CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Real Problem

Piper dreamed that she was in a spa with her mother.

As soon as she'd fallen asleep, energised from the day and more than buzzing at her conversations with Alex by the campfire, her mother honed in on her like she was a Black Friday sale. One second she was in the Aphrodite cabin, listening to Lacy's snores, and the next she was in an Olympian spa.

She'd never been to Olympus, but judging from what Annabeth and Percy had told her, she never wanted to go there.

Pink, cotton-candy clouds floated in the sky outside a pavilion circled by white classic columns. The whole spa seemed to be in the sky. Baby statues with wings played music above them. Herbal scents wafted up to her nose. Piper sneezed. Flower petals flew about with the wind.

Piper had woken up in a spa bed and right next to her, on her own spa bed, was Aphrodite

The goddess seemed to have a million things going on at once. Her feet were being soaked, her nails being done, her face looked stiff from a face-mask, and her hair was wrapped in foils.

"Piper, honey," said Aphrodite, a smile in her voice but nowhere on her face. It was like talking to the most beautiful mannequin in the world. Or a robot.

Piper didn't know whether to laugh or run. She turned away from her mother.

"Mom. Hi," she replied awkwardly, sitting up. A nymph came up and offered her some snacks in a bowl and Piper shook her head.

"How do I look?"

"You look fine."

"I look funny, don't I," Aphrodite sighed.

Piper resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "You don't look funny -"

"But I feel terrible, sweetie, just terrible."

Great segue, mom.

Piper gave a stiff smile. "Oh, no, poor you."

The goddess looked affronted, like a child caught being melodramatic. Piper almost felt bad for her, but everything that had happened, she thought she earned being a little bitchy to her mom.

"I know our last…real conversation didn't really go down well…" Aphrodite started. "And you can probably think of a dozen things to blame me for."

"Try a hundred."

"A dozen…but I still think it's worth it to salvage our relationship, Piper."

"Our relationship?" It felt ridiculous just saying it. "Mom, look, I really appreciate all the help you gave us during the war with Gaia. The supplies, helping with the Giants, everything but - I can't -" Piper sighed. "I can't just forget everything that quickly. I can't forget -"

"Him." Aphrodite wiped her hand across her face and the stiffness of the face mask was gone in an instant. "You can't forget him," she said sadly.

"Jason," Piper stressed. Having Jason being reduced to just a 'him' felt wrong.

"Jason, of course, I just didn't think -"

"That wasn't what I was going to say anyway. I'm not heartbroken anymore. I've accepted it, I've made peace with it. I know who I am, I know what we were and no matter what, Jason meant a lot to me. But that's not the problem. It's everything else. Everything that led up to it. The Wilderness School, the war, you being in my ear all the time telling me how perfect we were together and never to let him go. It's everyone meddling."

How many times had they already talked about this? The last time (that last 'real' conversation) had been a little over a year ago, but Piper had been stressed and anxious and couldn't express herself properly. That had been one of their longest conversations if only for the fact that she didn't know what she wanted to say. But now she knew. And she wanted this dream over.

She grit her teeth, looking down at her shoes. At least Aphrodite let her keep her current clothes on this time, and not dress her in a pink toga.

"I'm sorry, mom, but I'm really tired and…is there something you actually want to tell me?"

When Aphrodite didn't respond, Piper was forced to look up, to make sure the goddess was actually still there. It felt exactly like those times her dad would call her from another room and she'd yell 'what?' except he'd never answer, so she had to go find him and see what he wanted.

Parents.

"I know what the problem is, sweetie. The real problem," Aphrodite said, gentle but grave. "And…you'll be glad to know, the solution should present itself soon. I'm very proud of you, you know, you were doing so well on your own, making your own life, like you said you would." She offered a small smile, but it faltered. "But…the company that you keep. It's brought you back. It's brought a lot of things back."

"And?"

Aphrodite took a sharp breath. "Us gods have many regrets. Apollo and I have started to speak about them at length. Sort of like group therapy. We're trying to get everyone else to come over too, but you know Athena's too proud and Ares would rather die than accept he has feelings - but anyway. We never used to talk. But our children have changed us. For the better, I hope," she added, her smile returning. "And it's for this reason that I must warn you, if you want the life you planned for, you must step off your current path and find another one."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"If you continue on this road…" Aphrodite didn't look away from Piper even once, "you will suffer. You will suffer all over again. But if you leave, you will live a long and content life."

Behind Aphrodite, with her words, the sky began to change.

The colour of the cotton-candy clouds began to change. From pink, to a blazing orange, and then the red of fire. The same black shadow that she saw from Katoptris began to leak into the clouds, like ink on paper. Piper stood up from her seat, her hand going on her hip to her dagger, but it wasn't there. Still just a dream.

The flower petals that floated among them turned to hot embers.

"Oh," Aphrodite sighed, looking around her. "It's going to happen again."

"You're talking about Alex. The line of Achilles," Piper said quickly. "But Alex isn't like her ancestors, what happened in the Civil War will never happen again. Mom -"

Aphrodite's face became sorrowful, as if she pitied Piper. She didn't answer, instead, she ran her fingers through her hair, revealing a deep shade of red, the foils falling to the ground.

"If something wrong happens, it's because of a stupid prophecy and the gods intervening where they shouldn't and - and things we can't account for -" Piper stammered. She was losing her mother, fast.

"Mom, are you listening? This isn't one of those stories. And if you really want to help, then you'd prevent all these outside factors from happening - stop all this from happening before it gets to us, why don't you ever do that? Why don't any of you ever do that?" Piper had started shouting. "But it's not going to start with us. Not me, not Alex. Especially not Alex-"

She had never seen her mother look so sad. Aphrodite stood up from her bed and bent at Piper's knees, taking her daughter's hands in hers. She kissed them.

"Remember when I told you about us? About what we can do? My children," Aphrodite sighed, closing her eyes. "Just don't let her be happy. You have to stop, before it's too late…"

The fire from the clouds spread, and she saw her mother engulfed in the flames.

The next time she opened her eyes, she was back in the Aphrodite Cabin and Mitchell was exercising his 'head counsellor' powers to make sure they all got to the Dining Pavilion in time for breakfast.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauties!" Mitchell banged his hairbrush against a gong.

"Where did you get the gong?" Lacy grumbled, burying herself under her covers.

"I've had it forever, what are you talking about?"

"Mitchell," Piper groaned. "We had a big day yesterday, do you seriously think everyone's going to be at breakfast on time?"

"I dunno, maybe I'm just a little delirious from missing one night of a proper skincare routine, messing up the pH balance of my face…" Mitchell gave Piper a pointed look, before looking out the window, "but, is it me, or does the Dining Pavilion look pretty full, and is that Chiron making a speech over there…?"

Lacy and Piper jumped out of their beds and got dressed.

The three siblings bickered the whole time, with Mitchell looking pretty happy with himself at irritating his sisters so much. But they were all glad to know they weren't the only latecomers. Trevor, of the Ares cabin, and Dale, of the Hypnos cabin, were holding up Clovis in between them, who seemed to still be completely asleep. His feet dragged against the floor. Ellis came up behind them and picked up Clovis completely, rolling his eyes.

When they got to the Dining Pavilion, Chiron was in the middle of saying something. But as soon as he saw the new arrivals, he gestured at them and everyone applauded and cheered.

The centaur just chuckled. He beckoned for them to take their seats at their tables. "- now, what was I saying? Ah, yes - it was a pure joy yesterday, a pure joy, to see everyone participating with such exuberance at Harley's Flour Baby Death Marathon…"

Everyone cheered again. All the tables shook with the demigods banging their utensils and fists on them.

"Settle down, now, settle down!"

The Aphrodite kids continued to weave their way through the Dining Pavilion to reach their table. Passing by the Hermes table, Piper was surprised to see Alex leaning her head on Riley's shoulder, bleary-eyed as if she'd just been dragged out of bed herself. She smiled at Chiron's jokes, but otherwise, Alex still had that aura of exhaustion around her.

She'd been doing so well last night, staying up and partying past curfew with the rest of the older campers. Alex had been the one they all chose to try and placate the harpies, who were trying to throw lava at the partying demigods.

But now…

"Whoa, there, Beauty Queen -" Leo poked her hip as Piper tried to sit down, "this isn't your table."

The table looked up to notice Piper and Harley arched his eyebrow so high she thought it would disappear into his hairline.

Her face heating up, Piper wobbled as she stopped herself from sitting down at the Hephaestus cabin and then headed for the correct table. Mitchell had slapped his hand over his eyes. She kept her head low as she sat down.

"…there is, however, one thing I would like you to take from this experience. Something you should always carry with you in your heart," the centaur continued. "Something I would have liked to say yesterday except someone said the word 'party' and, admittedly, I was also carried away with the festivities," Chiron chuckled, shaking his head. "My dear campers: you must always remember the value of teamwork. Never leave someone behind. Never let someone struggle on their own. If you always have each other, you will never be defeated. To Camp Halfblood!" Chiron raised his goblet.

"To Camp Halfblood!"

Piper thought she was going crazy. She'd raised her (empty) cup along with everyone else, and she'd said the toast just as passionately as everyone else, but there was still something off about the whole thing.

The same phrases echoing. The same feeling she'd come to recognise when the Fates were playing around with their strings again. The same ideas coming around. Like a nasty pimple that keeps coming back in the same spot. And no amount of skincare was going to take care of it.

She piled on a heavy breakfast on her plate and decided, once and for all: she was going to tell Chiron everything. But first, she had to check on Alex May.

Taking her plate with her, she sat over at the end of the Hermes table. There was just enough space with all the Hermes kids, plus Riley, Mags, Alex, and Taki. Taki and Mags were sitting opposite Riley and Alex, consumed in a conversation with Cecil about how Mags had fought the Aeternae.

"You should totally write a book, could you write a book?" Cecil was asking. "Like, about how to do things simply? All those super subtle tactics and stuff, you're like freaking James Bond!"

Alex had her breakfast on her plate too, but after what looked like half a plate done, she was just pushing around the bacon with her fork. Her shoulders slumped and her head hung forward. Riley was whispering something to her when Piper made herself known.

"Piper!" Riley smiled. "Morning, dude, whatcha eating?"

"Pancakes." Piper tapped the fluffy circle with her fork. "And you guys?"

Riley explained that Alex had eaten scones, egg, sausages and bacon (Piper tried not to make a face), and that he was just eating cereal.

Alex smiled at Piper. "Sorry I'm a carnivore."

"All good. Are you feeling okay?"

The smile faded. Something like annoyance flashed across Alex's eyes, but it didn't seem to be directed at Piper. "Yes. No. Just the usual." Alex sighed. "I thought I'd be over it by now, I was feeling so good last night - like, I didn't feel tired at all, and you guys know how tired I usually get immediately after I fight. But…yesterday wasn't really about fighting anyway."

"Right," Riley nodded. "So we started to think about it. And we were thinking that maybe she only got tired after she fought. Like when there was actually dangerous danger."

"Dangerous danger," Alex echoed, snorting.

Riley elbowed her and Alex laughed.

"But still," he said. "That's what we were getting at."

Mags leaned forward from her side of the table. "And…"

She, Riley and Taki looked at Alex. Alex sighed at them, then turned to Piper. "And…I've had some dreams. I'm having dreams."

"What?" Piper asked, surprised.

"I told her only demigods had dreams. Usually," Taki added. "Unless you're a very special mortal."

"Or a legacy," Piper suggested. Taki nodded. "So who do you dream about? Or…who's in your dreams?"

A scone appeared on Alex's plate. Smearing cream and jam on it, she explained. "It's usually just one guy. I don't know who he is. He doesn't appear all the time. It's usually just when he has something to tell me. Like, ages ago, I was taking a nap when he told me that you'd be coming," she looked to Piper. "That night you came to our window."

"So he warns you about what's coming?" Piper asked.

"Yeah, that and…I dunno, sometimes we just talk. He's really wise and kind," Alex said, as if that solved the mystery. She stuffed the scone in her mouth to prevent herself from talking.

"We should probably figure out who this guy is," said Taki, saying what was on everyone's mind at this point. "Alex described him as a tall and buff, sort of tanned, and with dark curly hair tied back in a ponytail. What he wears is usually modern, though. And simple. Like farmer's clothes."

Piper narrowed her eyes. "Dark hair and buff? Alex, is he ever surrounded by fire? Or looking frantic?"

Alex frowned. "No…why?"

Piper told them about her visions - not everything, just the man. She needed to check with Chiron first what the other ones meant. Everyone other than Taki were surprised that Piper's dagger even did that.

"I thought you were just looking at your reflection this whole time," Mags admitted sheepishly.

"So…he was by that river," Alex said slowly. "And then he was there again but with fire?"

"No, I - couldn't actually tell if he was by the river. It just looked like a cage of fire."

"Did he say anything?"

"Yeah, he said to 'save her, save her'."

All eyes turned to Alex.

Alex pulled a face. "What? It could be someone else."

"Oh, yeah, someone else who recently had a huge, life-changing revelation that Piper knows," Mags pointed out. Alex frowned.

"We need to find out who this man is," Taki said. "You said something about farming clothes. So we look for…godly farmers?"

"We can ask Billie and Meg," Mags offered. "They probably know something."

"It may not even be the same guy…" Riley mused.

Piper looked at Alex again. "But then you said it's usually just one guy. Who's the other one?"

"The other one is a woman." Alex shifted in her seat, her eyes focusing on the table like she was trying to remember the woman's face, or trying to forget it. "I see her more often. She…I dunno what she does, but she kind of messes with my mind. And, actually, before coming here I didn't even realise it was a person. I just remember always waking up…sad. And tired. But when I slept here for the first time, especially after learning about Achilles…I actually saw her face. And I remembered. She's always been there."

Alex went silent for a second, but she seemed to be thinking of what to say next. Everyone waited.

"There's also someone else," she added. But I think I should talk to Chiron about this. This one's pretty big."

Mags looked disappointed, Taki was nodding in understand, but Piper couldn't read Riley's face. It wasn't common to see him frown, and this was one was pretty deep-set. Still, he was the first one to speak up.

"Good idea. You could probably talk to him after breakfast," he said.

"And I'm going too, actually," Piper said. "I was already thinking of going to Chiron, for something different. But if you wanted to walk over together…"

Alex nodded. "Yes, let's do that. But you can go first, I still need to think of what to say."

The bleariness was disappearing from Alex's eyes. She raised her hand for a fistbump with Piper and Piper complied. "Having someone to wait with is better than waiting alone."

They didn't have to wait very long. After breakfast, the campers dispersed to start their daily schedule. Some walked a little slower than others. A lot of people were still nursing injuries from the marathon, or were just plain sore all over. Harley pushing his siblings to join him for trireme practice had all the Hephaestus kids, even Leo, groaning. Piper passed by him quickly on the way to the Big House with Alex May.

"Any word from Calypso?" she'd asked.

"She said she's on her way back now." Leo waved a small compass looking object in his hand. Piper guessed it was a tracker or communication device. "So we'll have some answers then. Hey - morning, Alex!" Leo smiled.

Alex, lost in her train of thought, was a second late in responding, but grinned and waved anyway, passing an inside joke with Leo that made both of them laugh.

Before they branched off from the rest of the group, Piper looked around to try and find Riley. Make sure that he really did take out the sim card and she was just imagining the reception on his phone from last night. But she couldn't find him in the crowd.

The pair reached the Big House just a little after Chiron and when Piper asked for an audience, he let her in immediately. Alex agreed to wait outside - and if the conversation went on for a while, then she said to just find her on the grounds.

Chiron folded his lower half into a wheelchair, and sat behind his desk. The black arrow was in a jar on the shelf behind the desk, mixed in with other arrows so it looked like a quaint collection rather than a mystical arrow with a dark history.

Most of Camp and life with gods were like that anyway. Ordinary things with extraordinary purposes. Valentina had been the one who found their mother's girdle in the Camp Halfblood Shop, of all places.

"Piper," Chiron smiled, clasping his hands together on top of his desk. "I'm glad you came to visit, I have been meaning to discuss something with you. But if there is another pressing matter you would like to talk about…"

"Uh…" Piper tapped her fingers along the armrests of the chair. "I've been having visions. And I had a dream with my mom last night."

"Go on." The centaur leaned his head forward, showing he was listening.

Piper told him everything. From the first vision at Riley and Mags' apartment, to the one in the woods, and then Aphrodite's conversation. Nothing was left untold. By the time she was done, Chiron had leaned so far back in his chair, he was practically looking at the ceiling.

He mumbled to himself a little.

Piper almost felt bad for dumping so much on him. She could never have Chiron's patience.

"You're sure the rose window you saw is the one at the Waystation?"

"I think so." Piper paused, than added: "But I've only been there once. I can't think of any other rose window that would matter."

Chiron rolled his chair out from behind the desk and Piper instantly stood up. "Follow me."

He led her to a backroom in the Big House she'd never seen before. Come to think of it, she'd only ever seen Chiron's office, the foyer, and the Infirmary. But this area was probably the residential side of the house. They passed by a quaint kitchen, big enough for a centaur to manoeuvre around - and then they ended up in a sun-room.

The room was lined with carpentry and metalwork tools, nothing as elaborate as the Forge, but there were tools Piper had ever even seen before. And right in the middle of the room, the sun glinting off the coloured glass, was a half-done stained glass window.

"Is that…?"

"The god Apollo. And myself, meant to be there," Chiron pointed at the portion of the window not yet done. So far, it showed Apollo crouching on the grass, pointing his bow to the sky. The stained glass glimmered in a way different from the windows Piper had seen in cathedrals and ancient buildings. Around Apollo were beds of roses.

Piper leaned in closer to the bottom corner of the window.

"That's what it looked like. In the vision. That's where the baseball bat struck." Piper blinked. "I…I really thought it was the Waystation, but I guess I just…what's this window for?"

"A personal project," said Chiron, his smile sadder now that his creation had a dark future. "It was meant to be for the new building at the Archery Fields. Once it was destroyed yesterday, I set to work on it immediately. I had always wanted to take up a hobby but now…"

Chiron sighed, rubbing his chin.

"So it was the window," he said. "And Rachel. She visited us a month ago. The repainting of the cave is almost complete, we were thinking of expanding her area somehow. But…she's said nothing yet, pertaining to Alex or the line of Achilles."

Piper leaned against a spare section of wall in the sunroom. She crossed her arms.

"Do you know when she's coming back?"

"She won't be able to visit us for another month, she's in the middle of preparing for her final exams, I believe. She'll be graduating soon." Chiron stared at the stained glass window, thinking.

Piper counted inventory of her visions: the rose window was here, Alex was here and getting better, but Rachel was still up in the air.

"Did you recognise anything about the river?" Chiron asked.

"Nothing. It was just…darkness."

"It may be the River Styx. Achilles is said to appear by the banks, to those who want to receive his curse. But I don't know why Alex would be there."

"Maybe there's a chance she'd be led there somehow," Piper suggested.

"I…don't see why she would be. She already possesses all of Achilles' gifts, save for the curse, it seems."

The two paused to think. Outside, Piper could hear the chattering and booming of dozens of demigods going about their day. She knew every demigod had their own demons and quests to go on, but sometimes it really felt like the gods were picking on her and the 'seven' in particular.

"That's something I don't get," she began. "How can the line of Achilles…not have the curse?"

"Well…that's something we're not actually sure about. From what I know of Flynn, he truly seemed invincible. Perhaps they do have a weak spot that we're not aware of. Or maybe they're not aware of it either. But we're not about to go poking around their body to try and find their weakness," Chiron pointed out.

Piper just managed a smile.

"It remains a mystery," Chiron concluded. "But our new friend does not seem to be a danger. And I would hate to make her feel like she is. That is usually when we lose them."

She nodded.

"As for the man…it may very well be Achilles trying to speak to you. I'm not sure if you had a long enough look, but…Achilles had gold flecks in his eyes. His eyes were otherwise brown, but they did shine in the sunlight sometimes. And they shined when he was showing off." A nostalgic smile came over Chiron's face.

"…I didn't get to see his eyes very well. And Alex is gonna tell you that she saw a similar man in her dreams too. And a woman, apparently. And that woman depresses her every time she appears, I think," Piper shrugged.

Chiron hummed in deep thought. Perching his elbows on the edge of the table, he folded his hands into a steeple and rested his chin on them. "Strange times," he murmured. "I can only hope the gods will send us a sign. But if Aphrodite's first message is anything to go by…what she said about your current path does trouble me."

"Same here. I don't even know what path I'm on. It looks like all she's telling me is to stay away from Alex."

"Do you want to?"

Piper didn't answer. She knew what she wanted to say, but maybe there was some merit to what Aphrodite was saying. And she hated having to choose like this.

Always with the stupid choices.

"I'm only asking because," Chiron continued. "An opportunity has come up."

"What do you mean?" Piper asked, curious.

"I informed Reyna of the issues with the storm spirits, and the spreading of Aeolus' domain. We're not sure yet how that might affect Camp Jupiter, but Reyna tells me they too have been reporting a high influx of sky-based monsters swooping on New Rome. I thought perhaps you might be of assistance there."

Her eyebrows rose. Go to Camp Jupiter?

"They're happy to accommodate you, at a lodging of your choice. Hazel has offered to let you stay at the Fifth Cohort's quarters, but Annabeth and Percy are also there, they have a spare room in the new apartment they just bought," Chiron smiled. "They're coming by over the weekend, and we'll update each other on the happenings at both camps. But if you so choose, you can go with them."

Piper sank into her chair. Choices, choices, choices. But this was a tempting one. Assist Camp Jupiter with monsters and Aeolus? Not as some part of a godly quest? The storm-spirits were her thing. She chose to throw herself into fighting them and to get close with Aeolus to be on his good side. That was ALL her. And now it had become useful. They wanted her intelligence, her input.

Aphrodite's words came back to her.

If you leave, you will live a long and content life…

This was her out. A way to continue to choose her own life, and not to have it chosen for her. The perfect kind of crossroads. One road led to a good project, to stay in the company of people she loved and trusted, to stay in a city that held a lot of promise. And the other road…

Mysteries. Gods being vague. The burden of another possible end to the world. But there were also people she had started to love and trust here.

Where was she more needed?

"Shit," she muttered.

Chiron arched an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly.

The centaur shook his head with a smile. He gestured for Piper to come closer to the window.

"Do you know the story of how I became trainer of heroes?" he asked.

"…something about Apollo being bored?"

"More or less," he laughed. "There are many ways to view how my story started. Perhaps it was pre-destined that Apollo would offer me to learn the ways of a warrior. Or maybe he really was just bored. And maybe it was planned from the start that I would create Camp Half-blood with his help. That I would teach the boy who became the man who levelled a city. And that I would later have to kill his descendant…"

Piper didn't know where Chiron was going with this. It seemed like he was trying to be uplifting, but so many things had gone wrong in the centaur's life, how could he possibly keep his faith in fate?

"But, you see, in spite of all of that…I never abandoned my passions. It took me a while. And I haven't made a window in decades. I haven't been able to finish a carving in years. But I remember who I am. Who I also am. Do you understand?"

Piper just looked at him, waiting for the punch-line.

Chiron steadied his gaze. "You are more than just a pawn of fate, Piper. No matter how much it feels like you are. You are not a pawn. You are an agent of fate. You choose where to go. People will not choose for you. The gods certainly can't."

"They might smite me or turn me into a tree," Piper snorted.

"Consequences," Chiron shrugged. "But there always will be, when you choose your own path. You may think differently but…I learned long ago that I would rather make my own mistakes, by my own hand, than to sacrifice my honour by following life as someone else planned it." He paused. "And you have your choice now, Piper. No one will judge you for it. People will understand and respect your choice. I certainly will," he smiled.

If she left, she would have the balanced life she wanted. A year alone had taught her one thing: she never wanted to fully abandon life as a demigod. She wanted to abandon the gods, for sure, but never her friends. If she could hang out with Annabeth and Percy more, and have Leo and Calypso over, while also having a job as an advisor for Reyna…she could even start university as New Rome! It was perfect.

Yet, leaving would mean no more Alex, Riley, or Mags. And as much as she loved her old friends, she was really starting to love her new ones too.

But how much did they really need her?

Stuck in her reverie, Alex almost missed the shouts of the campers from outside.

"CHIRON! CHIRON!" Luca De La Motte was yelling, banging his fist on the sunroom door. "You have to come outside! NOW!"

In a flash, Chiron stood up and transformed into full centaur, crouching as he opened the door to the backyard. "What is it, Luca?"

"It's - it's Alex May! She's gone crazy, she's fighting these strangers who came through the barrier in the forest, they're ALL crazy, they're pulling apart the Southern Woods!"

Chiron looked back at Piper and both their eyes widened in fear. Chiron shouted orders to have Luca pull back the demigods that had gone to join the fight, then he galloped towards the woods, Piper running behind him as fast as she could.

A/N: i'm so sorry for how long this took ! life's getting busy again, so the main problem is just finding time and energy to keep writing but the next few chapters are all planned out i just gotta sit down and write them D: I'm also sacrificing a bit of my editing too, but hopefully any mistakes or blunders aren't too big or noticeable.

any ideas on who the strangers in the forest are? and has alex really gone crazy?

if the fates are nice, i'll be able to write the next chapter sooner than last time.

hope everyone's been well ! thank you for keeping on reading and returning to 'for only the buried'!

also, i know it's a strange title but it DOES have a meaning, so can anyone guess that too?