Mari wasn't sure how long she sat under that tree. Evening had definitely passed, so it must have been hours.

"It's a lovely night, isn't it?"

Mari jumped as the tree nearest her morphed into a beautiful girl with green skin and long red hair, in a chiton and sandals.

She sat down on Mari's left, looking up at the darkening sky.

"Who are you?" It was the first time Mari had spoken since she collapsed in the woods.

The girl smiled. "I'm Juniper. Sorry if you wanted privacy, but nobody really comes here for privacy. Dryads are notorious gossips, you know."

Mari didn't know that.

Juniper continued. "I heard you crying and got curious. Don't worry. I'm one of the best at keeping secrets. And I sent my friends away, chasing after a squirrel. They won't overhear anything... That is, if you want to talk."

"My brother joined Kronos and is trying to end the world." Mari didn't know exactly why she chose to be honest with the Dryad. Maybe it was because the last time a nature spirit helped her, it was Oak, and he ended up saving her life multiple times. He even gave up his own to make sure she lived long enough to make it to camp.

Juniper made a noise of sympathy. "I'm sorry. I can't imagine..." She trailed off at the end.

Mari swallowed. "Do you... have any siblings?"

Juniper smiled again, but it this time didn't reach her eyes. "I did."

"'Did?'"

Juniper's smile disappeared. "Yes. Cedar, Photinia, Hedera..."

"What happened to them?" Mari asked.

Juniper scowled at the dirt. "Greedy men came, with axes. They wanted to cut down my sisters and use them to build their houses, so that they could be bigger than other people's houses. My sisters were too young to transform and hide."

Mari's mouth went dry. She hadn't ever thought about what it must have been like, for the Dryads at camp. She knew that there were some still on the outside, but they tended to live in mountainous areas, with lots of dangerous wildlife. Animals which were too dangerous for mortals.

Now, Mari knew why.

Juniper brightened. "But, enough about that. It happened so many years ago, I've lost count. I just wanted you to know, I understand what it is to lose a sibling. If you ever want to talk about it, feel free."

Mari bristled. "My brother isn't dead."

"That's unfortunate. You should get back. It's getting darker outside, and monsters are more active at night. They don't bother Dryads, but I doubt they'll leave you alone so easily."

Mari shook her head. It hadn't taken long for her to realise how awful she'd been to Will. A little after a leaf had fallen from the tree onto her forehead, to be exact. And she did feel awful. She'd yelled at him. And she hadn't just yelled at him, she'd kicked over his pile of medical supplies. She'd literally kicked them in his face. She was a horrible sister.

"What's wrong?" Juniper asked. She'd gotten up, and Mari realised that the Dryad was holding out a hand for her to take.

"My other brother. I think I hurt his feelings." Well, that was actually the understatement of the bloody century.

A soft grin crossed Juniper's face. "He's your brother, right?" she asked.

Mari nodded.

"And is he on our side of the war?"

Another nod.

"Well, then there's nothing to worry about."

Juniper grabbed Mari's hand instead of waiting for her to take it. "Come on. The monsters really will be out soon, and I'm sure your siblings are worried."

Was it selfish that she kind of hoped they were? Not that she wanted them to be upset or anything. She just hoped they actually cared, and that she hadn't ruined everything by yelling at Will.

Juniper walked with her for a few more minutes, before she stopped. Mari looked back to see her holding both of her hands up. The palms were squished, like they were pressed against an invisible border, and glowing slightly green.

"I'm sorry." She looked apologetic. "I can't go any further away from my tree. Not without fading away."

Panic filled Mari. She probably could have found her way back during the day, but not when it was this dark. She couldn't even see half a metre away from her own hand. "But how do I get back?!"

Juniper laughed. "You worry too much. I have that covered for you."

She moved both of her hands, so that they were resting with her palms facing outwards, over her stomach, and made a push motion.

Some of the green glow filtered into the air, gathering around Mari and then moving a few metres ahead of her. It stopped there, making small movements towards her again, almost like it was impatient for her to follow.

"That should do it!" Juniper grinned at her, before waving. Then, she disappeared into a poof of green dust, leaving nothing but a small pile of leaves and a fresh smell behind.

Mari followed the green lights back through the woods. They stopped every few metres for her to catch up.

She hoped the Harpies weren't out yet. She got the feeling they weren't the kind of monsters who would be swayed by 'Sorry, I took a break to cry in the woods and got lost.'

She broke the rough the clearing after only ten minutes of walking, which made her think that Juniper must have done something else to get her back faster. She'd definitely been running for more than ten minutes...

The green glow disappeared in front of her, making a quiet fizzling sound as it did.

Chiron was standing at the break in the trees, with his arms crossed.

"Marion. I'm glad you're safe." He smiled at her. "We have a lot to discuss."

"How did you know I'd be by that spot in the woods?" Mari wrapped her hands around the warm mug Chiron handed her. Hot chocolate. She'd asked for it with hazelnut milk, seeing as every time she thought of animal products, she thought of Polyphemus.

"Ah, Juniper contacted me. She told me where you were and where you would end up when you finished your... walk." Chiron grimaced.

"How did Juniper contact you?" Mari asked.

Chiron looked up from where he was stirring a pot of tea. "Ah, you'll have to ask her that herself, I'm afraid. Dryades are private creatures. It would be disrespectful for me to reveal their practices. But, that is not what I wanted to discuss with you." He finished making his tea, and sat down on his back legs, taking a long sip and sighing.

Mari glanced nervously around the big house. Dionysus hadn't shown up yet, but she didn't put it past him to pop out from behind a leopard skin rug or something and try to turn her into a dolphin again. "Is Mr. D still here?"

Several bangs came from somewhere upstairs, and then a long string of swear words in Ancient Greek. Chiron cast a withering look in the direction of the noise. "Ah, I'm afraid Mr. D is suffering from some adverse consequences of his... Diet Coke."

"Right."

Chiron sighed, taking another long sip of tea. "Lord Dionysus did, however, inform me of something... strange about you. About the way you manipulate the mist."

Mari swallowed. "How did he know?"

Chiron looked slightly bemused as he answered. "Child, he is a god. All the gods know."

Mari stilled. They knew about what Circe had done to her? How much else did they know? Had they known she was on that island, the entire time? If they did... why didn't they do anything to help her? She didn't expect a full on Olympian rescue party or anything, but couldn't they have at least given Chiron a friendly heads up?

"Did the gods know anything else?"

"I'm afraid not."

So, they didn't care to look?

Chiron continued, "I would appreciate it if you could give me a demonstration."

Mari frowned. "Why?"

Chiron brought out a huge book, with an eagle on the cover. It was so old it should have just been dust, but somehow it was in perfect condition. It wasn't even dusty, and Mari was pretty sue Chiron wasn't concerned with polishing the book for dramatic affect.

"This." He set the book on the table in front of her with a thunk . "It's a collection I have kept since I began training heroes. In it is every power I have ever come across. In multiple millennia. The last I updated this... was shortly before the gods moved on to Ancient Rome. And yet, here we are."

"Oh."

Chiron gave her a smile. "Yes. 'Oh'."

"So, you want to update your book with the mist thing?" Mari asked, glancing at both of her hands. Chiron looked at them too, and both of them ignored the fact that they were shaking.

"Well, I wouldn't describe it as a 'mist thing', but yes. That is the general idea."

"Okay." She couldn't exactly say no, could she? And even if she could, what would that say about her? She was rescued from an enemy island. Chiron was probably curious about just how many of his campers she was involved in turning into guinea pigs. And yet he still seemed like he was willing to let her stay. It was probably the least she could do.

Mari raised her hands and gathered the mist. She curled them into fists, watching as the mist formed a thin layer around them. Then, she wrapped the mist around her hot chocolate mug (careful not to let any spill out, it was really good) and pushed up.

The mug soared into the air and shot back down again. Unfortunately, Mari hadn't quite considered the drink when the cup actually dropped, and most of it splattered across the carpet.

"I'm sorry! I'll get up early to clean it, I promise-"

Chiron held up a hand to silence her. "It's no problem. Mr. D can easily clean it with a wave of his hand, once he has the, ah, constitution for these kinds of things again."

Mari hesitantly nodded. Chiron dug a pair of reading glasses from his pocket, took out a ballpoint pen with an omega printed into the top, and opened his book. Mari couldn't quite read what he was writing, but he looked to be deep in concentration.

"Chiron?" she asked.

Chiron looked up, startled. "What's wrong?"

"Can I... get rid of it?" she asked.

Chiron frowned. "Why would you?"

Mari crossed her hands over her knees, like she was told to as a child when it was time to take photos of her primary school class. She's always hated when the teachers told her to sit up straight and smile. After all, the other kinds actually had families that might display the photo. She just had whichever foster parents happened to be housing her at that point, and most of them didn't give a crap about her school pictures. Somehow, it brought her comfort now.

"Circe forced me to learn this. I didn't want to. It hurt." She refused to elaborate any further.

Chiron's brow creased in confusion, but then it seemed like something dawned on him. His face dropped. "Oh, child. Circe is a powerful mistress of her craft. But, power in the wrong hands can be destructive. I am sorry for what she has done." He set the book on the table, and smiled at her. "Yours are not the wrong hands, Marion."

Mari glanced at her hands. She had a hangnail.

Chiron shook his head. "No, no, not in that way. I mean, Circe is power-hungry and cruel. You are not."

Mari dug her nails into her knees. "How do you know that? For all you know, Circe could have messed me up so that I'm a power-hungry bitc-"

"Language, child." Chiron's voice was stern.

"Sorry."

Chiron shook his head. "No. It is understandable. You have been through an ordeal. But, please try to refrain from using expletives again. What's more important is that you're not a power-hungry... person."

How was he supposed to know that? She'd been on Aeaea for five years. That was a third of her whole entire life! She didn't even remember much from before she was five, so really, it was more like half. What if Circe did have some kind of influence on her? Not to mention Blaze... he'd been turned into a guinea pig because of her, and it was all her fault... Blaze would probably think she was a horrible person. And Will? Will probably despised her. She'd trashed his infirmary and yelled at him. How was that not evidence that she was a horrible person?

It was like Chiron could read her thoughts.

"Child, not every demigod has powers. Some fight with swords, instead. A power, no matter what, is no different from a sword. It is the wielder who chooses how they use it, not the other way around. And you are not evil."

Mari didn't know if she could believe him or not.

Chiron closed the book, setting it on the table. "Marion, it's getting late. You should go to bed. I asked Lee to make sure there is a bunk for you."

"What about the cleaning harpies?" Mari asked.

Chiron nodded. "Well-remembered. They won't bother you, child. Now get some rest."

Mari left the big house and wandered down into the little valley. The only light came from the gently burning brazier in the middle of the fields, and from Artemis's cabin which was lit up in moonlight. The orange-y and silver light mixed, casting all the cabins in different colours.

The harpies circled the sky, one of them occasionally swooping lower. But, true to Chiron's word, none of them went to attack her. They didn't look to happy about that, though. One of them perched on the chimney of the Hephaestus cabin and glared. The harpy's eyes followed Mari as she went, like one of those creepy paintings in movies. She shivered.

"Mari!" Lee, Michael and Sean were on the porch, waiting for her.

Lee was wringing his hands, and Michael just looked generally curious. Sean was curled asleep up on a huge pillow, with a blanket thrown over him, sucking his thumb.

Mari dashed over, ignoring the disappointed look on the face of the harpy, which had begun growling at her before being interrupted.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you sooner. I just didn't know how to. I shouldn't have put the burden onto Will either, I didn't mean to, but still... the poor guy's been working to the bone, he didn't need that. Neither did you."

Michael scowled. "It's not your fault. It's his." It didn't take a genius to figure out that 'he' was Mason. There was an obvious hint of betrayal in Michael's voice.

"Why are you two awake? It's really late." Mari shivered again. She still hadn't changed out of that bloody chiton, and it was really more of a brown and red sack than a pale white dress at this point. The problem was, it was made for warm, balmy weather, not for falling into the ocean multiple times, fighting a cyclops and a dracaena, taking an impromptu walk through the woods, and then standing outside on a porch at what must have been nearly midnight.

Lee handed her a small bundle of clothes. "To give you these. You remember the room in the back to change, right? Plus, you wouldn't know where to sleep."

"It's your old bed, by the way. Hope that's okay," Michael added.

The bundle was a light green shirt and blue pyjama shorts. She thanked every god she could possibly think of for that. Maybe Chiron would let her burn the chiton in that brazier tomorrow...

"Who's... in there?" Mari gestured towards the cabin door.

Lee went into full cabin-counsellor mode, counting off the residents on his fingers. "Me, Michael, Sean, obviously, then there's Will, and a younger kid called Austin Lake." He must have seen the look on Mari's face because he was quick to continue, "Oh, the rest of our siblings are fine, don't worry! Well, apart from... you know... They just don't live here anymore."

That wasn't right. Viti should still be at camp, right? If Mari remembered right, she should be.

Michael gave Lee a look, as if he was trying to silently communicate with him to shut up, before taking over. "Uh, okay. Sammy went to live in LA. They've opened up a little record store. I spoke to them last week, the store's really successful apparently. I was going to go visit in the fall."

Mari smiled to herself. Sammy's bedside table had always been full of old records, with a small record player pushed under their bed. They'd even managed to somehow stick a huge vinyl to the wall above their bed.

Michael continued. "Amber is studying to be a vet in collage in Washington, with her girlfriend. Do you remember Lizzie, from the Hermes cabin? Well, she's doing a politics course at the same place."

Mari remembered Amber always hanging out with Lizzie in-between training. It really wasn't a surprise that they'd gotten together, thinking about it. She wondered who'd asked who...

Michael looked almost exasperated at his last explanation. "Viti's fine, too. At least, I assume she is."

Mari frowned. What? Viti had to be fine, too. She had to be. Mason was already gone, that was too much in itself. She couldn't take Viti being gone, either. Had she joined Kronos, or worse, had she been killed?

"Sorry, I shouldn't make you wait. It's just... so Viti. Anyway, Artemis's hunt rolled around about three years ago and she joined without a second thought. She's always been a huge fan of Artemis. We don't see much of her nowadays, but sometimes she sends postcards from wherever the hunters are staying. The last one was five months ago, in Vermont."

Oh.

Mari tried to imagine Viti as a hunter of Artemis. She wasn't sure what the hunt even looked like, but she imagined a group of girls in silvery chitons, chasing monsters through the woods. Wait, if the gods changed with the times, did the hunters even wear chitons anymore? She hoped Viti was happy, at least. Her siblings deserved to be safe, and happy.

Lee scooped up Sean, blanket and all, and smiled apologetically at Mari. "He wanted to wait for you, too. He didn't remember you but he's a curious kid. He was just too tired."

Michael led the three of them in. The open door cast just enough moonlight to see they'd added bunkbeds. Her siblings didn't look like much more than lightly moving lumps in the dim light, but their breathing sounded through the whole cabin.

Mari clutched the clothes and walked into the other room to change.

She hadn't showered in days and her hair was a mess of golden threads and some blood. Her fingernails were caked in dirt and her face had slightly red stains on it, but there was a small sink in the corner of the room so Mari could at least wash her arms, legs and face. Still, it almost felt a shame to wear such clean pyjamas when she was so dirty.

She left the chiton on the floor behind her.

Her old bed was empty, waiting for her. Well, it was a bunkbed now. She glanced at the occupant above her and realised it was Will. Gods, she hoped he wasn't too angry with her for destroying his medical supplies...

She curled up under the blanket. She hadn't slept in this cabin in so long... the last bed she'd slept in was bigger than this, but she would rather walk over hot coals than ever have to sleep in a bed on Circe's island ever again. This was infinitely better.

She heard the doors close. "Night," Mari said softly. She smiled, even though it was pitch black now and nobody could see her.

Sean snored in his sleep.

A quiet laugh filled the cabin, and Mari wasn't sure if it was Michael or Lee. It didn't matter. Both of them were still there. Sean was there. Her other siblings were there, or at the very least, they were safe.

All apart from Mason.

Mason, who had betrayed the entire camp and was with Luke and Kronos. To take over the world and kill them all.

Maybe he didn't know what he was doing. Maybe he was just acting as a spy and only Chiron knew. He hadn't said anything about it, right? Maybe Mason was trying to pass information onto the other side but he couldn't contact them much. Maybe he was just conflicted. He wouldn't seriously want to murder his own siblings. He couldn't. Mason had grown up with these people. There had to be some other explanation.

She just needed to ask him. They'd run into each other eventually, if he really was on the other side. After all, Kronos's whole entire thing was fighting the gods, wasn't it? Fighting campers kind of came under that. Even if it was on opposite sides in a fight, Mari would see Mason again. She'd tell him what Luke did, and he'd come back. Or, he'd turn out to be on their side all along and everyone would be happy. She just had to explain.

For the first time in a long while - five years to be exact - Mari's sleep was restful.

— SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE —

Adela tugged the gloves higher on her hands, so that they went up to their full height at the middle of her lower arm. She was tired.

She'd been on this bus for four hours, as it slowly emptied to just her and an old woman with a foul-smelling peach tea who'd thankfully gotten off at the last stop.

So the bus was empty when a familiar boy got on. "Styx," she muttered. She didn't know his last name but she knew his first one. Mason. He was the one who always hung around with Luke Castellan, before he finally gave up trying to chase her and just sent Mason after her instead.

Mason paid for a ticket and walked down the aisle. Adela shoved her packet of crackers back into her backpack and went to get up but the bus was already moving and Mason was already sitting next to her. She was trapped.

"You're a hard girl to find, Adela."

"The answer is no."

Mason frowned. "At least listen to the question."

Both of them knew she didn't have a choice. She could try and stop the bus but he'd be right behind her, and she'd stupidly chosen a seat next to the window, with him blocking her access to the aisle. She was sitting at the front of the bus next time, if she even got out of this.

"Fine."

"Adela, how would you feel about staying somewhere more... comfortable, where your talents will be more... appreciated?" He glanced at a stain on the seat in front of him as he spoke, grimacing.

Talents. That was a twisted way of putting it. "Your question is predictable."

Mason nodded. "Well, you're not wrong there. But you're not giving me an answer, either."

"I already did," she reminded him.

Mason sighed. "Six years, and your answer still hasn't changed?"

Six years, and she still hadn't developed a death wish, more like. "You've only been bothering me for a year and a half." Adela was tense in her seat as she spoke, ready to run the moment he gave her an opportunity. If he gave her an opportunity. Last time they'd spoke, a hellhound had attacked and she'd left him to deal with it. That had been two months ago. She didn't think she'd get that kind of distraction again.

"Should I wait another year before asking again?"

"I'd prefer if you just didn't. How did you find me, anyway?"

Mason looked very unimpressed. "I paid a PI to track you. You're getting sloppy Adela."

Adela grit her teeth. That was brutally unfair and both of them knew it. She was an eleven-year-old girl and he was a teenager living on a yacht with access to thousands of dollars in resources. The odds were stacked against her.

"Leave me alone, I'm not joining your army."

"Why not? You've never given me a reason."

His voice was calm, but she could tell he was starting to get agitated. There was only so much of tracking the same person over and over one could take. She wondered how long it would take for him to give up and tell Luke to cut his losses. That, or Luke would send someone more skilled after her. She shuddered to think of the second possibility.

As for why she wasn't joining Kronos's army, the answer was obvious. She was indifferent about most of the gods, but Kronos was universally awful. The titan might say he was building his army to help Luke, Mason and whoever else had chosen to believe him. Adela knew she had a brother in Kronos's army, but she didn't like thinking about that. If he was there, he was dead and it didn't matter because he was just one in a long line of people who were going to die. She'd never met him, so she wasn't ever going to miss him. The point was, Kronos was a liar and anyone who listened to him was marching to their own destruction. She wasn't going to step in line with that march.

"I don't have to justify anything to you," she spat.

Mason glared at her openly now. She wondered for a second if he was going to slap her, but the bus stopped again before he could.

Adela elbowed him in the face and dashed down the aisle, ignoring the pounding as he followed. She could try and get the driver to help her, but he was a mortal. Adela didn't know Mason well enough to know if he'd kill the guy or not, and she didn't wan to have more blood on her hands. She'd killed enough people already. Besides, the driver had headphones in so he was a pretty unlikely rescuer.

Instead of jumping off the bus, Adela stopped suddenly at the side of the open door and stuck her foot out. Mason had been chasing her too quickly to stop himself. He tripped over her shoe and fell out of the bus and flat onto his face, into the gravel below. Before he could get up, the doors shut and the bus started moving again. Adela glanced out of the window, as Mason attempted to run alongside it.

Demigods were fast. Children of Hermes were faster, so Mason wasn't the best of the best, but he had probably trained at camp for a long time before defecting. He must have been in his late teens to early twenties. That was old for a demigod, after all.

But, Mason was also at a severe disadvantage. He was shouting at her to stop the bus, which was wasting precious oxygen in a futile attempt, since Adela wasn't listening to him. He also had a heavy nosebleed from his face hitting the hard, stony floor. He was also getting tired after keeping up the run for more than a few minutes. Adela hoped he was cursing himself for not asking Luke to go after her now.

He started to fall behind the bus, his face getting redder and redder as he did so. Adela didn't know if that was from exhaustion or anger. But she knew she was exhausted.

She sat down again, this time at the front of the bus, and got out her packet of crackers. All she had was this and a bottle of water from the last house she'd robbed. She'd need to rob another soon if she wanted to eat anything substantial.

She ate three more crackers and then twisted up the packet. She only had five left, and they were all broken. She took a few sips of water. She curled up and closed her eyes. She could sleep here, right? This was a 24 hour bus, and the driver seemed oblivious enough to not notice that she was freeloading. She'd snuck on behind a rowdy group of teenage boys and nobody had batted an eye, after all.

A bus was probably the safest place for her to be right now. Monsters wouldn't have enough time after they materialised to get on the bus in the minute that it stopped, and hopefully Mason hadn't paid enough attention to where the bus was actually going to try to follow. It wasn't a fool-proof plan, but it was all she had. Safe enough for her to sleep, surely...

She closed her eyes and fell into unconsciousness. The monsters still hunted her in her dreams.