Lpov

I watched Jake escort an incredulous and angry looking Dex through the trees and back towards the prisoner drop point, knowing almost immediately I'd miscalculated.

'This isn't good.' I thought anxiously.

We hadn't known it was Dex that had been moving through the woods, just that someone had triggered the spell Liv had cast to let us know someone was in the area. When I had realized who it was however, it had been too late to reverse course. And like Jake had said… He was an important player on the other team.

We'd probably get a lot of respect for bringing him in.

So why did I feel this guilty?

I looked way from the two massive figures and to the forest floor, automatically getting ready to set up routine again, but I knew Liv was watching me.

I tried to ignore it.

Lots of people had been irritated tonight when they realized they'd been tricked by me and my friends, probably because they were embarrassed or felt stupid to have fallen for such an obvious manipulation, but Dex had seemed more than just annoyed as Jake had been hauling him off.

He'd looked hurt. As if he'd felt lied to, used. And a gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach told me that whatever sympathy, and maybe even liking, he'd displayed for me last night when returning my bracelet had all but vanished.

'This is ridiculous.' I thought shaking my head.

I hadn't done anything wrong. This was the game. Capture the flag was brutal, everyone knew that. Almost all abilities were on the table and this was one of the few ways me and my siblings could effectively play it. It wasn't as if I'd done anything wrong. And if Dex had been in my position, it wasn't as if he would have pulled his punches.

'Except.' A tiny voice in the back of my mind started quietly. 'He did, didn't he?'

Dex hadn't known who I was or what team I was on when he'd charged in to challenge a massive monster pretty much on his own. He hadn't done it because he thought I was pretty or he thought it would get him anything like I knew others had, and when he had killed it, he hadn't used it as an opportunity to hit on me or to brag. That was also unusual. And unlike others who eventually realized I wasn't on their team before Jake and Liv had revealed themselves, he hadn't tried to capture me.

He'd wanted to make sure I was alright…

Actually, looking back, he was the only one who'd bothered to do that. He'd tried to be nice and it completely blew up in his face. It was no wonder as to why if he was feeling used.

'What does it matter?' I thought bitterly. 'It's just capture the flag. It was a strategy and it worked.'

I should have been happy about it, and normally I would have laughed at whoever was annoyed about it. But with Dex it was just… different.

"I thought you said you didn't like that guy." Liv said eventually and I looked at her in confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

At this, she gave me a surprised look which turned into a sort of smirk.

"Please, the way you were draped all over him, you might as well have been a cape."

"I was pretending to be injured." I said incredulously, but she looked unconvinced.

"Uh huh." She said skeptically. "And all the other people that you didn't do that with were what? In less need of convincing?"

She shot me a significant look.

"I think the severity of your imaginary injuries might just be correlated to attractiveness on who is available for you to lean on."

"Aren't you supposed to be summoning a hell hound?" I asked her impatiently.

"My my," she said lightly, but her smirk had grown even wider. "Touchy subject I see."

I didn't answer this, but look over my shoulder to where Dex and Jake had disappeared.

It didn't take long for him to return, the capture drop site wasn't too far from here, and Jake looked cheerful as he said.

"What are you two standing around for? We've got work to do."

…..

We ended up winning the game of capture the flag and while Liv and Jake were ecstatic at the victory, I couldn't really bring myself to be all that excited. Especially when we ran into a string of campers captured by our team and I spotted Dex among them.

I wasn't sure if I wanted him to look in my direction. Half of me was hoping he would, the other half, remembering his expression when he'd realized he'd been tricked earlier, never wanted to deal with him ever again.

He didn't however, and though I knew it was probably best considering the conflicted state of my emotions, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

I knew better than to try an examine why though.

He didn't look at me all throughout the campfire either, and by the end of the night, though I had no real reasoning to back it up, I was convinced he was purposefully avoiding my gaze.

I shouldn't have bothered me as much as it did. I'd done what I was supposed to, both during the game and to start making amends with my mother, so I shouldn't have felt this way. I shouldn't have cared.

And this was what I repeated to myself throughout the next day during which I didn't seem him once.

Either he'd gone home or started working through meals again, and when he didn't turn up at the campfire, I figured it was probably the first. I had to admit it threw me a little.

The fact he hadn't bothered to say good bye wasn't all that surprising after all, he'd made it clear he didn't really want to spend that much time around me more than once. Still, after the night he'd returned my bracelet and running into each other during capture the flag, leaving without saying anything left everything feeling so… unsettled.

But maybe that was only on my side.

'It's probably better this way.' I thought, packing the last of my things and making my way towards the exit of the cabin.

Maybe this was a sign that I should leave Dex alone and out of my problems.

"Ready?"

I'd just stepped outside to see Jake, a military rucksack slung over his shoulders, clearly waiting for me.

"Just how many weapons have you crammed into that thing?" I asked raising an eyebrow, noticing the way the bag seemed to be straining at the zippers. "Are we going to be detained at the airport?"

"Of course not." He said waving his hand airily. "I'm checking the bag."

"You're going to get arrested." I said flatly and he laughed.

"I'd like to see the gate agent capable of detaining me."

I ignored this but adjusted my grip on my suitcase and started walking towards the camp boundary.

At this point, I just wanted to get home and I had to admit, I wasn't sorry to be putting this camp visit behind me.

We'd almost it to the pick-up point, when someone spoke, the voice surprisingly familiar.

"You two heading out?"

I turned, stunned to see Dex exiting the forge looking, as usual, somewhat irritated. As if someone he barely knew had just asked him to pick up their dry cleaning from a place that closed in twenty minutes.

"Don't look so disappointed about it." Jake said crossing his arms over his chest and giving him an amused look.

It was weird to look at the two boys so similar in build, but somehow completely different in appearance. Dex, dark eyes and hair cut short and sticking up, as if he'd run his fingers through it several times without noticing, in a pair of normal jeans, worn camp shirt and work boots. Jake, dark blonde hair, trendy fade and light eyes, looking like prep dropped into a punk's wardrobe, ripped T-shirt, dark shoes and shorts complete with a leather belt and wallet chain I knew was made of pure silver for bronze resistant monsters.

I could see Dex's train of thought was similar looking between Jake and I, no doubt wondering what the 'princess' and someone like Jake had in common.

He glanced at Jake, apparently uncertain how to take this comment ended up just ignoring it. Instead, he looked at me.

His expression looked conflicted, as if he wanted to say something, but then decided against it.

"Try not to run into any snakes." He said a hint of hostility in his tone and while Jake simply laughed, I felt my heart sink.

I'd seen a flash of an emotion close to anger behind his eyes as he'd said it, and I couldn't help but think upon reflection, Dex had been less than impressed with the events during the game of capture the flag.

And it was this comment that had me far from surprised when, after spring break had ended, Dex didn't end up calling me.

Part of me had started to wonder if he might after he'd returned my bracelet, but it all came to a halt after the capture the flag game.

I'd thought it was sweet at first, that Dex of all people had fallen into the 'injured Lorelei' trap I'd set up with Jake and Liv. It was kind of cute to see Dex, with his permanent scowl and his almost allergic reaction to social interaction, look so concerned over some minor cuts and bruises, but while amusing at the time, the situation had rebounded in an unexpected way.

It seemed to have scared him off from any sort of contact with me, and a part of me couldn't blame him. For a guy who seemed to prefer to shut himself off from others, he'd appeared to start opening up in the few times we'd spoken to each other. At least towards the end there. Then he'd immediately been burned.

There was nothing I could do about it now however, and before I knew it, I'd found myself back in the mortal world in school, in a math class I hated, with a teacher I hated, if possible, even more than the subject.

The bell rang and I looked up from doodling in the back of the class to see most of the students were leaving.

I grabbed my bag, shoved my note book into it, and started walking towards the front of the class.

"Remember." Mr. Strickland said with a sour expression, and a glance at my outfit that made me wish I'd put on leggings under it. "Five o'clock."

I didn't respond but walked out into the hall ignoring the smirks that followed me to my locker.

Even though it had been months, I still wasn't used to getting attention here. Part of me wondered if I ever would.

"You look pissed." A familiar voice said as I opened my locker, and looked up to see Jake leaning on metal door next to me, his arms crossed over his chest. He looked entertained. "Is it a stop by that Froyo place downtown after class, or I need to clock some sense into someone after school sort of day?"

"When have I ever asked you to hit someone for me?" I asked him raising an eyebrow and he seemed to think about this for a second before shrugging.

"Never," he said easily, then, with a cheerful smile continued with. "But you can always start."

"I can't do anything after school." I said annoyed. "I got detention."

"Again?" he asked in surprise. "From who?"

"Strickland."

"I told you not to wear that skirt on a day you had math." He said shaking his head and I felt a flash of indignation spark through me.

"It is not my fault a middle age man pays far too much attention to a skirt a teenager is wearing."

"No," he agreed leaning the opposite way to get a good view of the item in question. "But creeps aside, it is your fault that you bought a small." He reminded me, having been there when I bought it. "I did warn you the school would have a problem with it. Even if your butt looks fantastic, it's 'distracting'." He continued putting air quotes around the word.

"Well, what if I find his stupid mustache distracting?" I asked irritated. "But he doesn't get punished for that. And since when did you start objectifying me?" I asked raising an eyebrow and he burst out laughing.

"Wow you really are grumpy today, aren't you?" he asked and I rolled my eyes. "Don't flatter yourself Lore. I was giving you a complement, not a cat call. There's a difference."

"I'm not sure even I know that anymore." I muttered.

"Besides, I've seen you walk into my glass door at least once a month since we were thirteen, and I was there when you finished the Rib Riot Challenge at that barbecue place at the mall. I wouldn't be attracted to you if you went around in a bathing suit in those skyscrapers you call heels for the rest of your life."

"Yeah well you were there that day because you were right beside me, finishing the challenge as well."

"I outweigh you by nearly a hundred pounds." He said incredulously and I conceded.

"Fine." I said shutting my locker door, but smiling. "I get it. I'm a hideous slob who is completely unlovable and unable to attract your refined affections."

"You can attract plenty of attention just fine." He said with a smirk, glancing at a boy who'd been staring in our direction.

He looked away quickly and Jake let out an amused snicker.

"Besides I don't need to be attracted you for you to have my affections, you know that." He said allowing me to link my arm with his as we walked. "I already love you more than any boyfriend ever could."

"I know." I said with a sigh, but eventually smiled. "Love you too Jake."

We joined the line of students waiting for the lunch service where several of his team mates made rude gestures towards him. Gestures he made right back.

"Why are you friends those idiots?" I asked leaning around him to glance at the knot of burley boys, then hastily leaning back when one winked at me.

"Because they're my teammates." He said moving up along the lines. "And if I'm not friends with them, they'll take the beatings in practice personally."

"I see." I said frowning.

Jake was on the lacrosse team and sometimes, in the heat of the things, he could get a little rough. Even for lacrosse.

"Speaking of which." He said brightly. "We have a game tonight. Want to meet me before since you're stuck in detention anyways?"

"Are you going to let me eat some of your team meal?" I asked him, grabbing a salad while he grabbed two burger trays and he made a face.

"What? No. I need that food. But I will stop the taco truck down the street and pick you something up."

"Sounds good to me." I said grinning at the thought of guacamole and freshly made tortilla shells. "But this time, if a Harpy attacks me in the stands and you score, don't wait until after team celebration to help me deal with it."

"I promise nothing." He said with a grin, and when he caught my expression he gave me an injured look.

"What?" he asked as we made our way towards our usual table separate from the main crowd of the lunch room. "You're a big girl. You can handle a harpy or two, at least until I'm doing with my gloating."

"You know, one day you're going to run into someone just as big as you are on the field you know that? And you might not have that much time to show off."

"I welcome it." he said opening his arms wide as if to invite the hypothetical challenge. "I'd love to be able to tackle someone as hard as I want to on the field. It would be a nice change of pace."

"As opposed to smashing up monsters."

"Exactly." He agreed. "They might be tough, but most of them aren't all that smart. I enjoy a challenge every once and a while. I'm an intellectual after all."

I looked at him a little amused as he practically inhaled his burgers, then started on his fries.

"Speaking of challenges." He said. "Your new boyfriend ever reach out?"

"I assume you're talking about Dex." I said frowning and he nodded.

"No," I admitted not looking at him, but out into the hall. "I don't think he's gonna call."

He seemed think over several responses for a moment, before asking.

"Well, what are you going to do?"

I felt a surge of anxiety go through me and as the chain of the locket felt heavier under my shirt.

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "But I'll figure something out. Can't let one guy screw up the trajectory of my whole life, right? At least, not again."

He didn't respond to this, but frowned and I was struck with a sudden, and surprisingly uncomfortable memory.

Dex, his sword still in hand, looking panicked when he'd thought I'd been injured during capture the flag.

"Jake?"

"Yeah Loo?"

I was preoccupied enough by my thoughts to let the nickname slide.

"Am I bad person?"

He paused for a moment, and the silence between us was heavy. So heavy, I wasn't sure I wanted to hear what he had to say in response, but eventually, he did speak.

"No Lore, you're not a bad person." He said quietly. "You're a person who made a bad choice, and now is just trying to figure out what to do with the consequences."

Dpov

Sometimes, I wondered if I really fit in with my school's athletics culture all that well. I dodged another stick, trying to write out the steps of the differential equations we'd been assigned for homework in calc, as the bus turned a corner and rap blared from one of my team members speaker that he'd brought in his team bag.

"I cannot believe you're working that alien script right now." Jeromy, one of our attackers and team captains said squinting at the symbols on my notebook paper. "You should be getting pumped!"

I didn't answer, trying to mentally do the math, wishing I hadn't forgotten my calculator.

"Don't look so upset Dex." One of the younger players, Drew, a midfielder said grinning. "You do not seem sufficiently excited to play at the newest school in our division."

"Why would I care about this school in particular?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

I wasn't exactly sure how I'd ended up on our school's lacrosse team, though, coming into high school at as a freshman and over six feet tall had the coaches from every sport looking my way. I didn't really want to play football even with the constant harassment to try out for the team, but despite my reluctance, some of my shop friends figured it would cement our social status if I played some sort of sport. One lacrosse unit in gym later, and I'd been offered a spot on the varsity team. Figuring it would look good on college applications, I accepted and hadn't really thought much about it since.

Our county's sports divisions were based on a multiple factors, mainly population, size of the school and their score record. The school we were playing had been bumped up after last season. Despite being a private school with a much smaller class size than was usual for this area, they'd started crushing the other schools in their division over the last two years, so they'd been bumped up.

"I got two words for you my man." Drew said with a smirk, brushing his thumb against index finger in the universal gesture for 'money.' "Rich kids."

"Is that why they're so good?" Cole, the team's student manager and my only real friend on the team piped up from a few seats in front of me. On his lap was a binder open to plays and stats he kept for the coach, and his glasses went a little crooked as the bus hit a bump.

"Nah, something about a crazy attacker that just barrels over people and practically tackles the ball into the goal. But who cares about that?" Drew started arrogantly.

"Well considering you're probably going to put me in front of him, I do." I said annoyed.

He didn't even seem to hear me.

"From what I heard, this school is where all the loaded people dump their messed up kids. Alternative curriculums and hush money lawyers on speed dial, that sort of crap. That and the chicks there are supposed to be insane." His face split into an unpleasant grin. "Influencers and models and all that, all with something to prove to their parents." He gave the players around us a significant look. "And" he added as an afterthought. "They're right by the boardwalk."

Immediately I went back to my textbook, tuning out their hoots and vague schemes of no doubt getting in over their heads with some crazy rich girl who probably needed therapy, but would settle for a boyfriend instead.

I glanced up at a particularly loud jeer and caught Cole's gaze.

He rolled his eyes a little which told me I clearly wasn't missing much in the conversation, and went back to my homework.

Eventually, we made it to school, which looked exactly like you expected a school in California with an affluent student body to look like. Lots of open court yards, covered walk ways between buildings and a flower and stone garden in front of a fountain that was designed to look like the school's insignia.

We'd just started watching the JV team start to warm up when I realized I'd forgotten to stop by the trainer before heading onto the team bus. I'd injured my wrist working too much over the break and it had only gotten worse as the season started. The only thing that seemed to help was getting it taped before each practice and game.

"I'm sure the school has one you can go to." Our coach suggested pointing towards what looked like an entrance to the gym from the outside, and, without really knowing what else to do, I walked in it's direction.

It took about five minutes of wandering around before I realized that this school was much bigger than I'd originally thought, and an additional five minutes before I admitted I was lost.

I'd just stumbled out of a cluster rooms of what I'd assumed was the English department, when a door opened, and a startlingly familiar figure stepped out.

"You've got to be kidding me." I said stunned as Lorelei raised an eyebrow at me, clearly surprised to see me standing in the hall, but doing a much better job of containing it than I did.

"Dex?" she asked with obvious curiosity, but she also looked a little amused.

"Am I going to have to get a restraining order on you or something?" I asked incredulously.

How was she here? What the hell was she doing in the school after hours?

At this, the half-amused smile vanished, and she looked annoyed.

"This is my school." She said gesturing towards a logo on the wall surrounded by flyers for things like tutoring and after school events, and crossing her arms over her chest. "You're the one wandering around the math wing during detention hours."

"You were in detention?" I asked surprised as she stepped aside from the door and a couple of others drifted out from behind her.

Some of them had tattoos, all of them wearing some sort of designer label. It looked as if Drew was at least partially correct about the place, it was some sort of school for rich kid burn outs. At least for the detention crowd.

So what was Lorelei doing here?

"Yeah." She said flatly, as if this shouldn't be news to anyone. "But what are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for the trainer." I said wondering vaguely how anyone could possibly navigate through a school with these many stairs in her shoes and not break an ankle.

"What?" she asked looking at me as if I were an idiot, then spotted the logo on my team shirt.

"Oh my gods." She said grinning. "You're playing in the game tonight?"

"Yeah, my team just got here."

"Oh this is too good." She said pulling out a phone and taking a picture of me.

"What the-"

"Jake is going to be so excited he doesn't have to hold back with a demigod on the other side." She said obviously already sending a message, and probably the picture, to her best friend. "He's going to kick your ass."

Sounding pleased at the thought of this, she started to walk off her heals clicking against the polished floor and, still stunned to run into her in the mortal world, I jogged after her.

"Wait, hold up." I said.

She didn't.

"Aren't you going to show me where the trainer is?" I asked her incredulously.

"You were the one who mentioned a restraining order." She reminded me still texting without looking up. "Didn't you want me to leave you alone?"

"Well," I said realizing that, yeah that might have been an overreaction seeing as she'd had no idea I was here. "I'm lost."

"That sounds like a personal problem."

"So you're not going to help me?"

She'd moved to a photo messaging app, and I heard a clip of Jake telling her she was full of crap.

"He's literally here right next to me," she responded, recording herself and tilting the camera so that I was visible. "Say hi Dex."

"Your girlfriend's an ass." I said feeling my irritation meter jump about three levels as we started down what had to be my fourth set of stairs.

Lorelei laughed and sent the video.

There was a moment of silence between us, where I continued to walk with her figuring she'd at least lead me to a way out when she opened another message and with what was clearly Jakes voice saying.

"Yeah, that's him."

As we stepped out of the stair well and into a hallway lined with lockers on one side, and trophies on the other, I wondered, not for the first time, at the bizarre relationship Jake and Lorelei seemed to have. Sometimes, I could have sworn they were dating, most times, you would have thought he was her brother.

I'd just noticed his name on a lacrosse trophy when she got a video call and answered it.

"Your tacos are here delinquent. You've got five minutes before I start eating them."

"Gods I know that's not a joke." She said shaking her head. "Ok I'll meet you by the field."

"You watching the game?" I asked a little surprised at the genuine interest I had in her answer.

"Don't worry Dex." She said rolling her eyes. "I'll stay outside a hundred foot radius, no need to get the courts involved."

"Alright, I'm sorry I made the restraining order joke ok? You happy?"

The question had come out with more sarcasm than I had meant it, but I was too unnerved by running into her to correct it.

"I hate it when people ask that." She said darkly. "Whenever someone asks that, they never actually mean it. What am I supposed to do? Say no?"

This was such an odd thing to say to that, I looked at her wondering how on earth I should respond, but in the end, she didn't give me the chance.

"Did you want to go to the trainer or not?" she asked jerking her thumb towards a door behind her and only at this did I look around and see I was in the athletics block of the school.

"Oh." I said a little thrown at this. "Thanks."

I'd said it automatically, only after realizing I wasn't sure she'd actually meant to lead me here or we'd happened to pass by it on her way to the field and she'd decided to point it out.

"No problem." She said leaning against the wall. "They close in ten minutes so you probably want to hurry."

I reached for the door only to realize that she hadn't moved to walk away. She was still leaning against the wall and had started to inspect her nails.

"Aren't you going to go get your food?" I asked her raising an eyebrow.

"Are you going to get lost trying to find your way back out?" she countered looking up from her manicure with a look that said 'we both know the answer to this question'.

"I thought you were on a time limit." I asked.

I'd seen Jake eat at camp. If she didn't get there soon, there wouldn't be any tacos for her to claim.

"Nah." She said with a shrug. "I told Jake you'd promised to body check him for every taco he ate. Hard."

"I'm not going to do that." I said incredulously.

"Then hurry up 9." She said shooing me in the direction of the door, clearly referencing my cabin number back at camp. "Don't make me a liar."

….

It didn't take long for the trainer to tape up my wrist and as I walked to the field with Lorelei, I realized I was having a surprisingly normal conversation with her.

She'd just startled a laugh out of me by calling one of Jake's brothers a moron when I remembered that none of my teammates knew Lorelei, or that I would know her.

I remembered because when they spotted us, all movement stopped. Some of their mouths had fallen open.

"Oh gods." I muttered and Lorelei laughed.

It was obvious she had known exactly what was going through my head.

"Have fun with that."

And then, just to rub it in, she winked and made the 'call me' motion with her hand as she walked away.

'I really think she might be evil.' I thought, dodging questions and slaps on the back from teammates as I made it back to the bench. Even the coach was looking at me with blatant curiosity.

Lorelei, who'd since wandered over to meet Jake at the bleachers on the other side, was happily eating a series of specialty tacos, clearly having quite a good time watching the chaos she'd created unfold.

Eventually, it died down though and as the JV game got underway, Cole sat next to me.

"So." He said curiously, glancing across the field where Lorelei was tossing a lacrosse ball for Jake to catch with his stick, and was, impressively I had to admit, catching the ball when he tossed it back without a single wobble on the tooth picks she considered footwear. "You know what I'm about to ask."

"We go to the same summer camp. She goes to this school, we bumped into each other while I looking for the trainer and she's got a friend on the other team. That's it."

"So she didn't give you her number?" he asked sounding a little disappointed.

I was about to say no when I hesitated.

Technically, while she hadn't given me her number today…

"Dude." He said little incredulously. "She did."

"It's not what you think."

"She totally did."

"I don't want to talk about this."

"And you're not going to call her?"

"She's Heather's new boyfriend's ex." I said irritated and his expression instantly changed. "Yeah, the one she cheated on me with. That's his ex-girlfriend."

"What an idiot."

"Yeah, well, she's crazy so maybe it's not all that hard to understand." I said harshly then winced, regretting my choice of words.

I didn't mean that. Not really. I was angry about the situation but it wasn't Lorelei's fault. It's not like I was the only one who got hurt.

"So let me get this straight." He said looking at me skeptically. "She's pretty, single, and has a sense of humor, and you're not going to call her?"

"Because she's crazy."

"Right." He said shaking his head. "Because you haven't dealt with crazy before."

I stared at him indignantly, not sure why dating one high maintenance girl would encourage anyone to chase after another, but people never really thought rationally when it came to the Aphrodite siblings.

I glanced across the field as the game announcements crackled over the speaker system, only to see Jake giving Lorelei a piggy back ride up the bleachers that I guessed even she, couldn't manage in heels.

"That look single to you?" I asked nodding towards the pair.

The bleachers were the fancy new kind with the chairs that had slightly padded benches and backs.

He looked up just in time to see Jake dump Lorelei unceremoniously onto one of the seats, laughing as she threw what looked like a pencil case at him from out of her purse.

"Yes actually." Cole said, clearly trying not to smile, but his lip twitched. "It does."