FOUR MONTHS LATER

glick. glick. glick. gli-

"Miss Carter!"

"Yes?!" Mari jumped in her seat, swivelling around to meet the annoyed eyes of one Graham Fummeral.

"Yes, Mr. Fummeral." Her teacher clicked his fingers in her face as if she were a misbehaving dog.

"I asked, can you solve for X in this equation?"

Mari sighed. It was the last class of the last day before Upper Creek Elementary School split up for summer. In May. Yeah, that was weird. Back in England, schools split up for summer in July. Not that Mari was complaining. School had been... an experience, to say the least. She honestly wasn't sure how she'd got through the last five months without being expelled, but she certainly hadn't endeared herself to the faculty (there was an incident involving her humming 'god save the queen' instead of reciting the declaration of independence, or possibly the pledge of allegiance, because she still didn't know either and her homeroom teacher had given up). And the homework, gods, the homework. Six years school-free had not prepared her for what felt like being hit by a thousand useless textbooks and a whole lot of frustration. She wouldn't have got through it without Naomi Solace letting her sit in the corner of her recording room and work. The music helped.

"Marion Carter!" Mr. Fummeral clicked his fingers again. "The question, please."

"Oh, shi- shorry." Mari gulped. "Uh, is it... 7.5?"

"3.7." The teacher scowled. "As interesting as I'm sure the window is, I would appreciate it if you paid some attention to the lesson I am trying to teach. If it weren't the last day, you'd be in detention. As it is, I'll let it slide this time. And don't try and answer if you're just going to guess, you're wasting lesson time. Now..."

Mari ripped her page of calculations out of her book as the teacher kept talking, and scrunched it into her pocket. Will sent her a sympathetic look from a couple of seats away. He got the same treatment sometimes, but all the science teachers loved him, and hated her. Mari was pretty sure they'd all have a get-together after school just to celebrate the fact that they never had to teach her again because she was going to be starting 6th grade and moving to middle school. Never mind that she actually tried, but nobody seemed to care. Apart from Naomi, but Naomi wasn't a teacher. Most days, Mari just couldn't keep her focus on the teacher's words as they droned on and on and on. She'd accidentally notice the shape of the blackboard and then imagine a tiny family trying to climb up the side of it or something, and then she'd have to design a complex ladder system in her mind to make sure the tiny family all made it to the top of the blackboard safely... and before she'd know it the bell would be going, signalling the next class and she'd have no idea what had happened in the last fifty-five minutes.

This time, though, it wasn't just her usual inability to pay attention. Mari had probably slept for a total of seven minutes that night. Fifteen if she counted blinking.

Every night since she'd started living with Will and Naomi, snakes would slither into the room she slept in, ready to torment her when she woke. She hadn't told anybody because it had never worked before. The last person she'd told had been Brienne Harsome, her foster mother back when she was four. Some of the snakes had chased Mari down the hallway and she'd accidentally shattered the vase containing Brienne's mother's ashes. Mari didn't remember her exact words to Brienne as she tried to explain the snakes, but there had been a lot of crying involved, by both parties. Brienne had said she believed Mari and that she was going to head out right that second to buy some nice, strong snake repellent. Mari had been so thrilled that she hadn't remembered how it didn't make sense for any shops to be open at midnight. She'd made Brienne a thankyou card while she waited. A real monstrosity of a thing, with copious amounts of glitter and a lot of spelling mistakes. Brienne had come back with Andrew Rush, Mari's social worker, and Mari had been out of the house by morning. She still didn't know what happened to that stupid card. So, yeah, she wasn't going to be telling anybody about the snakes any time soon.

But despite all that, the snakes weren't what had kept her up last night, either. It was the dreams.

Those dreams were not normal. Even for a demigod. In them, she could feel every sensation. Every blade of grass from a sunlit picnic, sticking to her dress, every bump against traitorous chair legs as Frankie learnt to walk. She felt it. Even when she woke up, the sensations lingered for a while. And whenever she had a dream, her forehead itched. Right where Mason had practically burned something into her brain. Her dreams seemed to be similar to things that happened in real life, almost as if they were deeply buried memories that were somehow being unlocked.

Memories. Because of course, that was exactly what they were. Frankie Ray's memories. Mari shuddered. Mason could have at least asked. Maybe the reason he didn't was because he knew she'd say no.

glick. glick. glick-

Fuck that clock. It was baiting her, and it knew exactly what it was doing. Never mind that it was an inanimate object, it was a devious little mastermind and if she had her way she'd destroy it. Sadly, whilst Naomi Solace was on her side in the whole 'refusing to say the pledge of allegiance' incident, the same definitely wouldn't be the case for destruction of public property. Not unless it was a monster attack.

Speaking of, apparently having two demigods under one roof was a bad idea (who knew?) smell-wise. For monsters, at least. Mari and Will were both very clean people, which came from working in an infirmary where contamination could cause actual infection of wounds. They didn't smell. But try telling that to the three empousai that had cornered them both in the stadium after a mandatory cheerleading display. Or the hellhound that had trotted into the back garden like a dog expecting treats. Or the Cyclops that had tried to lure Will away by pretending to be Michael screaming in pain in the middle of the city. That last one had been a nightmare to kill.

Glick!

Oh, finally. The small hand on the clock was between the three and the two, and the long hand was on the six. Two-thirty. That meant that Mari and Will were free. There was a collective sigh from the class, as they all packed up their books and hightailed it out of the room, as fast as possible. Will took a little longer to pack up than everybody else, so by the time he and Mari were done, the rest of the kids were gone.

"Now, wait just a second!"

Mr. Fummeral glared at them both as they were halfway to the door, his arms crossed. "I haven't dismissed you yet!"

"But the rest of the class is gone...?" Will protested, halfway to the door where Mari was waiting.

Mr Fummeral clicked his fingers. It sounded kind of tinny, like a fork crashing together with a knife. Had it always sounded like that? Mari liked to think she would have noticed.

"You know, I've been patient. Waited, watched. But you two have never gone anywhere without the presence of mortals. Ever!"

Mortals.

Ah, shit. Mari drew Drys, hearing Will unsheathe his small dagger.

"Ah, I guess the jig is up." Mr. Fummeral clicked his fingers again, and started to change. His arms and legs got longer. Six more rusty orange limbs sprouted from his torso. A tough-looking shell of the same colour formed on his back, and his eyes became dark and beady. His arms, now the two front limbs, formed viciously sharp-looking pincers where his hands had been, which clicked at them both menacingly. He was roughly the size of Naomi's car, but it was flat down on the ground. Kind of like an overgrown...

"Crab," Will whispered.

"I am the Karkinos!" Mr Fummeral said, clicking his fingers- no, his pincers at them in anger. "I fought Herakles, on command by Hera, but did she ever give me a thankyou? Nooooo, just crushed under the foot of that overbrawned brute! Then she had the nerve to put me in the sky! The sky! I am a sea creature!"

It went for Mari first, clicking its shiny pincers at her as if it wanted to snap her leg in half, which it probably did. Mari took a page out of Herakles's book (which she would never do again after hearing from Percy about what he'd done to Zoë Nightshade) and stomped on his head, darting out of the way at the 'crunch' sound that followed.

"Twatch!" It spluttered. "Not again, little girl! Lord Kronos has made sure I'm not so easily felled." Sure enough, the Karkinos' head was covered in the same shell-like material as the rest of its body. "But don't worry. If you surrender, I will allow you the dignity of a few-"

Mari stomped on his head again.

"Last-"

And again.

"Wo-" Again.

"Stop-" Stomp. "Doing-" Stomp. "That!"

Stomp.

Will was sneaking around the side of the room. He waved his dagger, then pointed at the Karkinos, specifically its neck. Keep it distracted he mouthed. Mari wanted to nod but that would tip it off. She trusted Will, especially when it came to something like this. Her brother was practically part of the infirmary itself. He read medical textbooks for fun. If anyone knew the best artery to stab, it would be him.

"Hey, Fummeral!" Mari scowled. "Uh... do you like drawing?"

Will gaped at her. He couldn't say anything, but his face was a pretty clear message of are you serious?

"Drawing?" Even the Karkinos sounded incredulous.

"Yes!" Mari plastered on a fake smile. Will silently climbed onto a desk behind the Karkinos, raising his dagger in preparation. Mari paused, and Will frantically gestured for her to keep going. "Drawing! Uh, see, you just have so many arms, and I figured that, you know, before you kill me and stuff, you might as well tell me how fast you can make a half-decent sketch using all of them. Just out of, um, curiosity. Yeah."

"I... what?" The monster clicked his pincers in agitation. "I don't draw?"

"You should." Mari told him. Will slid one foot back into a crouch and nodded at her. "But you should also, um... die!"

Will leaped off the desk, landing on the Karkinos's back and stabbed, sending golden dust spewing from the left of its neck. "No!" It shrieked as it died, trying to toss Will off, but he clung on so tightly his knuckles went white. "You tricked me! You tricked me and I don't even know how to draw!"

Finally, the Karkinos crumbled into golden dust. "Draw that." Will made a face at the sulphuric smell already filling the room. "I wasn't sure if he had a jugular vein or not, I don't know much about crabs, but I guess that part of him was human, at least."

"Really?" Mari asked. "Out of everything you could have said, you chose 'Draw that'."

"You gave me absolutely nothing of value to work with." Will told her, sidestepping the remains of Mr. Fummeral. "Ugh. Gross."

"How many California rolls do you think it's body could make?" Mari wondered. "If it wasn't, y'know, disintegrating."

"Ew! I don't want to think about eating that thing, Mari! It was our teacher!" Will told her. "Aren't you vegan, anyway?"

Mari snickered. All of a sudden, there was a bang on the door. "What's that horrible smell?"

Oh, fuck. That was the principal. Mari was very well-acquainted with his voice. She'd heard it many times, drenched in disappointment as he stared at her from under his glasses with a picture of the American flag framed behind him (which was alarmingly cult-like). "Will, what do we-"

Will was already shoving the window open and climbing out. "C'mon!" He called.

Mari inwardly groaned. They were on the third floor of the building. They were demigods, so the fall wouldn't kill them but it wouldn't be any fun, either. Not to mention, people would see. Mari followed after her brother as he disappeared from view, swinging one leg over the window. Before she could jump, the door to the classroom burst open, to reveal the principal holding his nose.

"I... what is this?!" He caught sight of her. "You! Did you do this, Miss Carter?!"

"Uh... it was a late science fair project?" On reflex, Mari gave him finger guns and vaulted out of the window, ignoring his panicked shriek. She landed on her feet next to Will, just as the principal reached the window, leaning out of it.

"Mr. Solace?" the principal called after them. Even three storeys above, Mari could see the horror on his face. "Were you involved in this, too?"

"Sorry, sir!" Will called. "This has all been a big misunderstan-ding!" He jerked as Mari dragged him away, towards the familiar yellow car, where Naomi Solace had rolled the windows down, a concerned but altogether unsurprised expression on her face.

"What happened?" Naomi asked, as Mari and Will climbed into the back of the car. "Mr. Fummeral was a crab-man," Mari said.

"No, he called himself the Karkinos." Will made a face. "Whatever that is."

"Smelled terrible." Mari glanced out of the window as Upper Boggy Elementary school disappeared around the corner. "Anyway, we killed him."

"Good." Naomi nodded. "Are you in trouble?"

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" The principal sprinted out of the school, murder in his eyes as he zeroed in on the yellow car. "Before I call the police and press charges for property damage!"

"Well, that answers that." Naomi stepped on the gas, speeding away from the school and probably breaking several traffic laws, accidentally getting exhaust in the principal's face. "I'll fix it, don't worry. How was the last day of school?"

"Good," Will told Naomi.

"Mari?" Naomi asked.

"Oh. Yeah, good." She lied.

"Well, I was thinking we could all go out to eat tonight," Naomi said. "You know, after I convince your teachers not to press charges. At least we don't have to worry about expulsion, last day an' all."

Naomi drove them back, swerving around corners with the ferocity of a woman who was taught to drive by a god. Mari wasn't being facetious (Annabeth had taught her that word) there, either. Apollo had taught Naomi to drive years ago, on some kind of date. He couldn't have been a very good teacher but in his defence, there probably wasn't as much car congestion in the sky, bar a few very unlucky birds.

They got back and Mari and Will both ran upstairs to change clothes for training. They did this every day after school - Naomi had built a 'small' training ground in the back garden, when Will first went to camp. There was a climbing wall built into the outside of the house, two storeys high (unfortunately Naomi hadn't been able to get the building permits for lava), a couple in-built trampolines, a sword-fighting dummy next to the gazebo and even a few archery targets. Naomi usually forbade practice until all homework had been completed, but summer holidays had officially started, and with the whole 'moving to middle school' thing, there wasn't anything teachers could give them. It was beautiful.

They trained for a few hours, while Naomi suffered through a long phone call with one very angry principal, seven parents who had complaints that their kids had been exposed to some kind of 'toxic fumes', and, by the time the call was over, a headache. In the end, Mari and Will got away without charges because Mr. Fummeral's body had left no evidence behind and no 'gas leak' had actually occurred, so the only thing linking them to the scene was their presence. Well, and the fact that they had jumped out of the window instead of explaining themselves, but as Naomi pointed out, the principal was the only witness. Sadly, Naomi could talk away a lot, but they were still formally expelled even though school had literally ended. Talk about being petty.

By the time the call ended, Mari and Will were hungry and tired and Naomi was fed up with the other adults' bullshit and decided that all of them deserved a treat. So they all changed and went out to dinner. Downtown Austin was pretty. All the buildings were lit up at night, making a rainbow of colours across the huge lake the city overlooked. It was early evening, but the air around them was still warm and humid. If it had been England, it probably would have been raining. They picked a Spanish restaurant, and Mari was about to follow Naomi and Will in, when something fluttered in her chest, the familiar feeling of her instincts kicking in with full force. She had to stay out for a minute. She wasn't sure why, as usual, but she just did.

"Mari, sweetheart?" Naomi called. "You coming?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I just, um... I need a second of fresh air. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"I don't want to leave you out here in the city all alone, Mari... Even if you're right outside, I still can't see you."

"I'll be okay."

Naomi went back in and Mari sighed. She wasn't sure why she'd stayed. The city was pretty, but by this point she'd been there what had to be fifty times. Even with the strange presence behind her. The water looked all glittery. Like a light show. Mari could totally paint it if she had an easel. Wait a minute...

The strange presence behind her?

Before Mari knew what she was doing, she was whirling around, fist raised in a punch.

"H-hey!"

Mari dropped her fist, jaw going slack. "Adela?!"

"You look different." Adela told her. Mari glanced down. She was wearing clothes she'd actually picked out. A long light blue dress with bluebell crochets around the short sleeves.

"Uh, yeah." Mari's face felt hot. "Do you like it?"

"Yes! I mean, it's beautiful, but, um..." Adela's eyes narrowed, zeroing in on her forehead. "What is that?!"

Mari's hand fluttered upwards, towards her forehead, where the receipt had burned something into it months ago. "What's what?"

"It's a spell," Adela breathed. "I recognise it. It's Minoan. Some kind of sleeping spell, but it also says memories. And... brothe... Marion, who put a spell on you?"

Mari didn't say anything. That was probably enough of an answer.

Adela looked downright murderous for a second. "What does it do?"

Mari sighed. "It gives me memories."

"Of what?"

Mari didn't say anything. Maybe because if Adela knew about Frankie, then it would put Mari one step closer to Mason in her mind, and that might just make Adela hate her. Mari really didn't want Adela to hate her. The thought alone was enough to make her nauseous. Maybe because talking about Frankie, and about everything Mason had said on Mount Tam, made her even more nauseous. Honestly, she wasn't sure why.

"I don't want to talk about it. I hate it." Mari looked down.

Adela paused for a second, before sighing. She looked at the restaurant, lip curling in obvious distaste. "Are you really eating here?"

"Y-yeah." Mari frowned. "Why? Have you been? Is it bad?"

"It's terrible." Adela made a face. "I snatched a tub of Paella that they'd thrown out a couple of hours ago. That's not Spanish food, it's rodent food. It had barbeque sauce in it. Barbeque sauce, Marion! Ugh... If you're ever in Madrid, you should try Pincho de tortilla. Just trust me."

"It doesn't seem like too long ago that I was asking you to trust me," Mari told her. She took in the view, sighing. "I wanted to Iris-message you."

"Why didn't you?"

"I tried. I used the emergency drachmas Lee gave me for life-or-death situations. I didn't realise the pouch strings were made by the Hephaestus cabin. They only open in life or death situations. Don't ask me how the Hephaestus kids did that. The rest of us have learnt not to question those guys anymore." Mari scratched the back of her head. It sounded stupid. Mainly because it was pretty stupid.

"You used emergency life-or-death drachmas? On me?" Adela asked. Mari nodded. Her cheeks felt hot which was strange because demigods didn't really get sick.

"You idiot." Adela suppressed a laugh.

"Oi!" Mari nudged Adela's shoulder. "You didn't Iris-message me, either."

"I have a pretty good excuse."

"Yeah," Mari agreed. "I missed you."

"Why?" Adela looked surprised.

"Because you're my friend, Adela. Fuck's sake." Mari facepalmed. "I thought you'd have figured that out by now. Why are you here, anyway? I mean, it's not that I'm not happy to see you or anything, because I am! I think about you a lot actually. I mean, um... uh, I go back to camp in a week."

"I might have missed you too," Adela admitted. "Only a little. And I have to tell you something. I, um, I heard Ma..."

She looked like she was trying to swallow a gravestone as she spoke, so whatever she was trying to say, she clearly didn't want to say it. Luckily for her, a familiar little furry fluffball peeked out of Adela's jumper, providing a suitable distraction.

"Gladys! Oh my gods!" Mari automatically reached for the cat, before retracting her hands when she remembered why she couldn't get close to Adela's. "That's what you said her name was, right? Why is she still so tiny?"

"Gladys..." Adela looked a little faint at Mari's words. "Yes. That was- I mean, um, is her name. She's small because she's dead. Dead things can't grow."

"Won't that hurt her?" Mari asked.

"I don't know. If I had the ingredients, I could make her a tonic, to help her grow on her own, but I have nothing." Adela stroked a hand over the puff of black fur on Gladys's head. The kitten stretched, yawned, and gave Adela a very unimpressed stare. "Great," Adela sighed. "Now she's mad I interrupted her sleep."

"Can I..." Mari reached a hand out towards the kitten. Adela almost automatically wrenched it back to her chest, causing it to yowl at the sudden movement. Adela curled her fingers between its ears, sighing. It seemed like she was getting more comfort from the animal than it was getting from her. That was when Mari remembered that the little thing was the only creature in the world that Adela could touch without having to worry about destroying it. Adela glanced up at Mari again, looking like an apology was already at the tip of her tongue.

"No." Mari shook her head. "Don't worry. I can go out and pet a stray whenever I like. If you need her then you need her."

Adela sagged in relief, her hands around Gladys. She smiled at Mari, a real, genuine one that reminded Mari of what she'd looked like towards the end of that time they'd spent in the labyrinth. It made her chest feel all warm and soft, like melted butter, and Mari felt the corners of her own lips tug up as she smiled back.

"Wait, what did you want to talk about?" Mari asked.

Adela froze, shaking her head. "Never mind. I'll deal with it."

"Are you sure?" Mari asked. "If you're in trouble, I want to help."

"Marion." Adela's eyes glinted in determination. "I'll deal with it. I promise."

"Okay." Mari nodded. "Do you want to come in with me and eat something? I can say you have a rash on your hands. Naomi won't mind, she's really kind. She's been really nice to me, since I've been living here. She said if I had any friends from school I could bring them over. I know you're not exactly from school, but she'd still let you. You can eat something fresh, you know? I, um, I'm sorry if you don't like the food."

Adela looked towards the entrance to the restaurant, pausing. Then she sighed and shook her head. "It's too much of a risk. I'm not killing your brother, I'm not killing your brother's mother and I'm definitely not killing you. I wouldn't mind kicking your other brother in a very painful place, though."

"What about-"

"Mari?" Naomi's voice broke through the haze of the city. "You coming in, sweetheart?"

"Naomi!" Mari turned towards her voice. Naomi was walking out of the restaurant with a soft smile on her face. "Uh, see, I was just talking to..." Mari turned towards Adela, but paused. Honestly, she wasn't sure what she'd expected. The space where Adela and Gladys had been standing was empty, as if Mari had hallucinated the entire thing. "Myself. I was talking to myself. About carrots."

What the fuck?! Of all the things she could think of, why did Mari have to say carrots?

"Really?" Naomi put an arm over Mari's shoulder and led her inside. "What kinda talking were you doing involving carrots?"

"That's between me and the carrots." Mari told her.

"Okay. Well, let's go get some food in ya. It's been a long day. You must be starving after that... you said it was called a Karbinos?"

"Karkinos." Mari made a face. "He was a di-"

"Marion."

"Di...fficult monster to fight." Mari put on an innocent smile. Naomi snorted and ruffled Mari's hair as they walked into the restaurant. Mari flicked her eyes back towards where Adela had been standing. She blinked and for a second there, Mari was back at Zilker Park, five months ago. Adela had disappeared then too, in the exact same way. Mari still wasn't sure how she did it.

"Hey," Naomi told her. "You stopped again. Let's go."

Mari nodded, following her inside the restaurant.

ADELA

Adela slipped away from the restaurant, Gladys clutched to her chest, as Marion went inside with the older woman, Naomi. Adela was happy that Marion had been happy these last few months. At least, she seemed that way. She deserved happiness. Much more than Mason ever would.

Adela's mind drifted back to the dream she'd had three weeks before.

"Austin, Texas." Mason's voice was flat. "Why would my sister be in Texas?"

"Our little friend reported in. She was just gossiping, really, didn't even know she was telling me anything important, but apparently another of your sister's siblings invited her to live with him and his mother. You know how camp is, news travels there faster than Travis and Connor running on a sugar high. I think his name was Will... S-something."

"Solace. That's Will Solace." Mason frowned. "Our half-brother. I only knew him for a couple of months, I didn't like him. He talked way too much. But this doesn't make any sense. Why would she agree?!"

"Why wouldn't she?" Luke asked. "She doesn't have anywhere else to go."

"Yes, she does. I told her that. She could have come back with me and lived here," Mason snarled. "She knew that."

"You're not the problem here." Luke rested a hand on Mason's shoulder. "Mari's stubborn like that. If she's said she doesn't want to go with you once, she'll say it again, so you're going to have to force her hand. She might even make crap up to get you to believe her. Don't listen, whatever you do."

"I already know that."

Mason ran a hand over his face. "I always knew she had... questionable judgement, but I never thought it would be this bad. I'm her brother, Luke. I know when to listen to her and when she's not talking sense. I just can't understand why she'd want to live with Will and some random woman she barely knows. And stop calling her Marion."

Adela wanted to slap Mason in the face right then and there. After everything, everything he'd done, to Marion, to Gladys, to gods knew who else, he had the nerve to accuse Marion of lacking common sense?! To thoughtlessly stomp all over her choices as if they were just inconveniences? Mari was a person, not a living husk without any opinions. Mason didn't get to treat her like that, not if Adela had anything to say about it. Unfortunately, she didn't have anything to say. She tried to summon one of her daggers and remembered that yes, it was a dream.

"I don't think it's exactly like that," Luke told Mason. "From what our little friend said, it seemed like Will's mother was almost as excited as he was. Apparently Mari spent a night there before. I'm not sure when. I couldn't ask, it would have been too suspicious. You know our friend draws the line at spilling secrets about what the campers do outside camp."

"So... so she thinks she can just replace..." Mason's fists went white. "Did your little friend say what Will's mother was called?"

"Yeah." Luke nodded. "Naomi. Why?"

Mason grinned at Luke. His eyes were shiny, like he was crying, but he wasn't crying. He looked... hysterical, in a way. If Adela had really been there, she'd have wanted to curl up in a ball and hide until he either left or stopped making that face. Or died. Mason laughed, a haunting, bloodcurdling thing. "I guess I'm heading to Austin, then. Pay my little sister a visit. See if she won't reconsider her priorities."

"And if she doesn't?" Luke asked.

Mason laughed again. "Well then. I guess I can pay this Naomi Solace a visit, too. See if that will change my sister's mind. That way, if she doesn't come with me, there will always be other options."

"Like what other options?" Luke asked. He sounded like he already knew.

"Like I slit Naomi Solace's throat and let my sister watch her bleed out."

Adela snapped back into focus. Her mother sometimes sent her dreams. Of things that she'd need, or just want to know. It was strange, though. Hekate was aligned with Kronos. She might care about Adela, but not enough to betray the secrets of Kronos's forces. After all, she'd never warned Adela about Mason.

Adela had woken up from that dream and started running to the nearest bus stop before she quite knew what she was doing. It had taken her three weeks to travel to Texas, and she'd been terrified she'd be too late. That she'd have to see the image of Marion, weeping over someone she cared about as their throat was slit.

Adela shuddered. No, she wasn't too late. She'd seen Naomi lead Marion back into that inauthentic parody of a restaurant. Mason hadn't got there yet.

Well, not quite.

Adela pulled out a map of Texas that she'd stolen from a travel shop. When Mason had found them in the labyrinth, he'd dropped something. A keyring, with a picture of a much younger Mason, a woman who looked like she could be his mother and a tiny girl who looked like she could be his sister. Adela pitied whoever that poor girl was. If he treated Marion like she was a disposable puppet he could boss around whenever he pleased, gods knew how he treated that little girl.

The keyring was all she needed for a tracking spell. An object belonging to the person. Sellotaped to the corner of the map, it glowed a lighter colour the closer Adela got. As she approached an expensive-looking hotel, the keyring turned a bright white. The glow then left it, travelling along the sky and lighting up around a window on the fifth floor. Adela sighed. Nothing was ever just easy for her, was it?

Adela tucked the map into her backpack. It was a damn-near miracle that it hadn't turned to ashes just from her touching it, but she wasn't going to knock a gift-pegasus in the wings. She found a warm-looking hole between two bushes and stashed Gladys the cat there, running her pinkie between the sleeping creature's eyes as she contemplated what she was about to do. She didn't even need to tell Marion this way. She'd been going to. She had. But then Marion had smiled, and she'd looked so at peace... more than Adela had ever seen her in the labyrinth. Adela didn't want to be the one to ruin it. Not to mention the fact that, if Adela even stood a chance of convincing Marion that Mason was an awful person, she'd have to tell the girl about Gladys. And she didn't want to do that. She wasn't sure why.

Adela hauled herself up the front of the hotel, towards the window on the third floor. There was a lattice over all three storeys, supporting lush vines that upon further inspection were clearly plastic. Even if a few did disintegrate upon Adela's touch, they still made mostly good hand-holds. Shaking, Adela eventually swung her legs over the open window. Mason must have been very confident he wouldn't be followed. He was sprawled out on the double bed at the centre of the room, snoring. It would be easy. Just one slice. Like he planned to do to Naomi Solace if Marion didn't do what he wanted. One slice and it would be over.

Adela raised her left dagger.

She closed her eyes.

She lunged.

Los Dioses.

Adela's hand stopped with the dagger poised an inch from Mason Ray's throat. She couldn't do it. Why couldn't she do it?! She killed people all the time. It should have been easy. So what was...

"Hello, Adela."

Mason didn't look at all bothered by what he'd woken up to. "Fancy meeting you here."