Lpov

I tried to ignore the feelings of relief and gratitude that accompanied the realization at how well Dex had managed to restore the charm bracelet he'd said he'd 'take a look at', as well as the feelings of self-hatred and shame.

It wasn't helped when, as I entered the cabin, I saw every face turn towards me. Their expressions ran the gamut, from mild curiosity to a vindictive satisfaction but none of them, I noticed, seemed to be expressing any sort of judgement.

Not that I really expected it from this particular crowd, but still, it was moments like these that made it hard to deny that our cabin's reputation for not caring about other people's feelings was on occasion more than justified

I tried to ignore this as I got ready for bed, it became impossible however, when one of my brothers leaned against the wall plastered with pictures of models and public figures my siblings found attractive, or as Jake liked to call it, the 'Shrine of unattainable delusions', and said.

"So." He crossed his arms over his chest and shot me a sly look. "Dex Cartwright, eh?"

"What do you want, Nate?"

His dark eyes were narrowed slightly as he considered me, and were a contrast to his fair hair. Like the rest of my brothers, it was styled impeccably in the way that looked effortless, but I knew took twenty minutes and the right angle and heat setting with a blow dryer to achieve. Even with our abilities in the styling department.

"Nothing." He said with a shrug, his tone mild, but his eyes glittered in a way that told me a part of him was enjoying the situation.

Not all of my siblings reveled in playing with people's emotions for the fun of it, but Nate certainly did. He'd left a long list of broken hearts in his dating career until he'd actually found a girl he really seemed like back home. She was a mortal and not his usual type, but maybe that was why he hadn't dumped her yet, and didn't seem to plan to. That didn't mean he wasn't an arrogant jackass sometimes however. Just that he wasn't to her.

"I'm just surprised that's all." He continued. "I didn't think you had it in you to be so ruthless. What'd he do to you?"

"Nothing." I admitted quietly, looking away and though I couldn't see his expression, I could tell he was grinning.

A part of me hated him for it.

Nate and I had never really gotten along. He'd only been here a year or two longer than I had, and when I'd first made it to camp I thought he was shallow while he'd made it clear he thought I was an embarrassment.

Those opinions hadn't really changed all that much over time. I still thought he was an ass, but I was irritated to see that while he seemed to enjoy taunting me about our mother's anger, my current course of action seemed to have earned some of his respect.

"You know, out of all of our siblings, I didn't think the one attempting to complete the right of passage would be you." he said and I glowered at him.

This only seemed to amuse him however.

"Cheer up little swan." He said easily, tapping the pendant that rested just under my collar bone. "You didn't honestly think our mother would tolerate an ugly duckling forever, did you?"

He laughed at his own joke before walking towards the boy's room, and I narrowed my eyes after him, wondering if I could use Nate's inhuman ability to be annoying as a defense in a case of fratricide, but decided it probably wouldn't.

As much of a sociopath as he could be, Nate could charm anyone when he wanted, and that probably extended to a court room and its jury.

'Besides,' A voice said quietly in the back of my mind. 'It's not his fault that you're in this situation.'

No, that blame was entirely my own. And, I guess when it came down to it, I was proving that I wasn't much better.

He wasn't alone either. While I knew some of my siblings felt sympathy, I also knew a fair amount of them were relishing in it as well. The black sheep of the family, Aphrodite's deviant daughter, finally reigned in at last.

'Why won't she just let me go?' I thought a little desperately, walking towards my bunk and avoiding eye contact with everyone.

I'd screwed up trusting Caleb and with everything that had happened after, I knew that. I'd learned my lesson. I wasn't dumb enough to do it again. So why did she think I still needed to be punished?

As if it had been waiting in response, a memory flashed in my mind, as painful as it was sharp and I winced as I heard the words.

'You can make him love me again.'

'Stupid.' I thought.

It was weak, I knew it was, pathetic even. And looking back, I understood her anger. But that shouldn't mean anyone else had to suffer.

If she wanted to punish me fine, but why did I have to spread the misery on to others? And how long did I have to keep it up before she was satisfied?

Wanting a distraction, I glanced down at the bracelet still amazed at the difference just a couple of days with Dex had made. It looked brand new, as good as the day I'd gotten it, even in the little details like the bow top of the little cupcake charm my father had gotten me for my eleventh birthday, or the feather detailing on the arrow in the heart charm my mother had gotten me the year before that.

I was trying to figure out how he'd managed to straighten out such a thin piece of metal as the L without any signs of warping, when I noticed the tiniest little series of scratches that at first, made me think that maybe the repair job on this particular charm hadn't been up to the same standard as rest of his work. I squinted at it, thinking it might be from pliers or some sort of tool then had to hold back a laugh as I realized what it was.

With agonizingly minute attention to detail, Dex had managed to engrave the unmistakable shape of a tiara into the silver, as well as a familiar series of letters down the back of the charm.

'Princess'

"That hammer wielding bastard." I muttered to myself, but I was grinning as I put the bracelet back in its box and placed it in my trunk, ignoring the twisted shapes of a tiny guitar and a miniature silver sun.

Clearly, Dex thought he was funny. Or maybe just wanted to get the last laugh in the name calling.

But I was still trying not to smile as I slid under my blankets, or laugh at the way he'd said 'singing noir', but at this the grin finally faded as the guilt began to set in again.

He'd looked genuinely worried when he'd realized my family had been laughing at me earlier. For someone who's defining characteristics seemed to be antisocial and constantly annoyed, it had been remarkably empathetic.

And he'd seemed honestly pleased when he saw I was happy with his work.

I should have been excited about this but I wasn't, I felt sick. Shame burned through me molten and heavy, and I turned over in my bed, trying to clear my mind.

Maybe Jake was right. Maybe I was in over my head.

But what could I do about it now?

I closed my eyes trying to banish these thoughts and as usual, it only somewhat worked. The guilt had subsided a bit, but the anxiety was still there.

Caleb might have been a snake and I didn't care if he got hurt, but Dex hadn't done anything to me. All he did was set things in motion by catching a pair of cheaters. From everything I could tell, he was a good person. An innocent by standard really in all this.

'But that was exactly why you picked him, wasn't it?' I thought harshly. 'It was simple really. Easy. Almost convenient.'

He'd been the perfect fit. And I hated myself for it.

'He'll get over it.' I reasoned. 'He'll get over Heather, and he'll get over you.'

If I even managed to make him care about me at all that was. Though, judging by my sibling's reactions, it didn't seem like that part of the plan was much in question. I wasn't so sure though. He seemed to predisposed not to trust me and getting a read on him was so difficult sometimes...

The good thing was, I was sure by the end of this Dex would be too angry with me to let it affect him too much. It was easier to get over someone if you hated them.

'Who knows.' I justified to myself. 'Maybe, when everything was said and done, none of this would even matter.'

Dex might not even be interested. I wouldn't blame him if he wasn't and I wouldn't put it passed him to have the sense to stay away.

He wasn't obligated to fall for anyone, least of all me. And even if by some miracle I did manage to make him like me, that didn't mean it would be enough to appease my mother's wrath.

But I couldn't keep living in limbo either.

A wave a cold washed over me and I shuddered, pulling my blankets closer around me as the locket froze into a chip of ice. It didn't help, not that I'd really expected it to.

'Dex would be ok.' I thought trying not to shiver.

He was tough.

'He'd be alright.' I assured myself again.

It just would be so much easier if I didn't end up actually liking him in the process...

I didn't have long to sit with these thoughts however.

Sooner than I would have liked, the lights had gone out and my sisters were asleep.

I stalled for another twenty minutes before getting up and facing the inevitable. Even if I'd really, really just preferred to stay in bed.

'But what was the point in having my mother's blessing if it didn't go towards breaking a few hearts?' I thought acidly glancing in the vanity and still, after weeks of seeing her in the mirror, I didn't recognize the girl staring back.

But maybe that was because I didn't really have my mother's blessing, even if it looked like it. This was a curse, and looked away feeling sick, another wave of ice washing over me.

Then again, maybe the reason I didn't recognize myself these days was because I didn't want to.

I started walking towards the door of the room wishing I could just go back to bed, but knowing what I had to do. I hesitated however, when I walked by my trunk.

Without really questioning my motivations, I opened the trunk and grabbed the charm bracelet out of its box, slipping it on as I stepped out of the cabin.

For some reason, it made me feel less alone.

It wasn't hard to find them on the beach, and I didn't feel any sense of satisfaction when Tristan smiled as I approached.

I just felt cold. Cold and miserable and worthless, but I didn't let it show.

Instead I smiled back, a little irritated at how many people had shown up, even it if it was only a handful of campers, Tristan's friends and a group of pretty girls that were definitely not their significant others.

They were sitting around a campfire, several of the boy's arms around the girls and I resisted the temptation to roll my eyes.

"Hey." Tristan said as he stood from the driftwood he was sitting on.

"Hi."

"Not going to lie, I'm sort of surprised you're here."

He looked far from displeased at this however and I felt myself go on autopilot, mentally checking out as I said.

"Well you were nice enough to invite me."

I could hear the playfulness in my tone, and I was distantly amazed out how easy it was. I wasn't even trying that hard, but it was convincing to my own ears, even if it was completely hollow.

"Yeah, well." He said smirking a little. "After the campfire tonight I thought you might have changed your mind. Rumor has it you and that big guy from Cabin 9 might be a thing."

My gaze had started to wander, but this caught my attention and as I looked back at him I didn't have time to hide a frown. I quickly turned it into a pout.

"Yeah, well. Rumor has it you have a girlfriend." I said raising an eyebrow.

I couldn't disguise the anger in my tone, not completely anyways, and when his expression faltered, I knew I'd messed up.

"Yet here we are." I added flirtatiously, looking up at him through my lashes and his face relaxed.

"Yeah," he said easily. "I guess so."

I shot him an expectant expression and he hesitated for a just a second, but it was clear whatever reservations he might have had were rapidly evaporating.

"C'mon." he said grabbing my hand and while I'd smiled as his eyes met mine, I felt it slide of my face as me pulled towards his friends.

There were more people here than I'd originally I realized, and I felt a sinking sensation go through me as I sat next to Tristan. Pretending not to be disgusted as he put his arm around my shoulders, smirking, looking for all the world like he thought he was some sort of prize.

'Gods this was going to get messy.' I thought dejectedly, but continued to smile, taking some satisfaction in the fact that by this time tomorrow, all of them would have gotten exactly what they deserved.

I tuned out the conversation as the others began talking around me, still freezing despite fire and the person beside me, knowing a guy like Tristan wouldn't care if I talked or not in front of his friends.

I made sure to laugh when the others did, which he seemed more than satisfied with, but kept finding myself distracted by the way the light of the flames were reflecting off the silver of the bracelet. I smiled as, once again, I noticed the letters carved into the L.

Over all, the glittering off the metal was rather pretty, and amused myself wondering what Dex's reaction would be if he'd realized I'd noticed it. Probably smug, satisfied for sure that he'd gotten the last laugh.

It might even make him smile…

I felt a shocking surge of emotion at this revelation and was stunned to feel my heart skip a small beat, then winced as another shudder hit me as I knew it would.

"Are you cold?" Tristan asked taking a break from talking about himself long enough to look at me.

"A little." I admitted and I let him pull me closer to him knowing it pointless.

It wouldn't get rid of the cold. There was only one thing that would.

"So." I said brushing my hair behind my ear and looking up at him shyly. "How upset do you think your girlfriend would be if she saw what was going on here?"

"She'd probably be pretty pissed." He admitted a little guiltily and I nodded looking down for a second wondering if I should feel remorse, but any doubt was cleared when I looked back up at him and smiled, and I saw any reservations of his being thrown completely out the window.

"Well we wouldn't want that, would we?"

Dpov

The next day went by surprisingly quickly. Probably because I spent literally all of it in the work shop, even skipping my activities except for meals.

I didn't talk to Lorelei after I'd returned her bracelet, and while she'd seemed genuinely grateful to have it fixed, the way she seemed to let guys trail around after her had me wondering if I'd been duped, and she just wanted me to repair her jewelry for free.

I didn't know what to make of this, but it wasn't as if I'd had a ton of time to follow up with her seeing as I had been working all day.

Still, even with the evidence mounting against her, I just didn't think that was something she'd do. Not to mention, she had given me a very expensive piece of technology in return.

"Well you don't really know her." Priya pointed out between bites of her sandwich, while I tried not to notice several of my siblings trying to sneakily listen in on our conversation.

It was dinner on Friday, and while no one had directly asked me about Lorelei, except for Priya who knew she could get away with it, I knew they were all dying to hear all about the girl from Cabin 10. "How can you really be sure what she would or wouldn't do?"

"Weren't you the one trying to get me to go out with her?" I asked looking determinedly at her and no one else. "To get to know her better?"

"I wanted you to have some fun and stop obsessing over your ex." Priya said flatly with shrewd look. "Not to bounce from fretting about one girl to the next."

"Still," I frowned and glanced at the table of Aphrodite campers unable to help myself. "It's weird right?"

I didn't know why it felt so strange, considering Lorelei and I had never spoken before this stay at camp, but she'd seemed to pop up so often. Now that she didn't though, it almost felt like she was avoiding me.

Granted that might have been my fault since I'd been working all day, and Priya seemed unconvinced.

"Well you did turn her down." She reminded me. "Maybe she got bored and moved on?"

"I guess." I agreed but my heart wasn't in the reply.

I was so preoccupied by this thought, I didn't notice Priya grinning at me for several moments, and when I did, I didn't like it.

"What?" I asked raising an eyebrow and she laughed.

"Hades, this girl has really gotten to you hasn't she?"

"I haven't even spoken to her all day."

"Yeah, which is what makes this even funnier." She said smirking.

I didn't respond to the provocation and she continued, sounding a little exasperated as she did.

"Just ask her out Dex. She'd probably say yes."

"I don't like her Pri."

"Then why do you care if she talks to you or not?" she asked raising an eyebrow and I felt my brow furrow.

I didn't have an answer for her question, not at first, but was surprised when I realized I did find one eventually. Not only because I said it out loud, but the fact that I thought it just might be true.

"She's interesting." I said with a shrug. "Easy to talk to."

I knew that if given a million chances to guess what I was going to say, Priya would never have chosen that. Her expression was clearly surprised, though I wasn't sure if it was at what I'd said, or at the fact I was admitting it.

But it was true. As different as we were, and as weird as I found her, I did at least find Lorelei was easier to talk to than most people. She was interesting if nothing else, and I didn't usually find people all that interesting. Maybe it was because I found her so difficult to understand. There was just something about her expression whenever I saw her that had me thinking there was a lot going on in her brain, a lot more than she wanted to let on, and the tinkerer in me just couldn't seem to leave it alone.

"Hmm." Was all she said at first, then, with a tone that was obviously measured, she continued. "Well, if you like talking to her maybe you should."

She grinned and I felt a flash of indignation burn through me.

"I told you." I started, frowning. "I don't-."

"I didn't tell you to propose to her Gods," she said rolling her eyes. "Have you ever heard of a thing called 'friends' brother dearest?"

"No." I said sarcastically, but it was mostly to cover up the wave of bitterness that I felt over the subject. Most of my friends at camp had been part of the circle that Heather and I had been involved with, and she'd won most of them in the break up.

Granted, this was probably I'd been avoiding them so I didn't have to be around her, but still.

"Well, I'm introducing the concept to you." she continued brightly, ignoring the glare I shot at her. "I'm here to tell you Dex that you can, in fact, enjoy being around a girl and not go out with her and not be related to her. And… I know this might be blowing your mind twice in one day here, but you can do the same with guys."

"Thanks Pri." I said flatly and she chuckled.

"Always looking out for you bro."

I didn't entertain anymore of Priya's teasing or my siblings prying questions until the end of dinner and by then, it was pushed out of everyone's mind by the prospect of the upcoming game of capture the flag.

As always, the last bit of time before the match was filled with people grabbing their weapons and armor from our shop last minute, asking to adjust a belt here or fix a buckle there, but eventually, I found myself among the ranks of my team with my siblings, going over some last minute changes to our battle plans.

"Alright." Thomas, the head of the Dionysus cabin and our appointed strategist of the week, said looking over the map he'd spread out over a tree stump and held in place with a couple of daggers. "The Eastern party is going to take off first and scout out the enemy territory scoping out any traps or enemy units waiting past the boundary. Dex, you're gonna be leading them so keep an eye out for anything nasty that might take out our raiding party or support units."

"Wait, what?" I asked annoyed. I wasn't a scout. I was terrible at scouting. "I thought Tristan was leading the scouting party?"

I gestured towards the Hermes boy who was standing with a couple of his friends, who all looked pretty miserable.

"He was." Thomas said in a tone that told me that this last minute change was something he was clearly annoyed about. "But he and his brothers decided to have a bros night on the beach and invite apparently every girl in the camp except the ones they were dating. And somehow," he rolled his eyes. "That backfired. They all found out about it."

Several people looked at the boys, and I saw Tristan go white.

"Tristan's girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend I should say, is Terra from the Athena cabin. Intelligence reports indicates she's looking for a fight. Convinced one of the Aphrodite girls to set the Ares cabin on the war path. We pulled them all from the front line."

"Morons…" Maria muttered, clearly irritated at the last-minute change, but Priya simply looked amused.

The game started as the sun started to sink below the trees, and not ten minutes later, I was past the creek barrier into enemy territory, cursing Tristan and his choices that had me stumbling through the branches and rocks, trying not to slip and crack my head open on the ground.

'Well, at least if I did no one would see it.' I thought vaguely, glancing around through the branches wondering if I was going to get myself lost.

I'd suggested we'd fan out, not a call I was sure was the right one at all, and meet up at a well-known landmark. I was pretty familiar with these woods, but I wouldn't put it past myself to wander off out of the search radius and end up in a completely different zone. I wish I'd thought to make a wilderness GPS.

Just as I thought I should turn around and start making my way to rendezvous point, I heard a scream.

I turned in the direction of the noise feeling my pulse tick up as I realize that the voice was female.

It had sounded pretty close.

Worried one of my sisters in the scouting party had run into trouble, I ran in the direction of the scream, picking up my pace as a second one bounced off the trees around me.

Pushing through thorn bushes and slipping on dead leaves, I burst through a thicket of branches into a small knot of trees only to see a massive snake it's head high in the air, clearly preparing to strike, a camper pinned against the trunk of a tree, scrambling to get to her feet.

Unable to get her footing, the girl reached for her belt for a dagger that was pitifully small, she'd barely managed to grip the hilt when it struck.

She screamed again throwing herself to the side, just missing its fangs by millimeters.

Battle instinct taking over, I charged the monster.

I must have caught it off guard, because when it turned it's pointed head to face me, it let out an angry hiss, but didn't attack.

It moved quickly, dodging the worst of my first blow, the edge of my sword causing sparks as it glanced off its armor like scales.

It let out another hiss, showing its fangs threateningly as it slithered between trees, red eyes glaring at me with slit pupils. It coiled its long body around a tree, clearly uncertain it wanted to continue the fight now that it was out numbered, but it must have decided it liked it's odds.

It unfurled itself from around the trunk rearing its head again, it's hiss growing louder, it's tail flickering in agitation. There was a moment where time seemed to freeze, then it struck.

It was almost too fast for my demigod senses to track, almost.

I swung my sword and felt it connect before I saw it. The force of the impact send waves of shock reverberating up my arms.

The snakes head fell to the forest floor, about the shape and size of a decently large, and extremely grotesque coffee table.

"Is-is it dead?" a voice asked shakily, and I was about to make a sarcastic comment about the creature being sans head when I realized I recognized it.

I turned in what was almost disbelief, to see long dark hair tumbling out from under her helmet and a familiar face.

"Lorelei?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah." She said stiffly, her blue eyes wide and darting between me and the snake. "It's dead, right? Not coming back?"

"It's dead." I assured her, prodding the body with my foot, stepping back as acid blood spewed onto the ground causing the tufts of grass and twigs to smoke and turn black. "What the Hades were you doing taking that thing by yourself?"

"I wasn't." she admitted shaking her head and I was almost annoyed to realize that even now, post monster attack and the most disheveled I'd ever seen her, she still looked incredible. "I was running from it."

"Why are you on your own?" I asked as she slowly got up, bracing herself against a tree.

It wasn't really said out loud, but the Aphrodite campers typically weren't left to their own devices in the woods. Not with so many monsters and battle ready demigods from cabins that were usually a lot tougher than theirs were roaming around it.

"Got lost." She muttered, shifting her weight then wincing and I frowned, realizing why she'd had such a hard time getting to her feet.

She was holding her foot at an odd angle, her ankle swollen. Now that I was getting a better look at her, I saw her palms and elbows were scraped and streaked with dirt, and there was a cut on her knee.

"Tripped on a tree root." She said in exasperation when she realized I'd noticed the injuries.

"You tripped?" I asked her incredulously, finding this a little hard to believe. "I've seen you get out of a canoe in six inch heels."

"Yeah, well, there's no tree roots coming out of nowhere in a canoe." She said sourly. "Or massive snakes. At least not usually. "

I couldn't help it, I laughed at that one but it was cut short when I spotted a trickle of red slipping down past her helmet from her temple.

"Did you hit your head?" I asked quickly reaching for the helmet to get a better look, surprised by the amount of anxiety the thought produced in me, but she brushed my hand away.

"I'm fine." She said dismissively.

"Are you sure?" I started uncertainly. "Because-"

"I'm fine Dex." She said smiling at me, but it looked a little forced. "I just gotta get back on my feet…"

I reached out offering a hand to help her transition from leaning on the tree, but the moment she put weight on her injury, her ankle gave way.

I caught her easily, allowing her to steady herself against me and looked down at her.

"I think your definition of 'fine' is a lot different from mine Lorelei."

"I am fine." She said stubbornly. "If I can walk up 10 flights of stairs in stilettos, I can walk on a sprain."

"Don't-" I started, but she attempted to take another step and almost immediately staggered.

"Are you done?" I asked raising an eyebrow as she grabbed on to me again and she glowered at me.

"Maybe."

"We should probably get you to a medic." I said grinning and she looked surprised.

"A medic?" She asked her eyes going a little wider.

"Yeah." I affirmed, glancing back at her ankle. "You should probably get that checked out."

"You're not going to put me with the rest of the captures from my team?"

"What?" I started momentarily confused, then realized I'd completely forgotten we were still playing capture the flag. The game was still going. And, only now that I really got a good look at the colors on her armor, did it occur to me that Lorelei was on the other team.

"Because that's where we're taking you." said a smug voice and I felt something tap my armor between my shoulder blades.

In a fluid motion, Lorelei ducked out from under my arm, twisting it behind my back as a much stronger someone forced my free one behind me as well.

"Nice work Loo." Jake said with approval as I felt rope rub against my wrists as they were bound.

I turned, stunned to see three people smirking at me, Lorelei, Jake, and another girl I only knew by sight as she stepped out from behind the trees. It was the same girl who often sat with them at letter time.

"We caught a big fish this time." Jake continued sounding pleased, and a strange emotion went through me as I realized what was happening.

"We?" I said looking at the trio stupidly, then at Lorelei, embarrassment rapidly shifting into anger. "You weren't alone?"

"You really think I'm going to leave this diva alone like that Dex?" Jake said tutting with disapproval and jerking his thumb towards his best friend. "She hates snakes."

"You're the one who screamed when we ran into that rattle snake on our back packing trip." Lorelei said in exasperation and Jake looked affronted.

"Yeah, cuz it was in my sleeping bag."

She'd taken her dagger out of her belt now, playing with it absentmindedly between her fingers, suggesting that she was far more familiar with the weapon than I would have guessed from her performance against the snake.

But maybe that's what I was supposed to have thought…

"You were hurt." I said looking at Lorelei still unable to believe she'd gone from cowering in fear, to trading insults so quickly. "I saw your ankle it was-"

But when I glanced down at her supposed injury, it was gone. Vanished, into thin air.

"Magic." The second girl said, sparks flying off her finger tips as she wiggled them, her expression smug.

I glanced at Lorelei's face, wondering if the head wound had been an illusion as well, and she shrugged.

"Make up." Lorelei said apologetically touching the red on her face lightly with her finger tips and I saw that it came away dry.

"I'm gonna take Hammerhead to the prisoner drop point." Jake said with a fond, if not proud look at the girls. "You two start resetting. Maybe go for a hell hound this time. Really spice things up."

"Do you know how annoying those are to summon?" their friend asked irritated, but already her fingers were sparking and Lorelei gave Jake a shrewd look.

"If I get dragged into Tartarus, you don't get any of my stuff."

"Oh relax," he said pushing me in front of him, but I could tell from his tone that he was rolling his eyes. "You'll be fine Lore. Who knows, maybe Dex will manage to break free and come to your rescue."

And with that, still laughing at his own joke, he pushed me forward marching me away from the girls who were already discussing the best strategy for their next trap.

I couldn't believe this. As we walked through the woods, I saw piles of dust and trophies left after what looked like several monsters including griffin claws, a wing from a Harpie, even what looked like a giant lobster claw. How many monsters that that girl from the Hecate cabin summoned since the game had started. And how many people like me, had Lorelei managed to trick into thinking she needed help?

"I cannot believe you of all people are running the damsel in distress routine." I said shaking my head as Jake continued to push me through the trees. I couldn't believe Lorelei put up with it. Judging evidence around me, I was far from the first victim.

"I cannot believe how many people are falling for it." He said clearly amused. "You didn't even notice she wasn't on your team, did you?"

He put a hand on my shoulder, obviously meaning for me to stop and I turned to face him.

"Does that matter?" I asked frowning and he shrugged, the axe that was so familiar to me bobbing up and down from behind his shoulder.

Despite how irritated I was at the moment, I liked Jake, well, as much as I liked anyone really. He knew a lot about weapons and how they were made, and always paid me on time, so I didn't mind throwing in a few of my better design ideas on his weapons for no extra cost.

"Not really, at least not to me." He said easily. "But it might not be the same for you. I can't guarantee you won't be forced to surrender all your fancy armor and weapons for anyone who wants to take them on our team."

He grinned.

There was a sound or rustling and we both looked over my shoulder to see two of his siblings approaching, with several other members of my team, all clearly captured and a part of me wondered vaguely how many of them had been tricked by Lorelei and her friends.

Almost as if he knew what I was thinking, Jake said.

"Look, I know we don't know each other all the well, but I like you Dex." He said his gaze darting towards his siblings, then back to me, clearly gauging how much time he had before they were in ear shot. "And I want to give you some advice."

"Oh yeah?" I asked stiffly.

Now that the adrenaline had worn off and Lorelei wasn't in front of me, looking injured and afraid, I was starting to get annoyed at how gullible I had been. How had I not seen that coming? I knew she wasn't on my team tonight. I didn't even need the colors to tell me that.

"Just listen," he said and his expression was surprisingly sincere. "I don't know what's going on with you and Lore. But I know the Aphrodite campers better than you do."

While his tone was calm and matter of fact, his words were faster than usual. And I couldn't tell if it was because he was trying to force himself to get them out, or he felt as if he was running out of time.

"Lorelei is my best friend." he continued. "And no one wants what's best for her more than I do, but if you ever get the feeling you need to protect her, or look out for her, or run around trying to rescue her like some knight in shining armor crap guy sometimes feel like they're supposed to do, just don't." he said shaking his head, emphasizing the last word and I was surprised at how serious he seemed to be.

In my experience, Jake was rarely serious about anything. Granted, my exposure to him was mostly limited to equipment repairs and upgrades, but I'd seen this guy body checked into wall of the arena by a cyclopes and laugh.

"She's not some delicate flower that needs a care taker ok?" he pressed. "None of them do. They might have a different way of navigating with the mythological world than us, but that doesn't mean that you can pretend that they aren't demigods. That's how you end up in situations like tonight, with a blade in your back. Even if they might not be the one holding it."

I stared at him, not entirely sure why he was telling me this, or what he was expecting me to say. Was he warning me away from his best friend? Or was he just talking about the Aphrodite campers in general.

"Just keep that in mind." He said quietly, and I felt two pairs of hand grab my shoulders and I was forced to turn, but not before I saw Jake heading back to his friends, not doubt to trick more gullible halfbloods like me, with Lorelei's 'delicate flower' routine.