Hi everyone! Merry Christmas, happy New Year's, how dare I dissapear for so long? Especially after bumming you guys the heck out over the last chapter? You'll have to excuse me, because I've recently switches schools which has required me to move to the other side of the country, which has been a lot of work. I've figured out how to make grilled-cheese sandwiches with a straightener, I'm getting the hang of doing groceries efficiently, I've already got an article due to publish at my university's newspaper, and my department has a beer-league fencing club that I am very excited to check out. So I get to write again! And hopefully you guys will enjoy this too!


xvi : lux industries

"I'm highly suspicious of this," Will said as they clapped.

"You're going to have to be more specific," Nico said.

"Our daughters graduate from Harvard after riding scholarships for four years," Will said. He sounded as if he was working through math homework with Emilia, going at it one step at a time. "Together they have two engineering degrees, a major in biomedicine, and minors in business, accounting and international relationships. And when asked what they want to do, they say time will tell. Oh, and the particular daughters I'm talking about aren't sweet Franca or bubbly Emi or artsy-fartsy and kind of loopy Cata. No, this is Teresa and Lucia who I have never heard spew any similar sentimental or abstract idioms in my entire life."

"Well of course that's bullshit and they have an exact plan in mind," Nico said. "But it's no use to wonder until they tell us. That's just more worrying."

They stopped clapping and sat back down because some dean or director or professor had another speech to make.


"It's not much, but it works," Teresa said. They'd just seen the office the twins were now renting. Big windows, tilted drawing tables and miscellaneous used desks and chairs and bookshelves gathered from various thrift stores and possibly sneakily driving around the city the night before garbage day.

"It looks great," Will said, hand resting on Nico's hip. "It's just that… I don't think you've explained to us exactly what this business is going to do yet… And we're a bit afraid it's a cover for a meth lab."

"It's a little complicated," Lucia said.

"But we've invested a lot of time into constructing the legal framework and we're ready to start working," Teresa said.

"See, that still doesn't rule out your father's, sorry for saying this, very credibly fear," Nico said.

"I suppose the first thing you should know is that our mother sent us on a quest about, I don't know, five years ago because the country's biggest academic library had become demigod-unfriendly via a drakon who had moved in," Lucia said.

"Yes," Nico agreed. "That's very good to know. It would also have been good to know five years ago, but go on tresoro."

"Anyways, to save you the details, the downside was that Teresa was slightly poisoned for a very short while and the good news is that after killing this drakon, we found out why it had been so vicious- it was protecting a treasure which, the drakon being dead, we then claimed," Lucia said. "Also Athena was trading favours for information about our birth dad which we needed to know to make sure that there wouldn't be some kind of custody battle over my adoption."

"I know there were a lot of things in that sentence that make you want to interrupt and ask questions, but don't," Nico said taking Will's hand.

"So we have this treasure," Teresa said. "And it became pretty clear pretty quickly that we wouldn't be needing it to pay for our tuitions because Harvard decided to do that for us- so then we started to brainstorm about what to do with a small fortune."

Will's eyes had glassed over. Even for the twins, this was a lot.

"And of course there were a lot of different options, but at the end of the day we thought that the most intelligent use of the money would be investing it," Teresa said.

"But not with a bank because that requires a lot of waiting and it's not intellectually stimulating or proactive," Lucia said.

"Heaven forbid," Will said. Nico elbowed him and Will just mouthed back 'what kind of poison?'

"So we realised that we needed to fix our own problem," Lucia said. "By creating a platform with which we could invest in research and inventions and technological developments that we find promising and interesting."

"Okay," Will said. "So you're going to be Dragon's Den."

"Yes, but as a corporate premise, not a cheap quasi-reality show," Teresa said. "And in a more empowering fashion for original inventors and designers. Of course, developing our own technology would be the first step to establish some credential and basics…"

"We were thinking on focusing on the patent for the phantom-pain combating prosthetic that Teresa won that award for in our third year," Lucia said. "But that's a different issue, really, did you want to look at our documentation?"

"No," Nico said. "We will take your word on... everything."

"You've given this a lot of thought," Will said.

"We have," Teresa said. "We separated our focuses of study to balance everything we would need to adequately judge a prototype."

"What kind of products are you looking for?" Nico asked. "There's quite a gap between biomedicine and then environmental technology…"

"We know," the twins said.

"We want everything," Lucia said. "We both feel that we will be unhappy unless we live stimulating and well-rounded lives, and we want to use our drakon money to empower others who have not been as fortunate as we were. And then, once we get up and running, we'll also be able to invest in demigod-friendly technology that isn't being developed elsewhere."

Nico was afraid to ask a question, for fear that a PowerPoint presentation may appear.

"One more thing," Will said. "Do your boyfriends know that you each moved in with them specifically to be able to rent an office on the side, or do they have any illusions that it's because you're solidifying a relationship?"

"Oh, they know," Lucia said.

"Oh good," Nico said. "I'm sure they loved hearing it."


"Your father and I were talking," Will said. That phrase still made Nico grin every time it heard it. Redudancy, he supposed. "We had some money set aside for you girls in the event that you wanted to go to university."

"Even for me?" Lucia asked. "I came in so late!"

"Yes, even for you," Will said. "Since that hasn't been touched yet, we were thinking that you two should be using it to invest in... What is it called, sorry?"

"Lux Industries?" Teresa asked. She pushed her hair back, revealing teardrop earrings Francesca had bought in India. "Really Dads?"

"Yes," Will said. He handed them the cheque. "Our contribution to your master plan."

Lucia took the cheque and Teresa leaned in. Her jaw dropped when she saw the numbers and she swore in Ancient Greek, looking up hurriedly.

"Oh my gods," Lucia said. "This... this..."

Nico wasn't sure which one of the twins jumped him and who Will was hugging, but he knew they were both bouncy and delighted, so hey. It didn't really matter.


The twins were both laughing on the Skype video, sitting on their office floor and sipping champagne. They were both dressed in black blazers and dress shoes and blouses with the top button popped. Lucia held a binder full of paper, sketches and nonsense up to the webcam.

"We got our first sale!" Tessa said.

"That's great, girls!" Nico said. "Is it the prosthetic? Danny's going to be so proud!"

"We all are!" Will said.

The two girls laughed some more, absolutely giddy. Nico circled back to the fridge and grabbed two beers, tossing one to Will. They didn't usually keep alcohol in the house, but they had a bunch left from a barbecue that weekend.

"And you know what?" Teresa said. "The buyers also expressed interest in a prototype for an environmentally friendly wheelchair battery we're playing around with."

"Wow, that's great," Will said. "So this is taking off?"

"Not yet," Lucia said. "But we're being watched now."

"We have a million things to do," Teresa smiled. "It's going to be great."

Nico raised his beer and the twins raised their champagne flutes to the webcam.

"Emilia, if you want a sip of beer you have a twenty second window to come ask!" Will asked.


A lunch date had suddenly gotten much more complicated.

"I didn't know we had to pass security to get into their office," Nico said.

"Lucia sounded busy on the phone," Will said. "I'm sure she just forgot to mention it."

"Oh good, and here I was thinking they'd increased security to avoid their parents," Nico said sarcastically.

The security guard piped up. "Are you Mrs. Solaces' fathers?"

"Yes," Will said. "You have our ID, but…"

The guard double checked. "Terribly sorry Sirs. You can step right in, sorry for the inconvenience. If you make your ways to the front desk, facing the elevators, Andrea will be able to buzz Mrs. and Mrs. Solace for you."

"Thank you," Will said taking his keys and wallet back. They frowned, but followed directions. Will was chatty and friendly with the secretary as Nico checked out the floorplan. The building had four floors, Nico wondered if they were all shiny glass and light wood and grey tiled floors like this one. They all seemed to mix laboratories, conference rooms, a workshop in a basement, offices up on the top floor…

The elevators dinged and Lucia stepped out, wearing a black pantsuit and death-defying heels. Sunglasses were perched on her forehead.

"Hello," she said opening up her arms for a hug.

"Hey Luce," Will said wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "This is a nice place you have…"

"Isn't it?" Lucia beamed. "So much less of a headache to have everything centralised since we moved… Andrea, has my Dad been chatting your ear off? Dear Gods, how many embarrassing baby stories do you know about Tessa how?"

"How do you know they're about Teresa?" Will said. "Don't think that just because you waltzed in late, I have no material on you."

"Speaking of your other half, where is she?" Nico asked.

Lucia checked her watch. "She's wrapping up a meeting with one of our biomed contacts. A bit of a mess, really. He tried ripping off one of our guys who has an easier way to test blood sugar, our legal team made a day of it, we might have to drop their file- she'll fill me in after lunch. We promised not to talk business during lunch, not to bore you two. You two barely come to New York anymore, where did you want to go for lunch?"

The phone at Lucia's waist started buzzing. She clucked her tongue, took it out and silenced the call.

"Sorry Dads," Lucia said. "Just going to text Mei to hold my calls for a few hours… nothing urgent is actually urgent around here, I swear to Zeus…"

"Hello," Tessa said wrapping an arm around Nico.

"Tessa, hello," Nico said. He was a bit overwhelmed. When had his daughters become… become…

Businesswomen? Tycoons? Investors? Nico wasn't sure.

"Sorry I'm late," Teresa said. She tossed a purse in Lucia's direction. "You forgot this upstairs, genius. I'm starving, where are we going out for lunch?"

"That's what I was asking Dads," Lucia said.

"You two know this area," Will said. "Show us your favourite place to go out to lunch. Where you take your clients…"

And so off they went, the girls chatting their ears off.

The restaurant was lovely and clean and modern and the chairs were comfortable as could be. Nico wanted some of these for the house.

"It's a really nice place you moved Lux Industries to," Will said.

"Thanks," Teresa said. "We love it. It's such a better location, we're so much closer to everything we need and easier to reach."

"When you'd told us about the move, you had never made it sound like it was so big," Nico said. "Like… Like the company had grown so much."

"Well, we've recently expanded from Biomedicine and Green Technology into Entertainment," Lucia said. "That's comparatively easier, we should have started with that, I don't know what we were thinking…"

"We don't want to oversell Lux Industries until we're really anchored," Teresa said. "Until we've really made this thing real."

"Honey," Will said. "Sweetheart. I think you have made it."

The two girls beamed at their plates- which Nico thought was ridiculous because in all honesty, he was a bit freaked out at how much like Amazons they looked.


"Did you know our girls have 700K followers on Twitter," Will said.

"Each?" Nico asked.

"You bet," Will said. "And the account has… oh, wow…"

"Being featured in Time magazine probably helped," Nico said.

"And appearing on Ellen," Will said.

"You're still so excited about that."

"And with good reason, no?" Will said.

"Half of the views on that video are yours," Nico said.

"You bet your ass," Will said. "Which is lucky for Ellen, because I am still pissed about not having gotten a ticket to go see that.2

"Am I the only one a little scared at how close to world domination these girls are getting, inch by inch?" Nico asked.

"Yeah, but we raised them," Will said. "We changed Tessa's poopy diapers and fed Lucia cookie dough through her first heartbreak. They'll let us live."