The three of them put their backs together and began circling slowly, trying to spot the monsters in the blizzard. Machaela's spell had allowed them to see their surroundings, but only to about six feet away.

A shadow formed in front of Machaela. She lifted her sword higher, but kept circling so that Grace was facing it.

Thumping footsteps sounded, barely audible in the snow, and the monster charged. Grace fired right as Jesse cried out, dusting the monster. Turning, she found her brother and sister locked in battle against another one. Unable to use her pistol without hitting her siblings, she changed to a spear and blocked a club aimed at Jesse. As she turned to strike at the monster, an arrow flew over her head, impaling itself in the monster's eye.

The siblings reformed to the screams of a dying Cyclops to face whoever shot that arrow. Was there another monster out there? They still hadn't found the source of the third voice, but Grace had never heard of an archer Cyclops.

"Who's there?" Jesse asked.

"I already told you that," Ellen's voice said. "Care to help?"

The three crept toward the voice slowly, wary of another Cyclops setting a trap.

"I'm not a Cyclops! Now, would you come get me out of this snowdrift? It's cold!"

Grace cocked her pistol and maneuvered around to the side. "That sounds like something an elder Cyclops would say," she said quietly, "and I've no idea why Ellen would have come outside. I'll cover. Machaela, advance. Jesse, hang back. Machaela has the longer reach."

"Grace? Machaela?" the voice said. The voice shook a little at the end.

Staying out of Grace's line of fire, Machaela hurried toward the voice, wary for a trap but also worried that it was their aunt.

Through the blowing snow, she finally saw a small shadow. She waved Grace off and broke into a run. No Cyclops was that small. She skidded to a stop as she found a bow and several arrows sitting next to her shivering aunt.

"What are you doing out here?!" Grace cried. The three of them started digging her free.

It took her a second to focus on them, setting off warning bells for Machaela. "You were being stalked," she got out around chattering teeth. "Came to help. Snow drift."

"Is Dawn out here too?"

Ellen jerkily shook her head. "Just me. Hate Cyclops." Her shivering had gotten more violent, but now it started to slow.

"Come on," Machaela said. "We need to get you inside."

"M'fine."

Grace huffed at her. "You're a doctor. You know better than that. You're mumbling and shivering—" They helped her stand up, but she couldn't walk straight.

"And you've lost your coordination," Machaela finished. "What does that mean?"

"Hypothermia," Ellen mumbled, trying and failing to take another step. "Crap."

"We're not getting anywhere with this." Grace scooped up Ellen's bow and arrows and gave the lion pelt to Ellen to use as a blanket. "Machaela, you and Jesse are stronger than me. You know the fireman's carry?" They nodded and picked Ellen up between them, bundling the pelt around her in the process.

Following Grace down the street, they only found their way home from the remnants of Machaela's see through spell, and that puttered out as they came into sight of the house, where bursting through the front door made them the center of attention.

"Mom?" Laura asked.

"Need some help over here!" Grace called over her cousin. "Roger, where are blankets?"

He hurried out of the kitchen at his name, taking in the situation at a glance. "Downstairs closet," he answered.

Grace hurried toward the bedroom, noting with relief as Sally and Dawn stood up from the hearth to clear a spot for Ellen. Grabbing all the blankets she found, including an electric one, she reentered the living room in time to hear Roger's question.

"What happened?"

"We went for a walk, and she followed when the snowstorm turned into a whiteout blizzard," Machaela answered, masterfully hiding her own chattering teeth. "We got slightly turned around, and on our way back we were lucky to hear her calling from a snowdrift."

By now, Roger and Sally had gotten blanket after blanket wrapped around the again-shivering Ellen. Roger turned the electric blanket on low, wrapped it around the other blankets, and bundled his wife into his lap.

Using her worry for Ellen as an excuse, Grace sat on the hearth next to Roger, only just realizing how cold she was. Much longer outside and the rest of them would have been at risk for hypothermia as well.

Machaela turned at a tap on her shoulder to find Sally balancing several cups of hot chocolate. Smiling her gratitude, Machaela passed one to Jesse before taking one herself. Sally took the other two to the fireplace, where Grace took one with a relieved smile.

Just then, Ellen stirred in her blankets. Roger felt the movement and looked down to find her staring at him. Breathing a sigh of relief, he squeezed her in a gentle hug.

Setting down her own cup, Machaela leaned past her sister to catch Ellen's gaze. Seeing her alert, Machaela offered Ellen a mug of hot chocolate, which she took and sipped on with a small smile.

"Stay out of blizzards from now on, okay?" Grace told her aunt quietly.

Ellen huffed a laugh. "Blasted Cyclops."

Only Roger was close enough to hear that, and he jerked up to stare at Grace, who put a finger to her lips. "Later," she mouthed.

He glanced down at his wife, whose gaze was beginning to clear as she warmed up, and noticed the undermost blanket was new. Poking at it, he nodded back at Grace. She knew he would want an explanation, but it could wait for later.

Grace finally looked up from watching Ellen to find that the room wasn't as empty as it had seemed. Everyone had gathered back around the dinner table, ready to help but out of the way. She saw many, including Roger and Ellen's kids, with their eyes glued to the couple. This had scared everyone, but she would recover.

Watching everything from the other side of the fireplace, Jesse jumped when he suddenly felt a presence behind him.

"You're shivering," his dad said, and Jesse found himself hugged from behind.

"I'm fine," he whispered back, leaning into his dad's warmth. "Coming off an adrenaline rush."

"What was out there?"

"The Nemian lion and two Cyclopes, and—"

"—The one-eyed freaks imitated you and Ellen both," Grace told Dawn several minutes later, unknowingly finishing Jesse's sentence. "I was glad to find you safely back here."

Dawn leaned into Grace's hug. "I just can't believe I didn't notice you leave."

"Now don't give me that," Grace interrupted. "You think I want you both out there in the cold? It's a miracle we found Ellen. If you had both been out there, we'd be taking at least one of you to the emergency room tonight. I'm glad you didn't notice us go, because you and I both know you would have followed us like Ellen did."

Dawn sighed. "You're probably right."

"Probably?" Grace huffed.

"Fine, yes, I would have followed you."

"And you would have gone out there without a weapon. At least Ellen had her bow. You would have been defenseless."

Dawn didn't say anything, knowing Grace was right but not willing to admit it.

Near the kitchen entrance, Roger clapped his hands to get everyone's attention, and Grace glanced over to find Ellen, still wrapped in blankets, sitting at the hearth under her own strength. She starting making her way over to her aunt, and she noticed her siblings doing the same.

"If you haven't looked outside in the last hour," Roger told everyone, "it's a whiteout. There's no way any of you are making it home tonight, and we have plenty of room."

He started divvying up bedrooms and couch space, but Grace sat down next to Ellen. Machaela claimed the other side and Jesse sat on the floor.

"How are you feeling?" Machaela asked. "I'm glad to see you upright."

"Thank you," Ellen's voice was quiet, but it seemed to be on purpose. "I can't believe I went out to help you, and you ended up saving me."

"Why did you follow us?" Grace asked, wrapping her arm around the older woman's shoulders.

Ellen leaned into the warmth. "Thought I could help you fight." She huffed a laugh. "I guess I'm not the fighter I used to be, but then monsters haven't tracked me in years. I heard the crash and figured one of the neighbors had a battle coming, then you three rushed out."

"Who's your parent?" Jesse asked, leaning forward.

Ellen wriggled her arm out of the blankets and pulled up her sleeve.

"Bellona," Grace breathed. "No wonder I've never seen you wear short sleeves. Do you keep up with the legion?"

She shook her head. "Not really. How long have you been in?"

Machaela glanced around the room, but everyone else was still occupied with setting up beds. No one was close enough to overhear.

"Then you have a lot to catch up on," Machaela finally answered. "Grace found out her parentage the summer she turned 15. Jesse and I didn't discover ours until a year and a half ago, but the three of us didn't go to Camp Jupiter. We went to Camp Half-Blood."

"Camp Half-Blood?" Ellen repeated, becoming more and more alert as she warmed up.

"Before Jupiter and Juno ruled Olympus," Grace answered quietly, "Olympus was in Greece, and Zeus and Hera were king and queen. The Greek gods didn't fade, they just gained a personality. Everyone at Camp Half-Blood is a child of a Greek aspect. Jesse and I are children of Athena, and Machaela's dad is Hephaestus."

"So all your training was there? Then how do you know about Camp Jupiter? And isn't Athena a virgin goddess like Minerva?"

Jesse shook his head. "Athena has children of the mind, like how she was born. She placed Grace and me into Mom's womb. We're the only naturally born children of Athena ever."

Machaela picked up. "And only a third of our training was at Camp Half-Blood. Another third was at Camp Jupiter." She rolled her arm over to display her tattoo. "We're descendants of Mercury, too, on our Mom's side. Reyna was pretty surprised to find legacies in Camp Half-Blood."

"Who's Reyna? And what about the other third?"

"One of Camp Jupiter's current praetors," Grace answered. "She serves with Frank Zhang, son of Mars. Reyna is your sister. The other third of our training was with the House of Life. Heard of them?"

Ellen shook her head.

"Egyptian myth," Machaela told her. "The three of us combine three worlds: Greek, Roman, and Egyptian."

"How much does Roger know?" Grace asked suddenly. Ellen and Machaela glanced up to see Roger making his way over.

"He knows everything, but can't see," Ellen told them.

"Hello, dear." He leaned over to plant a kiss on the top of Ellen's head. "You feeling better?"

"Warmed up and enjoying being almost hot," she answered. "I'll be perfect after a full night's sleep."

"Good. You're not allowed to scare me like that again."

"I'd promise but…"

"I know," he told her. "You couldn't keep it." He sat down next to Grace. "Now what happened today?"

Grace looked at Ellen to see if she wanted to tell him, but Ellen nodded for her to tell.

"A few monsters scented the three of us and used the snowstorm to their advantage," Grace told him. "Ellen saw us leave and thought she could help, which she did, but got herself snowed in in the process."

"And nearly mistaken for a Cyclops," Ellen added. "I'm just glad you didn't shoot."

Grace huffed in frustration. "I don't shoot unless I can see my target. You know that much, even if you don't fire guns as often as I have."

"Woah, back up!" Roger interjected. "Nearly mistaken for a Cyclops? And why did monsters go after you?"

"Cyclops can imitate," Machaela told him, "and they do it really well. They can pluck a voice from your head and use it to lure you into a trap. The Nemian lion caused the crash that sent us out there, but two Cyclops imitated Ellen and Dawn to try to trick us into lowering our guard. When we heard Ellen for real a couple minutes later, we didn't know if it was actually her or another Cyclops."

Roger shook his head. "So the myths are real? She hasn't been pulling my leg all this time?" He said that with a smile, earning a swat from Ellen instead of the tongue-lashing he would have gotten if he had been serious.

"Yes," Grace said with a smile. "The myths are real for at least four pantheons. You're looking at members of three of them."

"Four?!"

"Yup, four," Grace replied, glancing at everyone to make sure they were still out of earshot. "Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and Norse. The three of us combine Greek, Roman, and Egyptian, as Jesse and I are children of Athena and Machaela daughter of Hephaestus, and all three of us are descendants of Mercury and Blood of the Pharaohs. My sister's (on the godly side) cousin is a son of Frey. Ellen has stayed out of the loop too long. Things have changed drastically since she was in the legion."

Roger shook his head at them. "I should have guessed. And here I thought I could recognize a demigod. Who else here knows?"

"Dad knows about Greek and Roman, and can mostly see through the Mist," Machaela told him. "Dawn knows about Greek, Roman, and Egyptian, and can see anything Greek or Roman. We don't know if she can see Egyptian."

"So were you really raised by hikers?" Ellen asked, seemingly changing the subject.

Machaela laughed. "No. A couple of Egyptian magicians found us after the wreck. We were raised under Cairo, Egypt, by the Chief Lector of the House of Life and a sweet lady named Sofia."

"The Egyptian apocalypse brought us back to America a year and a half ago, then last summer a satyr found us and took us to Camp Half-Blood, where we found Grace. She had figured out our Egyptian heritage by then, and we found the Roman later in the summer."

"I want to hear those stories," Ellen said.

Roger broke in, "But not tonight. Now, you need to sleep. You can barely keep your eyes open. They'll be here a little while in the morning waiting for the roads to clear."

"Yes," Grace said, standing up. The living room was mostly empty, though she saw Dawn and their dad waiting and chatting at the table. "Get some sleep. We can talk more in the morning. We didn't intend to keep you up. Where are we sleeping?" she asked Roger.

"You three are sharing the downstairs bedroom. Your Dad and Dawn volunteered to claim the couch and recliner."

Ellen suddenly wriggled in her cocoon of blankets. "I need to give you your pelt back."

"Sleep under it tonight," Grace told her. "You'll stay warmer. We'll flip a coin or something for it in the morning. You shot it, too."

Roger gave them a searching look, and the siblings knew Ellen would be showing him the pelt before they went to sleep—or at least showing him whatever he could see through the Mist.

Grace, Machaela, and Jesse hugged the couple goodnight, then zig-zagged between furniture to reach the two at the table.

"She alright?" Lee asked.

"Oh, yeah." Machaela waved off the question. "All she needs now is a good night's sleep—" She broke off with a yawn, "as do we. By the way, Ellen's a daughter of Bellona, Roman goddess of war, and Roger knows but can't see."

Neither Lee nor Dawn had anything to say to that immediately, and the siblings made use of that silence to escape to their bed. They may not have been the one with severe hypothermia, but this had been the craziest Christmas Eve ever. All three of them fell asleep hoping they wouldn't have another like it.

A hushed snort of laughter was heard. As if this family could have a normal anything.

And, that's it. hope you enjoyed it. not sure if anyone's even seen this story, so would appreciate reviews (but then, when do i not love reviews? :D )