AN: I think someone asked me about whether or not Nico still has nightmares about Tartarus. Wouldn't you?

We all finished the movie together, oddly quiet for such an odd group.

Eithne finally came back inside. "Cassie, a word."

I got up and went outside with her. "I heard you have a list of things needed to break the curse?"

She nodded, pulling it out of her bag and handing it to me. "We have to have this before New Years. But that isn't the only reason I'm here. I think you should come to Tír na nÓg. I think there are some things you can learn. Some things you can benefit from. I mean, have you even delved into the items your father gave you aside from the skeans?"

I frowned at the ground. "Not really. I looked through them all, but there were questions I had about some of the items that I never asked."

"You have them with you?"

I hesitated, then nodded. "On my belt upstairs. I always assumed that I would figure out their uses when the time was right."

"Let's go look," She said, gesturing toward the door.

We went inside, up to the girls room that I had set up and had been staying in.

I dumped the contents of the bag onto one of the other beds. Two fountain pens, one regular pen, all with caduceus on them. The dragon-scale appearing bracers. The deck of cards, six-pack of colored smoke bombs, a zippo lighter, a bag of coins, fake blood capsules, and a handcuff keychain. Wax and seal, with a compass rose design.

Her eyes widened as she looked at the bracers, picking them up and looking at them more closely. "This is beautiful craftsmanship!"

"But what is it?"

She grinned. "These are scales of Suileach, a dragon known for its size and its eyes. So many eyes. They're harder to kill, harder to find than the Dobhar-chú. Almost as hard to find as the bradán feasa!"

"Did you just say fish of wisdom?"

"Salmon, to be specific. Anyway, these bracers must date back to before I was even conceived. Vanquished by…" She smirked, the astonishment vanishing. "A trickster. The most common reply is some saint, it was about the time that the Catholics were destroying everything, so it's no surprise that's the sort of legend that persists. It was a trickster. It must have been your father."

I frowned. "What does that mean for me?"

"The Wonder Woman's gauntlets, the way they protect her? It is the same with these, but more so. When you put these on, the magic on these armors you completely. This is an incredible gift."

"Why did he give them to me? Why not someone who fights all the time? Like Travis, or Connor? Or to one of his other kids?"

"I don't know."

I sort of grunted and showed her the pens.

She grinned. "Do I really need to explain pens to you?"

"Just making sure. Is there any other magical thing here?"

She sort of looked over it all, then picked up the key-chain. "Magic handcuffs. You open them and they become real sized. One size fits all."

"Eithne, if these aren't older than you…" I picked the bracers back up.

She said something in Irish and I was pretty sure that I shouldn't repeat it from the way even she put her hand to her mouth in surprise. "That'd be bad."

"I gathered," I replied. "What would happen if these weren't old?"

She looked a little scared. "That would mean that things are more volatile than I first thought. I don't know, Cassandra. I'll have to look into it. That and a million other matters. My parents have turned a blind eye to the creatures of old stirring. I think that's why the veils between worlds has grown so thin, things are escaping and upsets in the other worlds are rippling to ours."

"Don't put me down for any quests."

She smiled and laughed. "An appropriate response. I should get going. Best not to leave Aaron to himself. He might lick something poisonous."

She was gone before I could even respond.

I stood there in a bit of shock for a moment, then repacked the bag and hooked the gauntlets and key-chain to the belt for easier access. Then I went back downstairs.

Nico raised a questioning eyebrow.

I just shrugged a bit.

"Hey, we were just saying it was about time to we headed back." Magnus saw me next.

"Yeah, you guys can just take my car. I think I need a nap. Or cat-scan," I told Annabeth and Percy.

"Are you sure?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, go ahead. Gives you a little extra time with your cousin. Gives me time to sort out what the heck just happened."

Someone knocked on the door.

Travis went to it with his sword, peeping out. "It's Grover."

"Oh! The rejuvenating junk!" I darted to the basement while he let Grover in.

When I came back, they were joking about something and introducing Grover to Magnus and his gang.

Grover smiled at me. "Hey, the place looks great and you were right. You can't smell halfbloods, even while in here. And they were pretty good about not doing too much damage to the area. I still want to see this stuff, though. It could help our conservation and restoration efforts."

I nodded. "Of course, come on. We'll go out back."

They all followed me out, which was a little surprising and kind of nerve-wracking because if I messed up I had a bigger audience.

"Alright, let's hope I don't spill," I joked when we got to the spot that Allison had marked in the forest for this. Then I pulled the dropped out of the vial, and put one drop on the tree stump.

At first, nothing happened.

Then this shimmer of light emanated from that one drop and everything began to change rapidly. Species present started altering, the topography of the land, and the air seemed to become really refreshing. The water in the stream that crossed through in front of us started changing too. The waters became somewhat clear, and meandered a little more.

A tree fell and rapidly decayed to a point before stopping.

We slowly backed away just in case more trees fell.

Well, most of us did. Grover stood there, grinning.

Finally the changes seemed to stop.

He turned to me. "Where did they get such powerful magic? That's the magic of Pan!"

I frowned. "One of hte kids at Camp Northpoint…he just…found it, I guess. It's hard to say. He's a bit of an odd duck."

"He harnessed the power of Pan and all you have to say about him is that he's an odd duck?" Grover looked almost manic.

I shrugged.

"He is kind of odd." Nico stepped closer to me. "He doesn't remember things well, and he's got some sort of mental deal."

I elbowed him.

"What?" Nico rubbed his ribs.

I shook my head slightly.

He frowned at me.

Grover shook his head. "Either way, this is amazing. This is like, automatic restoration. Habitat, clean water, natural species…"

"G-man, you okay?"

"I'm fine!" He fainted.

I nodded. "Well, I'll take him at his word." I turned and headed back to the house to stash the bottle of wild magic into my bag. I understood why Allison was so protective of Peter now. He was the last of his kind. He was the last demigod son of Pan. That's why she called him Peter Pan. Because he was a lost boy, and now…

It made sense why should would give me complete updates on the projects, but not the others. She didn't want word of Peter getting out.

Nico caught up with me. "Cass, what just happened?"

"You know how you're always protecting me?"

"Yeah," He responded automatically.

"Allison protects Peter in the same way. Actually, more."

"Why? What's the big deal?"

"What's the big deal with you being a child of Hades?"

"I'm not supposed to exist."

"But you do."

He didn't get it.

"Nico, why would Peter have the power of Pan?" I asked rhetorically.

He frowned for a moment, then his eyes widened as he connected the dots. "Are you sure?"

"Are you not?" I pulled on his arm to keep him moving and ahead of the others.

He scowled a moment at the ground. "No, now that you say it it makes perfect sense."

"Right? I mean, the wild behavior, the love of animals and nature…"

"Cass," He stopped me from continuing. "What if he's actually Peter Pan?"

I tilted my head. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it, it was said that the story was about J. M. Barrie's neighbor boy, but what if Peter is actually the boy in the story. It would explain his memory, wouldn't it?"

"Sort of, but not really. The only thing I've read that could contribute to that is when a demigod is more god than human, usually because a god had a child with a demigod."

"Dang, where'd you read about that?"

"Grandpa Stoll lent me a book while I was still home-bound. It was in there. A record from…" I stopped.

"What?"

"It was a record from back around the time that Peter Pan was written. In London." I swallowed, my mouth had gone dry. "What if it was a record on him?"

"A god and a demigod? But…what about the way he speaks old English? And Irish?"

"Nico, we don't know how long he's been around or who the demi-god was. What they were. I could be completely off base. We don't know. Not really." I chewed my lip, then shook my head. "I've got to sit down. If I don't I might have a panic attack."

"Can feel one coming?"

"Oh yeah." I went inside and went straight to the living room to flop onto the couch.

He pulled me up a bit so he could sit. "Did you figure out what to do to support these properties in the future?"

"Well, I figured that since this generation of demigods is seeing more people reaching adulthood than before and since they are protected properties that maybe some demigods could actually run the places. Like Leo and Calypso are doing at the Way Station now."

"That would be cool," Nico frowned a bit, thinking about it. "I mean, they feel like homes as it is. And if you're furnishing them then that helps the demigod who might live there. Then they just have to clear out one room if they're married for their master. No, they won't, because there's already a queen sized bed in the biggest room. I mean, they might want to redecorate but still that's not a big deal. They'd be starting out with virtually brand new furniture."

I grinned up at him.

He blinked a couple times. "I've been hanging out with you way to much."

"I know," I replied, still grinning.

"Can I see your ideas for the loft in New York?"

I nodded and reached under the couch to grab my laptop. I'd been using a couple websites to gather ideas for it. "You know, it's weird, but it's almost like my mom had been collecting properties specifically so I could do this."

"I know, I mean, sure you purchased this piece of property, but all the others? How are we protecting the Loft again?"

"Allison said she knew how to do a different sort of protection spell that would work better for it. Like, warding." I shrugged and pulled up the website where I had compiled my ideas for the loft. It had a more industrial feel, with navy and bronze as the main colors. Obviously there were other colors. "I'm still not sure what else to do. So I only have basic ideas and furniture planned."

He looked it over. "Are those actual pictures of the loft?"

I nodded.

He was quiet. "Looks nice."

"What looks nice?" Annabeth asked, appearing with the others.

Percy and Magnus were carrying a still passed-out grover.

"Her preliminary plans for the decoration of the loft."

"Ooh, can I see?" Annabeth's face lit up.

I did my best to not hesitate before I nodded. "It's not much. Just a general idea and theme. Functional and yet fashionable, I guess you could say."

She looked it over, the others looking with her.

Magnus looked over at me. "You know, if you need pottery or something like that, Alex is great with clay."

Alex gave him a glare.

"I'll keep that in mind. I have a lot of safe zones I'm going to be working on. The Romans finally finished the place out in Cali and Reyna said she'd email me the pictures of the finished product so I could decorate for renters and of course their use. Plus the loft." I frowned, trying to think of where the other project coming up was located. "A guest cabin in Montana, house in New Mexico, we're doing something in Florida, and Indiana…I think…"

Magnus looked a little surprised. "How many of these are you doing?"

I shrugged. "Only a few to start with. See if they're actually useful or not. Most of the properties were things my mom had picked up for some reason or other. I'm just giving them a purpose."

"How old are you?" Blitzen asked.

"Sixteen."

Blitzen made a face like he didn't believe me.

"I'm sixteen!"

"You talk like an adult."

"I'm…sorry?"

"You're just very…"

"Driven," Annabeth suggested.

Blizten nodded sharply. "Precisely."

"Hey, what about your pets?" Percy asked, abruptly changing the topic.

I grinned. "Batman and Parker are already in New York. Jacob took them for me since we were coming here. Johnny watched them for a couple days before Jacob picked them up. Apparently Parker was a little difficult to find because she hid in the covers of Nico's bed. That cat worships the ground Nico walks on."

Nico grinned. "I know! Granted, Batman worships the ground everyone walks on."

"Well, he is part great dane. He's got a big heart."

"Just a big heart?" Travis asked sarcastically.

I tossed a pillow at him.

It had repercussions.

Within seconds everyone was throwing pillows at each other or collecting pillows and holding them hostage while Blitzen hid behind a chair and Hearthstone used runes to cheat.

Annabeth tried to strategize and got hit in the face.

Travis had stunned Nico, who had fallen back onto the couch.

Percy and Magnus were going at each other.

Alex, Travis and Annabeth were in a three way fight.

I was sneaking around grabbing pillows when they weren't looking and feeding them to Blitzen, who then gave them to Hearth.

Grover moaned something about food.

It was just a mess of laughter and surprise and weird.

Then I heard the distinct noise of something breaking.

Everyone froze, staring at each other.

I went and examined everything, then found the broken think. "Just the light bulb of a lamp. Avoid this area until the glass is cleaned up. Continue."

Travis went back into fighting with force a split second before Annabeth, managing to get the jump on her for once.

I went and tiny brush and dustpan thing, and swept up the glass, subtly sliding pillows to Blitzen who was now hoarding them, then got the hand-held vacuum and made sure there were no shards of glass left. Then I went about replacing the light bulb and putting breakables out of the fighting zone. Making notes of safer places. This was a great test!

Eventually, NIco and I joined Blitzen and Hearth and did a jointed attack which led to the victory of Travis over everyone. Which hadn't been the plan.

Percy was laughing. "I survive two wars, and I fail at a pillow fight."

Nico snorted. "I was thinking more along the lines of, I survived Tartarus and fell at the hands of a Hermes kid."

"That too," Annabeth groaned and got back to her feet.

MAgnus just looked generally amused. "Nice strategy, totally backfired on you, but it was a good try."

Alex was rubbing his (her?) ribs. "Whoa, is that the time?"

I glanced back at the clock and nodded. "Yeah."

"We need to get back," She said, getting up and grabbing Magnus to pull him up.

He nodded his agreement.

It took a few minutes to get everyone going back to their feet and out the door.

Once the door closed behind them, I looked at Travis and Nico, then around the room. "Where's Will?"

"Under the couch," Will said. "I think I fell asleep."

"Good thing it's clean."

Nico helped him out. "Dork."

"Brat," Will kissed him.

"And that is why I get the queen size bed." Travis tossed his last pillow at their heads.

Nico rolled his eyes.

I sat down on the couch again, hugging my knees. "That was fun, though."

"It was. It's going to be a good week." Travis sat next to me and kissed my forehead.