Jamie led the new girl, Petunia, to a bed in the Hermes' cabin. "They'll take care of you here. You okay? Nico was kind of intense."

"Are you sure I'm safe here?" the girl asked in a whisper. She looked haunted, and if Nico was right, there was good reason to believe that she actually had been haunted.

"We'll keep you safe. Nico too. He's a good kid." Jamie looked down at the flowers tucked into Nia's shoelaces. "What kind of flowers are those?"

"Anemones, for good luck and protection against evil. Said to have been made by the falling of Aphrodite's tears."

"Earlier you said that a broken mirror was a bad example of superstition?"

"Bellflowers were born from a broken mirror, I believe that was Venus's mirror. I can't remember right now." She sat down, exhausted, on the bunk.

Jamie glanced at the Hermes' girls. "You should try to rest. Just, word to the wise, keep things you value extra close to you. If it goes missing, tell Connor. He's your cabin leader. Cassie Dellaro is also someone you can trust, but she's in New Rome right now. I have to get back to my cabin."

Nia nodded, then held out a flower.

Jamie hesitated then took it. "What is it?"

"It's just an aster. It symbolizes tiny beginnings from which great things proceed."

Jamie straightened up. "Like meeting someone new?"

She nodded.

"Okay. Seriously, try to get some rest. I'll find you later and answer any questions you might have." Jamie looked at the flower in his hand. He turned and walked back toward the stairs, forcing himself not to look back at Nia. The girl was just a slip of a figure, but something about her vulnerability and quirkiness was endearing.

He shook his head. He couldn't be thinking about that, she didn't need that. She needed stability and safety.

He paused once he was outside of the Hermes cabin, looking around. Camp was bustling. Connor was organizing some sort of party for the week after next and the Athena and Ares cabins were recruiting cabins for capture the flag.

Mitchell gently punched Jamie's arm. "Dude, who was the girl?"

"Petunia Green. Nico thinks she's a daughter of Persephone. Trouble is brewing," Jamie told him and shrugged a little. "Lacey in your cabin?"

"Yeah, she's getting the stuff ready to redo my hair." He ran a hand through his blue hair. "My roots are starting to show."

"Yeah, my hair is getting a little out of hand. I'm starting to look like a girl." Jamie stretched. "How goes the romance search?"

Mitch shook his head. "I don't know. The attention is kind of cool, but it isn't making things easy. I just…" He glanced around. "I feel like I made a bigger mess than the one I started out with."

Jamie frowned a bit. "Meaning?"

"I don't know. It's even more confusing than before. If I were to ask someone about it, I'm pretty sure they'd say it's a sign that I'm not ready for it. But I'm a son of Aphrodite. How could I not be?" Mitch started walking toward the Aphrodite cabin and Jamie followed.

"That's like asking me why I don't know the secret to youth even though I'm a son of Hebe."

Mitch snorted. "Maybe there's a flower for that."

Jamie smiled. "Heard about that, did you?"

"Flowers in her shoelaces?"

"Anemones, and bellflowers. She gave me an aster." He spun the flower between his fingers like he had seen her do with the bellflowers.

Mitch shook his head. "Weird. Kayla said she seemed to be a little crazy."

"Kayla's crazy, dude. She's not exactly a reliable source for judging crazy." Jamie didn't like that Kayla was already telling people that the girl was crazy.

"True," Mitch confirmed.

Lacey looked up as they came in, she already had her hair-cutting station set up. "Which one is first?"

Mitch jabbed his thumb toward Jamie. "Him. He's just getting a cut."

She nodded and pointed to the chair. "It is pretty long for you."

"I'm starting to look like a girl."

"Something wrong with that?"

"For me, yes." Jamie sat and relaxed.

"He was telling me a bit about the new girl."

"Which one?"

"Petunia Green, she got here about half an hour ago," Jamie told her.

"What's she like?"

Jamie wasn't sure how to answer. "She's quirky. She's a plant person. Scared Nico, who thinks that she's a daughter of Persephone. Which is a truly terrifying prospect if Hades knows."

Lacey nodded. "I'll see if she needs clothes later. Did she have anything?"

"Not really. She had a mostly empty backpack. Ripped open by monsters. She had a sweatshirt, and a couple other things, but I don't really know. I wasn't paying attention to that." He almost winced as she started cutting his hair.

"How short do you want?"

"I don't know. Short?"

She laughed a little, and then kept cutting. "We'll have you human in just a bit. Mitch, can you get the razor, and put the guard on it?"

"Which one?"

"The purple one."

He started working on that. "I think Jamie might have a bit of a crush."

"Ooh, on the new girl? Or on Ria? I saw them talking on a few occasions."

Jamie rolled his eyes. "Stop it. Neither. I have no crush on anyone. I'm worried about Petunia. She seems…fragile. I have a bad feeling, and her arrival just seems to have made it grow."

Lacey leaned on his shoulder. "So you like me?"

He stopped himself before words came out.

She threw back her head and started laughing. "That's a no."

Rachel Dare poked her head in. "Jamie, you're needed in the Big House."

Lacey cleared her throat. "Five minutes."

"Make it two." Rachel disappeared.

Mitch handed the razor over to her. "Now would be a good time to start praying, Jamie."

Jamie wondered nervously what could possibly be going on that he was needed.