Burnout

"Talking"

'thoughts'

The Other

"Mental Communication"

Armani p.o.v.

The Hunters piled into the van. They all crammed into the back so they'd be as far away as possible from Apollo and the rest of the highly infectious males, Bianca sat with them, leaving her little brother to hang in the front with us, which seemed cold to Percy, but Nico didn't seem to mind.

I was forced near the back as well, and as much as the hunter seemed wary of me, and Zoe murderous, I wasn't sitting upfront.

"This is so cool!" Nico said, jumping up and down in the driver's seat. "Is this really the sun? I thought Helios and Selene were the suns and moon gods. How come sometimes it's them and sometimes it's you and Artemis?"

"Downsizing," Apollo said. "The Romans started it. They couldn't afford all those temple sacrifices, so they laid off Helios and Selene and folded their duties into our job descriptions. My sis got the moon. I got the sun. It was pretty annoying at first, but at least I got this cool car."

"But how does it work?" Nico asked. "I thought the sun was a big fiery ball of gas!"

Apollo chuckled and ruffled Nico's hair. "That rumor probably got started because Artemis used to call me a big fiery ball of gas. Seriously, kid, it depends on whether you're talking about astronomy or philosophy. You want to talk about astronomy? Bah, what fun is that? You want to talk about how humans think about the sun? Ah, now that's more interesting.

"They've got a lot riding on the sun… er, so to speak. It keeps them warm, grows their crops, powers engines, makes everything look, well, sunnier. This chariot is built out of human dreams about the sun, kid. It's as old as Western Civilization. Every day, it drives across the sky from east to west, lighting up all those puny little mortal lives. The chariot is a manifestation of the sun's power, the way mortals perceive it. Make sense?"

Nico shook his head. "No."

"Well then, just think of it as a really powerful, really dangerous solar car."

"Can I drive?"

"No. Too young."

"Oo! Oo!" Grover raised his hand.

"Mm, no," Apollo said. "Too furry." He looked past me and focused on Thalia.

"Daughter of Zeus!" he said. "Lord of the sky. Perfect."

"Oh, no." Thalia shook her head. "No, thanks."

"C'mon," Apollo said. "How old are you?"

Thalia hesitated. "I don't know."

It was sad but true. According to Percy, she'd been turned into a tree when she was twelve, but that had been seven years ago. So she should be nineteen if you went by years. But she still felt like she was twelve, and if you looked at her, she seemed to be the same as the day she 'died'.

The best Chiron could figure, she had kept aging while in tree form, but much more slowly.

Apollo tapped his finger to his lips. "You definitely haven't aged since then, I can tell that much."

"How do you know that?"

"Hey, I'm the god of prophecy. I know stuff. You'll turn thirteen in about a week."

"That's my birthday! December twenty-second."

"Which means you still can't drive, but if you don't who will?"

"You?" I spoke sarcastically, to which I was dutifully ignored by the sun god.

Thalia shifted her feet nervously. "Uh—"

"I know what you're going to say," Apollo said. "You don't deserve an honor like driving the sun chariot."

"That's not what I was going to say."

"Don't sweat it! Maine to Long Island is a really short trip, and don't worry about what happened to the last kid I trained. You're Zeus's daughter. He's not going to blast you out of the sky."

Apollo laughed good-naturedly. The rest of us didn't join him.

Thalia tried to protest, but Apollo was absolutely not going to take "no" for an answer.

He hit a button on the dashboard, and a sign popped up along the top of the windshield. I had to read it backward ( for a dyslexic, which apparently I was, and Sally hadn't been surprised in the least, really isn't that different from reading forward).

I was pretty sure it said WARNING: STUDENT DRIVER.

"Take it away!" Apollo told Thalia. "You're gonna be a natural!"

I'll admit, I was a little jealous. Sure I could teleport which circumvented travel needs completely. I would rather drive a motorcycle, I couldn't wait to start driving. A couple of times that fall, Sally had taken Percy and I out to Montauk when the beach road was empty, and she'd let Percy try out her Mazda.

"Speed equals heat," Apollo advised. "So start slowly, and make sure you've got good altitude before you really open her up."

Thalia gripped the wheel so tight her knuckles turned white. She looked like she was going to be sick.

"What's wrong?" I asked her, genuinely concerned, not only did I not want someone seized by fear driving the sun, but I knew a panic attack when I saw one, Percy got them all the time, and I didn't want her to deal with anymore than she surely already did.

"Nothing," she said shakily. "N-nothing is wrong."

I didn't believe her, and she doesn't trust me to help her anyway, so I just opted to lean back in my seat instead, returning to silence.

She pulled back on the wheel. It tilted, and the bus lurched upward so fast Percy fell back and crashed against Grover.

"Ow," Grover said.

"Sorry."

"Slower!" Apollo said.

"Sorry!" Thalia said. "I've got it under control!"

Looking out the window, I saw a smoking ring of trees from the clearing where we'd taken off. A little sad at the sight.

"Thalia," I heard Percy say, "lighten up on the accelerator."

"I've got it, Percy," she said, gritting her teeth. But she kept it floored.

"Thalia, Loosen up," I told her.

"I'm loose!" Thalia said. She was so stiff she looked like she was made out of plywood.

"We need to veer south for Long Island," Apollo said. "Hang a left."

Thalia jerked the wheel and again threw me into Grover, who yelped.

"The other left," Apollo suggested.

I made the mistake of looking out the window again. We were at airplane height now—so high the sky was starting to look black.

"Ah…" Apollo said, and I got the feeling he was forcing himself to sound calm. "A little lower, sweetheart. Cape Cod is freezing over."

Thalia tilted the wheel. Her face was chalk white, her forehead beaded with sweat.

Something was definitely wrong. I'd never seen her like this, I looked over at Percy, and was sure he hadn't either. A look my way confirmed my fears.

The bus pitched down and somebody screamed. Maybe it was me. Now we were heading straight toward the Atlantic Ocean at a thousand miles an hour, the New England coastline off to our right. And it was getting hot in the bus.

Apollo had been thrown somewhere in the back of the bus, but he started climbing up the rows of seats.

"Take the wheel!" Grover begged him.

"No worries," Apollo said. He looked plenty worried. "She just has to learn to—

WHOA!"

I saw what he was seeing. Down below us was a little snow-covered New England town. At least, it used to be snow-covered. As I watched, the snow melted off the trees and the roofs, and the lawns. The white steeple on a church turned brown and started to smolder.

Little plumes of smoke, like birthday candles, were popping up all over the town. Trees and rooftops were catching fire.

"Pull up!" Percy yelled.

I did the last thing I wanted to do and channeled a small amount of Nature Energy into Thalia.

'I really hope the calming properties of Nature Energy don't just work for me.'

There was a wild light in Thalia's eyes that slowly died down, the energy seeming to take hold.

She yanked back on the wheel, and I held on this time. As we zoomed up, I could see through the back window that the fires in the town were being snuffed out by the sudden blast of cold.

"There!" Apollo pointed. "Long Island, dead ahead. Let's slow down, dear. 'Dead' is only an expression."

Thalia was thundering toward the coastline of northern Long Island. There was Camp Half-Blood: the valley, the woods, the beach. I could see the dining pavilion and cabins and the amphitheater, accurate to how Percy had described it to me two years ago.

"I'm under control," Thalia muttered. "I'm under control."

We were only a few hundred yards away now.

"Brake," Apollo said.

"I can do this."

"BRAKE!"

Apparently, the energy only took some effect.

Thalia slammed her foot on the brake, and the sun bus pitched forward at a forty-five-degree angle, slamming into the Camp Half-Blood canoe lake with a huge SPLASH!

Steam billowed up, sending several frightened naiads scrambling out of the water with half woven wicker baskets. The bus bobbed to the surface, along with a couple of capsized, half-melted canoes.

"Well," said Apollo with a brave smile. "You were right, my dear. You had everything under control! Let's go see if we boiled anyone important, shall we?"

I'd never seen Camp Half-Blood before, much less in winter, and the snow surprised me. Percy had told me the camp was protected from any major climate changes by a large barrier that surrounded the camp. Unless someone allowed otherwise.

It seemed snow had been allowed to fall lightly. Frost covered the chariot track and the strawberry fields. The cabins were decorated with tiny flickering lights, like Christmas lights, except they seemed to be balls of a real fire. More lights glowed in the woods, and weirdest of all, a fire flickered in the attic window of the Big House in the distance, supposedly where the Oracle dwelt, imprisoned in an old mummified body.

I wondered if the spirit of Delphi was making Christmas cookies up there or something.

"Whoa," Nico said as he climbed off the bus. "Is that a climbing wall?"

"Apparently," I said.

"Why is there lava pouring down it?"

Percy spoke next, "Little extra challenge. Come on. I'll introduce you to Chiron. Zoe, have you met—"

"I know Chiron," Zoe said stiffly. "Tell him we will be in Cabin Eight. Hunters, follow me."

"I'll show you the way," Grover offered.

"We know the way."

"Oh, really, it's no trouble. It's easy to get lost here if you don't"—he tripped over a canoe and came up still talking—"like my old daddy goat used to say! Come on!"

Zoe rolled her eyes, but I guess she figured there was no getting rid of Grover. The Hunters shouldered their packs and their bows and headed off toward the cabins. As Bianca di Angelo was leaving, she leaned over and whispered something in her brother's ear.

She looked at him for an answer, but Nico just scowled and turned away. To be honest I probably would have reacted the same way.

"Take care, sweethearts!" Apollo called after the Hunters. He winked at me. "Watch out for those prophecies, Percy. I'll see you soon."

"You really shouldn't flirt with The Hunters," I said, putting one hand on my hip.

He turned to me, "Don't do anything stupid kid."

"Can't, Percy has all the stupid in this group."

Apollo regarded me offhandedly, "I have a feeling that isn't exactly true."

"What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, he hopped back on the bus. "Later, Thalia," he called. "And, uh, be good!"

He gave her a wicked smile as if he knew something she didn't. Then he closed the doors and revved the engine. I turned aside as the sun chariot took off in a blast of heat.

When I looked back, the lake was steaming. A red Maserati soared over the woods, glowing brighter and climbing higher until it disappeared in a ray of sunlight.

Nico was still looking grumpy. I wondered what his sister had told him.

"Who's Chiron?" he asked. "I don't have his figurine."

"Our activities director," Percy said. "He's… well, you'll see.

"If those Hunter girls don't like him," Nico grumbled, "that's good enough for me. Let's go."

Percy grabbed my hand and dragged me forward, muttering something about 'this is gonna be fun.'

Annabeth decided not to follow us.

The second thing that surprised me about the camp was how empty it was. I mean, I knew from Percy most half-bloods only trained during the summer.

Just the year-rounders would be here—the ones who didn't have homes to go to or would get attacked by monsters too much if they left. But there didn't even seem to be many of them, either.

I spotted a couple of kids stoking the forge outside the camp armory, children of Hephaestus, I assume. Some kids were picking the lock on the camp store, probably Hermes kids. A few kids from the large red cabin were having a snowball fight with the wood nymphs at the edge of the forest. That was about it.

The Big House was decorated with strings of red and yellow fireballs that warmed the porch but didn't seem to catch anything on fire. Inside, flames crackled in the hearth. The air smelled like hot chocolate. Someone who I could only assume was Mr. D, the camp director, and Chiron were playing a quiet game of cards in the parlor.

Chiron's brown beard was shaggy. His curly hair was long, longer than Percy had described it. He wasn't posing as a teacher this year, so I guess he could afford to be casual. He wore a fuzzy sweater with a hoof print design on it, and he had a blanket on his lap that almost hid his wheelchair completely.

He smiled when he saw us. "Percy! Thalia! Ah, and this must be—"

"Nico di Angelo," Percy said. "He and his sister are half-bloods."

Chiron breathed a sigh of relief. "You succeeded, then, but I don't believe I know who you are, child?"

He was talking to me now.

"Well…" Percy rubbed his head nervously, a small chuckle passing his lips.

His smile melted. "What's wrong? And where is Annabeth?"

"She went back to her cabin, needed some rest."

Percy cleared his throat, "Anyway, Chiron, this is Armani, my sister."

I almost wanted to laugh, watching both of the camp directors' eyes bug out of their skulls. Percy almost immediately caught his mistake and corrected himself.

"Oh, that sounded bad, she's adopted. Not blood-related."

"Nice job, Perce, scare the old men some more why don't you?" I jabbed him playfully with my shoulder, Mr. D did not look amused.

"Well, I see she has his sense of humor at least."

"Percy, I don't understand, you mean to say you've had a demigod sibling you've never brought to camp, much less mentioned?"

Percy just nodded, "It wasn't up to me Chiron, she didn't want to be involved anymore."

I swatted him upside the head before he spilled all my secrets and what he knew of my life story.

"Anymore…? No, that can wait for later, are you aware of your lineage, child?"

Percy and I shared a look, we had a good idea, but one that would rock the Greek world to its core, and we still weren't even sure enough at this point.

"We're still not sure, we have ideas, but nothing concrete."

I could tell Chiron wasn't completely convinced, but he didn't want to push any further, or maybe he thought he couldn't get anything if he did.

Just then, Grover trotted into the room, grinning like crazy. He had a black eye and red lines on his face that looked like a slap mark. "The Hunters are all moved in!"

Chiron frowned. "The Hunters, eh? I see we have much to talk about." He glanced at Nico. "Grover, perhaps you should take our young friend to the den and show him our orientation film."

"But… Oh, right. Yes, sir."

"Orientation film?" Nico asked. "Is it G or PG? 'Cause Bianca is kinda strict—"

"It's PG-13," Grover said.

"Cool!" Nico happily followed him out of the room.

"Now," Chiron said to Thalia and me, "perhaps you three should sit down and tell us the whole story."

When we were done, Chiron turned to Mr. D. "That's… a lot to take in."

"I'm going back to my cabin," Thalia said, and without waiting for a response, left the house.

"From what you have told me," Mr. D continued, "we have made gains. We have, ah, regrettably brought the hunters back."

"Well, he seems like a ray of sunshine, how do you deal with all this positivity?" I whispered to Percy, he snorted.

"And you procured a small annoying boy. So I see no point in continuing this conversation."

I felt like hitting Mr. D out of spite. Zeus had sent him here to dry out as camp director for a hundred years. It was meant to be a punishment for Mr. D's bad behavior on Olympus, but it felt like he had sent an incompetent fool instead of someone who could lead.

I wanted to vomit, my head pounded and throbbed with each word. Luckily I held it in and no one seemed the wiser to my distress.

"Percy." Chiron's tone was full of warning. In the back of my mind, part of me wondered if Percy was a lot worse at camp than he let on to me. Even if you were an impulsive ADHD kid like us, we still weren't the most normal of demigods.

Chiron turned to me, a soft look in his eyes when he spoke, "The next question is where you'll be staying Armani-"

"She'll be staying in my cabin, Chiron," Percy said, putting a hand on my shoulder, which I had to ignore the urge to shake off.

The feeling of it made me want to vomit.

Chiron looked hesitant, "Percy, I'm not sure if that's a good idea." He didn't seem very on board with the idea if his tense posture was an indicator of anything.

"Why? As cabin head, I can invite anyone to stay within my cabin, that's how it works. So I, Percy Jackson, as cabin head, formally invite Armani Caelum to stay within my cabin."

"I understand not wanting to put her in the Hermes cabin, and we do owe you a few favors, but I'd feel much more comfortable if she stayed with Thalia, Percy."

I stifled a groan, it's not that I hated Thalia or anything, no, one bad experience wasn't going to make me hate someone. But I would like to talk with her again before we jump to 'hey I'm barging into your room.', that'd be a bit awkward for both parties.

Before Percy could speak again, and say something stupid, probably, I spoke, "May I ask why that would be the case Chiron?"

Chiron looked appreciative of the question and cleared his throat, "Poseidon's cabin currently only has one room, for us to renovate it would take days, and it would be uncomfortable for you to stay in there for the time being. So I was going to suggest you stay with Thalia for a few days, it might also help with the tension I could feel between you two."

It wasn't exactly a bad reason, it was actually a pretty valid point. I just wasn't sure if I wanted to talk to her again on someone else's terms.

'Unless you can get her to talk about what happened in the chariot.'

Now there was a thought, killing two birds with one stone so to speak. Now I just have to hope she won't beat the shit out of me, well, try to beat the shit out of me. Keyword being try.

"It's alright perce, as long as it's not the Hermes cabin," speaking through the link I added, "I need to speak with her anyway, just go with it for a few days."

He stiffened and nodded imperceptibly, although it looked like Mr. D had caught it, either didn't have the motivation to care, or he didn't think it was anything he wanted to deal with.

"Yes, we can't keep all the crazy in one cabin, after all, Peter."

"Percy, sir. It's Percy." He said, completely exasperated.

"I wouldn't call anyone here particularly stable, a bunch of children running around with weapons? Yeah, really stable." The last bit I said with a bit of venom, and I saw something dawn in his eyes. Looking at me like he had figured something out.

Chiron readjusted himself, looking between Percy and me, "Well if that will be all-"

I turned and waved my hand over my shoulder, "I'm gonna go check out the grounds, Perce, you know how to find me."

It was only moments later when I saw Nico burst through the door right after I did, his excited yells made my sensitive ears twitch.

I decided to avoid what was obviously Zeus's cabin and by extension, Thalia's, I needed space for a bit. There was a… pull, for lack of a better word, here in the camp. Two, actually, one from the forest, and one from the direction of the cabins. I didn't even want to go looking for the latter, already having an idea, and not ready to go into a spiral, I chose to ignore it.

'Now would be a good time for meditation.'

Yeah, meditation, center myself. Get over the days (and night's?) events, the pulls could wait till later, and so could the others. Unless they wanted an angry half-blood on their hands, in the form of me.

I walked past the lake the sun chariot had crashed into earlier, looking around I realized everyone had left, so I continued walking into the forest.

It felt like the foliage itself bent around my feet, like it could tell what I held, changing from a light green color to a much deeper shade, you see, I couldn't control water like Percy. However, I could change the properties of certain materials within nature itself, water to certain extents, and greenery more so. A lot more so.

So I walked, making my way past a grove after grove, finally finding a spot that seemed nice enough, I climbed a tall tree and sat in its branches. Allowing the world to quiet around me.

The air was cold, or, it should have been. Weather conditions rarely bothered me unless in the extreme. It was calm here in this part of the woods, not a single sound penetrated my ears, except that of my own heart hammering.

'Ah, I should do something about that.'

I retook my focus and bent the elements of nature to my will. The air was thick with Nature Energy here, it was so much simpler to connect with everything. Letting the noise and the world fall to the wayside.

And so I did, sitting down to let myself relax, entering what I liked to call the gathering state. It was as simple as it sounded, when I meditate I gain a heightened sense, allowing me to feel auras better, and gather Nature Energy. I entered an almost metaphysical realm, I saw things, Percy said I was channeling demigod dreams somehow. But I wasn't so sure he was right.

If I wanted I could have gathered enough energy to start a lightning storm, although lightning often fought against my control. No doubt Zeus' doing.

I was still unsure about many of the powers I had, but I knew what I wanted to try next. Part of that was extending my senses more, and oh gods- was it amazing. It was like being connected with the very fibers of the surrounding areas, every piece of life could be seen from where I was. Ants carrying crumbs back to their home, birds feeding their young. Even the small disturbances of air in the area.

The feeling of being able to… feel everything was exhilarating, it was amazing. To be able to feel all the people around and-

'Oh, that's new.'

The two energies I sense earlier was even bigger now, considering I didn't know the layout of camp it was hard to say where they were, but from my quick glance earlier it seemed that one was in the forest, and one was definitely around the cabins.

There was strange energy near me on the outside, I ignored it and went back to gathering energy for the time being, not like I had anything better to do.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, I slowly opened my eyes, cautiously exiting my meditative state. It was Percy, I wasn't surprised, he was the only one who would have found me up here in the first place.

"What is it, Percy? You never interrupt my meditation." I stood, the branch allowing just enough room for me to stretch my limbs without falling, it felt like hours had passed.

"And how long has it been?"

He sighed, "It's been two hours since you left, Chiron and I went and talked to Thalia. She was surprisingly fine with the arrangements."

I eyed him, clearly, he wasn't finished, or he wouldn't have bothered me, so I said as such to him.

"Chiron wants us to play capture the flag with The Hunters tonight."

'Capture the flag? Why now?'

"He says it's tradition to play when The Hunters arrive, comradery and all that I guess. I have a sneaking suspicion he wants to see what you can do as well." He laughed nervously, he couldn't force me to play along, but it wouldn't go well if I didn't.

"Is that all? I don't think it'll take too long with me on the camper side."

I felt confident, Zoe was my only actual worry when it came to those hunters, the others seemed to fade into the background, but that didn't necessarily mean they were weak either.

"Apparently, when people saw you and your outfit, they thought you were a hunter too."

We were back up on the ground now, walking towards his cabin, "Excuse me?"

He looked sideways at me, while also trying to keep an eye on the other campers with a look that said, "Back off."

"Armani, you do share a lot of similarities with-"

I stopped, grabbing Percy's arm forcefully before we could answer the door to his cabin, "This conversation is over, you know that." I hissed, keeping my voice from being heard by others.

"I know, I know," He held up his hands in self-defense, "Let's just get ready for tonight, you don't really need anything considering you already have a weapon and know your abilities and such."

I grunted in acknowledgment, still, a little caught off guard by being associated with The Hunters, "When does it start?"

Percy looked down at his watch, "After dinner. We just need to grab Thalia."

"You're an ass, you know that, Perce?" I snorted, this just got better and better.

"I aim to please."

I was pretty quiet at dinner.

Don't get me wrong, the food was great. The plates and bowls filled with your favorite food just like Percy had said, in my case, a simple yet delicious soup. It was a thick and creamy baked potato soup, rich in flavor and fragrance. The ingredients were perfectly mixed, bringing back a memory of the same from somewhere I couldn't quite remember. Pair that with a steaming glass of black coffee and the meal was simply divine.

The torches and braziers kept the outdoor pavilion warm, everyone but me had to sit with our cabin mates, which meant I was alone at the Poseidon table. Thalia sat alone at the Zeus table, but we couldn't sit together. I sat with her, as per our earlier discussion. I could already see rumors were bound to spread from this.

What I assumed was the Hephaestus, Ares, and Hermes cabins had a few people each. Nico sat with the 'Stoll' brothers (I'd heard all about their shenanigans), since new campers always got stuck in the Hermes cabin if their Olympian parent was unknown.

'Except you.'

The Stoll brothers seemed to be trying to convince Nico that poker was a much better game than Mythomagic. I hoped Nico didn't have any money to lose. At the same time, however, watching it happen would be quite funny.

'Note, teach the kid how to gamble.'

The only table that really seemed to be having a good time was the Artemis table. The Hunters drank and ate and laughed like one big happy family. Zoe sat at the head like she was their head. Which I supposed she was for now.

She didn't laugh as much as the others, but she did smile from time to time. Her silver lieutenant's band glittered in the dark braids of her hair.

I caught Percy staring at her multiple times over the course of dinner, it wasn't exactly hard to see. I chuckled at his antics, 'Of course he would start crushing on one of the hunters.' I thought she looked a lot nicer when she smiled, she was a very pretty person.

Bianca di Angelo seemed to be having a great time. She was trying to learn how to arm wrestle from the big girl who'd picked a fight with the Ares kid on the basketball court. The bigger girl was beating her every time, but Bianca didn't seem to mind.

When we'd finished eating, Chiron made the customary toast to the gods and formally welcomed the Hunters of Artemis. The clapping was pretty half-hearted. Then he announced the "goodwill" capture-the-flag game in a few hours, which got a lot better reception.

Percy, Thalia, and I shared a quick glance, the message was clear.

'We're not losing to the hunters.'

I still didn't like Thalia, but I knew when I needed to work together with someone, well, work together to subvert expectations.

Afterward, we all trailed back to our cabins for an early, winter lights out. I was less exhausted after the replenishment of Nature Energy, but I was still fatigued, which meant I fell asleep easily. That was the good part. The bad part was, sleeping brought nightmares, and this one was even worse than usual.

It was a rainy night in !&%^ , a tall man sat beneath a large cliff overhang, a small fire, and a tent set up beneath it.

He sat close to the fire, the same sword from other dreams sat beside him, making a low sort of humming sound, a shield pressed against his back. He didn't have much in the way of clothes on him, his cloak and tunic were drying near the fire beside him.

The view shifted closer, the face of the man still hidden by the shadows cast from the flame, framed by his long hair that he pushed behind his ears as he took out a knife.

The same knife.

He pulled the knife near his face, to reflect the stubble he had begun grooming with a small razor, using the knife as a mirror of sorts in the dim light. As he put the razor away again after a few minutes, she was once again taken closer to the man, taking a view over his shoulder as he gazed at the knife. It took a moment to realize what she should be looking at.

The reflection in the Knife was her face.

A quiet voice spoke, presumably the man, "Oh Armani, what have you gotten yourself into this time?"

Thunderstruck outside from outside the outcropping, and everything went dark-

My eyes snapped open.

Authors Notes:

Well, here we are, another chapter and more mysteries. ;)

I hope you didn't think I was gonna reveal the majority of how Armani's powers work in this chapter. Soon we'll be seeing more of her capabilities. Along with some other things that may be quite interesting...

And who may the mystery man be in the dream? Why was Armani's face in the knife's reflection? Feel free to guess, I like seeing theories about these things. :)

For all those who have said kind words in the comments of either of my works, thank you so much! It makes my day to just see one comment.

As for updates, I would like to see some feedback on the outlines I talked about in the last Author's Notes, seeing as I also forgot to put one in. . (My bad)

The first of these new stories should be posted tomorrow, I hope you look forward to it!

(There may be some errors in spelling here or there, I was a bit rushed with the semester ending soon.)

Finally, the SnowStorm/AyaLumi Genshin Fluff fic should also be getting an update the day after tomorrow!

I hope you guys continue to like my works, and I hope you guys have a great week!

-Dredgen