"Good morning, songbird!"

Mari was tiny again. Her little hands were reaching for the face of a blonde woman who was leaning into her... cradle? What the fuck?

"Aw, Frankie, Frankie, it's alright. Are you hungry? I'll get you a bottle, little songbird."

Frankie? Why was the woman calling her Frankie instead of Mari?

The woman, much to Frankie's dismay, scooped the small child up into her arms and bounced her as she walked from the room. Mari got a look at 'Frankie's' environment as the woman carried her out. The walls were painted a happy orange and there were twinkly little suns hanging over the cradle. Toys littered the blue-carpeted floor and the curtains were open to a bright, bustling city outside.

Manhattan.

Why was Mari having dreams about some Frankie girl who lived in Manhattan? And why did it seem... familiar, somehow?

"Ah, here we are. Does this make you feel better, my little wonder?" The woman smiled down at Frankie.

"Mama! Mama, wanna hold!"

The woman laughed. "No, Masey. Last time you nearly dropped your sister on the couch. How about you eat your breakfast and then you can sit next to her for a little while instead?"

Masey?

"I'm not gonna drop Frankie, Momma. You're not being fair!" There was a stomp of a small foot.

"Hey. Hey, it's okay. Your sister is really small. She's only a year old. We just have to be careful with her. It's not your fault that you dropped her. But you need to calm down or you're going to make her cry again."

The woman shifted Mari - or Frankie - in her arms, and Mari finally got a good look at who was throwing a tantrum. It was a little boy, maybe about six or seven. He had slightly curly cropped hair that was a mixture of brown and blonde, and blue eyes, which were scrunched in agitation. If Mari didn't know better (she only spent time with the little kids at camp, most of whom were gone when it wasn't summer) she'd say she'd definitely met him before.

"Oh... sorry, Frankie," said the boy. "I didn't mean to make you cry." Now, he looked like he was on the verge of tears himself.

Dude, it's totally fine, nobody's crying! Chill! Mari wanted to tell him, but she couldn't.

Frankie burst out crying.

Oh, for fuck's sake! Mari wished she were in control of that little baby, because she'd definitely wiggle right out of the woman's arms and then crawl out of the house. Then, she'd find nice food that wasn't milk in a bottle. There had to be at least one shop in New York that sold Jaffa cakes, after all. Then, she'd find Chiron and ask him what the actual fuck was going on and go from there. It was a good, simple plan, but she couldn't put it into practice because she was stuck in a baby's body!

"Oh oh oh, sweet baby. It's alright. No need to cry. Mama's here."

Mama? This woman wasn't her mother! She didn't have a mum because whoever her mum was, she'd left her at the doorstep of an orphanage and fucked off back to wherever she came from! And she hadn't lived in New York because Mari was British! What the fuck was this? Mari didn't know, but she didn't like it. It was weird, the woman was weird, this entire situation was familiar - and weird.

"Mama," Frankie sobbed.

Mari felt like sobbing too now, but for an entirely different reason. It felt wrong to feel her lips calling a random woman Mum. Like she was lying, but worse somehow.

"I'm right here. Mama's here. It's okay. Let's set you down whilst your brother does some drawing, then we'll go out for a walk? Masey, is that okay with you? Central Park should be fun in the afternoon, right?"

The little boy nodded. "Yeah! I'm gonna draw myself, not dropping Frankie on the sofa, so that you know I can!" Mari often wondered how kid logic worked. Upon hearing that statement, she had no choice but to conclude that it didn't.

"That sounds wonderful, my little Ray of light." The woman smiled down at the boy.

"Li li, li," Mari babbled, clapping her hands.

Then all Hades broke loose.

Light spread around from every crease of her hands, dancing around the room in little waves. Frankie giggled, whilst Mari looked on in awe.

The woman and boy had very different reactions. The little boy clutched his eyes and started crying. "Hurts! It hurts! Why'd Frankie hurt me?!" he wailed. Mari supposed the light must have pierced his eyes.

"She - she didn't mean to, Masey. It was an accident. I'm so sorry. So is she. It's all okay." The woman herself clutched 'Frankie' closer to her chest, stroking her head in a soothing manner. "Little songbird, can you please stop? Please?" The woman started humming a tune, softly in the baby's ear.

The baby made a confused gaaa sound, and the light disappeared. The boy sniffled and shuffled over, clutching the baby's free hand.

'Frankie' took the hand he'd used to clutch hers and bit down on it with her toothless gums.

"Oh! Mommy, that tickles! Haha! Frankie, that tickles!" The boy giggled, his earlier hurt forgotten.

The woman smiled at them both. "She's teething. Maybe she's also making you laugh to say sorry. Do you forgive her?"

The boy nodded. "She's my sister. I could never be mad at her. Not really."

The woman smiled at him. "You're a good boy, you know that? You're my little ray of light."

The boy smiled. He had a gap in his teeth. "I love you, Mama."

"I love you too." The woman walked over to the couch and sat down, the boy scrambling after. "You love Frankie, too, right?" she asked Masey. He nodded emphatically.

"Good." The woman smiled. "One day, you'll both have to go somewhere special, for people just like you. It's only for the summer, but I can't be there with you." She held up a gentle hand to the boy's cheek when he looked like he was about to interrupt, and continued. "I know what you're going to say. But I really can't come. It's... not a place for me. But you don't have to go there till you're ready. I need you to promise me something, though."

"What?" the boy asked.

"You need to look after your sister. This light thing she can do... she can do it with any part of her body. She can turn the lamps on and off. I've seen it - you were at school." The woman rocked the baby back and fourth as she talked.

"That's so cool!" The boy clapped his hands together in glee.

"Yes, it is," the woman agreed. "But it's also dangerous. She's powerful you know? Do you remember last week, when the big scary man with one eye chased us out of the candy store?"

A shock went through Mari's veins. She knew what that meant...

"Well, she's going to have a lot more scary people chase after her because of what she can do with light. Her father told me. I will always try and protect both of you, but I can't be with you at the special place I told you about. I need you to promise me you'll look out for Frankie when I can't."

The boy smiled at the woman, showing those adorable gap teeth again. "I promise Mama, I will. Always."


What the fuck?!

Mari's head ached and she felt sick. Whatever that was, it hadn't been a normal dream. And it wasn't a demigod dream, either. She didn't feel like this after waking up, even when the snakes decided to use her as a chew toy. Mari closed her eyes, trying to catch the words she of the blonde woman who had been holding her- who had been holding the baby, but already, they were slipping away...

Little songbird.

The woman had called the baby little songbird. That, Mari remembered clearly.

Little songbird.

It was weird, thinking the words. They were familiar, but in an odd way. Like a she was hearing a distorted message. It didn't quite fit.

Wait. She'd had a dream like that before, right? She couldn't remember much, but in the other dream, she'd been in a very ugly onesie, and she'd hated it.

But what did it mean? Why was she having dreams about being a baby? And why were those dreams not in her first children's home? That didn't make any sense, she was barely two weeks old when her... the woman who gave birth to her abandoned her. She didn't know much about babies (other than that they were bloody loud) but she was pretty sure the baby in that dream was a lot older than two weeks.

"You're an awful sleeper." Adela's voice rang through the tunnel, like a soft bell.

Mari ran a hand through her hair. "Well, good morning to you too."

"So it's morning, then?"

"Yeah." Mari nodded, crawling out of the sleeping bag. She wouldn't have woken up from anything other then the sun rising, whether she could see it or not. "And I am not an awful sleeper!"

"Yes, you are." Adela deadpanned. "You snore."

"I do not snore!" Mari threw the sleeping bag at Adela's head.

"Sure you don't. If you're done, we should be going. You said you wanted to find your friend, right? If we're going to search the labyrinth, we have to, actually, you know, search the labyrinth." Adela took a sip from a thermos flask as she spoke.

"Is that coffee?" Mari grimaced at the thought.

"No. It's tomato soup."

"Seriously?"

"I'm not joking. It really is." Adela took a final swig, then screwed the cap shut and stuffed the thermos in her bag, standing up. "Yummy."

Mari slung her own bag over her shoulder. "How'd you get hold of that?"

Adela froze. "Why do you want to know?" Her voice was high-pitched.

"Uh, I was curious, I guess?" Mari frowned. "It's just soup."

"Well, a woman called Gladys made it for me," Adela said.

A movement near Adela's hip caught Mari's attention. Her hands. They were shaking. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Adela snapped.

"...Okay. Hey, do you think Gladys could get us more food? I mean, if she has the money. Let's be honest, we're going to need it. We can't survive on trail mix, and..." Mari rooted around her bag and made a face. "Dry banana. Bleh." Drew was great, she was the best friend Mari had ever had, but seriously? Banana?

Adela's gaze turned icy. "Gladys is dead."

"Oh - I'm so sorry."

No wonder Adela was so... cold. She glared at Mari a final time, and began to walk away, leaving Mari to her thoughts. Mari had seen people die before. She'd seen Oak die, and even if she didn't witness it first-hand, every boy who ended up on Circe's island eventually died. Well, except Percy. Seeing someone die wasn't something you could just forget about. Sometimes when Mari saw poppies, she still felt a little bit like crying. Just a little.

And the soup smelled fresh.

Shit, that meant it must have been recent. Adela had seen someone die. In the past few days.

"Wait!" Mari grabbed Adela's shoulder.

"Don't touch me!"

"I'm sorry!"

"Don't keep saying that." Adela squeezed her eyes shut. "And just what are you sorry for?"

"You. I'm sorry for you. I've seen people die before, too. It isn't easy, and I... nobody should have to see anyone die. Ever. It's awful. And I'm sorry you saw it."


ADELA


"...and I'm sorry you saw it."

Mason's voice chorused through Adela's head, overlapping with her own. And with Marion's. I'm really sorry you had to see that. We should go. Thankyou, for leading me to her. Sorry I took so long to actually attack.

"Please." Adela felt like she was choking on her own words. "Stop speaking."

"O-okay!" Marion didn't look smug, or cruel, or even annoyed. She looked confused. And slightly hurt. If she was just pretending to be innocent, she was a cold-hearted liar, and Adela quite honestly expected nothing less from Mason's sister. If she wasn't pretending, that either made it better or worse and Adela was not going to consider which was true.

They were silent as they trekked on through the labyrinth, which gave Adela time to think. Recently, any quiet she experienced was quickly broken, by Mason, or a monster, or Mason's confusing sister.

Marion almost always walked behind Adela. Was it deliberate, so that she could have a warning if Adela tried to run? Maybe Mason would be angry at at Marion if Adela escaped. Adela felt sick at the thought.

Adela had been so sure that Marion had been trying to kidnap her and bring her to the Princess Andromeda. Regardless of whether she'd treated Adela's injuries or not, she was Mason's sister. That was reason enough to distrust her. More than enough.

Then the idiot had gone and helped her escape.

She was either devious or stupid. If she was doing it to try to lull Adela into a false sense of security, then she'd failed spectacularly. Adela still didn't trust her. Not at all. Not one single solitary bit. But if she was devious then she'd probably know that it didn't matter, because Adela owed her now. Marion had saved her life. What was Adela supposed to do after someone saved her life? Leave her alone to die?

Nobody other than Gladys had ever saved Adela's life before.

Adela blinked in a quick succession, willing her eyes to stop stinging. Adela glanced down at her hands. They'd stopped shaking, but that didn't matter. She wasn't the kind of person who could return Marion's favour, anyway. Adela didn't save lives; she destroyed them. She wasn't capable of anything else.

Lost in her thoughts, Adela didn't notice the crack in the stone. Her sneaker caught in the floor and she stumbled, crying out as she fell. There was a CRUNCH in her ears as her chin knocked against the ground.

For a second her face was entirely numb, then something shifted as the feeling returned. The left side of her face was separate in a way that it definitely shouldn't, and with this strange sensation came a fiery ache of pain.

"Are you okay?!"

Marion was rushing towards her, hand outstretched. Adela scowled. "Don t-ch me! I... fie!" She was trying to tell Marion to keep her hands to herself, but the words wouldn't come out properly. Adela clutched her jaw to try to make it work, but apparently that was a bad idea because she was too rough and the pain tripled. She groaned and silently chastised herself for letting it slip out. Couldn't she stop getting hurt for five minutes? Gods, she was pathetic!

"You look exactly like the opposite of fine, Adela." Marion crouched down next to her, concerned. Adela hated it. Marion continued, "Your jaw is swelling. And there's blood trickling out of your mouth. That is not what 'fine' means."

Blood? What blood? She hasn't felt any blood! Adela reached for her face again to wipe her mouth.

Marion shook her head and reached towards Adela's hand to stop it reaching her face. "No, don't do that, don't touch it, you'll make it-"

Adela kicked Marion back onto the floor before their fingers could brush.

Marion yelped and sat up, rubbing the back of her head. "What the fuck was that for?! I was trying to help!"

Adela didn't care. She didn't care if Marion was actually trying to help or if she was trying to incapacitate her more to take her to Mason. She didn't even care if Marion got angry and left her alone (which Adela honestly wouldn't blame her for) to wander the labyrinth with a crushed jaw until she died. In that moment, there was one thought on her mind.

She nearly touched my hands. She nearly touched my hands, she nearly touched my-

It was fine. Marion hadn't. Adela had stopped her. That meant it was fine. It was fine.

Marion huffed, scooting closer again. "I am going to allow that, because you look like you're in a world of pain. But if you do it again I'm going to be fucking pissed. Now for the love of the gods, let me help you."

Adela started to shake her head but instantly regretted it. "Don touh m'ands..." Adela choked out the half-formed words instead.

"Your hands?" Marion frowned. "Why would I need to touch your hands? You injured your jaw. The only thing I want to do to your hands is get them away from your bloody face before you make it worse!" She snapped the last part when Adela reached for her jaw again.

"You... you won ou-"

"What did I literally just say?!" Marion looked incredulous. "No, I won't touch your hands, no matter how cool I think your gloves look!"

Adela blinked. Marion... thought her gloves looked cool? Why? The only things Adela ever felt in relation to her gloves was fear, and sometimes disgust at herself. If Marion knew the truth, 'cool' was probably the last thing she'd ever use to describe them.

"...and that's all. So can I do it or not?" Marion finished.

"Uh?" Adela hadn't been listening. She kicked herself. Why was she so off lately?

Marion didn't seem to mind. "I said, I just need to touch your face. Nowhere else. Is that okay? No, don't shake your head or nod! Just blink twice if that's ok and three times if it's not, alright?"

Adela's heart sped up. Just her face. That was all, right? Unless Marion was lying. But even if she was, what choice did Adela have? Wander around the labyrinth with her jaw hanging open?

Adela blinked twice.

Marion looked incredibly relieved. "Okay." She smiled. "Okay. Uh, this might hurt for a second. I don't actually know. The last time I did this it was on someone unconscious, so..."

If Adela could say anything coherent, she would have told Marion to stop babbling and just get on with it. But she just blinked twice again and closed her eyes, locking her arms behind her back. Maybe if Marion did end up reaching for them, she'd have at least a second of warning.

Marion had warned her, so Adela expected pain as Marion cradled her hands around Adela's jaw. No pain came.

What Adela did not expect was for Marion to be so damn gentle. Or for her hands to be warm.

They were a comforting kind of warm, like a thick blanket on a winter night. Or the sun on her face - oh. That must have been it. Marion was a daughter of Apollo. The sun was hot, so Marion must be hot too. Warm. Adela wondered if she even knew how warm she was. Whether she knew or not, the warmth of her hands was causing Adela's face to heat up too.

Marion started humming something. It sounded Ancient. Adela didn't know what exactly it was, but it was definitely something to do with godly healing. Adela's mother was a Titan, after all. She could speak Minoan, and she could definitely recognise Ancient power. Adela sighed and leaned in to Marion's hands. Whatever power Marion possessed, it was... something. Adela's chest felt light, and she put the question out of her head.

Her jaw felt tingly, like she'd dipped it in soda. The pain slowly began to recede, until Adela felt her jaw snap back into place with a POP. That should have hurt, too. But it didn't.

Then, the tingling feeling stopped and the gentle pressure of Marion's hands fluttered away. Adela had been leaning on them pretty heavily, and she had to catch herself to stop her head from tipping into Marion's lap. The after effects of Marion's power must have been strong, because Adela's chest still felt light.

Wait! A very, very tiny part of Adela wanted to beg. Put your hands back!

Adela took that part of herself, and screwed it up into a little ball. Then she crushed it into oblivion.

Adela hesitated for a second, then flexed her jaw. It felt fine. Better than fine, actually. It felt like she'd just woken up after sleeping on it very well. She swiped an arm across her face and a streak of dried blood came with it.

"Oh, shit, I do not feel good right now..." Marion let out a slightly nervous laugh.

She wasn't wrong. Marion looked paler than before, and kind of clammy. For some weird reason though, her face was red. Maybe her powers gave her after effects, too.

"I think I pushed myself too hard. Healing isn't really my strong suit, I can only really do it with a lot of rest and I haven't had a lot of rest recently..." Marion trailed off.

A flash of something ugly replaced the light feeing in Adela's chest. How lucky, how very lucky that Marion could heal with her hands. And she was complaining? If it were Adela, she'd be thanking the gods every morning and night. What she wouldn't give, to trade places-

No. She cut the thought off at its conclusion. She wasn't going to wish for things that weren't remotely attainable. More importantly, she wasn't going to wish her own... she wasn't going to wish that on anyone. Ever.

Adela swallowed, half-expecting it to hurt, but it didn't. "Shall we go then?"

She just needed to get Marion out of the labyrinth and out of her life. Then she could forget about all this... this stuff. She was wasting time anyway. The sooner they both parted ways, the better.

"Right." Mari stumbled to her feet and swayed slightly. "I don't suppose there's any way I could use you as a human crutch? Just for a bit."

Adela's heart sank. "No."

Marion looked hurt for a second but she hid it behind a smile that didn't reach the rest of her face. "Oh. Okay. Don't worry about it. Sorry for asking."

Adela's heart couldn't sink anymore, so it shrivelled inside of her instead. It didn't matter. She didn't care anyway. Besides, the bright side was that maybe Marion would be so fed up that she'd decide to part ways on her own. Whether she owed her or not, it wouldn't be Adela's fault if Marion decided to cut her off. Adela wouldn't blame her. Then maybe Adela could finally stop worrying.

"Let's go, then! I'll just use the side of the wall to walk, see?" Marion leaned against the wall and patted it with her free hand. "It's actually really... smooth..." She trailed off and stared at the wall, wide-eyed.

"What?" Adela followed her gaze.

"Don't you see it?" Marion asked.

Adela huffed. "If I saw it, I wouldn't be asking you, Marion."

Marion frowned, tracing her finger over a weirdly shaped crack in the wall. It meant nothing to Adela, but apparently Marion had other ideas. "That's a Delta!"

Adela snorted. "Marion, it's a squiggle."

"No." Marion grinned, pressing her hand against it. "It's a delta. Definitely a delta." The squiggle in question glowed blue at Marion's touch and Adela huffed. She could just touch whatever she wanted, couldn't she? Like everyone else! It wasn't fair! It was - her fault. It was Adela's own fault.

"How did you not know this?" Marion asked her as the walls shifted, forming a crumbling archway.

Adela squirmed. "Uh, gee, Marion. My Dad taught me Ancient Greek when I was three years old. It's been a while." It wasn't like she forgot it on purpose, and anyway, what right did Marion have to judge?

"Uh." Marion frowned. "I get that, but demigods have a natural affinity for Ancient Greek. Most of us can small parts of it without practice, even people who can't recognise the letters. It doesn't make sense that you can't..."

Adela didn't know how Marion expected to respond. Maybe she was just tired! Hadn't Marion ever been tired before? "Is that really our biggest concern right now?" She gestured to the open door. "I would prefer to not waste time arguing and let this thing close on us."

Marion nodded, looking a little sheepish.

"You go first." Adela offered.

Marion stepped through, Adela following behind for a change. She kept her eyes trained on the exit as she went, turning to watch it slowly close behind her. Thank gods. They were out. Actually out. Adela looked up at the sky. It was night time.

"Where do you think we are?" Marion asked.

Adela shrugged, then something caught her eye. It was a small green-beaded wristband, with white writing across it. "Marion." Adela pointed to it. "Pick that up. What does it say?"

Marion brought the bracelet to her eyes, frowning as she tried to read. Adela didn't blame her. It was hard enough to read printed words, but beads? Beads sucked.

"Uh... Zilxer... no, no, Zilker. Zilker Metropolitan Park?" She shrugged. "Never heard of it. You?"

Adela shook her head. A horrible thought struck her. "Marion. Do you think someone dropped that as a monster killed them?"

Marion's head snapped up. "Shit. Shit!"

It was the only explanation she could think of. If someone dropped something this close to a labyrinth entrance... there must be some kind of hungry monster prowling around there somewhere. Adela shuddered.

"You need to IM Clarisse. Right now," she told Marion. "You said her name was Clarisse, right?"

Marion nodded, reaching into her backpack. She frowned, shuffling around for a minute before her expression dropped. "Adela, my drachmas are gone."

Adela really, really hoped she'd misheard Marion there. Then she realised she hadn't and her stomach clenched. "Marion... what do you mean gone?" Her voice was deceptively calm.

Marion threw her arms up in the air. "I meant I don't bloody have them, Adela! I must have lost them somewhere in the labyrinth!"

Adela propped her head in her hands. "How..." she gulped. "How did you manage to do that?"

Marion narrowed her eyes. "I don't know, Adela. Do you really think it's a good idea to waltz back in there and look for them?"

"Obviously not!" Adela snapped. "But you seriously based an entire plan on using Drachmas to IM your friend, and then forgot to make sure you actually had the drachmas? Do you see how idiotic that sounds?!"

Marion clenched her jaw. "Well, evidently I didn't think I had to. How was I supposed to know I dropped them? I was a little busy trying saving you from a cannibal and then fixing your jaw!"

"Oh, so you're saying this is my fault?!" Adela clenched her fists, glaring.

"No! That isn't what I meant. Not at all."

"What the Hades did you mean, then?"

"I don't know! I don't know, Adela! But we're stranded with no idea where we are, and no way to contact camp, with some kind of evil hungry monster on the prowl! We are thoroughly screwed! And you really are being a bit of a bitch."

Adela gulped. When Marion put it like that... they really were in trouble. "Do you think you can at least make some light, 'Daughter of Apollo'?" Adela allowed the end of her sentence to be a little bitter. She figured she deserved to be a little bitter, after everything that had happened in her life.

"No." Marion looked miserable. "I probably can't even walk that far. I used all my energy to heal... I used all my energy." She lowered herself onto the dirt, then curled up on her side and seemed to be watching the sky.

Adela scowled. Right. Marion had used up all her power to heal her jaw. "We are not screwed," she told Marion firmly, squaring her shoulders.

"What the fuck do you mean?"

Adela gave her a half-smile, which she hoped looked confident, because it probably didn't. "I, uh, I have some experience on surviving alone. Trust me, if we can find some kind of shelter for the night, we'll be okay. I'll take first watch, we can go from there."

She still didn't trust Marion. But that didn't factor into her decision. Trust or not, she double-owed her now. Triple-owed if she counted the first time Marion patched her up, but Adela chose not to count that. If she helped Marion survive long enough to get in contact with someone and go home, then... she wouldn't have to travel with Marion anymore. She'd have no reason. She could leave. And that would be a good thing, Adela reminded herself.