*** IMPORTANT AN ***

Hi everyone! To everyone still reading thank you. I know this has been a difficult story of mine to follow, I knew in the beginning this story was too early in the writing process to be uploading but I also knew that it was an idea I could follow through with, and only would if it was posted. For as many ideas that get posted, about four or five didn't pan out and I was really excited about this one when it first started fitting together in my head so I wanted to put it up so it would be finished. Thank you to everyone who's been so patient with updates I know this has been by far the worst pace of a story I've had, I really do appreciate the positive support I get from readers, it keeps me writing.

The reason I'm making this AN is that because this story, though not fully posted yet is finally fully written. It might be a bit because to catch up because I've got some editing to do and so much proof reading. I actually delayed uploading this chapter and the one coming right after it because I was finishing up the ending, and I felt that even though they needed to be broken up into two chapters, they needed to be posted together. But the ending few chapters should be posted hopefully within a few days. Another reason why the ending got delayed is I had two ideas for another story that I'm really excited about while writing this one, one half way through this story and another pretty much within the last few updates that caused a lot of my writing attention to go towards those stories. Both of them are far more written out to a point I could basically start posting them right away at a more regular rate than this story had been, so I wanted to bring it up to the readers who made it this far to see if there was more interest one way or the other for which I started posting first. Both will probably end up on the site, but I wouldn't want to juggle starting positing both at the same time.

So, with that out of the way. The first idea that came to me was a completely separate story with a new plot and different characters. I mentioned it before but the second one that just sort of fell into my brain and really slowed down the posting of the ending to this story, was because like one of my previous stories, I had ideas coming to me that was past the ending of this story and would continue to follow this characters, but would shift it's main focus like what happened with the end of the Blind series. I'll probably give more information about that later on however, it would be kind of a spoiler with this particular chapter so I'll leave it at that.

I do take feed back into account so if any readers want their input heard either PM me or post your opinion in the review section and I'll look it over when considering where to go from here.

Thanks again for the patience from everyone who made it this far. I know this has been quite the long haul with this story. I appreciate any and all support and hope people are enjoying the story. As always, enjoy your weekend!

~secrethalfblood

*** END AN ***

Apov

It was daylight by the time Harper came back to consciousness from whatever had happened to her after she'd touched the key.

I'd managed to get her out of the caves and back to the stream when she finally stirred, the pale golden light of dawn slowly, but surely, creeping across the sky.

"Gods," she muttered, wincing the second she'd opened her eyes and putting a hand to her temple. "My head."

"Yeah you hit it pretty hard when you collapsed." I said quietly, concerned by the blood and bruising just under her hair line. "I wanted to heal it but..." I hesitated, not entirely sure how to describe the situation I'd found myself in after she'd fallen unconscious. "There seemed to be a lot going on up there."

I wasn't exactly the star healer at camp, but I was a good one. I could sense injuries as much as the next child of Apollo, but despite the obvious injury to Harper's head, there had been something going on under it. Something powerful that I didn't want to mess with. Felt I shouldn't mess with.

I'd never sensed anything like it before, and it had been alarming to say the least.

"The key." She said her eyes going wide looking around in panic before holding up her hand.

"Yeah, I don't think that thing likes me very much." I said frowning, remembering how it had thrown me across the room when I'd touched Harper. "But don't worry, even if I wanted to, I couldn't have gotten to it. You had a death grip on that thing even when you were unconscious."

"Good." She said with a sigh and looking around. "Where's James?"

I felt a stab of anger go through me at this.

"He took off the coward." I said darkly.

I was surprised when he'd offered to help bring Harper's things out of the tunnels while I'd carried her, but the gesture had been a lot less noble after the fact when I realized why he'd wanted to do it.

"Not before snatching our only way off this stupid island though." I continued.

"What?"

She looked confused, then realization seemed to hit her.

"The olives?"

"Yeah." I muttered. "He stole them all. Harper, I'm sure you're probably not feeling great but we need to figure out a plan. We can't stay here forev-"

"He didn't take our only way off the island." She said shaking her head, then grimacing with pain.

"What?"

"The olives, we don't need them anymore, at least, we shouldn't. He would have known that."

"What do you mean?"

"They key." She said holding up the metal object which glinted dully in the rapidly strengthening sunlight. "It controls the Doors, remember? Provides access to the Interrealm. We should be able to get back home. Go anywhere, really."

There was a moment where neither of us spoke as this began to sink in. Not only was Harper in control of a magical highway between dimensions, she was also in charge of one of the oldest strong holds of knowledge in all of human history. A place full of ancient magics and legends that she, presumably, could do whatever she wanted with.

She was about to become very important, very quickly. Would that change things between us?

I didn't want to think about it.

"So if he knew we could get off the island, why did he run off?" I asked taking a closer look at her injury, still a little afraid to mess with it.

Whatever power had been radiating from inside her mind seemed to have calmed down a bit, but I wasn't sure I ought to be poking around near it.

Maybe my mother could schedule her for a CT scan or something…

'Then again, maybe that wasn't the best idea.' A small voice said in the back of my head.

I had a feeling the images would be lighting up like crazy. Did mythological magic get picked up by mortal imaging machines?

"James didn't get control of the library." She said rubbing her head again, apparently trying to think. "The olives use the Interrealm to travel, something, in theory, I now control. He wanted to leave before I could lock him out."

"To get away from us?"

"No." she said shaking her head. "I'm guessing he's trying to out run the gods. He hasn't got anywhere to hide now."

"Where do you think he went?"

She shrugged, but seemed to be avoiding my eye and I wondered if maybe she had more of an idea than she was telling me.

I decided to let it go for now. We had other things to worry about.

"So now what?" I asked looking around.

By now the sun had fully risen, and I felt the temperature of the jungle around us start to increase as beams of its lights poked through it's canopy of leaves.

"What, do we go back to camp? Talk to Chiron? Our parents?"

"I dunno." She said softly, reaching as if to adjust her glasses, but then stopping short when she realized she wasn't wearing them.

"Here." I said reaching into my pocket and pulling out the lenses which she accepted, an expression of intense relief crossing her features. "I grabbed them before we dragged you out of the tunnels."

"Thanks." She said with a smile, returning them to their rightful place in front of her eyes, looking for all the world as if she'd just stepped out of English class back at school and I found myself grinning.

"I guess now we go to Olympus." She said shrugging and looking at me. "They'll want to know about all this. Ask about James."

"Right." I said with a nod. "Harper, about James, there's something you need to know."

"He's Lucy's brother, yeah I sort of guessed." She said distractedly.

"No. Well yes, but it's not that."

"What is it?" she asked and I hesitated, not entirely certain how to explain what I'd discovered about him.

"He's… not normal. I mean, even for a demigod." I explained. "He's strong, like freakishly so and-"

"I know." She said still sounding a little scattered.

"You know?" I asked frowning and she nodded.

"How?" I asked confused, as far as I knew, James had never displayed any inherently strange abilities around Harper, let alone spoke to her about it.

"I know what books he read." She said quietly.

Her tone was incredulous, as if she couldn't believe what she was saying herself.

"You what?" I asked uncertainly.

"I know what books he read." She continued, shaking her head slightly and putting a hand to her temple again, clearly sorting through myriad of thoughts. "Lucy too."

I thought I saw something flash behind her eyes and she stood, looking around but apparently seeing not the trees around us, but something beyond it.

"How do you know that?" I asked watching her uneasily and she looked at me, seeming a little alarmed herself.

"I dunno," she said. "I just… do."

There was a moment where neither of us spoke, Harper apparently lost in what seemed like entirely new genera of memories and thoughts, but eventually, I felt the need to pull her out of them.

"We should probably get going." I said and she blinked, as if she'd forgotten where she was.

New found abilities aside, it looked as if Harper's tendency to get completely lost in her own thought process was as enduring as ever.

"Alright." She said bending over to pick her bag up from the ground.

"If James made it into Olympus on accident, now that you can control the Interrealm, you should be able to just like, turn up there whenever you want, right?"

"I guess." She said frowning. "Though, I'm not sure how long they'd leave me alive if I did."

But something about her expression had me grinning a little.

"You want to do it now, don't you?" I asked. "Just to prove a point."

"It would be cool wouldn't it?" she asked returning my smile. "Just to pop in to the Olympian's throne room. It would really freak them out."

"And probably get us incinerated." I pointed out and she shrugged.

"Fine." She conceded. "I'll aim for just outside the throne room."

"Good." I said with a nod watching with interest as she looked down at the key questioningly, as if considering asking it how it worked, but it was already glowing, clearly picking up on the tenor of Harper's thoughts.

There was a brilliant flash of gold and I felt Harper's hand quickly dart into mine, and then I was caught in the now familiar current of the Interrealm.

…

Harper was right about gods not being amused by her ability to travel into their domain with impunity.

They'd swept her into the throne room, each looking angrier than the last as they filed in after her, refusing to allow me in.

Being a regular demigod, I guessed I wasn't important enough to be in on a meeting that dealt with the security of Olympus, and three hours later, I was still sitting in the hall, trying to while away the time and anxiety by messing with the sun beams that poked through the clouds around us.

I noticed that the sun here seemed to be brighter, it's light more beautiful. I wasn't sure if it was because of my father's influence, or everything was more beautiful in the land of the gods but it shone brightly off the marble and precious metals that was built into the architecture of my surroundings.

Finally, after another hour, the massive bronze doors the gods had sealed themselves behind cracked open. I looked up from a glowing image of a rose I'd been shaping with the sunlight, expecting to see Harper, but a little surprised to see the head that had poked itself out into the hall was blonde.

"I thought I'd find you out here." My father said grinning and glancing at the beams which I quickly dispelled. "You've gotten quite good at that." He said, a hint of approval in his tone as he looked at the spot where the light had once been.

"How's Harper?" I asked quickly. "Is she alright? What are they planning? If they're still thinking about punishing her…"

"Relax Ashton." He said holding up a hand in reassurance and smiling. "The gods aren't planning on punishing Harper. On the contrary." He said his expression amused when he saw my eyebrows shoot up. "They want to use her."

"Use her?"

"Yes, thanks to Hermes's wayward son, we've discovered a lot about the domains the gods preside over and travel between them. Your girlfriend now controls a significant aspect that, and we want her on our side."

"Is that's what's taking so long?" I asked. "You're working out some sort of deal with Harper about the Interrealm?"

"It never hurts to have another set of eyes watching who is coming in and out of the dominions." He said with a shrug. "Athena has vouched for her daughter, assuring us she wouldn't be the sort to grant unwanted access to the domains of the Big Three to their enemies, there is one issue, however."

"What?" I asked nervously.

If Athena had backed Harper in a testimonial about her character, that had to be a good sign and I was sure Harper would be happy to have the support of her mother again. But I couldn't think of anything that might be worth this long of a wait.

"Your girlfriends got a stubborn streak." He said sounding something between amused and impressed as he said it. "Our king wants to get his hands on the son of Hermes, and that she refuses to do. Being quite the little gorgon about it too." He added his tone thoughtful.

"A gorgon?" I asked confused. "Why would Harper care? She doesn't even know where he is."

"Of course, she does." He said dismissively. "The boy uses the library to travel and has vanished off the face of the earth. He's somewhere the gods can't find him. You can't think of anywhere that might fit that description?"

"But," I started, feeling completely at a loss. "If he was in the library, couldn't she… go get him? Or let one of the gods do it?"

"Hence why you've been sitting out here for so long." He continued, his expression significant.

"I don't get it." I said frowning. I couldn't think of a single reason that Harper would protect James from Olympus. Not after everything he'd done. Tragic backstory aside, he'd still done some horrible things. And she hadn't known the reason for them. "Zeus is putting up with that?"

This seemed, if possible, even more unbelievable than Harper protecting James.

"Believe it or not, the my father can be rational when he wants." He said with a sigh. "I know it doesn't seem like it seeing some of the more insane decisions he's has gone and made throughout history, but he's dealt with Keepers before, and he'll have to do it again." His lip quirked a little, into half smirk as he continued. "They tend to be a stubborn lot. I don't think I've ever seen one manage to get this far under his skin though. Not this quickly anyways."

"And he hasn't started shooting lightning?"

"Oh he has." He said mildly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Just not at her. She took it well though." He added, the note of approval returning to his words. "Didn't even flinch."

His saw my expression however, and moved to reassure me.

"He's not going to do anything to Harper." He said. "She made a mistake, but she fixed it. And Olympus is safer now because of it. He might get angry, but even my father knows not to anger the person standing watch at Olympus's back door. All of the brothers do. They don't want her letting anything nasty slip through."

"Harper would never do that." I said indignantly and he shrugged.

"She might or she might not." He said sounding as if he didn't have much of an opinion about this one way or the other. "But you kids are very young," he continued with a frown. "You haven't seen as much of the world and the nature of mortals as we have. I don't think anyone really thinks Harper would endanger the balance of the domains, but the fact is she could. So it's better to ensure she has at least some degree of loyalty. And if that means making exceptions, looking the other way for certain activities for her or her friends…"

He let the word dangle delicately and for a moment, I wondered if maybe he'd been suggesting that I'd been in trouble with the gods, but I didn't really see how that could be. And then it hit me.

"James?" I asked almost angrily. "She's asking them to be lenient with that traitor? Is that why this is taking so long?"

"Oh she's not asking." He said shaking his head, but he was grinning again. "She's demanding it. Threatening to seal off the library all together if they don't comply."

"There's no way they'd do that." I said incredulously. "After everything he put her through, everything he's done."

I expected him to agree with me on this, either be angry about all the stupid and dangerous things James had done, or that Harper, let alone the gods, would ever overlook them, but he simply looked at me for a moment. As if, despite all my indignation, all he could really manage to feel about the situation was vaguely amused.

"As far as I could tell when I left, they should be hammering out the details now."

"Why would she do that?" I asked quietly, a sick feeling going over me.

After everything James had done, why on earth was she protecting him? She didn't still care about him, did she? After all this… It couldn't have been possible, could it?

My father seemed to hesitate for a moment, clearly thinking over the question.

It wasn't an expression I was used to from him, not that my father couldn't be clever when he wanted to be. He was however, generally more laid back than most of the Olympians in my opinion. He didn't often spend a lot of time dwelling on the more complicated things. He was far more interested in poetry than politics, and acted accordingly.

"Your girlfriend is about to become very key player in the mythological world. She's going to have some powerful enemies, and for what it's worth, my father was never the most amazing strategist." He said his tone neutral. "James is a wild card, powerful, smart, moves quickly. He's also young. Young and in a lot of trouble, scared and totally unallied. She's not the sort of person who would miss the value of that." He shrugged. "Give him a place to stay, access to his sister and most importantly, keep him out of Olympus's hands. And well," he spread his hands, as if this conclusion was the most natural thing in the world. "Suddenly she's made a very powerful friend indeed." his eyes flashed. "One that would owe her everything."

I remembered what the twins' brother Terry had said, the only time we'd ever had to play against Harper in capture the flag, what felt like several life time's ago.

'Have either one of you beaten her in chess?'

"Something tells me our King isn't the only one interested in buying loyalty." My father said cheerfully. "And from what I can tell, your girlfriend seems much better at it then he is. It's a good lesson for him." He continued his tone light, as if this whole situation hadn't been a crisis that was narrowly avoided and simply interesting, if not entertaining, news. "Maybe next time Zeus will think twice before he decides to pick on 'some stupid little girl'."

He'd put air quotes around the word, and something that told me that it might have been an insult hurled around Olympus about Harper when this whole mess had started. It was clear that my father thought Zeus, maybe all of the gods had underestimated Harper, and he was diverted at how they were paying for it now.

But it didn't seem right.

"There's something else." I said shaking my head.

Harper might have been rational, but she wasn't this rational. No one, not even her, could make decisions in an emotionless vacuum. Even if he was being honest, and he hadn't meant to, James had put Harper in in extremely dangerous position. He'd stolen the only gift her mother had ever given her, forced her into the path of Olympus's wrath, and set forth a series of events that could have easily gotten both of us killed.

Then he'd just disappeared.

Even if she did find him, she had no reason to trust that he was even interested in her offer. That he wouldn't just turn right around and go back on it the moment he thought he could. Strategy was all well and good, but it only worked if you could trust your players.

"There has to be." I continued stubbornly. "Something you're not telling me."

"Well." He started, and I was surprised to see my father looked a little uncomfortable for a moment, before smiling, a little self-consciously. "I suppose I have to admit there were a few times I wasn't quite confident in how far your lady friend was getting on her own without some sort of assistance." He scratched the back of his head shiftily. "I might have shown her a vision or two of the future, just to ensure she was making her decisions with all the facts."

"What facts?" I asked totally confused at this point. "Dad, what the hell are you talking about?"

"You were always a great shot Ashton," he said and while the compliment was significant coming from him, his tone was rueful. "One of the best, but you were never any good at prophesizing." He shook his head. "I know you're probably not too happy with him right now, but you wouldn't turn Charlie over to the gods would you? No matter what he did?"

"What? No." I said indignantly. "He's my best friend."

He might have hated me right now, but I would never just hand Charlie over the gods. Especially if they were angry with him

My father raised an eyebrow at this, and suddenly, it dawned on me what this question had meant. What he'd been trying to imply.

"Your girlfriend's taking on a difficult job. She needs her friends Ashton. I know you might not like the guy very much, but try to remember that going forward."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked quietly.

It was clear my farther had looked into Harper's, and possibly my own, futures, and was doling out bits of it to try and get us there.

"Because." He said and I was surprised at how subdued his voice became as he continued. "Business with Olympus aside, I like Harper Davis. I think she's good for you. And I don't want you making the same mistakes I made with your mother."

I wanted to ask what he meant by this, but by now the door had opened again and I saw Harper stepping through it, alongside a tall woman with raven dark hair and clever gray eyes.

Athena shot me a suspicious look before muttering something to her daughter, and turning to walk down the hall, Harper looking after her, her expression looking something between uncertain and annoyed.

"Until next time." My father said shooting me a significant look, and continued walking.

More of the Olympians were leaving the throne room now, some shooting Harper irritated looks, others looking simply exhausted. She didn't seem to notice, however.

She'd smiled when she spotted me and crossed the hall, apparently unfazed by their reactions.

"That took a while." I said and she let out a heavy sigh that told me she'd been far more nervous than she'd been presenting.

"Yeah." She said shaking her head. "I'm sorry, they were uh, not very happy about everything that went down."

"My dad said you were being stubborn." I said grinning. "That doesn't sound like you."

"I'm feeling like there might have been some sarcasm in that statement."

"I would never," I said pretending to be insulted and she rolled her eyes.

"What did your mom want?" I asked looking in the direction Athena had walked.

"Just told me to be careful." She said with a shrug.

She looked a little odd in the reception area of the gods, dirty clothes and ripped mission gear among the polished marble and metal. She still had the bruise on her forehead, but otherwise looked alright.

"I'm not entirely sure she's excited about me having a boyfriend now, but what can you do?"

"I thought your mom liked me." I said feeling my heart skip a beat at the term, but pretending it didn't.

I certainly wasn't going to complain, even if it might have offended Athena.

"She does." Harper said hastily. "It's just, she said something weird." She continued, her expression a little confused. "Something about being uncertain if destinies had really been fulfilled but I'll be honest," she shook her head looking a little harassed. "I really had no idea what she was talking about."

I hesitated wondering if I should bring up the prophecy Charlie had told me about, but decided against it. What was the point? The crisis had been averted, and everything was settled. Was there really a reason to drag it all back into the open? As if Charlie needed more of a reason to dislike me, or fight with Harper…

"My dad says you didn't give up James." I said partially to change the subject, but also because a part of me wanted to hear if he was right about her reasoning. "Said you wouldn't help them even if he turns up in the library. Why?"

Her answer to this surprised me.

"I dunno." She said quietly. "Something about it just… didn't feel right."

"After everything he did?" I asked incredulously.

"He could have left us to die in Egypt." She pointed out. "And in those caves. He didn't."

That, I didn't have an answer for. She seemed to know it to because she continued.

"Whatever James has gotten himself involved in, I figure it's complicated enough without the gods deciding to weigh in. And besides, he didn't get what Kronos wanted in the end. He doesn't have control of the library which was the big issue. I think we both know whatever the gods would have had in store for him wouldn't have been exactly fair."

"Fair?" I asked incredulous. "Harper, if James had gotten what he wanted, beaten us to the key, we would all probably be dead."

"But we're not." She pointed out. "Besides, I don't think James wanted any of this." She looked around us, taking in the power and grandeur that was radiating from every angle, but I was surprised to see her expression was almost bitter. As if despite it's magnificence, nothing about her surroundings was pleasing to her. "It doesn't exactly seem like he was calling the shots."

"He still did it."

"Then you go get him." She said holding up the key in front of me and I felt a shock go through me at the intensity in her expression.

She looked angry. Not just angry but upset, and I wondered if there was more to this decision than just what was going on in the current situation.

I didn't take the key, remembering what my father had said. About not pushing Harper when it came to James.

"I didn't think so." She said quietly removing her camp necklace, and feeding the cord through the top of the key, then replacing it under the collar of her shirt. "I won't have another demigod's blood on my hands," she continued glaring at the doors of the throne room bitterly. "Not for them."

She looked back at me, and raised an eyebrow at my expression which I was sure wasn't doing a good job hiding my dubious thoughts.

"The gods have pit us against each other for long enough, don't you think?"

She made no mention of having James as a potential ally and I wondered if my father's precognition might have had him getting ahead of himself on bringing it up.

I figured it was safest not to mention it.

Harper was going to do what she was going to do. There was no sense in making her upset about it. At least not right at the moment.

"So, what's the plan now?" I asked.

"You honestly I hadn't really thought about it," she said frowning. "I mean, the mission's over, right?"

She looked around a little uncertainly, as if waiting for some magic instructions to appear in the hall and her expression softened a little as she glanced back at me.

"I guess we should report to Chiron and get back to camp."

She didn't sound enthused about the idea however, and I couldn't exactly blame her. I wasn't too thrilled about the idea either. It had seemed a life time ago since we'd left, and after everything that had happened, I wasn't exactly excited to go straight back to archery lessons. Or deal with the aftermath of what was probably going to be the reactor meltdown that was going to be Charlie upon seeing his sister again.

"Honestly, that sounds kind of like a nightmare." I said quietly and she nodded.

"I know." She rubbed her temple and winced, having accidentally put pressure on her bruise and I felt a swell of concern go through me.

"You ok?"

"Fine." She said closing her eyes tightly for a second, then waving me off. "Just, there's a lot of stuff that's been going through my head lately."

"More than usual?" I asked my tone playful, but she didn't seem to catch it.

"Yes." She said distractedly and something about her tone was a little odd. "The amount of content in the library is sort of terrifying."

"Afraid you're not going to have time to read it all?" I asked her and she looked confused.

"What?"

"Well, that's sort of your thing, right?" I asked grinning. "Find yourself in a room full of books, you sit down and eventually end up reading them all."

"Ash." She said. "I don't think you-"

She cut herself off, hesitating for a moment, before continuing with.

"I don't have to read it all."

"Ok that really doesn't sound like you." I said with a laugh, but she didn't reciprocate, she didn't even smile.

"Wait, you don't mean-"

"It's like someone uploaded the entire library into my brain." She said softly. "I mean, my memory for what I've read was always good but this… this is different."

"Everything?" I asked in shock and she nodded.

"Oh." I said a little awkwardly, not entirely sure how to react. "Well… no wonder your head hurts."

This she did laugh at and I was glad. It reminded me that despite this alarming revelation of hers, she was still the same person.

"So." I said when she stopped. "You're going to hold on to the key I guess?"

"Yeah." She said with a nod and while I wasn't sure why, things felt a little awkward between us for a moment.

It had never really occurred to me that Harper would take control over the library, but looking back, I wasn't sure why. With hindsight, it was pretty obvious that this would have been the solution, but somehow, when I'd asked her, I'd just assumed we were letting the gods decide.

But Harper had never answered the question. We'd run into Lucy and everything after that had driven it from my mind. Clearly, however, it hadn't left hers.

"So what happens now?" I asked uncertainly.

I wasn't sure if I was asking Harper about what her plans for the library were, or now since she was making those decisions how it would affect me and her, maybe it was both. She didn't seem to realize that though.

"I'm going to reopen it." she said with a shrug and I blinked at her.

"The library?" I asked a little uncertainly and she nodded, seeming completely sure.

"Yeah."

"Harper, no offense," I said carefully. "But that place is a death trap."

"I know." She said with a sigh. "But it can be rebuilt." She sounded a little less confident about this, but the waver in her voice vanished as she said. "I won't just let it sit locked up anymore, waiting for history to forget about it again. It was meant to be visited."

"Sounds like a lot of work." I said and she looked down, seeming a little disappointed in my reaction, but smiled when I added. "But I know if anyone could do it, it would be you."

"Thanks Ash."

"I hope you realize even if you are some sort of mega powerful player in our parents' world, I'm still going to call you Bambi."

"Gods." She muttered but reached for my hand as we started to walk down the hall.

I wasn't really sure where we were going, but I didn't really care as I laced my fingers with hers.

"Also, can we talk about how you shot that key out of the air while it was moving?"

"I know right!" she said clearly forgetting she was pretending to be irritated at me. She looked up and her gaze met mine, her eyes wide behind her glasses. "I don't think I could do that twice."

"Well luckily you don't have to." I said amused. "Panic is a good motivator."

"I also had a good teacher." She said smiling at me and I started to laugh at that, only to feel an icy pang of dread go over me and I stopped walking.

Speaking of teachers...

"What is it?" Harper asked looking a little concerned and I looked down at her.

"I still have to retake my chemistry final."

After everything that had happened recently, I'd completely forgotten about it, and I could tell by Harper's expression, it had been a while since she'd thought about it too.

"Gods." She said sounding a little amazed. "After all this with the gods and the library, the idea of school just seems so weirdly… normal."

"It really does." I agreed.

It was easy when you were surrounded by the mythological world to remember that you had a life in the mortal one as well. Usually, however, it was easier to connect the two when the twins were around because they were so deeply involved in my life on both sides.

Without seeing Charlie recently however, and Harper getting sucked into the gods' problems, I hadn't really thought all that much about school or sports or any of it. Or how anything that was happening now, was going to affect any of that. Now that I was going back to my normal life, and things between the twins and I were going to be so different, I couldn't help but wonder what that life was going to look like.

"Charlie's going to freak, isn't he?" I asked with a sigh and she nodded.

"Probably." She agreed, but then shrugged. "He'll get over it though."

"You think?" I asked softly, gently brushing her hair back and inspecting the bruise again, before tucking it behind her ear.

"Well, he's going to have to." She said. "If he wants a relationship with either of us."

"Yeah I guess." I said quietly.

I bent down to kiss her and though it wasn't for very long, I felt someone's gaze on me as we broke apart.

I looked over Harper to see Athena had turned back into the hall.

Her expression was unreadable, but the longer it was on me, the more it felt like a reproach. I suddenly found myself wondering if she'd known that Charlie had told me about the prophecy the twins had turned up to their father with. And if I was going to tell Harper about it.

'You probably should.' A voice said in the back of my mind as the goddess continued walking, but I pushed it away.

Maybe someday, but not right now.

It was all too recent, and it was finally over. I didn't want to bring it back up again and the twins didn't need any more reasons to be angry with each other.

"What are you looking at?" Harper asked curiously, looking over her shoulder but her mother had already gone.

"Nothing." I said shaking my head. "We should probably get out of here though. Before the gods find anything else to blame us for."

"I don't think it matters if we're here," she pointed out. "If they want to blame us for something they will, but you're right. We should probably get back."

"Time to face the music Bambi."

She groaned.

"Gods, you're serious about not giving up on that nickname, aren't you?"

"Never." I said with a chuckle.

She shook her head.

"I must really like you."

"Yes," I said grinning. "And for the life of me I can't figure out why. Even James thought to mention you were out of my league before he ran off."

She looked as if she wanted to say something to this, then paused, apparently lost for words.

"How on Olympus did that possibly come up?"

"It's been a very weird last couple of days." I said and she let out a dry laugh.

"True." She muttered.

She leaned her head against my chest, clearly exhausted after everything we'd been through. I put my arms around her, pulling her close.

It felt like the most natural thing in the world, and it stunned me to think that less than a week or so ago, it would have seemed impossible.

I rested my head against hers as she wrapped her arms around me and I closed my eyes.

I knew there was a storm waiting for us eventually at camp, but I couldn't bring myself to care. Whatever was coming, however angry Charlie or Chiron was, I could handle it.

Harper was ok, we'd gotten out of this crazy quest alive, and right now, that was all that mattered.

"Let's go home Harps."