AN: This was the part that was impossible/ly hard/easy to start/write. Got stuck. Got unstuck. Then wrote a lot. And it's only been six days since I posted the last part! There's only a few more points to make in this story before I cut it off for the next book in her story, which will start at Thanksgiving. Feel free to leave me outraged reviews over the ending of this chapter. Love you guys.

"Cassie, are you sure you want to do this?" Nico asked again.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm to a book club meeting, not the underworld."

"A book club meeting that's centered around your mom. I know you're doing better about her death and everything, but…still. That can be brutal."

"Thank you for being concerned, Nico. But really, I'll be fine. I gave somebody my word. I'm honest, and I do my best to be honorable. Trustworthy."

"No kidding, you're the guardian of secrets at camp."

"Y-yeah…don't remind me. I wish I could forget half of what I was told." An exaggeration? Sadly, not as much as I wished it was an exaggeration.

"So, are we going in?"

I nodded, heading for the door. I opened it without hesitation and walked in with a small smile.

"Cassie! Hey!" Lexi said, excited.

"Hey, I brought Nico too."

"You didn't bring me anywhere."

I just smiled.

"This is my cousin, Jenny." Lexi gestured to the girl next to her, who I recognized as the girl from the videos.

I smiled. "Nice to meet you, Jenny."

She was grinning, super excited, practically vibrating. "Nice to meet you!"

"So, I said I was going to bring something awesome." I sat down in the chair they had set aside for me.

Nico grabbed a chair and pulled it next to mine.

They were all looking at me with excitement.

"You guys know that I've been going through my mom's leftover stories. I know that there's going to be a wait for most of them because we want to space their release, stagger it. But I have this." I pulled out a stack of papers. "And I have permission to let you guys read the first three chapters of the series that she was finishing when before she died. There was still some editing for the last one, and I'm working on that when I can. But this is the first one. The Unheeded Prophetess, which is the first book in the Doomed Heroes League trilogy."

Nico started passing out the packs.

They were all staring, starry-eyed, and picking up the chapters.

I smiled.

"Oh, and I brought my copy of Cassie's book for you guys to see," Nico said, sliding it to the middle of the table.

"Oh my God!" Lexi squealed and snatched it, looking it over.

"That, you can't read," I told them. "I have to keep it locked down. Look, don't read."

She grinned and Jenny take it from her.

"I have so many questions…"

"And there's time to answer them. You guys read through those chapters, and I will answer what I can about things. Until you finish those chapters, I'm gonna work on something…"

"No, you're going to come out here and explain to me why I'm meeting you here." Malcolm was standing in the doorway. "Is that your book?" He came in.

I gave Nico a look.

He just shrugged.

Little imp.

"Who's the hunk?" One of the other girls breathed.

"Oh, my boyfriend. He's smart too. I got the full package." I was speaking while not paying attention.

He looked at my book over Jenny's shoulder. "It looks awesome, Nico."

"Thanks."

"Wait…Nico?" One of the guys looked confused.

"I did the art for the cover. And some of the extra art inside." He grabbed one of the chapter packs and started reading.

"That's so cool! Aren't you pumped?"

"Yes, and no. I've had a couple weeks to get used to seeing it. It will get more exciting when the book is released."

"Before it's released, actually." I poked him.

"Why before?"

"That's when it will be promoted."

"Promoted?"

"Yeah, books especially books like mine need promotions and such to raise awareness for it's release. Try and get interested parties. It's going to people for reviewing now," I explained. "It's complicated and I don't understand all of it. Jacob is trying to get me to do this interview on TV, he's says it's a big deal. I told him it could wait until after the book comes out. He said okay. So, I'm going on some sort of talk show while on Christmas break. Before New Years, but after Christmas. Don't worry, I'm apparently flying first class and it won't interfere too much with my holiday plans."

Nico shook his head. "Jacob…"

"You'd think it was his job or something," Malcolm agreed in a murmur, looking at the chapters. "Hang on now, you weren't going to tell me about this? You know me."

"Yes, I do. I'm sorry. Go ahead and read. I'm going to…take the edits and start editing. Yay me."

"Right, all two of your necessary edits." Nico rolled his eyes.

"She has more than you jokers gave me." I pushed him so he almost fell out of his chair.

"Sorry we're not all geniuses with a pen," Nico joked.

I rolled my eyes. "Incorrigible."

"Hey, you voluntarily let me into your home."

"Never said I regretted doing so. Just that you're incorrigible and why is there a kitten poking it's head out of your bag?"

Nico looked down and groaned. "I thought it felt extra heavy."

"Nico, no pets are allowed here!" I quickly shut the door.

Nico scrambled to catch Parker. "She keeps climbing into my bag."

"Shh, reading," Malcolm said, eyes glued to the page.

I rolled my eyes and managed to snatch Parker up with one hand. "Hoodie."

Nico got his hoodie out and handed it to me.

I set it in my lap and set her down.

She settled in her favorite spot and I wrapped the rest of the hoodie around her.

She started purring, eyes closed.

I started looking through the edits and suggestions, fixing the necessary things before I even looked at suggestions.

The suggestions only consisted of the one thing mentioned in class. The edits were minimal, places where I had missed words or single letter or capitalized things. Some improper punctuation because nobody is perfect, but nothing major. By the time I had finished silently grumbling about not having more to work with, they had finished reading the chapters.

All except Malcolm and Nico. But they had dyslexia and were likely going to take longer.

"Oh my gosh, this is going to be so cool! And how weird is it that she has a character that has the same name as you?"

"Mmm, I have the same name as her. I know, semantics. It's a theme with names. They're recurrent." I tapped my laptop keyboard.

"When does this come out?"

"Next year, I think in…April…I'm not sure. I know it's next year and that we're going to have a pattern of one in the spring and another in the fall or something like that." I closed my laptop.

"And your book is being released with one of your mom's. What is Legacy of Love about? Do they have cover art for it?"

"No clue and no clue. They won't let me see, and it's not on her computer. So I'll be just as surprised as you will. I love surprises. Aren't they the best?" I asked sarcastically.

Malcolm gave me a sympathetic look then went back to reading.

"What's the biggest thing you've had to face since your mom died?" Jenny asked carefully.

I gave a nervous laugh. "Biggest thing? Oh…crap. Next question?"

"No, answer the girl's question." Nico poked me in the side without even looking up. He kept reading.

"I'm not sure. There was a lot that I had to deal with. Seeing my mom murdered. Um, I started having anxiety attacks. That was fun. Mostly my brother has been having to sort through the chaos that mom left behind and every new thing is something of a surprise. Um, I had something happen not long after my mom died that really made me question my sanity. That's also how I got this arm injury. I can't feel it right now. Honestly, pretty much everything has felt pretty huge to me. I mean, just having to think every day that the people who did it were never caught…" I trailed off. I didn't know how to answer her question. "There isn't a biggest thing."

Nico and Malcolm had stopped reading and were looking at me as well.

"My mom taught me to be strong. I taught myself to care about others and what I had started out doing at the beginning of my summer, when I first got to camp, I was just going to try and get through the summer. But then Vince came into the cabin, and he needed help. He wanted to know how get Stacy's attention and I…I don't know…it just felt like there was so much at that place that had been noticed but that hadn't been really looked at. I mean…everything just…felt like it was waiting for change and like I was supposed to…"

It was silent.

"I was…supposed to bring the change. Bring the humanity. My main coping mechanism isn't helping others or writing or anything…it's avoidance. I spend almost all of my time avoiding the sadness because I don't want to be sad anymore. She left me a fantastic life, a legacy of love and creativity and sensitivity. She always pushed me to be the best person I could be, and even when she wasn't there to push me I still was. There are still a lot of moments ahead of me where I miss her so much that it physically hurts. Like Thanksgiving, and Christmas…but I have a different family now. One that takes care of each other because they don't have anyone else to care for them. Not really. So maybe that's the biggest thing, finding my new family." I ran a hand through my hair. "Or giving that freaking speech at her book release. Oh my gosh, I almost lost it right there on that stage. My mom put a lot into the foundation she layed down and left the building to me. I think she knew some of what I would do, how I would lose focus on myself for a while. That's probably why she submitted my story to Jacob and Loraine. She didn't think I would."

They were all looking at me.

"YOu're too quiet. You're supposed to be asking a million questions." I sat back up.

"When you came to camp I avoided you," Nico said.

I tilted my head at him. "I know, we were never within twenty feet of each other except for meals."

"When I saw you that first day you were at camp, I only caught a glimpse of you, and for a second…I saw Bianca."

"But…I look…"

"I know, I can't explain it. I could have swore that you had been looking right at me and that you were Bianca. But when I looked back, I saw a different girl who was sad and pretending that she wasn't." Nico wasn't looking at me anymore.

I waited for him to continue, but he didn't. "Okay," I said calmly. I didn't know what he was saying.

"When I found out why…I dug further." Dug…he went to the underworld?

I did my best to keep my face neutral. "Why?"

"You weren't like the rest of us, Cassie. I…I didn't think you belonged." He twisted his ring, glaring at the ground. "I knew you were different and that never turns out well."

Malcolm cleared his throat. "Guys, maybe we should let them talk in private."

"Yup."

"Yeah."

"Hallway."

The others left.

Malcolm closed the door.

"When you asked me about the stash…you didn't care about it, you cared about me. You wanted to get close to me."

"No! I was genuinely curious about the stash. I didn't like that you knew about it before me. I didn't like that you managed to come in and gain everyone's trust. Even Annabeth. I saw you as a potentially deadly weapon to everything I cared about. People that are different, special, when they come to camp, chaos comes in their wake. Then you were so compliant…so…raw and honest and…the whole thing with the apple and I…" Nico sounded like he was choking up. "After you read your record of what happened to you and your mom…the pain you described was everything I had felt for years. I didn't…I had already stopped suspecting you of being an enemy. I think when I saw Bianca…I just…I freaked out and felt like I was going to lose something. I've lost a lot, and I couldn't handle the idea. It wasn't until you just said…that I realized…that…"

I was confused, but I could tell that he was worked up about this. I went over and wrapped my arms around him.

"Cassie…I talked to your mom…"

"Don't. Don't do that to me. If you care for me at all, do not do that to me."

He gently pushed me off. He wasn't quite crying, but I could see that he was very close. "Cassie…"

"Nico, don't. She's dead."

"But she wasn't when I talked to her," He said, his voice becoming more firm. "I talked to her when I was a kid. Eleven or something. She bought me a happy meal from McDonald's. She had seen me standing outside of it. I had been trying to figure out what to do, where to go. It the January before the Titan war. I don't know, I guess I looked sad or something. She called over to me, and she asked where my parents were. I told her that they were picking me up in a little while. She called me a liar, looked at me and nodded toward the door. She said she'd buy me whatever I wanted but I had to give her something better than that crap because she could see my sword. She told me that her kid was a demigod and that she would want someone to make sure her kid ate. I only accepted because it was cold and I was really hungry. I ended up telling her that my sister was dead. I think she assumed I was on a quest or something."

I nodded slightly. "Sounds like something she would do. Something she would say."

"I never asked her name, I barely even looked at her. I don't even know if I said thank you. I probably did. I don't remember though. She had to take a call, and I remember they were talking about some sort of construction thing. She said, 'Well, we already have the foundation. It doesn't matter what we build on it, it's going to be there regardless.' Then she called the other person her Achilles heel and joked that she had bathed in the Styx to be with him." He shook his head. "That was actually really important. It's why I started looking into the curse of Achilles which is what Percy used to stay alive in the war. Then she looked at the time, got me a second meal to go, and looked at me and asked me to keep an eye out for a daughter of Hermes who was determined to make a change for the better while having her nose stuck in a book. I didn't even think about it. I didn't even bother paying attention to it. We were gearing up for a war. I didn't even remember that happening until you said that she had laid a foundation…that you were supposed to make the changes. And now I feel like a terrible person…because I don't even think I said thank you for the food. I didn't listen to her and now I'm living with her daughter and…"

"And building on the foundation she left. That would be thanks enough for her. The past happened. The present is happening. You're right, you were gearing up for a war, you didn't have time to pay attention to some mortal who bought you food. My mom didn't care about getting thanked. She saw a kid that was hungry and she bought him food. If it really bugs you, then think of it all as you thanking her by having my back. You've had my back since we realized the apple of discord was lodged in my arm. Before, actually, because you tried to get me through the mob. We both need to start living in the present and looking to the future instead of the past. That's one of the biggest reasons we wanted to live together anyway. To strengthen each other. Iron sharpens iron. We're family. You're stuck with me, no matter how stupid you were in the past." The last sentence was teasing.

He snorted. "I'm being stupid now, aren't I?"

"Yeah. Here, have a comfort kitten." I picked Parker up and set her in his his lap.

He laughed a bit.

I smiled, then went to open the classroom door. "It's all good. Misunderstanding. We're good now. Mostly. A little sniffly."

They all came back in.

"It's cool. It happens," The one guy said, super chill.

Then a gunshot rang through the hall.