**** Important AN ****

THIS STORY IS A CONTINUATION OF A PREVIOUS STORY. This story, while set in the PJO universe, is a continuation of a previous story 'Say So'. If you have any interest in this story I highly recommend you go check out that story on my page and read it first as it provides crucial context for this story. If you've read the story and come to check out what happened to the characters, I hope you enjoy! I plan on trying to update this and my other current PJO story as often as possible for anyone wanting to read both.

Thanks!

~ secrethalfblood

**** End AN ****

Jpov

I ducked under branches and doged through vines, keeping one eye on the cellphone in my hands, and the other on the terrain in front of me.

"Come on, come on, come on," I muttered as crumbling walls of the ruin around me flashed by in a blur, the stone floor shaking with each heavy step the shrieking creature behind me took. "Harper, pick up."

Another ring.

"Damn it!"

"Hello?"

"Harper!" I shouted skirting around a corner, narrowly avoiding the jet of flames that blasted the end of the corridor. "Open the doors, now. Get me out of here."

"What? Why?" she asked sounding concerned. "Where are you James? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." I snapped, not caring if I received attitude because of it later. "We can go over details later. Just get me out of here."

"That would be a lot easier if I knew where to find you." She muttered clearly annoyed.

There was another shriek and I had to dive behind a column to avoid another blast.

"What was that?" She asked in alarm.

"Look, I don't know where I am. Somewhere in South America, probably Brazil. You've found me with less!" I reminded her, but I already heard movement on the other side of the phone.

"On it."

There was a brief moment where I heard clattering on her end and I peeked past the mossy column only to quickly lean back as more flames rocketed in my direction.

"Ok James, I think I found you, or somewhere close, look to your left."

"There's a wall there, Harper." I said feeling my heart rate kick up a notch as the pounding steps got heavier and heavier as whatever I'd pissed off got closer.

"Are you sure?" she asked and I could tell she was frowning.

"Of course, I'm sure! I'm looking at it!"

"Ok." She said sounding puzzled. "Wait, look around. Do you see a door?"

I squinted in the gloomy light of the temple, and felt my heart sink.

"Yeah." I said with a sigh. "I see it."

Or something that might qualify…

There was a lopsided arch set into the wall. It looked as if it might have separated the hall from a shallow room by some sort of curtain at one point, however, it had been eaten away by bugs and the elements over time.

"Can you get to it?"

I tried to gauge the distance, and did some quick mental calculations.

"Probably."

"Doors are open."

I swore and leapt out from behind pillar, narrowly dodging a massive, scaly tail that reduced a chunk of the wall to powder as it struck.

I hadn't been ready.

As if in slow motion, I saw the shadows melt away from the hall as the temperature around me jumped, burning all the moisture out of the air.

As soon as my foot connected with the ground, I pushed off sprinting flat out, uncertain I was going to outpace the flames as I flung myself towards the arch.

Suddenly, there was a flash of gold and for a moment I was convinced the fire had caught up with me until a familiar current took hold and tore me away from the mortal world.

I crashed through the arch way and hit the floor, not bothering to correct my balance as a stream of fire shot into the room after me.

I stared up at the rocky ceiling, breathing hard, my eyes wide trying to level out the amount of adrenaline coursing through me.

"Hello."

I turned my head and looked up to see a familiar figure leaning against the door that led to the mortal world, blue eyes crinkled in an irritating smirk.

"You look awful."

I sighed and let my head fall back to the floor.

Lucy.

"Hey Luc," I said with a sigh. "Are the doors closed?"

"Looks like it." she said glancing at the archway, the center of which was dying with a fading golden light. "What ya been up to?"

"Not much." I said sitting up with a groan. "Just dodging flames and running for my life."

She looked skeptical.

"Aren't you supposed to be pretty much indestructible now?" she asked leaning forward and reaching down to help me.

"Not against that much fire." I said letting her pull me up, only to hear a pair of feet running down the spiral steps that led to the doors.

We turned to in time to see Harper, her long hair messily piled in a bun, glasses shoved to the top of her head, and a pair of fuzzy socks over leggings that fed into a baggy t shirt that was comically oversized on her small frame.

"What is going on James?" she asked looking a little shell shocked and I finally glanced down at myself to take stock of my appearance.

My clothes were dirty and torn, and I was covered in soot. The left leg of my pants was signed with multiple burns.

"I think we could ask the same of you." I said raising an eyebrow at the energy drink that was clutched in her jittering hand.

"Wait, let me guess." Lucy said brightly, taking in Harper's appearance. "Messy hair, energy drink from lack of sleep, giant t shirt with a school logo that's clearly not yours."

Her smirk returned.

"You spent the weekend at your boyfriend's place."

"What? No. I was in the computer lab on my campus, but I got back like an hour ago." She said looking at Lucy as if she were insane. "I've been upstairs."

"Oh." Lucy said a little delicately. "So then what's with the…"

She gestured towards Harper's general appearance, which was rather disheveled.

"It's finals week." Harper said looking down at herself seemingly for the first time in a while. "But this is Ashton's shirt." She added a little sheepishly.

Lucy grinned.

"Oh shut up," she said defensively as Lucy began to snicker. "I'm here full time and taking twenty credits. I haven't had time to do laundry."

"I warned you this semester was going to be too much." I pointed out and she whirled on me.

"I have a 4.0 and have maintained my perfect standing in my honors program."

"You also have what looks like bits of power bar in your hair." Lucy said gesturing towards a tangle that indeed looked as if some sort of food had gotten trapped in it.

"And a sticky note on your sock." I added and she looked down.

"Oh thank the gods." She muttered pulling the paper from the bottom of her foot looking relieved. "I was looking for these page numbers."

"Harper." I said gently after Lucy shot me an alarmed look. "I think you might have taken on too much."

"I'm fine." She said shaking her head. "I just finished my last paper, I turned in the final version of my presentation for tomorrow earlier this evening, and after that I only have one more exam. Besides, you're one to talk." She said gesturing towards me. "You hardly ever call for help. What the hell did you run into anyways?"

"I dunno," I admitted. "But whatever it was, it was big, and I wasn't exactly eager to stick around and tangle with it."

"But you're ok?"

"I'm fine." I assured her.

"Did you find anything?"

"Yeah." I said sliding my bag off my shoulders and reaching into the main pocket, pulling out a slab of stone that had several symbols carved into it in organized columns.

"It's incomplete." I continued pointing to an obvious break on one of the edges where it looked as if the stone might have cracked apart. "My guess is that there are others scattered among the temple, but I didn't get much of a chance to check it out before I was dodging fire balls."

"I don't recognize this language," she said squinting at the stone before looking back at me. "Do you?"

"No."

While not fluent in most, both Harper and I had done so much translating of the books that came in and out of the library, we'd started to be able to read in all sorts of languages even without her glasses. Even if we couldn't speak them to save our lives.

It made for a lot of mixed signals when we ended up in places where we could read information about where we wanted to go, but couldn't ask anyone around us for directions on how to get there.

She put on her glasses and frowned, which I took to be a bad sign. Harper's glasses had an enchantment on them that should have allowed her to read any language that was put in front of them. I'd used them often enough to know how they worked, and they never failed.

"What's going on?" I asked as she turned the slab, seeming a bit confused. "Is something wrong? Is it not actually words?"

'Don't tell me I almost got barbecued for nothing.' I thought feeling my heart starting to sink, but my spirits lifted a little when she shook her head.

"No, it is." She said with a frown tilting her head as she considered the characters. "It's just gibberish though, I can't make it out. It's almost like it's written in some sort of code."

"You said you thought there were more to it." Lucy stated, turning to look at me. "If it's a code, maybe finding the others would help."

"No," Harper said shaking her head. "If there's some demon creature from hell running around that place we're not sending James back there alone. I don't care if he's the halfblood equivalent of a carrier ship." She said cutting off my protest before it could start, warning in her gaze. "We need a plan. In the meantime, I'll try to start making sense of the translation. But if it's in code, it might take a while. What time is it?"

"On your campus?" Lucy asked pulling out a phone that was identical to mine and the one I knew Harper always carried. "Almost three."

But when she realized this didn't clarify things for Harper, she continued.

"AM."

"When's your presentation tomorrow?"

"Eight."

"In the morning?" I asked her incredulously. "Harper go to bed."

"It's fine, I can at least start-"

"You also have a ton of books on your desk that need authenticating before they can be archived." Lucy said apologetically and Harper finally seemed to sag under the weight of a to do list that never seemed to end.

She looked exhausted.

"I can work on the archiving." I said cutting Harper off as she started to object. "You need to sleep. You're no use to anyone if you're passing out form exhaustion. Your finals are almost over." I added when she continued to look stubborn. "Just let me do some of the busy work for a few days. It's not like I don't have the time."

"Alright." She said with a sigh. "But only until finals are over."

I put up my hands to indicate I wasn't planning on arguing with her, and she bit her lip a little guiltily before saying.

"Thanks James."

"No problem."

Harper pulled her glasses from the top of her head and handed them to me, looking as if she wanted to say more, but was interrupted by Lucy.

"Alright boss lady." she said brightly, putting her hands on Harper's shoulders and practically bodying her towards the stairs. "Let's get you to a tooth brush and some pillows so you're not a complete zombie tomorrow."

I grinned and walked after the girls, amused as Harper debated the pros and cons of squeezing in couple of more tasks before going to bed, and Lucy denied them all.

I followed them as far as the main floor of the library, amused as Lucy dragged Harper away from the returns, but the feeling vanished as I stared at the pile of books and scrolls that had accumulated on the desk in front of me, telling me it was going to be a long night.

It was massive piece of furniture, carved from dark wood that somehow, despite its size, always seemed to be piled with something. Papers, hold requests, or complaints from a number of gods that their viewing hours overlapped with someone's whom they'd had a thousand year-long grudge. It was endless. And it didn't seem to matter how many hours we put in, the work just never seemed to be done.

'That being said,' I thought a little absently, looking around the room. 'The place looked a lot better than it used to.'

No longer shifting between the dominions at random times, the repairs to the library were almost finished. The roof no longer leaked sea water every other day, or let in drafts from the jet stream. We'd even managed to chase out the last of the stubborn souls that had taken up residence on other levels, that Hades hadn't bothered to collect himself.

Books no longer hurled themselves off the shelves on a regular basis, and the furniture no longer looked like it had been salvaged from a ship wreck, in fact, the library looked nothing like the massive, chaotic ruin it had once been when Lucy and I had stumbled upon it. Or the wreck that Harper had inherited. It was old, sure, but looked closer to a private collection you'd find in some wealthy person's study rather than what I'd always known it as. Glass lamps glowing among the rows, polished desks with outlets for laptops, and comfortable leather furniture where visitors could sit and read undisturbed.

The main floor appeared exactly as you would expect one of the words finest collections of knowledge from ancient times to look like. And I had to admit, I was proud of the work we'd put into the place...

Still, sometimes I missed it in its chaotic state. Being one of the few people who could navigate its winding aisles, finding it's entrances when no one else could. Before Harper had managed to do something I'd quietly thought was impossible and shape this place according to her will.

It was safer this way, I knew that. And if given choice, I wouldn't have changed it back.

Despite this however, some times it did feel as if place had lost a bit of its wonder. The madness that made every trip inside a bit of an adventure.

'But adventures aren't very fun when the people you care about get hurt.' A voice reminded me from the back of my mind.

It was familiar, sounding only the slightest bit similar to Harper when she was reminded me that even if I was close to invulnerable, I still needed to do things like sleep and eat.

Even I couldn't deny that the library in its current state was safer for Lucy.

'Besides.' I reminded myself sitting behind the desk. 'It's not as if your life is exactly boring anyways.'

I reached for the first book on the pile allowing my eyes to adjust to the enchantment of Harper's glasses as I put them on.

I thought about the situation I'd found myself caught in not an hour earlier and grinned, wondering how many weeks of pestering it would take before I could get Harper to send me back.

Over all, my life was better than it had any right to be considering the way it was looking to turn out for a while. I couldn't be angry with the stability Harper taking over the library had caused, in fact, I was pretty grateful for it.

The desk technically belonged to her, but I'd spent enough time sitting here with and without her that it felt almost as much mine these days. Not that the photos along the side would have indicated it.

There weren't many, the desk didn't usually have enough space to allow for too many personal items, but even if the photo weren't mine, the faces in it were familiar.

Harper and her brother, with their father's arms around them at the Parthenon in Greece. Her and her boyfriend Ashton, her brother's best friend, during one of the few times she was able to visit him while they were at camp. Lucy laughing with Harper last year when we'd decorated the library for Halloween. Finally, a photo of Harper and I. One Lucy had taken after we'd been drenched again due to a leak in the ceiling, letting in salt water from Atlantis before Harper had figured out how to stop the library from constantly drifting between the domains.

"I remember that."

I didn't realize I'd picked up the photo until Lucy had taken it out of my hands and smiled down at it.

"This place wreaked of sea weed for days."

"Yeah I cannot believe how few books suffered from water damage." I said with a sigh and she pulled a face.

"God, you're just like Harper." She said crossing her arms over her chest and shooting me a significant look. "I think you guys are addicted to work."

"That's not true," I argued as she set down the photo and leaned against the desk next to me.

"It's not?" she asked with an expression that clearly stated her disbelief.

"It's not." I confirmed. "Harper is addicted to work. She chooses to over load herself and work in her free time. I have nothing better to do."

"Yeah James, that's not really a brag." She pointed out and I shrugged, finally opening up the book and trying not to groan as I saw it was a manual on failed merchant ship designs created by the Phoenicians.

"Seems like a real page turner," Lucy said and though I knew she couldn't read the text, it was obvious she could tell by my expression I wasn't excited about my plans for the night. "You know nothing is forcing you to stay here during your free time." She pointed out. "You don't have to do all this. From what I can tell, girls find you somewhat appealing." She said gesturing vaguely to my general appearance. "Have you ever thought of… you know. Maybe going out sometime? Filling up your social calendar a little? Maybe even go on a date?"

"A date?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah." She said.

"With who?" I asked and when she didn't answer, I knew where her mind was headed.

"She has a boyfriend Lucy." I said with warning.

"Yeah I know." She said, innocently putting up her hands, but I could tell by her stubborn expression that the issue hadn't been dropped, and I got ready once again have the conversation it felt like we'd have a thousand times. "It's just, she never gets to see him. And you have so much in common."

"That's not always a good thing Luce."

"I just don't get that relationship." She said frowning, looking a little petulant. "Harper doesn't even like basketball, yet she's dating a star college athlete?"

"Harper likes basketball." I said rolling my eyes. "She just pretends she doesn't."

"Why?"

"Because Harper's embarrassed to admit she likes anything that doesn't involve 600 pages of material to follow and a thesis. That and it annoys her brother. But trust me, she likes her boyfriend."

"I'd hope so…" Lucy muttered irritably.

"Last time he visited. We were in the middle of translating those volumes we found on that Mist covered island in the middle of the Mediterranean."

"Where you found that temple buried under ground?"

"Yup."

"And what? He waited around until he started dying of boredom?"

"No, she took the night off."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"I don't remember this." She said skeptically.

"That's because you were already asleep by the time she got back, and she had a class the next morning. She even took their anniversary off."

"But she doesn't even take off her birthday."

"I rest my case little sister." I said opening my arms wide, grinning at her but she didn't look amused.

"It still doesn't make sense to me."

"Doesn't have to." I said with a shrug. "It's Harper's choice."

"Yeah, but I thought you hated Ashton." She said with a frown. "You're always so weird when he's around."

"I don't hate Ashton." I said with a shrug.

I had a lot of opinions about Harper's boyfriend, none of them worth sharing with Harper or Lucy, but I didn't hate the guy.

"But I know he doesn't like me." I continued. "So I try to avoid him when he's around."

"You'd think he'd be over all that by now, all the stuff happened between you all. Even Charlie likes you now and he has the capacity to despise a lot of people." she said her expression turning thoughtful. "That guy can hold on to a grudge."

"Maybe because he knows my little sister keeps trying to convince me to ask out his girlfriend, who also happens to be my boss." I pointed out, but she look unconcerned about this.

"I think boss is a strong word for your relationship." She said glancing at me. "You and Harper are friends."

"Yes, but she could chuck me out of here whenever she likes." I reminded her.

"She'd never do that." Lucy said rolling her eyes. "Harper's not that kind of person. Besides, she's not stupid. A lot of people don't like her. Powerful people." She emphasized the word and despite my attempt to tease Lucy about her hopeless match making fantasies, I felt a surge of tension go through me at this. "Harper's not going to throw out her freakishly strong body guard when half of the gods seem to have scores to settle."

I didn't respond to this, but she frowned, as if suddenly realized something.

"Is that why Ashton doesn't like you?"

"I'm sure that's one of the reasons." I said with a shrug.

It couldn't have been a fun knowing that the guy who spent most of time with his girlfriend, could protect her in ways that he couldn't. Probably never could. Especially, when the reason she'd ended up in a dangerous situation, was quite often that person's fault.

"I don't think he's ever forgiven me really. And I don't blame him."

"So you're just going to avoid him indefinitely?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"They're bound to get married eventually." I said with a shrug. "Maybe then he'll lighten up."

"I should hope so." She said her eye going wide. "Considering at that point he would have essentially won."

"Harper's a person Luce." I reminded her mildly. "Not a prize."

She pulled a face.

"Tell that to her boyfriend."

"You know, I don't think I will." I said easily and she grinned.

"Even though you could punch him through a wall?"

"Even though I could punch him through a wall." I confirmed.

She sighed.

"You're a much better person than I am bother."

"You know Ashton likes you, right?" I asked wondering why she seemed to take his mistrust of me so personally, especially when there was a case to be made that I deserved it.

"Everyone likes me." She pointed out sounding superior. "I'm likable."

"I dunno about that." I said and she laughed.

"Yeah, well your opinion doesn't matter." She continued. "You have to love me."

"And I do."

She smiled for a moment, then, seemed to catch herself doing it and said.

"Well, I'm going to bed. I'll let you get back to your nerd work."

"The same work that you do you mean?"

"Yes, but I know how to have healthy boundaries." She said significantly. "Whereas you will probably stay up all night, escort your favorite workaholic to the last of her exams, then ask her to send you to some random place in the arctic circle based on a clue in some subtext you read three weeks ago."

"That does sound like me."

She laughed and started to walk in the direction of the living quarters where she'd taken over one of the rooms.

"Night Jamie."

"Don't call me that."

She didn't turn around, only waved and I watched her go, feeling an odd mixture of emotions as she walked away. Amusement, relief, and even a little pride at the progress she'd made, but also a little anxiety with how much more there was that needed to be done.

She scanned her key card into the door that separated the main hall from the living area, another addition to the library Harper had insisted on.

These days, the library had a wicked security system designed by Allison, a daughter of Hephaestus and one of Harper's friends from back when we were all at camp. Keeping the dangerous titles out of reach of unsuspecting guests had been our main priority from the very first day of Harper taking over the library. To make sure what had happened to Lucy never happened to anyone again.

'What happened to you too.'

The voice in my mind was undoubtedly Harper this time. But as I always pointed out to her, unlike Lucy, my misadventures with the Cordrian library had given something close to demigod super powers and my mind had remained intact.

Well… mostly.

Despite Lucy's accusation of my addiction to work, the fact that there was plenty of it to do wasn't the only reason I didn't feel much like going to sleep right now.

I ignored the feeling of exhaustion that washed over me and continued scanning through the books, turning on the desk light as the lamps around me dimmed, entering information into the archives via the desk top that was also the work of Allison.

It seemed to be cutting edge, not that I spent enough time in the mortal world these days to know what that would even be anymore.

Despite constantly darting in and out of it with and without Harper, I didn't actually spend much time around the mortals, or anyone for that matter. Usually, I was too busy looking out for mythical assassins or destructive works of literature containing volatile magic to make much small talk.

I guess Lucy was right about me not really having a personal life, not that I really wanted one. The more time that passed the more I realized how little I could relate to the mortal world at this point in my life. Each day I found I was less and less interested in it.

When Allison had given us our phones that connected to the library's system, she'd showed us how to add contacts and while Lucy and Harper basically used them as most people would normally use a phone, mine only had five contacts. Lucy and Harper were the only people I really talked to, as well as a number for Charlie and Ashton in emergencies, and then Allison herself for repairs.

I was perfectly fine with that.

I'd had a personal life before, not only at camp but in my previous life as well, before I knew anything about halfbloods or hidden libraries. Before I'd ever even heard the name Kronos. And while at times it had been fun, it had also been exhausting. Friends fighting over petty things, people obsessing over business that had nothing to do with them.

After everything I'd seen, I didn't think I could go back to that. I didn't think I'd be able to stomach it.

I shook my head, trying to banish the memories and trying not to think of the nightmares, reminding myself that I'd moved on with my life and as long as we were here, nothing could harm me or the people I loved.

I glanced at the photo of Lucy and Harper, laughing holding a stretch of cotton spider web between them, realizing the not for the first time, that my sister was no longer the only person on that list. She hadn't been for years, but it was still a bit of a revelation each time I thought about it.

"So." Said a familiar voice and I glanced up to see Harper appearing tired, but far more presentable than she had last night, standing in front of the desk, an eyebrow raised as she looked at me. "I'm guessing you didn't sleep last night?"

Her book bag was thrown over her shoulder, which clued me into the fact that she must be ready to leave for school, and only then did I notice the pile of books had been moved from the right side of the desk, to the left. I'd gone through all of them.

How long had I been staring at that photo?

Gods.

"No." I said taking off her glasses and rubbing my eyes before handing them over. "Is that for me?"

She held a mug of what looked like strong black tea, that I was sure she'd only chosen for its level of caffeine.

"No." she said before reaching into the side pocket of her bag and pulling out an energy drink. "This is for you, since I know you're not going to sleep any time soon."

"It's finals." I said easily, leaning back stretching. "It's not like it's a full day."

Harper didn't look amused.

"You should sleep you know."

"I don't have to take a test today."

"Technically I don't either." She pointed out. "It's just a presentation."

"That's half your final grade."

"Why do you know that?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"You talk in your sleep." I said. "A lot."

I'd heard her muttering about her classes several times walking to and from sections of the library, only to see Harper passed out at her desk, glasses askew, looking as if she was about to melt into the library floors.

"That's… troubling." She said with a frown and I smirked.

"I can only imagine what your boyfriend's heard."

She chucked a pencil at me which I easily caught and laughed.

"Gods, even exhausted you're still freakishly fast."

My smirk grew.

"Yup."

"I'm sure I could find a way to take you out though." She said thoughtfully.

"Of that, I have no doubt." I said amused.

I meant it too. In some ways, I was relying on it.

Some might have found this conversation concerning, most people didn't go around threatening their best friend after all, but Harper and I weren't exactly normal. Even for demigods.

"Strangely you don't seem all that worried." She said suspiciously and I grinned.

"I'm not the one who's gonna have to explain it to Lucy."

Her eyes went wide, clearly not having thought of this and I felt my smile grow.

"And on that note."

I grabbed the energy drink, opened it, and started making my way towards the stairs.

It tasted like a heart attack and sweetener, but I downed it anyways hearing Harper moving after me.

We walked down the spiral steps and I saw the torches come to life, the archways to the doors glowing gold as Harper approached, and the familiar bronze key on the chain around her neck gleaming alive as well.

"You ready?" she asked as we stopped before the door that lead to the mortal realm.

"I'm pretty sure I'm the one who should be asking you that." I pointed out and she rolled her eyes.

Harper, despite the fact that she was the one controlling the gateways that connected to the library to the four domains, was actually pretty bad at traveling through them. I was always catching her from falling into something when we dropped back into the world.

"Alright doors are open." She said ignoring my comment and stepping forward, leaving me, grinning, to follow after her.