CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Us, The Monsters
MAGS.
She wouldn't tell them everything. As much as she wanted Issa the Crazy Amazon to finally be on her side, and as much as she wanted Piper to stay on her side, she couldn't tell them everything. Most of it was her life, most of it was her relationship with Riley, and then finding Alex - and you couldn't tell your secrets like that. Not even if the fate of the world counted on it. She didn't have to spill her secrets. She was owed that much.
Even if she was getting tired of lying.
Spilling their surnames had to be enough. That was always something people liked to catch on. People made their assumptions, thought they were rich brats, and then left them alone. Underestimated them.
But Mags thought, somehow, this probably wouldn't fly with the demigods.
She'd have to be careful with what she said.
"We met at group therapy. It was a small thing Kingshield wanted to do. Community outreach, mental health awareness. Etcetera," she shrugged. Mags pressed her lips to a thin line. "I don't know how much you guys know about what happened in Manhattan a couple of years ago…monsters attacked the place. The entire island, as far as I know."
The look on Issa's face told her what she needed to know. Though she was the oldest and most 'seasoned' warrior, her expressions betrayed her more than she probably liked. Piper and Nico, so far, were the hardest people for Mags to read. Piper nodded. Nico didn't respond at all. Their reactions told Mags everything she needed to know: Piper just knew about it, but Nico had been there.
"Lots of people were asleep. But because the Kingshield building…it's basically run by demigods and legacies. They had a magic around it that was enough to prevent everyone from sleeping. But…it might have been better if they were asleep. Because we were awake, the monsters attacked us. They came from the Lincoln Tunnel. Riley and his family were there. My family was there - Kingshield sponsored my last martial arts tournament. It was just meant to be…a regular meeting. I didn't even meet Scott, we only met with low tier people. But…that day, everyone was on the same boat."
She paused. Mags rubbed her wrists again. She was happy to have the restraints off, but now she had nothing to do with her hands. She kept them flat on her lap, stretching out her fingers.
"My mom died. Riley's brother died. We both attended therapy. He asked me out. I said yes. I added 'monster-hunting' to my repertoire," she said matter-of-factly.
This time, she left a definite silence which left the three demigods confused.
"That's it?" Nico asked.
"That's not it," Piper furrowed her eyebrows. "How did you meet Alex?"
"Not in therapy," Mags answered. "We found her fending off monsters by herself. Asked her to join. She said yes. Didn't know anything about the Achilles thing, we thought she was just normal like us."
"How did the training happen?"
"Same thing as you guys, I guess. After-school. Summer holidays. Monster-hunting course at the YMCA."
Piper's jaw clenched. "And Seattle?"
"We wanted to study. Riley did a short cooking course. I finished my science degree. Alex…still hasn't finished hers."
"And Riley's plan? You mentioned last night that this was what he'd been planning all along."
Shit, true. Mags thought quickly.
"One of the things we always dreamed of doing was finding Camp Half-blood," she said smoothly. "We knew Camp Jupiter but Scott forbade us from ever going there, not that we'd ever be allowed anyway. Riley wanted to find Camp Half-blood himself, prove that he was smarter than Scott. I think…I think that's all he wanted to do. And he brought Alex because…well, because of the Achilles thing I guess."
"And he left you?" Issa asked, not even trying to hide the insulting tone.
Mags leaned back in her chair, the picture of calm. "Well if he'd brought me, then we wouldn't be having this fun conversation, huh?"
Another silence. Mags focused her all her attention on Issa. I dare you, her eyes said.
The Amazon was coming up to boiling point again. Mags found it hard to stop herself from revealing the smallest smirk - but it was enough to have Issa marching over and putting her face up to hers again.
"You're making fun of us. Tell us the truth -"
"I am. I am!" Mags exclaimed. "Put me up to Wonder Woman's lasso or whatever, but I'm no liar."
"No, but you're smart," Piper said coolly. "You're not telling us everything."
"As if you would ever tell us everything," Mags rebutted. "You all know more than you're letting on. Don't think I've forgotten that shiny bronze-gold thing you brought in -" she said, looking to Nico. "And you're not telling us everything about what happened in the Underworld with Alex's grandfather." Then she faced Issa. "And your thing with the Amazons, you're hiding something too. I don't believe for one second that you're here to just gather information and take Alex. You're not just out of duty. You've got a personal stake too, but you're not gonna spill that tea, are you?"
Finally, it was Piper's turn. Mags looked straight into Piper's eyes. Piper McLean, the girl she'd only known by name because Alex couldn't help but notice her every time during her rehearsals and classes - even before they found out Piper was a demigod. Piper McLean, who'd surprised her and everyone else, by how kind she actually was behind her tough exterior. Piper, who (Mags just knew) cared for Alex as much as Alex cared for her.
'Piper has the nicest smile, I swear -'
'She's actually super nice and goes out of her way to help people -'
'She made fun of my spaghetti today but I actually managed to snap back and now we have a thing going on, it's the weirdest and best thing ever -'
"And you…" Mags said slowly, narrowing her eyes at Piper. "…well, you're actually fine."
Piper frowned.
She almost wanted to say 'you know I can hear you, right?' but maybe that was the point. Intimidation tactics. Psychological warfare. Lessons Scott and Kingshield never actually taught but something she picked up along the way. Riley was always the loudest one, the one people listened to, the impulsive and charismatic one. He could smooth-talk the most stingy person into being on his side. That was Riley's thing. He made everyone feel like he was just another guy, a kind guy.
Fall from grace, the kindly one.
Ah. So that's what that meant.
And even after all she knew, she was still lying to save his ass.
And Mags' deal?
She had the good memory. The reflexes. The keen hearing. The three languages under her belt. Vietnamese, German, English. She was working on her Mandarin and Japanese a few weeks ago. She had the patience to think about things. Riley had ideas for plans, but Mags perfected them, down to the very last detail. A ballet dancer. A wushu master, specialising in tiger. When she'd first told Riley that, he didn't let it go for months. Mags, the Tigress. Everywhere and anywhere, he'd find an opportunity to call her 'Tigress'.
Riley had a million names for them. The dynamic duo. Po and Tigress. The Flash and the Green Arrow. Hawkeye and Black Widow. As corny as they were, she could see the similarities. That was what life always felt like for her anyway - too insane to be real. First, she was the rich girl, then she was the super spy thinking she was a superhero so. She could never escape silly names and unnecessary labels.
Now, she was the criminal.
"I know what it sounds like, but she's just acting," she could hear Piper say from the other room. "It's all a front. She's as in the dark as we are."
"Perhaps you're just too close to the situation, McLean," came Issa's voice.
Bitch, Mags thought.
"Maybe so, but that doesn't mean what I have to say isn't important. I know her well enough that -"
"You've known them for a week -"
"That's more than anyone can say about you," Piper snapped. "You've never seen Alex in action, you haven't seen the way Mags works, the way she fights -"
"I don't need to know. All I need to know is the truth. And your friend isn't giving it. And that makes her useless." There was a pause, and then it was Issa's voice again: "If you could just persuade her to tell the truth…"
"Not happening," Piper snapped.
Nico sighed. Mags noticed he always took the neutral side. "What do you want to do?"
"Well, if we can't get her to talk," Issa grumbled. "Then keep her locked up. Lock her up in the attic."
And they did just that.
They moved her after the conversation in the other room, and Mags stayed silent as Nico shadow-travelled the interrogation party to the attic. They left her one plate of the never-ending food, and a cup of never-ending drink. They left her untied.
The attic of the Big House was interesting, but it wasn't interesting enough to have her distracted from trying to find a way out. She'd heard all she needed from the demigods. They couldn't help her anymore. Something much bigger than her was happening and since she played her role so well, now they believed she actually was useless. Issa thought she was complicit in Riley's crime, and Piper thought she was innocent and didn't know any better. It was the best position to be in.
"Get yourself underestimated," she heard Scott's voice in her head. "Then you'll be able to do anything."
She explored every corner of the room and stepped on every creaky floorboard, trying to pry loose ones from the ground. She did the same to the roof, trying to see if there were any loose parts to it that she could burst out of. But whether by magic or by sturdy carpentry, the attic was a fortress.
Eventually, though, she would escape. That was her version of hope. She didn't like to believe in super-positive things, but she believed in moving on. No one was destined to stay in just one place all their life. She would get out. And then she would kill Riley for doing this to her.
Seeing a white marble bust on a shelf, Mags almost thought to use it as a dummy to kick and punch - even if her bones would break against the hard stone. Anything to let out her frustration.
"Son of a bitch - son of a bitch-" she mumbled to herself. Mags tossed aside old garments from a box, trying to find a weapon or something. "I'm going to kill you, Riley, I'm going to kill you if it's the last thing I do -"
"Relationship problems?"
Mags spun around, wide-eyed. Piper was sitting by the window-ledge, half a foot in a shadow portal before taking her foot out completely.
"I don't like to play this card, but…" Piper gave a half-hearted thumbs-up. "You know I'm the daughter of Aphrodite."
Mags offered a grimace. "I'm good, thanks."
"Any time."
Mags stared at her for a beat, wondering if Piper was going to do anything or say anything more. When nothing else happened, she resumed her investigation of the attic. Except now it wasn't so much as investigation than a frantic search for an answer.
"I'm defending you, you know," Piper eventually said.
"I know," Mags shrugged, not looking her direction. She took out a box of spoons, sifting through them with her fingers.
"They say they're close to finding Alex and Riley."
Mags frowned, her eyes frozen on a random spot on the floor - before resuming her spoon investigation. "Good."
"The satyrs are closing in on their location. They found the new car they were using. Alex has a celestial bronze bracelet that Harley gave her as a gift. So they ended up using that. Harley was a little embarrassed about it."
"Alex tends to have that effect on people."
"She makes them feel embarrassed?"
Mags looked directly at Piper. "She makes them like her."
Piper held her gaze, and then dropped it. It was back to business a moment later. "Do you want to know where they are?" Piper asked.
"DC," Mags frowned. "They were always heading to DC."
"Why there?"
"Kingshield HQ. It used to be Manhattan, but they moved there."
"We…probably could have used that a while ago."
"What? The information?" Mags glanced at Piper, annoyed. "You were always going to find out anyway. I don't see why I should help you catch them."
"No, you're right, you shouldn't," Piper said calmly. "And you wouldn't. Because you want to catch them first."
Mags stopped. She looked down at the box of spoons, suddenly mad at how useless it all was. How annoying this disorganization was. Why didn't Chiron have a better archiving system than this? There could have been a dozen cursed items in here and no one would know. After hundreds of years, you'd think they would've tidied it up -
"I can't imagine how you must be feeling," Piper continued carefully. "I know you guys were really close and…I know how betrayal feels. And losing someone too. You didn't say much about the plan, but I kinda figured that this wasn't part of it. You were meant to go with them. So…I'm sorry you were left behind."
Mags dropped the box of spoons loudly on the table. "Who needs charmspeak when you're a good bullshitter?"
There was a second of quiet from Piper, and then a scoff, and Mags saw her moving to the door from the corner of her eye. Instantly, she regretted her words.
"Piper, wait - I'm sorry -" she said quickly, sighing at herself as she blocked Piper's way. "I'm mad. You're right. I'm mad. And I'm hurt."
Piper was tense when Mags blocked her, but Mags saw her start to relax a little, even if she was still suspicious. "I'm sorry. Actually sorry," Mags added, meaning every word. "Forgetting everything else about this situation…I feel like if we met any other way, we would've been really good friends."
"We are good friends," Piper frowned.
Mags nodded, stepping to the side to let Piper pass. But the demigod didn't move.
"…it'd be so easy to just get what I want, you know?" Piper said, her voice low, a warning. "I could just use charmspeak. I'd know everything about you. Everything you wanted to forget, everything you promised you would never say to another soul. Everything about you and Riley. But I'm not going to do that. That was my promise to myself. And - like I said, you're my friend."
Mags couldn't help a small gulp in her throat.
"I believe you'll tell me what I need to know. When you feel it's the right time." Piper moved past Mags, heading to the exit of the attic. The door opened easily for her, but Mags made no move to try and escape. "I just hope the right time is soon. Before we run out of time completely."
Mags nodded once more, but said nothing else as Piper finally left her to her imprisonment once more.
From here, she could no longer eavesdrop on their conversations.
Her imprisonment in the attic lasted well into the night. At least from here, she still had a great view of the sunset through the windows. A satyr came up just before dinner with a cot, linen, a pillow and blankets. But she never got to use them. Not when there was the perfect window-ledge, with the wood probably softened from years of people sitting right where she was - hoping the horizon would swallow her and make her disappear like the sun. It was too easy to fall into a deep sleep there, after all the lies, the heartbreak, the anger, the exhaustion…and soon enough, she found herself remembering as well.
THE PAST.
A video on a phone. Probably the iPhone 5. Something that old, but still new.
Eighteen years old then, Mags was watching Riley and Davey on the small screen, except the top-half of their faces were covered by leather masks. They looked like they had put together costumes from different outfits. Riley had the mask, padding on his chest, and even a cape. He wore green, and Davey wore white.
"July twenty-first! 2010!" young Riley whispered loudly into the camera.
The camera shook as the cameraman, Davey, laughed. "No, no, no, dude, shh -" said Riley, barely controlling his own laughter, "shut up, you gotta be quiet - you know what we're dealing with here, right?"
"Freakin' MONSTERS, man -"
Riley beamed, bringing his face up to the camera. "Freakin' MONSTERS!"
Mags turned to look at the present-Riley, now nineteen - and turning twenty soon, from the amount of times he'd shared it with everyone else in the cafeteria. His face was more defined now, and was also sporting a bandage on his cheek from when she grazed him with a flail. She knew that wasn't her weapon, but Scott still insisted she try it out and Riley was taunting her with it anyway. Two months of being here, and she was only just starting to actually like him.
She'd told him to get the bandage re-done, but when the video came up in their conversation, it seemed foolish to make him go then. They'd dropped everything to watch it. They'd even sat down in the corridor.
"You guys were cute," she commented lightly, tossing him a short smile.
"Still am," Riley chuckled.
"How old were you here?"
"Seventeen, maybe? And Davey was fifteen or sixteen, can't remember -"
They brought their attention back to the video. They each held up one side of the phone. Mags tapped her fingers against Riley's.
The video continued.
"We're here at Roanoke Park, following some reported disturbances of some real nasty dudes, attacking wildlife, harassing the public -" Davey continued. "So you know what that means!"
"It's Ace and Anchor, coming to MESS YOU UP!"
The boys' laughter was cut off by Davey coughing. The camera shook around, losing focus, but Mags could see video-Riley approaching the person behind it.
"Whoa, hey, you okay?" Mags heard video-Riley ask. "Did you take your meds, today? The doctor said -"
"Nah, man, screw the doctor, come on -"
The camera went ahead to the edge of the rooftop, and video-Riley jogged forward to be in the centre of the scene again. Then the two boys crouched to the ground, hiding behind the edge of the roof.
"So tell us what's down there," Davey said.
"Well, if you look over here, Anchor," Riley said, doing his best newscast voice, "You'll see we've got some real bazingers here, some real weird folks, it looks like that girl there's got a tail instead of legs and we ain't talking about no Ariel here -"
The video continued with video-Riley explaining each monster they could see. Though the boys didn't have any official names for them, Mags could tell what they were dealing with, thanks to Scott's teachings. Two Scythian dracaenae. One cyclops. She couldn't tell what they were there for, and it seemed the boys didn't either. But neither of them appeared to care.
He had told her they were being stupid. As special as this video was, it also showed a reckless and shameful time.
"You guys just went in for it, huh?" Mags asked, looking next to her at Riley.
Riley shrugged.
The scene changed. It looked like the camera was propped up somewhere, far away, while it filmed the two boys fighting the monsters.
"You don't have to watch the rest of it," he said. "We pretty much just fight them, defeat them, we both have a crazy number of injuries…like I said. Stupid."
Riley paused the video, and closed the screen of his phone.
"But you still won, didn't you?" Mags asked, pointing out the obvious. "Stupid, sure. But not entirely useless."
"That's basically the title of my autobiography," Riley said, cracking a smile.
"Yeah, well…" Mags stood up from the floor. She patted off her jeans. "When you write your monster-hunting biography, be sure to credit me."
She held out her hand to help him up. He took it with a grateful smile and pulled himself up.
Mags leaned against the wall, her hands behind her back as she looked up at him. For a second they just looked at each other. Riley's smile, however annoying at times, always did start butterflies in her stomach.
"All right, newbie," Riley chuckled. "Making your mark. I respect that. But hey, listen - you know what I mean now, right?"
"To think before I act? Like I've never heard that before."
"Not just that." Riley stepped closer, covering the distance between them. One other trainee walked down the corridor, passing behind them. Riley lowered his voice. "Scott's a good teacher. But he's…a little old-fashioned too. I think we should…be a little more thoughtful about who we're attacking."
Mags arched an eyebrow. "After everything that's happened? After Manhattan?"
"Especially after Manhattan," he said seriously. "We still don't know why they were all there, and if Scott knows, he's not telling us -"
Mags frowned, taking a step back. "Yeah, but trying to be think about who I'm attacking isn't why I'm here. I'm here to just attack. So thanks for the pep-talk, but - I'm good. I think I'm old enough to make up my own mind now."
She turned and walked away without another word. But a few steps forward, she hesitated and glanced backwards. "I'm…sorry about your brother. Thank you for showing me the video."
"It's fine," Riley said, quiet. "Just…think about what I said, at least. And tomorrow, we're going out for that field trip thing. So read the files in your room."
"You mean the one about the Alex person?" Mags shrugged, nonchalant. She turned around completely, crossing her arms as she did. It seemed the conversation was not over yet. "Already read it."
"If you don't feel comfortable going on such a big mission so soon..."
"It's just…information-gathering, isn't it? Recon?" she rolled her eyes. "The whole squadron gets together, armed with the latest gear, ready for anything - but given what you've said about tomorrow, I think I can handle sitting in a car and watching some girl walk into a high-school and then walk out again."
"Now it sounds like you didn't read it at all."
Mags didn't bother responding. Instead, she just rolled her eyes.
"This Alex person could be the key to everything. Scott's been looking for her for years," Riley stated. "We can't align ourselves with the gods, or the monsters, or the demigods so -"
"The perfect way of levelling the playing field," Mags repeated, using Scott's exact words from the conversation she'd overheard between him and Riley. Riley narrowed his eyes, suspicious, but didn't say anything about it. "What makes you so sure she's gonna wanna play?"
Riley shrugged. "Not my business. Scott just says it's all gonna be set up. All we need to do is make one hell of a winning team."
THE PRESENT.
Mags gasped as she woke up.
Jolted from her sleep, she scrambled around and fell off the window-bench as she tried to orient herself.
Alex, it was always about Alex.
The winning team.
All set up.
Picking herself up from the floor, she rushed towards the door, preparing to crash through it if she needed to - but to her surprise, the door swung open when she turned the knob.
Mags ran down the stairs, already memorising the layout of the Big House from the few times she'd been marched around, first as a guest then as a prisoner. She finally found the people she'd been looking for, not in Chiron's office, but in the back of the house, in a small sun-room.
Taki stood with Piper, Chiron, Issa, and Nico. He was in the middle of updating the room on Alex and Riley's whereabouts:
"Mill is the satyr set up in DC, and he Iris-Messaged me just fifteen minutes ago telling us that Alex and Riley had stopped at some shopping complex in the parking lot -"
"I'm sorry-" Mags interrupted, bursting into the room.
Issa leapt into action, reaching her in one stride and holding her by her collar in case she tried anything. Mags didn't even try to fight back. She just held up her hands in a surrender and looked straight at Piper.
"I'm going to tell you everything. I'll tell you everything. About us, about Alex and Riley and -" Mags sighed sharply. "And about Scott. Kingshield. But I have a question for you -"
"What?" Piper immediately said, the anticipation rising in the room.
"How powerful is the Athena Parthenos? Do you think it'll be able to protect you from what's coming?"
A/N: things are heating up ! writing from Mags' POV was actually so fun. she has a different way of viewing the world and reacting to things, just as everyone else does. plus, we'll be seeing who the real villains are soon enough…
I hope you all are enjoying watching the mystery unfold - and thank you for reading and sticking by 'For Only The Buried'! every review means so much, it's always nice to hear from everyone and what they're thinking so far :D
let me know if the flashback works! I don't want to make it too confusing so I signposted with the 'THE PAST' and 'THE PRESENT'.
more exciting things to come, so stay tuned and thank you again ! :3