AN: I am so, so, so sorry for dropping this. I've been trying to write this for a few months. I got in a slump back in February when I had some...personal troubles, then after finding out that Jason dies I couldn't even focus on anything Percy Jackson related. I never meant to drop this, and guilt finally drove me to finish this part. I'm going to try and finish this story, but it might be slow going. I don't even know if anyone is waiting for this to drop, but here it is. I had too many ideas I tried to combine and I think it backfired. Thanks for sticking around. I'll try to get the rest done. 3

School seemed mundane after our weekend.

Even Johnny kept looking at me with a bored expression, and at lunch we all sat down and just looked at each other with tired expressions.

"School seems like such a boring thing after our Saturday," Nico said, frowning at the table.

"Seriously," Johnny sighed and stretched.

Joey dropped into a seat at our table. "Dudes, that party Friday totally makes today feel like a drag. I don't know how I'm gonna make it through history."

I shook my head a little.

"You never make it through History. You're drooling by the time she tells us to open our textbooks." Nico rolled his eyes.

Johnny chuckled. "You still slacking, Tribbiani?"

"I'm passing…sort of."

"How did you get into this school?" Lexi asked, setting her tray down and sitting next to Johnny.

"Math, he got in because he's a math whiz. Unfortunately, he doesn't have to put any effort into math so he adopts that same attitude with every other subject as well." Johnny shook his head at his teammate.

Joey just shrugged. "I'm passing."

"Sort of," Nico echoed.

I smiled down at my food.

"You're quiet today, Cassie." Lexi pointed out.

"Oh, I guess you could say that my mind was worlds away," I responded, shrugging a little. "Besides, I have to figure out what to do about my story for our class. I keep looking at it and wishing I could shove it where the sun don't shine."

"What? But it's—"

"A fantastic pile of stagnant crap that has so many flaws that every time I go to write in it, I feel like tearing my hair out and screaming words I'm not particularly inclined to speaking. I would burn it if the irony of it all wasn't so severe. As it is, I might take it and toss it into Saginaw Bay with all the other crap." I rolled my eyes, just thinking about it.

"She's suffering from some mild writer's block," Nico told Lexi.

I just muttered something about the stupid plot and went back to my lunch, messing with my playlist for writing later. It was getting a little desperate.

"Hey, did you hear what the school board is proposing given the school closing earlier this year?" Joey changed the subject.

"Christmas break being cut even shorter, I heard. I'm opposed." I glared at my phone though it hadn't done anything wrong. "Hey, class President and student representative?"

"Yeah, I know. We're looking for alternative options. It would help if there were less Joey's," Johnny glared a little at Joey.

Joey raised his hands in defeat. "What do I need to do, oh great one?"

"Bring your grades up and be up for cramming before break, or an over-break assignment."

"Oooh…grades and cramming I'm down for. Over break assignment sounds like a terrible punishment." Joey took my abandoned apple and switched it with a container of strawberries.

I nodded my thanks and started snacking on the strawberries instead. "I mean, if it's anything like our regular assignments, and we have the whole break to do it then it shouldn't be too bad."

"Lexi, you're good at Chemistry, right?" Nico asked.

She nodded. "Aced it."

"Help a guy out after school?"

"Sure thing. Know anything about ancient Greece?"

He smirked. "I'm pretty well-versed in it."

Joey sighed. "Want to truly appreciate your English skills, Cassie?"

"Need me to help you with reports?"

He nodded sharply.

"Sure thing."

"And then I need help with poli-sci," Joey said, looking at Johnny.

"How soon?"

"By Thursday."

"I can help after school tomorrow. My little sister has a recital tonight." Johnny took my offer of half a sandwich, handing over a peanut-butter oatmeal bar. "You don't have much of an appetite."

"Crappy, stagnant, story. I'm craving sweet things. Like, I'm wishing I had packed a cupcake this morning." I sighed and bit into the peanut butter bar.

"It was a long weekend," Nico told Lexi.

I gave him a soft glare. "What's with you today?"

He gave a tired smirk. "It was a long weekend."

I shook my head and yawned, zoning out again slightly as they talked about something going on at school. I was building a fortress, enjoying messing with slightly steam-punkish world that I had created last night.

"Cass, the bell rang." Johnny nudged me.

I flinched and then quickly gathered my stuff up again and hurried to my class.

Classes sort of blended together, with science and math sort of passing by in a weird haze of note-taking and question answering.

I then went to the classroom where the writing/reading club met and started helping Joey with a report he was writing for history. Pointing out some of his issues to watch out for and taking a red pen to it with some malice.

He looked over the paper with wide eyes, one page at a time as I finished marking them up. "Crap. How am I supposed to fix this?"

"I suggest using a second document with your text to edit. That way if you make a mistake you can see what it used to be." I finished the last page and slid it to the bottom of the pile.

"Something bugging you, Cassie?" Lexi asked, looking worried.

I shook my head. "It's just a weird time right now. My book comes out Friday and I had a crazy weekend. I'm just avoiding all media sources right now. I don't think I could handle seeing what people are saying about me or my book, whether it's positive or negative. Or about my speech at that conference."

"Oh, I was just watching that the other night—"

"Stop! I just said I don't want to know what people are thinking about it!" I protested, folding my arms and sitting back in my seat.

Nico patted my head.

"Do you at least know about the fans that are going to your book-signing on Saturday?"

I shook my head. "I told Jacob just to tell me when he was picking me up." I really didn't want to even think about my book. I wouldn't have agreed to a book signing if Lorraine hadn't insisted on it. But my insistence of not talking about it just seemed to make them want to talk about it more. Honestly, I was at the point where I wanted to throttle someone and Lexi was close enough to be the target.

"I thought you hated surprises," Freddy pointed out.

"I do," I muttered, still not sure how to explain my thinking to them. I didn't want the surprise of what would await me at the book signing, but I also knew there was no real way of knowing what would happen at the book signing either. No matter what I was told, there would still be surprises and I would still have to deal with them on my own. Honestly, I was okay with knowing I would be surprised by whatever happened this Saturday. I knew enough about what would happen to be okay.

"Don't you want to know what's going on out there?"

"I don't."

Lexi squeaked in disbelief. "Don't you have really bad reactions—"

"Can we please stop talking about my life?" I snapped.

Silence followed, and I struggled to stay quiet.

I finally shook my head. "I need to go. Joey, email me if you have any questions. Nico?"

"I'll be out in a minute," He replied, starting to gather his stuff.

I nodded and quickly left, rushing out of the school and toward the car. I felt bad about snapping, but I also felt like they had it coming. What part of no didn't they understand?

I rushed to the car and got in, slamming the door shut and hitting the steering wheel in frustration. This was what I wanted. To be a writer.

But it didn't feel like I had earned it myself. Maybe in a few years it would feel like I had, but right now it just felt like I was benefiting from my mother's work and fans.

Logically, I knew that it was a smart move on Jacob's part. It was tough being an unknown author, and often didn't pan out for everyone.

"Cassie?" Nico asked, getting into the car quietly.

"Not now, Nico." I gripped the steering wheel, then changed gears as he buckled up. I whipped the car out of the parking space since the parking lot was empty.

"Should you really drive angry?"

"Do you have a license?"

"No…"

I left it at that, just wanting to get home. I had to actively ignore the concern that radiated from Nico from the passenger seat, resorting to blaring music just a little too loud and half-heartedly mouthing the words to the angsty songs that played. I couldn't focus on anything other than driving, there was this sinking feeling in my stomach. It felt like something bad was happening and I had no idea how to stop it. I was helpless.

"Did I do something wrong?" Nico asked after you had pulled into the driveway and got out of the car.

"No."

"Are you okay?"

"No."

"Do you want to—"

"No, Nico. I really don't want to talk about it. I want to go inside, do my homework, and then hide in my room for the next twelve hours with a tub of icecream and about a dozen movies, blare my music so loud that I can't even hear myself think, and pretend that I'm a normal person for once in my life!" I slammed my backpack onto the counter. My hands were shaking and I felt like a terrible human being for snapping at him. But that feeling that something was wrong was practically stabbing me in the gut.

I heard footsteps quickly retreating from me and Nico and silently cursed myself for forgetting about Aaron. Last thing he needed was for us to be arguing.

"Cassie…what's normal?" Nico asked, his voice soft, but also a little frustrated.

I took a deep breath and turned around to face him. "I don't know."

He studied my face for a second, then grabbed my phone. He then held it back to me. "Call your shrink. See if you can get in tomorrow."

I stared at the phone, then carefully took it. "Fine." I made the call, knowing Nico wouldn't leave me alone until I did. After I hung up, I stared at the floor. "I'm sorry."

He hugged me, squeezing tightly. "It's okay, Cassie. I can handle it. I just want you to be happy. I know you're stressing out because of…multiple things. Our future looks pretty crazy. We're all preparing for a war that may or may not come. And figuring out how to fight these…otherworldly beings…"

"Iron," Aaron said from the doorway.

We both stared at him, confused and surprised.

He looked at the floor. "Iron is their weakness. Won't kill them, but it weakens them."

I vaguely recalled hearing that somewhere. It made sense that Eithne wouldn't want to speak about it. It was her own weakness as well.

Aaron took a deep breath. "I don't know what happened for you guys today, but there's a slight problem."

"Problem?" I asked, tensing.

"Can't find the cat," He said. "Hasn't eaten anything, water still full, Batman is freaking out."

Nico's eyes widened. "Parker!" He scrambled off.

I looked at Aaron. "Where is Batman?"

"In the laundry room. Cat's hiding up in Nico's room."

I stared at him, a little concerned. "Nico's going to kill you if he finds out you lied. He loves his cat."

"Here's hoping he doesn't find out. I need to talk to you about something."

"Talk, quickly." I folded my arms.

He was quiet for a second. "I found this in your old room." He held up a paper.

I frowned, taking it and reading over it. It wasn't my handwriting. I sat down as I read it over.

"'With the moon lighting up the snowy field, both side of the army grew restless, waiting for that inevitable moment where fighting would break out and both sides would suffer losses. Both sides wondered if this fight was even worth it, both sides considering the words of peacemaking spoken by different girls. Girls that now stood between the two armies, weapons at each other's throats.

"I tried to stop this," The taller said. Both knew she would lose the moment a real fight started.

"We both did."

"There's still time. We just need to hold off the war for a couple more hours."

The other nodded, eyes fixed on the reflection of her people behind her. "If I move, an archer will strike you down."

"Then you better not move. The Romans and Greeks are prepared to strike if I go down as well. They don't know me as well, but they know enough to know that if I go down…"

"What's taking her so long? She knows we're short on time. Do you think…he's safe?"

"I know he is, Eithne. As do you. As long we keep the fighting at bay.""

I looked up at Aaron. "Where did you find this?"

"The bed. It was on the bed when I went up to get my history textbook."

"Which means you were meant to find it. Okay." I shook my head and handed it back to him.

He took it back. "You know who the other one is?"

"Allison. Allison and Eithne. You're the Him. I'm the She."

He nodded. "It's weird that we both know that without ever reading it."

I sighed. "We'll figure out why soon. I'm sure." I hope.