Nico didn't even flinch.

"Don't look at her," he instructed quietly. "If she's a monster, then eye contact will only provoke her. What does she look like?"

"From the waist up, totally normal," Heather muttered back. "But she doesn't have legs. There's a snake tail instead."

"Just one?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"If there were two, she'd be a Scythian Dracaena—a simple enough opponent if you know how to fight. The fact that she's got only one tail is much, much worse."

"I don't think I want to know how it can get worse," the dark-haired girl mumbled into the palm of her hand as she laid her head down again. "Other than that nasty smell."

"Are you familiar with the myth of Lamia?" Nico asked, his dark eyes flitting towards the woman as she sat at one of the cafe tables and took out a smartphone. When Heather shook his head, he locked eyes with his quest partner and took a sip of soda to make it seem like a casual conversation. "She's the devourer of children. She used to be just another mortal mistress of Zues, and—in her usual role—Hera killed all of Lamia's children and cursed her into becoming a monster that hunts and eats others' children."

"That's terrible!" Heather cried, much louder than she intended. The serpent-woman glanced her way and the daughter of Dionysus continued, her tone becoming a tad more dramatic. "How could she do that to her?!"

Nico stared at her murderously until she made a small motion with her hands, a sort of "play along" gesture.

"Her husband was cheating on her," he growled, trying to pass his anger off as frustration. "Of course there were going to be consequences for the other woman involved."

The woman at the other table rolled her eyes and looked back at her smartphone. Heather's tense shoulders relaxed some and she picked up some fries and shoved them into her mouth.

"You eat like Percy," the son of Hades muttered. The girl's gray/blue eyes snapped to his face curiously.

"Who's Percy?" she inquired.

"None of your business."

Heather read his closed off body language and dropped the subject, deliberately eating with more delicacy so as to not provoke any more hostility. She glanced out of the corner of her eyes at the serpent-woman.

"Do you think she's here for the same reason we are? To eat? I mean, there is a play structure just over there."

"Who knows?" Nico shrugged. "But unless she attacks the mortals, we really shouldn't get involved: it would get ugly fast, and you're no good at combat."

"I take offense to that last statement," Heather commented.

"It's a fact."

"Doesn't change that I'm offended."

Over at the other table, Lamia had gotten up and was slithering her way out the door. Nico kept a close eye on her as Heather huffed and continued to eat. The door open and shut.

"She gone?" the dark-haired girl asked softly.

"Yeah," Nico replied, picking up a waffle fry. "You need to work on being casual."

"At least I managed to cover up my outburst, mister looking-too-intense."

The son of Hades scowled as he picked up his lemonade to take a drink. Heather chose to ignore this, though her food vanished much quicker than had been expected and she excused herself to go to the restroom. She looked at herself in the mirror as she washed her hands and brushed a few stay curls out of her face.

What am I doing here? she asked herself. I don't know how to be a hero. Clearly, all I do is muck everything up for Nico anyway.

But she had to go back out. Sighing, the dark-haired girl pushed her way outside only to see Nico waiting for her.

"Let's go," he said shortly before turning and stalking out of the restaurant. Heather sighed heavily and trailed after him, hands shoved into her pockets. She wasn't going to fight him on this one; he was mad enough at her already.

They were almost to the car when Nico suddenly froze, turning back around as if scanning the area for potential threats. His eyes widened but before the younger half-blood could ask what was wrong, a sudden arm clamped around her throat, cutting off her air. She heard a hiss from behind and felt warm breath across her ear.

"I don't normally devour those of your age," a female voice breathed, "but for thegranddaughter of Zeus, I will make an exception."