WARNING: This update deals with topics that are heavier than what's usually found in my stories. I wanted to point that out incase it might be upsetting to some readers, so they can be given a heads up. I kept it within my usual T rating, but you never know how people might be affected. If any readers would like to avoid the more detailed description of James's history, but want continue reading feel free to reach out. I'm happy to answer questions or give a summary.

As always, thanks for the positive support! I decided that these two chapters should probably be uploaded together so I hope people enjoy the two part update!

~ secrethalfblood

Jpov

"I'm not going to lie Lib." I said staring at the wall of soft fabric to my right and frowning. "This feels a bit ridiculous."

There was a muffled noise of activity and her head poked out from under the blanket, her light eyes narrowed in exasperation.

"Could you just work with me here?"

Libby had dragged me back to her apartment, pushed her tiny table against the wall in the dining area, and strung one of her blankets between two chairs effectively diving the room.

"This feels a bit claustrophobic." I said pointing at the wall next to me and she huffed.

"You have a window."

I looked at her and she made a frustrated noise.

"Fine. We can switch sides."

She crawled under the blanket and situated herself awkwardly in front of me, in what little space was left of the makeshift tent section, then gestured towards the blanket.

"Go ahead."

"Is this really necessary?"

"Just go." She said with a shooing motion and, rolling my eyes, I slid under the divide noticing that with the couch so close, it wasn't really any more spacious on this side.

"Better?" she asked.

I glanced at the area around me, still feeling a bit penned in.

"Sure." I muttered and she groaned.

"You are so fussy."

"I am not." I argued a little offended.

"Yes you are."

I wanted to be irritated, but couldn't help but smile a little, able to picture her stubborn expression.

"You don't like people, you don't like expensive tea, the blanket is too close, my coworkers are cowards-"

"How is that last one my fault?" I protested feeling like that one was unfair, but when she didn't answer, I sighed and lifted the blanket.

Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she was glaring at me as if she was about to administer a dose of tranquilizer whether I liked it or not.

"I'm sorry." I said surprised to realize I actually meant it. "This whole thing is just sort of odd to me."

"You live in a library that travels between dimensions." She said incredulously. "And you find this strange?"

She gestured around at the pseudo blanket fort.

"Magic I'm used to."

"But not feelings."

"Bingo."

"Too bad." She said taking the blanket from my grip and letting it drop again. "Because this is a totally genius idea."

"It is?"

"Yeah." She said returning to her usual cheer almost immediately and I smiled. "This way, you can say whatever you like and don't have to worry about seeing my reaction. And I can think about it without worrying about you seeing."

"You expect to be that horrified, eh?"

She hit me through the blanket.

"Ow."

"That didn't hurt you." she said and I could tell she was rolling her eyes. "Stop being sarcastic James. You're supposed to be honest right now, remember?"

"Fine." I said quietly, looking at my hands realizing a little belatedly that Libby was right.

Somehow having a divider between us was easier, even if I knew she was still there.

"What do you want to know?"

She seemed to think for a moment then said.

"You grew up in England, right?"

I debated for a second on saying 'No,' but figured it would only earn me another jab through the blanket.

"I grew up in London."

"With Lucy?"

"With Lucy," I confirmed.

"Did you have parents?" she asked and the question seemed a little odd to me, but then again, I couldn't really expect her to know this about me. Especially considering how often tragic things tended to happen to demigods.

"We grew up with our Mum." I said. "I sort of remember Lucy's father, but he passed away when she was really little. It was just us three for the most part."

"I'm sorry to hear that." She said quietly and she sounded like she meant it. "Did you like him?"

"To be honest I didn't really know him all that well. I was a kid and Lucy doesn't remember him at all. You can't really miss what you don't know you had."

"I guess…" she said but she sounded unconvinced and I debated asking what was on her mind, before deciding against it. "How old were you when you found out about the library?"

I felt my brow furrow at the question, trying to remember what felt like a life time ago. Being approached by the dodgy woman, handed a book with promises of adventures and stories wilder even than the ones me and my sister used to read together every night.

"I'm pretty sure I was about eleven."

I heard her take a quick breath sort of defeating the purposes of the blanket between us. It was clear she was shocked, maybe even horrified, and I didn't have to see her to be able to picture her expression.

"That's so young."

"It is," I agreed. "I'm not quite sure why I started seeing the mythological world younger than most demigods, or why Lucy can see it at all let alone so well. But by the time most campers only just start to learn about the gods and that part of their lives, Lucy and I were already well in over our heads with magic."

There was a pause between us that wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but felt significant all the same in which Libby was clearly thinking. She broke it eventually.

"Was it awful?" she asked quietly.

"What?"

"Being sucked into everything so quickly, monsters and magic, all the crazy stuff in our parents' world?"

I thought about this for a moment, trying to filter through what felt like a life time of memories in a matter of seconds.

"No." I said honestly. "Not at the start. It was actually a lot of fun. Our Mum, she was busy a lot, working, so Lucy and I had a lot of time to do basically whatever we wanted. Go where ever we wanted. We saw a lot, did so many things and met so many people. Who knows." I added with a grin. "If things had gone differently, maybe Lucy and I would have met you at some point, whenever we got dumped over on this side of the pond."

"So then what happened?" Libby asked.

I heard her shift, possibly leaning against the wall, and I couldn't help but look at the blanket, momentarily wishing I could see her, before figuring it was probably better I couldn't.

"You know that book I told you about?"

"The one in the Labyrinth?" she asked and I nodded before remembering she couldn't see.

"Yeah." I answered leaning against the back of the couch and looking around the apartment.

Between the fairy lights, fluffy rugs, and pillows, the place really did look like someone had given Lucy an energy drink, a credit card, and a catalogue for interior design. I found it comforting in a odd sort of sense, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, trying not to think too much as I continued.

"When I read it, it let me see more of our parents' world, more than most demigods I think. At least at that age. And it helped me find entrances into the library."

"Entrances?" she asked curiously. "Like more than one? I thought only Harper could-"

"Only Harper can." I explained, cutting off the obvious question. "Control the doors. Only she can pick people up and send them where ever she wants. But there are doors that lead directly into the library all over the world. Harper has just locked them. There's only one exit though, through a door that leads to it's realm. I guess it just sort of picks which area it chucks you out of at random if you leave through it with no one to ensure you end up where you want to go."

"And that's what you and Lucy spent your childhood doing?" she asked her tone of mix of incredulity and wonder. "It's amazing you never got lost."

"Oh we did." I assured her with half a smile. "All the time. But if you can find your way back into the library, which I could, eventually it will spit you back out near where you want to end up. You just have to keep trying."

"So you two sort of traveled the world on shuffle mode?" she asked and I laughed.

"Yeah, I guess so."

I thought for a moment and said.

"The library was different back then."

"It was?"

"Yeah, it was a lot more chaotic. Sort of like a tornado hit a second hand shop, and decided to bring the ocean and the underworld along with it. You know how Harper can alter how the library looks?"

"Yeah."

"Picture that, but it decided to change it's mind about half way through the process and switch to something else, only for the magic to collide. It's pretty posh now compared to how it was back then."

Something in my tone must have registered with her because she asked.

"Do you miss it?"

"Miss what?"

"The chaotic nature." She clarified and I frowned.

"Sometimes." I admitted, surprised to hear myself to say it out loud. "It was interesting if nothing else. Always something going on."

"You did always get bored pretty easily." She muttered no doubt thinking back to my days in the infirmary, where she and her siblings attempted to get me to sit still.

"It's safer now." I continued. "Which is what's really important I guess. People aren't getting stuck in it anymore. I don't know if you ever heard about that. But yeah, it was a problem."

"Wait, what?" she asked quickly and I figured that I was right, and this news had never reached as far as Libby or the majority of the camp. It wasn't the sort of thing Harper would have wanted to broadcast.

"Yeah, people were accidentally finding their way in before Harper took over, some weren't able to get out." I explained realizing belatedly the logical extension of this statement.

Libby didn't miss it however, not that I expected her to.

"Is that what happened to Lucy?" she asked quietly and I found that this time, despite the fact I still couldn't see her, it was difficult to answer again. "Did she get stuck? Or is she agoraphobic or something?"

"She got stuck for a while." I admitted quietly. "As to why she won't leave now... I'm not really sure. Harper and I, we were able to free the others but Lucy…" I hesitated. "Something still hasn't clicked for her."

I sighed.

"I don't know if it was because we were so young when we got involved in all of this, and it sort of grew into us as we grew up. But she never fully recovered. I dunno, maybe she's just afraid of falling back into Tartarus."

"She was in Tartarus?" Libby asked horrified and I winced, grateful she couldn't see me.

"Right." I muttered. "You wouldn't know…"

I let my voice fade as I attempted to try and explain the darkest points in my life in a manner that was 'concise.'

Talking to her, I'd started to forget what Libby knew and what she didn't. It was easier than I'd expected to be, almost like she already did know everything.

"It's sort of hard to explain Lib," I said eventually. "But the more we traveled around the world and the more we found in the library, the more vulnerable we made ourselves. We didn't realize it at first, but before I knew what had happened our lives had gone from one crazy adventure to the next, to a nightmare. More people were getting trapped in the library, it was getting dangerous, far more volatile. And the more we read, the more magic we were exposed to. If anyone had been looking to get a hold of a couple of messed up kids we might as well have sent up a flare."

I sighed.

"Eventually we managed to catch the attention of Kronos, he was weak but he still managed to get a hold into Lucy's mind."

I took a deep breath and looked at my hands, finding each word more difficult than the last.

"It started to drive her mad. She became obsessed with the mythological world and the library. She didn't want to leave it, started talking to things that weren't there and if I tried to help her, sometimes she got violent. When I realized what was going on, that something was talking to her, it was too late."

I heard my voice go tight at this and it took me a moment before I could go on.

"She kept reading, kept exposing herself to more dangerous information until one day it was too much."

The floorboards of the apartment were clean, but scratched and worn, no doubt from the dozens of tenants before her, most likely students. I tried to focus on them, but didn't see the floor so much as looked through it to the memories playing in my mind's eye.

"Kronos got a hold of her completely and when I tried to force her to leave the library, to try and find someone to help, she ran off. Into the Underworld."

A wave of cold washed over me as I was momentarily pulled into the past and the nightmares that never seemed to truly go away, but I pushed them back and glanced at the blanket.

"That's how she ended up there with a fair amount of Kronos's army. I won't tell you what they did to her, I don't think you really want to know. But suffice it to say by the time I was able to find her, I was almost dead and willing to do just about anything to get her back." My tone was bitter as I continued. "The only problem was that the King of the Titans had finally found a new body, and he wasn't all that eager to let it go. He couldn't use Lucy for long, but it was long enough for him to not want to reduce himself to barely an essence again. I gotta say, it's a little weird hearing the words of a supernaturally powerful being coming out of your little sister's mouth. It still freaks me out a bit, remembering. But he was in a bit of a conundrum."

"How?" Libby asked her voice barely a whisper.

"Lucy's a mortal." I reminded her. "Even if he was weak enough at that point not to kill her by inhabiting her body. It wasn't a permanent solution to his problem. He needed to reform, and he wanted to do it quickly. He couldn't do that in a mortal body, it wouldn't last. And he made it clear to me that I wasn't much more useful than my sister in that respect."

I let out a hollow laugh recalling the words.

"'Half dead, untrained. You're a pathetic excuse of a halfblood, let alone as a vessel.'" I recounted. "Imagine being so worthless even an all but dead Titan doesn't want you. But he let me know it wasn't impossible for me to be helpful. And who was he to 'turn away a gift so obviously given to him by the fates'."

"What did he want you to do?"

Her voice was soft, almost uneasy, but above all it was incredibly sad. A strange sort of emotion flashed through me at it, one that wasn't easy to define. It felt as if her understanding, at this moment, was both the thing I wanted most desperately on the planet, and my greatest fear in all of the worlds.

I'd never experienced this rapid clash of emotions, caught in some sort of war between anxiety and anticipation. I wanted to look at her, to know what she was thinking, what she thought about me. And then I wanted to never see her again.

It felt as if I'd been lost in a desert for years, wandering until I'd finally found an oasis, only to realize that the water had a high probability of being poisoned. I knew I was over thinking this. That I was being dramatic, but it had been bad enough seeing her face change the first day we'd run into each other at the library. It had hurt far more than it should of, and I thought if I saw it again, that anger and mistrust in her expression, the disappointment in her eyes, well that might just kill me. Especially after telling her so much.

"You know that book I was talking about?"

"Yeah."

"He said it could be used as an anchor, attracting his scattered form. That my unusual relationship with the library, even when it was unstable, could throw me around the world and bring pieces of himself back to him. Increase the speed of his reformation. While I was doing that, I was supposed to be finding a way to control the doors so that once he was strong enough, he and his allies could walk straight into Olympus catching the gods off guard."

"And you did it?"

"Of course I did." I said quietly. "He told me if I did, he'd let Lucy go. It set him back in reforming, but at least she was alive. And with me jumping around the world, helping consolidate parts of his essence, he was able to make up for lost time rather quickly. Enough to start influencing us both. Even inside the library."

"What did he do?"

"To me? Not much." I admitted trying to control the swell of hatred that went through me. "Mostly sent me nightmares and told me to look for things, sometimes I think for his own amusement. Most of his energy was spent on Lucy."

"Why?" she asked sounding disgusted. "What point is there in that? Why would he-"

"She's a mortal Libby." I repeated miserably. "It's easier for him to get into her mind. He didn't need to take me over to make me do anything. Not when he had his claws in her. If I ever failed at something he asked for, sometimes he'd take it out on me, but for the most part it was her." I realized as I spoke that my fingers had curled into my palm, and I made a conscious effort to relax them before I shattered the bones. "Eventually he figured out tormenting Lucy was more effective to get me to do what he wanted. I didn't really care what he did to me, but he'd send her visions, cause her to have nightmares and hallucinations. Convince her terrible things were going to happen to her or to me. And the second she started screaming…"

I broke the thought, unable to continue it and shook my head, changing the direction of the conversation. I didn't want to think about this. Not ever again.

"Well. I did whatever he wanted. And if he thought I wasn't strong enough or fast enough, or if I almost died up against some monster, he sent Lucy looking for more magic. Curses mostly, that made me stronger, quicker, tougher. The only problem was."

"It was destroying your body." Libby said quietly, clearly experiencing some sort of revelation. Not for the first time today, she sounded horrified, and again I was glad I couldn't see her.

"It was a tough balancing act." I agreed. "Not that he cared and I won't lie, it hurt. A lot. That's what's up on the top floors of the library by the way if you really want to know." I added. "In the wings you don't have access to. It was Harper's idea that Achilles curse might help me heal faster, tolerate and control that amount of power and she was right to an extent. Even the pain got better."

"To an extent?" she asked clearly having caught the caveat and I frowned.

"It seems to have scaled a bit." I explained. "Or, the fact that my body can handle more, lets it start to get even more out control. It doesn't hurt as much. But if Harper hadn't suggested it, I'm pretty sure I'd be dead by now."

"It's getting stronger." She said incredulously.

"It seems so." I agreed. "The Labyrinth isn't only there to keep me and Lucy from getting to that book. It's there to keep it from getting to us too. It interferes with its influence."

"So what's the long term plan here?" she asked quickly. "I mean, if this power or magic or whatever is increasing at an exponential rate, the problem is going to come to a head eventually."

"Well." I admitted sheepishly. "We're still trying to figure that out."

"You can't be serious."

"If you have ideas Libby I'd love to hear them."

"This is why you haven't told Lucy." She said eventually, a stricken sort of realization in her tone. "She doesn't know how much danger you're in… She'd think it's her fault."

"It was my fault," I pointed out and she let out an indignant noise.

"James you were a child." She said angrily. "A child a Titan was force feeding dark magic through his little sister."

"I made my choices Lib."

"Choices?" she asked furiously lifting the blanket and looking at me as if I were insane. "James if I give you the choice between blowing up your leg, and letting a hell hound rip off the other, but then say I'm blowing it up anyways if you don't decide that's not a choice. That's torture." She said her voice going oddly quiet. "You didn't have any control over your fate. Kronos just wanted you to think you had a hand in the decision to try and make you compliant. To make you think that you were somehow choosing this for yourself." Her tone was revolted, her expression as if she was about to be sick. "He wanted to make you feel responsible, like you couldn't ask for help." She went silent for a moment before saying. "He wanted to isolate you from Olympus and the other demigods. And it worked."

She sighed.

"You don't need to be punished James." She said softly. "You need to be like… deprogrammed... or something."

"Deprogrammed?" I asked skeptically.

What the in the name of the Underworld was she talking about?

"Yeah, you know," she said shrugging. "When they take people who got sucked into a cult and start trying to get them ready to integrate back into society."

"I didn't join a cult."

"You know what I mean." She said in exasperation as I continued to look at her, not certain as to how I was supposed to feel. "You need like, therapy or something."

"You sound like your brother."

"Well he's got a point!" she insisted throwing her arms up in a gesture so indicative of her personality, I almost smiled.

"Blanket side confessions aren't enough for you?"

"I am not a therapist." She said her expression stubborn.

"I dunno." I said charitably. "You're pretty easy to talk to."

"James you went through what? Like half a decade of solid trauma? Maybe more?" she looked at me as if I'd grown a sizable number of extra limbs. "How are you not completely screwed up?"

"I'm not sure I'm exactly what you call normal Lib." I pointed out. "I don't trust a lot of people."

"I'm surprised you trust anyone at all." She said emphatically before remembering we were supposed to be separated and ducking back under the blanket.

I couldn't help it, I smiled.

"Is this really necessary?"

"The system is working." She answered mulishly and I had to stop myself from laughing.

"Alright." I muttered a little amused.

"Do you think we would have been friends?" she asked rather suddenly. "I mean, if things were different. If we were normal people."

"Not half god?"

"Yeah."

She seemed oddly eager to hear my response, but I felt I had to point out an obvious impediment.

"There would have been an ocean between us Lib."

"You know what I mean." She said impatiently lifting the blanket again. It seemed to have lost most of its purpose because she was glaring at me now, her expression accusatory. "It's the spirit of the question James."

"Go back to your side." I said grinning and she rolled her eyes but let it fall between us again.

"Well?" she demanded and I thought.

"Well, to be honest. You probably would have been friends with Lucy." I responded. "She's about your age and you seem to have a fair amount in common."

"You are not that much older than me."

"But if we're speaking in hypotheticals, you'd probably have been together in school, right?"

"I guess." She said thoughtfully, as if it hadn't occurred to her.

"But if you and Lucy were mates, in the hypothetical situation, I still would have liked you."

Another pause.

"You're not just saying that, are you?" she asked uncertainly.

"No." I answered automatically while privately wondering if it was true.

The truth was, I wasn't really sure if I would have known what to make of Libby back in London. The idea was bizarre, so unrealistic it almost wasn't worth thinking about, and I'd been a different person back then. Still… a part of me couldn't help but wonder. If, by some sort of strange arrangements through the fates, Libby and I had run into each other in the mortal world, what would I have thought of her? I liked her because she was smart, kept her head in a crisis and despite how messed up the life of a demigod could be, she remained ever the optimist. A bright ray of sunshine in a world of curses and monsters and grudges that went back as far as ancient history.

Would any of that have mattered to me if I had never left London? Or would I have simply thought of her as another one of my little sisters annoying school mates?

"I would have liked you." I decided. "I dunno if we would have been close, but I would have liked you." I repeated with a little more confidence. "I would have at least found the accent interesting."

She let out a laugh and ducked under the blanket, grinning.

"You're the one with the accent." She pointed out. "Not me."

"Not in England love." I countered and she sent me an obstinate, but good natured expression, her chin darting up and her nose wrinkling in away that could only be described as adorable, even if she was pretending to be upset with me.

"So what you're saying is, if I want to make a killing in dating scene all I have to do is hop across the ocean?" she said with a grin. "Awesome accent and all."

This introduce a wide and horrifying range of thoughts, as I realized just how many lads I'd grown up with at school that would have been more than happy to escort the pretty, cheerful American girl around the city, and I was almost glad when she interrupted my thoughts as she continued.

"No magical abs though."

"Well I guess you're out of luck then." I said shrugging and she sighed.

"I knew it." she said with mock dismay. "I guess I'll never be cool anywhere."

"You shot a god." I pointed out. "Not a lot of people can say that. Not even me."

"True." She said sounding at least partially satisfied, then without warning, she flopped dramatically to the floor half of her body obscured by the blanket and I looked down at her.

"You're on my side."

"This is my apartment." She said indignantly. "And this is my blanket."

She tugged on it, evidently forgetting it was tied to the chair, and I jumped up to catch the piece of furniture before it toppled on to her face.

"Thanks." She said sounding a little shocked as I set it back upright.

"No problem." I answered out of habit.

"I keep forgetting how fast you are."

"Must be the magical abs."

She laughed and sat up, putting her hair up in an automatic motion pulling an elastic off her wrist.

"I like your tattoo." I said nodding towards her forearm where the arrow was placed and she smiled.

"Thanks." She said glancing at it before putting her arms down. "It was a gift from my father."

"Your dad gave that to you?" I asked a little confused at the statement. "What did he pay for it or…?"

"No, look." She said brightly and I watched, utterly perplexed as she brought her wrist to her forearm.

There was a flash of light as the symbols on her wrist and the arrow burned bright, and suddenly, she was holding a bow.

"The ink's enchanted." She beamed. "Mixed with a tiny amount celestial bronze. It took forever to heal, and hurt like you wouldn't believe but now-"

"You're always armed." I said in amazement and her lip quirked up at the accidental pun, but she let it go.

"I guess we have that in common." She said nodding towards the back of the couch next to me where my sword rested and I grinned.

"Awesome accents and always armed."

"We're practically a Bond movie." She said happily and before I could help myself, I asked.

"Does that make me your Bond babe?"

I'd tried to keep my expression serious, but she'd laughed anyways.

"I think your Harper's Bond babe." She pointed out with a giggle.

"Ashton's Harper's Bond babe."

"So what you're saying is you're available?" she smirked.

"Only if the outfits are tasteful." I said and her face lit up as she continued to laugh.

"Well that's disappointing."

I debated on if this could be considered flirting or not, but crossed it out of the realm of possibility as she added.

"I think you'd look amazing in an evening gown. You know, something suuuuuper low cut and a massive slit up the thigh."

"Jokes on you Libby," I said grinning. "I would."

She looked as if she wanted to ask something, but thought better of it, and I found myself looking at her weapon.

"Forget everything you said earlier." I said with appreciation, nodding towards the bow. "That is pretty cool."

I hadn't expected Libby to be the sort of person who'd be interested in getting a tattoo, but it had been a while since we'd known each other back at camp, and this was a pretty awesome one.

"Did you ever think about getting one?" she asked curiously, gesturing towards her arm. "A tattoo I mean."

"Can't." I said with a shrug and she frowned.

"Why-" she started sounding confused, but realization dawned across her features as she said. "Right. Achilles's curse. Your skin… it would break the needle."

I nodded and there was a moment that felt a little awkward. The tension in the room had lightened significantly since we'd moved from the topic of my past, but it had reared its ugly head again, and it seemed as if neither of us knew what to do with it.

"Is it weird?" she asked eventually giving me an interested look. "Being invulnerable? At least, mostly anyways."

I shrugged, considering the question, surprised it had taken someone this long to ask me. Then again I didn't really know a lot of people.

"I figured it might be." She continued frowning. "Considering you sort of get treated like a human battering ram."

"I don't really feel pain the same way you do." I pointed out. "I mean don't get me wrong, some things still hurt. I'm not exactly eager to get into a boxing match against Ares or anything. But mostly, the stuff you're probably worried about, it doesn't hurt."

"What about internally?" she asked perceptively and I grinned.

"You don't have to worry about me Lib."

"Well someone has to."

"I'm not all that delicate."

She huffed, but seemed to be thinking about the next best way to approach the subject and I decided to head her off.

"Libby I'm fine." I assured her. "I know you like to fuss over your patients but really, you don't have to worry."

"I thought you said I wasn't your medic anymore." She said stubbornly.

"True. But I'm pretty sure it's been established we're friends."

"So what's what we're taking away from this discussion then?" she asked. "Friends with awesome accents, who are always armed?"

"I guess so."

"Cool."

She tapped her wrist to her arm in an automatic motion and her bow disappeared. She then stood and offered me her hand.

I took it automatically, letting her pull me to my feet. There wasn't a lot of space between us and when she glanced up at me, she bit her lip uncertainly almost as if she wanted to say something. Before she could however, I felt my phone buzz, and pulled it out of my pocket.

"Harper?" she asked as I looked at the text.

"It's Lucy actually." I said grinning as I read. "She told me I'm to escort you to movie night. Apparently, I am to be a gentleman, and not a complete twit like usual. Bribes include your choice of snacks, the best blankets, and choice of movie as long as it's Disney related."

"Your sister drives a hard bargain." She said congenially and I nodded in agreement.

"You can't usually argue with her."

She hesitated for a second before saying.

"You really love her. Your sister I mean, and Harper too." She added. "Like Charlie does."

"Of course I do." I said wondering why this seemed to be such a revelation to her. "They're my family."

I expected this to be obvious, but something seemed to dart across her expression that seemed oddly conflicted. As if she wasn't certain how she should feel about this.

"Do you want to come?" I asked holding up my phone and the question seemed to bring her back to the present.

"Sure, I mean, Harper said she wanted to talk to me today anyways. I think she wants to look into what the Hunters might have run into a little more, I just… don't really want to intrude..."

"You're not intruding." I assured her. "I'm supposed to be bribing you, remember? Besides, sometimes Ashton comes. Even Annie and Charlie have been before."

"Alright." She said seeming a little more confident as I scrolled through my contacts and selected Harper's number.

"You have been gone forever." She said by way of greeting and I grinned. "I almost thought you'd died."

"I think that might be more of a problem for you than it is for me. Though with your ability to jump in and out of the Underworld, I'm pretty sure you could bring me back with relative ease."

"I could easily annoy you for the next quarter of a century." She said cheerfully. "Maybe even two. How much of a bribe do you think Hades would need to look the other way on reviving a soul?"

"Have you heard the term rest in peace Harper?"

"Yes, but I choose to think it doesn't really apply here. Neither of us sleep all that much." She pointed out and I rolled my eyes.

"Just open the door genius. I'm bringing Libby with me."

"Lucy's force of personality seems to be at work again."

"Well we know it certainly isn't yours." I said and she laughed.

"Doors are open James. The only one stalling is you."

I hung up and opened the apartment door only to see that it wasn't the hall on the other side, but the Interrealm, and was shocked when Libby stepped forward confidently, vanishing within the light without so much as a second glance.

She really was getting used to it...

It was this perhaps, that caused me to be unsurprised when I made it through the doors, and saw that Libby had managed to stay on her feet. What I hadn't expected however, was to see Lucy leaning on the edge of the archway, looking at us curiously.

She didn't often come down to the doors these days, not without anyone else. She must have been excited to see her friend.

"I'm the only one who doesn't have a date tonight." She said a little gloomily crossing her arms over her chest. "Ashton's here too. Guess I'm the fifth wheel."

"Don't be ridiculous Luce." I said. "Libby's here for you."

"That's right." Libby said automatically, the adopted a wounded tone. "No flowers?"

Lucy smiled in spite of herself.

"Sorry to disappoint." She said but linked her arm with Libby's as the girls started to make their way up the steps.

I followed them automatically, changing into pajamas just so Lucy wouldn't yell at me, realizing as it snagged on the collar of my shirt, that I was still wearing the necklace form Camp Halfblood.

I debated if I wanted to take it off for about half a second before deciding that I didn't and kept it on, tucking it under my shirt, very deliberately electing not to examine as to why.