Apov
Summer didn't go the way that I expected it to at its start.
I passed the retake thanks to Harper's notes, but I hadn't seen her much over the past several weeks, except when she visited the camp to speak to Chiron. Even then we didn't talk.
Charlie didn't talk about her much. From what I'd understood, their parents had somewhat forced them to speak to each other and they had worked a lot of things out, but I had a feeling it was still a touchy subject for him and no one, not even their siblings, seemed to want to bring it up.
As for our friendship, it suffered for a couple of weeks after Harper had left. For a while, Charlie felt as if I'd played an equal, if not greater, part in setting the Prophecy about her into motion than even James had, and while he didn't out right say he held me responsible for everything that had happened after, he hadn't really had to.
It took a while of several people, including Annie and pretty much all of his siblings, to convince him that if Harper had known about the prophecy, she probably could have done something about it, and his concealing it from her hadn't exactly helped. But he'd never been the easiest person to reason with. He constantly worried that something was going to happen to her now that she was in control of the library, and the fact that she'd all but exiled him from that new part of her life, definitely required us to have a certain degree of separation every once and a while whenever it got really bad.
I hadn't realized exactly how much time he and I had spent together over the years until when I returned home, I found myself sort of at a loss to figure out how to entertain myself. I wasn't exactly upset about it though.
I picked up old hobbies I'd sort of abandoned since I'd found myself always hanging out with the twins. Even hung out with some of my other friends. It was weird not always feeling a little paranoid, worried what someone might say if Charlie or Harper happened to be nearby. It was a revelation to me when I realized I was surprised they wanted to hang out with me even when Charlie wasn't around, and I had no idea why. I shouldn't have been surprised. They were, after all, my friends. Why had I been so worried whether or not they liked me?
Was that how paranoid being worried about what Charlie had thought had made me?
That hadn't been a comfortable thought to reconcile, and I knew Charlie would have been horrified to hear it.
The whole situation between him and Harper had just gotten so out of hand. Looking back, I had no idea how I'd managed to get sucked so far in without realizing how insane it had gotten. But I guess when you're a demigod battling with monsters between biology and algebra, sometimes you just sort of lost perspective.
But perspective was something I was working on lately and as I walked through the hallway at school, it was crazy to me to realize I was walking alone. No Charlie, no teammates or friends, walking between classes joking about practice and the next game. No Harper providing the welcome relief of getting a break from the behavior team life expected me to mirror back to them.
Not for the first time, I realized being on my own sometimes was kind of nice. This time last year, it would have driven me crazy.
I nodded to a couple of teammates hanging next to their lockers but didn't join them as I continued to walk to class.
Lost in thought, still marveling in the novelty of the situation, I was brought back to reality when I heard the familiar rattle of a locker door slamming shut.
I looked over and froze when I spotted a familiar figure tucking her long hair behind her ear, frowning as she rummaged through her book bag, her glasses slipping a little.
"Harper?" I asked in amazement and she looked up.
"Hey." She said pulling a book out of her bag and placing it back over her shoulder.
"What are you doing here?"
She grinned a little uncertainly, as if she thought I was joking, then, when it was obvious I wasn't, laughed a little awkwardly.
"I go to school here."
"I know." I said still a little surprised. "I just, I guess I didn't realize you were coming back. From what I've heard, you've sort of had your hands full lately." I scratched the back of my head a little uncomfortably as the events of the past summer came back to me. "I guess I thought you would be too busy."
"To finish high school?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
"Well yeah." I said with a shrug, almost enjoying the look of incredulity she gave me at my response. I'd missed that expression. "It's just high school. Haven't you moved on to bigger and better things?"
She'd looked different than she had last year, taller, I'd noticed it the few time I'd seen her at camp since she'd left, or maybe she was just more confidant. It reminded me of the day I'd first talked to her, and honestly, I was almost a little nervous again. Despite the fact that she didn't seem upset with me, I wasn't exactly sure where things stood with us. Talking with her now, didn't feel like talking to the sister of my best friend. More like trying to pluck up the nerve to talk to the class president so you could ask her to prom.
"I'd point out I'm still planning to go to college as well." She said a little sarcastically. "But I don't want to shock your system too much."
"Fair enough." I said with a slight smile.
At this point, I was aware that several people were throwing us covert, curious looks. I knew it had gotten around in the few weeks before we returned to school that Charlie and I weren't talking quite as much, and that his sister had seemed to disappear from team practices and pick up games. I could only imagine what rumors would be flying around later.
But to my surprise, I didn't care.
I couldn't tell if she was happy to see me, or upset, or if she simply didn't care. None of these reactions would have surprised me, considering everything that had happened over the summer, but I didn't know how to address that without making this situation even more agonizingly awkward.
"Look, Harper-"
"We don't have to talk about it Ash." She said shaking her head, looking as if she didn't want to talk about anything that happened. "It's over." She shrugged. "This summer kind of sucked, I don't really want to get into it before first period."
"Fair enough." I said with a nod. "How's the library?"
At this she let out a heavy sigh, but I could see something in her eyes brighten as she answered the question.
"Derelict as all hell, but we've been able to have a few victors recently. It's stopped leaking sea water most days."
"Yeah I imagine that isn't good for the books."
"Gods you have no idea." She said her eyes going wider behind her glasses. "I've must have killed like five hair dryers on the magazine table alone."
"You are such a nerd." I said laughing and she shrugged, seeming unabashed by the taunt.
Probably because we both knew it was what I liked so much about her.
'Gods she's so pretty.' I thought as her gaze caught mine from over her glasses. 'Screw walking to class alone.'
I knew I'd missed talking to Harper, but I hadn't realized just how much until now when I was able to do it again. And all the perspective in the world couldn't have stopped me from hoping this year her course schedule was similar to mine.
"Do you want to do something later?" I asked with a sudden spur of courage and she looked surprised by the question. "Grab a coffee after school? It's been a while since I've seen you. We could stop by that used book store you like."
"No." she said with another sigh and I felt my heart sink. "I think I've got enough books at the moment, besides, I don't exactly have time to catch up." She looked a little weary with what she said next. "I've got a group of nixies and dryads hoping to come into tonight and they don't get along, so I've got to make sure the library isn't destroyed in the process."
"Oh." I said disappointment seeping through me, but it was banished and my heart rate shot up with what she said next.
"But, I could probably make time for dinner on Friday." She said with half a smirk. "If you wanted to, you know, actually ask me out."
I was surprised into a laugh.
"What? You're not counting that?"
"No." she said with a shrug, crossing her arms over her chest, her expression expectant.
I looked at her uncertainly for a moment wondering if she was serious, and to my astonishment, she was.
I found myself transported back several summers to the first time I'd ever spoken to her. Before we'd been friends, or anything else more complicated than a boy asking out the girl that he liked. And once again, she was telling me to get on with it.
Gods what was I getting myself into…
"Harper."
"Yes?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
"Would you like to go to dinner with me this Friday?"
"For a date?"
"For a date." I confirmed and she smiled.
"Yeah." She said and while I could tell she was having fun messing with me, she also looked happy. "I would."
"Alright then." I said returning the smile. "It's a date."
I expected there to be some sort of awkward pause or something, but the warning bell rang and the people in the hall around us started picking up their pace to get to their classes on time.
"Does six work for you?" she asked adjusting her book bag. "On Friday?"
"Yeah."
"Great." She said brightly. "I'll see you then."
"Sounds good."
She gave me one final smile before making her way to her class, I watched for a moment, knowing I was cutting it close for time, but still a little uncertain at what had just happened.
I had just asked Harper out. And, more unbelievably, she'd agreed. Again. Even after everything that had happened.
I turned, still a little stunned but unable to help but smiling a little to myself as I headed towards the library for study hall.
As I walked, I noticed that Mr. Barrow, who no doubt had hoped I would fail the retake of his final was looking at me with obvious disapproval. He glanced at Harper as she walked down the hallway, then back at me, and giving me a withering look before stepping back into his classroom.
Clearly he'd seen what had just happen and didn't think I was good enough for one of his star students from the previous year, but I found I really couldn't care.
My smile grew as I continued past his door.
I was done caring what people thought of my relationship with Harper. I was done caring so much what people thought of me as well.
Even if people whispered in the hallways, or teased me about her on the team, I wasn't going to let it get to me. Who cared what they thought? I didn't. Not when my dream girl had just agreed to go out with me on Friday.
Still feeling on cloud nine, I stepped through the library doors only to be reminded that there was one potential issue with my current plans this weekend.
Charlie.
He was sitting with a group of our team mates at one of the round tables a few feet away.
"Hey." I said approaching the table as every eye darted towards me. "I need to talk to you about something."
Though my friendship with Charlie had repaired a little over the last few weeks, it didn't feel like it used to. And while I didn't think that was entirely a bad thing, it didn't exactly feel great either as, when they spotted me, the people Charlie had been speaking to practically ran for cover muttering quick goodbyes and stood, huddling together in an opposite corner clearly talking about whatever they expected to go down between us.
"If you're here to talk about Harper, I already know Ash." He said sounding tired as I took a seat.
"You do?" I asked in surprise. That was fast.
"Yeah." He said flatly. "Everyone's talking about you asking her out. Thanks for the heads up by the way."
He shot me a slightly resentful look and I raised an eyebrow.
"Heads up?" I repeated a little incredulously. "I didn't even know she'd be here. That was something you failed to mention."
"I don't have to tell you anything about Harper." He said momentarily reverting to his previous, no boys allowed around my sister, self. It didn't last long however. "Besides," he said and he looked annoyed about something. "I'm hardly the one you should go to if you want to reach her these days. You wanna know where she is? Go complain to her secretary. Or body guard. Or whatever he wants to call himself."
"What?" I asked completely confused.
"James." He said with a blatant expression of dislike. "He goes with her everywhere. The guy is more paranoid that I ever was. You'll probably see him in the halls."
"Why?"
"Because the gods are furious with the pair of them, and unlike Harper, his freak powers aren't as tied to proximity to the library."
"And she puts up with that?" I asked in surprise and he shrugged.
"She didn't like it at first, but after a few run ins with some major monsters and a couple of arguments with Olympus that got heated, she saw the wisdom of having a demigod on steroids close by." he grimaced as if what he was about to admit, gave him no pleasure as he did it. "Ares took a swing at her once when she wouldn't place him on a hold for some stupid strategy records over our mother. James caught him mid punch. The dude's a freak of nature."
"That can't be true." I said doubtfully, but Charlie just shook his head.
"I saw it happen. Ares just showed up at our house during dinner and starts screaming at her. James kicked him though a wall. As far as I can tell, she stopped arguing with him after that." His expression had been terse, but he grinned a little as he said. "You should have seen our neighbors face. Though I think Ares was more shocked."
"What does your dad think of her new shadow?" I asked curiously.
At this, Charlie a shot me a look that said 'don't even get me started on that.'
"He is alarmingly ok with it." he said something in his tone suggesting this also was a sensitive topic in the Davis family, and should be explored with caution. "It's weird. But I think he's just happy she finally came home."
He hesitated.
"If you think she was mad at us… holy Hades." His eyes went a bit wider. "Sometimes I think she still doesn't want to talk to Dad. From what it sounds like James was the one who convinced her to come home every once and a while."
"Really?" I asked, amazed at this and he nodded.
"The dude is surprisingly reasonable once you actually get him to talk." Charlie continued with a begrudging shrug. "He just doesn't really seem to want to do it. It's actually sort of disturbing how little I've heard him say since he's left camp."
Once again, I found myself trying to reconcile the version of James I remembered from camp, and the apparently more authentic version of him I'd witnessed on the island.
I wasn't sure what to make of it, but Charlie was right, I did see James occasionally throughout the day in the corner of class room or in the halls, and I was surprised at the change in his appearance. He looked stronger, more focused, having apparently completely abandoned whatever pretense of Mr. Popularity he'd been adopting at camp. He also had far more injuries leading me to think he really had been in a lot more monster fights, or, if Charlie was to be believed, was maybe even trading blows with gods.
I noticed however, I seemed to be the only one to see him. The mortals either didn't notice or didn't care about the random new kid walking around in our relatively small school. I had to think that whatever was going on with James, had to have somehow obscured him in the Mist. It was too much to think none of the girls in school noticed a tall, good looking British dude walking around, or the teachers to be concerned that it wasn't a back pack, but a sword slung over his shoulders.
Charlie was wrong about one thing though. James did talk, in fact, he seemed to talk a fair amount. Just, it was only to Harper.
It was weird to see her tolerating being followed, especially when she had class, but unlike Charlie when he'd been harassing his sister. James didn't really do anything to alter her day. He was just sort of there. At one point, I was pretty sure he was reading the assigned book along with her literature class when I walked by it on the way to the bathroom.
By lunch I was starting to wonder how much of a point to this there was.
I'd grabbed a tray and walked out with Charlie to sit with some of our teammates. They were already in the courtyard in which seniors were allowed to eat their lunch, only to see Harper and James already out there looking over some sort of building layout. Maybe they were planning on making some changes to the library or something, but still, I wasn't exactly sure what he was doing here other than to brood and look menacing when suddenly, the was a loud clamor of awful screeching.
Five figures suddenly darted down from the sky, sharp talons extended, beaks thrashing going straight for Harper.
Neither Charlie had time to think let alone move for a weapon by the time the harpies had been dealt with, James sheathing his sword, searching the sky, clearly making sure there weren't anymore.
Harper had put her head in her hands, clearly out of irritation, as if this had been nothing more than a minor annoyance in her day. Four demigods in one area, and all five had gone straight for her.
"It was just a book about genealogy." Harper muttered sounding utterly exhausted.
"Zeus's genealogy." James said and for the first time today, I thought I saw a ghost of his old smirk cross his features. "Those were probably sent by Hera. My guess is she doesn't want that book available to the public."
"Why are the gods such babies?" She asked, shaking her head.
She'd said it quietly enough that the few people that were already sitting at the table hadn't heard, and the mortals seemed to not have noticed that anything had happened.
I looked to Charlie, who seemed to find this exchange normal, back at Harper who'd gone back to talking to James who'd taken his seat next to her.
This complete lack of reaction had me almost convinced I'd hallucinated the entire thing, if it weren't for the massive feather that had landed next to Harper's book bag on the stone floor.
"You planning on just letting your lunch get cold?" Charlie asked before turning to walk towards the table with our teammates.
I stepped after him, noticing Harper look up as we passed her table. She smiled then winked at me, and while I was sure that second bit had been done purely to annoy Charlie, I could tell he pretended he didn't notice it.
The rest of the day passed pretty much in a normal fashion, though I never quite got used to seeing James in the halls. I had a suspicion that was going to feel weird for quite sometimes, but not as weird as when I stepped out of the school after the final bell to see him, seemingly waiting for me outside.
"Where's Harper?" I asked unable to fathom why James would want to talk to me unless he had a message from her.
"The library." He said in a tone that was less unfriendly, than it was matter of fact. "But I wanted to talk to you."
"Why? What do you want?"
I tried to keep the suspicion out of my voice, but apparently it didn't work become while his expression didn't change, something flashed behind his eyes.
"Look, you can cool it with the hostility Wells. I know I might not be your favorite person right now, but your girlfriend's kind of my boss now so we're going to have to figure out how to be around each other."
"Harper's not my girlfriend." I pointed out.
She'd only agreed to going on a date.
"Not your girlfriend?" he mused, something in his tone cool. "Interesting. I didn't peg to be the type that was afraid of commitment."
"James." I asked trying valiantly to keep my temper in check. "What, do you want?"
Just because Harper had forgiven James for everything he'd done, didn't mean I had to. I wasn't sure I ever totally would.
He seemed to know it too.
"Alright sunshine, you don't like me, I get it. And you don't have to."
"Get to the point." I said impatiently. "I've got stuff to do."
"Yes, I'm really sure your biology paper is really pressing." He said sarcastically. "But I've got bigger problems, mainly keeping your Harper alive."
"Are you done?" I asked so annoyed, I was already trying to exit the conversation before I registered what he said. "Wait, what do you mean alive?"
I looked back at him feeling my heart pound faster and anxiety start to creep through me.
"Glad I've finally gotten your attention." He said crossing his arms over his chest and narrowing his eyes.
"What's going on?"
"Kronos might be gone for now, but his supporters are still after her."
"Been talking to some old friends have you?" I asked savagely, but I was surprised when he didn't take the bait.
He simply looked annoyed.
"Wells, I don't have the time to stand here and argue with you. I'm here to tell you that if you're going to be involved with Harper, you need to be careful. Harper cares about you, and that makes you leverage."
"I really doubt that." I said skeptically. "I'm not that important."
"I really don't care what you think." He said shaking his head looking irritated. "This isn't about you."
He hesitated for a moment, as if he was debating what he should or shouldn't say.
"She really likes you Ashton." And while it was clear by his tone, he obviously didn't understand it, I didn't hear the note of jealousy, however, that I just now realized I was expecting to. "I don't think you understand how much."
"I think you're getting ahead of yourself dude." I muttered.
We hadn't even gone on our date…
But he shook his head.
"I'm not Ashton." His eyes had narrowed slightly, as if he were trying to analyze me, to determine what it was about me that Harper might find appealing. "You still don't get it that's why I'm here."
I was surprised to see that his expression of suspicion changed to one of sincerity. It was probably one of the few times I'd seen him have an honest display of emotion and, not going to lie, it threw me of.
"Over the summer," he continued. "If it wasn't work she was talking about, it was you. Sometimes it felt like that was all she ever talked about."
I felt a pang of shock go through me at this, hardly able to believe what I was hearing. I thought after everything that had happened over the summer, she'd been justifiably furious with me.
"You might not be important." He continued. "But Harper is. She controls the gateway between four different realms, and oversees what is probably the most extensive collection of records in the mythological world of all time. Many people would want to get their hands on her, and for some reason, she picks you." he shook his head again. "Don't take that lightly. And don't do anything dumb. I've got enough to do without running after Harper because you've gone and gotten yourself hurt or trapped or something."
He shot me a look, his expression clearly expecting me to put up some sort of protest to this but I had no idea what to say, mostly because it was insane to me that after everything that had happened over the last few weeks, I could still matter enough to Harper that this warning was even necessary.
"Watch your back Wells," he said, giving me a significant look. "There's a target on it now."
"Why do you care so much what happens to her?" I asked as he started to walk away.
This time, there wasn't any resentment in my tone, but none of this made sense to me and I wanted to know.
"You already got your freedom. Olympus isn't going to go after you. Harper wouldn't let anything happen to your sister." I looked at him. "You're not her brother."
He'd said himself, he'd never liked Harper like I did. So why was he so invested in her well-being.
"Why do you care?"
James had turned back at the question, by his expression I could tell this was one of the very few times something I'd said had caught him off guard. And then, he looked at me as if I were crazy.
"Isn't that sort of obvious Ashton?" he asked but I shook my head.
"No, it really isn't."
He paused for a moment, clearly wondering if I was messing with him, but when he saw I was completely serious he said.
"She's my best friend." He said and something about his tone reminded me that despite his battle ready, bad asses wish they were as tough as me exterior, James wasn't that much older than the twins and I. Only by about a year, if that.
I tried to picture James, even just a few months ago as a regular high school student, going to class and talking to people in the hallways and while I'd seen him do pretty much all of that today, it just didn't fit. The James in front of me didn't belong to that sort of world and I found myself just how long it had been since James had lived anything like a mortal.
"Harper is best friend I've ever had Wells." James said and while his tone was calm, there was a significance to it as he finished with. "She protected me and my sister from the gods, let us stay in the library with her when we had nowhere else to go, and has never used our past against us once."
He shook his head.
"She gave me sympathy after Olympus, and probably half the people at camp thought I was better off dead. Even after everything I'd done to her."
Something caught in his voice and he looked away, and I had the feeling that while Harper seemed to have moved on and been ok after everything that had happened over the summer, maybe it hadn't been quite as easy for James.
"There aren't a lot of people like that in the world Ashton and I would know. I've been all over it." he said quietly before finally glancing up, and forcing his gaze to meet mine. "Don't hurt her."
It was as if he thought Harper had been the one who's life had been completely turned upside down by her leaving this summer. That she'd been the one who'd been miserable, instead of off having meetings with Olympus and making massive change in the mythological world. Like he thought anything I could do would really matter all that much, or impact the life of someone like her. At least, long term.
"I don't think I could really-" I started, but James cut me off.
"You can Ashton, that's what I'm telling you." he said flatly, and this time, I could hear a flash of resentment in his tone as well significant amount of warning. "You already did." his gaze met mine and I couldn't think for as different of people that they were, James looked a little like Charlie as he finished with. "Don't do it again."