Chapter summary: "I hate underwater scenes." I say as I write an underwater scene.

The Kind Thing

I wanted to do several things after that short call. Sitting up has exhausted me, so I wanted to go back to sleep. But I also wanted to call my therapist and see if they were able to move my appointment with them up any further because I was reeling at the influx and rush of visions I was getting.

It wasn't so much that Apollo was regularly there, like a decent father should be, but he was there when I had previously believed he hadn't been at all.

His visits were short—he never stayed longer than to congratulate me and Dan on some achievement and then he was gone again. Very occasionally, he would be there when Mom tucked us into bed, but those were rare.

So, it wasn't like he was going above and beyond the call of fatherhood, but I had always believed he had had a fling with Mom and then fled, leaving her a single mother of twins.

I didn't remember ever seeing him during childhood until now. So why now? Why was I getting these…visions? Flashbacks? Memories? Of him visiting us? Of that strange conversation he had with my mom about my Fate?

I needed someone to talk to, and Rowan (my therapist), seemed like the best option right now. They were sworn to patient confidentiality, and they were also able to view everything from an outside, detached perspective. Rowan was a demigod, a child of Iaso (who was a child of Asclepius), so I had no qualms about talking about my demigod problems, either.

That said, I was also feeling gross and sticky from the poultice, so I wanted to take a shower. I also wanted to talk to Apollo—demand what he had talked about to my mom, and ask why he was giving me such strange looks ever since he'd seen me in the woods.

At the same time, I dreaded it. I didn't have the energy or the mental space to get into a conversation about something so heavy.

And then, I also wanted to avoid Will as much as possible, because I didn't want to spend the energy bobbing and weaving around the questions I knew he would have, especially about my fractal burns.

Painstakingly, I put my phones back in my jacket pocket. Maybe I would sleep more. However, just as I was getting ready to carefully maneuver my way back into a sleeping position, I heard a soft knock from the door that connected the infirmary to the cabin. I looked over as the door opened and my two half-sisters, Cressida and Lyra poked their heads through.

I blinked, surprised to see them. Not sure why I was surprised, but surprised nonetheless.

"Nico told us to come check on you," Lyra explained, reading my expression. They both stepped in and came up to me, sitting down next to each other on the cot next to mine, where Nico had previously been.

"We're glad to see you awake," Cressida said, her voice wavering. It suddenly occurred to me how tired and worried they looked. There were dark circles under their eyes like they hadn't slept and…well, I couldn't blame them. Kayla and Austin were missing and I had, apparently, almost died.

"It's good to see you, too," I murmured. "S-sorry to worry you."

They both chuckled, soft and breathy, like they were on the verge of bursting into tears.

"I-is there anything we can get you?" Lyra asked. "Help you with?"

I almost declined. I was so used to being self-reliant, it was an automatic response to decline help. But Rowan and I were working on that. I bit down my impulse and nodded.

"Actually, yeah," I said. "Could you relay a message to Lou Ellen? Then get me some pain meds? And help me…uh, get cleaned up?" I felt my face grow hot, even though they'd seen me naked plenty of times before.

"Sure!" Lyra said, standing.

"Of course." Cressida nodded, standing as well.

Upon silent agreement, Cressida exited the infirmary and headed back into the Apollo cabin. Lyra, meanwhile, helped me stand. I grabbed my jacket and threw it over my arm. Lyra looped her arm with mine and guided me toward the corridor door. Every step sent shooting pain through my whole body, both from my wound and my prickles.

I had to lean heavily on Lyra, and was gripping her arm so hard there was no way I wasn't hurting her. But she made no comment nor complaint. She simply walked at my pace from the infirmary, back into the cabin.

As we got to the door that would lead us into the cabin, I momentarily froze, remembering that Apollo might be in there. I imagined Cressida and Lyra had held him back from barging into the infirmary and bombarding me with questions. Would they be able to encourage him away now that I was awake and in the cabin?

Lyra seemed able to read my mind today. She squeezed my arm gently and smiled when I looked over at her.

"Will and Apollo are both asleep," she assured. "Will because he exhausted himself last night, of course"—we both rolled our eyes—"and Apollo because he's resting up for his quest. I assume Nico told you about the Grove of Dodona?"

I nodded. "Yes, but not about the quest." I continued quickly on before Lyra could give me the DL. "I don't want to hear about it now. I just want to get clean and stop hurting so much."

Lyra closed her mouth and nodded in understanding. We went through the door and made a B-line to the bathroom. I did briefly glance around the cabin and saw the two bunks Will and Apollo currently occupied.

The bathroom was already filled with steam from the bath (we had one bathtub). I exhaled gratefully. My siblings knew how much hot water helped my prickles. Of course, I'd have to be careful with my wound, but I was already anticipating the moment of respite from my pin-pricks.

Cressida was sitting on the counter, a glass of water next to her, four pills in her palm. I took those first. Then they both helped me undress. I set my jacket in a heap on the counter. Some part of me was worried about a call from Hargrave, but I was in too much pain to worry about it too much at that point. (Which sounds bad, I know, but I was barely hanging on, nearly lost to pain. I didn't have room to think about much else.)

If they had questions about my fractal burns, they didn't comment. They kept their expressions fairly neutral.

Once I had fully disrobed, I carefully sat down on the edge of the bathtub, and let them cut off the bandages. Cressida carefully removed the sticky, gooey gauze, as Lyra discarded the soiled bandages. Then she grabbed a washcloth, wetted it in the bathtub, and began to gently clean off the poultice Herbert and Millard had made for me.

I glanced down at my side as Lyra finished up. I could see no sign of the tendrils of black poison. That was good. But there were three long lacerations, all stitched up.

That's when I realized the tub wasn't actually filled all that much. That made sense, but I had been looking forward to submerging myself in the hot water.

"Looks like the poultice did its job," Lyra sighed, bringing my attention back to her.

Afterward, Cressida and Lyra helped me into the tub. Despite its low level, it was still nice to get the heat and warmth from the water. It still helped calm my prickles some. Using a cup and being extra careful, they helped me bathe without getting my stitches wet.

Cressida washed my hair, massaging my scalp, and I'll fully admit, it was nice to be pampered a little. It was a nice break from…literally everything going on in my life. I tried to enjoy it as much as I could.

Then it was back to being a demigod.

They helped me dry off and left to give me a moment by myself, but also to gather some clean clothes for me. I used this time to check my phones. No calls from Hargrave. Yet.

Somehow, my half-sisters had managed to find another turtleneck for me. I don't know how or where, because the camp store, to my knowledge, didn't sell them. Perhaps they had bribed a Hermes kid. They often snuck out of camp and into the city to buy things the camp store didn't provide (mostly junk food). I don't think anyone would've ventured out of camp right now, but I also had no doubt the Hermes cabin had a secret stash, where they kept their contraband, so to speak.

Getting another tank top and jeans was easy.

Then I sat on the bathroom floor and dried my hair out with a hair dryer before putting it into its usual diagonal Dutch braid. Lyra and Cressida managed to coax me into drinking a little more ambrosia, as well.

I snuck out like a grounded teenager.

Will and Apollo were still asleep by the time I'd finished getting cleaned up, and Nico was off somewhere.

I thanked Lyra and Cressida who reluctantly headed off to their next activity. This was, of course, not before I visited Lou Ellen. The message I'd asked my sisters to give her was to ask if she would be able to make more of my pain elixir, and a list of ingredients. It was enough to make four vials.

We hadn't really talked since Nick—the man I'd mentioned having a short fling with—had died, so it was a little awkward. That, and, the camp was in a bit of a crisis. One of her friends was still missing, and after Kayla and Austin had been taken together, that had really set the camp on edge. Still, she asked for nothing in return (though, I would most certainly find a way to repay her), and I headed to Half-Blood Hill.

I greeted Peleus, his warmth nice on my prickles, as I waited for the cab I'd called. I hummed something mindless, but Peleus seemed to like it. When I saw the cab appear in the distance, I bid adieu to Peleus and made my way down the hill. As mentioned before, the valley was hidden from mortal eyes, and I had a feeling appearing from nowhere would spook the cabbie further. (I'm sure getting a request to drive out to the middle of nowhere already had them on edge.)

Any fears were quickly put to rest (or simply smothered) when I handed the cabbie 300 dollars for their trouble of simply driving out.

Then it was back into the city. Rowan had been able to pencil me in, and I wanted to visit my brother as soon as possible. (Also grab some more clothes to take back with me.)

Rowan eyed me skeptically as I slowly and carefully took a seat, nursing my side. They had dark brown skin, brown eyes, and short, curly brown hair. They had started sporting glasses several months ago, and today wore a gold cardigan sweater overtop a white button-down and black slacks.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" they asked, their voice deep and lilting.

"Not really," I admitted. "But we're both busy, so I'll take what I can get. And…" I took a deep breath. "I really needed to talk to you as soon as possible."

Rowan nodded. "Where would you like to begin?"

They knew of my predicament with Triumvirate. And, yes, they also knew that seeing me put them in danger. When I'd first been recruited, I had told them that I was going to find a new therapist. After a bit of coaxing, I'd told them what was going on, and they had insisted I stick with them. Partly because they were a demigod and I could be more open about my problems and issues, and partly because of the rapport we had built. It would be difficult to re-build that rapport with a new therapist, especially one who wasn't a demigod. So, I stayed, letting them know they could leave whenever they felt it would be too dangerous for us to continue.

All that to say, I told them about my most recent problems: Apollo falling to earth as a mortal, being back at Camp, getting thrown into the Labyrinth, my siblings getting kidnapped, and of course the weird vision I'd had of Apollo and my mom, alongside the sudden influx of memories.

Once Rowan had finished taking their notes, they looked up at me, seemingly unfazed by everything I had just unloaded. I was always impressed with therapists in that regard. I could barely handle my own life problems; how did they handle others?

"What would you like to focus on?" Rowan asked.

"My…father," I grumbled, frowning.

Rowan nodded. "Your memories of him visiting you, your brother, and your mom?"

My frown deepened. My side ached and my prickles burst. I knew therapy was helping, but doing the work sometimes hurt more than I thought it should. Why did getting better have to be so difficult?

"I'm…upset," I managed. "Seeing him again…stirred up a lot of…I don't know. Pent up emotion? That doesn't sound right, though, because I thought I'd been at least trying to work through some of that!" I winced, for I'd gotten overworked.

I took a steadying breath, and continued, "But I saw him again and all it did was dredge up unwanted emotions. I don't have time to worry or care about him. I have my own problems that I need to focus on. He just…keeps wiggling his way into my life."

Rowen opened their mouth to say something but I barreled on. "And I'm angry at my brother for keeping this from me. He told me it was because I hate Apollo so much, he didn't think knowing that information would help, but—" I broke off, realizing I wasn't really sure what I wanted to say next. "I don't know. It just feels wrong. It feels like a secret he shouldn't have kept from me."

"Because you're siblings," Rowan said.

"Yes!"

"Would you have believed him if he'd tried to tell you sooner?" Rowan asked.

"I—" I broke off, partly because Rowan was right, and partly because I'd shifted in a way that made pain shoot from my wound, aggravating my prickles. I carefully sat back, but my shoulders were tense. "No," I finally admitted. "No, I don't think I would have."

"I'd like to return to your father," Rowan said.

I nodded, giving him a weary look.

"You say that he keeps worming his way into your life but," Rowan paused here. "He's your father. Why wouldn't he be part of your life, in some way or another?"

"Because he was never there before," I protested.

"These new memories are a testament against that," Rowan reminded me gently.

My face burned and my eyes began to fill with unwanted tears. My anger quickly turning to grief.

My voice wavered as I tried to choke out, "Then why…" I broke off, not wanting to burst into tears, despite Rowan having seen me cry many times before. "Why didn't he save my mom?" My voice was small.

I suddenly felt thirteen again. Small, and afraid, and alone.

"I wish I could answer that for you," Rowan said, giving me a sympathetic look. "But now that your father is here, and by the sounds of it, won't be disappearing any time soon, do you think that's something you could ask him?"

"He would just give me the same old, 'The Ancient Laws' blah, blah, blah, song and dance again," I muttered, wiping away the tears in my eyes and sniffling.

"Do you know for sure?" Rowan asked.

"Why wouldn't he?"

"You said he's been giving you odd looks since he got to camp," Rowan reasoned. "Perhaps it's related to your mother. It is, of course, something completely up to you, Tori, but you will never know unless you ask him. And whatever he says, we can always work through."

I hated it when Rowan made such good, logical points.

Once my hour was up with Rowan, I bid them goodbye and hailed another cab to visit my brother. I'd texted before my cab had showed up so I knew he'd be on lunch break. We'd agreed to meet at a Mexican food truck near the theater.

Once we'd gotten our orders, we snuck back into the theater and into the green room. I say snuck, because I requested that I not be bombarded with friendly greetings. It wasn't that I didn't like Dan's friends/theater family, it was more that I was already tired from the day's excursion and that giant wound in my side. I did, however, take a few sips of ambrosia and downed one of my pain elixirs, which helped a bit, both with my side and my pin-pricks.

I nibbled at my food, not really feeling hungry, but knowing I should probably eat something. Dan sat back, not even touching his food, and crossed his arms.

"What happened?" he asked.

I blew out a big breath and swallowed my small bite before telling him my adventures since I'd gotten the call from Percy's mother to now.

Dan blinked once I was finished, his posture and expression having relaxed in surprise. "So Dad's…human? He-he's at camp? Is that why—the memories?"

I shrugged. "I don't know about the memories, but he is human and he is at camp. He and Meg have to go on a quest, though, so I would visit this weekend. You'll have more free time, anyway."

Dan nodded, lost in thought. Then his eyes focused on me again.

"You should be resting," he said, his eyes flickering to my side.

"I wanted to talk to Rowan," I told him. "I…I just can't believe Apollo visited us when he was a god."

"Well, it wasn't…that often," Dan conceded, finally opening up his own food. "And his visits were always very brief. But, yeah, he did visit us every now and then."

I bit my lip. "Do you remember…did you ever catch Mom and Apollo having an argument about anything?"

Dan frowned. "An argument?" He thought about it and then shook his head. "No, I don't…I don't think so."

"Hm." I took another small nibble of my food. I had a strange feeling he was holding something back but was too tired to grill him about it right now. Maybe later. Or maybe I would wait for him to tell me what came to mind when I'd asked that.

Dan was half-way through his food when he asked, "Are you going to talk to Dad about it?"

"It?" I asked.

"The vision? Your memories?"

I shifted, shrugging (and then winced). "I don't know. I don't know if I want to know the answer. I—" Our mom's screams echoed through my mind and I broke off, trying to shake off the tsunami of emotions that washed over me—anger, fear, helplessness, grief. "I have other things to worry about, anyhow. I'll table it for later."

Dan didn't seem to like my answer, but said nothing, instead turning back to his food. After a few moments of silence, Dan started in on a more mundane line of conversation, to which I was grateful for.

I made a quick stop at my apartment to get some extra clothes, and then headed back to camp.

To say Will was unhappy would be an understatement. I was just grateful he wasn't waiting on the crest of Half-Blood Hill when the cabbie pulled up to it. But he was waiting in the Apollo cabin, looking frustrated and disapproving. Nico was also there, looking sheepish. (Apollo was no longer there, so I assumed he'd gone off with Meg on whatever quest it was.)

"Sorry, I tried to keep him distracted for as long as I could after he woke," Nico told me, shrugging.

"It's fine," I assured.

And before Will could begin lecturing me about proper wound care, and the fact that I snuck off without telling him, I walked up to him and pressed my palms on either side of his face. I winced and bit back a groan of pain as my side protested and my prickles burst. Will was taller than me, so reaching my arms up to his face had stretched my side just enough.

"Will," I started in a firm voice. Will's mouth, which had opened so he could speak, was now slack in shock. "My beloved younger brother," I continued. "I understand that you're worried about me. But I am twenty-fucking-four. I don't need a sixteen-year-old lecturing me like I'm a child. You're the child. Let yourself be sixteen for five minutes. If not for yourself, then for my sake."

I let my arms drop and stepped back. Will's mouth snapped shut. His eyes were still wide as he processed what I'd said. Behind him, Nico snickered into his hand. His eyes shone with amusement.

"I'm going to go grab some nectar from the infirmary now," I informed them. I also probably needed to change my bandages and make sure I hadn't ripped any of my stitches.

With that, I headed to the corridor that connected the cabin to the infirmary.

I was just finishing wrapping my side again when my black phone began to buzz. What I had said to Will apparently had worked. He'd left me to my own devices after I'd left him dumbfounded in the Apollo cabin.

I just hoped I hadn't hurt his feelings too much. I understood why he cared so much, and why he felt like he had to be strong. He was the head counselor of the cabin, after all. I'm sure losing two older brothers (and previous head counselors) didn't help. But 1) I also really did not need a sixteen-year-old lecturing me and 2) he deserved a break from having to hold everything together by sheer force of will (pun intended).

With a sigh, I quickly pulled my tank and turtleneck down before pulling my phone out of my jacket pocket and answering, glancing at the doors nervously. I hoped no one came bursting in. I didn't have time to move and then pick up though, Hargrave's three rings warning echoing through my head.

I hit the green phone icon and held the phone to my ear, not saying anything.

"Good news, Victoria," Hargrave said. "You're being assigned a new mission. Ellery and Haley are outside camp, waiting for you in an SUV. You have until midnight tonight to finish the task."

"What's the mission?" I asked.

"Ellery will debrief you," Hargrave assured and then hung up.

I put my phone back into my inner breast pocket, feeling numb. Another mission? With my side in the state it was? The small doses of nectar and my pain elixir was helping, but the wound was bad enough the food of the gods wasn't healing it instantly.

I ground my teeth at Hargrave's use of Huixing's alias, as well. It also ticked me off. Typical white man, avoiding saying her real name. Not even attempting to say it. The ironic thing, and something Huixing and I had had a laugh over, was they'd given her a Japanese last name (I'm sure just to mess with me, considering Ethan Nakaumura), when she was Chinese.

So. Incredibly. Typical.

I sighed and closed my eyes for a moment, summoning the will to stand and make my way back to Half-Blood Hill. As I stood, the side door opened and Will stepped through. His face was set in a frown but his lower lip jutted out ever-so-slightly. When he caught sight of me, his frown deepened.

"You're leaving again?" he asked.

I blinked, surprised he'd been able to surmise that. Did I have a "leaving camp" face?

"I'll be back before sunrise tomorrow," I assured.

"Tori, you need to rest," Will pleaded, coming up to me. "Your wound isn't going to get better if you keep traipsing about. And you might tear your stitches—" He broke off, making a noise at the back of his throat. "Oh. Sorry." He looked down and away.

I put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I won't be gone long," I said.

Will shrugged off my hand but reached up to grip my arm, meeting my eyes with an intense stare. "You need to rest, Tori."

I reached up to gently grasp Will's wrist. He tensed.

"I have to go, Will," I said quietly.

I pulled his hand off my arm. I was actually surprised he let me go, but he was staring at me with wide, confused eyes now, and his grip had slackened. I think the intensity of my words had startled him.

"Be careful," he mumbled.

"Always am," I replied.

Will snorted and rolled his eyes. "Let me, at least, grab you some supplies."

I nodded silently, and watched him leave through the side door. I glanced nervously at the front door. I didn't want to keep Ellery and Huixing waiting, nor did I want to accidentally run out the clock on this new mission. I hoped Ellery would be more forthcoming about it than Hargrave. I suppose at least one of us in our little trio had to know the details of the mission if we were to successfully complete it.

Will came back with more nectar, ambrosia, and to my surprise, vials of my pain elixir, all in a small thigh bag he often wore when the Apollo cabin had to be medic during large events where people were injured or during wars and the Apollo cabin had to be battle medics. It was a nice, leather one, too. It was well-used and well-loved. (Maybe I should start carrying my phones in a smaller one of these….)

"Thanks," I managed, counting the vials. There were 8, which seemed a bit excessive. There was a medium-sized baggie of ambrosia, and a flask of nectar.

"Lou Ellen told me about your request," Will explained, looking sheepish. "I hope that's okay. I asked her to make more while you were gone."

"I appreciate that," I said. "Tell Lou Ellen I said thanks, too." I turned to leave but then turned back again to give Will a hug.

As I was opening the main door to the infirmary, however, Will blurted something that stopped me in my tracks:

"Dad wants to talk to you."

Hand gripping the doorknob, I turned to look at Will. "What?"

"He looked for you when he woke up but had to go on his quest with Meg," Will explained. "He asked me to tell you that he wanted to talk with you when he got back."

I nodded, not sure what to say, but when it became clear Will was expecting a response (or perhaps he'd hoped it would stop me from leaving?), I stuttered, "Tell-tell him I'm…open to a conversation if he gets back before I do."

Will pursed his lips but nodded.

"I'll be back before you know it," I said before turning and exiting the infirmary before I had to see Will's reaction.

I may have speedily walked the rest of camp to get to Half-Blood Hill, which wasn't my best decision, considering my side (or my pin-pricks), but I didn't care. I just wanted to get this mission done and over with as fast as possible.

I took a short stop next to Peleus, petting his snout, humming a little tune, and using his warmth to calm some of my prickles. I also used this time to take a small sip of nectar to calm my side down.

The car was waiting for me, as Hargrave had said. Inside, even from where I stood, I could hear Huixing's voice. She was most likely yelling at Ellery. It was a…common occurrence, shall we say. I don't know what it was about them, but they bickered like no one's business.

I said goodbye to Peleus, who let out a low, sad groan, and then took a deep breath, and made my way down the hill. Sure enough, as I got closer, I could definitely tell it was Huixing's voice. I could damn near make out her individual words.

I braced myself before opening the passenger side door. Huixing was in the back but was leaning between the front seats, yelling at Ellery, who was leaning against the driver's side door, gripping the steering wheel, and making a long-suffering expression out the driver's side window.

Huixing didn't even miss a beat when I opened the door, so I slowly and carefully lowered myself into the car, wincing and trying not to groan in pain. That caught Huixing's attention and she broke off midsentence to start in on a new path.

"And look at that!" she shouted. "Tori's hurt now. Congratulations. I should've been there. I can't believe you lied to me and sent me off on some 'training mission'"—her voice changed here, mocking and high—"while Tori was off getting injured."

"That's not my fault," Ellery interjected.

Huixing took a breath in to respond, but I looked at her and said, "Huixing, please?" in a pleading voice. I was in pain and did not need to listen to them bicker the entire time back into the city.

She deflated but continued to glare daggers at Ellery. Then she flung herself back into the backseat, crossing her arms like a petulant child.

"Seatbelts," Ellery reminded, seemingly unfazed by everything else now that Huixing had stopped tearing into him.

Huixing snapped hers into place forcefully, to express her anger. I was much, much slower, for obvious reasons. I also had to put the strap that generally went over my chest behind me (which I do not endorse! Always keep the strap across her chest, kids!) but it was pressing right against my wound, and I couldn't handle that. Not right now.

Once we were both buckled in, Ellery pulled away from the curb and began driving back into the city.

I opened my mouth to ask him what the mission exactly was, but Ellery beat me to it.

"I…I'm sorry," he said, "about your…about your siblings. And your side."

"Are you?" I murmured, staring out the window, watching the farmland whiz by. Ellery was definitely speeding.

Through the reflection, I could see him frown and grip the steering wheel.

"You know it's more complicated than that," he replied.

Mid-November

Huixing slammed the door of the SUV so hard it shook. I couldn't blame her. I just wished I lived closer because now I had to endure the long ride with just Ellery. Even though it had been silent before, at least Huixing and I had been silent together.

I leaned as far as I could away from him in the passenger's seat, elbow on the door handle, chin in my hands. I glared out the window, wishing I'd moved to the backseat when Huixing got out. Or just got out and hailed a cab or something. For some reason, Ellery had been incredibly insistent about driving us home, going so far to say that Hargrave had ordered him to. As if Hargrave ever once cared about our safety, or cared about us as human beings, rather than tools to be used.

"You're angry," Ellery finally said, breaking the silence like a taut string snapping. I winced but turned to glare at him.

"You noticed," I replied, my tone dripping with sarcasm. "Didn't think you would, considering your whole deal."

Ellery frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Do you know why I'm angry?" I asked to answer his question.

"No."

"Do you care why I'm angry?"

"Not particularly."

"Then why ask?!"

Ellery made an annoyed noise and shrugged. "Maybe because I want to actually understand for once."

"Oh, you want to understand, do you?"

His eyes flickered over to me, glaring. "I don't feel things like regular people do but I can still tell when you're being condescending, and I don't appreciate that."

Ellery never yelled, even when he was clearly upset or angry, and here wasn't any different. It also struck me as strange how he could be so visibly upset but the timber of his voice remained nearly unchanged.

"How are you not upset at condemning someone like that?"

Ellery shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me. It's not affecting me in any way."

"But you were part of the decision." I could feel my eyes starting to burn with unshed tears and I hated how easily upset I could get to the point of crying. I, absolutely, did not need Ellery to see me cry right now.

"That doesn't make a difference because it's still not affecting me. Is that why you're upset?"

"It doesn't have to directly affect you for you to feel bad about it," I tried to explain.

"I told you, I don't…feel that way about things. I…I'm not empathetic. I don't feel that."

"You don't need to feel empathy to be kind to others," I snapped.

Ellery's brow furrowed and his eyes flickered over to me. Whatever he was going to say got lost and he instead said, "Are you…are you crying?" His tone was incredulous.

And that only made me burst into tears. Much to my absolute embarrassment.

I quickly turned away, scrubbing my eyes. "Forget it," I managed. I continued to scrub but the tears wouldn't stop coming, and that frustrated me, and that only made me cry more.

"I didn't—" He exhaled sharply. "Why are you crying."

"It doesn't matter," I muttered. "Can you stop the car?"

"What?"

"Stop the car. I want to get out."

"What—no, Tori—"

"I don't care what Hargrave said," I snapped. "Stop the car or I will jump out." I undid my seatbelt before Ellery could respond and pulled the handle, popping the door open.

"Tori—shit!"

Ellery hastily pulled over, nearly side-swiping a parked car, and hit the brakes. Before I could hop out of the car, though, Ellery reached over and put his hand on the passenger side handle, pulling the door back closed.

I finally turned to look at him, despite the tears staining my cheeks. At least I had stopped crying.

"What are you doing?" I asked, my free hand going to my throwing knife belt.

"It's dark, and cold, and late," Ellery said in a hard voice. "I'm not going to make you walk home alone at night. Or wait for a cab to come pick you up."

"I can take care of myself," I said, gripping the handle of one of my throwing knives.

"But…driving you all the way home would be…the kind thing to do, yes?"

Present

I sighed and turned my head to look over at him. "I know. Thank you."

Huixing leaned forward then and asked, "Are you going to apologize to me now, too?"

Ellery looked away and made a face. I turned back to the window, snickering.

I think Hargrave was trying to send me some kind of message because, as it turned out, we were venturing back into the Labyrinth. I could tell as soon as Ellery said that, Huixing wanted to read him the riot act once more, but she glanced at me and held her tongue. I appreciated it. Though, I felt her anger and frustration.

"Why?" I asked.

"They want us to activate an automaton," Ellery said. "And the only way to get there fast enough is through the Labyrinth."

"How will we navigate?" Huixing asked in a harsh tone.

Ellery pulled out a map and I balked. "Hargrave gave me this."

"How do we know we can trust that?" I asked. "We're not supposed to be able to navigate the maze, even with a map." I thought back to the time Luke, me, and a few others had tried to use a map. It didn't end well. "And that was beforeDaedalus died."

"Hargrave swore on the Styx this would get us where we needed to go," Ellery tried to assure.

"And how many traps and monsters does it lead us through first?" I snapped.

"They wanted us to get this done as quickly as possible, so it's the quickest route."

"I can't trust that!"

"I don't know what you want me to say."

I didn't really, either. Even if I knew, without the shadow of a doubt, it would work, or wouldn't work, or did lead us through terrors beyond our comprehension, I would still have to go. Because I wanted to keep Dan and Anya safe and unharmed.

"Nevermind," I muttered, looking away. My eyes began to burn again, which aggravated me and my pin-pricks.

"We're wasting precious time," Ellery said. "We should go."

"You could have at least softened your tone a little," Huixing chided.

Ellery simply frowned at her before ducking inside a small, out-of-the-way bar. I followed and Huixing took up the rear.

Hargrave must've paved the way because when we entered, Ellery simply flashed the bartender his ID, who waved us through to the back.

In the back, Ellery headed straight to a small set of narrow stairs that led down into a cellar. And at the back of the small cellar, though a bit hard to see in the gloom, was the mark of Daedalus: A Greek Δ (delta). Ellery pressed his palm to the symbol. It glowed in the darkness and the wall rumbled. An outline, roughly the size of a door appeared, and then the slab of stone slid into the side of the wall.

It was dark, so Ellery unsheathed his pugio for some light. He carried the standard Roman weapons: gladius + pugio combo that most Ancient Roman warriors sported. I didn't know if it was because he was just that Roman, practical, or hadn't been forced into a different weapon from the higher-ups. Could've been a combination of the three, or all three, for all I knew.

Taking a deep, shaky breath and going through the litany of coping techniques Rowan and I had been working on, I stepped in after Ellery, Huixing taking up the rear again. I also pulled out one of my throwing knives for added light. I had my sword at my back, and a longer dagger on my other thigh.

I glanced back at Huixing. She had Celestial bronze hook swords (or tigerhead swords). They were a dynamic weapon: a long pole with a hook at the end, and arced blade over where the wielder held the weapon (which also protected their hands), and a spearhead beneath the handle/at the opposite end of the pole from the hooks. They rested along her back, giving her an eerie sort of glowing bronze halo in the gloom.

I faced forward again, my breath hissing through my teeth as I fought against my gag reflex that was trying to make me throw up. My prickles slowly began to rise in response to all the stress.

Much to my surprise, we didn't encounter any monsters. Some traps, but Ellery led us carefully through them. And I wondered what the ulterior motive was, sending us to activate this automaton. Because there had to be one. There was always one with Hargrave (who, subsequently, took orders from the emperors, and I knew the emperors liked toying with me). I was wracking my brain, near mindlessly following Ellery, trying to figure out what was up when a chill ran down my spine as we stopped at a crossroads.

Ellery was examining the map and pointed to our left just as I looked right. Something…was calling me. That was the best way I could put it. I was getting a strange feeling to the right. I even stepped that way before Ellery grabbed my arm.

"Hey, I said left," he hissed. "The map doesn't tell me what goes that way."

"There's something down there," I muttered, ignoring him.

"What do you mean?" Huixing asked, coming to stand next to me.

I shook my head. "Just a feeling."

"Oh, that's great," Ellery said. He hadn't let go of my arm yet.

I looked back at him. "Well, I am a daughter of Apollo." I shook his hand off, letting my throwing knife clip back onto my belt, and unsheathed my sword because it gave off more light than my daggers.

"We're really doing this?" Ellery asked. "We're on a timeline, need I remind you."

"We know," Huixing intoned. "And you know I'm always going to side with Tori."

"That seems unwise," Ellery replied.

I glared at him. "Thanks."

"That's not what I meant."

"Sure."

I turned back to the tunnel and took a small step forward. When nothing happened, I slowly edged further forward, holding out my sword, trying to use it a bit like a flashlight. It didn't give off near enough light to be a flashlight, but it gave off enough to help me see where the walls were, at least.

Ellery made an annoyed, frustrated noise, but I felt him come up to my other side.

"If you get hurt again, it's not my fault," he muttered.

"So, you admit the first time was your fault, then?" Huixing asked.

"No."

"Huh," I said as a door appeared. A regular-looking door.

"Oh." Huixing agreed. "That's…unexpected."

I sheathed my sword again and reached for the handle. I took a moment to brace myself for whatever was behind it, and then opened it up.

We came face to face with a basement. It was jam-packed with boxes and—after much squinting—hospital machinery. We were…underneath a hospital? That seemed a bit odd, though, maybe not being the child of a medicine god. Oh. So was Ellery, I supposed.

Silently, I stepped into the basement, following the feeling I was still getting. Ellery and Huixing followed behind, looking around at all the boxes and machinery. They didn't have much time to take it all in, however, because I was determined. We exited the basement into what looked like an underground tunnel. Concrete walls and floors, with pipes along the ceiling.

"Can you maybe follow this feeling faster?" Ellery said. I glanced back at him in time to see him check his watch. I wanted to glare at him, but he had a good point. It was a bit of a miracle he was even humoring me.

"Fine, fine," I muttered. I turned to face forward and quickened my pace. Now that we were out of the maze, I suppose I didn't have to worry about encountering monsters or traps.

Eventually, the feeling led me up to the upper levels of, what we confirmed was, the hospital we'd entered. Seeing as hospitals were busy places and we looked like we knew what we were doing, no one paid us any mind. Phones rang, papers rustled, doctors and nurses rushed about.

The feeling led me to a unit of the hospital where they kept those on life-support. It was much quieter. For obvious reasons.

We passed several rooms before getting to the one the feeling was leading me to. From the outside, there wasn't any difference I could tell from the others. All the doors looked the same. Peeking through the window, I could see someone lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to what I assumed were machines that kept the body breathing and alive.

I went inside.

Huixing and Ellery followed quickly, closing the door. Ellery stayed by the door, peeking out the small window on it, to make sure we wouldn't get caught.

"Who is he?" Huixing asked.

I plucked the clipboard off the end of the bed. This was definitely illegal, though, so don't do this when you're in hospital, kids.

"Galen Angelopolous," I said. "Very Greek." I scanned the rest of the paper but nothing really stuck out to me. I put the clipboard back and looked at the man lying in the bed. Why had that weird feeling led me here?

Wait.

There was a familiar tickle of magic in the air.

"Tori?" Huixing asked.

I ignored her, closing my eyes, and took a deep breath before concentrating on displacing the magic that surrounded this man. It was strong and powerful—a combination of Mist and sorcery. It was difficult to dispel, but not impossible. (However, it probably wasn't the best decision given my wounded side and the fact that we still had to go activate an automaton. Or that, when I agitated my side, that pain agitated my prickles and made them worse and harder to ignore.)

I felt the energy drain out of me as the magic barrier pulled back. I was only holding it back. But I wouldn't be able to for very long.

Breathing hard, concentrating on keeping the barrier away, I opened my eyes and gasped. The barrier nearly snapped back into place.

"What is—" Huixing asked but broke off as she came to stand next to me, letting out a small gasp.

Ellery glanced over too. His eyebrows raised slightly in detached interest, before he turned back to the window.

"Asclepius?" Huixing breathed.

"We have to go," Ellery said.

I gasped and doubled over. The barrier snapped back into place.

"Tori!" Huixing yelped, catching me.

"Dizzy," I moaned. "Nauseous."

Ellery came over and threw my arm over his shoulder. "Time's up, anyway. We have to go."

Huixing took my other arm and we stumbled out of the room, just as someone began to enter. The nurse jumped back, then her eyebrows furrowed and she frowned.

"You're not supposed to be in there," she said, her voice hard. "I'm calling security."

"Ma'am, please," Ellery tried, but I interrupted him.

I don't know if it was because I was half-delirious from pain or what, but I began babbling in Spanish, trying to sound hysteric, going on about trying to find my brother. Which, given how I felt and how I must've looked to the poor nurse, wasn't hard. Catching on, Huixing began talking to her in Mandarin Chinese.

"We got lost," Ellery said, speaking over us. "We're so sorry. My Spanish is pretty good, but my Chinese is third-grade level. And they only know a limited amount of English. I think I may have gotten some of my wires crossed. I'm sure you understand. Could you refrain from calling security just this once, please?"

The nurse held up her hands. "O-okay, okay, p-please, calm down," she said. She glanced at Huixing and I with pleading eyes. We tapered off and looked at her, with wide, hopeful eyes. "I-I…I won't call security, but you have to leave immediately."

"We can do that," Ellery assured. "Thank you so much, Miss Ali."

We stumbled off, back the way we'd come. Half-way there, I was able to stand on my own. Things were still spinning, just not as fast. And I was holding them back having to be basically dragged, so I pulled away and we continued back down to the basement we'd come in through. I let Huixing find the mark of Daedalus, and stumbled after her through the opening that appeared, with Ellery behind me, ready to catch me in case I fell.

To my surprise, we ended back up at the crossroads. Generally, the maze shifted around when you exited and re-entered.

We paused there. I sat down, leaning against one of the walls, and took some nectar, as well as my pain elixir, for my prickles had not liked the amount of counter-magic I'd used.

Huixing was pacing. Ellery was leaning against the opposite wall from me, ankles and arms crossed, looking pensive.

"What was Asclepius doing there?" Huixing asked as she continued to pace. She had her hand at her chin, but her index finger laid loosely across her lips.

"I don't know," I mumbled.

"And how was he even there? He's a god. But he looked…well like he belonged there. Can you put a god into a coma?"

"I don't know."

She paused in her pacing; her dark eyes focused intensely on me. "How did you know where to find him?"

"I don't know," I repeated. "It was just a feeling. My best guess is because we're both direct children of Apollo, I…I don't know, have some sort of connection?"

"We don't have time for speculation," Ellery interjected. "We should really be moving on now."

Huixing glared at him. "Let her rest, will you?"

I struggled to my feet, my side protesting. "He's right. We need to finish this stupid mission." I looked at Ellery, gesturing to the hall he'd told us was the one we needed before I'd led them off. "This one right?" Without waiting for confirmation, I started down the hall.

When I didn't hear any footsteps, I could visualize them clearly: standing in the crossroads, Ellery smirking smugly at Huixing, and Huixing glaring back at him.

"Knock it off," I called, without looking behind me to check.

A moment of silence, and then two pairs of hurrying footsteps sounded from behind me.

Actually getting to where we needed to go after that felt too easy. Since Ellery had the map, he'd taken the lead again, and we'd followed the winding and inscrutable path of the maze to wherever this automaton was.

I didn't really like the sound of it. Automatons, while impressive, were also quite dangerous. The combination of magic and machinery often made things that were not easy to control. At least with humans and demigods, you could sometimes predict how they might react to certain situations, you could manipulate them if you knew how to, and they were relatively easy to kill. Automatons were the exact opposite.

If done even slightly wrong, they could become unpredictable and that made them extremely dangerous.

And why were the emperors asking us to activate one? What was it going to do for them? Considering we had to take the Labyrinth to get to it, I had a feeling they weren't going to ask it to clean their palaces or cook for them or bring them everything their shriveled hearts desired. There was probably a much more sinister command for this automaton.

Why only one? It seemed odd that, if they were asking us to activate it for violence, there would only be one. Why not an army?

Ellery paused as we came to a T-junction. He carefully folded up the map, slipped it into a plastic baggie, and put that into his breast jacket pocket.

"To the right," he said, gesturing. "The automaton we're supposed to activate is just down this hall."

"Great," I muttered. Despite the lack of traps and monsters we encountered, my side was now very angry and sore, which only made my prickles worse. I'd taken some sips of nectar throughout and now downed another vial of pain elixir to get me through these next moments (and ready to fight if the need arose). I'd probably have to take another before we left to get back to New York City.

"How's our deadline?" Huixing asked.

Ellery glanced at his watch. "We're fine."

Time worked different in magical places, often sped up. I had no idea how we were still fine on time, because it felt like we'd been walking for hours.

Not that I minded, of course. That meant Dan and Anya were still safe.

I took a steadying breath.

"Let's go," I said, venturing forward.

The doorway at the end of the hall opened up into a massive room. I say room, only because we were underground somewhere, in an enclosed space. But this "room" was the size of a football stadium. The roof rose so high, it disappeared in the gloom. I couldn't see the top. For a moment, I wondered how such a massive place could exist in the Labyrinth. I'd always been told the Labyrinth snaked just under the earth's crust. It wasn't like the Underworld, which was further down.

Perhaps we had entered the upper world once again, but just didn't know it. Especially since we were surrounded by stone walls that let no light through. Completely sealed, which I found a bit strange. Even if we were in the upper world again, how had the enormous statue standing in the middle of this "room" gone unnoticed for, what I assumed, was millennia?

Granted, the Athena Parthenos that now stood on Half-Blood Hill had also gone undiscovered, but even the Athena Parthenos was nowhere near as big as the automaton before us.

It stood at least 100 feet tall, with a halo of spikes surrounding its head, and was, of course, completely nude. I looked at the face, a flicker of familiarity washing over me.

My heart dropped to my stomach and I felt my stomach roll with nausea, taking my heart with it.

"Is that…" Huixing began, her voice wavering with amused confusion as she gazed up at the statue. "Your dad?"

"Kill me now," I muttered, looking away.

"The face is wrong," Ellery stated in a matter-of-fact voice. "If memory serves, this is the Colossus Neronis. Emperor Nero had it constructed in honor of him and Apollo." He gestured to it, from top to bottom. "So, Nero took Apollo's godly…physique, and slapped his head on it."

Huixing let out a low, appreciative whistle. "Wow, Tori, your dad is h—"

"Finish that sentence and I will gut you," I snapped, glaring at her. She smirked back, mirth twinkling in her eyes.

"He's hot," Ellery said.

Huixing's head snapped over to him, her mouth dropping open so wide I thought she might dislocate her jaw. I glared at him. He ignored both of us, choosing to admire the statue, instead.

"Just facts." Ellery shrugged.

"I do not need both of you fawning over my—Apollo's godly figure, right now, okay?" I spat. "Can we please just turn this thing on and leave?"

Ellery cleared his throat, then shouted, "Command sequence: Daedalus Twenty-Three."

I flinched. Hearing that brought back memories of the Second Titan War. Annabeth had received a message from Athena that activated every statue in New York City that helped us defend Manhattan from Kronos. It wasn't a completely terrible memory, since they'd helped us, but it was also about war, so still terrible in that regard.

When nothing immediately happened, Ellery shouted, "Activate Plan Heraclea. Defend Rome."

I looked over at him. "I don't like the sound of that."

"It was a battle between Greece and Rome, yes," Ellery confirmed, still watching the statue.

I clenched my hands into fists, trying to resist the urge to punch him, or throw one of my daggers at his face.

"…and what does it mean the statue will do?" I asked slowly.

Ellery finally looked down, but not at me. It was like he was bracing himself, but from the moment I'd met him, he'd been unflappable. "I assume it will attack the nearest group of Greek demigods."

"And I assume," I ground out. "That would mean Camp Half-Blood."

"If it makes you feel any better, the Greeks won that battle."

"It does not."

Ellery paused. "I didn't want to tell you—"

"You never tell me anything!" I burst. "Hargrave never tells me anything! I'm just expected to go where I'm told and do whatever I'm told to do when I get there. It would be very helpful to actually know what was going on before shit hit the fan."

"Hargrave was afraid you wouldn't—"

"Oh, that I wouldn't do it if I'd known?" I interrupted. "As if he isn't holding Dan and Anya's lives hostage if I don't do what he wants. That's bullshit and you know it."

Ellery opened his mouth to respond, finally turning to look at me but before he could, a loud, metallic groan shook the arena. All three of us hunched over and covered our ears, but it rattled my bones, and made my prickles burst before rising like a tidal wave. It felt like my head was trying to split into two.

Squinting (as if that'd help the pain), I glanced up at the Colossus, which had whirred to life. The groaning noise died down, and all three of us instinctively took a step back, straightening up. I kept my breathing shallow, in case it decided killing us was part of the plan Ellery had just given it, since I was a Greek demigod, after all. And it could kill us quite easily by simply stepping toward us.

Huixing and Ellery seemed to have the same idea. (Though I thought Ellery really had nothing to be afraid of.)

After a moment, it turned its head to its left, as if looking at something expectantly. I looked, too, and then realized it wasn't waiting, it was just so massive, its movements were slow.

The Colossus was actually turning toward the left. It took a long, slow step in that direction, and when it set its foot down, the ground shook. The stone around us rattled, and small bits of dust and debris rained down on us.

I wanted to say we should leave, but was afraid of drawing its attention. Once again, there was always an unpredictable aspect about automatons. Even if given a prime directive.

It took another step and that triggered something in the arena. At the end of the room, where the Colossus was heading, I heard stone rumble—but couldn't see, as it was too far off in the gloom. Sound followed it that I couldn't quite pinpoint but my fight-or-flight instincts responded, and I very nearly turned and bolted.

At first, I thought it was wind. But as the sound of stone scraping on stone grew to near-deafening volumes, the only other sound that could've possibly drowned it out reminded me more and more of water—or like Niagara Falls, or any extremely large and imposing waterfall found anywhere.

Ellery and Huixing realized the same time I did.

"Run!" I shouted just as Ellery said, "Oh, shit." and Huixing yelled, "Fuck!"

Too late, water came rushing at us at frightening speeds, and before we could even think to turn and start running, it hit us like a brick wall. I didn't even have time to take a breath in before I was overwhelmed. Not that that would've helped. The wall of water that hit us would've knocked the breath right from my lungs.

Cold water burned my nose and lungs. I fought to keep my mouth closed as I was tossed and turned, the water carrying me who knew where.

I wasn't expecting to be thrown into a stone wall so soon. I blacked out momentarily but came too and flailed, trying to get my head above water.

At first, I panicked. Tumbling through the water had made my head spin. My lungs were screaming for air. My side burned. My prickles threatened to completely overtake all my senses. Not to mention it was completely pitch black.

Then a burst of dim, golden light nearly blinded me, but my instincts took over and I swam toward it. My head broke the surface of the water. I coughed and spluttered, blinking the water from my eyes.

When my body finally decided I was getting enough air and was not in immediate danger, my vision cleared and I saw Ellery before me. His breathing was ragged but he'd somehow managed to find the surface and pulled out his pugio, holding it above water like a beacon.

Panic and adrenaline shot through me when I realized it was just the two of us.

"Where's—" I gasped just as Huixing's head broke the surface. She went through the whole song and dance of coughing and spluttering, before she spotted us and paddled toward us.

"What the fuck was that?" she asked, looking around. But it was too dark. Even with the glow of our weapons, it only provided us so much light.

"The Colossus must be stored in some underwater cavern," Ellery surmised, frowning, sounding only slightly irritated.

It was a miracle we all got swept into the same…wherever we were.

"Did you know?" I asked, glaring at him.

"I didn't."

"Why did you put the map into a plastic bag then?" Huixing demanded.

"Hargrave told me to." He shrugged but it looked odd since he was also paddling.

"Ah, so let me guess," I began. "They forgot to mention the rest to you, did they?"

"You know I would never purposefully lead you into something dangerous," he said.

"And me?" Huixing asked, half-sarcastic, half-serious, for he'd been gazing intensely at me when he'd said that.

Ellery rolled his eyes and looked at Huixing. "You, either."

"So, what now?" Huixing asked, moving on.

"The water's rising," I noted. It'd been at my shoulders when I'd first broken the surface. Now it was at the base of my neck.

"So, we're still near the arena," Ellery said.

"Is there even a way out?" Huixing asked. "What if…what if we can't find one? Hargrave didn't provide you a map to get out?"

Ellery shook his head. "I thought that meant we were expected to go back the way we came in."

"We're still near the Labyrinth," I said. "There must be a way back in."

"Won't the water just flood the passageway?" Huixing asked.

"It could also just be filled with more water, given what happened just now," Ellery added helpfully.

"We have to try something," I insisted. "Unless you just want to wait here to drown."

The water was now at my chin, and I could feel my pulse quickening. I had good lung capacity but drowning was painful. And I didn't exactly want Ellery or Huixing to die, either (even if I was furious with Ellery at the moment).

"Here," I pulled one of my throwing knives from my belt and handed it to Huixing. She didn't often carry smaller weapons on her, though she ought to in case she ever lost her tigerhead swords. And her swords would be too clunky for her to wield like a flashlight.

We all had to tilt our heads completely back to get air now.

"Take small breaths and 'swallow' them," I instructed, "not one big breath."

The only sound in those last moments were us trying to get as much air into our lungs as possible. And then we were completely submerged. In the dim light of our weapons—I'd grabbed another dagger from my belt—we exchanged one brief look and turned to swim in different directions, looking for the mark of Daedalus.

As it turned out, we'd been swept into a small room. When I hit a wall only a few feet away from where I'd swum from, I glanced back to see two points of light still only feet away (technically three, since Huixing's tigerhead swords glowed from her back). That made that easier, at least. But there was the small chance I was wrong and there wasn't a way back into the Labyrinth.

I tried to shake off those thoughts as best I could and kept searching the wall. Only a few moments later, someone tugged on the cuff of my pants. I turned and looked to see Ellery, pointing to his left. There, I saw Huixing waiting for some stone to move away and caught a glimpse of a small point of blue light—what I assumed was the mark she'd found.

It was still too dark to see what the door had revealed, but given that the water in our room didn't start rushing into it, I assumed it was also filled with water.

Just our luck.

As soon as the stone stopped moving, Huixing dove through. Ellery followed. I was right behind him.

Another long boi. Sorry it took so long. There was some Stuff going on irl and I just couldn't find it in me to write. Sometimes you just gotta take a break from writing yknow?

Hopefully I can resume my usual update about every 2 weeks again as I feel a bit better. But we'll see. No promises, since every time I've promised regular updates, I end up not being able to update regularly lmao.

As always, I hope you enjoyed! Comments are appreciated!

Thanks for reading,
TheBrightestNight