Lpov

Between studying for exams and prepping for my interview, the last few weeks of the semester had gone by in a somewhat of a blur. I'd been so busy I had basically no free time, and now that I was facing the first weekend off I'd had completely open in months, I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself.

I woke up late, well, late for me anyways, to see bright sunlight shining into my room from what was clearly going to be a beautiful day. So, despite the fact I wasn't scheduled to work today, I stopped by the animal clinic to see if they needed any help walking some of the dogs held overnight.

Eventually, I found myself back in my tiny campus apartment, in my fluffiest robe and slippers, watching just the worst of the reality TV shows, drinking hot chocolate piled with whipped cream, curled under a blanket my mother had sent me for my birthday this year, knitted from the softest fabric she could find.

I'd made cookies, the smell of sugar and vanilla drifting towards me on the couch as they cooled.

I was in heaven.

"Comfortable?" said an amused voice and I looked up to see my roommate Anna, smirking down at me.

She theater major I'd met in one of my general electives, became friends with, and quickly came to realize was a legacy of Dionysus after moving in with her last year.

"Yes actually." I answered with a grin and she smirked.

Anna wasn't fully a demigod herself. As far as she could tell, it had been her great great grandmother that had been a half blood, but she'd gotten enough of the Olympian DNA to be able to see through the Mist occasionally, even if she was mostly safe from monsters.

I had a feeling that even though we'd only had one class together, this awareness of something beyond the mortal world was what had made us fast friends. Even if we hadn't realized what the other knew until much later. It gave us a very similar mindset.

Anna was extremely pretty, but even more than just being gorgeous, her looks were very interesting. She had extremely curly black hair and eyes that were such a dark blue, they were almost violet. Despite this, her smile was bright and she was almost as cheerful as I was.

It was a unique combination in a person, and people were always turning back to look at her where ever we went. Especially if she was laughing.

It didn't really bother me, but I had to admit sometimes going places with Anna felt like I was stuck in a gold fish bowl.

"Are these cookies for anyone?" she asked curiously and I nodded.

"Help yourself."

"Oh I will." She said happily trotting over to the kitchen before flopping on to the couch next to, and me tucking her legs under the far end of my blanket.

"What are you watching?" she asked pulling a face as a woman in a dress so tight, it was a testament to modern fabric by the fact it was still in one piece, hurled herself at another woman.

The two went over in flurry of expensive watches and extremely high heels.

"I have no idea." I admitted. "I just turned it on and so many things were happening, I couldn't look away."

"Sort of like a train wreck." She said nodding in understanding, her eyes glued to our crappy flat screen as she bit into a snickerdoodle.

We continued to watch the cat fight accusations of cheating and man stealing as friends and boyfriends of the pair separated the girls. The screen had just switched into an interview with the instigator of the fight, when I heard a knock on our door.

"Who's interrupting our programs?" Anna asked irritated, obviously invested in the drama on screen at this point and I shrugged.

"It's probably just a package."

I got up, taking the blanket with me, causing Anna to make a noise of protest through a mouth full of cookie and I laughed.

I was still laughing as I opened the door, but it quickly turned into a screech of surprise as I saw who was on the other side and slammed it shut.

"What?" Anna asked hopping to her feet, going for the baseball bat we kept by the door for security. "What's going on? Was it a murderer? A creep?"

"No." I said shaking my head, my heart rate slowing but embarrassment causing my cheeks to burn as I realized with horror what I'd just done. I groaned and rested my head against the door in humiliated shame "No, I uh… I know who it is."

"Who is it?" Anna asked gripping the bat tighter and holding it up. "Want me to get rid of them?"

"No, it's fine." I assured her, glancing down at myself with a sigh, and wishing that the person behind the door was anyone else.

I opened the door to see James standing out in the hall, looking as bad ass as possible in a dark t shirt and jeans, and a broad sword strapped over his shoulder.

"Is this a bad time?" he asked uncertainly and while his expression was as cool as ever, I thought I could sense a hint of amusement in his eyes.

Suddenly, I was painfully aware that the head band I was wearing had been an impulse purchase from the cosmetic store on campus and was very pink with cat ears.

'Someone, please kill me.' I thought desperately. 'Put me out of my misery, please.'

"No." I said trying to sound as if I didn't want to evaporate on the spot. "No uh, what are you doing here?"

"Harper found some title in the returns she thought might interest you. She thought you would want to check them out."

"Right now?" I asked a little surprised.

It was a little short on notice…

"You could have called."

"None of us have your number." He pointed out crossing his arms over his chest. By his expression I could tell he was exercising a patience in this response that wasn't usual for him, and part of me wondered why he was bothering. "She did tell Ashton to text you."

At this I felt my stomach drop a little. I pulled my phone out of the pocket of my robe only to see several texts from Ashton over the last hour and a half, as well as a missed call.

"Oh." I said feeling a little stupid, seeing that my phone was on vibrate. "I must not have felt it through the fabric..."

He grinned.

"That seems like a reasonable assumption to me."

"Shut up." I said more out of embarrassment than anger, but all it seemed to do was entertain him further.

"Lib, who is it?" Anna asked leaning over the couch so she could see James, and a look of shock crossed her features.

"Anna, this is James. He's the friend of my brother's girlfriend I told you about."

"Ah." She said her eyes narrowing slightly at him.

"James, this is my roommate Anna." I said gesturing toward her.

"What's with the weapon?" he asked raising an eyebrow at the bat in her hands and she frowned.

"What's with yours?"

This caught James off guard I could tell, and I had a feeling he wasn't used to mortals being able to see his sword.

"Is she…?" he started cautiously, glancing at me and I shook my head.

"She's a legacy."

"Ah." He said looking a little more comfortable but not exactly easy.

"I'm guessing you're a half blood too then?" Anna asked raising an eyebrow at James.

"I'm a lot of things," he said dismissively and I was surprised that unlike most people, he looked away from Anna and back at me, apparently unfazed by her ridiculously good looks. "Is it usual for her to arm herself when you open the door?"

"Only when my friend screams at the sight of whatever is on the other side." Anna responded frostily.

It was clear she hadn't taken to be ignored by him very well and something flashed in his expression that told me he liked her response even less.

This surprised me, considering how hostile I'd been to him my first night at the library and little he seemed to care. But I could see his patience wearing thin and struggled to find something to break the tension.

"Do you want a cookie?" I asked, resorting to food.

They both stared at me.

"I just finished making some." I continued a little lamely, gesturing helplessly towards the kitchen.

I was afraid the statement was just going to hang there, heavy and awkward, but James seemed to recover from the question because he said.

"Alright."

I could tell he accepted the offer more to banish the discomfort of the moment rather than because he actually wanted one, but I was grateful nonetheless and closed the door after James as he stepped into the apartment.

Anna sat down on the couch, her arms crossed tightly over her chest as I directed James towards our tiny kitchen, casually discarding my robe and head band as I followed him, but entirely certain he'd noticed anyways.

"You know, I don't think your roommate likes me very much." James said leaning against our counter after selecting a cookie and nodding towards the couch.

"I can hear you, you know." Anna said darkly, but I could tell by James's face, he hadn't been meaning to hide what he'd wanted to say.

"Well you did come to the apartment armed." I pointed out and he grinned.

"So did she."

"Yeah, well, she lives here." I said and he shrugged.

"Fair enough. These are good by the way."

You could have given me a hundred life times to guess, and never once would I have thought a compliment from James about my baking would have caused my heart to skip a beat, but it did.

"Thanks." I said looking away from him.

I remembered once, Ashton saying that James was the sort of person that could be in a room doing nothing, and everyone would still be 'aware of him'. Some people loved that about him while others clearly couldn't stand it. Ashton had obviously been one of the latter group and judging by how stiffly Anna was sitting, I could tell that she was as well.

James looked far from concerned about this however, grabbing another cookie and I could tell his gaze was on me.

"You know, you have kind of a divisive presence?" I said hesitantly and judging by his expression, or I guess lack of, I figured this was far from news.

"Think it's the sword?" he asked with mock severity

"No, I'm thinking it's the sarcasm." I fired back.

"Nothing I can do about that." He said with a shrug glancing around the apartment which I was suddenly embarrassed to realize between the strings of twinkle lights and pastel décor, was shockingly girly.

But why should that matter?

"I like your place." James said and while his tone sounded sincere, I wasn't sure if I should trust it.

"Thanks."

"Where's Felix and Buttercup?" he asked looking around expectantly and I blinked.

"My rabbits?" I asked, stunned.

I couldn't believe he'd remembered their names…

"Yeah, I was sort of hoping they'd be here. You used to talk about them so much."

Usually when people reminded me of how much I talked it wasn't exactly a compliment, but James didn't seem annoyed by it. On the contrary. His disappointment upon not immediately seeing the animals had seemed genuine.

"They're back home with my mom." I said while Anna snapped.

"We're not allowed to have pets. It's in our lease."

"Gods," he said. "That must be torture for you. You love animals."

"Is there a reason you're still here?" Anna said turning and glaring at James who raised an eyebrow. "Or are just planning to stand there and flirt with Libby all night?"

I looked at Anna in shock. Usually a pretty easy going person, the amount of hostility radiating from her was unusual.

"I'm standing here." James said calmly, grabbing another cookie and pausing in a way I'm sure he knew was irritating her as he took a bite. "Because Libby never gave me an answer." He gave her a brief glance before directing his attention back to me. "Which I'm sure she can do without your help."

"Oh, right." I said still so shocked at seeing James in our tiny apartment, I'd completely forgotten why he was here in the first place. "Yeah, no I'll go I want to see what Harper found just let me… change."

I glanced down at my socks and fuzzy slippers and thankfully didn't go red again, but it was close.

"Alright." James said calmly. "I'll wait for you."

"You can wait for her outside." Anna said firmly and again, I was surprised to see a flash of genuine irritation cross his features.

From all I'd ever known of him, James was pretty good at keeping a lid on whatever he was thinking or feeling. Even the few times he'd been absolutely clobbered by some monster and was getting patched up in the infirmary, he'd never complained.

And it looked as if he wasn't about to start now.

"As you like." He said impatiently making his way towards the door to the apartment, Anna watching him like a hawk through narrowed eyes.

The moment the door clicked shut, I looked at Anna.

"What was that about?" I asked a little incredulously.

I'd told Anna a little about James's history, but nothing so bad as to warrant that sort of response to his presence. He'd been pretty polite.

"I'll tell you exactly what that's about." She said glowering at the door James had just gone through. "Guys like that are nothing but trouble. You gotta make it clear you've got no interest from the very start."

"Like what?" I asked not entirely sure why I felt like I needed to be defending James, but she barely knew him. Then again… I didn't really know him all that well either all things considered.

"You know exactly what." She said giving me a significant look. "Tall, sarcastic, good looking. Arrogant as all hell."

"Arrogant?" I asked in surprise.

I didn't know where she'd gotten that from…

"Extremely." She said. "You'd notice it too if you weren't such an innocent little ball of sunshine."

"Now that's a bit much." I said in exasperation.

"Mark my words Lib. That guy is bad news. Don't go getting mixed up with him. I'm warning you." she gave me a significant look. "It'll end badly."

"Well it's a good thing he and my brother hate each other then, isn't it?" I asked making my voice obnoxiously chipper.

"That's not gonna stop a guy like that." She said shaking her head. "Be careful, ok?"

"Alright." I said, but it was mainly to appease her.

She narrowed her eyes at me, clearly wondering if I meant this or not, but let it go and turned back to the TV.

I waked into my room and grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt from the animal clinic, then hesitated, wondering if maybe I should wear something nicer than a t shirt that had the words Dog-gone crazy in bright letters over the back.

I looked at my closet wondering if I should grab one of my better fitting sweaters then remembered James had been in a t-shirt himself and figured if he could get away with it, so could I.

As quickly as I could, I changed and was about to head out when I caught my reflection.

My hair wasn't exactly messy, but it wouldn't have put me on any magazine covers either.

After half a second's indecision, I pulled it back into a high ponytail and walked back out grabbing my school bag on the way.

"See you Anna."

"See you." she said looking over her shoulder at me with a meaningful expression. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"That isn't much of a list of inhibitions." I said grinning at her and she shrugged.

"You know what I meant."

I waved and stepped out into the hall where I saw James, leaning against the wall next to our apartment door looking quite at his ease.

"Surprised your roommate let you out of there without some pepper spray, or a cross bow."

"I've got pepper spray." I said gesturing towards the canister on my keys and quickly adding. "Not because of you. I had a couple of late night classes and my mom was worried about me walking around campus at night."

He looked skeptical at this.

"Did she forget you're a demigod?" he asked.

He'd been typing something on his phone, and a part of me wondered who James of all people texted. It seemed like such a normal thing for someone like him to do.

"No." I said shrugging as we walked down the hall towards the elevator. "But you can never be too careful. Even you've got a weapon."

"I'm not really all that worried about muggers." He said casually. "Or, as your roommate would say, 'guys like me'."

"You heard that?" I asked feeling mortified and he shrugged.

"My hearing's pretty good." He said evenly. "And your walls aren't that thick."

"Sorry." I said having no idea what else to do but apologize.

Was he angry I hadn't stuck up for him?

"Don't worry about it." he said with a quelling gesture. But something about it had me wondering if what Anna had said had bothered him more than he was letting on. "I've had far more important people call me a lot worse."

I didn't know what to say to this and figured the safest option was to say nothing, but a thought did occur to me.

"Speaking of guys like you." I said more out of curiosity than anything. "Would pepper spray even work? Not that I think you'd go around attacking anybody but, I mean like, would that effect you at all?"

Everyone knew James was far more powerful than the average demigod, and if the rumors were true, and he really had survived a trip into the river Styx, that made him almost impossible to harm let alone kill.

He looked as if he was about to answer this before he frowned, clearly considering the question. As if it was one no one had thought to ask it.

"I dunno." He said sounding a little bemused and I was surprised that when he glanced at me, he was smirking a little. "Though I must admit, I'm not sure I'd exactly be jumping at the chance to test it."

"Fair enough." I said fighting the urge to say something sarcastic and by his expression, I could tell James had sensed as much.

His smirk had grown.

"You seem disappointed. Dying to have a go at me after everything that happened between me and your brother, are you?"

"I don't know everything that happened between you and Ashton." I said, feeling a tiny bit of satisfaction in his obvious surprise in this response. "You might not have noticed, but no one really seems all that eager to talk about it. Not anyone that knows the truth anyways."

I left the statement in the space between us hoping that, in an attempt to defend himself, he might have given me some more detail, hell even tell me the whole story of what had happened between him and Ashton and Harper before she'd taken over the library.

He didn't though.

Like everyone else involved, he seemed determined to leave as many questions about the situation as possible unanswered.

We'd reached the elevators now and I watched as he pressed the call button, trying to detect even the tiniest flicker of emotion in his expression that might give away what he was thinking, but received nothing.

All these rumors and secrets that seemed to surround him and the crew of the library were starting to drive me a little crazy, especially when he was right here in front of me to ask. A part of me was dying to know what had happened, how Harper, and Ashton for that matter, could even remotely begin to trust him in the library, let alone to help keep the person in charge of it safe.

But it was clear that left to his own devices, James wasn't going to offer me any sort of information and I was too much of a coward to ask.

His amusement was gone now, and his eyes darted towards the elevator as it beeped, the number above it changing with each floor as it rose.

"So where are we going?" I asked at the final ding. "I know jumping between domains probably isn't a good idea with mortals around, but nobody's here." I looked up and down the hall. "I thought Harper could just sort of…"

I made a plucking gesture, as if to illustrate grabbing something out of the air only to hear the doors open, and see that instead of the elevator car, I was facing a portal of bright golden light.

"She can." he said obviously catching my stunned expression because the smirk was back. "It's easier for her if it's near a doorway though."

I continued to stare at the portal, a little too shocked to see it in the middle of my apartment building to know what else to do and he gestured for me to follow him.

"C'mon." he said stepping easily towards it, as if he done this a million times, which, he probably had. "Before your roommate comes out to try and stop you."

While his tone was light, I could tell there was a slight bitterness behind the words and I felt a swell of pity go through me.

I wasn't sure what James had done in his life before working for the library, but surely whatever it was, he shouldn't have to pay for it forever, should he?

I knew I should have followed him so as not to get left behind if the doorway was closed but I didn't.

I hesitated, looking after James wondering what had happened to him and what he'd been through. What on earth could have possibly happened to cause a person like him, who'd always been so calm and collected, to get into so much trouble with the Gods. And what was it about him that had caused Harper of all people, to go as far as she had to protect him. Why Ashton, who didn't even like the guy, tolerated his almost constant presence in her life.

He must have noticed the pause because he looked over his shoulder.

"You coming?"

I shook my head, realizing how stupid I must have looked just staring after him like total weirdo.

"Yeah, sorry."

He didn't say anything to this at first, but did offer a hand, clearly thinking I was a bit nervous about going back through the doors.

"It's can be a little overwhelming at first." He said his tone surprisingly sympathetic and while I wasn't scared, it was an easy excuse to get out of the awkward situation I'd gotten myself into so I didn't challenge it.

I took his hand and he stepped back through the elevator doors pulling me with him through the portal.