Hi all, I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I ended up getting sick for like a month as stated in the update in my other current story, as well as sustained an injury almost immediately after I was mostly recovered. Hope the longer(ish) update is worth the wait. Enjoy!
~secrethalfblood
Jpov
I didn't answer at first, just considered him. The twins father was somehow the perfect combination of the pair, and yet, strangely nothing like them.
He had both Harper's ability to dispassionately analyze a situation for what it was outside of emotion, and Charlie's confident, borderline cruel, ability to make a call and see it through, assured his judgement was the best no matter the collateral damage. It was clear that what he had given them was their ability to focus, think for hours or even days on a problem or situation until they had examined it from all sides. Despite this, he had neither Harper's compassion, or Charlie's enthusiasm. He was completely level, calm and collected, the sort of person you wanted to make the tough decisions without either of those qualities weighed into completing an objective. In my less generous moods, I had a feeling it was that aspect of him, his emotional detachment, that had attracted their mother. This cool calculative nature that ran tactics and logistics, and made the hard calls. It was also this, that had me seriously doubted he ever truly left the military.
He wasn't completely unreadable however, at least not to me.
I'd gotten to know Landon quite well in our infrequent meetings over the years. Enough to know that though he loved both his children, Harper was his favorite. Not that the twins could tell. That and it wasn't just me being around Harper over Ashton he preferred.
He liked me better than Ashton in general. I wasn't exactly sure why this was, and while I had a few guesses, I didn't see the point in investigating it further. I didn't think any good would come of it. What I did know, however, was that it was enough to look the other way in some cases, and do me the occasional favor.
So, putting the argument with Harper in the back of my mind, I said.
"I need you to look into something for me."
"And what would that be?"
He looked a lot like the twins, the same green eyes, though the brown in his hair was shot with gray, his expressions more moderated. A far cry from the glowers Harper had been hurling at me earlier. It was strange to think that the twins had gotten their emotional side from their mother…
"I need information on someone in London. A mortal."
"Your old stomping grounds." He said with a grin that I ignored.
"She's a private eye, her name is Alyssa Burns. Sort of looks like a hacked off pixie."
"A mortal?" he asked looking uncharacteristically surprised. "What's she done to get on your radar?"
"Apart from harassing me every time I step into the city, I dunno." I admitted. "That's what I'm trying to figure out. Someone's giving her information about the mythological world, and I don't think it's the gods."
"That is a problem." He said mildly before continuing with. "I'll look into it for you. Though if she really is tangled up in your world, there might not be anything to find. You of all people would know that."
"Do you really think I've come here all requests and no solutions?" I asked him pretending to be offended before grabbing a pen and a pad of paper from the desk, and scribbling a name and unit information.
"A marine?" Landon asked raising an eyebrow with interest.
"His name is Chase. He's a demigod. A son of Ares." I said as he picked up the paper, frowning as he read the information on it. "If she runs into anything nasty, he'll be able to handle it."
"You really think the military needs to be involved in this?" he asked skeptically.
"No," I said begrudgingly. "But you do have resources I don't. And if she's too afraid to talk to me or thinks I'm going after her, she's going to go underground. We had an… incident, in London. It didn't end well and Chase is a friend." I said the words feeling a bit awkward and wooden as they came out of my mouth. "He's a good bloke, and a good soldier. Give him an objective and he'll get it done. Harper would tell you that."
"Is Harper telling you to do this?" he asked frowning and I shook my head.
"No," I said a little too quickly. "No this is… personal."
I thought about the way Alyssa had said Libby's name, and how she'd smirked when I'd reacted to it.
Someone was telling her something, that someone and that something, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like.
"She was hired by my mother." I said when he clearly was looking for further information. "I think she fell a bit too far down the rabbit hole trying to track me down. Might have woke something up while she was poking around."
"I see." He said calmly, but he was frowning still, apparently thinking about the situation before he continued.
"James, I trust your judgment," he said, filling the glasses again before I'd even realized I'd drained mine. "If you think this could be a problem, I'm inclined to entertain your concerns. But this seems a bit unnecessary. Separating a marine from his unit, simply because of a personal-"
"Three giants went after her in London." I said cutting him off.
"So that was you…" he muttered.
I ignored him.
"She's agitated something in the divine world. Something that seems to have an inkling of what's going on with the library and anyone involved with it. And whatever it is has obviously made it clear they want to keep her quiet. I'm starting to think it's better we start looking into it, because I don't think we're going to like what we find."
"So what is the objective here? An extraction to question her? Or to keep tabs on her for more intel?"
"All of the above if you can manage it."
"Oh I can manage it." he assured me. "You said she was in London, right? I have plenty of contacts there. I just need to know what orders they should receive."
"I want to talk to her." I said. "Preferably somewhere away from prying eyes, and I don't want anyone to get hurt."
"She's a civilian." He said something obvious in his tone, as if it was ridiculous I'd even think it had to be said, but I'd been friends with Harper, and known Charlie long enough, to recognize this sort of response. As well, the fact that he hadn't given a definitive answer.
"No one gets hurt." I repeated stubbornly.
Alyssa might have been small, but she was determined enough to be a nuisance, even for a marine. Especially if she managed to get her hands on another taser...
His gaze met mine, and there was a flash of annoyance in them before it was locked down. I had a feeling Harper's father didn't like taking directives, especially when his daughter's safety was potentially in question.
"No one gets hurt." He agreed and I nodded.
I finished my drink and stood, debating if I wanted to call Harper or check out the city for a bit before going home and facing another potential argument.
"You know." Landon said standing as well, and giving me a shrewd, almost approving expression. "I might be retired, but I still have a fair amount of pull. I know my daughter keeps you busy but I happen to be in contact with people that would be interested in someone like you. I under your situation is rather… unique, but people tend not to ask too many questions when given the chance to work with an asset of your particular talents... Especially a capable one."
"Talents?" I scoffed. "What, you mean unstable ancient magic?"
But his expression had shifted, and he looked far more serious as he continued.
"You could do a lot of good James, if you were looking for a change in career..."
His sentence faded on a question that was obviously implied, and I frowned, a bit surprised by the suggestion and that it was Harper's father, of all people, that had proposed it.
He was after all, deep down, very protective of his little girl. It seemed strange he'd even think to suggest she be parted from the human equivalent of a bomb shield.
But he was also a soldier, or had been at one point, and a strategist. And maybe that never truly left someone like him. It had certainly been enough to catch Athena's attention, at any rate.
Not entirely sure how to answer this, I glanced out the window and thought before I turned back to Harper's father.
"You're not retired." I said for once not bothering with the pretense between us. "And, believe me, you don't want me in the military."
I was far too selfish.
I didn't say that however.
"If you had an objective-"
"I don't like taking orders." I said cutting him off. "I listen to Harper because I trust her. She's my friend, and I'm not stupid enough not to recognize that she's smarter than I am."
"You don't trust my judgement?"
"I don't trust you not to conceal from your child there's a prophecy about her, then send her to a mythical summer camp full monsters, magic, and demigods and hope that it just doesn't come up while her brother develops a complex over the whole thing." I said testily. "Sort of a strange move in my opinion."
"James-"
"And let me ask you this Landon." I said cutting across him again, irritation shifting into anger. "When contemplating this attempt at recruiting a weapon of mythological mass destruction in to your arsenal, did it occur to you what might happen if I didn't like the orders I was given? What would happen if, just maybe, we didn't make the same call?" I glared at him. "How many people do you think might get hurt?" I asked darkly. "How exactly would you plan to stop me? How would you deal with a power that you barely understand, let alone have any idea how to control?"
"You have that little faith in yourself?" he asked raising an eyebrow, and while his tone was calm, he sounded bitter, disappointed even.
"It's a test I've already failed." I said darkly. "More than once. Believe me, you don't want to rely on me to look out for other people's best interests."
"And what's your insurance policy then?" he asked sardonically. "If you're so convinced you're the selfish creature condemned to self destruction, have you got your own contingency plan?"
It was clear he thought I was being dramatic. That he had more faith in my morality than I thought anyone ever should and it surprised me. Surely the twins father of all people couldn't have been this blind.
"Harper." I said calmly, feeling as if this should have been obvious and he looked surprised. "Harper is the contingency plan, and she knows it. And I wouldn't be so keen to split us up if I were you." I said quietly. "Neither of us will thank you for it."
Lpov
It took a while to calm Lucy down after James and Harper had left the main part of the library, presumably to go shout at each other.
It didn't help when James came storming out of the wing I suspected to be Harper's room, his expression more thunderous than Zeus himself as he walked towards the doors.
I wasn't sure where he was going, or even where Harper had ended up, but Lucy seemed nervous all afternoon as we made the schedule for the week and processed visitor requests. Neither Harper nor James resurfaced over the next several hours.
It made for a very unsettled feeling for the rest of the day, which was why, perhaps, we abandoned working on the requests earlier than we normally would have, raided the snack drawer, and lugged as much junk food as we could carry to the living area, scouring the internet for the most ridiculous chick flicks we could find.
"It's just so unlike them." She said biting into a mini muffin and frowning at me. "I can't remember the last time they went this long without talking, because of an argument at least."
Without really meaning to, I glanced at Lucy then back at the map that was still plastered over the wall to my right, wondering where James had gone.
'Who's to say he's even in the mortal world.' I thought ruefully.
For all I knew, James had thrown himself through the door to the Underworld in an attempt to reach Tartarus so he find some monsters to fight and blow off steam.
'But James would never do that.' I thought hastily reassuring myself.
Running off to go fight monsters because he was in a bad mood did seem like something James would do, but intentionally going to Tartarus… He wasn't that stupid. He knew who was waiting for him there.
"I hope he gets home soon." She muttered glancing at her nails, which were a pastel shade of pink we'd picked out from the collection in her room.
I'd suggested a girls night to take her mind off the argument and it had had some success, but clearly Harper and her brother were still on her mind.
"They'll get over it." I said confidently holding out a box of chocolate covered pretzels from which she grabbed a handful.
"You think?"
"They kind of have to." I pointed out and when she raised an eyebrow, I continued. "They're too similar. Only they can put up with working with each other all the time. Everyone else would go insane."
At this she laughed and shot me a conspiratorial look, as if what she was about to say made her feel a bit guilty, but she was going to anyway.
"Want to know something I never understood?"
"What's that?" I asked.
"Why my brother and Harper never gave it a go."
"What? Like dating?" I asked trying to sound casual about the subject, but unable to ignore the way my heart felt as if had started to constrict.
"Yeah I mean, they're so similar." She said emphasizing the point. "And I know she's always had a thing for Ashton, but for a while there, when Harper first moved in to the library and they weren't talking… I dunno."
Her tone was light, but her expression was oddly meditative, and I figured this was something Lucy had spent a lot of time thinking about. I had to admit, I'd wondered about it a fair amount myself, but the more I got to know the pair, it had crossed my mind less until it was something I rarely thought of at all. Harper and James were friends. Best friends. Seeing it as any thing more or less just felt unnatural. Wrong. Like the order of the world had been disturbed.
"James was always popular at school. All the girls in my year wanted to be friends with me so I would have them round at my house, just so they could try to talk to him, but he never really spent all that much time around girls."
"Really." I said surprised at this. Between me, Harper, his sister and occasionally Allison, James seemed surrounded by women these days. But thinking back at camp, he had been a part of the same crowd as Ashton and Charlie, always playing basketball with the guys. He'd never had an issue talking to girls, but he hadn't sought them out either.
"He's always been a bit hot and cold with people, either likes them or he doesn't, and it doesn't really change. So when I saw him and Harper getting on like a house on fire I just thought, well, maybe it meant something."
"It does mean something." I said frowning.
I didn't think I'd ever trusted anyone a fraction of the amount James and Harper trusted each other. And both of them were kind of, ok severely, messed up in that department if Harper's behavior with Artemis earlier was anything to go by…
"Yeah, I know they're friends and they have each other's, backs blah blah blah." She said rolling her eyes. "And my brother is an idiot. But plenty of worse idiots out there have girlfriends."
She made a sweeping gesture at the room, as if to encompass the unfairness that some poor girl was having said idiots foisted upon her instead of the idiot Lucy loved.
"I don't think James wants a girlfriend." I pointed out.
"Don't you think that's weird?" she asked raising an eyebrow and I thought back to my brief attempt on a dating app designed for students at my school, how many guys' profiles had the words 'fun' or 'non-exclusive' under their looking for information.
"At his age?" I asked with a scoff. "No."
I tried to picture James in the café I'd met Ashton at back on campus, perhaps with the very same waitress and intern that was currently making my professional life much harder than it had to be. I expected to feel jealous, but honestly had to hold back a laugh when I remembered James's face as he'd heard Kelly talking to me the other day, or how easily annoyed he was by most things mortal and mundane.
I tried to picture James getting dressed up for a date night, or meeting for coffee between classes and failed. The thought of him showing up to someone's doors with flowers or a teddy bear nearly sent me into a tailspin of hysterics.
"What?" Lucy asked her eyes going wide alarm as I laughed.
"I just… I can't see James dating in the modern world."
"Modern world?"
"Yeah you know, with apps and texting, and which emoji sends the right message so people don't think I'm upset when I just respond with lol."
"Why would anyone think you were mad at that?" Lucy asked sounding totally confused. "It means you're laughing."
"I just don't see James having a lot of patience with it." I said still grinning a bit. "Maybe that's why he and Harper never 'gave it a go'." I continued smirking a little putting air quotes around the world. "Ashton's a huge sap whenever he's dating someone. Flowers, candy, the whole nine yards. Who knows, maybe Harper likes to be pampered."
"She does seem to have a never ending supply of chocolate." Lucy said thoughtfully then laughed. "Oh my god, what if Ashton's the reason Harper's addicted to sugar?"
"How scandalous." I said pretending to put my hand to my mouth in shock. "He's a medic. His mother's a doctor."
"What if that was his plan all along?" she chuckled. "She'll never leave him. She'll go into withdraw."
We both laughed and I flopped back on the cushions trying to catch my breath.
It took a few minutes, but eventually I found myself staring up at the lights wondering what on earth someone like James considered dating, and if he wasn't the flowers and chocolates sort of guy, what kind of guy was he?
Lucy seemed to be on a similar train of thought because she said.
"I know it doesn't always seem like it, but James isn't as cold as he makes himself out to be."
I was surprised at the shift in her tone, and sat up to look at her.
She was looking at the screen where a man was running through an airport, miraculously by passing security, and continued her voice still quiet, but also a little sad.
"He likes having someone to take care of. Sometimes I think he needs it, someone to fret over, even if it isn't flowers or candy." She smiled and did look at me at this. "He'll never admit to it, but he's a bit of a mum."
I frowned not really sure I agreed with her argument, but didn't see the point in contradicting her.
"Maybe that's why he gets on with Harper so much." She said with a yawn. "Someone has to make sure she eats."
It wasn't long before the credits were rolling and Lucy announced that she was going to go to bed. She seemed far more relaxed than she had been earlier, but I found what she'd said sticking with me as I tried to fall asleep.
'He likes having someone to take care of.'
I'd thought it was a bit ridiculous at first, unable to picture it, but now that I really considered the matter…
Harper had said James had stayed at camp, waiting outside the infirmary while I was treating Isabella. He seemed to have a habit of making coffee for people who were staying up late working in the library, obsessed over the library's security systems, paid for our teas without even thinking when we'd gone to the shop, and stepped in when that horrible man was yelling at me at the clinic. He was always doing little things like catching me or Harper when falling through the Interrealm, buying his sisters presents, and had even mentioned to Harper the dryads at camp were suffering from root rot.
He forced both his sister and best friend to train in case of emergencies, and had been ready to burn down both the mortal and mythological worlds as a teenager just so Lucy would be safe…
I rolled onto my side and looked at the door of my library room, wondering when, or if, at any point over the night James would be on the other side.
I also couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to have someone care that much about me. To love me so much, in any sort of capacity, they'd pick me over the world without a second's thought.
James might have been a shut down person, but it was clear when he did feel something, he felt it in extremes.
'And that.' I thought shutting my eyes. 'Was probably the real reason why James and Harper would never work.'
Similar they might be, Harper wasn't all that emotional. Knowing her better now, it was getting easier to read her feelings, but it made sense why when it came to her love life, Harper 'got on', as Lucy put it, with Ashton. He was pretty chill temper wise, even if in relationships, he was goofy and ridiculous.
James on the other hand…
I felt my stomach clench and a shock go through me as I remembered the way his fingers had dug into the shoulders of that idiot at the clinic, the look he'd given Hunter when all of it was over, and how quick he was to react to Hypnos's escalating the argument with Harper. He hadn't hesitated for a second to go after him, and had a god pinned by the throat.
Unable to keep myself from flushing, I tried to think of anything but James. So, naturally, my mind didn't seem to want to focus on anything else.
James could be cold, but it covered something deeper in his personality. Something explosive. He wasn't an angry person, but you could see it in the way he held himself, and the way he walked. James was always holding back, whether it was abilities, what he was thinking, even what he was feeling, and the more I was aware of it, the more I wished he wouldn't. The more I wanted to see and while it was dangerous, I knew it was, sometimes it was hard to remind myself to care.
'You're no better than you were when you were fifteen, are you?' I thought hopelessly, thinking back to all the times I'd stayed just a little bit longer when taking his vitals back in the infirmary. Pretended not to notice my shift had ended if we were talking.
I'd done it even though I knew I'd had no shot with him, and yes he was tall, and smart, and good looking and incredibly cute with his accent, but that wasn't why I'd liked talking to him. He was just easy to talk to, in a way that was different from other people. He always had been. Maybe it was the 'charm' Harper had been talking about, that he seemed to be able to turn on and off at will, and while yes, he could be charming, I didn't think that was it. There wasn't a lot of charm in telling someone you thought their brother was a security risk, or that they asked you odd questions, and anyone else, it would have probably seemed offensive, but not James.
He didn't always talk, but when he did, he was sincere and while his life had been pretty messed up, he was remarkably well adjusted and could be pretty kind in the right circumstances. Something I wasn't sure I'd be able to manage if everything that had happened to him, had happened to me.
He'd said he liked the way my mind worked, and the more time I spent around him, the more I was starting to realized I liked the way his worked too. Even if he judged people for loving sugar or being 'cowards'. He noticed and appreciated little things like pastel wall paint and remembered my pets. He protected his sister from as much of the horror of the mythological world as he could, whenever he could, even after she'd already seen so much. When most people wouldn't have bothered.
Irritable, and quiet as he might be, James was a good person deep down. Or at least he tried to be. Maybe it was complex, his past littered with mistakes and almost every misfortune a demigod could come across, but he was loyal and brave and loved the people in his life more than anything.
'He was also a traitor.' A voice that sounded very much like Rue said quietly in the back of my mind.
All of this, all these goods things about him, were at odds that fact, as well as the knowledge that if given the same situation, the same choices, James would probably do it again.
I had no doubt that if asked today to choose between the world or his sister, he'd pick Lucy. Wouldn't so much as hesitate. Even Harper had no qualms or excuses about the things he'd done. But did that make him a bad person?
A part of me, a very biased part that liked the way he smiled and told me I was ridiculous, didn't think so.
And even if it did, did I care?
What did that say about me?
The thought was troubling to say the least, and perhaps was the reason that when I eventually did sleep, my dreams were unsettled.
I was running through the library darting between the shelves in a sense of panic. The flood lights were on and sirens were blaring, grates covering the shelves.
Something had happened, something was wrong. Very wrong.
I called out for the library staff as I whipped around corners and the building trembled, shouting for Harper, Lucy, and James.
No one responded. They weren't here.
I didn't think I'd ever been in the library by myself before.
Lightning arced across the dome of the ceiling and the library gave another shudder almost knocking me off my feet. Bracing myself against a book case, I looked up only to see a roiling storm spreading above me.
I kept moving.
Still shouting for my friends, I ran blindly taking twists and turns until I found myself hurtling through a corridor that was unfamiliar to me.
It was small, seemed carved out of rough, dark stone, the torches that would have illuminated the hall cold and lifeless. The air grew frigid the further I ran, my breath clouding in the half light around me as the floor grew damp and slick.
The sounds of the sirens began to dull as what looked like a flickering light appeared at the end of the tunnel.
I pressed forward sprinting flat out for the light, desperate to find someone, to get help when I hurtled into a small cavern.
I found myself standing on the rocky bank of a deep pool of water, it's surface as smooth as glass. Stone braziers burned along the water's edge, light reflecting off the pool.
The walls of the cavern stretched high above the water, etched with spiraling symbols so ancient and so powerful, I felt my mind begin to buzz just looking at them.
Feeling light headed, I glanced away and looked at the water, seeing that set into floor was a pattern of precious stones glittering in the fire light, creating an inlay of a familiar symbol.
Athena.
And sitting in the middle of it…
"Libby."
"Wha-" I was pulled from the dream and back into reality by a touch on the shoulder, and while it was gentle, I still jumped from the shock. "Where-"
I shuddered suddenly aware of how cold I was. I turned, hugging myself toward of the chilly air and get a look at my surroundings, only to realize they were eerily familiar. The same as the dream.
'Not good.' I thought anxiously, unsurprised when I glanced up, I saw James looking at me his expression intent, almost concerned.
I must have been sleep walking.
"Are you ok?" he asked and not really sure how else to respond, I nodded.
"Yeah, I-"
But I cut myself off. What on earth was I supposed to say?
"What are you doing in here?" he asked and I looked around the room, not entirely sure where 'here' was.
"I don't know." I said honestly.
It wasn't as if this hadn't happened to me before, but it had been a while since I'd last wandered around in a state of unconscious. Usually it only happened to during periods of extreme stress or, sometimes, when my dreams were related to prophecy.
Our father being who he was, the Apollo demigods were generally more in tune with visions and the future, well, except Ashton. We often got glimpses it, or stirs of important happenings going on in the present, but this… this was weird.
Almost as if he knew what was on my mind, his brow furrowed, and when I shivered again, he shrugged off his jacket.
"C'mon." he said resting it over my shoulders and putting a hand on one, steering me towards a door. "Let's get you to bed."
"What is this place?" I asked pulling the jacket tighter around me. It was of course too big, but it was warm and oddly comforting as I turned and looked behind. "What is Harper doing?"
She was still sitting at the bottom of the pool, eyes closed in what looked like a meditative state, as if unaware of what was going on in the world around her.
"Reflecting, probably." He said with the ghost of a smile. "She likes to come here when she's stuck on something. The water, it's supposed to help filter out distractions, emotional reasoning, that sort of thing. Helps you find flaws in logic you other wise might not have spotted. She says it helps her think."
"Supposed to?" I asked uncertainly glancing back at him, and it was his turn to turn and look at his friend.
"It only seems to work for her." He said quietly. "Everyone else who's tried it seems to get trapped in nightmares or visions."
I could see that. There was a deep sense of power that permeated the air of the room, something ancient and not quite sinister, but definitely not something to be messed with. I could only assume in the water it was worse, and judging by James's tone, I had a feeling it wasn't just 'visions' this place had made him see.
I shuddered, wondering just how bad the nightmares had to be to make someone like James sound almost afraid.
Clearly mistaking the movement as cold, he pulled me closer to him and said.
"Let's get out of here. It's best not to mess with this kind of magic. If you ask me, Harper's mad to even try."
He continued walking towards the door and while I didn't fight him, I did glance over my shoulder one last time before looking back at him.
"How do you get her out?" I asked. "If you can't go in after her…"
"She'll come out when she's ready." He said with a shrug, but there was something in his tone that had me wondering if the neutrality in it was a bit forced. Was he more upset than he was letting on? "She knows were here." He tapped his temple. "My guess is she's ignoring us. Wants to be left alone."
"Did you come to talk to her?"
"I came to remind her she has to eat at some point." He said leading me to realize that this must have been where Harper was all day. "I wasn't expecting to run into you."
It reminded me of what Lucy had said earlier, and I was so distracted, I didn't realize he was looking at me until he said.
"Do you often sleep walk?"
"Not these days." I said honestly. "I mean, I used to all the time when I was a kid, especially when my powers started kicking in but I thought I'd mostly out grown it."
And I'd never almost walked off a ledge before...
I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment, realizing how stupid I must have looked to James.
"Thanks for not letting me fall in."
"No problem." He said easily with a shrug.
He sounded completely unfazed by the behavior and maybe he wasn't. I was sure he'd seen a lot weirder things in his life.
We walked down the corridor in silence, seemingly both lost in thought.
As we reached the end, I saw the main floor of the library as well as a heavy wooden door to my left I hadn't noticed in the dream.
"Harper's room." He explained, stopping when he'd noticed me looking.
A part of me wanted to ask if I could go in there, still curious from how it was described but I figured now probably wasn't the time.
"It probably looked pretty strange." I said quietly. "Me walking towards the pool like some sort of water loving zombie."
"My best friend is currently sitting at the bottom of a magical well." He pointed out. "My sister is a mortal who can see monsters, and I've kicked Ares though a wall of Harper's dad's house." He grinned a little at my expression at this information. "Strange is kind of what we do here. You fit in just fine."
I couldn't help but return the smile and followed as he continued to walk.
"So where have you been all day?" I asked jogging a few steps to fall into line next to him. "Off fighting the Minotaur to lift your spirits?"
"I went to talk to Harper's father."
"Oh." I said in surprise. Parents of other demigods were of interest to almost everyone at camp, but usually, it was the divine one people asked about. I'd never given much thought to the twins' father. I didn't know anything about him, but I guess it wasn't all that surprising if he and James were on speaking terms. "Why?"
"He agreed to do me a favor." James said, something cagy in his tone that told me further questions probably wouldn't be appreciated in this direction.
"What's he like?"
"Harper's father?" he asked apparently surprised by the question and I nodded, shocked at how quickly he had an answer for me. "A lot like her mum."
"Really?" I asked curiously and he grinned.
"Maybe a bit less emotional."
"I can't really picture that." I said honestly. Athena was supposed to be the wisest of all the gods, wasn't she? What was less emotional than the goddess of wisdom? A robot? "Do you like him?"
"He's alright." James said with a shrug. His hands were in his pockets again, something he seemed to do a lot and it really seemed as if he didn't have much of an opinion on Harper's father one way or the other.
Again, I was forcibly reminded of my conversation with Lucy earlier, about James so rarely ever truly liking people.
"What about your dad?" I asked mostly the keep the conversation going as we passed Harper's desk, and there was a pause in which his expression went blank.
"I wouldn't know." He said eventually, his voice quiet. "I've never met him."
"Oh," I said softly, suddenly feeling awful. "James, I didn't know. I'm s-"
"Libby, if you apologize again for something that isn't your fault I'm going to pick you up and chuck you into the Underworld." He said with a sigh.
"That seems like a bit of an extreme reaction." I said frowning.
"Then stop doing it." he said and I was surprised to hear how unsettled he truly sounded. "It's not your fault our parents are negligent."
"Negligent?" I muttered, not sure if I really agreed with the term, but not actually having a good argument against it.
I glanced at my arm, as if I could see through James's jacket to my tattoo. I mean, yeah, our parents usually weren't around much, but it wasn't as if they were never there. They got us gifts, and usually did show up if we were really in trouble.
But maybe not for all of us…
I glanced at James.
It was widely known that Harper's glasses had been a gift from her mother, and Ashton's quiver had been from our father. Powerful gifts like that were littered around the camp, almost always given after a significant moment or milestone in a demigods life. We all knew each other's enchanted items. But looking back, I'd never heard of James having anything given to him from his father. Hell, if what James had said was true, his father hadn't even bothered to meet him. How could someone do that to their child? Especially when they so clearly needed help?
Was Hermes even aware of everything James had been through? Or did he simply just not care? I wasn't sure which of the two was worse.
"What's your mom like?" I asked as we made it to the living area and James looked surprised by the question.
"What?"
"Your mom." I repeated. "What was she like? You know, growing up."
He seemed to think on the question, as if it was something he hadn't considered for a very long time then said.
"Anxious. She worried about us a lot, worked a lot too, two jobs and all that, but she always had time to read to us when we were little. And even when we got older, and she had to work more, she always made sure to bring something home for us that she knew we'd like either from a library or she saw at a used book store. She told me I had to be nice to Lucy and read to her when she went to sleep when she couldn't, I always pretended I hated doing it but," he shrugged. "It wasn't all bad." He grinned a little before adding. "A good excuse to read the classics."
"Really?" I asked interestedly and he nodded.
I'd read a lot growing up, but not a lot of what I guess could be considered classic literature, at least outside of school, and I found myself wondering what sort of 'classics' he liked.
"Did you have a favorite?"
I was surprised when at this question, he hesitated again and said.
"I suppose I could lie and say something a bit more interesting written by Brontë, or Dickens." He said with a sigh.
"But if you weren't lying?" I pressed and he raised an eyebrow at me, before grinning a little and said.
"The Secret Garden, if you must know."
"You're joking." I said with a laugh, pleased it was something I'd actually read.
"Nope."
"Why?"
"Dunno." He said with a shrug. "Just felt I could relate to it I guess, a lonely kid, sort of left to their own devices without many adults around. Finds this mysterious hidden place."
"Yeah, I guess I can see that." I said halting and leaning against my door frame.
It was dark in the living area, and while I knew I should be getting back to bed and James looked about as exhausted as I felt, I didn't want to break the conversation just yet.
"What was Lucy's favorite?" I asked and he grinned.
"Anything by Jane Austen." He said sounding amused. "I must have read her Pride and Prejudice at least five times."
"Another young lady enthralled by Mr. Darcy?" I asked smirking.
I hadn't read the book, but had been forced to watch the movie in an English class in high school. There had been a lot of sobbing and sighing from the girls in the class by the end.
"Actually no." he said considerately. "She likes the way the characters are written, especially the women. Harper thinks he's a bit of a git." He said his lip twitching up a bit. "Doesn't understand why anyone would put up with such an insufferable grouch."
"So she's more of a Bingley fan?"
"How could you tell?" He said rolling his eyes.
"Well, you'll have to read it to me sometime." I said shrugging and crossing my arms over my shoulder.
He raised an eyebrow.
"I have to?"
"Well I'm not going to read it on my own."
"Still not much of a romantic, are you?" he asked quietly something questioning in his gaze.
"Not really no." I said with another shrug. "But I do think Harper's wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"Grouchy guys aren't all that bad." I said with a bit of a smile. "In fact, some of them can even be quite tolerable."
"Good to know." He said grinning at the reference.
There was another pause between us that felt oddly, significant. My heart rate had shot up, and I felt a little breathless, like the oxygen around us just wasn't quite enough to comfortably breathe, and it had me feeling jittery.
Just as I was about to do something incredibly out of character, and suggest he could start reading it to me now, the moment was shattered when the door to opened, and the lights clicked on, banishing the darkness and crashing the feeling more effectively than a train hitting a brick wall.
"Ah." Harper said sounding extremely awkward, her expression plainly stating she'd thought she'd miscalculated by walking into the room.
I expected to go flaming red at the situation but was surprised when I didn't. What was there to be embarrassed about really? We were just talking, even if it was in the dark.
Harper, apparently, didn't agree.
Her eyes were scanning the room, seemingly want to look anywhere but at the pair of us, but eventually they did land on me.
She hesitated for a second, before looking at her friend.
"I'm sorry." She said finally, and while it did sound awkward, it also sounded sincere.
No one said anything in response, and she cleared her throat clearly uncomfortable, gave a stiff nod and abruptly turned to walk out of the room.
I almost winced in sympathy, as she retreated down the hall and looked at James, who was also looking after her.
"Harper might be even more socially awkward than I am." I said and it looked as if he had to hold back a laugh.
"Oh she definitely is." He agreed then hesitated.
"You should probably go talk to her." I said reluctantly. "Before she goes and hides in her think tank again."
His lip quirked at the joke, but he didn't address it, only sighed and said.
"You're probably right." He looked down at me. "I guess I'll see you in the morning?"
"Yeah." I agreed. "Night James."
"Good night Libby." He said and with one final look at me, he walked after his friend.
I watched him walk away, not realizing until after he'd already left the room that I was still wearing his jacket.
Trying not to read too much into this, and not to smile, I stepped into my room and hung the jacket on my chair.
Yawning, I slid back under my blankets and shut my eyes hoping that this time, I wouldn't wake up in another random room, and if I did, it would be James, again, that would be the one to find me.