Parcel had a name, and he had two brothers, and he had a dad who is a delivery man. He also had a Purpose, because his big brother wanted him to show where he woke up. His other, slightly taller brother did not.

"Something is going down, and you want to take a kid out there, to…to a crime scene…when this apartment is the only safe place we know for miles?! What's wrong with just waiting for Percy?"

"I mean, when you put it like that, maybe," Connor said, frowning. "I just…I thought maybe if we could see the place…and what are the odds, really, of the kid finding your package out of all the mail and finding us? Dad must have done something…and if he did, maybe he left something else for us to find."

"I can see your point, I just don't think we should take Parcel. I can go and you two can…"

"I'm not staying behind to babysit while you go play detective!"

Parcel frowned at the two of them, who were glaring at each other. He didn't want to stay behind safe. He had a Purpose. He could lead them to the crater and the broken van. He could Help. He didn't want to sit in this place and wait. He wanted to Do.

"You need me or you won't find it," he told them sternly, arms crossed and trying to make himself seem as competent as possible so they'd stop seeing him as a useless little kid. From the way both frowned at him, he was not doing a very good job. So, in case it made a difference, he added, "I have a sword." He waved his wrist at them.

"Why did we let him keep it?" Travis said, pinching his forehead between his eyes.

"Because it was too small to fit us?" Connor said. "Obviously Dad wanted it for him."

Parcel very carefully did not say that it had been bigger when he found it and changed its size when he put it on. Travis looked pained, then finally got down on his knees until his head was more even with Parcel.

"Kid," he said, "There are monsters out there. Real monsters. The kind that gobble up little tykes like you. You stay here, and the monsters can't get in. But you go out there, and they can sniff you out. It's safe here."

Parcel looked directly into Travis's eyes and nibbled contemplatively on his pinky, then pulled it out so he could speak.

"No." He said. Travis closed his eyes, briefly, and grit his teeth.

"Kid…"

"My name is Parcel, not Kid," said Parcel. "And I'm not letting you go out there without me so you can get eaten by a monster. Family takes care of each other. Anyway, you have to take me with you. You won't find it without me."

"Monsters mostly just go after pipsqueaks like you," Connor put in. "Trav is too much trouble."

Travis just shook his head. "You aren't coming. I am good at finding my way to places."

"Not this place," Parcel insisted. Suddenly, he stood up on the couch, clenching his hands into fists. "I won't let you."

Both the Stoll brothers raised their eyebrows at his display. Neither looked intimidated, which was enough to make Parcel try to stamp a foot, though it didn't really work well as he was standing on a cushion. If anything, Travis just looked frustrated, and Connor amused. They were refusing to let him have his Purpose and be Useful. They wanted to protect him but wouldn't let him do the same. It was not Fair.

Parcel was not sure why he cared so strongly that these boys be safe, considering he'd only just met them. Maybe it was simply because they were Family. Parcel did not know a lot of things, but he knew that Family was very Important. Anyway, he had only just found them; what would happen if he lost them? He'd have nothing except Travis's bracelet and a blanket that folds up small.

Though his foot stomping did achieve one thing.

"Parcel needs shoes," Connor said, mostly hiding his amusement. "I guess he needs more clothes too. Toys? If we're keeping him, he's going to need stuff."

"We don't know if we're keeping him," Travis refuted, which made something unpleasant clench up in Parcel's stomach. It wasn't hunger, but it was similar. Maybe it was a different kind of hunger than for food. Something must have showed on his face, because Travis immediately reached his arm out and put one on Parcel's shoulder. It felt heavy and warm, like a mini blanket. Like something solid and real, anchored to Parcel. A Good feeling. Like when Connor held him in his lap.

"You will always be our brother and we'll always be there for you," Travis said. "But it might be safer for you to live somewhere else. There's a place…a fun place with lots of kids…I don't know. For now, you are with us."

"Okay," said Parcel, his own voice sounding odd, this time because his chest was feeling tight and that somehow made his voice come out all quiet and strained, like he were about to cry. He tried to push that feeling down and down because this was important and crying would get in the way. "I have to come with you. You can't leave me behind."

"Hey," said Connor, when Travis just stood there, looking a bit lost. "Let's start with going out to get Parcel some shoes. He needs that, at the very least, and none of ours even come close to fitting. If nothing happens…if nothing attacks or seems weird…we let Parcel lead us to Dad's van. If…if it seems too dangerous, we come back here."

Travis said nothing to this plan. Connor sighed.

"We can't keep him here forever, anyway."

Travis sighed, huffed, then fell down on the couch next to Parcel with enough force that Parcel could have fallen if Travis hadn't pulled him down too, into his lap. This, Parcel decided, was Okay. Laps were comfortable and safe and warm. And as long as he was sitting on him, his big brother wasn't running off without him to be eaten by monsters. His pinky went in his mouth.

"Travis?" said Connor. Parcel was fairly certain he was really asking 'so are we going to follow my plan?'

"Sorry," Travis said, "Just…I'm starting to have a better understanding of how Dad must feel sometimes, dealing with us. I used to think he didn't…I mean…we almost never see him. But. He got us to the camp. He…" Travis trailed off. Connor reached over, gently patted Travis on the leg, then reached up and slapped the side of his head.

"Hey!" Travis yelped, jerking sideways. Parcel stared up at Connor, then at Travis. He didn't think either of them was really angry, even though Travis was glaring. Maybe it was a brother thing. Maybe he should try that next time they tried to take away his Useful Purpose and leave him behind. Except, under normal circumstances, he didn't think he could reach their heads. Their knees, maybe.

"Come on," said Connor. "We need to get this done before Percy shows up. Did he give you a timeline?"

"He thought maybe an hour, assuming a certain sky god doesn't decide to make things difficult."

"What sky god?" asked Parcel. "Who is Percy?"

"Percy is a friend," said Connor. "And Sky God is our special name for our grandpa. He…doesn't like Percy's dad and sometimes makes things harder."

Parcel hummed, taking this new information in, then said, "Harder how?"

"Hey," said Travis. "Let's get you some shoes. Can't have a son of…of a delivery man without shoes."

Parcel considered this. He liked his shoes. He made them himself. And they had given him a Purpose and guided him faithfully to his brothers. On the other hand, they were not easy to run in. The play in the park and the long walk after had left the bottoms dirty and torn and he could feel the hard pavement under his feet.

Besides, getting shoes meant going Out There with his brothers, and not being left behind. He just had to make sure that everything went perfectly so Travis would decide it was safe to let him stay.

"Yes," he said, jumping up immediately and marching for the door that led Outside.

"Whoa, wait a minute, bro," said Travis, jumping up after him. "Wait for us. I think…bathroom first. And make sure we're…ready. For whatever."

Using the bathroom a second time went slightly better, especially when Connor asked how Parcel could even reach anything and they dragged some boxes in for stepping stools. Travis made a funny face when Connor first pointed it out.

"What?" Travis said then, to Connor's raised eyebrow. "I'm not used to kids coming so…small. Hey kid…you are potty trained, right?"

"I think so?" Parcel said, who understood what a toilet was, and what it was for, but his only memory in using one was after lunch that day.

"We're definitely going to need changes of clothing in case of accidents," Connor insisted, tone matter-of-fact rather than teasing.

"Shoes first," said Travis.

Then Travis and Connor went into their bedrooms. Parcel followed Connor out of curiosity. Besides, Travis shut his door in his face, which was Rude, but Connor didn't seem to notice he was still there. He was rummaging in his drawers, under his bed, in hiding places, and pulling out knives and coins and a wad of cash. Apparently, getting ready meant being armed and having money.

"Do I need any of that?" Parcel asked, picking up some of the paper money and holding it up. He knew what money was, even knew the rough worth of it, kind of like how he knew how to read but didn't remember reading things before.

"We've got it," Connor said, snatching it away. Then, after a moment of hesitation, "Hey, I know it's natural for…us…but when we're out shopping…we're trying to keep a low profile this trip. Try not to take too many extras without letting us pay for them. As you can see, we've got the money. Even got a credit card for emergencies. We can cover whatever we need to buy."

Parcel nodded solemnly. Take nothing more than he could easily hide about his person. Got it.

"What about knives?" he asked.

"Ha. Don't make your sword appear unless it's a real emergency. Let me and Travis take care of it first, either way."

As if Parcel was just going to hide behind them and let them get eaten. He didn't say that, though, in case it made Connor change his mind about taking him Outside.

It really wasn't more than five minutes in all to get ready, though it felt like it took forever. The final step had Travis looking at his phone and frowning.

"No maps, of course," he said, and he set his phone on the counter and left it.

After all their nervous warnings, it was strange to walk out the door. Parcel almost felt like there must be some monster lurking right at the top of the stairs, just waiting for them to dare put a foot outside. But really, it was no scarier than it had been the last time Parcel had been out and about. Less, in fact, now that he didn't have to try and find unsuspecting passersby to blend in with.

They moved to the steps in front of the house, and then both Travis and Connor looked at Parcel.

"What?" he asked, staring up at them.

"Go back the way you came to get here," Travis told him. "We'll stop at the first good shop along the way."

That was promising, though he still hadn't said he'd let him go the whole way. It could just be a tricky way to get Parcel to share the directions so they could ditch him back at the apartment and go on their own. He frowned, hummed, and tried to remember if he'd seen any shoe stores during his walk. Maybe there were none, and he'd get to take them the whole way without them stopping.

Anyway, just knowing the right starting direction wouldn't give anything away. He led down the street to the larger one that led to the park. It was longer than he remembered. He vaguely knew that he'd followed the women with the stroller for a long time, and he'd been tired and hungry, but somehow he hadn't thought it was that long. But the park was not even in sight, so it must have been a bit of a ways.

"This way," he said, careful to not say anything more, still cautious of giving away too much and being left behind. The sidewalk was not too busy as it was after lunch and before work or schools let out. The first block or so the road followed along a wall and had cross streets like Fleet Way, full of homes. But then, they came to a corner store, and after that was a whole row of shops.

"Let's try here," Travis said, just when the park was finally in sight, and Parcel didn't know what to feel when he was pulled after him into a small shop. It wasn't a shoe shop; it was a secondhand store. Inside were racks of clothes, bins of cheap knickknacks, shelves of old appliances. There were kids' things in the back: clothes, shoes, toys, school supplies. Travis grabbed a small cart from the front of the store and led them straight to the back.

Parcel could not decide if he liked shopping or not. On the one hand, it was one step closer to them finding an excuse to leave him behind. On the other hand, cool stuff that would soon be his very own. And his brothers put all their attention on him, which he found he liked. And they moved fast enough to not make the whole trip tedious.

"How about this?" Connor started, holding up a shirt against Parcel to compare for size. The front of the shirt had a man on top of a star and the words 'Young, Scrappy, and Hungry'.

"Shoes first," Travis insisted, but he took the shirt and threw it in the cart anyway. Shoes meant actually trying them on. Connor handed him a pair of socks while Travis started sorting through what he thought might be the right size. If the socks came from what had been a closed plastic bag and not from the box placed out to help people try on shoes, Parcel was not going to complain.

"Eh, maybe we should have washed his feet first," said Connor, when Parcel slid off his paper shoes for the socks. The bottoms of his feet were dark with dirt and even had a streak of gold where the paint had managed to get on him. Then Connor shrugged and helped him with the socks. Travis knelt and helpfully shoved a shoe over his foot.

"Too big," Travis said before Parcel could even try to stand in it, and pulled it right off again, only to come at him a moment later with another, smaller one. It had to be tugged on hard, and Parcel wrinkled his nose.

"Don't you have to pinch the toes, or something?" Connor asked, "Leave room to grow?" He didn't sound certain.

"Don't care, as long as they fit him now," said Travis. "Try walking."

Parcel tried them out by running down the aisle, then back again, then jumping a bunch.

"Good fit, then?" asked Connor, with a grin.

"These are waaaay better than paper," Parcel declared. "They're…bouncy." It was the best way he could describe how the bottoms helped give a spring to his steps.

"We'll get them, then. Let's find another pair in that size; kid needs more than one."

Then they had Parcel look at the toys, which he did humming contemplatively, chewing on his pinkie. He knew what toys were, of course. He just had trouble thinking of them as something to do with him. He had no idea what kind he might want. While he carefully compared the merits of trucks versus dinosaurs versus dolls versus princess jewelry versus wild west gear, his brothers held various clothes up against him and made their best guesses. At any rate, by the time they headed for the register, the cart was at least half full of items Parcel had no memory of looking at.

He chose the stuffie of the snake, in the end. It was soft and he could wrap it around himself and it was green, and Parcel could not say why but it made him feel happy inside. Connor laughed, said, "Of course," then grabbed half a dozen other small toys that Parcel had considered but put back. So in the end, he got the snake, a set of tiny cars, a magic 8 ball, a stretch wrestler, a dart set, and a princess tiara.

"Really?" said Travis to the last item. Connor shrugged.

"It's sparkly," said Parcel with approval, so Travis bought it. He did not buy Parcel's new socks, the first pair of shoes that had never come off his feet, or the three small items in Parcel's pocket that he may or may not have even known about which included a green bouncy ball, a pack of gum, and a lighter. Just like Connor requested, Parcel was careful.

Shoes were AMAZING. Parcel celebrated his new pair by dashing for the park, his new snake flying behind him like a ribbon as he ignored his brothers' shouts to stop. He did not stop until he was sitting on a swing, feeling the swoop as he went higher and higher.

"We might not have thought this through," an out of breath Connor grumbled when he and Travis caught up, still clinging to the bags for their other purchases. He dropped the bags and sat down on the swing next to Parcel. "It's a lot to carry all the way to check things out, especially if he's going to do a runner."

"You might not have," Travis corrected, then pulled out a backpack from one of the bags and got to work stuffing all the new things into it. There were a lot of clothes, but they were all Parcel sized clothes so it was not too much trouble to fit them. The toys fit too, once removed from their packaging.

Parcel kept swinging, but also kept half an eye on his brothers, in case they showed signs of ditching him. Neither did. Connor started swinging, even though he was big for it, and Travis put the pack on his own back, stuffed the extra packaging and bags into a trashcan, then sat on a bench. No one shouted at Parcel. No one told him he had to stop now. No one said it was time to keep going. Or time to go back.

After a bit, Parcel stopped by himself, carefully arranged his new snake friend around his shoulders, and joined Travis.

"We are close to the place," he told him. Then, all at once, Parcel found out that he really didn't want to go back to the broken street where the broken man who might have been his own father had lain. He crawled into Travis's lap instead, which his brother allowed, and hugged his snake. Then he nibbled on his finger and clutched at his hair. His brother's arm went around him, solid and warm and Good.

"Can you tell me how to go the rest of the way?" Travis asked, quietly, as if maybe he understood what Parcel was feeling. Parcel considered this. He could tell. Then he could wait at the park. Or go back with Connor. And Travis could go on all alone to the place where something Bad happened. And maybe never come back.

"Let's go," Parcel decided, and he slid off his lap and started walking. He felt stiff, like he was waiting for someone to tell him 'no' or stop him. Travis and Connor followed. No one said 'no'.

He led them down the street, then down the darker lane that went to the place that felt empty of people. It still felt empty, as if no one was in any of the houses they passed. And then they came to where the road started to buckle and bend, until Parcel was standing in the crater he had woken up in.

Everything was just as he had left it. No one had come to clean it up, or close it off. That felt wrong, somehow. Parcel did not know a lot about the world, but it seemed strange how no one seemed to have even noticed this out of the way place where the road was half destroyed and a delivery van was busted open and the pavement was splattered everywhere with gold. It was less glittery now, but otherwise the same.

Travis and Connor slowed and then stopped next to him and just stared at the scene for a long moment.

"Why haven't the police come, or someone?" asked Connor. "This must have been…loud."

"The mist hid it, I would guess," said Travis. "And this part of town…all old warehouses and…and empty houses. I guess vagrants aren't going to report anything, if they saw what happened."

Then they just stared for a moment longer, taking in everything. It looked even worse, somehow, than Parcel remembered. Now that he was more familiar with what streets should look like, this one looked a mess.

"He can't die…can he?" Connor asked, into the silence, his eyes on the large puddle of gold where the sleeping man had lain. "Not…forever…for real."

"What kind of monster…" said Travis, not really answering the question, then, "We should leave. We shouldn't have come here. Not with…not with Parcel."

"We should check the rest of the mail," Connor insisted. "There might be something. Anyway…we're already here. We might as well look."

So they slowly picked their way closer, Travis taking Parcel by the hand, holding it tightly as if afraid Parcel might run off on him again. Parcel had no intention of running, though. If anything, he held on just as hard.

There was mail everywhere. A bunch of the letters were addressed to some camp. Parcel wondered if that was the camp his brothers had told him about. Others were addressed to someplace called Mt. Olympus.

"Aha!" said Connor suddenly. He was waving a package in the air. It was addressed to him. He tore it open, and a moment later a small and familiar bracelet fell out into his hand. Travis and Parcel gathered close to him to see, Travis distracted enough to let go of Parcel, not that Parcel intended to run off anytime soon. Connor's letter was similar to Travis's too.

Son,

Listen to your brother, stay safe, stay together. Trust your instincts. The trigger word is ἀδάμας.

H

Connor put his bracelet on. It readjusted its size to perfectly fit his wrist. Both brothers looked down at Parcel.

"What?" said Parcel. "It's mine. I found it."

Travis's eyes narrowed and Parcel danced away as a precaution. And maaaybe it really should have been Travis's bracelet, but if Parcel really was H's son then it could have been meant for him. Anyway, he wasn't even sure if it would change its size to fit anyone else, now. And he didn't want to give it up. It had come to him just when he'd needed something sharp. It was his.

Travis took a step towards him and Parcel moved several back, until he was almost in the broken up truck.

Until he was close enough to hear a soft voice coming from under the wreckage.

It was a soft, faded sort of voice and it came from the dark and it made Parcel's heart speed up like maybe he should run away. Or maybe he should crawl inside for a closer look. Somehow, he wanted to do both at the same time.

He did not know the voice, and maybe it was a monster, but it did not sound super scary even if it did come from the dark. Anyway, it wasn't saying anything like 'food' or 'grrr' or 'I'm going to eat you up!' like he imagined a monster might say. All it said was 'raaats'.

Ignoring the shouts of both Travis and Connor, Parcel wriggled down under the van into the dark.

Somewhere down the street, something growled.