Lpov
I woke up early the next day and, having packed the night before, grabbed my bag realizing as I did, a decent amount of my clothes were starting to occupy the small dresser Harper had provided with my room in the library.
I hadn't realized how much time I'd been spending here recently, but looking back over the last week or so, it had been quite a lot. I wasn't really sure what to make of it, but put it to the back of my mind as I stepped into the living area and spotted James across the room, managing to make even those dorky hiking pants that unzipped into shorts look cool, and wearing a dark athletic shirt that of course fit him perfectly.
He looked like a guy that belonged on a cover for a magazine that catered exclusively to rich, good looking outdoor enthusiasts, rather than someone who worked at a library.
This impression wasn't helped when I spotted his sword tucked under his own bag, a very expensive looking day pack, made for what I was sure were some serious wilderness activities. The sort of thing you'd catch survivalists carrying. The real ones, not the people trying to sell you something on TV.
"Don't spend much, do you?" I asked spotting the brand and he shrugged.
"I like to be prepared."
His eyes drifted to my bag, and he raised an eyebrow.
"Isn't that what you use for school?"
"All my hiking gear is at home." I explained. "There wasn't room for it in my apartment. I only have time for day hikes during the school year anyway."
"I hope you remembered to bring water."
"Duh." I said patting the bottom of my bag where the bottles sloshed and he looked satisfied.
"Let's go pry Harper out of bed." He said walking towards the door and holding it open for me.
I glanced at the ceiling to see peaceful waters, moonlight drifting through the depths as the figure of a shark glided above us.
"Definitely still asleep." James muttered looking up as well, clearly caught somewhere between exasperation and entertainment.
"Wasn't she the one who wanted to leave early?" I asked and he shook his head.
"Yes, but you underestimate just how much she hates mornings."
I followed him in the direction of the hall leading to reflecting pool, and was surprised that when he touched the handle of the door to Harper's room, there was an obvious 'click' of a lock being opened.
"Cabin eleven." He said in response to my questioning look, and pushing open the door.
"Right." I said in realization, following as he made his way up a set of spiral steps, his tread almost inaudible against the polished wood.
Children of Hermes had talents with locks. People were always so focused on James's strength and speed, and whatever other abilities he'd gained over the years, I'd almost forgotten that of course he, at one point, had been a normal demigod. Everything his siblings could do he could as well.
I wasn't sure why this struck me as so odd, but it was strange to think of James as someone so... normal. Well, as normal as it was possible for any of us to be. He'd been special, exceptional, for as long as I'd known him, even if none of us had known why. Leave it to James to make being half a god seem trivial in comparison. It was easy to forget that really, that was all he was. A demigod.
'Just with a few... enhancements.' A voice said dryly in the back of my mind as my eyes drifted towards him in front of me.
It wasn't spoken about often at camp, but I knew there was some debate about whether what had happened to James could be replicated, or if anyone should even try. It was frustrated by the fact that the staff here kept so quiet about what had happened to him, what magics he'd been exposed to, so no one was quite sure how or even if it could be done.
'Maybe that was another reason they're so secretive here.' I thought uncertainly.
Theoretically, it was possible I guess. Exposing someone, if they were strong enough, to increasingly powerful magic as their powers developed over an extended period of time...
'But it wasn't just magic, was it?' I thought, frowning and glancing at James again.
Magic was one thing, demigods dealt with it all the time, but curses were something else entirely, and not everyone reacted to them the same. Very few people had survived the attempt to take on Achilles' curse after all, less than a handful over all of our parents' life times. And the more I learned about what had happened to James, as well as from everything I'd seen here, the less I was convinced it could be done again. I'd never thought experimenting with this sort of thing had been a great idea, even if it had powerful results, but even James had trouble controlling his own abilities at times, and though I had no idea why, a part of me was convinced that if anyone else were to try it... well, it wouldn't be something they'd survive. In fact, sometimes, I found myself wondering if James really ever had been all that normal for a half blood ever, even before he'd stumbled across the library.
There was another door at the top of the stairs, this one unlocked and when he stepped through it, I saw what James meant when he said Harper had a 'wing' to herself.
It was massive, furnished much like the rest of the building when it was in its usual state. Heavy, expensive wooden furniture, and books everywhere.
Tucked into a corner, almost as if they were an afterthought, were a few things like a desk, wardrobe, and what looked like a door to a bathroom, as well as a bed that, James was right, Harper was evidently glued to.
As he walked towards her, I noticed white boards along the walls and standing among the shelves. Almost all of them had something written on them in Latin and ancient greek, as well as complex looking diagrams of what seemed like intense magic. Some of them even had what looked like runes and hieroglphys.
"Is Harper trying to summon a demon or something?" I asked uncertainly, noticing that she must have woken up at some point last night and had an idea.
One of the white boards had been wheeled next to her bed and had the baffling, yet somewhat ominous sounding sentence of 'Adapted exorcism' followed by a question mark, and several sketches of what looked like pentagrams, with different characters around the points and along outside.
"That's new." James said mildly, but his eyebrows had darted up in obvious surprise before he bent down and jostled her. "Harper, wake up."
She groaned in protest.
"I don't want to hear it." he said flatly. "This was your idea Davis. Fifteen seconds or I flip the bed."
"As long as I stay in it…" she muttered rolling over and dragging her blanket more securely around her shoulders.
"No." James said tugging it off of her and her eyes opened just enough to glower at him.
"I hate you."
"Yeah? Well, hate me and get moving."
She yawned but sat up, and I was amused to see she'd slept in her clothes, no doubt to stall as long as possible waking up.
Slowly she got out of bed while James shook his head and shot me a long suffering look.
There was a cracking sound and I saw Harper had opened an energy drink sitting on her night stand, no doubt another precaution set up the night before.
"This is quite sad." James muttered looking at her.
"Shut up James." She said irritated, clearly too tired to even throw a chair this time.
She took another sip and seemed to notice my existence.
"Hi Libby."
"Hi Harper." I said trying not to laugh.
"Gods you're like Ashton." She said and threw James a scowl. "Morning people."
She pretended to shudder, but he had no sympathy.
"Eat." He said reaching into his pack and pulling out a snack bar, tossing it to her.
She caught it, and he offered one to me as well.
"Oh I love these." I said grinning at the photo on the packaging, and recognizing the distinctive pattern of chocolate drizzled over almonds and cashews.
I eagerly took the bar as Harper grabbed her drink and her bag next to her bed, then shuffled towards the stairs.
"What's with the pentagrams?" James asked and Harper looked confused for a second, clearly her brain still coming online.
He nodded towards the white board and she looked over her shoulders.
"Oh, that." She frowned. "Nothing. Just a pet project I haven't quite solved..."
She looked a little annoyed about this, and while privately I'd wished James would ask more about it, he didn't. Whether it was lack of interest or an attempt to respect Harper's privacy I wasn't sure.
We made our way down the steps and towards the doors, Harper yawning as they flickered into life and James stepped forward automatically.
I followed, buffeted by the wild roller coaster sensation of the interrealm only to land badly on a slick patch of plants and slipped.
Faster than the eye could follow, James lunged forward catching my elbow before I could fall.
"Thanks." I said grinning at him realizing we'd landed on a rocky outcropping of a cliff face, not too high up, but enough to make me glad he'd caught me. Everything below us was green.
He didn't get the time to respond. Harper came hurtling into existence, slamming hard into the ground before James could even let me go.
"Excellently executed Harper." He said amused as she groaned. "As graceful as a fluttering butterf-"
He was interrupted by a cracking sound and the rock beneath us shuddered.
Harper's hit must have dislodged something, and before any of us had time to react, the stone split away from the cliff face and we were tumbling towards the jungle floor.
The impact came before I even knew what was happening, the force knocking the wind out of me as my bag jammed between my shoulders, reverberating my bones unkindly, but luckily I'd managed to avoid any debris.
Head spinning, trying desperately to catch my breath I opened my eyes hoping to reorient myself only for another 'crack' to send more chunks of cliff heading straight for me.
I felt my eyes widen and my body go rigid with shock. Too surprised from the fall to be able to find my limbs, just as I thought my obituary was going to read 'Crushed by rock cartoon style', a fist slammed into the boulder. It fractured as it was knocked off course and went flying into the nearest tree, splintering the bark.
My vision of impending death was obscured by a figuring leaning over me, creating cover from the last of the debris that split as it made contact, falling on either side us.
I blinked in shock and just as I caught my breath, it immediately vanished as my gaze met a pair of deep blue eyes.
"Are you alright?" James asked quickly and I nodded.
"Fine." I said my voice shaky. "You?"
He looked ok, and I didn't think something as simple as rock slide was going to slow James down. He grinned a little, his mind obviously following a similar line of thought when there was a loud exclamation of.
"Owwwwwwww."
James eyes went wide.
"Harper." He said pushing himself to his feet and I sat up to see she'd landed not too far to my right, and hadn't fared so well.
There was a deep cut on her cheek where a vivid bruise was forming, and her lip was bleeding. It looked as if one of the rocks had hit her in the face, and she was clutching at her shoulder.
He froze, clearly in shock and I figured usually when they were on their own, he could have helped avoid this situation.
A stab of guilt go through me.
Ignoring my body that was screaming in protest, I got to my feet.
"Harper, what's wrong?" I asked and she gritted her teeth.
"Held up my arm to block the rock." She muttered, spitting out blood. "I think it dislocated."
"Hold still." I knelt next to her and she winced as I took her arm. It was bleeding as well and I was amazed to find none of the bones had shattered. "This is going to hurt."
She nodded and let out a cry of pain as I reset the joint, but otherwise didn't complain, wincing a little as she rotated her shoulder.
"Thanks." She said making to get to her feet, but I put a hand on the none injured shoulder.
"Don't move just yet. You've got a head injury."
"Face injury." She countered as if unable to help it, gingerly touching her cheek and I scowled.
"Are you the medic here?" I asked her sternly and he smiled her expression apologetic. With her lip, it was pretty gruesome. "Ashton would kill me if I let you walk off and get an infection. Did you pack a first aid kit?"
I turned to look at James and was startled to see he'd gone white. He was staring at Harper as if it wasn't his best friend who was sitting by me, but her corpse.
"James." I said sharply and he blinked.
"Right." He said shaking his head and sliding his bag off his shoulders. "Yes, of course."
He tossed me the bag and I rifled through it, looking for antiseptic.
It wasn't a difficult fix. Less ten minutes later, apart from a head ache and a blood spotted thank top, you wouldn't have known anything was wrong with her.
"Nothing's broken." I said standing and reaching down to offer a hand.
She took it with her left, rolling her shoulder again and grimacing, but nodded.
She didn't look upset, but James was still rigid, clearly warring against a barely controlled panic I didn't understand, and when I reached to put a hand on his shoulder however, he shrugged me off.
"It's this way." He said stiffly and began walking refusing to meet my gaze.
I stared after him feeling my heart sink, convinced he was furious with me, that I hadn't had the sense to move out of the way when a boulder was hurtling right for me, but was surprised when I felt a hand on my own shoulder.
I looked to my right to see Harper fixing me with a reassuring expression.
"He's not mad at you." she said quietly.
"He's not?" I asked and she shook her head.
"He's mad at himself."
"Why?" I asked in shock. What on earth could he possibly be upset with himself about? None of this had been his fault. In fact, he was the only one who'd reacted at all in the situation. Without him, I'd probably be pretty hurt, or worse.
Harper's face was difficult read. I would have almost thought she was annoyed if her eyes didn't look so concerned.
It took her a moment to answer.
"Because James has decided that no one he cares about is allowed to get hurt ever again." she said with a sigh and I stared at her. "And that, because of his powers, it's his responsibility to ensure that."
"That's ridiculous." I said and she shrugged, but by the look she gave me, I could tell she agreed.
"Try telling him that." She said her tone flat.
She gave me a last, significant look, and started to walk.
I stared after the pair, James, who must have heard Harper moving, slowed to allow her to catch up and not knowing what else to do, I followed, feeling for the first time in a while, on the 'outside' with the two of them once again.
…
Despite the disastrous start to the day, and James's mood, exploring the temple was pretty cool.
Moss and vines wound around crumbling stone pillars, and patches of bright sunlight fell through small, ancient corridors still standing after hundreds, maybe thousands, of years.
"No sign of the fire breather." James said darkly as we sat in a bright, open space over grown with flora that had invaded what looked to be some sort of courtyard. The ruins of a well sat central in the area, chunks of rubble littered amongst the plants. Ominous black slashes of soot streaked the wall, evidence of the creature he'd run into. "But it's definitely still around."
"How can you tell?" Harper asked frowning.
"The birds." I said automatically, and it caught James off guard enough to look at me.
"The birds?" Harper asked looking around, squinting up into the sun.
It was almost noon at this point, and the heat was setting in for the day as well as the humidity. She, like I, had broken out a water bottle and she looked confused.
"I don't hear any birds."
"Exactly." James said sitting on the remnants of a pillar. "They've all left the area. Most of the wild life has. They're scared of something."
"Think we should risk splitting up?" Harper asked.
James didn't look too happy about this suggestion, but after several hours, combing the ruins in a watchful trio, we hadn't found much. James, taller, stronger, and in better shape than either me or Harper, didn't have much trouble navigating through the collapsed architecture and rugged terrain, but it was slow progress with us trailing behind even with his help, constantly scrambling up walls and piles of rocks, or attempting to hack our way through roots and vines. There was still a lot of temple to explore.
"We could stay on a three-way call." I suggested. "You both have your phones, right? We could detail where we are and what we're doing, and we'll know if someone finds something, or can give each other a heads up."
"That's not a bad idea." Harper said thoughtfully, taking out her cell phone while James frowned.
It was clear he wasn't in love with the idea of splitting up, but eventually he nodded.
We fanned out, agreeing to meet back in the court yard in two hours at the latest, Harper finding a partial tablet in what sounded like some sort of storage cellar. James finding two, weather beaten and barely legible on the roof of one of the tallest structures that was still intact, the tablets resting on a plinth facing the sun.
I'd finally spotted one in what appeared to be some sort of gathering chamber, a stone dais raised in the center of the room near the end of our search time. I grabbed it eagerly, happy to have found something to contribute and surprised at how heavy it was. I'd just ended the call, not wanting to carry both my phone and the tablet, and was starting to wonder how the hell I was going to get it back over all of the things I'd had to climb to get here when something dropped through a hole in the ceiling above me and I shrieked with surprise.
"Relax Libby." Said a familiar voice. "It's me."
"Gods James." I said putting a hand to my chest, my heart pounding. "Don't do that. You about gave me a heart attack."
"Sorry." he said and while it didn't sound disingenuous, I could tell from his tone he was still in a temper. "You're generally not that jumpy. I was just about to head back when I saw you struggling." He nodded towards the gap in the stone above us, before taking the tablet.
"It's heavy." I said defensively, knowing that to James it was probably nothing.
He didn't answer but continued down the corridor and I scowled.
"Are you determined to sulk all day?" I asked jogging after him.
He ignored me.
"Harper's fine, James. I checked her out, remember?" I said in irritation and this seemed to trigger something.
"You shouldn't have had to." He said darkly. "I should have done something. Been faster, or-"
"Or what? Let the rock squish me?" I asked sourly and he glowered.
"Don't say that."
"You can't be in two places at once James." I pointed out. "No matter how fast you are. You dealt with the immediate, most dangerous threat."
Being a medic in a camp full of battle happy demigods, I was familiar with the concept of triage. James had had to make a decision and he'd had to make it fast.
"Everyone made it out ok." I continued, panting with the effort of keeping up with him, and crawling up a pile of dirt and gravel that had blocked a section of the hallway.
He reached down automatically to help me up, and I accepted it, but when he tried to pull away I didn't let go of his hand.
He let out an irritated breath before looking at me.
"What?" he said his tone edged and I frowned at him.
"Don't use your scary voice with me." I scolded. "It's not going to work."
I did let his hand go however, and crossed my arms over my chest.
"What are you so upset about?"
He looked at me as if I was a Martian.
"My best friend got hurt." He said incredulously.
"Yeah, and she's fine."
"You could have gotten hurt."
"But I'm not."
"That's not the point Libby." He said sounding exhausted and I frowned.
"Then what is the point?"
But it was clear whatever the point was, I wasn't going to get him to talk about it.
"Fine." I said darkly. "Don't tell me, but could you please fix your attitude? Because right now, it sucks."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" he asked raising an eyebrow and I glared at him.
"No. But you don't want anyone to make you feel better. You won't even tell me what's wrong." I accused. "You want to wallow, and I'm not about that so I'm gatecrashing your pity party."
He stared at me for a good thirty seconds and while he didn't smile, he didn't look as annoyed as I expected him to.
"Did you at least bring snacks?" he asked eventually and I made a face at him.
"Not for wallowers."
"Brutal." He said and I nodded.
"I am the embodiment of tough love."
He shot me a dubious expression.
"You seem kind of small for that."
"I'm efficient." I said haughtily, and for the first time since Harper's injury, he smiled.
"Well then," he said softly. "I guess I'd better cheer up then, hadn't I?"
"Yes." I agreed with a nod. "You'd better."
He let out an impatient noise, but he was still grinning a bit as he continued down the corridor and I felt a surge of satisfaction at it.
We stepped out into the courtyard to see Harper her back resting against the well, frowning at the original tablet and the partial, squinting through her lenses.
"Any luck?" James asked handing over the ones we'd found and Harper laid them out onto the grass in front of her.
"No." she said in frustration lifting her glasses and rubbing her eyes. "If it's a code, we're definitely going to need the key, because I can't make any sense of this."
"Maybe it's not a code?" I suggested with a frown.
I didn't know much about what was written on the tablets other than what was said by the library crew, that they were proving almost impossible to decipher.
"I don't know what else it could be." Harper said a bit hopelessly, shaking her head. "I need food." She muttered holding out her glasses. "Why don't you take a look?"
"Me?" I asked in surprise and she nodded.
"Maybe you can make sense of this."
Surprised by the offer, I accepted her glasses as she wandered to her bag which was propped against rock a few feet away, and looked at James who'd apparently agreed it was time for a snack break and offered a bag of what looked like jerky to me.
"Want some?" he asked, then added. "Its plant based." When he saw I was about to reject the offer.
"Are you a vegetarian?" I asked curiously and he grinned, clearly repressing a laugh.
"No." he said decidedly. "But you are."
I couldn't help it. I smiled.
"I can't believe you remember that." I said softly, feeling my stomach flutter.
"Well you did throw up when one of my brothers swapped your veggie burger with a beef patty at camp." He pointed out, and I winced, both at the memory and out of embarrassment. "And then spent the rest day trying not to cry about baby cows with only limited success."
"They're so cute James." I insisted. "The way they jump around and they're so fluffy."
"I know." He said patiently. "If it makes you feel any better, I put poison ivy in his bunk."
"That was you?" I asked with a laugh. "He was in the infirmary for at least a week."
I'd thought it was karma that had me controlling the calamine lotion for the boy who'd made me throw up the previous day, but it looked as if it hadn't been karma at all. It was James.
"Yeah well." He shrugged. "It was pretty messed up what he did."
"Yeah." I agreed.
Strangely, however, it wasn't bothering me very much right now.
I took a handful of jerky and took Harper's spot in front of the tablets, blinking as my eyes strained when they looked through the enchantment, wondering how on earth Harper didn't always have a head ache.
I glanced at the stone, and frowned, almost immediately recognizing the string of familiar letters repeating and intermixing seemingly at random.
"This is DNA."
"What?" James asked frowning while Harper, half way through a bag of trail mix froze.
"Look." I said pointing at a string of letters, forgetting they probably couldn't read them. They were always the same four. A, C, G, and T. "These are codons."
"She's right." Harper said dropping the bag and running over to James and I. "I can't believe I didn't realize it." she said grabbing her glasses which I was holding out for her, picking up one of the tablets and scanning it. "Libby, you're a genius."
"What about the other characters?" James asked frowning. "There were greek letters there too, that doesn't track with-"
But Harper had turned the tablet towards us, pointing out the familiar characters interspersed between the liens of genetic code.
"Hydra." She said quietly. "We've been looking at them independently, thinking they were related to the letters between them."
"Someone's sequencing monster DNA?"
"Not just sequencing it." James said darkly. "They're messing with it. You're right Libby, whatever the hunters ran into, it's a crossbreed. A nasty one."
"That must be what's living here." Harper muttered.
And almost as if the universe had heard her, there was a roar in the distance and the ground began to tremble as, over the walls of the temple, I saw several columns of flame blister into the sky.
James swore.
In a flash, he'd jumped and was climbing to the tallest point of the ruin, both Harper and I watching him anxiously as the rumbling of heavy foot falls grew stronger with each pound, the shrieks grew louder.
He was back quickly, his jaw set, and his expression grim.
"Multiple heads," he confirmed. "All of them breathing fire."
"But not the Hydra?" Harper asked.
"The Hydra doesn't breathe fire." I said shaking my head and she looked at me. "It spits acid."
"Whatever the hell that thing is, it's definitely related." James said his tone serious. "Harper we've got to go."
She nodded and sprinted towards her bag while James ushered me towards the arch that led back into the temple, grabbing the tablets and shoving what he could into his bag, carrying the last two.
Harper had made it to the archway that lead back into the temple, which was now glowing with golden light.
I was jogging after her, James right on my heels and I saw that with each foot fall now, small rocks and pebbles were trembling, skittering across the ground.
There was another terrible shriek and unable to help myself, I glanced over my shoulder to see over the wall, several pointed, snakelike heads appear in the sky, weaving and swaying on long slender necks.
I felt my eyes go wide, my blood freezing in my veins with panic as the glow of flames lit up the courtyard, the light blinding my vision, blistering heat scorching the vegetation as it blasted towards me.
I knew I wasn't going to out pace it. It was too fast. But just as I thought the flames would engulf me entirely, the fire scattered as if crashing into some sort of barrier, like a wave hitting a surf break.
I didn't understand it, and the chaos hardly affording me the chance to even try.
"Move Libby." James said and I felt a hand shove me forward.
I crashed through the doors, tripped over Harper, and even James almost joined the sprawl, deftly catching himself with one hand, and springing over the short girl pile in an impressively athletic maneuver, while managing to keep a hold of the tablets.
"You should go out for the Olympics." I said sitting up, untangling my limbs from Harper's and staring at him.
"That seems a bit unfair." He said frowning slightly, looking, force once, a little out of breath. "Besides. You wouldn't actually want me in the Olympics. I'd be competition."
"What?"
"He'd be representing England." Harper reminded me her voice vague. She was rubbing her forehead with the back of her hand and seemed distracted. "I need to think."
No doubt off to her odd watery pool of solitude, Harper got to her feet and immediately made her way towards the stairs, occasionally muttering something to herself looking extremely tired.
"I could marry Lucy." I said looking at James who looked totally confused.
"What?"
"If you want to join the Olympics and be on team USA. It would make it easier to immigrate."
He stared at me for a good several seconds, clearly uncertain how he was supposed to react to this.
"That is a very strange thing to fixate on Lib."
"Just doing my civic duty." I pointed out. "Otherwise we're just handing gold medals away."
He shook his head but let out a slight laugh and gestured for me to follow him.
"You know, if you married Lucy, you could move to London." He said and I was surprised, but gratified he'd decided to continue this odd train of thought.
"I've never been." I said as I thought on the suggestion. "What if I don't like it?"
"Well you have a point there." He said pretending to frown. "But I think you'd fit in well."
"You do?" I asked and he grinned, almost as if he was enjoying a bit of a private joke with himself.
"Yeah."
"Why's that?"
"I think it's pretty common knowledge that the weather there can be quite gloomy." He said looking down at me with a bit of a smirk. "It could do with a bit more sunshine."