Brenna wasn't sure what she'd been expecting. Maybe a little gratitude for saving their asses, but she knew that wasn't likely. For one, she and Diego had given up on thanking each other for shit like that a long time ago, but also she knew that he hadn't wanted her to come along, and she hadn't exactly been invited. The game had cut the tension in the car; it was still there, though, and it shouldn't've been.

Why didn't he want her there? Like, they did plenty of stuff without each other… she'd thought they were both gonna be stuck at Camp, though. If it wasn't for that, she probably would've been more okay with him going on the mission without her… it wasn't like that was anything new. She'd usually worked with Jess or her half-siblings on war missions. Maybe she'd just hoped that for once he wouldn't decide to risk his life when he didn't have to.

But whatever. At least he'd stopped trying to get her to go back after she'd mentioned the Hunters. She actually felt a little bad about that, 'cause it was a flat-out lie (though she had asked Jess to let Thalia know she might be interested).

If it weren't for the stupid prophecy she'd accidentally gotten herself stuck with, she wouldn't have even done that much. Stealing the paper in the first place was dumb enough, but then because she was an absolute fucking moron she'd gone and asked the oracle for a prophecy before her "quest" and damn did she not wanna think about what it'd said. [1]

But long car rides were fun that way. The others had stopped talking, and for once she had nothing to say, so there wasn't anything to distract her from her thoughts. Staring out the window only did so much.

"Told you it'd work," Luke gloated as Brenna slammed the six-pack of Diet Coke down in front of him. The caduceus above her head was fading, but it was still visible enough. "Looks like you're a regular. Congrats."

She'd smiled, of course, she was ten and fucking stoked that she finally knew for sure who her dad was. "All right!" she cheered. "I don't have to move again!"

"Yeah, you say that now, wait 'til summer comes," he replied. "C'mon, let's tell… what's that?"

"A note. I saw it on the table," she said, holding it out to him. "What's it say?"

"At least try to read it."

So she did, and it was in Ancient Greek so she could mostly figure out the words. "I think it's… a poem? No wait, it says it's a prophecy!"

Luke made a face. "You're better off avoiding those."

Of all the things he could've been right about…

You shall lose your friends to the Titans' trap

That already happened.

To end the threat a thread must snap

That… happened…

The Unseen One your form shall cage

That part… she wasn't sure about that line, it could've happened? She had been possessed before.

And never shall you come of age

There was the line she was worried about. Too much of that prophecy had come true for her to think it could be about someone else, and the more bullshit she made it through, the more nervous she got.

But she still had eight months (maybe) and the last thing she wanted was people's pity. Demigods died young all the time, the only difference was she had a timeframe. She still kinda wanted to tell people, but what the hell was she supposed to say, "Hey, I'm gonna die by August 7th so if you wanna spend time with me, now's your chance"? That might just make people not wanna do that and she didn't want all her friends to leave again.

As it was, Chiron knew, Rory had known, and Diego knew the parts she wasn't sure about. Jess knew there was a prophecy but she'd never asked what it was about because "Bad things happen when you try and fight the Fates and you know I'd totally do that so let's go smuggle some pizza and forget this conversation happened." Which, in hindsight, wasn't the best idea but they'd lived.

"Guys, it's almost noon. Do we wanna stop somewhere?" Arianna asked.

Oh thank the gods, an excuse to think about anything fucking else. "I dunno, did anyone actually bring food?" Brenna wondered. She sure hadn't.

"I've got some MREs," Diego said. "Because Clarisse makes us carry them, but they're… not great."

Understatement of the century. "I have cereal bars somewhere," Arianna offered.

"…wow, guys, I've just got ketchup packets," Kieran began, "but we need gas soon so we could see what these Wawa places have."

"Wawa?" she repeated. "Is that like, East Coast Kwik Trip?"

Brenna wasn't entirely sure she trusted that name but she'd eaten worse things than gas station food and survived. "…yeah, that's accurate; they've got a lot," Diego responded. "And they're not usually sketchy. If I remember right there's vegetarian options." He looked back at her, 'cause she was the only one in the car who'd care about that.

"Oh, wait a sec, how much money do we have?" Kieran asked. "I know Camp gave us a hundred bucks, but…"

"Don't worry about it; I've still got like seventeen hundred," she replied.

"How?"

"Dad."

Diego hadn't turned back around yet so she got to see him try to raise an eyebrow at her. "That was three years ago," he said. "No one stole it?"

"They would've had to find it for that."

"Fair enough. And while we're talking about stopping… Kieran doesn't have a coat."

"Hey, I've got a sweatshirt!"

"Not the same thing," Arianna murmured, starting to go through her bag.

It really wasn't, and if Diego was wearing long sleeves at all, let alone an actual winter jacket, it was probably gonna be cold. Brenna was wearing a jacket over her jacket and she still got cold when they'd had the car doors open earlier.

"Well, we can deal with that later," Kieran grumbled. "It might not be that bad."

"I guess," Arianna sighed. "If it is, you're getting one. I thought I had a spare, but I don't. Not that it woulda fit good, but it'd've been something."

"Oh hey, speaking of spare clothes," Brenna started because she'd just thought of something, "does anyone own things that don't say 'Camp Half-Blood' on them?"

"I barely have those shirts left," Diego pointed out.

Wait, she'd just raided the Nike cabin, how the fuck was he running out of shirts again? "You'd have more if you'd keep them on once in a while," she retorted.

"I do! She must be getting help from my siblings."

"If you say so. Anyways, we should maybe at least try to hide that we're demigods," she continued.

"Everything I've got has the logo," Kieran replied, "But y'all are literally wearing coats right now and none of them do."

"I'm regretting it," Diego admitted, "but it didn't fit in my bag after I packed my machete."

…of course. "Why'd you bring – oh wait, no, that makes sense," Arianna corrected herself midway through.

"Finally, someone gets it," he responded. "My siblings made fun of me for that, but then we had to trail a group of myrmidons through the woods and I was the only one who brought something that could clear brush well."

Yeah, that was logical. Bringing three spears and a halberd on a bus, not so much. Now that she was thinking about that, Brenna counted the handles between her and Arianna's seats. "Oh my gods, did you bring, like, a reasonable amount of weapons this time?"

"No, I was limited. Did you bring more than half a magazine?"

"…I deserve to never live that one down, yeah. The one time we ran into stuff where my gun was a good counter, and I only had six bullets."

"That's not so bad," Kieran interjected.

"There were seventeen dra – archers," Diego clarified.

Why hadn't he just said dracaenae? "And two of us. In my defense, me and Chris were scouting, we were supposed to travel light."

"Okay, but he has a sword. You have something that isn't useless when you get spotted by enemy archers."

"Like you – hey, Kieran, you might wanna slow down."

"Why?"

"Speed trap coming up," she explained, "and it's blind."

He rolled his eyes, she could see it in the rearview mirror, but he listened and she was totally right. "I think that's how your driving record's good," Arianna commented.

"I'm sorry, they actually stop you for speeding?" Diego asked. "I thought they just mailed you tickets."

"…no?" Brenna responded.

"Then why hasn't anyone ever stopped my mom?"

"She drives a government car and they'd have to catch her for that."

It sounded like she was joking, but she wasn't. Maya was amazing and her driving had literally saved their lives one time, but she did not care about speed limits. To be fair, though, maybe that's just how she drove when there was a life-or-death situation. Which was… any time Brenna had ridden with her, actually.

"Okay, I'm taking the exit," Kieran said. "Thank the gods there's a station right here, I didn't wanna get lost."

"What state are we even in?" Arianna wondered. Uh, how the fuck would they know, she had the map. "Oh wait, I think it's New Hampshire. Maybe. These city names're really small."

"All right, place your bets, what kind of monster are we gonna see?" Brenna joked.

"We're not gonna see a monster," Diego replied. But when they stopped, he still strapped his halberd to his back. Which was the right call, really, especially since no one else was bothering to grab weapons. At least Kieran should've known better than to believe that.

They all waited by the car while Kieran started pumping the gas… for about ten seconds. Brenna figured she'd scout ahead. If something did attack her, the others would hear for sure; but there really wasn't anything suspicious, it was just a convenience store. A convenience store with like its own version of Subway, which was kinda cool.

When she got back, though, it looked like she'd missed something big. "Wait, was there actually a monster?" she asked.

"Where were you?" Arianna demanded. "You can't just go off by yourself!"

"…yeah, what she said," Kieran agreed. His hands were shaking as he tried to hang up the nozzle. Brenna just walked over and did it for him; he'd apparently borrowed Diego's jacket but he must've still been cold.

"I told you guys, I watched her walk in," Diego muttered. "Is it clear?"

"Yeah. What'd I miss?"

He rolled his eyes. "Just all of us wondering why the hell you left without saying anything right after we talked about monsters."

"You could've at least warned us," Arianna scolded.

"I thought I did, sorry. Won't happen again," Brenna promised.

The look Diego was giving her told her it shouldn't have happened once, but at least he wasn't mad. About that, anyways. He was definitely still mad at her for showing up, but like, Kieran approved… or he had; he was probably regretting that decision.

But hey, she stayed with everyone else while they bought their food and some other stuff (like gloves because Diego was the only one who'd remembered those). She also might've made a couple jokes about buying "wa-wa" at Wawa, and she definitely didn't shoplift. Because Arianna was watching her so it wouldn't have worked.

They somehow didn't get attacked by anything, even though Brenna was pretty sure one of the cashiers wanted to kill her for that joke, which was a nice change of pace. Still, she felt better when Kieran finished eating so they could leave. They got halfway across the parking lot and then he realized that driving and wearing a coat that was at least three sizes too big for him didn't go well together.

Once that was resolved and they made it back to the interstate, he asked, "So what's our next step?"

"Getting you a jacket that fits," Arianna said firmly. "And finding a legal place to camp."

"I mean, it doesn't have to be legal…" Brenna started before she remembered who she was with. "On second thought, forget I said that."

"Yeah, I'd really rather not see cops," Kieran responded.

She'd like to avoid that too. They might still be looking for her. "Wait, just thought of something," Diego began. "I know I have camping stuff and Arianna has camping stuff, but do you guys?"

"How'd ya know I did?"

"There's a pup tent strapped to your backpack."

There – huh. That was a choice. "…I should've checked what I had," Brenna admitted. "I think there was something last time."

"Did you even unpack… of course you didn't. So you've at least got blankets," he replied.

Kieran looked like he was gonna turn around but thought better of it. "I've got nothing; where I slept outside it was warm."

"Long Island Sound is not warm," Diego pointed out.

"Literally I meant before Camp," Kieran clarified. "And it is, though?"

No, it wasn't, and he didn't even magically stay dry somehow. But arguing would be pointless. "If you say so," she muttered. "And is this like, a 'we need fire to not die' kinda night or a 'let's not make the monsters' jobs even easier' one?"

"Oh gosh, fire probably attracts them, doesn't it…" Arianna pondered. "But according to the car it's thirty-five degrees out, and it's only gonna get colder from here."

"You're right," Diego confirmed, "and I don't know about you guys, but if something does show up, I'd like to be able to see it coming."

"Makes sense. Oh hey, there's four of us, we can have someone keep watch!" Kieran sounded way too excited about that and Brenna willed the others not to say anything about it. She'd slept alone outside before, too.

Thankfully, no one did. "We can," Diego said. "So next question: how do we handle that? Do we just try and sleep when we get there? And does anyone actually know when sunrise is?"

"Well, at home it was seven-something," Arianna responded, "but we're gonna be a lot farther north. So… I dunno, six thirty?"

"All right, let's go with that. It's not like we can't try again if we mess up. We can figure out time stuff when we actually get up there, but let's get an order going."

"Go for it, bro, I don't think anyone's gonna fight you on this," Kieran pointed out.

"Uh…okay." Brenna had half-expected Diego to protest, but he'd probably realized that he really was the most qualified to take care of that. "In that case, you're taking last watch, Arianna can have first watch, and for the other two it really doesn't matter so I'll just take third."

It did matter, a little bit, but she'd rather have second watch anyways. There was no way she'd be asleep by then. "Oh boy, I've never done this before," Arianna said nervously. "And I'm first?"

"Just don't fall asleep," Brenna advised. "That's all you've gotta do."

"I know that much."

"You're first because I figured you and Kieran should have the slots where your sleep doesn't get interrupted. He needs to be awake to drive, you need to be awake to navigate," Diego explained.

And if she was first… Brenna would probably still be awake if something happened, which he knew. "Okay, I guess that makes sense," Arianna conceded. "So maybe you guys should sleep a bit now, then, if you're not gonna get as good of sleep later."

As much as she really, really didn't wanna do that, Brenna knew it was probably her best shot at getting any sleep, and she had gotten up pretty early to sneak out, so it wasn't like she wasn't tired. Maybe she'd get lucky, and she'd have a shitty dream about stuff that was currently happening.

…or no dreams at all. She woke up to the car stopping and Arianna saying, "Crap, he's definitely following us."

Fuck, seriously? Brenna immediately turned to look out the back window. Sure enough, there was a white pick-up truck behind them. She couldn't really make out the driver's face, it was dark out (and she had no idea when that'd happened), but he looked human, for all that was worth. "Well, we can't really do anything about it right now," Kieran grumbled. "I guess let's just keep going."

Where the hell were they going? They were in a left turn lane, but there wasn't a road to the left, just a Cabela's parking lot. "Might as well wake the others now, they'll need to know about this," Arianna replied.

"I'm up," Brenna interjected; she saw Kieran jerk back a little. "What's going on?"

"That truck's been following us for like three miles," he answered. "He was next to us at a light, then he pulled behind us and I tried to lose him but it didn't work."

Man, what was it with them and trucks today? "Great. How the fuck is Diego still asleep?" she asked.

"No idea, can you – "

"Egeírō!" she ordered, trying to imitate Clarisse. It worked; Diego almost immediately turned towards her. [2]

"Why? Are we there?" he muttered, probably regretting that he'd ever told her about his cabin's wake-up calls. Not that it would've been hard to guess, Clarisse liked using Ancient Greek for commands.

Kieran repeated the brief explanation he'd given as he turned into the parking lot. "So, any advice?"

"Stick together, go straight to the door, don't look back. If it's actually a mortal, I doubt he'll keep following us when we get out," Diego responded.

Yeah, that checked out; it was fun watching just how fast creeps looked away from anyone he was travelling with. "Okay, but if it's not a mortal?" Arianna pressed. "I know a lot of these places have archery ranges…"

Oh hey, that was an actual strategy thing! She was learning! She wasn't really right, but it was progress. "We want as many witnesses as possible," Brenna corrected. "Some monsters won't attack in front of mortals."

"And the ones that will, we don't wanna get cornered by," Diego added.

"Yep. Here's two hundred bucks, go nuts," she said, passing exactly that amount in twenties over to Arianna, who looked at her like she was insane.

"We're parked," Kieran announced. "Do we open the trunk?"

"Hm… is anyone not armed right now?" Diego asked.

Brenna put a hand on her holster. She sure was. "I mean, I do have that knife still," Arianna replied. Huh, so she wasn't unarmed earlier. Good to know.

"Me," Kieran answered at almost the same time.

"I'll grab your trident on my way out," Brenna offered. Since his polearm wasn't so long it couldn't be maneuvered. "Let's get this over with."

They stepped out into the gross, slushy parking lot and oh gods, it was cold out. Gloves were definitely a good choice. Converse were not, but it wasn't like she had other shoes. "Is this a real winter?" Kieran asked, almost slipping on a patch of ice as he pulled his hat further down over his ears.

Brenna passed him his trident. Maybe it'd help with his balance issues. "I'd say so, yeah," Diego confirmed. "What do we need here again?"

"Winter coat, firewood, and I think that's actually it," Arianna responded. "You guys could really use some boots, but we'll worry about that –"

" – if we live," Brenna finished as they walked through the door.

"I was gonna say 'if there's time,' but that works too, I guess. Otherwise we can wrap plastic or something around your shoes, see if that keeps them dry."

"Okay, and no one look back but I heard another car door and I think it was him," Diego informed them. "First stop, men's wear, don't get separated."

So naturally, the second they went around the first clothing rack, Brenna felt herself being pulled back by something. "Oh, thank the gods yah heah, theah's a lampades aftah me and I'm outta useful arrows," a male voice that she vaguely recognized said. It was totally the accent; not a lot of people at Camp talked like that.

When she turned around and actually saw him, she knew who he was, though: Jason, from the Apollo Cabin. He only came to Camp in the summers, but she remembered his name because Diego had bitched about how often he had to issue the guy more arrows. The beard was new, but it was definitely him. "And you think I can fight it?" she snapped. [3]

"Well, I figahed you wouldn't stab me fah grabbin' yah ahm," Jason hissed back, pulling her into the circle of hanging shirts. He might not've had any bronze arrows left, but he did have his bow and quiver on him.

"Okay, fine," she conceded. "How much time do we have?"

"Not much. Ahchery range or shootin' range, which one'll be emptiah?"

At least he knew how to fight lampades; alone. They used illusions, so the more people, the more dangerous it'd be. No point in getting the others involved. Not that it wouldn't be dangerous by herself; the things also had acid blood and shot bolts of energy out of their hands. "Shooting range, probably."

"Ayuh, let's go."

They ran as fast as they could over there, because Brenna needed the element of surprise. Unfortunately, it showed up while she was still drawing her gun. It was vaguely woman-shaped, with long, stringy hair and gray robes that faded where they touched the ground.

The lights went out in their lane. Of fucking course. Brenna aimed at the only thing she could see; the ball of green energy growing in its hand.

"Hey, 'kout!" Jason exclaimed. She froze. They'd made a dumb-ass mistake. "It's behind you!"

Was it really, though, or was he just seeing it where she was? There was no way she could shoot. "Dude, get out of here!"

He didn't. "It'll follow me out!"

"Okay, but you'll be in the light, so – fuck, move!"

"I am!"

"Fucking duck, man!"

Another burst of energy flew over his head; and great, now they had no light source at all. They both had ranged weapons, one of which was fucking useless because Jason didn't know how to ration ammo. Like, okay, what the fuck was she supposed to do, shoot by sound? It hadn't made any sounds!

"I messed up," he muttered.

"No shit!" Thanks to him, they were stuck playing the worst game of laser tag. Maybe they should've at least told the others. Diego probably would've killed it already.

They could see again, which was not as great as it sounded because that meant the lampades was gonna attack again. Should she just shoot where it looked like Jason was? He could actually be there, but if she aimed for like, his hand or something – wait, shit, they didn't have ambrosia.

Probably the only reason they were still alive was that it thought she'd kill him, and that was its whole goal. If she'd just taken her fucking knife out of her bag, she could at least… go by… touch… oh, duh.

"Uh, chupta?" Jason asked nervously, which was fair because she was walking around groping at the darkness with one hand and holding a gun in the other.

"You've done some monster-fighting classes, right? Can these things make illusions you can touch?"

"Ne."

"You, stay out of this!" Brenna snapped at a random patch of nothing. She'd also forgotten that lampades talked, apparently. Though it really didn't sound like speech; it was more like a mental thing. So it didn't come from any direction that she could tell.

Well… maybe it wouldn't kill her? At that point, that was all she could really hope for. "Is it too late to say I'm sorry?" Jason asked from wherever the fuck he was.

"Ne."

"Fine, but I didn't know she was a livin' tree!"

"Wait, is this really all because you ignored the first thing Katie talks about in survival skills?"

"Ne, kalí." [4]

It'd better have meant to say "good". It didn't really have time to say anything else, because there was suddenly light again and a new puddle of acid eating through the floor. Hopefully no one would try and make them pay for that. The first thing she saw when she looked up was the tip of an arrow almost touching her forehead… though her gun was pointed at Jason's chest (she holstered it quickly) so she decided not to mention it. "You two have a lot of explaining to do," Diego growled.

"H-hey, long t-t-time no see," Jason stuttered.

"Hey, Jason. Put that arrow away or I'll do it for you," Diego replied. "Why would you even nock that?"

"Fahce of habit."

"Right. Brenna…"

He seemed to be at a loss for words; understandable. They'd just gone over this shit. "Does it help if I didn't choose to leave the group?" she asked.

"You coulda said no," Jason helpfully pointed out.

"Save it. We're going back to the others and you can make your cases then. Jason first. Got it?"

They both nodded and Diego led them to where Arianna and Kieran were waiting near the entrance. Brenna noticed that they seemed to have actually done what they came for already, since Kieran was both wearing a coat and holding a large plastic bag. "Should I 've bought a leash?" Arianna joked. Maybe. It was probably a joke. "Wait… that's the guy who was following us!"

"You're right!" Kieran confirmed. "He's a demigod?"

"I guess. This is Jason, and he's ignored everything I've told him over the past two summers, apparently, or he wouldn't have needed to follow us," Diego said. "Well, that or he's an idiot. Go ahead, tell us why I'm down to two knives now."

"It stahted when I was tryin' to make mah arrows…" Jason began. Apparently he'd been out in the woods cutting branches and he'd cut some from a dryad's tree without permission… and her sister's friend's third cousin or something was an Underworld nymph who worked for Hecate and convinced her to send the lampades after him. He lived in Lisbon, wherever that was, but he was in Portland (where they currently were? Probably?) running away from it when he pulled up at the same light as them and recognized Diego.

"…but I was asleep, so I didn't see you. We thought you were another monster," Diego cut in, sounding way less upset than he had before.

Jason put a hand behind his head. "Ah. So yeah, I didn't wanna fight it with mah people than I hadta, and Brenna was in the back of yah group, so…"

"So he grabbed me and I went with him and there wasn't time to tell you guys and I'm sorry. I was gonna shoot it when we kinda let it corner us… but there were still two of us." Brenna finished. "If it was anything else, I would've told you guys; trust me, I didn't mean to pull this shit twice in the same day."

"Literally none of this makes sense," Kieran grumbled. "And y'all are acting like it's common knowledge."

Oh, right, it wasn't. They didn't cover Underworld monsters a lot no matter who was teaching monster-fighting class, because people weren't supposed to go there and they hadn't made up too much of Kronos's army. The last time was… Quintus, so he wouldn't have been around yet.

"Sorry," Diego apologized. "Basically, ghost ladies who'll use illusions to trick you into trying to kill each other while they try and kill you with projectiles. Really hard to fight up close because their blood is acid, so you have one try before you need to find another weapon. The only monster I can think of right now that you should never fight in a group. I only managed to kill this one because it didn't know I was there."

"Splitting up was a good idea, then?" Arianna wondered.

"Not the way they did it, no," he replied.

How the fuck else were they supposed to? "What would you have done?" Brenna asked.

"Easy. 'Wow, a lampades? That sucks, here's a knife, good luck.'"

…shit. "Faiah," Jason responded. "So ah we good now?"

"Sure. Actually, here's a knife, because next time we're not gonna be there to bail your ass out; so what're you gonna do next summer?" Diego prompted, pulling an eight-inch blade from his inside coat pocket like that was a normal thing to do, which he then handed to Jason.

"Re-stock my quivah befah I go and retahn this if you haven't retiahed by then, old faht. And thanks. Sorry I got you guys caught in this… anythin' I can do, make it up to you?"

"Know if any campgrounds're open?" Arianna questioned. "And how to get to 'em?"

While she, Diego, and Jason talked that over, Kieran pulled Brenna aside. "I don't think I have to tell you we were all really worried, but Diego said something while we were figuring out what to do and I was wondering… who's Alec?"

Of course he'd come up, she was pulling the same shit he used to and oh gods she needed to not think about him. "Someone we knew."

"From…?"

"Camp. He, uh… came with me and Rory. On the 'quest.'"

And since Kieran knew how she felt about that topic, he didn't press further. "Huh. Just so you know, I'm not mad. In case you – never mind."

In case she felt like avoiding him again? Okay, he wouldn't say that, but it was the first place her mind went. She'd at least learned from that mistake. "Thanks. How's driving?"

"Not gonna lie, my ankle's sore, but I'd way rather have that than…"

" – than my driving, right?" she interrupted.

"Yeah. Until today, I thought Diego might've been exaggerating… but not anymore."

"Eh, it got us out of there, and I've done worse."

His eyes went wide. "There's worse?"

"Oh yeah. I kept us on all four wheels. We didn't get air time." [5]

"Gods, those shouldn't be things you have to say."

"Let's just say there's a reason everyone's so pissed about my driving record. So how do you feel about… you know… how the mission's going so far?"

Kieran already wasn't making eye contact, but he actively turned his head away. "I don't really wanna have to talk to Apollo," he confessed. "And I don't really think the others do either."

"Maybe they'll change their minds," she said. "I dunno about Arianna, but when has Diego ever wanted to do stuff like that?"

"…was that supposed to help? I know he'd rather stay out of it."

"Right, but he never does. So you might have to start the conversation, but I guarantee you won't have to do all the talking yourself."

"I guess it won't be so bad, then… y'know, since you're here, you could help."

Sure, she could help. She could also end up pissing off yet another god and getting them all killed. "Maybe," she said noncommittally. "It looks like the others are done figuring stuff out, let's see what they've got."

"Good news," Arianna told them when they'd walked back over. "Only one more hour tonight."

That was good news; she might've slept through a good chunk of it, but Brenna was so done with being stuck in a car. Although, at least the car was warm. Where they were standing by the door wasn't. "Ayuh, and you don't have to registah at this place so that's a plus. I'd bettah go befah Ma stahts to worry," Jason said. "Good luck, guys."

They said their goodbyes and got back on the road. "Well, that could've gone worse," Diego began.

"Pretty sure the arrow aimed at my head got that point across, thanks," Brenna interrupted.

"…that was a bad pun and you should feel bad for making it," he replied.

"Ugh, you're right, that was horrible, how'd I miss that?"

"I can't tell if you're doing that on purpose or not, but –"

"Anyways, sleeping arrangements," Kieran cut in.

Diego didn't even hesitate. "Conserve body heat. Whoever's on watch, stay by the fire."

"Just to be clear, if something does show up, we wake everyone, right?" Arianna ventured.

"That's the idea," Brenna responded. "Oh hey, we remembered flashlights, right?"

No one said anything for about a minute. "…all right, I remembered a flashlight," Diego replied. "Hopefully one's enough. So what's our first step when we get to this place? We have water, we have firewood…"

"Dude, I have no idea," Kieran said. "What else do we need to worry about?"

"Fire, shelter, food," Arianna listed, "since we don't hafta treat the water or anything. So I guess I can start the fire when we get there, and… anyone else know how to pitch a tent?"

"I do," Diego volunteered. "And heads up, that'll only sleep two. Which wouldn't have been an issue, but there's three of you."

He wasn't counting himself? "There's four of us," Kieran pointed out.

"One person will be on watch, and I don't fit in those tents. Oh wait, maybe it's not an issue then."

"Except when you're on watch," Arianna said. "Also, please tell me you planned for that…"

"Don't worry, I've had to do this a few times. There's snow on the ground so that'll help a lot."

Brenna figured she'd take his word for that, most of what she knew about snow was that it was cold and wet and she didn't like it. "I'll just stay out after my watch," she offered. "I don't think I'll sleep much anyways, 'cause I took a nap." And it was the most sleep she'd gotten in the past two days, but they didn't need to know that. "Actually, y'know what, if you want, Arianna, I can just do first watch too."

Okay, so she was feeling kinda guilty about the stuff from earlier, but they really didn't need to know that. "You sure? I can pull my own weight."

"Oh trust me, you are. I just figured there's no sense in both of us being up." Like, she really was, though; Diego knew how to not die outside, too, but unless they were in the general area of Arlington or DC he was a way worse navigator. Also their only option if something happened to her so she'd better get rest.

"I guess if you say so…"

"She does," Diego interrupted. He sounded almost relieved. "Guess that means you and Kieran get the tent, then."

"All right, but no one tells Sean about this," Kieran warned. So did he like… no, not enough proof, he could just be trying to avoid getting teased.

There were like four other cars in the parking lot when they finally pulled in at the campground, but no signs of life, human or otherwise. Perfect. "Did Jason ever say this was legal?" Kieran wondered as he got out and stretched.

"At this point, I don't really care," Arianna confessed. "I think he did? Don't go anywhere yet, you gotta switch out your shoes. You too, Brenna. Sorry if these don't fit, but since you weren't there we had to guess on the size."

Well they'd done a decent job, because the boots were only a little big on her. "Thanks." Now that they weren't in a city, she absolutely got why those were necessary; the parking lot was pretty clear, but once they started walking to the tree line the snow came halfway up to her knees.

Brenna had no clue what they were looking for, so in spite of how well it'd gone for her the last time she'd done it, she walked in the back. Which was fun because she got to see Arianna stop every five feet once they got into the actual woods because her war scythe bumped branches. "Let me guess, you've never had to worry about ducking," Brenna said after the tenth time.

"Well, I have, but I'm not used to this extra foot of height."

"I know the feeling," Diego muttered. He wasn't hitting any branches, but then he actually had to duck. The ones Arianna was struggling with were at his eye level. "I'd say you should just draw it, but this shouldn't take much longer."

Plus, her hands were full; she was carrying the firewood and two of the gallon jugs of water they'd picked up. Kieran had the other two gallons, Brenna had the extra food, and Diego just had his own stuff but he got a pass because he was clearing a path and holding the flashlight. How had all the rest of them forgotten those? It was hella dark out.

"I think I'm getting it… oh! A sign! I think we found one, guys!" Arianna called back.

"Thank the gods," Kieran sighed, immediately setting the water down in the snow. "My arms were getting sore."

"You did drive all day," she reminded him. "Why don't you help Diego with the tent? Brenna can help me get the fire started."

The only "helping" Brenna really did was moral support; once they'd cleared snow out of like a five-foot circle, which did actually take some effort, Arianna had a fire going within… she didn't know how long, but probably not more than a few minutes. It was really nice to have more light, even if it wasn't super hot yet. "So now what?"

"Well, we can pile up snow around the outside so the wind doesn't blow it out… wait, you do know how to keep it going, right?"

"Sure, sure. Just put another log on when it's getting low," Brenna replied as they got to work. That much she could do. "The hell are the guys doing over there?"

"I dunno, is it safe? On second thought, don't tell me."

Okay, sure, she could ignore the fact that Diego had decided the best way to hold up the flashlight was pinning it to a (dead) tree by stabbing his machete through the wrist strap. Kieran must not've noticed that. "Why not? They might listen to you."

"But I'm the youngest and…"

"And they absolutely couldn't give less of a fuck what your gender is, if that's what you were gonna say. Have you met Clarisse?"

"No, that's not it, I just… they probably think I'm pathetic."

Uh, what? Brenna would not describe her that way at all. Like, just that she'd decided to come in the first place meant she couldn't be. "Why would they think that? We wouldn't've got this far without you."

"In the van this morning – the Camp one, not the minivan, didja rent an Odyssey on purpose? – I kinda had a breakdown. I think. I'm not really sure what happened, but Diego hadta talk me down and… I don't even really know why it happened, all I did was get in a stupid car."

"Yeah, he's pretty good at that," Brenna said absently. "And it wasn't like the last time you were in one of those was fun. But y'know, sometimes you just have shitty memories of a thing. It's not your fault your brain decided to be a little bitch and make you have them again."

Which, like, Rory must've told her a million times, without the swears, but she was a lot better at repeating advice than listening to it. "I guess you're right?"

"Fuck yeah I'm right. So… please look over there."

"What the heck? Diego, there's a branch right there!"

He did actually pry the machete out, and Brenna tried not to look too smug about that. "We're done anyways," he said. "So, sandwiches or MREs?"

Easiest choice ever; sure, the sandwiches from earlier were cold, but anything was better than those. They made sure to put all their wrappers and junk back in the plastic bag. "I'll find some way to raise this up," Arianna commented.

"Oh right, animals exist," Kieran replied. "When do we have to leave again?"

"By six," she answered. "And it's…"

"Half past eight," Diego supplied. "So, if we get up at five that should give us time to take everything down, eat, do anything else we need to do. I filled everyone's canteens, so we can use the rest of the water for like, washing and dousing the fire. Uh… I guess wake me up at one, Brenna, and I'll get you up around three, Kieran."

"Sounds good to me," Kieran mumbled. He'd pulled his coat up over his nose.

Brenna would've done the same thing if they weren't so close to the fire. It wasn't actually that bad out, since there were trees blocking the wind – gods, she sounded like Jess. "I think we're good, then," Arianna said. "So should we…?"

Whose permission was she waiting for? "Yeah, go sleep, you guys," Brenna cut in. "I'll be fine."

They did, somewhat reluctantly, but Diego hung back; she thought just to pass off his watch so she'd actually know when to wake him, but he'd brought one of her blankets too. "Here, I know you get cold easy."

"Thanks. Does this mean you're not mad at me?"

"I wasn't mad, I was frustrated. I am frustrated. You know –"

"Yeah. I know. Sorry you had to save my ass again."

"That's actually not what I meant; and you saved ours earlier, I guess, but I could've taken that hellhound."

Well what did… ugh, right, he knew about her "deadline." "Sure you could've. If you didn't have to worry about them."

"Thank you, they didn't get – not the issue."

"Damn, thought that'd work. But okay, I just… I know. You should get some sleep."

"You should try, when you're done," he replied, looking at her like he'd guessed that she wasn't gonna bother.

"If I can sleep with you, sure."

He made the obvious joke. "I'm flattered, but I'm taken."

"I snore less."

"Yeah, but it's cute when she does it."

"Is it also cute when she holds full conversations in her sleep but her eyes are kinda open and rolled back so it looks like she's possessed?"

Brenna wasn't making that up, it was legit a thing she'd witnessed a few times on her way up to her own bunk. "I haven't seen her do that, but I'm sure it is," Diego said firmly, like it offended him that she'd suggested it couldn't be.

"You're hopeless."

He arranged the blanket around her shoulders. "I miss her."

It hadn't even really been a full day, but she had zero room to talk considering why she'd shown up in the first place. "Me too, but it's just a couple more days. They're probably done already."

"Yeah," he said, staring up at the sky. "They probably are. Wake me up if you need anything."

"Yup. Night."

After a few more minutes, she walked over to the spot by the tent where they'd set all their bags and took out a tarp from hers. If she'd signed on for four hours, she might as well be able to sit on something. She grabbed another blanket while she was at it, 'cause she'd probably need one in an hour anyways.

It was gonna be a long night.

Footnotes:

[1] - I did wanna mention this whole thing sooner, but the two characters who actually know things about it had other stuff going on in their chapters. Though, I could probably have foreshadowed it in chapter 3, looking back. Might go edit that in later.

[2] - "Get up!", basically. An Ancient Greek word that I didn't learn from Age of Mythology.

[3] - A Jason is mentioned in The Last Olympian in passing, and it's pretty much impossible for that to be referring to Jason Grace so here he is.

[4] - "Yes," and "Yes, good!" respectively. "Kalí" can also mean "beautiful" and Brenna does not like hearing that descriptor applied to her by strangers for reasons we'll get to. ...and these words I did learn from AOM, but I had to play Fun With Gendered Adjectives so there was research done. Was it correct? I sure hope so.

[5] - Fun fact! My bus driver both didn't keep us on all the wheels and got us airtime on a regular basis!

Author's Note: ...that last footnote probably didn't need to be there but it's very very true. But more importantly... hoo, boy, this new job thing. I'm still adjusting to the new schedule but I think I'll manage. Just gotta hold out until I get the right hours. Anyways, thank you to everyone who's reading and reviewing, I'm glad other people are liking this fic as well :)