side, curled around Audrey II, who was easily snoring away. Unfortunately for me, Leo was fiddling with the Athena Parthenos, crawling over it from head to toe, and I could hear his movements echo throughout the ship. I couldn't get to sleep because every time I was about to actually fall asleep, Leo would do something and it'd wake me up. In my half-sleepy state, my brain went into a panic, thinking the sound was a monster.

Leo paused, backing out of wherever he was crawling into to glare at me.

"I can't sleep," he said.

"So, what? You don't want to suffer alone?"

"I'm trying to figure out if there's something…more to this statue," Leo explained. "We've been told that this statue is supposed to heal the rift between the two camps so the rift in the gods can heal, too."

"Which is a good thing because…?" I prompted, carefully shifting to my other side so I didn't have to crane my neck to look at him.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Well, considering we have to fight giants soon, and they can only be defeated by demigodsand gods working together, if we don't have gods, well…I think you can do the math."

I shook my head and made a face. "No. I was terrible at math in school."

Leo snorted, but a smile pulled at his lips. I couldn't help but grin back at him.

"I'll try to be quieter," Leo finally said.

"Thanks." I rolled back over to my other side, petting Audrey II's back for a few moments before closing my eyes again.

To his credit, Leo did try to be quieter, but my brain just wasn't wired like it was used to. Not after Tartarus. He made less sounds, trying to crawl over and under, but I still heard them. They still echoed throughout the hull and I still couldn't get to sleep. Eventually, I became so exhausted, I fell asleep.

Tartarus pulled me back into its depths.

I was wandering the black sand and glass-shard landscape alone. Monsters roared in the distance. The Phlegethon flowed beside me. My lungs burned and I had to suppress the urge to cough. I checked for my weapons, but they weren't there, like usual in my dreams. I could feel eyes on me just as something moved in my peripherals. I jerked my head in that direction and didn't see anything. To my left, I heard scuttling across the sand and spun in that direction, but still nothing.

My heart started to pound harder, faster. I could feel the monster was closing in on me. My whole body tensed instinctively. Just when I thought my heart would give out, the monster appeared. It was one of the winged demons from the clouds. It dropped nearly right in front of me, sending up dust.

I stumbled back, coughing, and tripped on something. The glass shards bit into my skin and I bit back a yelp, though it came out as a whimper instead.

The monster started forward and I started to back away, still on the ground, my panic and fear overtaking logic. The glass started to cut my arms up even more and I had to stop moving. I tried to get up, but the monster leaped forward and landed on me, forcing me back to the ground.

My heart was speeding out of control, I was gasping for breath, my vision was going dark. My arms stung and I could feel the blood dripping from them. I could feel the weight of the monster on top of me. I thought my head was going to explode, and just when I thought the monster was going to deliver the fatal blow, something prodded my nose.

I gasped at the shock of it. It wasn't painful at all, just a gentle prod. The weight of the monster was still on me, which just confused the fuck out of my brain.

Then it came again. By this time, my vision had gone completely dark and wasn't coming back, so I wasn't sure what was going on anymore. I struggled to open my eyes as my nose was prodded more rapidly.

Finally, they snapped open and I jolted up, gasping. My heart was still racing as I looked around the room in alarm, for any danger. It was dim, the lights off, but just as I thought this, they flickered on. I blinked as my eyes adjusted. Thankfully the light wasn't too bright or blinding.

Audrey II landed on the edge of the bed, carefully, so as to not hurt her wounded leg. I could only assume she'd been the one who'd turned on the light. There was no one else around, anyways. She got up into my lap and nuzzled her nose underneath my chin, rumbling.

I reached up to pet her, feeling my heart settle a little. I quickly got up before she got too comfortable to take three pain meds, then sat back down, pulling Audrey II back into my lap. I sat on the bed so I could lean my back against the wall, and continued to pet her as she got more comfortable in my lap. I rested my head back, letting out a small breath and closing my eyes. The weight and warmth of Audrey II in my lap was surprisingly comforting.

I mostly dozed after that, not quite falling asleep fully. I thought I would at some point, but before I could, someone knocked on the doorframe. I struggled to blink the sleep and weariness from my eyes as they focused in on Leo, standing in the doorway.

"Meeting in the mess hall," he said. He looked a little frazzled, and sleep-deprived. I frowned, wondering what that was about.

"You want me there?" I asked, lifting Audrey II into my arms so I could slide off the bed.

Leo managed a tired smile. "You're part of the crew now, so of course."

I couldn't help the answering smile from pulling at my lips. With Audrey II still in my arms, snoozing away, I managed to take a few pain meds without disturbing her before following Leo up the stairs and down the corridor to the mess hall. Everyone else was already situated. Jason was at the head of the table. Hazel and Frank sat next to each other on one side, with Nico on Hazel's right and Frank on her left. That left room for me and Leo, plus Piper, only she was top deck with Hedge, manning the helm.

I let Leo take the seat closest to Jason and sat next to Leo, putting Audrey II in my lap. I tried to keep my eyes off the walls that showed real-time feed from camp. If I thought about camp too long, I thought of my siblings, and when I thought of my siblings, my heart always ached.

Frank was munching on some pancakes, and the others' plates were filled with food, too, but they weren't really eating anything.

I looked at my empty plate, feeling hungry but miserable. My usual go-to scrambled eggs appeared. I decided I'd pick at them, but wasn't sure if I could stomach them at the moment.

It wasn't until Jason said something about the House of Hades did I get pulled back into the conversation. But when Nico sat forward and started to explain what it was, I zoned out again, trying not to get caught up in my memories of that place.

I had almost run off. I had wanted to run off, to follow the voice of my mom, calling my name…. Then I remembered the warning, a whispering voice I didn't recognize: You will come to know the true meaning of sacrifice. I couldn't shake that one, as much as I tried. It sat at the back of my head, like a hellhound, waiting in the shadows to pounce. It had to pertain to the choice Gaea had offered me before siccing one of her giants on me. I just wasn't sure how, yet, and I loathed that feeling.

I was so caught up in my own worries and thoughts that I hadn't even noticed I missed most of the conversation. Before I could even jump back into it, though, the ship lurched suddenly, like it'd hit something large. What could be large enough in the sky to make it lurch that much had me worried.

The plates and goblets slid across the table. Nico fell out of his chair and I flinched when his head connected with the sideboard. He fell to the floor, some of the plates and goblets following his lead.

"Nico!" Hazel leaped from her chair to help him.

Frank stood, asking "What-?" but was cut off when the ship jolted again, causing Frank to stumble into the table and do a face-plant into Leo's scrambled eggs.

Audrey II was awake now, pupils slits, growling, steam coming from her nostrils.

"Look!" Jason pointed at the video walls. I stood, Audrey II easily hopping onto my shoulder, having adjusted to nursing her injured foot, and looked at the feed. The images of camp were flickering, changing to something else.

"Not possible." Leo's voice was barely a whisper, low and incredulous.

I nearly leaped away from the port-side wall when a huge, distorted face flashed on screen showing gross, crooked yellow teeth, an unkempt red beard, a warty nose, and two mismatched eyes that looked like they were inspired by a Picasso painting.

The surrounding walls continued to flicker, showing what was going on above deck. From what I gathered, it looked like two gnome/chimpanzee creatures, who were dressed in garish, loud outfits, were wreaking havoc topside. They'd duct taped Piper to the helm, from the shoulders down, and her mouth was gagged. Hedge was bound like Piper but to the mainmast, and, for some reason, had small pigtails in his hair with pink rubber bands.

The one who'd been taking up the screen on the port-side wall had pulled away and was now leaping across the deck, stuffing a burlap sack with anything and everything it found interesting—Piper's dagger, Leo's Wii controllers, weapons that'd been left on the top deck. When he got to the Archimedes sphere, our shock broke.

"No!" Leo shouted.

Nico groaned from where he was on the floor. Some part of me knew I should help him, even if I couldn't heal him magically, but the other part wanted to help with the weird gnome chimp things.

"Piper!" Jason cried.

"Monkey!" Frank yelled.

"Not monkeys," Hazel muttered, still kneeling next to Nico. "I think those are dwarfs."

I'd known we were supposed to look for some dwarfs in Bologna, because Leo had debriefed me on Hazel's meeting with Hecate. This was not how I was expecting it to go. I should've known we weren't getting all the pertinent information. Leave it to a god or goddess to steer us straight into chaos. Even if they were trying to "help" us.

"Stealing my stuff!" Leo snarled, running for the stairs.

I was about to follow him, but looked back at Nico and Hazel.

"Go, I'll take care of Nico," she said, nodding at me.

I nodded back before following Leo, Jason, and Frank. Up top, Hedge and Piper were struggling uselessly in their binds. One of the dwarfs kept prancing around the deck, picking up anything that was smallish and not tied down and shoving it into his sack. He had to be only four feet, with bowed legs and feet like a chimp's. I could barely hear anything else over his outfit, though: green-plaid pants pinned at the cuffs, held up with bright red suspenders, and a striped pink-and-black blouse. Each arm had at least 6 golden watches and to top it off, he sported a zebra-print cowboy hat with the price-tag still attached. His skin was covered in unkempt red fur.

Before I could do anything about anything, I heard a soft click from behind. My stomach dropped and my heart beat painfully in my chest when I registered what it was, before I dove away from where it'd come from. (I hated feeling so blind! I would bet you a thousand gold drachmas, had I still had my prophetic abilities, I would've known what was coming. At the very least, I would've been more prepared.)

"Duck!" Leo yelled, diving to the deck just as the explosion went off. I didn't know what kind of grenade the other dwarf had just set off, but it wasn't pleasant in the slightest. I was still alive, though, which was the good news. The bad news, my ears were ringing so loud, it was making me nauseous. Not helping with my nausea was the fact that the world had tinged a strange pink color.

I could still smell, and as I rolled over, trying to get my limbs to work, the scent of heavy perfume and monkey washed over me. I felt flutters at my neck, wrist, hand, and waist, but it was gone in an instant.

I tried to focus more, shake off whatever that grenade had done when I realized I recognized the feel of magic. A magic grenade? It was different than the magic of charmspeak or the Mist. But it felt familiar somehow. Why, I wasn't sure. Summoning what knowledge I knew from my training with Lou, I struggled to contain it, to push it out of my system.

It took me a moment, but when I finally got the hang of it, I expelled whatever magic was there, leaving no trace except a bad taste in my mouth. My ears stopped ringing, the world turned to a normal color, and I jolted up, remembering the situation we were in.

I looked around to see that Jason, Leo, and a giant silverback gorilla (must've been Frank) had been knocked flat. Audrey II was lying beside me, completely out. Still breathing, thankfully. I looked back up just in time to see the brown-furred dwarf trying to pry Leo's toolbelt from his waist.

"Hey—" I started, but realized something. I looked down at my waist, where my sword and dagger should have been. They were no longer there. White hot anger boiled in me, but when I remembered the other pressure at my neck, wrist and hand, ice water rushed through my veins.

I checked for my necklace—gone. Then my bracelet with Nick's lucky coin—gone. Then the ring Luke had given me—gone. The only piece of jewelry I was left with was my bow-ring and I could only fathom it was left was because it wasn't shiny.

I felt a surge of panic rush through me so strong, it stole my breath. The sounds of alarm and chaos dimmed to almost nothing, I could count every painful heartbeat, and my vision tunneled, focusing in on the dwarf who'd finally managed to get Leo's toolbelt as he danced over to the nearest ballista, hopped onto the projectile like it was a skateboard, before being shot into the sky. The other dwarf went over to Hedge, smacked him on the cheek, then went back to the rail. He bowed to Leo, doffing his cowboy hat with a flourish, and backflipped right over the side.

I felt something snap and I was on my feet and moving before I even gave my body command to. I catapulted myself down the steps, to the sickbay, where I kept my personal stash of weapons. I strapped the extra dagger to my waist, and slung a quiver of arrows over my shoulder, taking out a specially made arrow for occasions like these.

Leo had helped me design and craft it (well…I say help, I gave him the idea and he made them). It was a solid Celestial bronze arrow with a rope braided from Celestial bronze at the end of the arrow, which was attached to a belt. I secured the belt around my waist as I sprinted back up the stairs. Despite my chronic pain having risen slightly to the point that I'd have to work harder to ignore it, I didn't have time to take pain meds. I needed to get my stuff back! I felt strangely lost without them, hollow, weightless. It was a very uncomfortable feeling.

I didn't even steal a glance to see what the others were doing as I pinpointed the ballista the dwarf had shot his friend off of. Then I ran to the opposite side of the deck, grabbed onto the railing, and launched myself right over the side.

I let my bow spiral out and knocked the arrow as I fell, scanning the surrounding buildings, making quick judgements of how high I'd need to be in order to get my swing just right so I could land on the ground without breaking anything. When I pinpointed the building, I shot my arrow into the side of it, using it as my anchor. The rope pulled taught and I sliced through a relatively empty side-street, paying no mind the startled and frightened Italians. My mind was only focused on one thing and one thing only: getting my belongings back.

Somehow, by some miracle, I'd done my calculations just about right. When I felt myself being pulled up by the rope, I deftly undid the belt from my waist, tucking and rolling. I used my momentum to then catapult myself forward and began running in the direction the projectile had been shot, hoping to find the thieving dwarfs.

Somehow, Jason and Leo found them before I did. I hadn't realized they'd also gone looking for the dwarfs because I'd been so single-minded about getting my things back. I would've torn Bologna to shreds trying to find them if I had to. It wasn't even about my sword or dagger, really. It was about my jewelry. Those items meant too much to me. I couldn't lose them.

I heard their voices before I actually saw them. I was jogging down a narrow alleyway that led to an opening—most likely a piazza. They were popular in Italy.

I suppose "somehow" wasn't really the best word to use. I'd had to slow down multiple times to catch my breath. Tartarus's air had done a number on my lungs, which meant I had to learn to pace myself in a different way than usual. It also meant that it would affect my singing. I hadn't noticed it when I faced Asterius because I'd been so focused on surviving. Now that my life wasn't in imminent danger, I could feel it. I was hoping I'd be able to retrain my lungs to hold more air.

Nonetheless, just because I had to breathe more when singing, didn't mean I couldn't or that my voice still wasn't on the level of Orpheus's, so this concern wasn't much of an issue.

My now-shitty lungs would only be a concern if I needed to run a long distance. Like I was doing now.

Anyway, their voices floated down the small alley. I only recognized two, the two others I didn't, so I figured they belonged to the dwarfs.

"It's mechanical," Leo's voice sounded. I was unsure of what he was talking about, looking at. "Maybe a doorway to the dwarfs' secret lair?"

"Oooo!" another voice shrieked, one I didn't recognized. "Secret lair?"

Another unrecognizable voice followed, "I want a secret lair!"

I ran forward, keeping light on my feet, not wanting them to know I was there. I wanted to go for a stealth strike, though I wasn't going to dust them just yet. I wanted to make sure they had my jewelry before, or I'd never find it.

I stopped, making sure to keep in the shadows and out of sight, as I peeked around the corner.

It was a small piazza, with a statue of Neptune in the middle. As was the way of Italian statues of gods and goddesses, Neptune was naked, his hip thrown to one side. He held a trident in one hand, the other outstretched like he was summoning something to it. On either side of the statue were small winged Cupids chilling. There was also a large stone basin, like it was supposed to be a fountain, but there was no water running, and no water in the basin from what I could tell.

Leo stood in it, close to the statue. Jason stood outside of the basin, his sword at the ready. He was glaring up at the brown-furred dwarf, who wore a lime green bowler hat, perched on the pedestal at Neptune's feet, above Leo's head. Farthest away from me, sitting at a café table, sipping espresso, was the red-furred dwarf.

"If we had a secret lair," Cowboy Hat said, "I would want a firehouse pole."

"And a waterslide!" Bowler Hat added as he pulled out random tools from Leo's toolbelt before haphazardly tossing them aside. I drew back and let my bow spiral out, thankful they hadn't taken this.

"Stop that!" Leo exclaimed as I knocked an arrow and turned back around to look into the piazza.

"Too short?" Bowler Hat asked, momentarily stopping his perusing of the belt. I scanned the area, trying to find a good opening. I was vindictive and dramatic, I admit it. Being angry on top of it all didn't help my mood. So I was waiting for the perfect time to make my presence known and sufficiently scare them, to make sure they wouldn't be messing with me at all. Ever. That is if they survived that long.

Leo glared at Bowler Hat. "You're calling me short?" His head darted around the piazza, looking for something, but he didn't find whatever it was he was looking for. Instead, he turned back to look up at Bowler Hat. "Give me my belt, you stupid—"

"Now, now!" Bowler Hat interrupted, looking scandalized. "We haven't even introduced ourselves. I'm Akmon. And my brother over there—"

"—is the handsome one!" Cowboy Hat grinned and raised his cup in a salute. I smiled to myself and lifted my bow and arrow. "Passalos! Singer of songs! Drinker of coffee! Stealer of shiny stuff!"

As soon as he'd finished speaking, I shot my arrow shattering his cup of espresso. Passalos' already wide eyes grew wider and he shrieked, dropping the saucer and jumping back. Before any of them could react other than slack-jaws and panicked looks, I drew another arrow and shot Leo's belt right out of Akmon's hands, pinning it to the wall of the café, making sure not to hit any of the pockets, of course.

Passalos had reminded me I could sing to keep them in their place, and so I did. Letting my arrow spiral back into a ring, I began to sing a song that seemed…fitting for this situation. It was a song I'd heard while listening to the radio while doing chores and I'd fallen in love with it. Which is odd to say, considering the contents of the song, but after all I'd been through, I felt a connection to its lyrics.

"Control" by Halsey.

My voice echoed hauntingly off the alley's walls, and I didn't step out until I got to the chorus, and when I did, I walked slowly toward them, unsheathing my extra dagger. Like I said: dramatic. (Something else I got from my father, I supposed. Though it was cringe-worthy to think about. Sometimes I really did hate being reminded that I was related to him.)

I stopped a few feet from the statue. And when I finished the song, the dwarfs were amply petrified to their spots at the café table and on top of the fountain's pedestal. Jason and Leo looked pretty scared, too.

"Seirína," Akmon whispered, his voice shaking.

I smiled without humor. "Oh, my reputation proceeds me. It's good to know even the monsters across the ocean know my name."

"Siren," Leo translated. His eyes were stricken, like the dwarfs'. And at first, my heart plummeted, thinking I'd finally done it, found a way to push him out of my life. But then the expression melted and he shook his head. "I knew you were going to get me killed one of these days." He gave me a lopsided grin. I couldn't help the relieved smile back.

"What can I say," I shrugged, throwing my hands up slightly. "I live up to my name. Both of them."

Jason took in a breath, about to say something, but before he could, Passalos interrupted him. "What do you want?"

I glowered at him. "I think you know exactly what I'm here for." My eyes flickered to the sack sitting at his feet.

"Take anything you want!" Akmon wailed. "Just don't sing again, please!" I was suddenly reminded of the arai in Tartarus, but quickly shook it off, hoping no one noticed.

"Slide it over," I told Passalos.

Woodenly, like it was physically painful for him to move, Passalos slipped from his seat, bundled up the sack a little tighter and then passed it over to me. Then he stood there, watching me with scared eyes. I glanced Akmon. He seemed to be in the same boat, still paralyzed by fear.

Some part of me pleased I'd scared them so much. Another part of me was scared that I'd scared them so much. I knew my voice was powerful, but it was obvious, used in the wrong way, it could hurt a lot of people.

I glanced at Leo, who seemed in awe. Well, maybe not my friends.

"You should…" I trailed off, pointing to his toolbelt. Leo blinked from his daze and nodded.

"Right!" He ran over to it, getting a chair from one of the tables to stand on.

I turned my attention to the sack. I kneeled down, sheathing my dagger, and opened it up. I pulled out a bunch of odds and ends from the ship. When I got to Piper's dagger, I handed it to Jason. He looked a little stunned at my gesture, but I was too busy to care. I pulled out my own dagger, and my sword. And then, finally, when I was just about to start panicking there they were, my jewelry. Because they were small, they'd sunk to the bottom of the sack.

Letting out a breath and feeling tears sting my eyes, I reached in and brought out my necklace, bracelet, and ring. I stared at them, resting in my palm for a long moment before putting them back on my person. With their familiar weight, I felt at peace again, glad I hadn't lost them for good.

"Where's my sphere?" Leo asked, breaking me from my thoughts. He had his belt back on his waist, but was now looking through what I'd laid out from the sack.

I stood and looked back and forth between the two dwarf brothers. "Well?"

Passalos swallowed hard before reaching up, still with robotic movements, and taking off his cowboy hat. Reaching inside, like Mary Poppins magic bag, he pulled out Leo's Archimedes sphere and held it out for him to take.

Leo snatched it from Passalos' hand and glared at the dwarf before turning to his sphere and examining it.

"All right, time to do a little house-keeping," I said, looking at the brown-furred dwarf. "Akmon, join your brother over by the café, please."

With hesitant movements, something actually strange to see after seeing how fast and fluid they could move, he hopped from the Neptune pedestal and joined his brother by the café.

Having reattached my sword to my waist, I unsheathed it and began to approach the brothers.

"Wait, please!" Akmon cried, realizing what I was going to do. "It might take us weeks to come back."

Passalos sniffled, tears filling his eyes. "Assuming Gaea even lets us! She controls the Doors of Death now. She'll be very cross with us."

I paused. "Give me one good reason." To be honest, looking at them, cowering before me was pulling at my heart strings. I'd never meant to scare them that much, but they'd stolen something so important to me, and I would always resent them for that.

"We have a stash," Akmon said quickly, hopefully. "We can take you to it. It's in a watchtower, here in the city." Akmon looked at his brother, nodding, who started nodding too.

Passalos looked back at me. "You can take whatever you want from it. Please, just…don't send us back to Tartarus!"

I wasn't sure I trusted them to lead us without trying anything, but then I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. I started, gripping the hilt of my sword, and turned to see Leo, who swiftly pulled his hand away.

"Hecate led us for a reason," he said quietly. "And I doubt that reason was to have our stuff stolen by these guys."

"I wouldn't put it past her," I muttered.

"Leo's right," Jason chimed in. I turned to look at him, and for once, he wasn't glaring at me. I couldn't get a read on his expression though. This kid was just too damn hard to read. He was the exact opposite of an open book. "Perhaps their stash could hold something Hecate wanted us to find. We should let them lead us to it."

"Fine," I said, turning back to the dwarfs and sheathing my sword. "But try any funny business and I will shoot you."

They both looked at each other, but I didn't miss the mischievous glint light up in their eyes. Hard to spot if you didn't know what to look for. However, it was a glint I knew all too well, having dated a son of Hermes.

I raised an eyebrow and put my hands on my hips. "What? You think I wouldn't be able to hit you?"

The brother dwarfs jumped and looked back at me with wide eyes. It seemed their paralyzing fear was wearing off.

"Well, then, why don't I demonstrate." I looked at Leo. "Do you have any spare change I could use?"

Leo patted his pockets. "Uh, yeah, actually I do." He pulled out a small coin, a 1 cent euro. "Is this too small?"

"Nope, it's perfect." I took the coin from him and showed it to the dwarfs before balancing it on my thumb, so I could flip it. I took a moment to ready myself, then flicked it into the air as I let my bow spiral out. As soon as the coin had left my hand, I pulled an arrow, all while keeping my eyes on the coin. With my bow out, I knocked my arrow and shot it at the airborne coin. The arrowhead passed through easily, the arrow going one way, the coin going another. I watched as it fell, making a clinking noise as it hit the stone in the small piazza.

I looked back at the dwarf brothers, letting my bow spiral back onto my finger. For good measure, I slid the coin over to them with my foot. I gave them a moment to examine the coin.

Finally, they looked back up at me, both of them swallowing hard in sync, which was actually kind of impressive.

I crossed my arms. "You were saying?"

I was actually going to include the mountain gods/Hazel meeting Hecate scene, but realized that they may have already had that happen. It's hard to tell, with so many POV switches, but I'm pretty sure that scene occurred, they got to Siena, bought Frank new clothes, and then continued north to get to the pass Hecate offered them. That's why it's not included in this (not that Tori was going to meet Hecate, anyway).

As you can see, I changed around what happened with the Kerkopes, because I'm trying to have Tori actually impact the story, but still get the same outcome, since it's pretty important they find the book and Leo finds the tracking device thing. Anyway, I hope I did it well.

The scene where Nico is talking to Tori after she's hurt Leo is kind of inspired by the scene in a Deadpool comic, when he finds a girl about to jump off a building. I haven't read the whole thing, only little snippets, but I saw it on Tumblr first, and I really liked how Deadpool didn't do the whole, "It gets better thing." and was just kind of there for her (someone else explained it better than I ever could on Tumblr). I really hope I portrayed it well. I've never been suicidal, so if I got something wrong, feel free to tell me and I will be happy to discuss changes I can make.

The last little scene with Tori showing off her archery skills by hitting the coin was inspired by the scene in BBC's Sherlock when Sherlock asks Mary to show him her skills with a gun. I really love that scene because it's pretty badass. Also, I figured Celestial bronze is probably stronger than most metals, so it'd be able to pierce through a coin.

Finally, I'm sorry it took me so long to get this to you. I was having trouble figuring out where I wanted to go after the last chapter, and then I hit some road blocks concerning the future of the story (which I still have to work through; RIP me). But here it is! Finally.

To Guest: Thank you, thank you! (Ah, technicalities, they don't matter as much. Besides, I love references, if you couldn't tell.) Oh, why thank you! I couldn't help it. I think I'd just seen Moana at the time I'd imagined this scene up and I was like, "I have an opportunity here." Thank you, I'm so glad you were! Those are two of my favorite musicals, so of course I had to fit them in somehow.
Wow, thank you so much! That means a lot to me! ^_^ I try my best to weave Tori into the story as naturally as I can, so it's good to hear that I'm doing well so far. Ah, I'm so glad! When I was writing that scene, I wanted to bring in Apollo's abuse from Zeus, but realized I wasn't quite sure how it would play out/end, but I'm glad it worked out. Ah, thank you! You and many others (to my surprise; I don't know why I'm so surprised, but it makes me happy people like her so much). Well, you know how Jason is. We'll see about his attitude in later chapters, though ;) (…maybe.)
Thank you so much for taking the time to write that lovely comment! I appreciate it.

The title is "Here be dragons" in Latin. I think I'm hilarious.

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

Thank you for reading,
TheBrightestNight