Capture and Keep

Chapter Summary:
Tori: Anyway, I'm gonna go cry in the bathroom. Peace out, homies! 😎

I pulled myself to my feet, shoving away my growing prickles. I would have to take something soon if I was going to be able to concentrate on the battle ahead. I stepped away from the door, closing my eyes and trying to take deep breaths to calm myself down. The way my breath shook when I breathed out wasn't exactly helpful, but I could feel my emotions settling, at least. Well, that or, Rowan had once told me crying was a good release of emotion and an emotional reset. So oftentimes, emotions felt numbed or less intense for a short while after. So that could've been it as well.

Turns out my uncontrollable sobbing had had an upside after all!

Once my breath stopped wavering as much, I turned to leave the storage closet. As I reached for the doorknob, though, a soft knock came from the door.

"Tori?" Nico's quiet voice drifted through the closed door.

I froze. It wasn't like I wasn't expecting this. I guess I just thought I'd have slightly more time to prepare.

I took another deep breath, shoving my prickles away again. In one fluid motion, I opened the door, pulled Nico inside and simultaneously glanced around the infirmary to make sure no one else were there, and then slammed the door shut. I turned to face Nico.

"I'm sorry," I said quickly and softly, knowing he didn't like being touched.

"Are you okay?" Nico asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"I—" I sighed. "I could be better, but we have bigger things to worry about. Apollo told you something was coming toward camp, and I know what it is." I explained to him what I'd been doing when I had to leave camp a second time; about the Colossus.

"This is worse than I thought," Nico commented once I was finished.

"We need to warn camp," I said, ignoring how much that comment hurt. I knew he didn't mean it that way, but a felt a small sharp ping in my chest at his words. "I…I'll just tell them I had a dream about it."

Nico shook his head. "I can say I had the dream," he said. "I know people don't exactly trust you still, so they might not believe you."

"I can't let you do that for me," I said. "You've made so many friends. Do you think they might suspect something odd if you had a well-timed dream?"

He frowned. "Not as much as if you had the dream. Besides, I can make nice again if I really need to."

"Well, exactly, you'd have to continue to live here," I argued. "I don't."

"You're not making sense, Tori," Nico said, shaking his head. "Demigod dreams are normal. Percy had a ton of prophetic dreams, and told people about them, and he was fine."

"It's a little different for a child of Hades, Nico," I said bluntly. "I know you're here trying to change that, and it looks like you have, so I'm not going to let this set you back."

Nico paused, thinking. His dark eyes bore a hole into me but I forced myself to keep eye contact.

"You're doing it again," he finally said quietly.

"What?"

"You're bearing the responsibility of what's going to happen to camp, so you're punishing yourself for it," he said.

I froze.

This was another something Rowan and I had discussed at length. In fact, still discussed it because I had extremely low self-esteem and a lot of self-loathing.

"I…it is my fault this time," I choked. "I directly caused this." Nico opened his mouth but I cut him off. "We don't have time for this, we need to go warn the others. The camp needs to start preparing!"

Before I could even turn to the door again, I heard it open behind me.

"I already told them," Will's voice said.

I felt cold acid flood my veins, and my prickles burst. Nico's shocked and wide-eyes expression confirmed that I wasn't hallucinating. But I had hoped I was.

"I told them I had the dream," Will continued in a monotone. "Chiron is gathering the remaining head counselors for a battle strategy meeting."

Finally, my muscles unlocked. I turned to face Will. He looked displeased and upset.

"Will—" I began.

"It doesn't matter right now," Will interrupted in the same monotone. I winced and my pin-pricks rose in volume. "We'll take care of this Colossus thing"—he met my eyes—"and then we'll talk about what I heard."

"I-I was going to tell you," I tried. "I just…I couldn't find a good time to. It would put you in immense danger. Please believe me when I say that."

Will's expression softened. "I believe you," he murmured. "I just wish you didn't feel the need to protect me, or any of your siblings, by keeping things from us."

"I…I promise to tell you after we figure this out," I said.

Will and Nico headed to the Big House to meet with the rest of the head counselors that remained at camp during the winter.

I'm a bit ashamed to admit this but I actually fell asleep in the Apollo cabin (after having taken some pain meds and a few sips of nectar for my side, which was also acting up under all this stress).

I don't know how I did. I just remember sitting down on my bed momentarily and then the next thing I knew, I was being woken up by Nico. He had a firm grip on my shoulder, which usually would've gotten him injured, but my dreams had been—surprisingly—tame; mostly, they were those weird whispers again. This time, it felt like I was sitting in on a private conversation between two people arguing about someone being able to help, to lead…something. I really wasn't sure, since these dreams were so disorienting. So, I didn't wake up in a panic, either, thinking a monster was about to attack me.

My brain was so foggy, it actually took me a moment to push my prickles away but when I did, I found it weirdly easy to keep them at bay. When I finally gathered my bearings and shot up from where I laid, Nico was half-way through his sentence.

He backed up as I sat up, saying, "—is here. Everyone's in position."

I threw my legs over the side of the bed, looking around for my weapons. My jacket was still on me (for I'd slept in it), and a jolt ran through me (my pin-pricks shooting through me, too) as I checked my phones. No calls, to my relief.

"Come again?" I asked Nico, standing and grabbing my sword, throwing it onto my back. I would grab a bow and quiver of arrows from the armory. Didn't need to attach my throwing daggers belt because I'd accidentally left that on as well. It was really unlike me, but I didn't have time to think about that because just as Nico opened his mouth to answer me, the ground shook.

"The Colossus is here," Nico repeated. "Everyone is in position but…well, you weren't kidding when you said it was a hundred feet tall."

I snorted. "Yeah, it wasn't a hyperbole that time."

We quickly exited the Apollo cabin, and I put my hair up into a milkmaid braid as we did. I briefly wondered where Apollo and Meg were, but quickly shoved those thoughts out of my mind. Just thinking about them made my eyes water.

I needed to focus. I wanted to help in any way I could. Even if they tried to prevent me from doing so.

I'd been there before—where, because I had betrayed them, when I tried to join in with strategy or actual battle, they expressed their concerns that I would turn against them again. So, I knew how to handle those situations fine. They were just a bit of hassle, especially if we had more important things to focus on.

We passed Malcolm and Nyssa, coordinating attacks at a table they'd set out on the green, with war maps spread out, completely covering it. They were shouting targeting coordinates to Chiara, Damien, Paolo, and Billie, as the four worked together to set up ballistae around the hearth.

"How long was I asleep?" I asked Nico, as we entered the armory and I quickly grabbed a bow and quiver of arrows.

"Not that long," Nico said, but he looked sheepish. "When we came back to debrief you and saw that you were asleep, we figured you could use the sleep." He shrugged. "So, we set up without you. It's not a huge deal."

"I guess that's fair," I muttered. With all this stress, I would think my side would be getting worked up but it seemed strangely quiet. My prickles were starting to work up a storm, but they weren't so bad I couldn't push them aside for now. And I didn't have time to check my stitches. We had bigger problems. I could look at them after.

By the time Nico and I arrived at the dunes on the beach, Chiron and my siblings were already shooting volleys of arrows up at the giant statue. Will wasn't the best at archery, but he was doing well all things considered. Rachel nearly ran into us as she sprinted to the armory, having dropped an armful of quivers near my siblings a moment before.

Dozens upon dozens of arrows already stuck out from the Colossus's joints and seams, but the statue continued forward, like it didn't even notice. And, to be honest, I don't think it did.

Still, I readied my bow and began to shoot alongside of my siblings.

Despite still standing nearly knee-deep in the water of the Sound, the Colossus raised something it hadn't been holding when Ellery, Huixing and I had gone to activate it: a ship's rudder the size of a stealth bomber attached to a fifty-foot-long pole. Where and when it had gotten that, I had no idea.

I instinctively flinched as it brought the rudder down on camp. The barrier repelled the weapon with an ear-splitting boom. Thwarted, the statue took another step toward the beach but was, once again, pushed back by the barrier.

Around the Colossus's legs flew Sherman on a flying chariot, driven by two pegasi. Julia and Alice threw electric javelins at its knees, which shot tendrils of electric lightning up the statue but it didn't notice at all, continuing forward. Connor and Harley stood near the shoreline with dual flamethrowers, trying to…I honestly wasn't sure. If lighting arching up its body didn't bother it, I doubted flamethrowers would. But they were giving it their best effort and it wasn't like they could sword fight it.

I looked up again to shoot more arrows and noticed myrmekes circling the Colossus's head. I had to squint, and it took me a moment, but I was finally able to determine that upon them sat Apollo and the demigods that had gone missing! I nearly sobbed with joy to see Kayla and Austin on the giant ant monsters. My other siblings noticed as well and cheered, not that they could hear us.

I heard someone shouting at the Colossus, but they were too far away for me to make out what they were saying, or even who was shouting. But it seemed to work, because as the myrmekes veered away from the Colossus' head, it raised its rudder weapon toward them.

I sucked in a breath, freezing.

It was like watching a train crash—horrifying but I was unable to look away. The ants dove at the last moment, but it was a moment too late and the rudder clipped them.

Cressida shrieked. Lyra's arrow went sideways and nearly hit Sherman, who cursed at her.

"Sorry!" she gasped.

They were both about to bolt, but I threw my bow over my shoulder.

"No, you guys need to prep the infirmary," I said.

"But—" Cressida tried to object.

"With the missing campers back, we're going to need healers now," I interrupted.

Chiron galloped over. "She's right," he said. "We will keep a handle on things for now."

"I'll help you set up," I said. "Then I'll come back and help distract the statue." I whistled for Porkpie, a pegasus that I had a rapport with. Thing was, Porkpie didn't reside at camp, so it would be a moment before he actually showed up to my call.

Chiron nodded. "Godspeed," he said before galloping off, swiping up another bundle of quivers.

"Hah!" I snorted at Chiron's comment before turning to my sisters. "Alright, let's go."

We ran back to the Apollo cabin infirmary, as that was the closest and began readying supplies on carts. That way we could move them more easily about the infirmary when people came in. We treated it like it was summer, even though there weren't nearly as many campers here now, because we didn't want to suddenly run out of supplies. Yes, we have a storage room with extra, but it would be easier and smoother in the long-run if we just didn't run out while treating people.

The ground shook again as the statue tried to make its way further inland.

I stepped back outside, having finished setting up, just as Malcolm and Nyssa told the others to launch a volley of flaming ballista projectiles at the statue. They hit its backside, which I guess was an effective battle strategy, even for a magic statue.

Porkpie landed in front of me, reminding why I'd left the infirmary. He snorted and grunted, shaking his head and flapping his wings.

"I know, I know," I said going up to him and patting his neck. "I promise I'll give you extra sugar cubes after this. Just don't tell Percy." Porkpie snorted but stopped shaking out his wings, and I laughed. I patted his neck again. "Thanks, Porkpie."

He huffed again.

I was just about to mount when I saw Will carrying an unconscious Nico come into view. I ran over to him. I silently offered to help carry but Will shook his head. We jogged back toward the infirmary.

"What happened?" I asked.

Will rolled his eyes. "Nico used his Underworld powers again." He gestured his head toward the beach. "To get the flying chariot from Sherman, so Apollo, Kayla, and Austin can use it."

"What? Why?" I asked as Lyra and Cressida came out of the infirmary with a stretcher.

"Dad has a plan," Will said, gently laying Nico onto the stretcher. "To defeat the Colossus."

I nodded. "Okay. Stay here. I'm sure they'll be more injuries. I'll go see if I can help."

Will nodded and followed Cressida and Lyra inside to the infirmary.

I hopped on Porkpie with my bow and a refreshed quiver of arrows (we also had a small stash of extra arrows in our cabin), and took to the skies.

Porkpie and I had a long rapport. See, during the Second Titan War, when Percy couldn't decide which side I was on, though he trusted me in some way, he'd let me take Porkpie from New York to California (long story). And then, he'd helped me carry a former camper, Charles Beckendorf back to camp after he and Percy had blown up Kronos's cruise ship (another long story). And if you were wondering, Beckendorf had, unfortunately, succumbed to his injuries soon after.

Anyway, since then, Porkpie and I had grown close. Dare I say, we'd even become friends. Since then, I usually called on him when I needed a pegasus. I almost didn't need to talk for him to know what I needed or wanted to do.

Unfortunately, I was still gaining altitude when a loud WHANG! reverberated through the valley and in a flash of near-blinding silver light, the camp's magical barriers collapsed. The Colossus lurched forward, not expecting the sudden lack of resistance, and its foot landed right smack on the dining pavilion. When it realized it'd broken through, it raised its rudder weapon in triumph and began forward, further into camp.

The campers on the ground began frantically running around it, and Valentina launched a ballistae missile into its groin. (I snorted, I admit it.)

Harley and Conner kept blowtorching its feet, but had to do so while retreating. Meanwhile, Nyssa and Malcolm had left their post to help Chiron run a trip line of steel cable across the statue's path. But without the barrier keeping the Colossus at bay, they wouldn't have time to properly anchor the cable.

"Wait," I said to Porkpie, as we hovered, trying to think of where I would be most helpful. It was obvious we weren't making much headway before the barrier had broken, and now it seemed like we hardly stood a chance.

Then I spotted the flying chariot with Austin, Kayla, and Apollo.

"Go to the chariot," I instructed Porkpie, who whinnied and took off.

Half-way there a scream cut through the din. Porkpie spurred forward and we got close enough that I could see that Kayla's arm was now bloody and skewered with broken arrow shafts. She was spitting words through her teeth at Apollo, who replied frantically and handed her a Brazilian-flag bandana.

When Porkpie and I finally got close, I heard Kayla say, "Don't worry about me, make the shot! Hurry!"

"Here," I said, making all three of them start. I reached my hand out to Kayla. "I can take you back to the infirmary."

"I want to stay…" Kayla muttered, but her face looked as green as her hair.

"You're injured," I said, roughly taking her uninjured arm and pulling her onto Porkpie, sitting in front of me.

"Make the shot, Dad," Kayla said again before we flew off, back to the Apollo cabin's infirmary.

When we landed, I jumped off, helping Kayla off and ushering into Will's waiting arms. I hopped back on to Porkpie, pausing again as we gained altitude to take everything in.

With a jolt that felt like I'd just fallen through ice, I realized the Colossus was actually much farther inland that I had realized at first. It was making its way to the green—to the hearth that blazed in the green. If it extinguished that, the emperors will have succeeded in wiping out Camp Half-Blood.

I felt anger toward Ellery well inside me, my prickles responding in kind, but I knew it was only a displaced anger at myself. It did nothing to quell the sickening feeling of the giant stone sitting in my stomach, weighing me down with guilt.

A familiar voice yelling, "Hey, Bronze Butt!" broke me from my spiraling momentarily and I looked at the Colossus' head in time to see a giant, dark cloud form above it. Percy dropped from the cloud riding a giant hellhound, Mrs. O'Leary.

I felt my body tense, and my prickles roared to life, reacting to a different fear.

I had been continuously working through that trauma, and I wasn't too close to her, but trauma was trauma and it took me a moment to refocus. Still my heart pounded and hands shook, my prickles now a level where it took conscious effort to push them away if I wanted to concentrate.

It did help a tiny bit when Mrs. O'Leary immediately wet herself on the head of the statue, causing both her and Percy to nearly take a tumble, though. (They did manage to stay on top of the Colossus' head.) Obviously, I didn't want Percy to get hurt, but it did take a smidge of the fear away, watching a giant dog get scared and pee on the head of a giant automaton.

"Sorry," I muttered to Porkpie. "Back to the chariot."

Meanwhile, Percy took to distracting the statue, now in the sand. With Percy back, the rest of camp was invigorated, and they ran to join him on the beach, taunting the statue and distracting it as best they could.

Porkpie and I arrived at the chariot just in time for me to see Austin sneeze so hard I thought he might fall right off the back, and then sink to the floor of the chariot. Apollo hastily took charge of the reins, shoving two arrows into his quiver. One of them was emitting green smoke, while the other buzzed and vibrated.

I ignored all of that and quickly grabbed Austin, throwing him over Porkpie's back like a saddle, seeing as he was unconscious.

"I'll be right back!" I called to Apollo as I spurred Porkpie to fly back to the Apollo cabin's infirmary. Will was waiting again. This time, I had to help him carry Austin inside. When I exited the infirmary, I briefly looked up to see what was going on with the statue and Apollo. It looked like he was struggling to control the chariot.

I hopped back on Porkpie once again (oh, my body was not going to be happy about this when the adrenaline wore off) and flew up to him as fast as I could. Half-way there, though, I realized I might be too late. One of the automaton's arms was swinging down, right at Apollo, who still seemed to be having trouble controlling the pegasi. He was so busy trying to get control back, he didn't seem to notice the arm.

"Above you!" I called in a panic.

That probably wasn't my best move. Apollo looked up, yes, but then he panicked and tried to steer the chariot away, but that only caused the pegasi to panic, in turn, and they all went careening toward the sand.

"Dammit," I cursed under my breath. "Go, Porkpie!"

I slung my bow over my shoulder and unsheathed my sword. Porkpie folded his wings and dove toward the rapidly falling chariot. Apollo tried in vain to get everything back under control—at the least, not die when he hit the sand, but they were falling too fast, and the pegasi were still panicking.

Porkpie and I came up on their left. With a shout, in one fluid motion, I brought my sword up, slicing through the harnesses that connected the pegasi to the chariot, sheathed my sword, then launched myself off of Porkpie and tackled Apollo off the side of the chariot as it crashed into the sand.

I didn't see where the other two pegasi went, nor Porkpie, as we hit the sand. I'd turned in an effort to make sure I was the one who hit the sand the hardest. I told myself this was to make sure the arrow Apollo had in his quiver wouldn't get broken on impact, but another part of me knew that wasn't the real reason.

My pin-pricks, obviously, did not like this. The sand was softer than say grass or concrete, but still painful. It took me a moment to gather my bearings and push away the pain radiating throughout my body. Apollo's extra weight on me also didn't help.

"Are you okay?" Apollo asked, his voice high and panicked. Some small part of me thought about how weird that was. The rest of me was still in pain.

"I'm fine," I groaned, then clumsily shoved him. "Get off me."

"Oh, right, right." He scrambled off me as I heard galloping and a small army of footsteps come toward us.

I carefully wiped the sand from my eyes and slowly sat up just as Chiron, Percy, and some of the other campers came up to us. In the surf, Mrs. O'Leary was currently keeping the Colossus preoccupied, but I was sure that wasn't going to last.

Apollo stood to face the crowd. "The plague arrow is ready! We need to shoot it into the Colossus's ear!"

"Plague arrow?" Cecil asked.

"Yes," Apollo pulled the arrow and everyone stepped back. Couldn't blame them. It was still emitting green smoke. I noticed he didn't have his bow on him. I glanced around and saw that I had snapped my bow in half upon impact. I'm sure I was going to feel that bruise somewhere later. I'd also, inextricably, lost my quiver of arrows.

Chiron nodded. "Everyone," he announced. "Do what you can to keep the Colossus at the water's edge. Percy, Tori, and I will assist Apollo."

I jolted when Chiron said my name, surprised he'd included me.

The crowd dispersed, talking battle strategy with each other as they did. Percy came over and offered his hand to help me up. I muttered my thanks and brushed off as much sand as I could.

Chiron went up to Apollo and handed him his massive composite recursive bow. "Make the shot."

Apollo looked at the bow stunned for a long second. Then his eyes darted up to look at Chiron. "This is meant for the strength of a centaur, not a teen mortal!"

"You created the arrow," Chiron said, his voice firm. "Only you can shoot it without succumbing to the disease. Only you can hit such a target."

"From here? It's impossible!"

"I can take him up," I said. I whistled and Porkpie appeared at my side. I felt a wave of nausea and exhaustion rush through me, just then. I stumbled into Porkpie but tried to make it look intentional, resting my hand on Porkpie's neck to keep myself steady. Thankfully, the others seemed too preoccupied with the current matters at hand to notice. I concentrated on taking deep breaths and shoving away my ever-growing pin-pricks. With any luck, I just had to keep this up for a few minutes longer. Long enough to fly Apollo up to the Colossus's giant head.

Apollo eyed Porkpie warily, swallowing hard. "Perhaps if we could just run back to the armory—" he tried to object.

"Apollo," Chiron interrupted. "We don't have time. You must do this now. You are the lord of archery and illness."

"I'm not the lord of anything!" Apollo burst, throwing his hands down. "I'm a stupid, ugly, mortal teenager! I'm nobody!"

There was a brief pause as Apollo looked searchingly at all three of us.

Percy walked up to Apollo and put a hand on his shoulder. "You're Apollo," he said. "We need you. You can do this. Besides, if you don't, I will personally throw you off the top of the Empire State Building."

To my surprise, Apollo responded well to that. He squared his shoulder and nodded. "Right."

"We'll try to draw him into the water," Percy said, stepping back. "I've got the advantage there. Good luck." He glanced between me and Apollo. "Both of you."

Chiron offered Percy a hand, which he took, leaping onto Chiron's back. They galloped into the surf, Percy waving his sword and shouting to get the Colossus's attention.

"Let's go," I said, forcing myself to stand straighter.

"Are you sure you'll be alright with the arrow?" Apollo asked, skeptically.

"I'll be fine," I said, pulling myself onto Porkpie's back. I tried to make it look effortless, but the exhaustion was slowly sinking into my bones. And my chronic pain was threatening to invade every pore of my body and mind.

Apollo climbed up behind me. I could tell how uncomfortable he was, going by how stiffly he moved.

"Alright, Porkpie, for the extra sugar cubes," I said. Porkpie snorted before taking a running start. We took off just at the tree line, gliding above the forest, then banked right, back toward where the others were still distracting the Colossus with insults.

As we got closer, Apollo readied his arrow with shaking hands. I got a whiff of his arrow and felt the curse settle into my lungs.

"Which ear?" I managed before sneezing. I felt my vision blur and my nose swell but squeezed my eyes shut and pushed the magic from my body. The exhaustion sunk deeper. My prickles rebelled. I tried to shove them both away as best I could. When my vision finally cleared, we were at the Colossus.

"Th-the left one," Apollo said.

I nodded. "Let's go, Porkpie."

We circled around to the left, dodging flailing arms and the rudder-weapon. We were unable to hover because of this.

"This is closest we can get," I said. "Take the shot!"

Instead of objecting again, like I thought he was going to do, Apollo nodded and knocked his arrow. I turned to keep an eye on everything else as he lined up his arrow. I felt his body shake with the effort, heard his exhale, and then the sound of his arrow leaving his bow.

It rocketed toward the Colossus's ear, twirling in a way that told me it was warped. He'd used a warped arrow? Too warped, in fact, because it began to drift right. I heard Apollo suck in a sharp breath. I wanted to curse.

Just when I thought we'd lost, a gust of wind caught it and it sailed right into the Colossus's ear canal, rattling in his head with a clink, clink, clink, that reminded me a bit of a pinball machine.

The statue immediately halted. It stared at the horizon, like it was confused. Then looked at the sky, arching its back, and suddenly lurched forward, letting loose a sound that sounded like the winds of a hurricane. It took me a moment to realize it had just sneezed. It was most likely because my brain was swimming, my vision blurring, as the exhaustion swept over me. I think I nearly fell off Porkpie but just managed to stable myself by leaning forward and resting my hands on either of his neck.

"Porkpie, land," I mumbled.

Porkpie whinnied and began his decent toward the dunes, some of which was now covered in some kind of black sludge—oil? I think it had come from the Colossus somehow, but I was in the process of passing out, so couldn't be sure.

Porkpie, not wanting to get his wings covered in oil, landed in an oil-free, splash-free zone just as Sherman, Julia, and Alice stumbled over, covered in a gross mixture of sand and oil. Apollo slid off Porkpie to greet them.

"I appreciate you freeing Miranda and Ellis," Sherman growled, jabbing his finger at Apollo, ignoring me. "But I'm going to kill you later for taking my chariot. What did you do to that Colossus? What kind of plague makes you sneeze?"

"I'm afraid I—I summoned a rather benign illness," Apollo answered. "I believe I have given the Colossus a case of hay fever."

My siblings would later tell me the Colossus sneezed its head off. I was so out of it, I hadn't even noticed that its second sneeze had finally destroyed it.

My heart was pounding so loudly in my ears. My prickles were roaring like a firestorm. My body felt like it was simultaneously on fire and like I was made of wet paper. I'd just barely managed to dismount Porkpie without collapsing into the sand.

Unfortunately, because my legs felt like Jell-O, I tried leaning on Porkpie, who whinnied in alarm. This brought everyone's attention back to me. I stepped away from Porkpie, not wanting to scare him more, but immediately collapsed.

Someone caught me.

"Tori!" Apollo's frantic voice rang through my head. My prickles buzzed. I could barely see anything through my blurry vision. "Tori, what's wrong? Are you hurt? Tori?"

My vision cleared slightly for a moment. I was sitting up. Apollo was in front of me, gripping my shoulders. I was gripping his arms, probably trying to steady myself. I needed the world to stop spinning first.

"What's wrong? Is Tori okay?" I heard Percy's voice call from somewhere further down the beach. I instinctively turned to look, only to see a massive shadow next to Percy with glowing red eyes. In the current state I was in, blood spattered across my vision as hellhound claws ripped into my mom's side.

I tensed and began fumbling to…get away? Grab a weapon? I wasn't really sure.

Apollo looked, too, and threw out a hand.

"Percy, get Mrs. O'Leary out of here," he shouted. "Right now!"

"Oh, shit, right." Percy froze. "Hey, Mrs. O'Leary!" he called, backing away from us.

Apollo shifted, obscuring my vision of them.

"No," I managed in a panicked whisper. "No. No! It—it's going to attack you! Let me see—" I tried to shove him away but I had no strength left. "I need to see where it is! I need to—" I began to fumble for my weapons again.

"Tori, stop," Apollo said. "Tori—Tori, it's okay." He tried to restrain me, but that, of course, only made me panic more. He gasped and let go of my wrists, taking my head in his hands, instead. "Little Finch," he whispered, resting his forehead against mine. "Little Finch, you're safe now, okay? You're safe. I'm here. I'm here, Little Finch."

Like last time, that nickname had a soothing effect. Almost, dare I say, like magic. The world stopped being too much and my body finally sunk into blissful unconsciousness.

Mid-October

I got beat up and hurt a lot during training.

Don't get me wrong, I was a pretty skilled swordsman. I'd been trained by, arguably, the best swordsman in the last three centuries, according to people at camp, when Luke had still been alive and at camp. But these Celtic and Roman warriors were something else. They were a completely different class. They could probably take on a god and win. In a sense. In the same sense of Percy facing gods and winning, anyway. (Since gods couldn't actually be killed.)

So, learning their fighting styles and then having to fight them ended in a lot of pain and near-death for me. Despite it probably being a wiser decision to pick one fighting style and stick with that until I was, more or less, a master at it, I had decided to learn a couple different fighting styles and pick and choose what I liked about them, integrating them into my own fighting style.

Another thing I had picked up from Luke, I supposed. Jack of all trades, and all that.

This was mostly due to having developed my own, personal fighting style to accommodate my chronic pain. Because, as I had learned, after developing it, there were certain moves I could not do, unless I wanted my chronic pain to blast me like a water pressure hose and completely take me out for a day. Or two, if I got unlucky. I had to be extremely careful about how I fought, so cherry-picking moves to integrate into my fighting style seemed like the smartest decision for me in regards to long-term survival.

At the time, though, every time I was injured and/or knocked unconscious, I was sure I'd made a mistake. But I was too prideful to go back on what I'd requested.

This also meant I woke up in the baths a lot.

They were a weird combination of Roman bathhouses and modern baths in that, they were housed in a large area like an indoor pool, but instead of one big bath, there were rows of individual baths, raised like hot tubs can be in some places. They were filled with warm, scented water. And something else I'd never figured out.

The sorceresses that Triumvirate hired told me that. Not that they verbally told me, but why hire sorceresses to man your bathhouses if there wasn't some kind of magic going on? My best guess was it was some kind of healing powder they mixed into the water because I always woke up without any bruises, scars, or other injuries to show for the day's training. They worked nearly better than drinking nectar or eating ambrosia, even.

I hated them, in so many words.

I always woke up in them naked. And it made me extremely uncomfortable to know that someone had dragged my unconscious body to these bathhouses, undressed me, and set me in the water.

When I'd first woken up in one of them (they just let you sink fully into the water unconscious; it was a wonder I didn't just drown), gasping and blinking water out of my eyes, trying to gather my surroundings, the sorceress who'd been assigned to me—whose named I would later learn was Angeline—giggled. I don't know why she giggled, but it brought my attention to her, nonetheless. She was gazing at me in a way that made me uncomfortable, and that's when I realized I was naked.

Feeling self-conscious and uncomfortable, I hugged my knees to my chest, crossing my ankles.

"Oh, you don't have to be modest around here." She giggled again and gestured around the room, where other people were being helped out of their own baths, also naked.

I frowned and looked down at the water as it rippled and steamed.

Angeline made a noise in the back of her throat. I instinctively looked back at her. She'd gone red for some reason.

"Um, here." She hastily reached behind her and brandished a towel. "I…I can turn around if that will make you feel a little more comfortable."

I blinked at her sudden change of demeanor, but nodded. "I-I would appreciate that."

She nodded and quickly turned away. I glanced around at the others. Some of her fellow sorceresses were giving her odd looks, but then became preoccupied with helping their own assigned demigods (or immortal adjacent, as I was pretty sure whatever healing magic they put in these waters would incinerate a human on contact). I grabbed the towel and quickly wrapped it tightly around me, feeling better already.

Afterward, even though I still woke up naked, there was always dividing curtains around my bath. Had to take those small victories where you could. Especially when you were being forced to work for a company run by three evil, Roman emperors.

Present

When I woke up, I half-expected to be underwater. When I wasn't, it startled me so much that I just lay there, frozen and breathing, like I couldn't believe I hadn't woken up in the bathhouse. Then I had to push my prickles away. That took effort. My side was surprisingly silent, though.

When I'd finally, sufficiently shoved my pin-pricks away, I realized someone was talking in quiet tones somewhere else in the room.

I slowly sat up. The lights were dim inside the Big House infirmary, and no one else who was wounded was here. Probably all in the Apollo cabin infirmary. I frowned, thinking they'd taken me here because no one wanted to be near me in the other infirmary. It was also dark outside but I couldn't really tell how late it was.

Then I realized it was Apollo and Dan who were currently speaking. But there were others—Nico, Will, and Percy, who were also speaking in low tones with each other.

"Dan," I said aloud, startled by his presence. Dan broke off in whatever he was saying and they both looked at me. Well, everyone there, looked at me. I'd halted all conversation.

Dan frowned.

I rolled my eyes. "Gee, thanks. Good to see you, too."

Dan sighed and rolled his eyes, as well. "Of course, it's good to see you," he said softly. Then came up to me and leaned down to give me and awkward hug. Awkward because of the angle. When he pulled back, I shifted, throwing my legs off the side of the cot so he could sit next to me. He was frowning again. "You pushed yourself too hard."

"It was for a good cause," I defended.

Dan gave me a look that told me he saw through my thin veneer, like Nico had.

"You need to stop punishing yourself," he murmured quietly, probably too quiet for any of the others to hear.

I opened my mouth to answer him but Will cleared his throat. Dan and I both looked at him, then Dan turned back to me.

"He wants answers," Dan murmured.

"Yeah." I muttered, looking at the floor.

"They all do," Dan added, presumably talking about everyone currently in the room.

"The Colossus is gone?" I asked, instead.

Will pursed his lips before answering me, "Yes. Percy helped take the pieces down into the ocean. Nearly everyone caught hay fever, so they're all recovering in the Apollo cabin infirmary." He narrowed his eyes. "I see you didn't. Even though you're the one who flew Dad up to defeat the Colossus."

I opened my mouth to respond but Will cut me off, thinking I was objecting, "You promised."

"And she will," Apollo said, before I could speak. I frowned at him but he was looking at the other three boys. "But first, I'd like a moment alone with her and Daniel, please."

I blinked, stunned. I didn't exactly like where this was going, but I also wasn't ready to tell everyone of my most recent adventures with Triumvirate, either. So, I guess this was the lesser of two evils right now.

The three boys had a staring contest with Apollo until deciding he was serious and quietly filing out. Will looked very unhappy. Nico and Percy threw meaningful glances my way and I scowled back at them. Then it was just me, my brother, and my father.

Apollo turned to look at us and upon realizing we were staring at him expectantly, he blushed.

He slowly approached, meeting my gaze. "I made a promise myself."

Oh. Right.

All the emotions I'd felt when he'd made that promise came rushing back full-force and I had to bite my tongue to keep from bursting out in tears. My prickles reacted negatively, too, of course. That's when I also noticed Meg was not with him. In fact, she had not been with him when they'd come back to fight the Colossus, and I had to bite my tongue even harder to prevent myself from saying something in anger.

Instead, I waited.

Apollo took a seat in the cot across from us, wiping his hands nervously on his pants.

"Th-the beginning is going to be a bit more toward Tori, but"—Apollo swallowed, looking at Dan—"you'll want to hear the rest."

I glanced at Dan through the corners of my eyes. He was frowning and looking perplexed.

"Tori," Apollo said, bringing my attention back to him. "I-I'm sorry…for how I acted when you first arrived." He took a shaky breath, looking away momentarily. His voice wavered with pain as he said, "You…look exactly like your mother, now that your hair is so dark." He chuckled without humor. "I thought you were her in the forest. When you were talking with Nico that next day…I thought you were a ghost. Her ghost, come back to…haunt me."

My ears began ringing. My heart pounded painfully against my ribcage. I tried to shove my prickles down, wanting to hear what else he had to say. But my eyes burned with unshed tears; my throat hurt from swallowing the sobs that began to build up in my chest.

"I guess…in a way, you are," he muttered looking away. "I almost wonder if this isn't another part of Zeus's punishment." He exhaled harshly. Then closed his eyes for a moment to compose himself, then looked back up at me and Dan. "I loved your mother. One of the very few mortals to…" His eyes tightened and my own chest constricted in empathy. "…to capture and keep my heart." He swallowed hard. "When we were together, sometimes I'd just request she sings song to me all day." Another pained, quiet laugh. "The-the truth is…the Ancient Laws aren't the reason I didn't save her."

I felt my blood run cold. All my muscles felt on fire for how still I was sitting, hanging on every word while simultaneously trying to restrain myself from tackling and throttling him. My prickles threatened to take over all my senses, so I guess it wouldn't have mattered.

Apollo's voice became rough, and I could see tears pooling in his eyes. "That was an easy lie I could tell myself to justify my inaction." He closed his eyes, steeling himself again. Then he looked at both of us, his voice stronger now. "The truth is, I was afraid that if I saved her, my father would punish me by killing her. And you." He looked at Dan. "And you." He paused. "He killed my son with lightning, for bringing someone back from the dead. For breaking the rules."

"Asclepius," Dan murmured through unmoving lips.

Apollo nodded, swallowing hard. "And I know…I know he's immortal now, but he lives in isolation, so as to not invite more of…of my father's wrath." A vision of him lying in that hospital bed, surrounded by a barrier of magic flashed across my eyes.

Apollo continued, "I didn't want anything like that to happen to you. My children." He paused again, his eyes flickering to my right arm, my fractal burns. It was then I realized I was just in my tank top again. I was too much in shock to feel panicked about my phones, or that my scars were on display, but my prickles did burst when I remembered I needed to check my black phone as soon as possible.

"But it…" Apollo's hands curled into fists in a surprising show of anguish and anger. "It appears I may have failed, anyway. And I…I'm sorry for that." He looked back up at me.

Silence followed. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what he wanted me to say. But he kept looking at me like he was expecting me to say something. I looked right through him, turning his words over in my mind until they meant nothing to me.

Nothing and everything.

I was thrown back the night I had first seen my father after my mom died. Luke had left for Kronos's cruise ship at the beginning of that summer, long before the Second Titan War had really begun. And the camp had taken its usual trip to Olympus that summer. Since I had been close with Luke, the gods had tried to find out where he'd gone through me. So, Apollo had paid me a visit.

I had been a stupid, naïve eighteen-year-old at the time, who was so caught up in being in love, she couldn't see the tragedy playing out right in front of her. A girl who was still so hurt and angry, and traumatized, she stupidly thought she could save the world with her grief.

All I could think about that night now, though, was when Apollo used that excuse—the Ancient Laws excuse. Then I remembered Apollo's outburst when we'd fought over why he'd let the other gods throw me into Tartarus during the Second Giant War—his fear of Zeus. And at the end of the Second Giant War, when we were in adjacent cells, waiting for judgement—his comment about being used to Zeus's lightning.

Then, strangely, I saw his worried and anxious face as he left to go save Meg.

All these confusing, contradictory emotions swirled through me, racing through my mind like a tornado, tearing up everything I had thought before. Even after working through some of it with Rowan. Those roots went so deep, but this tornado was doing its best to completely pull them out, which was only causing me pain. And my chronic pain always too an opportunity to make my pain worse with its own.

Dan's voice broke through the sound of my world being turned upside down: "Where's Meg?"

I'd forgotten I'd told him about what had happened since Apollo's arrival. And wondered why he was even asking.

I blinked and I was back, sitting on a cot in the Big House infirmary. Nothing in my mind, in my body, went silent but I found myself somehow able to concentrate.

Apollo was now looking at Dan, confused but frowning.

"She…" he began, wetting his lips. "She's gone. But I'm going to find her, and bring her back." The conviction in his voice made that same hurt and anger I felt earlier today well up in my chest.

Before I could say something I was going to regret, something buzzed beside me. It was so unexpected, it actually startled me out of my growing, out-of-control emotions. I looked to my left to see my jacket hanging near my cot. Numbly, I reached inside and pulled out my small, Bronze phone. It was Rowan's office number. At first I thought it was too late for them to be calling, but looking at my phone, it was only about half-five in the evening.

I answered, not caring about Apollo or Dan being there.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Tori?" Rowan asked.

"Yes."

"I was able to find an open spot for your tomorrow, if you're available," Rowan said.

"So quickly?"

Rowan paused. "Yes." Their tone was very diplomatic. Something was up.

"What time?" I asked.

Rowan told me the time and I said it was fine, then hung up. I slipped my phone back into my jacket pocket before checking my black phone, since I was already there. No calls from Hargrave. Well, that was one small miracle.

I sat back on the cot, leaving my phones in my jacket for the time being. The tornado had passed. But it had taken my emotions with it (not my pin-pricks, unfortunately). It was probably for the best right at this moment, as I often did and said very stupid things when I was feeling particularly emotional.

"…Tori?" Apollo asked.

"Will you tell the others to come back in," I said. "I think it's time I told you all what's been going on."

Okie! There may still be some typos but I need to go to sleep immediately as I have work tomorrow morning lol. But I really wanted to get this chapter out bc I have also joined a big bang and so will be diverting some of my time to write for that, as well.

I'm notoriously bad at being able to work on two things at a time, but if I stop writing for this story I will go insane. So I'll do my best to juggle both projects! So fear not, updates will still come!

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

Thanks for reading,
TheBrightestNight

PS: ACAB but yes that is a b99 quote/reference (brooklyn 99 is a comedy crime procedural)