MASON

This was a rare stroke of luck.

Things really, really hadn't gone the way Mason had planned recently. First, Luke lost Frankie on top of Mount Tam, when he'd sworn he'd get her to the princess Andromeda. Fine. Mason trusted Luke, everyone made mistakes, and Mason had come up with a plan to fix things and get his sister back another way. But Adela, and his annoying little brother, Will, had managed to ruin that, too. He'd stayed in Texas to see if he could find another way around things, some way to make Frankie see that she couldn't just replace their mother with some off-brand version that didn't involve killing Naomi Solace (even if that would have been the simplest solution), but Adela still wouldn't leave him alone.

Well, more accurately she wouldn't leave Naomi Solace alone, following the woman around like some kind of un-appointed bodyguard, though she never got close enough to make Will's mother know. It was as if she'd taken the fact that Mason had spared her life once as a bat signal to deliberately thwart any of his plans, in the most obnoxious way she could possibly manage. It was aggravating, but it gave him the chance to take off without the death-spreader noticing as soon as he got the call from that awful cowherd, Geryon.

The call had been good news. Very good news.

Frankie was here. And she was somewhere contained, where he could pick her up without any unwanted interference. Or, at least, she had been. When he arrived, she'd been partaking in some kind of ritual... trust her to get herself into a mess the second he left her alone. So, he hid behind the curtain in the kitchen and tried to come up with a plan to lure Frankie way. Imagine his surprise when he didn't even need to - despite his sister's words, he was the lucky one tonight.

His sister was lying on the floor, a trickle of blood dripping from her hairline. Mason looked at the frying pan in his hand, and sure enough, it was coated in sticky red. But, Frankie was still breathing. Still, this was the second time he'd knocked his sister out via blunt force trauma. He really had to stop doing that.

"Mason, that's your name, right? You don't wanna do this. Please, don't hurt that little girl. She's just a kid. She- she's your sister, isn't she? If ya care about Mari at all, please, just let her go. Please, don't make her suffer anym-"

"Goodbye, Naomi." Mason spat the woman's name out like poison and flicked his hand through the iris-message, a sense of immense satisfaction filling him as the woman's irritating face and voice dissipated into nothingness. Then, he hefted his sister's sleeping form over his shoulders, smiling to himself. It reminded him of when he'd first seen Frankie again after her... return, when she'd played capture the flag with him and Luke. He'd carried her like this then. And he'd given her piggybacks when she was a baby all those years ago. He hadn't been old enough to carry her himself, so their Mom had helped him. He'd missed that, and he knew Frankie must have missed it, too.

That was part of the reason he'd given her the memories. She didn't just need to remember who she was, she needed to remember how much she'd loved him, and how much he'd loved her. And the dreams were wonderful for him, too. Frankie couldn't know this, but he got to experience them with her. At least, he got to experience the ones he wanted to. He couldn't relive Frankie's dea- when Frankie went away. He wouldn't be able to bear it, so for that one he'd left. But she'd needed to know.

"C'mon, let's get you out of here." Mason strolled out of the house, his sister's head lolling against his shoulder as he went. It hadn't been more than a couple of minutes, so he'd probably have ample time to escape unnoticed with his little sister, but he didn't want to linger and risk it. Especially with Percy Jackson around - that kid could pack a punch, from what Mason had been told.

Unfortunately, there was a slight issue with Mason's escape plan. He'd booked a cab here as soon as he heard, but that was gone. No matter. Geryon had known where the labyrinth entrance was, so Mason did, too. Maybe he shouldn't have given Frankie back Ariadne's string, but... he hadn't wanted the gods to hurt her, on the small chance that she did escape. He'd figured that if Luke did bring her back, then it wouldn't matter anyway. It was okay now, though. Frankie could navigate the labyrinth for them. She could get them both to a port far, far away from here. Luke had said she'd be able to do that.

"Shh, shh, it's alright," Mason whispered, as his sister groaned. That wasn't good; he'd thought he would have more time. It was okay. He'd get them inside before she woke up. He could-

"You are receiving an Iris-Message, from Austin, Texas. Please deposit one drachma."

Mason scowled and swiped his free hand through the shimmery mist. No doubt it was Naomi Solace, trying to get in contact with Frankie again. Well he wasn't going to let it happen. He was just at the exit now, all he had to do was-

"What do you think you're doing?!"

Oh, come on! Now Percy Jackson was advancing, sword drawn and an angry expression on his face. Behind him was Annabeth Chase, the girl Luke wished would join them. She looked even angrier, if possible. Then, there was Percy's weepy Satyr friend, monster brother and the short sad boy who appeared to have joined them. Could none of these people learn when to leave him and his sister alone?!

Annabeth raised a bronze dagger of her own. "What are you doing with Mari?"

Mason turned around, giving them a grin he hoped was menacing enough to scare them off, although knowing these particular demigods, it probably wasn't. It didn't bother him that they, like everyone else, had gotten his sister's name wrong (they didn't know any better), and it didn't bother him that they'd caught him. Because he'd made it to the cattle grid, and he knew where the mark of Daedalus was. He flashed them another mocking grin, and stepped over the grid, pressing his hand to the delta symbol on the metal and stepping inside.

"No!" He heard someone shout, but he couldn't tell all their annoying voices apart. It didn't matter. He looked back and grinned at them again, as the labyrinth doors closed behind him. Oh, finally.

Mason swallowed, free hand reaching for the weight around his throat. There was a gold chain there, with a small charm that his Mom had bought him, right before he made her stop loving him. He hadn't worn it for years after she died, not until he realised Frankie was back. Since then, he'd been carrying it around on him, not because he deserved it, but because Frankie did. It took some effort whilst she was on his back, but he managed to slip the necklace over Frankie's head. Despite how light the gold chain had been, it still felt like a huge weight was gone. Mason shifted Frankie so that she was more secure, and set off in a random direction. He still had work to do.

But a smile spread across Mason's face as the situation finally hit him.

He was alone, with Frankie. They could talk, and, Titans knew, they needed to. The memories were good (just thinking about the dreams he'd had of their childhood together brought another smile to his face), but they didn't cover everything. He had so much to tell her, but first he had to convince her to listen. That was the hard part. Since his sister had... not-died, she'd apparently developed a bit of a stubborn streak. He'd get rid of that somehow. He had all the time in the world to convince his misguided little sister of where her allegiances should truly lie. Not with the gods, not even with Kronos (though that was the better of the two options), but with the last person from her family. Her real family.

The best part was that Adela García-Sánchez had no idea about any of it. She was back in Texas, still under the impression that he was trying to find a way to murder Naomi Solace. Adela was half right about that - until he'd gotten that call from Geryon, he'd been looking into tampering with carbon monoxide. But Adela and his idiot younger brother, Will, had both left Frankie beautifully ignorant of his location. Huh. He supposed he owed Adela even more now. And Will, too. Maybe he and Frankie could send them each a post-card.

Mason adjusted Frankie's weight on his shoulders, and whistled as he walked off, steps bouncing against the stone floors of the maze. This was turning out to be a very profitable trip away from the Princess Andromeda, indeed.

NAOMI

"C'mon, c'mon, please..."

Naomi frantically rifled through the drawers of her bedside table. Tissues, spare pens, a long-broken watch... none of it was any good. Drachmas, she needed drachmas and she needed them quick. She'd wasted the ones she kept in the family room trying to call Mari over and over again even though it obviously wasn't working. Mason Ray must have been declining the Iris-Messages. Naomi's hands were shaking. She hadn't meant for any of this to happen.

She was the kind of person who got attached easily, she knew that. She used to hate it, but ever since spending those whirlwind six months with the deadbeat sun god, she'd learned to value that quality more than she ever thought she would. Without those six months, she wouldn't have Will. Her sweet, smart son who somehow managed to keep a smile on his face when a flock of Stymphalian birds attacked him while they were touring New York for her new album. Naomi knew her little boy. She was well aware that a lot of his positivity was fake. But she hoped that at least a little was real, for his sake. Had she been that strong when she was Will's age? She didn't think so.

Then came Mari.

Mari's arrival had been a shock, to say the least. There was nothing quite like waking up to her son banging on her bedroom door, tears streaming down his face, saying that his sister was in trouble somewhere in Zilker Park and they needed to go pick her up, right that second. Naomi wasn't sure she'd ever moved faster in her life, and she'd broken her high-school's track record when she was fifteen. Less then five minutes and she was driving, Will shaking in the backseat.

(The top drawer was empty. She should remember where she kept her spare drachmas, why couldn't she remember?! Naomi wanted to throw the drawer across the room.)

Will had told Naomi about all of his siblings before. There was Lee Fletcher the cabin counsellor. Michael Yew the moody archer. Austin Lake the musical prodigy. Sean Butler the sassy toddler. Then Mari, the spirited artist. Naomi hadn't expected to ever meet any of them, but now that she had, she couldn't imagine not knowing Mari. Because that little girl was wonderful. A sweet little thing, with a quiet cleverness that Naomi recognised from her own son. Naomi hadn't gone back to sleep that night months ago. She'd stayed up scribbling down lyrics, like she often did when she was worried, and wondering why exactly Chiron the immortal centaur was comfortable allowing children to risk their lives. It was probably good that she'd stayed up, because Mari had woken from some kind of awful nightmare she wouldn't talk about, and Naomi hated the idea of her having to deal with it alone.

When Mari had left the next morning, probably to put herself in yet more danger, Naomi hadn't been able to stop thinking about the little girl. Was she okay? Was she hungry? Was she still alive? (Naomi hated that last thought). Two days later, a different thought materialised. At first, Naomi dismissed it out of practicality. She couldn't just take in a random child with no preparation. But as the days went by, the Naomi couldn't get the idea out of her head. Because Mari wasn't just any child (not that it would have made a difference, because kids deserved homes no matter what). Naomi had met her. And, well... she definitely had room for another kid. By the end of the week, she'd already called Chiron (just as a hypothetical, she reminded herself. Just. A. Hypothetical). He'd been enthusiastic about the idea, and had even offered to forge any necessary documents. Naomi decided she'd rather not break the law just yet, although it wasn't off the table.

(The second drawer was no use, either. Naomi moved on to the bottom, not before catching a brief glimpse of the picture framed on her desk. It was of Mari and Will a few months back, after she'd taken them both to an arcade after school. A stranger had taken it. She had her arms around both children, and Will was grinning because he'd just beaten Mari in a game of whack-a-mole. Mari was pouting but her eyes were crinkled from laughing and she had frozen yogurt on her chin. That had been a good day.)

Naomi had been surprised that things had happened so quickly. She was even more surprised that Mari agreed. She didn't quite remember what she felt when Mari tiptoed into her car after Will. Happy? Terrified? Maybe a little bit of both. She did remember how scared Mari had looked. Like she was still on the lookout for a monster stalking along the sidewalk. Naomi had been at a loss as to what to do to make that expression go away, but it turned out that she didn't need to worry. As the months passed, Mari's face got more relaxed, and she started smiling. Laughing. Playing catch in the backyard like any other kid would. She even let Naomi see her sketchbook, and it was pretty clear why Will described her as an artist - Mari was good. Phenomenally good. Naomi wasn't sure when the change had happened, but by the time summer rolled around, Mari went from a child to her child. Naomi didn't know if she'd ever said that out loud, and she didn't even know if Mari wanted to be her child, but if she could, then gods, Naomi wanted to protect her children.

There was just one problem. Will and Mari had to go back to camp in the summer. Okay, fine. Well, not fine but manageable. Naomi had sent one kid to Camp Half-Blood before and he'd come home in one piece. She could do it again with two. Then Mari became part of a quest into a deadly, living maze to search out its creator. And if that wasn't horrifying enough, Will Iris-Messaged saying that Camp Half-Blood could be attacked at any moment. Both of her children could die. Would the gods even bother to send her a message, or would she be left to wonder? Naomi certainly couldn't imagine Apollo stepping up for once in his immortal life.

If Naomi had thought Will's Iris-Message was bad, the one she'd received an hour ago really took the cake.

She been so happy when Mari contacted her. She'd even been ready to drive over to pick the little girl up then and there, quest be damned, but Mari didn't know where she was. Of course not. The fates wouldn't ever let the poor girl be that lucky. And then that gods-awful boy, Mason had appeared behind Mari like some kind demonic spectre out of the depths of Tartarus and knocked her out with a frying pan... If she ever saw Mason again she was going to throw him in Lake Austin and leave him to the mercy of the Naiad who lived there, no questions asked.

Naomi shuddered. She didn't have time for this, she had to find her spare drachmas and she had to do it fast. Time went differently in the labyrinth, right? That was what Mari had said. For all she knew, Mari could be hurt or- or-

Naomi buried that train of thought as she finally found the shiny golden coins at the bottom drawer. Two coins. Just enough for ten minutes of conversation. Or two five-minute summaries. She could tell Chiron about what had happened to Mari, then she'd spend the other drachma on Will. She didn't want to give her son nightmares but she didn't want to lie to him, either.

She gulped, holding a hand over her mouth. Mari had looked so small knocked out like that. So helpless. It made Naomi want to scoop the little girl up (because even if Mari said she was sixteen, and she didn't seem sixteen, sixteen was still a child) and run her to safety. She couldn't do that. She couldn't do anything. She was just a mortal so this was the next best thing.

Naomi dug out a flashlight and rushed down into the kitchen. An Iris-Message needed a rainbow, right? Water and light. She twisted the tap at the sink and pointed her flashlight at the pouring water. A shimmery mist formed, the beginnings of an Iris-Message. Naomi tossed one of the drachmas in, trying to calm her racing heart. She'd never sent an one of these before, and she always forgot the words. For an alt-country singer, she was real awful at remembering what she was meant to say.

"Oh... Iris?" She felt silly speaking to the empty air, like she was playing make-believe. She wished all this was make-believe. "Goddess of the Rainbow. Please accept my offerin'. Show me Chiron at Camp Half-Blood... please."

ADELA

Adela was panicking.

Thistle had never showed up in Texas. Adela didn't know how or why, but he wasn't there and she couldn't afford to wait around. Not when Mason was still hiding out there somewhere. Adela had been keeping an eye on him, making sure he wouldn't try another way of killing Naomi Solace. But she hadn't seen him in a day and a half, and she was starting to get worried. Wherever he was, whatever he was doing, it was definitely bad.

At least she knew he hadn't managed to kill Naomi Solace. Adela had set up enchantments around Naomi's house, specifically for the purpose of blocking him from the premises. Adela wasn't... good at magic. She knew most of her siblings supposedly were, but she didn't have that. It had taken her sixteen tries to get the incantations right; she kept stumbling over the Ancient Greek. But it was either that or camping out in Naomi's backyard, which wasn't viable because A, she didn't want to be seen, B, she needed to sleep, and C, she wasn't a stalker.

But now she was even more confused. Mason had been been lurking around Naomi Solace's house for the past few days. He was good at disguising himself, so the woman was clearly nonethewiser. In a weird way, trying to protect that woman almost made Adela feel at peace. After so many years spent loathing herself for being a murderer, it was good to actually keep someone alive. It didn't make up for all the people she'd killed but it helped.

But then, about thirty-six hours ago, Mason had simply disappeared. At first, Adela thought he was trying to lull her into a false sense of security. But now she was starting to doubt herself. She clutched Gladys the cat closer, sniffing the animal's fur. Adela wished she'd let Marion hold Gladys that night outside the restaurant, just for a second. It would have made Marion smile. Adela sighed, taking a swig from her stale water bottle.

"You won't find Mason Ray here, Adela," a voice said behind her. "He's not in Texas anymore."

Adela spat the water out, whirling around. "Mother?!"

Hekate smiled. She was dressed in a coal-black gown, and her twin torches floated on either side of her head, shrouded in green light. Gale the polecat was curled up on Hekate's shoulders, not unlike Gladys's position on Adela's. Hekate had three forms, one each, for morning, afternoon and night. But the Titaness could actually switch between them at will, regardless of the time of day. She always preferred to be in her night form around Adela, so her hair was long and pale and her black eyes glittered like Onyx. Hekate had no scleras, just an inky vacuum where normal eyes should be. That had always freaked Adela out.

"What are you doing here?" Adela asked. "Shouldn't you be plotting destruction with a megalomaniac titan lord?"

"Don't be rude, Adela." Hekate narrowed her eyes. "I'm trying to help you here. All I've ever done is try to help you. You could stand to be a lot more grateful."

Help me? Adela thought, staring down at her gloved hands. Is that what you think you did?

"Fine," Adela said. "If Mason isn't here, where is he?"

"In the labyrinth," Hekate said.

Adela laughed. "What, did he fall in? Good."

"I don't think you'd be so ambivalent if you knew the whole story." Hekate frowned. "He is not in the labyrinth alone."

"Is Luke Castellan with him?" Adela's voice was full of hope. "Even better."

"Marion is with him," Hekate corrected.

The water bottle slipped from Adela's hands, water splattering over her shoes and soaking her socks. Adela barely noticed. "How? Why?!"

"She appeared in the ranch of the cowherd Geryon with a few friends. There was an... altercation, between Geryon and Perseus Jackson. Geryon was slain, but not before he managed to call Mason Ray to alert him of his sister's presence. Marion Carter, having no idea Mason Ray was in Texas, saw no need to leave immediately upon finding out he knew of her location. That was her mistake. I know no more, I'm afraid. I am watching many things, many people, so my observations were incomplete."

Marion hadn't known Mason was in Austin. Adela hadn't told her. Neither had Will Solace, because Adela had asked him not to. Adela had thought she could fix things on her own. Which meant that this was all her fault. She swallowed down the sudden lump in her throat. "Why were you watching Marion, anyway?"

"Many reasons." Hekate shrugged. Gale whined on her shoulders from the sudden movement. "I am the goddess of the mist. She is the first godling in millennia to change the way it is used, and by courtesy of my daughter, Circe, too. You must not blame me for being interested. And, despite what you may think, Adela, I care for you. I am not unobservant. You love that girl."

"I... what?" Adela spluttered.

Hekate sighed. "It is obvious, really. You may deny it all you want but it doesn't change the truth. You love Marion Carter. I may not be Aphrodite, but even I can see that this is a good thing. You each have the potential to give each other a great amount of happiness - to balance the worst parts of yourselves and preserve the best."

"What do you mean?"

"I am speaking of your fatal flaws, dear. Each demigod has a trait which when taken to the extreme has the potential to be lethal. This is what makes a demigod who doesn't understand their fatal flaw so dangerous, both to themselves and to those around them."

"So what's mine?" Adela asked. "What's Marion's?"

"Trust. Both of you have fatal flaws that revolve around trust. You are equal, yet entirely opposite in that. Marion Carter's flaw is that she trusts too much. You, daughter, trust far too little."

"No, I don't!" Adela snapped.

"Do not take that tone with me, child!" Hekate snarled. The torches on either side of her head flared. "When you were six, you ran away to the underworld. You didn't trust Chiron enough to ask him if it was a good idea or not, and now look where we are. When you met Gladys Clovington, you didn't trust her enough to tell her that someone was after you. I am not blaming you for these things, child. I am only telling you that your life might have been different if not for your inability to trust. Your life would be better. Yet, here we are."

"I trusted Marion," Adela whispered.

"Did you? Or did she have to make an oath on the Styx to get you to give her the mere benefit of the doubt?"

"I trust her now!"

"Hm." Hekate nodded. "Yes, I suppose you do. But did you trust that girl enough to tell her that Mason Ray was a killer? That he was in Texas? It is as I said: had you trusted Marion Carter then, she would have had the forewarning to leave Geryon's ranch while she still could. Still, I suppose that trusting one person is a start. A demigod can never truly overcome their fatal flaw. But they can learn to live in spite of it. That is what I want for you, and for all my children. You can have it. Provided, of course, that you make the right decision."

"Decision?" Adela asked.

"I am also the goddess of crossroads, Adela," Hekate told her. "The many paths which lie before each of us in life. I do not typically appear to offer those facing indecision my guidance, but I take a special interest in some - those I care for and those I need something from. You are of the first group. And, you are approaching a crossroads of your own."

Adela's heart sped up. She ran a hand through her hair, but even that wasn't enough to calm her emotions.

"Three paths lie before you," Hekate continued, "You can leave the state and forget about Marion Carter, forget about the brewing war, forget about all. You will survive. I do not know what will become of your future, but you will live. Alternatively, you can Iris-Message Chiron, at Camp Half-Blood. In the alley behind that failing Spanish restaurant, you will find a wall of ivy. At the bottom of that ivy is a pouch of drachmas. Alert Chiron to the situation, and then it will be out of your hands. You will be able to do nothing. Once again, you will survive, but I caution you: inaction is action. You love Marion Carter, whether you admit it or not, and I do not know what will become of her, if this is the path you choose. Finally, you can follow Marion Carter and Mason Ray into the labyrinth. Of this path, I know one thing. You will find Marion Carter. But, if you choose to do this, I do not know what will become of you. Or her. You may not survive."

"All of those sound terrible," Adela said.

"No solution is ever perfect, because no life is ever perfect. But the choice is yours. Choose wisely, for there is no undoing what is done. So, my daughter." Hekate steepled her chin in her hands. "Which path will you choose?"

"I..." Adela was at a loss for words. Her fatal flaw was a lack of trust? Seriously? It seemed unfair. How was it her fault that almost everyone she'd ever met ended up either dying or betraying her? The only person who hadn't done that was Marion. And Hekate was wrong about one thing. She hadn't lied to Marion about Mason because she didn't trust her. Maybe that had been part of the reason, but she honestly just hadn't wanted to see her stop smiling. She hadn't wanted to cause her pain. She-

Oh.

Oh.

Oh, gods. Adela... Adela had feelings for Marion. Actual, real, more then friendship feelings. Her hands left Gladys's fur and flew to her mouth. She didn't know if it was love. Probably not. She'd barely known Marion for a year. But it was something. Something Adela didn't think she could ignore.

"Ah." Hekate nodded. "You've figured it out. You always were more... emotionally put-together than the majority of my children. If I was allied with Olympus, I'm sure Aphrodite would be screeching at me for ruining the surprise. Now, I ask again: what will you choose?"

"I already know what I'm going to do," Adela told her mother.

"Oh? Do tell, child. I do not like being kept in suspense."

"Well then," Adela said. "I guess you'll have to blame my fatal flaw. Because I don't trust you, mother. So you'll have to wait and see, just like every mortal does."

Hekate's pitch-black eyes narrowed. Adela tensed. She was taking a huge risk, she knew that - insulting a Goddess, no, a Titaness, to her face. It didn't matter if said Titaness was her mother or not. She still wouldn't take kindly to insults. Adela might just have signed her own death warrant. But Hekate simply glared, before speaking again. "I will not reveal your choice to Lord Kronos, dear. But if you insist on insulting my efforts to help you, then don't expect any more. You'll be on your own from now on."

"I'm very used to that, mother," said Adela.

"Fine!" Hekate's nostrils flared. "You've made your choice, then. I shall take my leave. I hope that some day you recognise everything I've done for you, Adela. It certainly has not been easy, given your... situation. And I am not referring to your hands. Goodbye, daughter." Hekate raised a hand and drew the mist towards her. It wrapped around the Titaness's body in a column of pale green - nothing like the grey it was when Marion used it.

"Goodbye, mother." Adela closed her eyes as the mist began to glow. When she opened them, her mother was gone, leaving only the faint smell of burning torches in her wake.

Adela turned away. Her choice was already clear in her mind, and whatever happened, she was going to see it through.