I know it's been a bit, and I did kind of leave you hanging at a sensitive spot, what with Kampe and all. But, here's the next chapter!

Chapter 12

Sloan stood in the middle of the battle field, panting. A few of his fellow half-bloods had fallen, but finally all the monsters had been destroyed. He looked around, and spotted Alex, a cut across her face, but it didn't look too bad. She wiped some blood off her lip, and forced a weak smile in his direction. Sirius's left arm was laying limp at his side, but he otherwise looked fine. Lux kept spinning at every sound, arrow drawn, but not notched or pulled tight yet, if needed, he could still shoot off an arrow in under a second.

Unfortunately, Sonny was doing fine too, not a scratch on him. He was, however, kneeling next to a body that was face down. From what he was doing, he seemed to be trying to heal, but there were no signs of life. Eri and Char raced to him, and then Eri let out a shriek. "Leiko, please, don't be dead."

And then Sloan remembered Addy and he raced back toward the Big House. With the newly injured, he assumed they'd move her back to her cabin to make room, as she was mostly better. However, she wasn't in the room he had left her. The bowl of soup that he had been making her eat had been knocked over, its contents spilled across the floor. There was large scratches in the wall, and the door had been knocked off its hinges.

"Addy!" he called, turning out of the room.

"Over here." It was Jemma's voice he heard. He raced to it, finding her and Izzy at the bottom of the staircase. Izzy seemed to just be coming to from being knocked out, and she looked injured, but would heal.

"Where's Addy?" he asked.

"I'm up here," Addy's voice came from the top of the stair case. He jumped the two girls at the bottom of the steps and raced to Addy's side. She clearly had been in yet another battle, and she was holding a badly dented scimitar in one hand. "I killed a Kampe," she said with a pained smile. She held up the scimitar as if to show him how. "With her own weapon."

"Kampe?" Sloan asked. "She's a very..." He didn't even know how to explain Kampe.

"Very dead," Addy said. She smiled. The smile quickly faded. "I think the adrenaline has all gone cause I can't move."

"Gods, Addy," Sloan knelt next to her and picked her up as gently as he could. She still cried out in pain and clung to him, dropping the scimitar. "What happened to you?"

Addy pointed at the dent in the wall at the top of the stairs. "Look familiar?" she asked. "I guess she didn't like my humor."

Sloan sighed and began carrying her down the stairs. Izzy and Jemma were both standing by the time he reached the bottom. "Let's get you back in bed," he said.

Izzy sat on the porch of Cabin Eleven as the camp was still in chaos the next morning. Patrols had been set at all the borders, all uninjured Apollo campers were working full-time to help those healing, and Satyrs were preparing funeral pyres for those that had died.

Leiko was one of them. Two from Izzy's cabin had also perished. Seven total, but she didn't know any of the others.

"Izzy!"

She looked up at the voice, and a moment later, she had run right into her Uncle Connor's arms. She squeezed him tight and sobbed into his shirt.

"Oh, gods, I've been so worried about you girls," Connor said, holding her tight. "Where's Addy?"

"Big House," Izzy said. "She's had a rough few days."

"Was she injured in the attack?" Connor asked.

Izzy nodded. "Even before that, she got attacked by a Manticore," Izzy said. "And then, last night, by Kampe. But she killed the second one."

Connor put a hand to his face. Katie had spent years training Izzy to fight, and the girl even had her own sword before coming the camp. Travis and Connor had decided that they could protect Addy from any dangers, so they had never trained her, except a little bit over the last year.

"Come on, I've got to talk to Chiron and check on Addy," he said.

"Um, Uncle Connor, quick warning..." Izzy said. "Linda's here, so don't be surprised. She might not be so glad that you're here."

"Thank the gods you're here!" Linda said, spotting Connor ten minutes later. "I need help organizing these kids and they won't listen to me."

Connor nodded. Chiron was working on healing a badly injured camper in a room, so Connor whistled, bringing all attention to him. "If you are here because you're injured but it's minor, please walk outside. We will get to you once those that can't walk are taken care of." Immediately, a small murmur went through the crowd.

"Listen to him," Linda said loudly as she actually had authority. With that, many of the half-bloods began to trail out.

"If you're not injured and not a healer, please return to your cabins," Connor said. Several more trailed out. That left those that were the worst injured and the healers. Connor turned to Linda. "Take the Ambrosia supply, go around to all the campers in here, make sure they don't take too much. And then go outside, have those that are injured out there line up and give them all just a little bit. Then begin actual bandaging of those that need it."

"What are you going to do?" Linda asked, going to get a brick of ambrosia.

"Find Addy," Connor said.

"This way," Izzy, who had been silently next to him the whole time, led him. She had a private room, again, and this time was being watched over by Sloan and Jemma. The tension between her two guards was so strong that Izzy hadn't been able to bear it, but she figured she'd be okay with Connor with her.

Upon opening the door, Connor was met with a blade pointed at him from one side of the room and an arrow pointed at him from the other side. "Weapons down," Izzy said, stepping around him. "He's our uncle."

Addy, bruised up again, opened her eyes, spotted him, and smiled brightly. "Uncle Connor!" she called, and sat up, but immediately regretted it and fell back down.

"Hey, kiddo," Connor said, coming up and sitting on the edge of her bed. "I see you've been keeping out of trouble as usual."

"Oh, you know me," Addy said. "Wouldn't go near it."

He glanced at Sloan and Jemma. "So, mind me asking what is with the honor guard?"

Addy looked at the two. "They think I need protecting while I heal," Addy said.

"Well, as last time you nearly got killed you weren't fully healed before you headed back into battle," Sloan said. He eyed Jemma. "And, clearly, your Hunter friend isn't a good guard."

"I'd like to see you go head-to-head with Kampe," Jemma snapped.

Sloan pointed at Addy. "She was injured, not trained, and still managed to do better against it than you."

Addy groaned. "Okay, both of you, out," she snapped. "Before I asked one of the Aphrodite girls to Charmspeak you two away."

"They'd just bless you again," Sloan said. He, however, walked out anyway, Jemma following a few moments later.

"You got an Aphrodite blessing?" Connor asked, one eyebrow lifting above the other.

"It was a curse," Addy said.

"They are incapable of making anyone look less beautiful," Connor said.

"Depends on your definition of beauty," Izzy said. "Anyway, beauty is only skin deep, right? True beauty comes from within."

Connor smiled and pulled Izzy closer. "You, missy, sound so much like your mother, it's scary," he said, and gave her a noogie. She laughed and smiled, and playfully screamed.

"Now, let's find someone out there who can work some healing magic on you," Connor said, standing.

"Not Sonny," both girls said immediately.

Connor looked at the two girls. "Okay, I don't know who Sonny is, but I already don't like him."

Addy smiled. "Good. He's a good for nothing scoundrel."

"He's a liar and a player," Izzy added, her voice a little softer.

"I'll be right back," Connor said.

Once the door was closed, Addy looked at Izzy. "So, I guess you heard."

"About the deal he made with you?" Izzy asked. She nodded. "When I asked him to help you after the manticore, he flat out refused. But, I guess Char was right... he was just using me to fill in until he could get you."

"I only agreed because I couldn't bear the idea of you having to lose me," Addy said.

Izzy nodded, and wiped at her eyes before tears could fall. She smeared a little bit of make-up she had put on that morning without even realizing it. "I understand," Izzy said. "I thought I was going to lose you again last night." She paused for a few moments. "Try to not nearly die tonight. I can only handle so much, and your dances with death are a little too much."

Addy smiled. "I'll try," she said. "But, I'd like to see you dance with Death a little more... in a less literal sense."

Izzy frowned. "I don't follow."

"Sirius," Addy said. "His father is Hades... makes Sirius the prince of the dead... okay, it was a little-"

Izzy looked down. "He doesn't like me, Addy," she said. "He was interested when I was in those cut-offs and crops. I don't think I'll be wearing those anymore."

"I think he was interested in you for you," Addy said. "At least, you know, talk to him. See if there is something there."

"I don't think Dad would be happy with me befriending a son of Hades," Izzy said.

"I'm sure he'd rather you date a nice guy like Sirius than a jerk like Sonny," Addy said. She sighed. "If they were both mortal, Mom and Dad and Uncle Connor would all prefer Sirius. I don't think that who their father is will sway them that much." Addy looked around. "Is there any food? I'm hungry."

Izzy chuckled. "I'll see," she said, standing up and walking out. Before the door had closed, Sloan and Jemma were back in the room.

"I can be alone for thirty seconds without dying," Addy said. "Just because I'm in too much pain to move doesn't mean I'm defenseless."

Sloan frowned. "That's exactly what it means," he snapped.

"I still think you should take the oath," Jemma said. "It'll make you stronger."

Katie and Travis were in a small bakery, and the scent of the cakes and pastries were over-whelming Katie. She had forgotten how strong her senses had become when she was pregnant with the twins.

"Oh, let's get a cake," Katie said, spotting a chocolate cake.

Travis chuckled, but then lifted an eyebrow when he realized Katie was serious. "How about cupcakes instead," Travis said. "One for each of us."

Katie nodded. "That sounds good too." Looking at the cupcake selection she felt as if she might drool. "I don't know which one I want. Red velvet, s'more, chocolate, lemon... even just the plain yellow ones all look delicious." She smiled. "How about one of each."

Travis sighed. "A cake would be cheaper," he said. "Look, pick two, and we'll split half of each."

Katie pouted. "When did you become the strict one?" she asked, remembering how she had, more than once, drag him away from sweets when they were young.

"When I had to raise Addy for twelve years," Travis said. "She would ear entire cakes on her own if I had let her." He smiled at Katie. "So, which two do you want?"

Izzy was making her way back to Addy's room from the kitchen with a plate of food for Addy when she heard her name called. She turned around and found herself face to face with Orion. "Oh, hi," she said with a smile. He had a black eye and his left arm was bandaged.

"I was worried about you," he said. "After I didn't see you when the battle ended." He smiled at her. "I'm glad you're fine."

Izzy smiled back at him. "What happened to you?" she asked. "I mean, how'd you get hurt?"

He pointed at his eye. "A tail smacked me in the face as a creature, I'm not even sure which one, spun around," he said.

"And your arm?" Izzy asked.

He looked at his bandaged arm and his cheeks began to turn red. "I spilled some hot soup on my arm yesterday at lunch."

"Really?" Izzy asked, and then giggled a bit. "Considering what just happened you could have lied and said you were protecting a younger camper and got slashed or something."

"What about your bruises?" Orion asked, as Izzy did have bruises all over her body.

"I was knocked down a flight of stairs by Kampe," Izzy said. "After stabbing it in the gut." She smiled smugly and then laughed a little. "I'm glad you're okay, though."

Orion smiled at her, then took a few steps closer so he was right in front of her. He wasn't much taller than her, maybe only an inch or so. And Izzy was glad, sure that she had made a friend besides Trixie. That was until he bent forward and kissed her lightly.