Lpov
When I woke, I was surprised to see that it wasn't Lucy or James that was nudging me, but Harper, her tone surprisingly gentle as she said.
"Libby, wake up."
"What time is it?" I asked groggily looking for my phone, only for a jolt of panic go to through me when I spotted the time.
"Oh my gods." I said I throwing off my blanket. It was almost one. "Oh my gods. I'm so late."
I was supposed to be at work hours ago. My boss was going to kill me.
"Calm down." She said with a quelling gesture. "James went to the clinic, he told them some sort of story. I'm not quite sure what it was, but you're off for the rest of the week."
"Seriously?" I asked in disbelief.
We were smack dab in the middle of the busy season, when the locals and the students that stayed near campus during the summer competed for appointment times, as the students no longer had classes and wanted to get all of their pets' appointments done before the start of the next semester. Time off like this was usually unheard of in the summer.
"He can be pretty persuasive." She said with a bit of a grin. "I know it doesn't always seem like it, but he can be quite charming if motivated."
"Gods I guess so." I said looking through my texts seeing one from Dr. Mendoza telling me to feel better, and assuring me that both of my regular and intern shifts were covered for the week.
What on earth had he told her? Did she think I was dying? Or was Harper right, and James really was that 'charming'?
I thought years back when he'd been at camp, where so many of the people who hated, or at the very least distrusted him, today, were singing his praises.
"How did I get here?" I asked looking around, realizing I was in my room at the library.
"James." She said which probably should have been obvious. "He carried you. You were sort of delirious by the time you got here. You weren't making a lot of sense."
"Oh dear gods." I mutter running my hands through my hair, memories returning to me in sluggish streams as my tired brain caught back up to speed. "What did I say?"
"Nothing too bad." She said assured me, but it was clear she was fighting to keep her expression neutral. "Something about accents and the Bond movies. You honestly might have been a sleep at that point."
'No,' I thought feeling my face flush bright red as I remembered telling James I thought his accent was cute. 'Hades, no, no, noooooo.'
Had I said something about his mother?
'Olympus.' I thought. 'Please let me have hallucinated that out of exhaustion.'
"Look, I'm sorry to bother you." she said. "I know you probably want to keep sleeping, but you have a visitor."
"Me?" I asked in surprise.
Who would come to the library to talk to me? Couldn't they have just sent a text or something?
"Yeah." She said her expression tensing slightly. "Listen, Libby, I don't want to freak you out or anything, but it's Artemis."
My mind went blank.
"Artemis?"
She nodded.
"The goddess?" I asked incredulously, my mind still feeling a bit slow. "Artemis, came here, specifically to see me?"
None of this made any sense.
"She did."
"What does she want?" I asked uncertainly, feeling a bit nervous. I couldn't have imagined there was a reason for Artemis to be angry with me, still... one didn't often have one of the gods requesting to speak with them. Not normal demigods like me at any rate.
"Probably to thank you." she said shrugging, but something about it seemed a bit forced. As if Harper wasn't as relaxed as she was pretending to be. "You did cure one of her hunters. She's pretty formal about that sort of thing."
"Oh."
Yeah actually that would make sense...
Harper hesitated for a moment before asking.
"Did something happen while you were at camp?"
"What do you mean?"
"James looked pretty upset when you guys got back, and he's not easily shaken. Not by the campers anyway."
"I don't think so." I said frowning thinking over the events of the last several hours. "I mean Isabella, the hunter who was sick, threw a knife at him but that doesn't sound like that's too out of the usual for his relationship with them."
"No." she agreed but I noticed her brow had furrowed, her expression contrasting with her tone. "It's not."
"You could ask him." I pointed out. "He says you two don't keep things from each other."
"Maybe." She said with half a nod, but she didn't sound convinced. "But sometimes James needs to sit with things before he's ready to talk about them. He might not even realize what's wrong. He tends to try to ignore things until they break."
"Like his body?" I asked sarcastically and she shrugged, but her expression had me wondering if she thought I might have a point.
Of course James wouldn't want to talk about what was upsetting him. He could hardly be bothered with making sure his bones didn't shatter. Why should his emotions be any different?
She glanced at me again, something considering in her gaze.
"Maybe you should ask him about it."
"Me?" I asked a bit surprised at the suggestion. "Why?"
"He lets you get away with more than he does with other people." she said shrewdly. "Even Lucy. It's a little weird, actually."
"I'm pretty sure James would let Lucy get away with murder," I countered skeptically. "Quite happily."
"You shot him." She pointed out. "And he put up with the campers all day and night while you were treating Isabella."
"He was at camp that whole time?" I asked stunned, trying to ignore the jolt of adrenaline that kicked into my system at this information.
I hadn't thought much about what James was up to while I'd been in the infirmary, but I guess I'd assumed he would have gone back to the library.
"Yes." She said with a nod. "Currently he's obsessing over the security system with Allison."
"Has he slept at all?" I asked uncertainly and she shook her head.
"No, in fact, you should go tell him to. He's not listening to either Lucy or me."
"If you think it will help." I muttered wondering if it would or it wouldn't, and how I would feel if it did.
I slid out of bed, and made my way towards the door Harper not that far behind me.
As she'd said, James was standing by Harper's desk, Allison typing something on the desk top while James looked on over her shoulder.
"Look who's back among the living."
"Whatever fell out of my mouth while I was delirious, I'm so sorry." I apologized automatically and his lip quirked into something of a smile.
"It wasn't that bad." He assured me echoing Harper's response from earlier. "Actually, it was quite complimentary."
"Right." I said mortified. "Well, if you excuse me I'm going to go ask Zeus to blast me off of Olympus now."
"Might I have a word with you, before that happens?" A voice asked calmly, and I turned to see the small figure of a beautiful girl, standing in front of the pool around the statue of Athena.
She appeared to be eleven or twelve, long dark hair braided away from a youthful face, a shimmering outline of silver tracing her silhouette.
"Oh," I said realizing I'd completely forgotten why Harper had woken me up in the first place. "Oh right, of course."
"Walk with me." she insisted, and while her tone was polite, it wasn't so much of a suggestion as it was an order.
Allison raised an eyebrow at this, and by Harper's expression, I could tell she didn't like other people, even goddesses, making demands in her library. James however, looked as if he was debating the consequences he might face if he hit another one of the gods. It also looked, as if he was close to deciding it would be worth it.
"Alright." I said quickly, figuring it was probably best I remove Artemis from the situation as swiftly as possible.
She stepped towards one of the shelves, and after a quick glance at the three behind me, I jogged after her.
"You have my gratitude." Artemis said looking around at the books, and I found myself wondering if Artemis ever really read that much.
I doubted it to be honest. She seemed like more of an action sort of girl.
"Really," I said feeling embarrassed. "It wasn't that big of a deal."
"It is," she insisted. "Isabella is one of our most recent recruits, it's my job to protect her as she adjusts. I failed."
She hesitated for a moment.
"Even the Keeper of this library didn't know what was wrong with her, or her degenerate friend. And he's had many battles."
"His name is James." I said evenly, trying to control the flash of anger that went through me. "And he tried to help you."
"Yes, the son of Hermes." She sneered with distaste. "If I was our father, I might mention to our messenger to keep a closer eye on his brats. This is the second of his children to go rogue in modern times alone."
"James is my friend." I said coldly. "Don't insult him in front of me. Please." I added as an afterthought to add a semblance of respect.
It wasn't very convincing, even to my own ears, and by her expression I could tell Artemis hadn't been fooled either.
"Very well," she said her tone a few degrees cooler, and while I expected it to bother me, I found that it didn't.
Normally the thought of irritating my aunt would have sent a flood of anxiety through me, but not at the moment. She was being kind of awful...
"Nevertheless." She continued. "I owe you a debt, and debts must be paid."
I didn't answer this, knowing what sort of idea gods had about debts and repayments, not entirely sure I wanted any part of it.
"You look tired."
She reached into a pocket, pulling out a cylindrical vial full of a curious looking liquid, clear but with a shimmering quality that had me frowning.
"Moonwater." She explained handing me the vial. "It should help."
"Thanks." I said automatically, but pocketing the drink rather than opening it.
I'd heard of moonwater before, and while I didn't know a lot about it, I knew the hunters used it as some sort of stimulant. Almost like an energy drink. I didn't know if she thought it was rude I didn't drink it, but honestly, I was hoping just to go back to sleep.
"What would you ask of me daughter of Apollo?" she asked turning to face me as we reached the end of the aisle.
"I don't want anything from you." I said shaking my head.
I wasn't helping Isabella because I thought it might win me Artemis's favor, or because I thought I might get something out of it. As a healer, this sort of thing was just my job, it's what I was good at. And it was the right thing to do, no matter how poorly Artemis and her friends seem to think of the people at the Library…
"Surely there must be something you want." She said frowning at my response, her tone incredulous. "Money, or a new weapon?"
"I've got a weapon."
'And two jobs…' I thought feeling utterly exhausted at this point. 'And an internship.'
Would it be rude to request she leave me alone and call it even? Gods I could use some more sleep...
"One of our spoils perhaps?" she asked interrupting my thoughts. "Or a favor? The hunt brings us across many rare and fantastic places, facing incredible foes. There is plenty we could-"
"The bounty." I said looking at her, cutting across her pitch and she appeared taken a back, confused even.
"Excuse me?"
"The bounty." I pressed. "Or whatever it is you promised for whoever can figure out where James's vulnerability is. Call it off."
She looked at me for a moment, her expression incredulous, almost angry. Her cheeks flushed with a silver like tint that was beginning to filter into her dark eyes.
"That is what you would ask of me?" she asked in obvious disbelief.
"That's what I want."
"And how did you come to believe that such a thing would exist?"
"Just do it." I said annoyed. "Or don't. But I don't want anything else from you."
She stared at me for a moment, apparently trying to determine if I was really serious and I stared right back.
My resolve started to dwindle a bit as I saw just how much silver had entered her eyes, the aura of power around her glowing stronger, but despite this, she eventually made an irritated noise.
"Fine." She said sounding far less like the divine being I'd come to associate her with, and more like a petulant child. She crossed her arms over her chest, not helping the matter, still seeming angry as she continued. "I'll call off my archers for the time being, but I'm not the only one looking for this information as I'm sure you are aware."
Her eyes flashed as they narrowed at me.
"And any decent hunter could tell you, a crack in otherwise invulnerable armor isn't always the only point of attack."
"What is that supposed to mean?" I said angrily, but a surge of fear had gone through me and I was surprised to feel myself blush.
The situation wasn't improved as she shot me a look of distaste.
"I think I've made myself plain enough."
She frowned.
"Perhaps you should reconsider the attention that you draw to the son of Hermes and his, vulnerabilities." She pressed adding acid to the word. "You might not like what you find, or where it lands you."
She then turned and stalked off, leaving me to stare after her in shock, amazed at how legitimately angry she appeared to be by the situation.
I followed her, making sure to keep a bit of distance between myself and the goddess, only to be surprised to find Harper leaning against the book case at the end of the aisle, arms folder over her chest as she watched the goddess, clearly unimpressed by the tantrum.
"Congratulations Libby." She said a bit sarcastically. "You've now managed to piss two of the gods off."
She adopted a thoughtful expression before adding.
"I should hire you full time."
She motioned for me to follow her and I hesitated before jogging after the two, Artemis seeming more annoyed with each step that she took.
"You know I had an interest in the two of you." she said incensed, frowning at Harper and I as Harper casually herded her towards the door. "I admit I am disappointed. You both had potential." she bristled. "It's a shame how you turned out."
"I'll make sure to schedule in an hour of crying or two." Harper sighed with a remorse so blatantly insincere I almost giggled. "Rest assured Libby, we can wallow together in our sorrow."
"At least we won't be alone."
"Demigods." Artemis spat, as if the word could invoke a plague. "That title used to mean something. Centuries ago, this world was dominated by the power that was so graciously bestowed on you by the Olympians. Now look at what it's gotten us." She glared at Harper in distaste. "When was it that our children lost all of their respect?"
"You don't have children." I pointed out while Harper looked at her, her expression flagrantly unconcerned.
"Get out of my library." She said in exasperation.
"How dare-"
"This isn't Olympus Artemis." Harper said cutting her off sounding impatient. "Nor is it the mortal world. You're not in charge here." She reminded as the goddess, clearly offended, started to protest. "Now I can send you back to your hunters, or back to New York, or I can have James toss you into the Underworld. It's your choice."
"Ah yes, James." She said with a sneer. "The Titan's little experiment you're all so bafflingly fond of." Her gaze darted to me before settling back on Harper. "Tell me Keeper, does it ever trouble you, the idea that your gamble with the freak might someday come back to haunt you? Experiment or not, he is still mortal."
She smiled, but it was as cold as ice.
"And what happens to you if something happens to him?" she asked a cruel twist to her expression. "You've chosen a very precarious ally Harper Davis. One that I'm not sure will last. The gods you've turned your back on have endured for millennia. It's a bit arrogant don't you think? Presuming to know better than Olympus, courting its dissenters. One that has no reason, really, not to abandon you. Who's proven he can be compromised."
Another smirk.
"Not a very wise choice for a daughter of Athena, don't you think?"
Slowly, almost lazily, her gaze drifted towards the key that was hanging on a chain over Harper's shirt and she took a step forward, clearly testing some sort of boundary.
"What's to stop me from taking that accursed trinket from around your mortal throat?"
A pang of fear went through me, as the air between us began to buzz, whether with tension or power I wasn't sure, but I was astounded when Harper laughed and it wasn't kind.
There was a flash of soundless movement, and I was unsurprised to see James standing not two feet behind Artemis, his expression the picture of icy fury. He reached out but Harper held up a hand, and in an unexpected move, she stepped closer to the goddess.
"What's stopping you?" she asked amused and I was shocked to see that Harper was actually taller than the person in front of her for once. "If you could manage to get through James." She nodded in his direction and Artemis jumped when she looked over her shoulder and spotted him, clearly not used to being snuck up on. "You'd have to catch me. I don't care how fast your hunters are, I don't care how well you can track. You'd have to send your hunters searching across four dominions, all at once seeing as I can move between them, and that's only if you managed to even escape this library."
She stepped forward again and the floor underneath Artemis cracked.
The goddess jumped back into James and ducked, only to realize he hadn't gone after her.
Her eyes had gone wide.
"Even if you did manage to get your hands on the key, it wouldn't work for you Artemis. Not until you or one of your hunters pass the library's trials, or I choose a successor. Which would not be you." She added with derision before her eyes narrowed.
"You talk about the thousands of years you've been around." Harper said darkly. "Is that supposed to mean something to me?"
There was a note of distain in her tone as she gestured to the room at large and it was unmistakable now, the undefinable sense of power that was thrumming between the shelves. And it, very clearly, did not belong to the goddess.
"I know everything that's on these shelves Artemis. Every page, every line, every spell. I know magic that has been around since the very origin of the divines, older than the gods themselves. The same magic that's running through James at this very moment," she nodded towards her friend and I was surprised to see that James looked a little concerned. Wary even.
"And I know how to use it too." Harper's eyes flashed behind the lenses of her glasses and I felt a pang of something close to anxiety as she spoke. I noticed that Artemis seemed to take an unconscious step back. "And just how angry do you think your father would be, if he found out you were provoking the person who controls a literal gate way to hell and all its monsters, mere feet from Olympus's door?" she asked delicately, but her tone was heavy with an implication so remorseless, it was almost cruel. "You do remember the Titans still exist, don't you? They have more than enough reason to hate the gods, and they would love to see Olympus reduced to rubble. And that's if you're lucky. Your father understands this. All of the Big Three do."
She stepped closer and this time I saw it. It was unmistakable. Fear darted across the goddess's expression and Harper pressed the advantage.
"I could be a king maker if I wanted to be, in a matter of days, maybe hours. It's why they leave me alone and it's why you should too. Don't test me."
"You're bluffing." Artemis whispered, but her eyes had gone wider still. She looked afraid.
"Am I?" Harper asked quietly.
"You'd never-"
But Harper raised her hand and a dark book flew into it. It's black cover looking sinister, almost poisonous.
Was that what I thought it was?
'No.' I thought stomach clenching. 'No this wasn't possible.'
It was supposed to be in the Labyrinth.
"Try me, Artemis." Harper challenged, and the gaze that settled over the goddess was scathing, caustic as acid. And as much as the sirens wanted to warn Harper about her compassion, there was real fury in her eyes. You couldn't fake that level of hatred. "Of the two of us, who do you think has more to lose if Olympus burns?"
No one moved. The tension in the room was almost unbearable. It felt almost as if Atlas had finally collapsed under the weight of the atmosphere, and if a single one of us triggered it with a motion, the entire sky would fall.
"You're mad." Artemis said sounding horrified. "This place has twisted your mind, it's-"
"It's what?" she asked raising an eyebrow, her tone devoid of sympathy. "Stolen my compassion? Sapped me of my pity? There isn't a lot of love lost between me and the Pantheon, but you'd know that, wouldn't you?" Her expression was angry now, far angrier than I'd ever seen her and it was terrifying. "When Olympus was deciding whether or not to punish me. Wasn't it you who asked how much one demigod's life is worth?"
Real terror flashed across the goddesses features this time.
"Yeah I heard about that." Harper continued mercilessly. "What was it that you said? How tragic can one person's death be if they were mortal all along? A foolish one at that."
"It wasn't, I-"
"And just because your followers insult James in other languages, doesn't mean we don't hear." Harper continued, as if the goddess hadn't spoken. "What was it our friend Isabella said to you earlier James?" she asked shifting her attention to him.
His arms were crossed over his chest and while his shoulders were stiff, I couldn't help but think James's expression was more anxious than angry. I wasn't sure Artemis could tell, however.
"Death is better than you deserve."
"Bit of a nasty temper that one has." Harper said, looking back at the goddess. "I wonder where she got that idea from."
She raised an eyebrow.
"You might want to cure your hunters of the habit of throwing knives at James, Artemis." She added and while her tone was calm, her expression was sinister. "Before I start letting him throw them back."
"I-" the goddess started, but Harper cut her off.
"Get out."
Artemis didn't argue.
She hurried towards the exit of the Main Hall, Harper watching her, her eyes glacial.
James hesitated after the door shut, clearly waiting to make sure she was gone before turning back to Harper.
"I hate it when you do that." James said and Harper's eyes remained on the door for a second before she blinked and looked at her friend.
"Does it make you nervous?" she asked with a grin and to my surprise, James shuddered. His expression was dark.
"Yes."
She laughed looking surprisingly… normal, and when she caught my expression she said.
"Relax, Libby." She said opening the book, and I saw, incredulous, that it was a collection of nursery rhymes.
"You were bluffing?" I asked feeling a wave of relief wash over me and Harper shrugged, setting the book on her desk.
"Not entirely." She said frowning. "But I'm not going to fly a book full of curses out of their enclosures just to make a point. Even if the point is to make Artemis think I would."
"So what you said then, it's true." I asked hesitantly. "If the gods ever did to you what they'd once planned, you'd let Olympus fall to the Titans?"
"What I would or wouldn't do doesn't matter if some of the gods got their way." She said but it bothered me she hadn't given a definitive answer. "I'd either be exiled or executed and James would almost certainly be dead. But in the end, it wouldn't matter much anyways. With me gone and this place sitting here waiting for a new Keeper, the gods would tear themselves a part to try and gain control of it over the others. And that's if the Titans didn't do it first."
"So then who are you protecting?" I asked uncertainly.
I knew neither she nor James liked this question, but not for the first time, I found myself wondering whose side Harper was truly on.
I didn't like the look of whatever game she was playing, and while I knew Harper was smart, I couldn't see an end goal for such blatant disrespect for one of the most powerful gods in the pantheon. Was Artemis right? Was Harper letting her anger get the better of her? Or was something bigger happening here?
I looked at her, trying to get a sense of what she was thinking, but she, just like James, was unreadable as ever.
She wouldn't really give the library to the Titans, even if she thought she had something to gain… would she?
"Everyone." Harper said as if this should be obvious, but I noticed there was something unusual about the way James was looking at her. He might have been good at hiding it, but he was upset, maybe even angry. "The gods have let their arrogance cause them to make some pretty stupid decisions. They need to be reminded they're not completely untouchable."
"And what about you?" James asked harshly.
The question was unexpected, and the air around me seemed to freeze as she looked at him, clearly shocked by this response.
"Excuse me?" Harper asked, clearly offended but James wasn't bothering to hide his anger now. He looked livid.
"I want a word with you." He said glaring at Harper and I felt a sick sense of anxiety creep over me as I realized for the first time, I thought James might actually loose his cool.
He looked angry, far more than I expected him to be. I wouldn't have thought he'd mind Artemis getting a bit of what he might think she deserved.
"You've got to be kidding-"
"Now Harper!" He said, so loudly it was almost a shout and I jumped.
I occurred to me that no matter what I'd thought, I'd never seen James truly angry before. Not like this.
Harper hadn't started, but stared after him looking almost bewildered as he stalked off clearly meaning for her to follow him.
She did eventually, her expression going from confused to annoyed and I watched feeling oddly like a little kid having witnessed two adults going through a massive blow up. It wasn't until she'd turned out of sight that I spotted Lucy leaning against a book case, almost as if hoping to melt into it and hide among the books.
She looked on the verge of tears.
"You ok?" I asked uncertainly and she shook her head, closing her eyes. As if she could ward off whatever was up setting her.
"Luce?" I asked walking over to her.
"I don't like it when James is upset." She said shaking her head again and hugging herself. "If James is afraid, then something, something really bad must be happening."
She was breathing rapidly and she shook her head again. She looked to be on the verge of a panic attack.
"Hey," I said trying to sound as soothing as possible and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Lucy take a deep breath, it will be alright. James isn't scared he's just upset, but I'm sure they'll work it out."
She didn't look convinced however and continued to look on the brink of a meltdown.
"Luce, it will be ok." I assured her. "Harper and James are friends. Yeah sometimes they're gonna fight, but they'll get over it. You said it yourself, sometimes they just need to argue before-"
"Not like this." She said shaking her head again, but she managed to look at me, and she looked genuinely concerned. "Libby, you don't get it. The only time James shouts like that, is when he's afraid."
Jpov
I burst through the door to Harper's room, Harper herself not far behind and had to stop myself from kicking the chair at the desk clear across the room.
"James, what the hell?" Harper snapped angrily as I paced, trying to keep my temper in check.
"What the hell?" I asked incensed, staring at my best friend, unable to believe she could look so confused after what she'd just pulled. "What the hell?" I repeated, my hands clenching and unclenching in my effort to keep my voice level. "What the hell was that down there with Artemis?"
"What? That I got her to leave?"
"By humiliating her in front of an audience?" I almost shouted and she stared at me.
"An audience?"
"My sister and Libby were both on that floor." I continued trying to control my volume with only moderate success. "And yet you wanted to lay on the theatrics and nonsense with fake spell books?" I glared at her. "What if something had happened?"
"Artemis wasn't going to do anything."
"You don't know that!" I argued, surprised I was almost shouting again.
I didn't like feeling this angry, this out of control. Especially not because of Harper. I didn't think I'd ever been this furious with her. Not even close.
"James." She started and it sounded almost as if she thought I were being unreasonable. "What is going on with you?"
"You didn't have to do that." I said angrily. "What were you playing at Harper? Threatening Olympus like that in front of Artemis? What were you thinking? Have you gone mad?"
"I was thinking she'd just threatened me." Harper said indignantly, her expression almost as angry as mine at this point.
"So what? You thought it was a brilliant idea to mess with her?" I asked furiously. "Do you realize how dangerously stu-"
"What's your problem?" Harper snapped cutting across the question. I knew I was pushing it with her, Harper hated it when her intelligence was questioned. To her it was a low blow, but I was too angry to care. "You've never had an issue scaring the gods when we've had to before."
"But you didn't have to, did you?" I retorted. "Artemis would have left, but no you had to go and wind her up."
"You're one to talk!" she said her tone incredulous again. "How many gods have you gotten smart with just because they annoyed you?"
"You put us in danger Harper." I said furiously. "All of us."
I expected Harper to either argue back at this or show some sort of remorse, but she didn't. She continued to look at me, her eyes narrowed as if I'd suddenly started spouting some sort of alien language she was trying to figure out from context clues.
This was one of the best and worst things about having Harper as a friend. When faced with conflict, she didn't always answer you straight away. Looking at her now, I could tell she was over thinking in about fifteen different directions trying, to find the disconnect between our understandings. Her brain examining and dismissing information until it could come up with an explanation.
Evidently she couldn't find one however, because, still looking at me as if I were insane, she asked.
"How is this any different from anything we do?"
She didn't get it. She really didn't. That much was clear as she continued.
"Danger is a hazard of our job, so is angering the gods. It's just what-"
"What we do!" I said gesturing between us. "We are taking that risk, and we can keep an eye on Lucy." I said angrily. "But Libby didn't sign up for that."
"That's what this is about?" Harper asked incredulously. "Libby?"
"Artemis might be too scared to strike out at either of us directly, but do you think she's going to take that sort of embarrassment lightly?" I said gesturing towards the door in the direction of main hall. "Running scared from a demigod, a mortal, in front of other mortals. You humiliated her."
"I can't believe this." Harper muttered shaking her head, and she sounded as if she really couldn't, but she didn't sound angry anymore. No, now she sounded annoyed. As if she thought I was being unreasonable.
"Did it occur to you that Artemis might take her anger at you out on the nearest, easier target?"
I glared at her.
"Would you really put it past an Olympian to punish the innocent by standard for just witnessing their mortification?" I spat. "It's not like they haven't done it before."
This she didn't answer. Harper knew better than anyone what it was like to suddenly to thrown into the gods wrath having done nothing other than been in the wrong situation at the wrong time.
"People aren't chess pieces Harper." I said bitterly. "I know you're angry at the gods and you have every right to be, but Libby isn't some pawn in your pass time of antagonizing the Olympus, seeing how much retribution you can get away with."
"Is that what you think of me?" she asked quietly and while her expression was blank, her words were bitter. I could tell she was hurt.
"Lucy and I live here Harper." I said. "We signed up for this. And I might be tough, but I can't protect someone who isn't here." I continued an odd sense of anxiety closing in at me at the thought. "And Libby is only here over the summer."
The emotion that had just started to temper with reason hit another spike as my own words hit me with their meaning. I'd been starting to calm down, to remember that Harper usually did things for a reason… that she was my best friend.
But then I remembered Libby's expression when she'd seen what she thought was a spell book. She'd looked terrified. And all rationality evaporated in a spark of resentment.
"Libby is not your responsibility James." Harper said calmly and that spark ignited.
"You're right." I said acidly. "She's yours."
"Ja-" she started but I cut her off, still furious.
"You were the one who said she wasn't going to be involved in any significant danger, and in a matter of weeks she's shot one god, at witness you humiliate another. Gods Harper. You were the one who said we couldn't let her get sucked in."
"So what, are you saying you don't trust me?" Harper asked incredulously.
She looked angry, but even more she looked hurt.
"Harper, I trust you with my life." I said trying to keep my composure. To not shatter what little stability I'd managed to gain in my life over the last few years, but it was difficult. "I trust you with my sister's life, but after what you just pulled back there." I gestured towards the door. "I'm not sure I trust you with Libby's."
There was an ugly silence in which neither of us seemed to know what to say.
"You are one to talk James." She said darkly.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Did it occur to you that I might have had a reason for doing what I did. That I did it because Libby was there." She asked glaring right back. "Do you think it's escaped anyone's notice you stuck around camp while she was there yesterday? A place you've avoided as much as possible for years now? Being so patient with the attitude of the hunters, who everyone knows you hate, the second she got involved with an issue of theirs? You wouldn't have cared if that girl lived or died, much less about her oath to avoid men, and yet you spent all night hovering around the infirmary at camp. How long do you think it takes information like that to make it back to the pantheon?" she asked sourly. "Do you really think they haven't noticed? Because Artemis has, she all but said so to Libby."
"I-" I started, stunned, but Harper was gathering steam at this point.
"So yes, maybe I did find it appropriate to scare Artemis. To remind her the gods aren't the only ones with power, and there are consequences of trying to influence people in our immediate circle. You know you have a lot of nerve raging at me about my relationships with the gods and Libby, seeing as the one thing Libby asked of Artemis, was to call her hunters off of you. To protect the one vulnerability in that damn curse that keeps you alive. But by all means," she continued gesturing towards the room at large. "Keep telling me how selfish I am, and how I've made it all about me."
I didn't respond, too shocked by this information, and Harper's jaw tightened.
"I like Libby." She said. "But I warned you James. I warned you not to get attached. And if you're so concerned about her safety, at least I'm not the one that all but sent up a flair telling the entire mythological world there was in fact, someone I cared about that lives outside of this library. And don't pretend like you don't." She added scathingly. "I'm not an idiot James. That girl could ask you to retrieve peace for the pantheon at the bottom of the Underworld, and you'd have dug half way to Tartarus before it even occurred to you to question where you'd even found a shovel."
I didn't answer this, mostly because what she was saying was ridiculous, but also, because a small part of me was wondering if maybe, in the tamest of her utterly bizarre remonstrations, that Harper might have a point.
She didn't give me any time to think about it however.
"Now, if you'll excuse me."
She shot me a dark look before making her way towards the door.
"Where are you going?" I asked in frustration.
I was still upset, but the anger was draining rapidly from me and being replaced by exhaustion and a fair amount of fear.
Harper and I had argued before, but nothing like this, and it felt as if something had not quite shattered between us, but fallen out of place. I wasn't exactly sure what it was, or how to put it back, but I hated how unresolved this whole thing felt.
"To the Reflecting Pool." Harper snapped, clearly too angry to be feeling the same sense of guilt. "I've got some cold blooded calculating to do."
"Harper-"
But she'd already pushed open the door and I watched as it swung shut. The slam that echoed off the walls reminiscent of something... final.
I stared at the door, emotions vacillating wildly between anger and irritation, guilt and shame. There was also a slow creep of anxiety making it's way into my core that was slowly taking over it all.
Was Harper, right?
I hadn't thought I was spending that much time with Libby, but compared to, well, anyone else, apart from Harper or my sister, I had to admit the amount of time spent around her was significant. I'd even spent time with her outside in the mortal world...
'Stupid move.' I thought angrily to myself.
I'd spent a single evening with Mel, and managed to get her into trouble with not one but three giants. I didn't even want to be around Alyssa and I'd almost gotten her killed. Just trying to find me had gotten her so tangled up in the mythological world, it looked as if she'd gotten some sort of target on her back.
Was that what I was doing to Libby?
'No.' I thought frowning, already walking before I'd even been aware that I'd wanted to move. 'No, we really haven't spent that much time together.'
But did that really matter?
Already she was attracting far more attention at camp, earning warnings from her friends and even her roommate about me.
I'd brushed it off in irritation before, seeing as it was nothing I hadn't heard before, but now one of the Olympians was involved. Even Mel had noticed.
I walked through the shelves and passed Harper's desk noticing neither Libby nor my sister seemed to be on the floor at the moment and I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do, until my phone vibrated, and I was surprised to see a string over numbers that I recognized almost instantly were coordinates.
I didn't recognize the number, but knew there was only one person they could be from.
Annoyed, but knowing she wouldn't bother to question it, I sent the numbers to Harper and changed my direction towards the doors.
She didn't answer the text, but she must have seen it, because the door to the mortal dominion was already glowing by the time I reached the bottom of the stairs.
I stepped through them and was only slightly disoriented when, as I came out the other side of the interrealm, I'd walked into a massive, well-lit office.
The decoration was minimal, but the furniture expensive looking and all available wall space was covered in shelves of heavy bound books. The wall behind the desk, so similar to his daughters, was made entirely of glass giving view to the massive metropolis outside.
Tokyo.
"James." A voice said pleasantly, in the same sort of tone I often found myself adopting when I wanted to remind someone that I was stronger, and much more powerful than them.
My gaze shifted to the desk, where a man was sitting, pouring two glasses of what I assumed was scotch and sliding one across the surface.
'Thank gods.' I thought almost bitterly, but reaching forward automatically at the glass.
After everything that had just happened I could use a drink…
"A pleasure as always." He said lifting his own glass and tilting it to me in a parody of a toast between us.
I slid into the chair across from his, meeting his gaze, keeping my expression level as he grinned. It was the same sort of look Charlie got, right before his strategy was implemented in capture the flag, or Harper, when she'd trapped you in chess.
I was pretty sure Landon Davis was the only parent in the world that would smile when I entered the room. At least knowing me even a little. I was also fairly certain, he was the only father in the history of all time, that preferred his little girl spending time with me over a guy like Mr. Perfection himself, Ashton Wells.
Not that he'd ever let her figure that out. But I knew it. And he knew that I did to.
Almost as if he was aware of what I was thinking, his smile grew.
"You wanted to speak with me?"