I want to lay it all out on the table before we begin. This story is PURE BRAINCANDY. What that means is that I am going to write this however I want. I'm not aiming for profundity or even close to published novel-like quality (understanding my first two stories aren't either, but those two times, I was actually trying to write well lmao). Here my aim is to write well enough it doesn't make you want to gouge your eyes out but after that, anything goes! It has been a long and devastating year for all of us, and in varying ways, and for some, it continues. This is catharsis for me. This is my hopepunk. Y'all are more than welcome to make yourself at home, but I'm writing this for me.

General CW WITHOUT spoilers (the one with spoilers will be at the end, if you want to know): The themes will follow along TOA, being more serious and darker. There will be discussions of death and ideation of suicide (both of which I will warn for at the beginning of each chapter and add in tags as I post), to name a few. At the same time, there will be many unrealistic and very happy things, because again, my story, and I'm gonna write it self-indulgently. So if this isn't the fic for you, click away, friend (or bookmark for later if you need some braincandy and are okay with OCs and Luke's character 👀)

Some other housekeeping notes:

I changed Tori's mom's name! If you've read my first story, It's the Perfect Story, you'll know I originally had Tori's mother's first name as Diana. Because I thought, "Tori's full name is Victoria and Victoria is a goddess. Wouldn't it be fun if her mother's name was also a goddess's namesake?" I don't know why it took me so long, but I was reading TOA and realized, "huh that's actually super weird and hella gross. i need to change that before i write the third installment to this series, or i'm going to fling myself into the sun." So Tori's mother's name is Lucia now (which, btw, means light, in Spanish). (lucifersfavoritechild, if you're reading this, I'm really sorry i've fucked so much stuff up in your fanfic. pls forgive me ^^;)

I also changed Antoinette's name because I could. It's Anya now. (I haven't changed that in my past stories yet bc I wanted to get this up before I could think about it too much and chicken out lol)

I also ret-conned the scars I'd given Tori in my second installment, I Need Another Story, after she'd been attacked by those bat-like beats in the Underworld, right before she gets thrown into Tartarus (for,,,fun reasons that will be in this installment), and took out the cringey "two wolves" thing in chapter 50 lmao. (like yes, cringe is fine and good and all, but that one is like,,,bad cringe if you know what i mean, so i took it out)

Finally, I changed a couple things about the Triumvirate disrupting communications because it was just more convenient for me lol

Oh also Apollo is ace. I will not be taking any further questions

Alright, onto the story!

Act I

—

the only other sound's the sweep / of easy wind and downy flake

The Dotted Line

I was sat in a small café across town, meeting with an attorney to look at some legal papers I'd been given by a friend. Now, attorneys were usually well-dressed—it came with their job because of how much money they made. If you had enough textile knowledge, you could pretty easily tell the common suit from a designer, tailor-made one. The woman before me wore the latter. She also had an expression like stone. Per the same friend who'd given me the papers, it was due to the fact that she was on retainer for a group of people who, shall we say, often skirted around the law.

The phone in my jacket pocket buzzed and I quickly swiped the phone I'd left out on our table, dropped it into the same pocket of the buzzing phone, and pulled that one out to look at the caller ID. The attorney didn't even glance up at this.

"I have to take this," I told her as she began reorganizing the papers and putting them carefully back into the leather legal folder they'd come in.

"I'll look over these," she said, "and get back to you." She stood, putting the legal folder into her briefcase, nodded at me once, and then swiftly left the café to the sleek black car that'd pulled up to the curb.

I finally answered the call, mentally sighing. I would have to take another ibuprofen soon. My prickles were beginning to act up. It was always difficult in the winter. And January was right smack in the middle.

After an incident with a snake bite from the tail of Chimera, I had chronic pain—like tiny needles that poked into my nerves all over my body. And always there. Sometimes I could push them to the back-burner, other times I could barely move. Cold didn't exactly help. Neither did stress.

"Hello?" I asked, reaching for my tea cup and drinking the last of my, now lukewarm, chai rooibos.

The person on the other line took in a shaky breath. "Tori?" A woman's voice I couldn't quite place because she was speaking so quietly.

"I'm sorry…who is this?"

"It's…it's Sally Jackson."

I jolted and sat up in my chair, my prickles bursting.

She continued, "Percy Jackson's mother?"

"Yes, hi, Sally," I exclaimed before lowering my voice, fighting to push away my pin-pricks and concentrate on the conversation. "Is…is something wrong? Are you guys in trouble?"

Sally took in another shaky breath. "No one's hurt or anything," she assured quickly. "But…"

She trailed off, and when it was clear she wasn't going to finish, gently, I asked, "Does Percy know you're calling?"

"No."

"Are his demigod duties calling?" I guessed.

Sally let out a small breath that sounded a little like a sob and a laugh. "You could say that."

"Would you like me to come over?"

"Would you? I don't want you to put yourself in danger, either, Tori. I just…I just didn't know who else to call."

"I don't mind at all, Sally," I said. "I'll come over as soon as I can."

"Thank you, Tori," she breathed. "I have to go. I have to finish baking some cookies."

"It's no problem. I'll see you soon."

I hung up and stood, going to pay for my tea, and then headed out and hailed a cab. First, I wanted to head back to my apartment to grab some weapons. Whatever was going on in the Jackson household, it sounded serious and I wanted to be prepared. Of course, I never left my apartment without some kind of weapon, because you just never knew when a monster would attack, but I wanted to grab a few more because I was paranoid.

My plans were ruined a bit when I entered my apartment to find a man sitting in my living room. A germanus—highly trained Roman warriors that followed orders without question—stood on his right side. They were built like tanks.

I frowned and slammed my door shut before going into the living room and sitting down on the sofa across from the man, for he'd taken the armchair. My day had just gotten worse, and worst still, my prickles were responding to it horribly.

He smiled pleasantly as I sat down. "Welcome home, Serena," he said.

"Don't call me that," I ground through my teeth. "We're alone, in my apartment. You don't need to call me that."

His smile didn't waver as he sighed, like he was amused. "Very well." He paused. "Victoria."

"What do you want, Hargrave?"

"You know why I'm here," he said. "Your father has returned to the realm of the living."

I blinked and glared at him. "What the fuck does that mean?" Though my pin-pricks burst at the mention of my father. You could say we didn't have the greatest relationship.

"Come now, there's no need for such strong language," he chided. "It would seem he has been thrown to earth as a mortal. And in that vein, your generous benefactor would like a favor from you." I waited. "You remember your time as a spy at Camp Half-Blood during the Second Titan War?"

A cold stone formed in the pit of my stomach. I got a bad feeling of where this was going. The Second Titan War is what it sounds like: Kronos tried to overthrow the gods again. My boyfriend had kicked it off, and at one point early in the war, he had asked me to be a spy at camp. I had acquiesced, to gain his trust, and then try to convince him to stop working with Kronos. As you can probably guess, it didn't exactly work out that way. Kronos had possessed my boyfriend's body to finish the war, but at the last moment, he'd been able to stop Kronos, but died in the process. But those details are beside the point.

"You want me to go spy on camp," I said quietly.

Hargrave nodded. "Very good, Victoria. Your benefactor has already sent someone ahead of you, but would like an extra pair of eyes in camp."

"And I assume you're not going to give me any more information than that?"

"That's all you need to know, Victoria."

"How can you expect me to be of any use, if you don't tell me what's going on? Is there specific information you'd like me to gather? Do I need to check-in while I'm there?"

"Let us worry about that," Hargrave said, his voice annoyingly level. "Just get to camp. You'll figure it out quickly." Hargrave stood and buttoned the suit of his jacket before straightening it out. "He also wanted me to remind you who so generously pays for this wonderful apartment"—he gestured around the living room—"and for your continued visits to the therapist of your choice. As well as food, clothes, other amenities."

"You forcefully moved me into this apartment," I reminded him. "I was fine in my little box."

Hargrave simply smiled again, which made me want to strangle him. "I'll be seeing you, Victoria. Always a pleasure."

"The pleasure is all yours," I replied as he turned to leave. He paused but didn't turn to look at me, and then continued to my door. The germanus followed. Once I heard it slam shut, I got up and locked the deadbolt—not that it would do me any good—before going into my bedroom. I took a moment to get my growing pin-pricks as under control as I could. I'd definitely have to take a couple ibuprofen before I left.

Glancing at the time on my phone, I cursed, hoping I could still make it to the Jacksons' in time.

I strapped a sword to my waist, rechecked all the throwing knives I'd taken to the meeting with the attorney, and then grabbed some ambrosia, nectar, and a vial of what I'd dubbed as pain elixir. Long story short, it was a potion that helped with my prickles. I could also take normal, human pain meds, so if I ever ran out of elixir, which was easy to do, I just took those instead.

And, to be quite honest, even though the pain elixir was easy to make, I tried not to rely too heavily on it. There was also a reason it didn't completely remove the pain of my prickles. I'd almost (purposefully) killed myself by drinking too much nectar because it'd gotten rid of the sensation entirely. (Same with ambrosia.) I didn't want to become too dependent on this elixir as I had the food of the gods.

So I tried to take it sparingly. Only when I felt I really needed it.

I glanced at the bow and quiver of arrows in my closet but decided against it. I wanted to travel as light as I could right now. Besides, throwing knives could be considered long-range, right?

Finally, I double-checked I had both phones (I'll explain later), took some ibuprofen, and headed back out.

I quickly scanned the list of names until I reached JACKSON and hit the buzzer before shoving my hands back in my jacket pockets. I blew out a breath, watching it condense in the cold air, trying to push the pin-pricks to the back of my mind and only half succeeding. They always got worse when I was agitated, too.

Anyway, I was expecting to hear Percy, or his mother's, static-y voice through the intercom. Instead, I heard the lock on the door open. Surprised but not wanting to have to hit the buzzer again because of it, I quickly grabbed the door handle and pulled it open, slipping inside. I paced myself as I made my way up the stairs, preparing for the worst.

When I got to their door, I paused and took in a steadying breath, then lifted my hand and knocked. Immediately, I heard muted, hurried footsteps coming toward the door, a bolt unlock, and then the door practically flew open. Sally stood in the doorway, her eyes tight with worry and stress.

"What's going on?" I asked, on alert. My hand instinctively went to the hilt of my sword. "Are you hurt? Is the baby okay?"

"I'm unhurt. The baby's fine," Sally assured quickly. "Please, come in. They've just left." I stepped in, letting go the hilt of my sword, and went straight to the living room to give Sally some space. On the coffee table was a plate of turkey sandwiches, a large bowl of seven-layer dip that had been dug into, a large plate of tortilla chips, nearly empty, and three glasses that used to contain smoothies. Based on the smell wafting from the coffee table, they'd been banana.

"Tell me what's happened," I said as she came up to me.

"No, I'm sorry," Sally said, surprising me. "I—" She took a deep breath, her shoulders relaxing slightly, and she smiled at me. "It's good to see you, Tori. Your hair looks beautiful."

"Oh." I subconsciously reached up to play with the end of the diagonal Dutch braid I'd put my hair in. "Thank you. Uh…it's good to see you, too." See, I'd been born with blonde hair (thanks Apollo) but had recently been sporting dark brown hair (like, dark enough it looked black in dim lighting). Before you ask, it wasn't dyed. The children of Aphrodite had the ability to change their appearances, being half-god and all. I figured, why not children of Apollo? Since Apollo was always lauded as an extremely attractive god all the time. It worked and I liked it, so I kept it. (That wasn't the whole story, of course, but we don't have time to get into that right at the moment.)

"Sally, you said they just left," I said. "Who left?"

Sally put a hand to her forehead. "Percy, Apollo, and Meg. They—"

"Wait," I interrupted. "Apollo? The god, Apollo? My father?" I asked, hoping I'd heard wrong. Some pieces clicked together, as I remembered Hargrave's words.

"Oh, yes, sorry, he's human now, and he asked Percy to help him and a young girl he befriended, Meg, get to Camp Half-Blood," Sally explained.

"You look a little pale," I said, gently grabbing her elbow. "Why don't you sit down." I led her over to the sofa and we took a seat. I tried to push down all my confusion and shock, because I was afraid it would only make her more stressed. "So they're heading to camp now?"

Sally nodded. "Yes, they left just a few minutes before you arrived. It sounded like they were being chased by something but I don't know what."

"That's alright," I said. "Will you be okay? I'd like to try and catch up with them."

"Oh, yes, yes." Sally nodded. "I just…" She looked up and met my eyes. "Please keep Percy safe," she whispered, reaching out to grip my wrist. I tried not to jerk my arm from her surprisingly strong grip. "He's my baby. I've already lost him once."

I put my hand over hers. "I won't let anything happen to him," I assured.

"Thank you," she said, her voice wavering.

"Of course. Take care, Sally."

She nodded, letting go of my wrist and bringing her hand up to her mouth. Her other hand went to her stomach. Tears formed in her eyes. I hated leaving her like this, but I was going to be no help here. I needed to leave as soon as I could so I had a chance of catching up with them. If they were being chased by monsters, they might have to take a detour and then there was a very small chance I'd be able to find them.

I reached for Sally's hand, the one at her stomach, and gave it a gentle squeeze before standing and leaving.

I pulled out my other phone—okay, so I had two phones. One was sleek, shiny and black. That was the one Hargrave had given me. My "business" phone. The one I pulled out now was smaller and made with Celestial bronze parts, curtesy of children of Hecate and Hephaestus. This was the one Sally had called me on, the one I used for friends and family (among other people).

I dialed a number that was for emergencies only. They wouldn't be happy about my use, but this constituted an emergency.

"Carmen, I need a favor," I said as soon as she picked up.

Carmen sighed. "Tori, this is for emergencies—"

"I know, and this is one." I insisted. "In a way." Carmen sighed again. "Listen, I'll owe you one after this."

"Ugh, okay, fine. Fine. What do you need?"

"I'm looking for a Toyota Prius." I told her the license plate number. "I need to know which direction it's heading. And, just in case, could you get a line on a police scanner and let me know if it pops up? Just text me." I had a feeling if they were being chased by monsters, they'd probably get into some legal trouble trying to avoid getting killed.

As I told her this, I quickly made my way to the curb, looking to hail a cab.

"You're going to owe me big time, for this one," Carmen muttered.

"You know I'm good on it," I teased. "Thank you, Carmen."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she grumbled before disconnecting. I chuckled, keeping hold of my phone, and waved at an oncoming taxi. He pulled up to the curb and I quickly slid in.

"Where to?" he asked.

"I'm waiting for a text, give me a moment," I told him.

"Hey, lady—" he began, irritated, which was understandable.

I fished a hundred dollar bill from my pocket and gave it to him. "More where that came from if you'll humor me. Feel free to start the meter."

"S-sure thing," he said, stunned but eager, before reaching forward and starting his meter.

The text came not a moment later: Last seen heading toward the expressway.

"Get me to the expressway," I told the taxi driver, whose name was Liam.

"No problem." He peeled out from the curb, earning a honk from a car behind him, but he didn't seem to care. Not with the amount of money he knew I was carrying. (Before you ask, it was also from my…benefactor.)

Now, despite being called the expressway, there was nothing express about it. It was bumper-to-bumper midday traffic, and I could tell Liam was trying not to make the car jerk too much as we inched forward.

I turned down my window and stuck my head out, trying to see over the other cars, and spot Percy's Prius. I could tell this confused Liam, but he didn't say anything. When I couldn't see any car that looked like Percy's car. I wondered if I'd just missed them again, but with this much traffic, there was no way they could've gotten that far.

Unless, of course, they'd encountered a monster. That could've caused them to take a detour. I retreated back into the cab, and rolled the window up, trying not to sigh too loudly. Liam glanced at me through the rearview but I ignored him. I was about to text Carmen again and see if she could try to find the Prius when she texted me.

Police cruiser just reported suspicious activity near a peach orchard. The rest of the text contained information on how to get there, which I quickly relayed to Liam. Then I offered to pay him triple if he could get me there as fast as he could. This caused some possibly illegal maneuvers on his part, but before I knew it, we'd gotten off the expressway, whizzed through a warehouse district, and entered farmland.

I looked out for any signs of flashing lights or police cruisers, which actually wasn't too difficult, as there was a cruiser parked on the curb near a peach tree orchard, just as Carmen had said. A few feet parallel to where the cruiser was parked, lights still flashing, was a fence. A section of it had been mangled and I could see tire tracks in the mud leading away from the crushed fence.

"Stop here!" I said. "Behind the cruiser. Keep the meter running." I quickly jumped to the other side of the cab and threw the door open, before the cab had even stopped moving. My pin-pricks did not like the burst of cold air against my face.

I ran down to the fence, near where it'd been trampled, and followed the tire tracks to a familiar Prius, now wedged between two peach trees.

Percy was standing near the back of the car, talking to an officer, who had some kind of small notebook in his hand, pen in the other as he wrote something down. I couldn't see Apollo or a young girl anywhere. Looks like I had arrived just a little too late, but Percy looked unharmed.

"Miss," someone called from my right. I looked over to see the other officer, because they always traveled in pairs, of course. I quickly removed the sword from my belt and willed the Mist to disguise it as a large umbrella.

"Officer!" I called back, going up to him. Before he could ask, I said, "I'm a family friend." I gestured toward Percy. "He texted me about the car crash. I came as soon as I could." I tried to sound frantic and upset. Based on the cop's expression, it was working. "May I go down and see him, please? I've been worried sick ever since I got the text."

The officer nodded, seeming a little stunned at what to say. Maybe I had come on a little too strong. He gestured for me to lead, and I quickly headed down toward them. I could hear his footsteps following after me.

"Percy!" I called, half-way there, waving with my free hand to grab their attention. Percy looked up, his eyes widening in surprise when he caught sight of me. His eyes were rimmed red, his face puffy, and his nose ran, like he had a cold. Had he been sick when he left? I didn't think his mom would've let him leave if he had been. What monster did they encounter?

The officer beside him looked suspicious of me before meeting the eyes of his partner behind me.

"Thank you for texting me," I said as I came up to Percy. I pulled him into a quick hug. "I was so worried. Are you hurt?" I glanced at the car. The airbags hadn't even deployed.

"Y-yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Percy managed, then turned away as he sneezed.

"Excuse me," the officer with the notepad said. "How do you know this young man?"

I turned to face him. "Percy is a family friend," I explained, the lie coming easily. "I used to babysit him. He texted me, I assume, right after he ran off the road."

"Right," Percy nodded, catching on. His congested nose made it sound like he had a lisp, "As I was saying, a dog jumped out in front of me and I instinctively swerved to avoid it."

"And where were you heading?" the officer asked.

"The beach," Percy said, sniffling.

"In the middle of winter?"

"He was dropping off my younger brother and the girl he babysits for at her parents'," I added. "They live near the beach."

"Where are your younger brother and the girl now?" the officer with the notepad asked.

"Called a cab for them as soon as Percy texted me," I said quickly. "They must've arrived here before you came. You know how eager they are to get a good fare."

Percy nodded along. "Y-yeah, they took off just a few minutes before you showed up," he added.

I could tell both officers were skeptical of our slightly off stories, but they had clearly heard more bizarre stories (or heard worse lies), so said nothing.

"Well, we'll have to get a tow truck out here to get your car out," the other officer said, pointing to the car.

"Oh, that' won't be necessary," I assured. "I have a friend nearby who has a truck."

"Well…I'll still have to give you a ticket, son," the first officer said to Percy, but he was frowning.

"Is that really necessary," I said, lowering my voice slightly and softening the panic in it. "He's just a kid; still learning how to drive. No one got hurt, the car is basically undamaged. The fence probably needs a little repair, but he could take a weekend to fix it up. I'll be sure to get him home safely and let his parents know what's happened."

Both officers hesitated, taking in me and Percy, the car, the fence, until finally the one with the notepad ripped out the ticket he'd been writing up and crumpled it.

"Alright, but just this once," he said, and then pointed at Percy. "But I better not see you in the near future, kid."

Percy nodded. "Thank you, officer."

"You two take care," the other officer said. Then to Percy, "And be more careful."

Percy nodded again. We watched as the two officers headed back to their cruiser. The lights turned off and they pulled back onto the road.

Percy turned to me and raised an eyebrow, "You know someone around here?"

"I lied," I said.

"Yeah, about a lot of things," he remarked before sneezing again. "So you don't have someone to get my car out from between these trees?"

"No, I do. He just doesn't live that nearby."

Not giving Percy a chance to respond, I pulled out the elixir I'd been hoping to save for my prickles (which were still manageable, but getting angrier by the second), and handed it to him. "Try this. I think it'll help whatever illness you caught."

"Head cold, from disease spirits," Percy grumbled, taking the vial. "I'll explain while we wait for your…friend. What's in the vial?"

"A potion," I said. "I have to go talk to the taxi driver real quick." I headed back through the ruined fence and up to the cab, once again not giving Percy time to respond. Liam rolled down the passenger side window as I approached.

"I'm sorry," I said, fishing out three more hundreds and handing them over. "Do you mind waiting a little while longer?"

"Not at all," Liam breathed, eyes wide as he took the bills.

"Thank you." I turned and headed back toward Percy while texting another friend to bring a truck and some chains to get Percy's car unstuck.

"You want to tell me how you're able to use that phone?" Percy asked, as I approached. The congestion was gone and his face looked a lot less puffy. His eyes were still a bit bloodshot, though, and he sniffled every now and again.

I dropped my phone back into my pocket. I should've known he would ask.

When I didn't answer fast enough, he added, "Communications have been down for demigods for months now."

"It's complicated, Percy," I sighed. "For your own safety, I would rather not tell you."

Percy's eyes narrowed slightly, trying to tell if I was joking, as my tone was quite serious. After a moment, to my relief, he switched topics. "You changed your hair."

I shrugged, giving him a small smile as a thank you, "I decided to try it out like this and liked it, so I thought I'd keep it."

Percy scoffed and rolled his eyes, but a smile pulled at the edges of his lips. "Okay, why don't we try: how did you know I was out here?"

"Your mom called me," I said, moving to lean against the back of his car. Percy mimicked me, sobering up quickly. "She was just worried about you."

"I can't blame her," Percy said, shrugging, looking at the muddy ground. "I can't imagine what it must've been like for her when I went missing."

Then something occurred to me that I hadn't thought about since going to find Percy. "She said my father came to visit you."

Percy let out a heavy sigh.

"Wow, that bad, huh?" I asked.

"He's mortal now," Percy began. "Zeus is punishing him for the war with Gaea, apparently. He asked me to help him to get to camp. Him and Meg. She's…well, he explained that she claimed his service. So they're bound to each other now. I couldn't not help them. Of course, we got into trouble along the way. Nosoi—those spirits of disease? That's how I got that head cold." He explained to me their current adventure, how they'd been chased by the spirits, and how Percy had tried to get to the beach to fight them. Unfortunately, one of them had appeared in front of him, and he'd swerved to avoid, ending up in the peach orchard.

The battle had been short, mostly thanks to Meg, who, to my surprise, apparently had levitated all the peaches in the orchard and used them as projectiles against the nosoi, and then summoned a peach karpos, which promptly ate them.

"They insisted I wasn't in shape to help them go any further," Percy finished, "and the police had just showed up, so I sent them off through the woods." He nodded toward the woods.

"If Apollo is mortal, can he even get into camp?" I asked, not mentioning my concerns over sending them through a, basically, unexplored part of camp because it was that dangerous.

Percy shrugged and shook his head. "I brought that up, but Apollo was insistent he'd be able to get in. And pretty desperate to get to camp as soon as possible."

"Hm." I faced forward. "Sounds very unlike him."

"I think he's just trying to adjust to being mortal," Percy said. A smile pulled at the edge of his lips and humor colored his tone as he said, "He looks a few years younger than me, actually."

I laughed. "Now that, I'd pay to see."

A horn honked at the side of the road, and I looked over to see a small pick-up pull up behind the taxi. A tall, portly man with greying hair slicked back, stepped out and waved. I waved back.

"Hey, Chuck!" I called.

"You're lucky I like you, Miss Castellan," he called back. "I have a date in an hour!"

Internally, I cringed, having forgotten that I'd used an alias (given to me by Hargrave) when I'd met him. Percy's eyebrows shot to his hairline and I groaned.

"Don't ask," I begged quietly. He gave me an incredulous look. "Right now, at least?" Percy held his hands up in surrender as Chuck came over to us, chain in hand.

"Thanks, Chuck, I appreciate it," I told him, stepping aside so he could hook the chain to the Prius. "If you're late, you can use me as an excuse. Tell him you were helping a hapless customer get her car out of a ditch."

Chuck chuckled as he tested the grip on the Prius and then set the chain down. "Sometimes you're a little too good at coming up with…stories."

"It's not a story," I corrected. "And it's not technically a lie, either."

"Sure, sure." He chuckled again, shaking his head and heading back to his truck. He backed it through the ruined fence, until it was close enough to reach the other end of the chain. Chuck made quick work of hooking the chain to his truck. He instructed Percy to get in and turn the car on, and gently tap the gas when given the go.

It took Percy a moment to get situated, seeing as the trees on either side of the car were blocking a way into the front seats. But once he got the car started, Chuck used me to relay messages to Percy. Once they had carefully extricated the Prius from between the trees, Percy put the car in neutral and let Chuck tow it back onto the street.

I unhooked everything and threw the chain into the truck bed before going to Chuck's window.

"Thanks again for your help, Chuck," I said, giving him two hundreds. "For your time and your date. Buy him something nice."

He grinned and took the bill. "Thanks Miss Castellan." We shook hands and I stepped back so he could hurry back into the city.

As soon as I was in earshot of Percy, he asked, "Castellan?" He'd exited his car and was now leaning against the driver's side door.

I exhaled sharply but didn't say anything.

Percy continued, "So you've taken his name posthumously?"

Remember the boyfriend I mentioned? His name was Luke Castellan. Hence, Percy's commentary. As Luke had headed the Titan army, he and Percy had been arch-rivals. So you could say their relationship was complicated. And that my relationship with Percy was also very complicated.

Percy knew that I didn't approve of what Luke was doing, so we'd had a weird friendship during the Second Titan War. We'd resolved some of the tension that still remained after Luke's death, so were on better terms now. But whenever Luke was brought up, I think we both instinctively tensed a little.

"Oh, a big word!" I exclaimed. "Did you learn that studying for your SATs?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it's a few levels above the word 'deflection.'"

"It's related to the other thing," I said. "The thing I didn't want to tell you about for your own safety."

Percy frowned. "You can't use that excuse forever."

"It's not an excuse," I replied. "You should get home. Your mom will be wondering where you are."

"Where are you going now?" Percy asked.

"To camp," I said. "I'll check to make sure Apollo and…Meg?"—Percy nodded—"got there safely."

"I'll come by on the weekend, too," Percy said.

"Drive safe," I teased lightly.

"Har, har." Percy turned and got into the Prius. I waited until his car was a small speck before getting into the cab again. Liam had kept the heat running, a blessing for my prickles.

"Sorry about that." I told him the next address and we took off. During the ride there, I thought about all of Percy's questions, the things I couldn't tell him. I thought about the events that'd led to a drastic shift in my life, and my current situation now.

Mid-October

I had left Camp Half-Blood, needing to get away from a lot of things. I still considered it home, in some ways—at the least, a sanctuary—but I'd lived there for nearly 7 years and had wanted to try my hand at living in the real world. Of course, living in New York was expensive as hell and I had not been in a well enough mental state to have a roommate, so I'd found a box of an apartment that I could afford and taken three part-time jobs to pay for it and food.

I was trying to put my past behind me. Both from the Second Titan War and the Second Giant War, and everything that'd I'd endured between them. See, during the Second Titan War, I had remained by Luke's side. I called him my boyfriend, but the truth was, he had always been much more to me than that. Losing him had been one of the hardest thing I'd endured, and I would never be over his death.

On top of that, because he had betrayed the camp by siding with Kronos, many didn't like him. Many didn't trust me, either. Which was absolutely understandable, but it made life hard at camp. Previously, I had been stuck in the mindset that I was just going to live out the rest of my life at camp, but had come to realize that didn't have to be the case. So once I'd gotten the chance to, I'd left.

As I was saying, I'd just settled down into my new life and new routine when I was pulled back into a conflict I thought I'd finally laid to rest (or at least was attempting to with the help of my therapist).

I was on a shift as a maid (one of my part-time jobs). It was routine and, for the most part, boring, which was a nice change for me. But in retrospect, it was what had made me let down my guard.

I did the usual, knocked to make sure no one was in, calling out, "Room service!" and when I got no response, I used the master keycard to open the door. As I came through the door, someone hiding behind the door ambushed me, putting one hand over my mouth, pulling me against them, while his other hand jabbed a needle into my neck. I didn't have any time to respond before they were depressing the plunger.

Whatever drug was in the needle acted fast. I slumped against the person holding me, eyes already drooping. I felt them pick me up bridal style and then I was gone. When I came to, after pushing away my pin-pricks, I could feel I was lying on my side, on something cold—probably metal. I could hear the roar of an engine and feel the movement of a vehicle underneath me, but everything was dark, due to the blindfold around my eyes. There was also a piece of duct tape covering my mouth.

My hands were in front of me but zip-tied, and so were my ankles. I stirred more as the effects of the drugs wore off, but felt something press against my back. I froze, my prickles rising in response, thinking it was the tip of a sword or dagger (being a demigod and all). I tried not to let the panic overtake me, seeing as I might start hyperventilating and with tape over my mouth, I could suffocate. Not to mention, my chronic pain was now steadily rising and becoming harder to ignore.

I laid, still as stone, until the vehicle rolled to a stop. Whoever these people were, they worked fast. Before I knew which way was up, one of them was grabbing my arm and hauling me to my feet while another clipped the ties around my ankles and wrists. A third kept that cold piece of metal against my back as a warning. I heard doors open and was led out into an open, but abandon space, given the echo of feet on concrete, and the blast of cold air against my skin. (Which also aggravated my pin-pricks. Yay me.)

The blindfold was removed and I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the filtered light on an overcast day. Much of it was filtering in to the open, empty parking structure we currently stood in. Someone else removed the tape from my mouth and I winced. Then I had two pairs of hands gripping my arms, restraining me.

A man was standing in front of me. White, well-dressed, light brown hair that was slicked back. He looked about thirty. He was smiling genially. Two large, Roman-looking warriors (who I would later come to find were germani) flanked either side of him.

"Hello, Victoria Williams," he said.

"How do you know my name?" I asked. My brain still felt a little fuzzy. I don't think all the drugs had worn off quite yet (too bad they didn't also dull my prickles). I looked at the warriors beside the man, then at the men holding me, then behind me at two other men. Those four looked normal—mercenaries, I realized. I'd met a lot of them during the Second Titan War.

I also realized the thing that'd been pressed into my back was not a sword, but the barrel of a gun. My blood went cold—my pin-pricks rising and staying at a level that forced me to split my concentration between them and everything else—and I turned to face the man before me again.

"If you're trying to size up your competition, I would strongly advise against it," the man said, misreading me. "Besides the man holding a gun to you, these two men are highly trained, highly skilled Roman warriors. You wouldn't stand a chance, even with a weapon."

I didn't respond.

"You can call me Hargrave, my employer has an interest in recruiting you," he said. "That's how I know your name. He keeps tabs on everyone he might find…useful."

"Tell him I said no," I replied, trying not to let how scared I felt leak into my tone.

Hargrave chuckled. "Yes, they thought you might say that."

"They?"

"All in due time, my dear," he said. He reached up to press a button on a small earpiece in his ear and said, "Bring them." From somewhere else in the parking structure, an engine roared to life. A black SUV came into view, behind Hargrave and his bodyguards. I eyed it nervously, not liking where this was going. Not that where it was, was any better. But I had no idea what was waiting for me in the SUV, and considering I'd been kidnapped anything from this point on had to be bad in some way.

And I was right. Only it was worse than I could've ever imagined.

The SUV parked and the engine cut off. Four more mercenaries got out: two from the front, two from the back. The two in the back then leaned in and pushed the seats forward, before reaching in and grabbing two more people from the very back.

My heart stopped and my prickles rose once again when I saw my brother, Dan, get forcefully yanked from the SUV. They had zip-tied his wrists together, and had removed or confiscated his prosthetic leg (he'd lost it last year during the Second Giant War). There was a piece of tape covering his mouth and he had a black eye, telling me he'd tried to fight them off.

We were fraternal twins (I know, it's a bit on the nose, being children of Apollo). He had left camp a lot earlier than I had (when I wasn't capable of leaving; another long story), and I had done everything in my power to let him have a normal life. If I had to take the brunt of the life of a demigod so he could have a normal one, then so be it. He deserved that life a lot more than I did.

So to see him here, to know his life was probably in immediate danger, I found myself falling down a dark hole. My ears rang, I could feel each individual heartbeat in my chest, hear my ragged breath alongside the ringing. Every one of my nerves felt like they'd just been lit on fire.

Dan's wide, panicked eyes met mine and before I knew what I was doing, I broke one of my arms free before karate chopping my captor in the neck. It was instinct—I didn't even have to think about it.

I turned to try and deal with the other one just as Hargrave shouted, "Don't shoot her!"

A gunshot rang through the air, momentarily stunning me. That gave them enough time for the one with the gun to pistol-whip me. The burning of my nerves came back with a vengeance, my knees buckled and I saw stars. I felt two hands grab my free arm and haul me to my feet, making my stomach roll with nausea.

I tried to push away my pain just enough to focus on the man in front of me but that was difficult now with burning pain across my entire body and a throbbing pain at the back of my head. That wasn't to mention trying not to throw up all over Hargrave's shoes. Though, that would be very satisfying.

When my vision finally cleared, Hargrave was standing in front of me again, looking disappointed. The sound of my ragged breathing echoed throughout the empty parking structure. The mercenaries were basically holding me up.

"What do you want?" I asked, breathless, my voice weak. "Don't…don't hurt him. Please. I-I'll do anything."

"Hmm, yes, I was hoping you'd say that." Hargrave nodded. He stepped aside allowing me to see Dan again, who was struggling angrily against his captors. That's when I saw the second person they'd brought: Dan's fiancée, Anya, being held beside him, with her wrists also zip-tied, a piece of duct tape over her mouth. Her cheeks were stained with tear streaks.

I struggled against the men holding me again but I was way too weak, and they were more prepared and held fast. I glared at Hargrave, now furious, despite my pain and exhaustion.

"What. Do. You. Want." I demanded in a slightly stronger voice.

Hargrave smiled again and I shoved the urge to punch him or spit in his face down.

"It's very simple," he said, holding out his hand. One of the mercenaries behind me handed him a clipboard with a sheet of paper and a pen. He showed me what looked like a contract. "I would like you to sign on the dotted line."

I regarded him skeptically, my vision swimming momentarily. "What do you mean?"

Hargrave sighed. "I can't work with this." He gave the clipboard to the Roman warrior before pulling a flask from his breast pocket and uncapping it. Then he stepped toward me. "Drink this." He tried to put the flask to my lips but I veered away. He pulled away, too. "It's nectar, dear."

Honestly, that made me want to drink it even less. But given how I was feeling right now, I was sure I was about to pass out. At the least, it would heal my head wound and take care of the nausea.

Slowly, I nodded.

Carefully, Hargrave put the flask to my lips and tilted it. He didn't let me drink much, but it was enough to get rid of the pounding in my head. My prickles went silent for a split second before coming back, but at a more manageable level. I straightened, finally feeling strong enough to stand on my own. The mercenaries' hands tightened their grip on my arms.

"Good." Hargrave recapped the flask and put it back in his breast pocket. He continued from where he'd left off, "My employers would like to hire you." He took the clipboard back from the Roman. "Did you ever wonder how your boyfriend, Luke Castellan, got hold of that cruise ship? All those monsters? Mercenaries? They don't come cheap, you know."

Despite the nectar, that often warmed demigods, my body went cold (my prickles slowly rising once again) at the mention of Luke. I swallowed hard.

Honestly, I'd never considered it. I don't know why. I suppose because I was so entrenched in the world of demigods, the world of monsters and gods, that I didn't really think about the mortal world having any say in it. In retrospect, I should have. We were called half-bloods, demigods, for a reason. We straddled the line between the world of gods and the world of mortals. We were neither, we were both.

"Your employers…" I whispered.

Hargrave nodded. "Yes, they funded the titan war. They funded Luke. They put a lot of stock in him. And lo, he goes and betrays them. Well, they'd like to get their money's worth, and seeing as Luke is dead now…well, you were the next best choice. They've followed your progress very closely. You are a very strong demigod. And they want that."

"Who is they?" I asked slowly. "Who are your employers?"

"It doesn't matter right at the moment; you'll find out when you sign." Hargrave held out the clipboard to me again. I looked down at it. Then at my brother and his fiancée. Then back at Hargrave.

"I don't have a choice," I spat. "Do I?"

Hargrave shrugged. "Of course you do. Your two options are to work for my employers or let your brother and his fiancée die. It's very simple."

"Will you let them go if I sign?" I asked.

"For now."

"For now?"

"Oh my, you're a little slow today"—I gritted my teeth and jerked against my captors at his comment, but they gripped my arms painfully—"but I'll assume it's because of the drugs." Hargrave clicked his tongue at the mercenaries. "You need to be more careful with the dosages."

He looked back at me and continued. "We'll let them go. And they will remain unharmed, as long as you do what you're told. If not, then they'll be hurt to punish you."

"Then why would I need to sign anything?" I asked, my vision starting to go red. I wanted so badly to kill him. But that would only get Dan and Anya killed.

"As insurance," Hargrave explained patiently. "We don't want you trying to go behind our backs and escaping the country with them or anything. This will keep you bound to my employers, shall we say." That must've meant there was something magical about the contract. I didn't like that at all. But it was looking like I didn't have much a choice. Not if I wanted Dan and Anya to continue living.

I looked at them again. Dan was shaking his head, despite the situation. Anya was trembling, tears in her eyes. But they begged me to sign. Or maybe I was reading into it. I couldn't blame her for wanting that, though. She was human. Dan had told her he was a demigod, and while Dan was fine with sacrificing himself (and irritating trait), she absolutely was not. And could you blame her? Not to say that her being human made her this way, just that she hadn't had to grow up as a demigod—being taught how to have a hero complex.

"Give me the pen," I said.

Dan protested around his gag, trying to pull away from the mercenaries that held him. One of them kicked the back of his knee and he collapsed. But the mercenaries kept him upright. Anya shrieked and reached out for him but the mercenaries holding her, pulled her back.

"I said I'd do it," I growled. "Don't hurt them."

Hargrave looked over his shoulder at them. "Enough."

The mercenaries holding Dan pulled him upright again.

I glared at my brother. "Stop," I said.

He looked at me incredulously but stopped resisting. I ignored his silent plea and looked back at Hargrave. He nodded and the mercenaries holding me let me go. I held out my hand for the pen.

Hargrave, smiling once again, put the pen in my hand. I hesitated for a millisecond, looking down at the line that indicated where I put my name. My prickles overwhelmed me for a split second. But I thought of Dan and Anya, took a breath in and held it, and signed my name.

Nothing enormous happened. I didn't feel different. I was sure the paper or pen, or both, were magic, but there were no sparks or glowing lights. Hargrave simply took the pen back from me and handed both the contract and pen back to the mercenary who'd given them to him.

"Why don't we go for a ride," Hargrave said. (And I was tempted to ask if they had any ibuprofen for my pin-pricks.)

The mercenaries holding Dan and Anya began pulling them back toward the SUV, as Hargrave looped his arm through mine and began to lead me in the opposite direction.

"Wait, where are you taking them," I demanded, trying to extricate my arm from his. When that didn't work and Hargrave didn't answer me, I grabbed his throat with my free hand. The two Roman warriors immediately pointed their spears at my chest, but I didn't budge, glaring at Hargrave.

"Tell me where you're taking them," I growled, squeezing his throat. Not enough to cut off his airway, because he needed to speak, but enough to tell him I was serious.

Hargrave didn't look at all phased, which was irritating. He waved off the Roman warriors, who immediately pulled their spears away from me, without hesitation. Then he looked back at me and fucking smiled.

"As I promised, they will not be harmed," he said, his voice straining around my fingers. "As long as you behave, they will remain that way." He paused. "Now, please, I have to onboard you to the company."

Wow, I think this is the first time I've written a first chapter that's so long. I usually like to build up to it, but everything in this chapter I wanted to fit into this chapter. There's a lot of exposition-through-flashback I'm trying to cram into these first several chapters, so, yknow ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

Once again, I had wanted to write some chapters out first and then start posting, but this has been like 3 years in the making and I'm tried of thinking. Because I easily fall into over-thinking and then I can't write. So no more thinking! I'm writing and posting like I've done in the past. While I have an idea of the over-arching plot, the chapter-to-chapter will just kinda be what I think feels right for each.

That said, updates, thus, will be sporadic. I have a full-time job now, but I'm not in school (for now), so once I'm off the clock, I can focus solely on writing, which is nice. Hopefully *knock on wood* that means I can be a bit more consistent than I was when I was in school lol.

CW WITH SPOILERS: The themes will follow along TOA, being more serious and darker. There will be discussions of death and ideation of suicide (both of which I will warn for at the beginning of each chapter and add in tags as I post), to name a few. At the same time, I think I've decided there won't be any serious character death/no character death at all. In fact, I may even bring some people back from the dead, because again, my story, and I'm gonna write it self-indulgently. So if you want to revel in Jason's heroism and sacrifice, which is valid and fair, this is not the fic for you, babe! Now would be the time to click away, friend (or bookmark for later if you need some braincandy and are okay with OCs and Luke's character 👀)

Hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated ^_^

Thank you for reading,
TheBrightestNight