Heads up: In this chapter there's a panic attack (to avoid it, scroll down to the line after [1]) and implied past child neglect (like... closer to the end).

Arianna was almost late getting to the vans. First she'd forgotten her bag, then her canteen, then her war scythe… she hoped the rest of the day wouldn't be so hectic. She was just trying to get everything she needed but her brain kept screaming at her. "Why did you agree to go on a mission with two guys you barely know when you can't even fight?"

It was dumb, 'cause she knew why, but she couldn't keep the thoughts at bay. Not even when she was actually in a Camp van, sitting between Kieran and Diego with her backpack at her feet. She didn't remember getting there, had she even said goodbye to her half-siblings? She thought she had. Hopefully she had.

The van was bringing back memories she didn't think she had. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't see… (because her eyes were closed but she could just –) couldn't…

Someone was talking; she felt hands on her shoulders, and they were shaking. Or she was shaking? She wasn't sure, but she could feel them and whose were they?

Her breathing started to slow down. "There you go. Just like that." Her eyes snapped open and she realized that it'd probably been Diego who'd spoken, since he was holding onto her. "You okay?"

"I'm sorry!" she blurted. They were really gonna think she was useless if she couldn't get through a freaking car ride. Oh God, her hands were shaking so bad and they were kinda numb, what the heck was going on?

"Hey, you're fine, don't worry. This is normal," he responded. No, it wasn't, she'd never had anything like that happen before and she was still kinda freaking out?

"Dude, what?" Kieran exclaimed. "How was that normal?"

"I didn't mean it like – I've seen a lot of this kind of thing from, uh, people. Even had it happen to me a couple times. You know Lou Ellen? She stabbed me once and I still always have my guard up around her, even though we're on the same side now."

He did? And he'd said that so casually – Arianna wasn't sure if she'd ever get to that point. "Oh, okay, I remember that," Kieran said, also like, way too casually.

"Yeah. I don't think she does, though, and I'm not gonna ask. It'd – hey, más lentamente – shit. Sorry."

Maybe she'd chosen the wrong language elective. German had seemed like a good idea at the time… "It's okay?" Arianna replied, assuming that he'd been talking to her.

Diego frowned. "You're still breathing too fast. Maybe… no, don't look up, that's making it worse. Look at m – look at Kieran."

"Me?" Kieran squeaked. Yeah, he looked like he was gonna freak out too, how was that supposed to help? But she was getting it back under control. She just wouldn't look up.

"Okay, I think I'm good," she said. "You can let go now."

"If you say so. We could ask Argus to –"

"No."

There was no way she was going back. "All right," Diego said. She couldn't tell for sure since she was still looking at Kieran (who was looking at the floor) but it sounded like he approved. "Good thing we're using a shuttle…"

Gosh, the only thing worse than them witnessing her… what'd that even been, anyways? Was that what a panic attack was?... would've been more people being there too. [1] "So, where are we going, anyways?" Arianna asked since she'd… probably missed that, and she was sure Argus wasn't taking them all the way to Maine.

"The bus depot," Kieran replied, "and how are we gonna figure this out?"

"You tell us, man, you're the bus expert," Diego responded.

"Really? I've bought tickets literally four times."

"That's four times more than me."

Kieran put his head in his hands. "Oh, gods… okay. Well, we go as close to this place as we can get, then, and… get a cab?"

"If there's cabs," Arianna murmured. "Not everywhere has them."

This was new information to them, apparently. "I guess if they don't we can hitchhike," Kieran decided.

"Or there's the Gray Sisters' cab," Diego suggested. "If we'd still be in their service area, anyways. I dunno, I don't really trust anyone who'd just offer us a ride to the middle of nowhere." [2]

"Why not?" she asked. "Sometimes people are nice like that."

"See, Jess says that too, but I'm not the kind of guy normal people would pick up." Hm… yeah, she had to agree with him there. If she didn't already sorta know him, she probably wouldn't do that either.

"How many monsters can even drive?" Kieran wondered. He'd switched to looking out the back window.

Great question. "More than you'd think," Diego answered. "Kynokephaloi, cyclopes, Laistrygonians… most of the human-ish ones." [3]

"Huh. I guess we'll just have to figure something… guys, am I the only one seeing this truck behind us?" Kieran asked.

It was a pretty big truck, so no, but it was starting to get closer. "Shit," Diego swore. "Already? It's been less than half an hour!"

"What do you… oh no, we were the last ones to leave, weren't we?" Kieran groaned. "And we're stuck in traffic."

Of course they were. Great. "Please tell me there's not monsters in the truck," she whimpered.

"That's not a truck," Diego said. "It's a hellhound, and there's been demigods going through here all morning. We might be able to take it."

"That means we can't," Kieran whispered, though she'd figured as much.

"Yeah," Diego agreed, "but we can out-run it. Or at least we could, if…"

If they weren't stuck in New York City traffic. It was so much worse than Madison traffic. But surely they'd be fine if they stayed in the van? Arianna still just saw a truck, but going by the size it probably wouldn't be able to swallow an eight-passenger van. Except it maybe could, according to the orientation video apparent size didn't always matter.

"So what do we do?" Kieran asked. He was already unbuckling his seatbelt; she quickly followed suit.

"Grab your bags and weapons," Diego ordered. "We're gonna bail."

"What about Argus?" she wondered. They couldn't just leave him.

"He'll be fine, this thing's not after him," Diego replied grimly. "On second thought, I'll have to grab our weapons. I don't think you guys can reach."

He wasn't wrong. Arianna was glad her bag, at least, was somewhere she could reach by herself. "And this is why I said one polearm per person," Kieran commented like that was important at all at the moment. When had he even said that?

"Hey, I listened, didn't I? Oh, we're gonna have a great time getting these out of here. I'm keeping the blade ends by me 'til we get out so no one gets stabbed."

Which mean that Arianna and Kieran got the shaft – literally, the stick ends were across their laps. Diego would have to get out first, they were stuck.

"Okay, Argus? Any way you can get in the right lane?" Diego asked. The van swerved sharply and probably four people honked their horns, but they hadn't hit anyone. "Thanks. Now we're gonna get out, be safe, okay?"

It was hard to tell, but she thought Argus nodded. A few seconds later, Diego opened the car door and jumped out by some very surprised pedestrians. He'd managed to bring his pack and all their weapons with him. Arianna and Kieran followed after him, not wanting to go out the door that led into traffic, slow-moving as it was.

Looking back at the "truck"… it didn't look like a truck anymore, just a huge, black dog that could absolutely use a car as a chew toy. "No collar," Kieran muttered. "Yep, we can kill it." [4]

Did that mean there were pet… not important. "Hey, you guys gonna take these, or what?"

She and Kieran sure were gonna hold onto their own weapons. "So how do we fight this?" Kieran asked.

"We don't. You two, find an alley; I'll lead it away and…"

"And what, Diego?"

"…and if we're lucky I can get it before it gets me. If I'm not back in five minutes, just keep going."

…was he serious? "Or we can all fight it?" Arianna suggested; not that she wanted to but it'd have to be a better idea than just leaving him to do it alone.

"Start running, now, it just noticed we're not in the car," Diego ordered. "And no offense, but I'd rather not have to focus on making sure you two don't die while I fight it."

"And if we hid…?" She actually did start running, but oh God why wasn't he?

"I'll at least be buying you guys some time. Even if I lose, it'll probably be busy for a while."

There weren't many things that could mean, and Arianna didn't wanna think about any of them.

"Gods, okay, why don't we all just run then?" Kieran exclaimed; he'd already started.

And then Diego joined them. "You're the one who asked. Running is Plan A."

"Then why –"

"We don't have time for this!" Arianna yelled. They were running with packs and weapons, talking was a waste of energy. She was so glad she'd let her dad talk her into going on runs with him, she was keeping pace with Kieran without really thinking about it. Diego was still slightly behind them, and that had to be purposeful 'cause his strides were so much longer than theirs.

Unfortunately, the hellhound's strides were even longer.

"Left!" Diego shouted. They turned onto a street with faster traffic. People were probably looking at them, but for once it didn't matter. "C'mon, be dumb…"

It wasn't; it turned with them, and… disappeared? Where –

"¡Chingar! About face, now!"

Was anyone gonna say that hellhounds could teleport? "What now?" Kieran panted as they desperately tried to turn.

"Follow me, do not stop until I do," Diego ordered as he ran across the street with moving cars. After that Arianna didn't bother looking where they were going because that was insane but they'd made it so she wasn't gonna stop; plus, she could still hear Kieran behind her so she knew he was fine. Probably.

They… it could teleport how could they out-run it if it could teleport? She was getting tired, probably too tired to fight, and she was considering telling the others to just ditch their stuff when a minivan pulled onto the sidewalk in front of them.

"Come with me if you want to live!" the driver called and, well, they didn't have much of a choice.

"It's safer out here," Diego replied. "And your Ah-nold needs work."

"How is it possibly – wait, Brenna?" Kieran exclaimed. "What are you doing?"

"Literally there's a hellhound behind you guys, just get in the fucking car!"

She was right, and they could ask for an explanation if they lived. Arianna didn't know why Diego would apparently rather fight the hellhound, but she opened the trunk, stowed her stuff, and got in the car. Kieran followed suit after a bit of hesitation.

"It's less likely to kill us than your driving," Diego said. "Brenna, you shouldn't be here."

"Dude, it might actually help if she makes her own lane!" Kieran called. Uh… maybe Diego had a point.

"Look, I'm not leaving without you," Brenna added, "so if you want all of us to die…"

That did it, finally. Diego threw his weapon on the floor under the seats, slammed the trunk shut, and hopped in the passenger seat. By that point Arianna and Kieran had managed to get themselves strapped into the two middle seats, which was great because as soon as Diego got his door closed Brenna floored it.

"Yeah, so, this morning I snuck out of Camp and rented this car," Brenna said casually as their tires left the sidewalk and they entered traffic. Since the other cars were actually moving at a decent speed, theirs was weaving in and out between them and going at least three times as fast.

"Why would you… you need to go back, please, it's not safe –" Whatever else Diego had been about to say was cut off by multiple car horns.

"Too late, I'm here!" Brenna yelled over the chaos she'd created. "I was actually looking for Jess's group, 'cause they're going to find the Hunters – she did tell you that's what they were doing, right? – but it's a good thing I didn't find them, huh? Hey, asshole, stay in your lane!"

"You're in his lane," Arianna informed her. Oh God, they were gonna die, they hadn't lost the hellhound yet (she could hear it barking) and they were cutting so many people off.

"My lane now. So yeah, the rental place really didn't wanna give this to me, but I gave them a sob story and a whole month's payment in cash and we worked things out. My perfect driving record helped," Brenna continued. [5]

She blew through a red light and swerved all the way into the far left lane. "It helps when your license is fake," Diego muttered.

"I've shown you my real and fake IDs at the same time, and I passed my driver's test on the first try!" She actually had a… of course she did.

"So you can follow the rules," Kieran said.

…she just chose not to. That wasn't comforting in the slightest. "Yeah, yeah. We haven't lost the hellhound yet – let's do something about that."

"Whatever you're about to do, no," Diego responded. "You need hands to steer."

"Hold us steady, then. Unless anyone else has a ranged weapon?"

"No! You don't have a high enough caliber for this, you'll just piss it off!"

As if it wasn't already? "I really can't believe I'm saying this, but just drive," Kieran groaned, holding onto his armrest with one hand and the handle above his door with the other.

Oh, boy, did she do that. When Arianna finally worked up the courage to look out the back window, the hellhound was a lot further behind them than before. "Is it gonna teleport again?" she asked.

"Nah," Brenna replied. "They need shadows for that, and it won't do it any good anyways if it doesn't know where we're going."

"Do we know where we're going?" Kieran wondered. "I guess we don't have to worry about the bus anymore…"

"Yes, we do, Brenna can't stay," Diego interrupted.

"Hm, I'm driving, you can't stop me, and last time I checked Kieran was in charge," Brenna reminded him.

In theory, yeah, but Arianna wasn't sure that was how it was actually gonna go. She'd noticed that Kieran didn't really ever bring that fact up himself. "Oh, right… uh, I'm fine with her staying, I guess, since she's here… and I'd rather not fight monsters on a bus."

"It's not fun," Brenna said matter-of-factly. "So now that's out of the way, let's get out of this city. Anyone know how to read a map? There's one in the glovebox."

"I do," Arianna volunteered after waiting to see if anyone else would. They finally seemed to have lost the hellhound.

"Cool. Like, I could find our way there, but… how long were we driving to find that tunnel?"

"Seven hours," Diego supplied. "That's why Chris won't ride with you."

Really? When there were so many better reasons to never do that? Still, Chris had the right idea. Arianna was tempted to take over driving herself, as terrifying as that was, but it'd have to be better than… "Ope!"

A huge map landed in her lap. "Sorry," Kieran said. "I was trying to hand it to you and it slipped."

"You're fine," she told him, starting to unfold it. It looked like all fifty states were represented. It took her a bit to find what she was looking for because gosh, the East Coast states were tiny. But eventually she got there. "We want I-95."

"Okay, I actually know where that is," Brenna responded. "Hang on!"

"Brenna, pedestrians!" Diego warned. She swerved onto the sidewalk to avoid them, then back into the road. "You know the hellhound's gone? You can drive like a normal person?"

"Right. Yeah, okay." To everyone's (probably) immense relief, she slowed down and started actually using her turn signal when she wove around other cars. Still not great, but Arianna could live with it.

"Finally," Kieran sighed, letting go of the handle. "How complicated is the way up?"

Arianna studied the map a bit closer, which was way easier when they weren't jerking around every ten feet. "We just follow the interstate all the way to Maine. We'll probably wanna get another map up there, this one doesn't have stuff like campgrounds."

"Huh. Wait, there's specific places for camping?" he asked.

"Yeah, and 'cause it's December some of 'em are probably closed," she pointed out. "A travel center'd maybe help us find out about that."

"Good idea. And if we're staying on the interstate… maybe I could take over driving?"

Brenna angled the rearview mirror so they could see her rolling her eyes. "Sure, if that'll get you guys to stop bitching. First rest stop we'll switch. You brought your permit?"

"Yeah…"

"We should be fine, then. I gotta get up to speed…" How could she not be going fast enough already? "Okay. Who wants to play a game?"

That seemed unimportant, but they did have hours of driving to go. "Sure," Kieran answered. "What'd you have in mind?"

"Well, I figured we should get to know each other, so how 'bout Never Have I Ever?" Brenna suggested. "Someone's gonna have to keep track for me, but it should be safe."

"Because Jess isn't here," Diego commented. "I told you not to target her, it just makes all three of us lose. But okay, I'll count for you."

Why would there be counting? "I haven't played before," Arianna admitted. "What is this game?"

"Basically on your turn, you say something you've never done, and if someone else has done it, they put up a finger. When you hit ten, you're out. We usually set some ground rules to make things more fair, like no targeting one person… which is pretty easy to get around, but like, I couldn't just say 'never have I ever been six feet tall'. That's unfair and boring," Brenna explained. "And we're gonna say no demigod stuff so you don't just win by default."

Okay, that made sense… "Who's starting?" Arianna asked.

"Oh, I've got one," Brenna said, and how was her driving improving with more distractions? "Never have I ever gone to high school."

Darn it. "Do classes with Chiron count?" Kieran wondered.

"No, so I guess you're good," she decided. "I thought I'd get all of you with that… oh, well, who's next?"

"Let's just go clockwise," Diego said. "So Arianna, you're after me. Never have I ever turned my feet backwards and walked like that."

That was weirdly specific. "Damn it," Brenna swore. "How's that not targeting?"

"I don't know if anyone can do that or not, it's totally fair."

"…I taught you too well. Fine, I'll take it. At least you didn't use the chest-stand."

"I'm trying to forget you can do that," he muttered. "Did I get anyone else?"

He hadn't, but Arianna knew how to get at least two of them. "Never have I ever lived in a city!"

"Well-played," Brenna complimented. "That's all of us."

"It is?" Kieran asked.

"I have lived in DC," Diego replied. "I think Arlington counts too? Either way, you did it."

"Oh, okay, uh… never have I ever lived in a house," Kieran stated.

That one got Arianna and Diego, but like, it wasn't too weird; apartments existed. "Never have I ever been on a sports team," Brenna said.

"Okay, that's fair," Diego responded as he put up another finger. "Really, no one else? Then never have I ever stolen anything – and before you complain, Kieran's getting a point too."

Yeah, he didn't look happy about that, though. "How do you even know about that?"

"I was there?"

Kieran visibly relaxed. "Oh, right, the bandages. Yeah."

Arianna thought that sounded an awful lot like he'd done that more than just the one time, but she knew he'd spent some time in the Hermes cabin and it seemed like a pretty regular thing that went on there. "Never have I ever been west of the Mississippi," she said before anyone else could question that.

"Hey, me neither!" Kieran exclaimed. "Take that, guys!"

"…well, I'm losing this," Diego commented. "But that's okay, I usually do."

"Yeah, sorry, bro; never have I ever been to the hospital."

Brenna and Diego swore almost in unison. "Does it count if I wasn't the patient?" Arianna asked.

"Yep. And being born there counts as being there, too, not that that really matters," Kieran confirmed. "So, anyone wanna share why?"

"I've been in a lot," Diego replied. "I know, big surprise. Usually for stitches, but we visited my uncle there when I was little, and… well, now we visit him once a year."

Arianna got the feeling that he didn't mean in the hospital. "Oh. I'm sorry," she said. Kieran just lowered his head, like he'd already known or he also didn't really know what to say to that. She'd believe either.

"Thanks. I know Brenna's gonna plead the fifth on this one –"

"Yep."

" – so why'd you have to go?"

"My dad had an accident and I went with him in the ambulance 'cause I was five and they wouldn't leave me by myself," she answered. "He was cutting branches off a tree and the ladder slipped."

Because he hadn't waited for someone to come help him with it. She'd had to call 9-1-1 and it'd been bad. Thankfully, no one asked for more details than that. They offered sympathetic murmurs, and then it was quiet for a few seconds until Brenna broke the silence. "So, what am I at?"

"Five points. I've got six, Arianna's got three, Kieran's got two," Diego responded. "I bet I'm about to be at seven, though."

"Yep. Never have I ever met my grandparents."

Well, all right then. Once again, only she and Diego got points. "Not Zeus?" Arianna asked, just to make sure.

"Nope. I'd rather not piss him off."

"Makes sense. And speaking of… never have I ever hugged my dad," Diego said.

That was really… wait a minute. "All your dads are gods," Arianna complained.

"Yeah, but I've hugged mine and he saw," Brenna muttered.

"Literally the court wouldn't let me go with my better dad," Kieran grumbled, "so legally, Todd doesn't count."

"You have two dads?" Arianna asked.

He turned to face her. "Uh, sort of. Todd used to date my mom, but he's the one who actually bothered to make sure I was alive. We write every week. He's a musician but he doesn't really make money from that, so he grows stuff too."

"What kind of stuff?"

"I dunno, he never let me see," he replied. "But I guess the judge didn't think that was a 'real job' and 'kids should be with their mothers.' Like she could stay sober enough to hold down a job. Anyways, it's your turn."

…what. That was… oh, God. And the others weren't reacting to that at all (that she could see, anyways) so they must've already known. "Uh… never have… I… ever…" What was a safe topic… "Failed a class?"

"Wait, when'd you do that, Diego?" Brenna asked.

"Look at the road, not my hands! It was in high school, and you'll never guess which one."

"History," she tried. "Spanish. Math."

"Gym. And you know I took Latin for my language elective, they wouldn't let me take the easy 'A.'"

Kieran had been slouching, but he sat bolt upright. "You failed gym class?"

"Turns out they'll fail you if you get in fights. The first one I at least started – there was a monster – but I didn't ask four guys to gang up on me. I'm kind of surprised I didn't get suspended for that one."

"I'm surprised they'd even try," Brenna commented.

"We were doing a dance unit."

"Ah, so they got jealous."

They… well, that sounded like guys, even if Arianna was having trouble picturing him being good at that. "They did. And then after I kicked their asses, we started sitting together at lunch. High school was weird."

"I'll take your word for it," Kieran replied. "So… never have I ever had a sibling. Or a half-sibling. That I know of."

Well he was clearly gonna win, but she didn't mind. The game was actually kinda fun. Sometimes. Parts of it. It beat trying to make awkward small talk, anyways. "Back to me?" Brenna asked. "All right, see, normally I'd just say I've never used a polearm, but I think I've got you all anyways. Never have I ever made it through an entire school year in the same place."

"I'm out," Diego announced. "Are we going until there's a winner?"

"Not doing that is an option?" Brenna responded.

"Jess would be so proud of you. Well, does anyone wanna stop?"

"Nah, it'll be over soon enough," Arianna answered.

Kieran looked back over at her. "Oh wow, I did not think you had that many points." Neither had she; she was holding up seven fingers compared to his four. "And Brenna's got…"

"Eight," Diego supplied. "Ne – oh wait, it's you now, Arianna."

"Okay, never have I ever been in a relationship," she said.

"Ha! Good try," Brenna taunted. "Now if you'd said –"

"Never have I ever kissed a guy!" Kieran blurted.

Brenna counted that point herself. With her middle finger. "Oh yeah? Never have I ever kissed a girl!" she retorted.

Well, Arianna had done neither of those things. "Yes you have," Diego said. "Truth or Dare, last winter."

"Fine, never have I ever kissed a girl who's kept her promise not to tell anyone," Brenna corrected.

"Actually, Chris told me."

"That hasn't literally dared me to kiss her, then."

"Okay, that works," he conceded.

All right, then. "I'll still take the point, you didn't dare me, but do I even want context?" Kieran asked.

"We played Truth or Dare in the cabin; I think you were hiding, like smart people would. When you refuse a truth or a dare, the game ends and the loser has to clean the whole cabin for a week. It was going on for a while so Jess dared me to kiss the person sitting next to me and what was I supposed to do, go with someone I was for sure related to?"

"…she never said it had to be on the lips, Brenna."

"…fuck."

"Anyways," Kieran cut in, "it's Arianna's turn."

Oh no, it was, and she had nothing. Eventually she came up with, "Never have I ever been on a plane."

"And I'm still in," Brenna gloated.

"Really?" Kieran asked. "You got all the way across the country without flying?"

"Yeah. I don't recommend it. Has anyone in this car flown before?"

"I have," Diego replied, "and if I wasn't already out I'd have like fourteen points."

Brenna took her eyes off the road to stare at him. "When did you kiss a guy?"

"Again, no one said it had to be on the lips. Do you guys not kiss family members on the cheek? Is that not a thing and I'm just finding out now?"

"I sure haven't."

"Nope."

Arianna tried to remember if she ever had. "Oh, I guess I'm at nine too, then, if that counts. Huh."

"All right! I'm gonna end this," Kieran said. "Never have I ever worn a dress."

"Oh, what, just 'cause we're both girls you think that'll work?" Brenna protested.

"…well, never have I ever been in a state with no ocean, then."

"There you go," Arianna stated. His first try actually wouldn't've worked, but she wasn't about to tell them that. "Congrats."

And they'd finally run out of city exits, so it was only a matter of time before they'd be able to switch drivers. "Thanks," Kieran responded. "I don't usually win these things."

"That's 'cause you played this game in my cabin and we're a lot more ruthless," Brenna replied. "Oh hey, I just thought of something. I can just pull over. To switch?"

Oh, duh. "We're on the interstate though, is that legal?" Kieran asked.

"She's been driving for the better part of an hour, pretty sure we're past caring about legality," Diego teased. Brenna stuck her tongue out at him, which meant she'd stopped looking at the road, but she quickly turned back so she could pass a semi.

"And safety?" Kieran sighed. "Okay, yeah, pull over, I'll… uh… try not to get run over."

"Same. We're both on the driver's side," Brenna pointed out as she finally, mercifully, pulled over and swapped seats with Kieran. "At least this way we don't have to see other people."

"Fair point. We'll have to get out eventually, though," Diego said.

They were moving much more slowly once Kieran took over, but Arianna was fine with that. "We've got…" Oh no, the map just had miles, that was useless for driving distance! She'd have to estimate. "…nine, ten hours left?"

"Cool, but how far away are we?" Kieran asked.

"Nine or ten hours," she repeated. Did he actually want the mile number? She'd already forgotten it.

Maybe he didn't, he didn't ask for it. "Oh, you do that thing Jess does!" Diego exclaimed. "I thought that was just Minnesota?"

"Nope, that's a Midwest thing, I think."

"Cool, so duck, duck, greyduck –"

"That's just Minnesota."

Brenna shook her head. "Of fucking course it is. Where'd they even come up with that?"

Arianna shrugged. "I dunno but it's wrong." She hadn't actually been out of Wisconsin before coming to Camp, but so many of the people in her class had parents or relatives from over there. There were constant debates, like casserole vs. hotdish, soda vs. pop, Packers vs. Vikings, what the right way to say "bag" was… and of course, whether it was "goose" or "greyduck." [6]

"Wait, why were y'all even talking about duck, duck, goose?" Kieran wondered.

Apparently, there was a story behind it, like there seemed to be for a lot of things. A lot of really strange things.

Maybe one day she'd have those kinds of stories, too.

Footnotes:

[1] - If you skipped the beginning section, they got in the Camp van and Arianna's really nervous about this whole mission thing. Hence the panic attack.

[2] - The Gray Sisters only service NYC, according to Sea of Monsters. Should someone probably be asking them about Olympus? Yep, and someone else is :)

[3] - I straight-up forgot to explain what kynokephaloi were last chapter, so I'll do it here; basically, dog-headed people who wear animal skins. IRL, probably some form of primate that the ancient Greeks mistook for other humans, but in mythology they had a battle with the Argonauts. There's not a ton of available information but unlike when I first tried to write fic, it's getting hard to find monsters that Riordan hasn't used (to my knowledge because again, I haven't read Trials of Apollo).

[4] - Mrs. O'Leary is best girl and no one would ever hurt her.

[5] - In the US, you pretty much have to be 25 to rent a car. There's some places that'll allow you to when you're like, 21 or 23, but it's a liability issue with insurance and stuff. Brenna could've just lied about her age but her fake (because I don't think this info comes up later anymore but it does in Redacted) can only be one form of documentation for her at a time and she decided to do things the hard way.

[6] - For all those pairs, Wisconsin vs. Minnesota. Most people in Arianna's area would use the (non-greyduck) Minnesotan words and maybe even root for the Vikings if they're okay with being wrong all the time, but rivalries are rivalries. The Upper Midwest is kinda like a sibling group where everyone mocks each other all the time but if someone from outside makes fun of our region we'll usually band together. Unless it's duck-duck-greyduck, or for Wisconsin, bubbler. Apologies to my Minnesotan readers; if it's any consolation I have to make fun of Wisconsin too (if not here, then in the sequel) and it'll kill me inside.

Author's Note: ...technically it's the 28th now so let's post this before I forget. I never really got why "Truth or Dare" was the fic game of choice when "Never Have I Ever" is right there. Or "Two Truths and a Lie". Both infinitely better games that I definitely haven't used in Digimon fics (whoops hello Odaiba Day spoilers). In other news, I'm starting a new job soon and I'm not quite sure if that'll affect my update schedule; it shouldn't, I still have backlog for this fic until August, but I'm hoping to be able to post the last 7 or so chapters of this weekly instead of monthly for making-cliffhangers-less-evil reasons. Just wanted to give y'all a heads up.

Next time: I don't think there's any content warnings to worry about? I guess we'll find out.