Apov

James hadn't made it very far past the mouth of the cave by the time I'd stepped through it. He turned when he heard my footsteps and looked over his shoulder, but he didn't say anything. I wasn't sure if he was surprised I'd followed him or not, he did allow me to catch up with him however.

"Is it just me?" I asked noticing my breath was clouding in front of me as I spoke. "Or is it freezing in here?"

He didn't answer this, probably because there wasn't really a point in it, but his eyes narrowed as he looked around the cave, trailing the beam of his flashlight over the walls.

A light breeze billowed from further down the cave, it's temperature glacial.

I thought I heard someone whisper my name.

"Did you say something?" I asked confused as, simultaneously, he said.

"What Wells?" sounding annoyed.

We looked at each other, both of us clearly confused, before searching further down the cave.

I pulled a few beams from his flashlight and sent them further down the channel illuminating the stone, but seeing nothing.

I dispelled them and James continued to move forward cautiously, only to stop after a couple of steps.

"Wells, I don't want to freak you out," he said and while his tone was even, his expression was a little wary. "But that looks like blood."

He'd directed his light towards the ground where a sharp rock protruded from the stone floor. A red stain trickled from a vicious looking point, and a partial handprint had dragged across the ground, as if someone had been injured and slipped. Catching themselves with the wounded arm.

"This has to be Harper." I said looking at, feeling panic starting to close in on my chest as I glanced up to him. The handprint looked strangely small next to mine.

"It doesn't have to be." He pointed out, but he was frowning. "But it's most likely her."

"But what did she run into?" I asked scanning the room wildly, again, finding nothing.

Just as before, there didn't seem to be any evidence of a fight.

"Nothing." He said shrugging. "She could have tripped."

"Maybe," I said but I wasn't convinced.

Harper might not have been a ballerina, but it wasn't as if she was a klutz just tripping from one accident into the next. In fact, her peripheral vision was actually pretty good, probably trained from years of walking around through the world her attention locked on a book. She'd never tripped then.

And suddenly, I was hearing her voice.

"Ashton?"

I looked up, pulse racing, and directed my light down the hall at the same time as James, only to feel my heart go still.

Harper, her shirt covered in blood, was staring at me, her eyes wide behind her glasses.

She looked terrified.

"Harper!" I shouted starting forward instantly, but was caught off guard as James said.

"Luce?"

He'd gone bone white and appeared horrified, as if it was his sister, not Harper, covered in blood and injured in front of him, and I looked between the two in utter confusion.

Was he blind?

Suddenly, just as James started forward, Harper screamed and I turned to see her jerked back into the darkness.

James and I shouted in unison, but again for two different people. I lurched forward only to be slammed back by a gale force wind.

It threw me off my feet, but didn't seem to bother James who was charging ahead as if he hadn't felt a thing.

I slammed into the ground, narrowly avoiding the sharp rock we'd been speculating over earlier as I tumbled along the rough sone.

I got to my feet, only to be nearly bowled over again in the opposite direction.

I braced myself against the wall as the wind continued to whip around me like an icy hurricane.

James was already almost out of visible range, tearing after whatever he'd seen and terror gripped me as again, Harper screamed.

Not caring what happened to me, I sprang off the wall, sprinting after James as rocks threw themselves around the cave and dust whipped in cyclones making my flashlight all but useless.

"Harper!" I shouted squinting trying to find her in the chaos.

The wind snatched at my clothes, tearing at my hair and feeling my filling ears with a roar that was almost impossibly loud.

I heard shrieking now, laugher and snarls of monsters as I was buffeted farther down the corridor.

They turned into shouts of familiar voices calling after me. Charlie, Harper, my mother…

I hurtled through an opening only to find a scene of complete bedlam. James was battling through of what looked like a hoard of monsters, cutting them down with surprising ease as they launched themselves at him one after one, only to meet the sharp edge of his sword.

Suddenly, a voice cut through the noise.

"Looking for your girlfriend?"

I turned to see, behind a griffin James had bodied across the room, was a familiar monster. The storm spirit we'd run into earlier on this mission. The one who'd taunted me, and had seemed to know who Harper was.

Was he one of Kronos's number? Was that how he had been involved?

I reached for my bow knowing that with the interference of so many air currents, it might be completely useless, but determined to try anyways. I staggered, hit by another gust trying to aim and it laughed.

"You'll never find her in here." He said as the wind grew stronger, the chaos louder.

The monsters were howling now, retreating into the caves laughing in evil delight or pain as James continued to slash through those unlucky enough to have fallen behind.

"She's as good as dead." The spirits said nastily, it's laughing melting into the din echoing off the cavern walls.

I fired an arrow at it, but it was too late.

It had already shifted from its corporeal form, the arrow passing through it, zooming down the center cave. The voices were getting louder.

'Just let her go.'

The voice was soft, but kind, and surprisingly, my mother's.

It sounded as if she was behind me, though I knew it had to have been impossible.

'Let her go Ash. She made her choice.'

'What good could you possibly do at this point?' another voice, this one to my right but just as familiar said acidly. 'It's all your fault Ash, just stop. You've caused enough damage. Just leave my sister alone.'

Even though I knew he couldn't possibly be here, hearing the word's as if said by Charlie hurt, and I shook my head, trying to ignore the screams of the monsters and the roar of the wind and concentrate.

What was I supposed to do?

I looked around the cave, ignoring James's shouting, calling out for his sister trying to find any signal or sign that might indicate where Harper might have gone.

'Gods, it's so loud in here.' I thought squinting my eyes which were watering from the frigid wind, holding a hand above my eyes to just try and see even a little bit better.

Just then, James shot off to the right.

"James! Don't!" I shouted, but he ignored me seemingly to have completely lost his head.

Charlie's voice had come from that direction, but there was no way he could be here. Whatever was down that corridor, pretending to be him couldn't have been good.

"James!" I shouted furiously, but he'd already vanished and I wasn't about to follow him.

I had to find Harper. If anyone could figure out how to get us out of this mess it was her.

Hopefully she was ok…

Another powerful gust almost knocked me off my feet again, and I knew I couldn't stay in one place for much longer.

With the temperature plummeting even further, I decided to follow after the storm spirit.

He'd been in on this since the beginning. He had to know something about where she was.

I'd just taken a step towards the center cave when suddenly, a small, soft voice said.

'Don't.'

It was enough to make me hesitate. Again, the voice was familiar, but this time because I recognized it to be mine.

'Don't.' It repeated, stronger this time. 'You can't keep panicking and chasing after her. She'll be fine.'

I didn't know if it was a thought, or another trick of whatever magic was going on here, but I shook my head trying to get the voices, which were all fighting each other now, trying to tell me where to go, out of my head.

Then, suddenly, there was a flash of what looked light bright lightning down the center hall and Harper screamed.

Terror gripped my heart and forgetting everything else, I bolted forward, almost losing my footing from a powerful gust, but making it through the storm.

The spirit was laughing again, maniacally as it's voice echoed off the stone walls, making it sound as if there were thousands of monsters chasing me down. And at this point, maybe there were.

The wind had died down now as my heart hammered against my chest, my feet aching as panic fueled me to move faster, my breathing ragged.

The cave twisted and turned as I scrambled over rocks, avoiding divots and cracks in the stone that threatened to trip me up.

I didn't know how long I'd been running and I didn't care.

My lungs were screaming at me to stop, to take a break from flooding it with the frigid cave air, but I continued to spring forward after the lightning flashes until, suddenly, the walls opened up and I found myself about to hurtle off a rocky ledge and into a what looked like a room that had been carved out of the stone.

"What the-" I started skidding to a stop, and looking around wildly only to spot the storm spirit, it's dark misty form swirling tumultuously just a few feet beyond the edge of the cliff.

"You know I have to admit." He said, his eyes nothing more than tiny points sparking in his hazy body. "You're a lot braver than I thought you were."

He grinned, and it was like storm clouds parting, but only to lower a funnel cloud.

"But far more stupid."

His body then began to crackle and glow.

"Say goodbye to your little girlfriend Son of Apollo." He hissed and to my horror, I saw he was aiming not for me, but below the cliff where, several stories down, a pool of deep, clear water was resting calmly over the room's floor. Harper's body drifting lifelessly just under the surface, disturbingly still.

"No!" I shouted as sparks and shocks zapped over the spirits body, clearly charging up for a killing blow.

The spirit was vibrating now, it's cloudy body now dark as smoke as electricity darted across it in all directions.

I launched myself off the cliff, knowing it was too late but determined to reach Harper before the lightning.

There was a moment where time seemed to hang, suspended with me in mid air, then gravity took ahold, and as I rushed towards the water's surface and Harper, the world seemed to move at twice it's normal speed.

And suddenly, she was gone.

A shock went through me as body vanished, but before I could even begin to register what had happened, I crashed through the surface of the water, expecting my body to riot in violent protest at what I thought must have been freezing. But it wasn't.

The water was cool, refreshing even, like pool that had been in the sun on a hot summer's day and I watched, astounded as around me, the room and all of its elaborately carved details simply faded away. They were replaced by a warm golden light that seemed not only to filter through the water around me, but become a part of it.

I continued to sink, life feeling as if it were starting to slow as I looked for Harper, only to have everything obscured by what was almost starting to feel like sunlight.

My mind started to cloud and I almost panicked, when I realized that I could breathe. The air was no longer cold. In fact, it was familiar. The smell of grass in warm summer weather, and the distinct smell of the strawberry fields that I only associated with one place…

I realized that my eyes had been closed and when I opened them, suddenly, I was there.

I felt my heart skip as I stepped out of the arena, only to see Harper sitting in the shade of a tree nearby, as usual, a book in her hands.

"Hey." I said, ignoring the smirk a few of my siblings shot me as they passed, and she looked up. "Language lessons end early?"

Harper almost always ended up teaching the younger campers Greek while I was running the archery lessons.

"Yeah," she said shutting the book and I felt myself smile, knowing I was one of a very select few that could get her to do that. "We ended the unit we were working on today and there wasn't enough time to start another."

I offered a hand to help her up, which she took and as I pulled her out of the shade, sunlight glinted off the pendant that rested on her camp shirt, a gold outline of the sun.

It was the same necklace I'd given her on our one year anniversary. Two years later, she was still wearing it. Something I couldn't quite believe sometimes.

I knew my brothers and sisters thought it was hilarious I was dating one of the Daughters of Athena, always telling it was a strange match but I couldn't have cared less what they, or anyone in camp thought really.

Not when she smiled at me like that.

I caught her other hand with my own, interlocking our fingers and kissing her, ignoring the cat calls from various friends and siblings.

"Uhg, get a room Harper."

She sighed as we broke apart, and I turned to see her brother Charlie had just stepped out of the arena after me.

"Why did you have to become best friends with my brother again?" Harper asked raising an eyebrow at me and I grinned.

"It was just so convenient." I said and she rolled her eyes. "We'd been dating a while and he was always around..."

"I think I liked it better when he hated you." she said flatly, but I knew it wasn't true.

I hadn't known why Charlie had hated me so much when I'd first started dating his sister, but I knew deep down she was glad me and her brother got along. Even if we'd never be able to get her to admit it.

"Yeah, yeah," Charlie said sounding bored, his arm around his girlfriend Annie as he pretended to scowl at us.

His expression cleared pretty quickly however, as he directed his gaze at me.

"Ash, a couple of the guys were thinking about setting up a game. You interested?"

"Sure." I said, and, Harper's hand still in mine, we made our way towards the court, Harper talking excited about her upcoming excursion outside of the camp she was leaving for later today.

"When are you going to give up on trying to find that damn library." Charlie said in exasperation, clearly tired of hearing about Harper's latest theory on finding an entrance to the legendary place. "People have been looking for it for hundreds of years Harps and haven't found anything. It's just a story."

"And this attitude is exactly why I'm going to find it, and you aren't." Harper said shooting him a superior look to which he rolled his eyes.

Annie giggled.

"I've got a good feeling about this trip." She continued brightly. "James said he's almost certain it's the real deal. Even Chiron's on board."

"Oh well if James says so." Charlie said with a snort. "Harper. Have I ever told you how lame it is that a pen pal is your best friend?"

"Yes, almost daily actually." She said looking far from concerned. "But he's not a pen pal." She reminded him. "We've met before, here, at camp."

This was technically true. We'd all met James about a year and a half ago when he first turned up to Camp Halfblood. Having been one of the few people who'd actually heard of the Cordrian Library outside of the Athena Cabin, let alone believing it existed, he and Harper had gotten along like a house on fire and had immediately started badgering Chiron to let them look for it.

Somehow, they'd convinced him to say yes. And they'd been writing back and forth about it over the school year ever since, running theories by each other and ideas about new information they might have come across.

"Who never shows up anymore." Charlie pointed out. "The dude's a total adrenaline junkie Harps, I cannot believe Dad is letting you stay with him."

"You're just jealous that I'm going to London and you're not." She said making another face at him. "Besides I'll be with his mother and sister checking out some historical sites. It's not like we're were going to be jumping off sky scrapers or juggling knives."

"Yeah sounds fascinating." Charlie said sarcastically and Harper continued herself with looking smug before looking back at me.

"You're absolutely sure you're ok with me going, right?" she asked and I saw for just a second, she looked hesitant. As if she wasn't certain how this question would be received.

"Harper for the thousandth time, it's fine." I said shaking my head, a little amused.

I wouldn't deny that when he'd first shown up, I had to admit I'd been a little threatened by how much James and Harper had in common. It didn't take me long however, to realize, how much they had in common was exactly why I didn't need to worry about James. Watching them scour through ancient scrolls and argue over syntax of languages long dead a thousand years ago, I was pretty certain the only person she had less romantic chemistry with than James was Charlie.

"And you're sure you don't want to come?" she asked curiously. "Because I'm sure we could-"

"Ashton won't tell you this because he wants you to like him Harps." Charlie said cutting her off. "But you've planned pretty much the most boring vacation imaginable." He shot her a significant look. "Half your itinerary is ancient secondhand book stores and tiny local libraries. No one but you, wants to go."

"I can't believe I'm related to you." she said darkly.

"Love you too sister dearest." Charlie said with a grin.

We'd just made it to the basketball courts when we spotted a familiar figure stepping through the camp boundary.

He was taller than I remembered, and looked a bit beat up, clearly having run into some sort of monster on his way into the camp. By his expression however, I had a feeling he wasn't unhappy about it.

James grinned when he spotted Harper and waved at the group, she and Annie waved in return while Charlie and I nodded.

"See if he wants to play." Charlie said looking at his twin as Harper kissed me on the cheek and said something about walking James to the infirmary where I was sure a number of my sisters would be thrilled the cute British boy had come back to camp and needed patching up. "We're down a player. Aaron twisted his ankle yesterday."

"Get your own friends." Harper said squinting at him before giving me one last smile and jogging over to James.

I watched her go, no doubt about to give James hell about picking fights with creatures with fangs before they started making they're towards the Big House.

By their expressions, I could tell they were already in discussion of plans for their upcoming trip.

"You know, you're a much better person than I am." Charlie said, and I turned to see his eyes were narrowed at me in suspicion. His arm was still around Annie, who'd raised an eyebrow at him at his comment.

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"You're remarkably chill for a guy whose girlfriend is scampering off to London to stay with her friend and his family. Even if it is to chase down a fairytale."

"Not this again." Annie said shaking her head, but he continued nonetheless.

"It doesn't bother you?"

He looked curious, as if he'd expected a different answer than the one he'd heard a million times.

"No." I said honestly.

"Why not?"

"Because." I said, surprised at how easily the words came to me as I said them. "She wouldn't be her if she didn't."

Harper had always gone head first into whatever she was interested in, whether it was devising strategies for capture the flag, or tracking down a book in a store three counties over to find the first edition for an exact quote. And yes, even traveling across an ocean to run down a possible lead for a mythical library that might not even exist.

'I wouldn't have wanted her any other way...'

It was something I'd known for years, so, why did it feel like a revelation?

I'd always supported Harper in whatever she did hadn't I? Backed her against her brother whenever he went crazy, even after he and I had become friends. Voted for her strategies in capture the flag, whenever she was opposed. Trusted her judgement when she and James had become friends, knowing that I could be honest with her, no matter what I felt.

Right?

And suddenly, it was as if the world around me burst as quickly as a bubble. Scenes from a different reality, another life flashed before my eyes. The twins arguing while I stood awkwardly to the side, knowing Charlie was wrong, but too afraid to say anything. Watching helplessly, knowing James was trouble, but worried about saying too much. Laughing with Harper only to be consumed with guilt when spotting Charlie the next second. Walking in the halls at school with Harper, feeling a surge of panic go through me when I spotted one of my teammates, a part of me always anxious what they might think. What they might think to say to Charlie.

And it was ridiculous. All of it.

The paranoia, the fear. What was the point?

The scenes from the two realities were crashing into each other now getting mixed up an I wasn't even sure what memories were from which life. Catching Harper's eyes during half time during a basket ball game, feeling a surge of happiness go through me when she smiled. Decorating the Davis's house during the holidays, Charlie crashing into a box of ornaments while Harper laughed taking photos on her phone. Trips to the beach. Holding hands under the table during study hall at school, throwing strawberries at each other at camp.

It was everything I'd ever wanted from life, to somehow have both Harper and my best friend, but each time I reached for one of the memories, they seemed to slip through my hand. Like water they filtered through my finger tips and washed away leaving me wondering, almost desperate even, how to get them back. Or if they'd ever been real.

They had to be, right? I wouldn't have been so stupid as to let a life in which I actually got the girl of my dreams and the best friend I would ever have pass me by. But as the visions of it continued to slip away I became less and less certain. Not just about the life I had, but who I was.

Maybe I had made the wrong choice. Then again, maybe I hadn't. Maybe I'd open my eyes and she'd be there again, and so would Charlie. And things could go back to the way they were supposed to be. But if they weren't...

Well, maybe I didn't have to.

I could feel myself sinking again, dragged further and further down by the current of memories from a person, and a reality I was now realized I'd always wished I'd been a part of. And if I could just get a hold of one of them, get back to that place. Well, I had a feeling I could be happy there. Forever.

'Son of Apollo.' a voice said echoing around me sounding distant and distorted. 'Upon your reflections in the trials of water and air. You have been deemed unworthy.'

The words made no sense to me, but I didn't care. I'd finally managed to get a hold of one of the visions and allowed myself to sink peacefully into it, grateful I no longer had to worry about who I was or what I wanted anymore.