Lee was staring at her, with a hand over his mouth. His eyes were horrified. Mari looked away from him, but Clarisse was staring, too. They were both staring at her. They wouldn't stop staring, oh gods-
Mari couldn't look either of them in the eyes.
"Mari..." Lee reached towards her. Mari shook her head and rushed past him and out of the clearing. She dashed through the forest, swiping at the tears on her cheeks. She heard the sounds of running behind her but didn't bother to check if it was Lee, Clarisse or someone on the other team. The sounds of Capture the Flag were going on all round her. Whatever the Athena Cabin's plan had been, it didn't sound like it was going well. She heard someone call for her again in confusion but she ignored it. She ignored all of it, even Chiron, who she sped past, sobbing, all the way to her cabin.
Her bed was the same way she'd left it a few hours before. Mari tore off her armour in a frenzied heap and dove under the covers, shaking.
She'd killed Mason. The brother Lee had spent years with at camp. She'd slit his fucking throat. Lee was going to hate her. He was going to despise her and the worst part was that he probably couldn't do it any better than she already hated herself. She trembled under the covers. She could still feel Lee's and Clarisse's eyes staring at her through the fabric. Was this how Mason had felt, when Frankie Ray died?
She heard the sound of the door bursting open and whimpered.
"Mari!" Lee's panicked voice filled the cabin. By some miracle it didn't wake up Sean, but that kid slept through anything. "Mari, please, talk to me."
"Let her sleep, Lee." That was Clarisse. Mari would recognise the gruff tone anywhere. Clarisse La Rue was in cabin seven. Mari briefly wondered if the underworld had frozen over. "After a night like that, she definitely needs it."
Thing about Clarisse was, she was loud. Fire truck speeding down the motorway in the middle of the night loud. Definitely loud enough to wake up Sean. Mari could make out the sound of shuffling blankets and a small yawn.
"Sean," Lee sighed. He sounded tired. "Go to bed, now. This isn't something for you to hear, okay?"
"Wha'ppened?" Sean's voice sounded bleary and half-asleep. "You woke me up, meanie. Ha, Leenie. Wait, Clarisse La Rue? Why are you here? And why are you both looking at each other like someone died?"
Died? Mari shuddered and clutched the blankets around her.
"Sean!" Lee snapped. "Bed. Now."
"Kid," Clarisse spat. "Poor. Choice. Of. Words."
Mari heard footsteps stomp towards Sean's bed. Then another set followed. Lee's voice filled the room. "Don't brandish your spear at him, Clarisse. He is six years old! Put that away right this second or get out of my damn cabin. Do you understand me?!"
"I wasn't actually going to do anything..."
Mari's head spun. She bit down another whimper.
"I have one of those too!" Sean sounded indignant. "Spearbrell-"
"Not indoors!" Lee snapped and Mari heard a clink. Probably Sean's umbrella-spear being snatched. "How many times do I have to tell you that?"
"If you were in my cabin, kid," Clarisse snarled, "You wouldn't make it past morning inspection."
"Want to see about tha-"
"Good thing he's not!" Lee clapped his hands. "Clarisse, out."
"You're not serious."
"Do you really think I'd make jokes right now? Get out."
"Fine!" Clarisse snapped. "Just tell me when she's feeling better."
There was the sound of harsh footsteps again and then BANG: the cabin door slammed.
"Rude," Sean muttered.
"I don't think you're in a position call anybody rude right now, Sean," Lee said.
Mari could almost picture Lee, scowling, arms crossed and a stern expression on his face, like he was about to give the six-year-old extra KP or take away dessert privileges. "Here's what's going to happen," he said. "You're going to go back to sleep and forget this conversation, okay? Or if you don't want to do that then I'm going to give you a sleeping tonic and if you tell anybody about this, I won't let you join Capture the Flag until you're nine. How does that sound?"
"...Okay. Goodnight." Sean's voice was glum. There was another shifting sound as he shuffled into a comfortable position again, then silence. Mari was just starting to wonder if Lee had left and she hadn't realised it (he could tread very lightly) when a hand touched her shoulder.
"Mari," Lee whispered. "Mari, are you awake?"
Yes. She was. She really didn't want to be. Mari tried to keep her breathing as even as possible and didn't respond. Lee sighed. "You toss and turn like crazy when you sleep, you know. This isn't a very convincing impression."
Mari froze. Lee chuckled, but it sounded hollow. "Yeah, and neither is that. Sleeping people don't tend to freeze up in response to what's happening around them. It's okay. I'm not going to make you talk, not if you don't want to. I... I'm not angry at you, you know that, right? You kept apologising back there. You- gods, Mari, you have nothing to apologise for. Clarisse isn't going to breathe a word of what she heard, by the way. She wouldn't do that to you. Partly because I threatened to curse her to only speak in sonnets for a month if she did, but I don't think I needed to do that. These are her words, not mine, but she told me 'Like Hades I'm making things harder for the only one of you lot who's actually half-tolerable'. I took a lot of offence to that but whatever. And for the record I'm not going to blab, either."
Mari curled into herself. How could he not tell? She was a murderer. A killer, sleeping in cabin seven. Who would want to keep that kind of thing a-
"I promise I won't tell anybody what Flora told me, Mari," Lee whispered. "I swear on the River Styx."
Mari sobbed. Without a word, Lee pulled the blanket off her and gathered her into a crushing hug. "M'sorry," Mari whispered into his shoulder. "M'so... so sorry."
"Shh... Don't apologise..." Lee's voice sounded thick. Mari wondered if he was thinking about Mason. "It's okay. You're going to be okay." Mari closed her eyes and saw Mason's face. There was blood dripping from his neck. Mari fell asleep like that. She wouldn't realise until the next morning that Lee had been crying, too.
Mari was dreaming again.
As herself. That hadn't happened in a while. It was even one of her own memories. An old one, sure, one she barely remembered. But it was hers. Not Frankie's, or Mason's, or those dreams she used to have when she first got to camp half-blood. She wasn't sure if she even deserved to have her own dreams.
In this dream, Mari was five. She was hiding behind an old sofa. The fabric was so aged that the seams were coming apart in places to reveal the springs, but it was comfortable enough if you knew where to put the pillows. This was Mari's old foster home. It was raining at night, the droplets making a putter-patter on the glass. The room was dark but there was light coming from the cable tv in the corner, which was playing an old movie. If Mari remembered this night correctly, then it was autumn. This night was the first one she'd ever felt scared without the snakes.
This all ended up being a little silly, looking back. She'd been hiding, trying to avoid sleep for as long as possible. The older kids always had a movie night on Fridays after school, and had a do not disturb rule, so Mari had figured she wouldn't be caught if she hid quietly behind the sofa while they watched. The movie was pretty average. There were only two characters who weren't men and one of them got kidnapped less than five minutes in. Even worse, she'd spent most of the movie thinking the two girls would end up together, especially when they slow danced to cute music. She'd been really invested, but then the script called them 'best friends' and one of them kissed the male main lead out of nowhere- a letdown for sure.
There were a couple of explosions and some very big fight scenes, but the real kicker came at the end. The main character grinned, pulled out a knife, and slit his brother's throat with it. Mari had burst into tears. It was just too much for a five-year-old to see. The older kids had frantically tried to shush her; one even tried to bribe her with Freddos but it was a wasted effort. Andrew Rush, her social worker, had thrown the door open, taken one look at the scene before him and given all the older kids a huge tongue-lashing about responsibility and privileges and not traumatising the younger children. Then he'd banned movie night for the next month and sent them all to bed early. No wonder the older kids hadn't liked her very much.
Andrew Rush hadn't been so bad. It was a shame that she was moved between foster homes when she was six and never saw him again, and she hadn't thought about him in years, but he was still alright. Sure, he'd had his strict moments but that night he'd bundled her up in a threadbare blanket and made her a cup of hot chocolate. Then he'd shown her a YouTube video about the making of special effects while she sipped.
"See?" he asked. "It's all just make-up and cgi. Nobody actually got hurt. You know, in some shows they use beetroot or pomegranate juice for blood. Cool, right? But none of it was real. It's not real, Mari. I promise."
"But- But you don't know!" Mari had blubbered like a baby. "You weren't there. It might have been real! What if- what if they didn't have the juice? We never have juice, so why would they have juice? And- and what if they don't have the make-up or cg thingy either? Then they'd have to kill him, wouldn't they?"
Andrew Rush shook his head and bit back a smile. At the time, Mari had thought he was laughing at her tears but he was probably just amused by the 'logic' of a sleep-deprived child. "Okay." Andrew Rush held up a pointer finger. "Firstly, we do have juice. You're just not allowed it because last time you tried to use it to dye your barbies' hair and nearly ruined the sofa. Two." He held up another finger. "There are laws for this kind of thing. If the actors killed anybody, they'd be arrested and thrown into jail. The movie probably wouldn't be in production at all. Trust me, Mari, that actor is still alive. People don't just kill people, not like that."
He went on to say something else, but Mari couldn't quite hear. It didn't matter, because his face started to change. His eyes went from jade green to a muted hazel and his hair got lighter. He started to grow a sparse beard.
"People don't just kill people, Frankie," Mason said. "So why did you kill me?"
Mari jerked backwards. Mason followed her, getting in her face. "Come on, don't be a coward. Tell me why you killed me!"
"I- I didn't mean to-" Mari shook her head at him, blinking, but he kept going.
"Didn't you?"
Mason smiled. A trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his lip. "That's funny. How do you accidentally slit somebody's throat, Frankie? Tell me. I want to know. I always did it on purpose."
Mari shuddered. They were both murderers now, weren't they? Mason's face changed again. His hair got longer and became a curly ponytail, secured with a bobble. The eyes went back to green, but this green was like a forest. Flora Greene. She stared back at Mari, through narrowed, spiteful eyes. "You said you'd convince him to come back to camp! But you killed him! You killed him. Why did you kill him?"
"I- Flora, please. I tried..." Mari said. "I swear, I really tried. I just-"
"Failed!" Flora snarled. "You failed, miserably! I can't believe I ever thought you were a good sister. You're nothing more than a murderer!"
Murderer.
Murderer.
Murderer.
The words echoed around Mari's head.
Flora disappeared, and Mari was left alone, standing at the edge of the Pit. There was an eerie green smoke floating up from it, the wisps swirling into weird shapes. No, they weren't just abstract shapes, they were faces. Each torrent of smoke was a phantom Mason. Some were laughing at her. Some were glaring. Some were crying. But they were all screaming. It took Mari a second to realise that she was screaming, too.
Mari snapped her eyes open. At least it hadn't been a Frankie dream. Mari had the strangest feeling that she wouldn't be having another Frankie dream ever again. Mason had given them to her last winter, when he shoved that stupid receipt on her forehead. It had hurt. They were Frankie Ray's memories, but Mason had been the one to draw them out of wherever they'd been buried in her mind. Mason was dead now. And now that he was gone... well, the connection was snapped. Like a severed string.
Huh. What was it the prophecy had said?
One shall break from what lies ahead, to bury what's already dead.
She hadn't just murdered her brother. Frankie Ray had died all over again, too. That was what the prophecy meant.
"You awake?" Will whispered above her. She'd almost forgotten that he woke up with the sun, too.
"No," Mari said.
"That is not how being awake works. Or how lying works," Will told her. "You do know that, right? It's important to me that you know that."
"I do know that," Mari told him.
"Well, thank the gods for that," Will said. Mari could hear the grin in his voice, but his next words weren't any cause for happiness. "I know you weren't there for Capture the Flag. I saw you running out of the forest. I don't think you heard me calling out. Chiron was real tight-lipped about it, but nobody said anything because Drew Tanaka threatened to have her doves peck out the eyes of anybody who breathed a word. Apparently she's been reading Cinderella from the original Brothers Grimm and got inspired."
"Oh." Mari wasn't sure how to respond to that. So, the rest of Camp Half-Blood knew she'd run away from Capture the Flag. They didn't know she was a murderer. That wasn't half as bad as she'd been anticipating. "Did we win the game?"
"No." Will sounded annoyed. "The Cabin 6 guys came up with a good plan, but they didn't include Cabin 10. Silena Beauregard didn't like that very much, not that I blame her. The entire Aphrodite cabin switched sides halfway through and we were toast. Oh, gods, you should see the infirmary, Mari. Nineteen people. I don't think I've ever witnessed that much carnage, and that includes when Thalia's tree was poisoned. At least Malcolm Pace is probably having a pretty bad night right now. He's actually not the only one. I really need to talk to you about something."
Mari closed her eyes. She really, really didn't think she could take any more surprises right now, so whatever Will had to say she hoped it was either quick, small, or something inconsequential. Knowing her luck, though, it would be none of those things.
"Mason kidnapped you from a ranch in Texas, right? That's what Mom said, when she Iris-Messaged me." Will took a deep breath, loud enough for Mari to hear. "I, um, I knew he was there. Not at the ranch, obviously, but I knew he had been in the state. I ran into him there a couple of weeks before we left. He was with that girl, Adela. I don't know why he was there, or really why she was there. He left pretty quick and she didn't tell me nothin'. But she did ask me not to tell you. I'm sorry."
Mari's chest felt tight. Mason had lied about some things, she could figure out that much. She wished he'd lied about being a killer but that was one of the few things Mari was sure he'd been truthful about. But she'd really hoped Mason had been lying about Will and Adela knowing he was in Texas. If he wasn't lying, then there was a chance he wasn't lying about the next part, either...
From across the room, Sean rolled over and whimpered in his sleep. "No more clowns..." he mumbled. "Don't want a balloon..."
Mari waited until she was sure he wasn't going to wake up, before whispering up to Will. "Mason said that, too. He said that neither of you told me where he was because..." She gulped. "Because you wanted me gone. He said you didn't care-"
There was a crashing sound, and at first Mari thought Will had banged his head, but then he flipped down so that he was half-hanging off the top bunk, wide-eyed. Will looked horrified, but hanging upside-down like that made him seem almost comical, like the world's most dismayed koala. Mari was surprised he'd managed to make that much noise without waking the rest of their siblings, but the lot of them were all heavy sleepers - lucky. "Mari," Will said. "He- he was lying, I promise he was lying. I care about you. I don't think I slept a wink when Mom Iris-Messaged me and told me about what Mason had done. I just kept thinking about how I could have prevented it... I should have told you where Mason was, but the reason I kept it a secret wasn't because I don't care. The only reason I didn't tell you was because Adela asked me not to. I still should've, but I didn't even know why she was there, either. She wouldn't tell me. Whatever it was, though, I think she cares about you, too. A lot. Like, a whole lot."
"I- I believe you." Mari sighed. She did believe her brother. Will wasn't exactly a bad liar, per say, but Mari knew him well enough to know that he had tells. Not for small lies, but if it was something big then he would clench his left hand, or he'd grind his teeth. Mari only knew about that one because of her demigod hearing. He wasn't doing any of those things. But it was more than that - Mari didn't want to use sneaky tricks to believe Will. She just did.
But why had Adela wanted him to keep quiet? She hoped Adela still cared about her, although Mari wouldn't blame the girl if that had changed. Adela had just seen her murder Mason, after all.
They talked for a little while, since the rest of the cabin was still asleep. Mari was glad Will didn't know about Mason. Apparently, Lee had kept his word - but of course he had. He'd made a vow on the River Styx last night. She'd thought she'd dreamt it when she first woke up, but the more Mari thought about it the more she realised it couldn't have been a dream. Mari didn't understand why he'd made the vow, because she didn't deserve it, but she'd have to find a way to thank Lee. Somehow.
Eventually, she went to shower. Well, Will told her to shower since she'd made the mistake of sleeping in her clothes from Capture the Flag the night before and apparently the smell was wafting. Gross. She made sure to use the extra strong shampoo. Mari tiptoed back, since it was early enough for no one else to be out yet. Not even the Athena cabin made a peep. Mari wouldn't be surprised if they were going to spend the day holed up in cabin six, analysing every angle of their defeat. She did actually see Silena Beauregard on the way back, though. Silena was Iris-Messaging someone, probably her Dad. Drew had said he owned a chocolate shop, and Mari could imagine that an 'about-to-be-attacked-by-an-army-of-hangry-monsters' care package would be very appealing to her right now. Mari didn't stick around. She didn't want to answer any uncomfortable questions.
Chiron was waiting outside Cabin Seven when she returned.
He looked frazzled. His usually perfectly curled tail was frizzy and there was still a curler tangled in the tresses as if he'd tried to yank it out but given up. Chiron didn't look like he'd slept, either, if the huge bags under his eyes were any indication.
"Marion." Chiron gave her a tight smile. "Good. I have some things to discuss with you."
Was this about the quest? Mari gulped. "What about my siblings? They won't know where I am."
"I left Lee Fletcher a note on the welcome mat. I will say, it was difficult. I'm too tall to enter any of the cabins, so I had to use a stick. Should your brother follow appropriate cabin cleaning procedure, he'll know exactly where you are."
"Lee won't." Mari's voice was blunt. "Michael will."
"That's... good to know." Chiron frowned. "Let's get going. I'm sure you won't want to miss breakfast, and neither do I, but we have much to talk about. And there's someone who wants to see you."
"Who?" Mari asked.
Chiron glanced around, like he was checking for anyone who could overhear, before speaking with a lowered voice. "Adela García-Sánchez is in the big house."
"WHAT?"
Adela... Adela hadn't disappeared. Mari had been sure she wasn't gone, even if all the evidence suggested it. Mari had just known it somehow. But why didn't Adela just stay with her? Was it... was it because she didn't want to stay with a murderer? She... she'd given Mari the flower, right? What had Flora called it? A Calla Lily. That meant death. Was that what Adela was trying to say? That Mari was a killer, that Adela despised her now?
"Lower your voice, child," Chiron whispered. "It would be irresponsible to let the rest of camp know of her location and existence, given her... condition. Undoubtedly campers would get curious, and that could be disastrous. But yes, Adela turned up on the porch of the big house early in the morning two days ago. I've given her free use of the spare room upstairs. I'm afraid she will be staying in the big house for the foreseeable future."
"You can't do that!" Mari whipped around, horror boiling in her gut. She wasn't sure where this fury was coming from, especially since she'd barely been able to utter more than half a sentence since she got back from... that place, but whatever the source it wasn't going away. "Adela isn't dangerous. Not... she wouldn't hurt anyone on purpose. You can't keep her locked up as if she's some kind of evil monster!"
"You're right." Chiron nodded. "But it's not as simple as that. You know it as well as I do. One mistake is all it would take, Marion. It's too big a risk, especially with an attack imminent."
"So, what?" Mari glared at Chiron as she spoke. "You're just going to write her off like some kind of lost cause?"
"Marion, I understand your anger." Chiron laid a hand on her shoulder. Mari almost batted it away, but there was something in Chiron's eyes as he spoke... he looked sad. Mari let the hand be as Chiron continued. "But you misunderstand my intention. It wasn't my idea to keep Adela locked up in the big house. It was hers."
Oh. That kind of made Mari want to cry again.
"You can't..." Mari gulped, "You can't just throw her to the wolves."
"Marion," Chiron sighed, sounding very, very tired. "Had things gone the way they should've, Adela García-Sánchez would have been 'thrown to the wolves' a very long time ago."
Mari followed Chiron up the valley and towards the big house in silence. Normally she would have looked at the view - the sun was still rising and the amber-y hue it cast over the cabin and greenery around them was nothing short of breath-taking, but something about it felt dulled. Adela wouldn't get to look at it, except maybe out of a window. It wasn't the same. Chiron lowered himself into his wheelchair and headed up the ramp and into the house, Mari following.
They went to the Rec room. Mari had been there twice, once when she got back from the Sea of Monsters and Chiron made a note of her... powers, and a second time when she had left the labyrinth last winter. Usually, there was a ping-pong table at the centre, surrounded by chairs. But the table-tennis stuff had all been cleared away, replaced by papers of detailed battle plans and stray skittles (only the green ones, bleh), spread across the table.
But Mari barely looked at the plans. Something else had her attention. Or rather, someone else.
"Marion," Adela said. "...Hi."
She was sitting on one of the chairs, hands clenched in her lap, and a familiar little fuzzball curled around her shoulders. Adela's face was guarded, as usual, but Mari thought she'd spent enough time around Adela to make out a few things. She seemed... relieved. Mari wasn't sure why. Someone cleared their throat, and Mari looked up to see Quintus the unsettling sword master. Unease (well, more unease than before) curled in her gut like a slimy snake. Quintus didn't look worried, per se, more... curious. Like he was about to listen to a very interesting university lecture. His expression kind of reminded Mari of Annabeth, but from another universe where Annabeth lived in a basement and spent her time trolling people online.
"Marion, it's good to see you alive."
Quintus grinned, but Mari didn't smile back. Clearing his throat, he continued, "We know since you got back you've been... unsettled."
"Yes, as Quintus put it. Unsettled." Chiron frowned at the sword-master. "I'm sorry to ask this of you, child, but you must tell us what happened. Chris Rodriguez is still unresponsive, and we need to know all we can."
It was surprisingly easy. Well, everything up until her kidnapping at Mason's hands was surprisingly easy. Mari got too choked up to speak at that part. Chiron gave her a gentle smile, probably to try to encourage her. It didn't work. "Marion," he said. "When you emerged from the labyrinth, you said your brother's name. Given your... state, and the nature of the labyrinth, I have drawn my own conclusions. I am sorry if it's hard to talk about, but we need to know if Mason Ray knows where the entrance to Camp Half-Blood is."
"He- he doesn't. He-" Mari hiccupped. This was useless. She couldn't even get a word out!
"He's what?" Quintus asked.
Mari shook her head, closing her eyes. She didn't want to say it out loud. She didn't want to, she didn't-
"Does it matter?" Adela snapped. "He won't be a problem for camp. I can say that with complete certainty. Leave it."
"I'm afraid we can't just-"
"I said leave it!"
There was a pause. Chiron looked between them with an expression Mari couldn't quite decipher. "Alright," he said. "I understand. Thank you, both of you."
"Chiron," Quintus cautioned. "Shouldn't you try to find out more? If your camp is in danger you should be doing everything you can to plan a defence."
"I assure you, I am," Chiron told Quintus. "But I see no reason in pressing Marion for information we now have. Mason Ray does not know where the entrance to camp is, so the knowledge will not make its way to Luke. That is what is important."
Quintus... did not look impressed.
He opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it was Mari never got to hear it. There was a noise outside the door, followed by a series of loud crashes. Someone was rampaging through the house. Then the rec room door flew open and a very rattled-looking Clarisse La Rue burst through. "Chiron-" she panted.
"Clarisse." Chiron smiled. "I would appreciate it if you at least tried not to break things on your way in."
"Yeah, yeah." Clarisse waved his words off. "You- There's been-" Clarisse's eyes fell on Mari. "You need to see this. Now."
Chiron didn't waste a second, wheeling towards the door. "Quintus, why don't you come with me? I'm sure whatever this is, the extra input would be appreciated."
"Of course, Chiron."
Quintus stood, casting a weird look towards Mari, and followed Chiron and Clarisse out.
Meow...
Mari snapped her head up at Gladys the cat. "She looks happy."
"She's been purring all morning." Adela stroked a hand along the soft fur of Gladys's tiny little head. "I think she likes being inside. Chiron gave me ingredients to make a tonic that'll help her actually grow. It will be slower than a normal cat's growth, but it's something. He gave me a little cat bed, too. I have no idea where he even got it but I'm glad he did. I'm going to need the company."
"Yeah, Chiron told me," Mari said. "No offence, but... what were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that I nearly killed you back there, Marion. I touched you. With my hands. You know what that means, and I..." Adela sighed, shaking her head. "That was the one thing I never, ever wanted to do. I'm like a ticking time bomb. Wherever I go I spread death. I don't usually let myself care about people. It never works out. That's why I never tried to find my father, it's why I avoid people. So I don't hurt them. But I couldn't avoid you. And I... never mind. This way, I don't have to worry about hurting anybody ever again."
"Except yourself, apparently."
Adela shrugged. "It's the safest way. I always knew I was going to end up isolating myself at some point. I just didn't want to admit it. But I have to now. The ends justify the m-"
"Don't finish that fucking sentence." Mari clenched her fists. "I have spent the last four months wanting nothing more than for my brother to stop trying to make me be Fr... look, my point is that after what happened at the Pit, I think I know better than anybody that the ends never justify the means."
"Mari, I almost killed you," Adela said. "I can't-"
"You saved my life," Mari told her. Adela froze, so Mari took that as a good sign to continue. "You- if you hadn't grabbed my legs when you did I'd be worse than dead."
"But I could've killed you!" Adela choked. "I could've killed you, and-"
"But you didn't. You can't hate yourself for things you can't control. And..." Mari gulped. Her eyes were watering again, and her palms felt sweaty. "You might hate yourself because you're a killer, but I am too."
There was a silence for a second, which made Mari think she'd seriously misunderstood what Adela meant. Hands shaking, Mari frantically backtracked. "I- I mean if you hate me, that's okay, too. I get it. I ki- I, um, I did it right in front of you and I understand if you can never forgive me or see me again or if you're completely disgusted with me."
"What are you talking about?" Adela looked at Mari again, eyes narrowing. "I'm not any of those things. Why would you even think I was?"
"...Oh." Mari's stomach flooded with sweet relief. "I just thought... I mean you left me that flower. Flora said it meant death, so I just thought that you wouldn't want me around anymore."
"You got that flower?" Adela looked mortified.
"I- um, was I not supposed to? I mean, you left it on my windowsill."
"The windows in your cabin are full of flowers. How was I meant to know you'd actually find it? Los dioses..."
Adela let go of Gladys the cat and covered her mouth, practically hyperventilating. "Los dioses, Marion, you weren't supposed to know about those!"
"I- I'm sorry."
Mari looked down, a little confused. Why would Adela send her a message about death and then be upset that she'd received it?
"It didn't mean death," Adela said. "It - never mind. It meant nothing. I just, um... I wasn't thinking about any meaning. I'm not just staying here because I care about you, either. I stayed in Texas for too long. My father - he's had people looking for me for years, and I left a trail. I wasn't thinking. At the very least I know he won't find me if I stay here. I got this curse because I wanted him to live. If he dies because I get caught, then what was the point of any of this?"
"I could talk to him, if you want," Mari suggested.
Adela's head snapped up. "What did you say?"
"Well." Mari scratched the back of her neck, feeling a sudden wave of nerves. "I can't call the guy, obviously. Not unless I want a bunch of monsters after me. But I think that I'd be able to find a way. Maybe I could ask Naomi about it, if she doesn't mind. I, um... I could tell him where you've been, and what happened. I wouldn't say anything you didn't want me to. Just enough so that he didn't have to worry. So that you didn't have to worry."
"You know..." Adela's voice was sad, "You're not the first person to offer to do that for me."
"Really?" Mari asked.
"Really." Adela nodded. "A woman did, about six months ago."
"What happened? If she didn't end up doing it, I mean."
"She died."
"Oh."
"I wasn't the one who killed her, if that's what you're thinking." Adela curled up further around Gladys the cat, looking away.
"I wasn't thinking that," Mari told her. To be perfectly honest, she didn't know what she'd been thinking. A thought popped into her head, making her feel all warm and fluttery. "Wait. Did you say you care about me?"
The door to the rec room banged open again. It was Lee. He was panting like Mrs. O'Leary the horrifying hellhound and he was shaking like someone (Mari was betting on Michael) had poured a canteen of ice cold water from Zephyros creek over his head.
"Mari!" He gasped. "Chiron... Chiron asked me to come and get you. You need to see this."
"See what?" Mari stood up, frowning.
"It's Annabeth Chase," Lee said. "She's back."
Next update will be out in two weeks!
