"Out of anything in the world that you could remember - including your own middle name - the only thing that stuck around through your amnesia was Sharknado?" Julie shrieks, horrified.

Jason grins at her. "Not the only thing! Sometimes, I get The YMCA stuck in my head."

"Maybe I should have checked you more thoroughly for brain damage after that last brick."

"Hey," Jason pouts.

Juliette groans, pulling her cheeks down with her palms in exasperation. She's not able to wipe her smile away, though. Because what in the actual Nine Muses, Jason? "You're so fucking weird."

"So, can we watch it?"

"You're serious?!"

"Yes!" He laughs, lunging over her to snatch the remote off the coffee table. Julie lunges for it too and accidentally knocks it onto the floor.

There's a moment where they both freeze. They look at each other. They narrow their eyes.

Then, they both leap off the couch and dive onto the carpet.

"It's a good movie!"

"I AM NOT WATCHING SHARKNADO!"

Julie's palm ends up squished against Jason's cheek. His entire bodyweight flops on her back as she tries elbowing him away so she can reach the remote first. Jason's laughing right into her ear, which is probably the only reason he hasn't just used one hand to hold her down while he very easily wins this standoff. His hands draw back from reaching for the remote and end up clasped onto her waist. Juliette squeaks in surprise when his weight lifts up off of her long enough to flip her over.

In barely a second, Juliette is on her back on the carpet, staring up at Jason as he hovers over her, smirking.

Oh, okay. Maybe he had another reason for letting that go on so long.

"Hi?" She cheeps, voice high and squeaky.

Jason grins wider, eyes sparkling with triumph. Julie forgets how to breathe. "You feel alright?" He asks smugly.

"Wha-Yeah. I'm good."

"Are you?"

"Mhm."

"Your face is turning purple."

"No, it isn't."

Jason barks a laugh, throwing his head back, and Juliette soaks in the sound. She can't stop herself from smiling. Her chest feels like it's made out of poprocks. Her blood feels carbonated. And, that sound always sets off firecrackers all down her spine.

He must see that in the look on her face. The smirk returns. The one that means he knows he has her wrapped around his finger. Jason leans down slowly, purposely hovering his lips just barely over hers for a moment. Just long enough that Juliette gets impatient and and has to break character, sitting up slightly herself to finish closing the distance for a kiss.

She'd be annoyed at him for finding her devotion so amusing, but gods the confidence it makes gleam in his eye...Julie really is just putty in this boy's hands. She would do anything for him.

Apparently, that includes watching Sharknado.

Jason's distraction works. Julie vaguely registers him lifting a hand up to the side and using the stale NYC apartment air to deliver the remote into his waiting grasp. But, he does so in between slipping his fingers under the hem of Julie's shirt and pressing his teeth into her lower lip. So, she's a little preoccupied. He finds no competition from her in securing his victory in the Great Remote War of October 22nd.

Sharknado is just as bad as Julie expected it to be. But, Jason smiles through the entire thing.

It becomes one of her favorite movies.


"Want to cut a deal?"

The rage emanating from Nero is making Julie's skin prickle and buzz. He turns his sharp eyes back to her, expression like that of a starving wolf. "You think I'd sacrifice an Oracle for one measly cordolium?" He scoffs. "You think too highly of yourself."

Well, that's not nice.

Julie shakes her head. "No, I figured that part was probably nonnegotiable. I'm suggesting I trade one measly cordolium for..." She does a quick head count. "Six hostages, a small child and...Go ahead and throw in the ex-Sun God too. Call it a convenience fee for the free delivery."

Nero chuckles bitterly, shaking his head. "You must think I'm stupid."

"I do," Julie agrees with a shrug. "But that's not really my point right now. My point is, you could easily catch this dumbass again," She gestures at Apollo. "But, me? You really think I'll let you get another opportunity to have me and this," A twirl of the golden cuff in her hand. "In the same room again?"

The emperor considers her, crossing his arms over his belly where it's straining against the buttons of his purple suit. His beady black eyes bounce between Juliette and Apollo. Then, they narrow on the Tiberii donum on Julie's left arm. "Alright, child, I'll play your game. Name your terms," He commands with a sneer.

"Juliette!" Apollo pleads. She ignores his desperate tone. So dramatic.

"Apollo and Meg will open the Gates for you," She decides. "But, only once you swear on the Styx that the both of them and all six hostages will be freed and allowed to reach Camp Halfblood unharmed. Without interference."

Nero doesn't look thrilled. He gives Meg another mean glance. The girl isn't looking at him anymore, though. She's staring at Julie with wide, confused eyes, glasses partially fogged from the humidity and from her tears. Julie clings to what dregs of courage she still has in her to send her little sister a soothing smile.

"And, what about you, darling?" Nero asks Juliette, eying the cuff in her hand. "I have a fortune riding on your delivery to my colleague. I'd appreciate little resistance."

Julie grits her teeth. She takes a deep breath.

"I'll hand this right over. And, you can cuff me."

"No!" Meg yelps. Apollo has to catch her upper arm to stop her from darting out to Julie's side. He too is gaping at Juliette in horror.

Nero is smiling now like this is all very amusing to him. He approaches Juliette slowly, and she sees both his bodyguards tense. There's no need for them to. There's nothing Julie could do to harm him right now. Not with Austin and Kayla at risk. Not with Cecil and Miranda and Ellis on the line. She digs her toes into the bottoms of her shoes to keep herself from stepping back as Nero stops just inches away.

He raises a hand to touch her. A disgusting, sweaty, meaty fingered tarantula hand he seems to be aiming to brush against her face. Juliette's stomach turns. Heart jolting, she drops the bronze sword with a clatter and snaps her own hand up to catch his wrist before he can make contact.

The guards behind him step towards them, but Julie keeps her eyes locked on Nero's, every muscle clenched so he won't feel her trembling.

"You have to swear first," She hisses. "I'm still mine."

He chuckles darkly. The sound echoes through Julie's bones.

"What an interesting offer," Nero breathes. His breath smells like spoiled grapes. "Are you sure you understand what it is you are holding, child?"

Juliette looks down at the golden band in her palm. There's no sign of age on it. It's shiny and unblemished, gleaming in the morning sun. Meeting Nero's eyes again, Juliette forces her expression to remain neutral.

"Better than you do," She nods.

He smiles.

Drawing away, the emperor turns back to Apollo and Meg, chin high and arms going up in the air like he's revealing a grand prize. He chuckles as he approaches the chubby teenager who once drove the sun. "What do you think, Apollo?" Nero twitters. "Shall I take her up on this grand act of heroism?"

Lester is shaking, staring at Juliette with wide blue eyes and gripping Meg's shoulder as she cries.

"Well?" prompts the emperor. "Is Miss Aster's life a fair trade for your own? For your children's?"

A fair trade for Apollo? Hades no. Juliette is worth a thousand of him, and she knows it. But Kayla? Austin? Miranda?

Meg?

Julie catches Apollo's terrified gaze and sets her jaw.

Lee. Michael.

She pictures their faces. She pictures Will's face as she hovered over him, accepting his big brother's broken form from his arms and knowing there was nothing she could do to save him. She pictures the sight of Austin and Kayla, barely eleven and twelve at the time, holding Michael Yew's charred bow between them - the only trace left of the boy who had trained and protected them.

Michael was fifteen when he died. Lee was sixteen.

And, Will was thirteen when he had to learn how to paint on a smile. The Apollo cabin was almost empty once.

Juliette narrows her eyes at their absent father and wills him not to allow that to happen again.

He hesitates. Maybe she should take that as a compliment - that he isn't jumping at the chance to save himself at her expense. But, even a god as totally dim as Apollo knows this is his only chance to get his children out of here. For once, rather than following his own heart, he chooses what's best for them.

"Yes," He whispers, pulsing with sickly yellow self hatred. "It's a fair trade."

Meg rips herself out of Lester's grasp, gaping at him in horror and disgust. "What?!"

Apollo closes his eyes. "Release my children. We'll open the gates."

Juliette is relieved. She is. Even if the gold in her hand feels cold to the touch.

"Very well," Nero grins. "But, let's do as the lady requested and make this binding, mmm?" He turns to Juliette with a grand gesture. She considers spitting on him.

"I, Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, swear on the River Styx that if Phoebus Apollo, Margaret McCaffery, and Juliette Aster adhere to the terms of our agreement, I shall release all non cordolia to return safely to Camp Halfblood."

Thunder rumbles in the sky. The sound both comforts and terrifies her.

Nero raises his eyebrows, and Julie nods.

"I swear on the Styx that if you release all of my friends to return home safely, I'll surrender so you can put this cuff," She raises it up. "Onto my arm-"

"Immediately following." Nero wags a finger at her. "Fine print, my love."

Juliette glares at him, gritting her teeth. "Immediately after."

Thunder. Louder this time. Or, it at least seems like it to Julie.

With a satisfied smile, the emperor turns back to Meg and Apollo and claps his hands. "Well. Meg, dear, get on with it, would you? We wouldn't want to keep Lady Styx waiting."


Julie's never really been one for surprises. She doesn't think most demigods are. Their lives are already so unpredictable that it's nice to be able to anticipate and plan everyday things like birthday parties and dates. Surprises just end up stressful for everyone involved. Nobody at camp really likes them.

Finding out her venom is flammable by spitting it at the lit match in one of the Germani's hands is an exception. That surprise, she thinks is fun.

The guy lights up like a fricken bonfire. It's horrifying. But, also incredible. (She's not a sociopath, alright? Julie stopped being squeamish about killing Nero's men after they stood a boot on her face and branded her with Imperial Gold. Some people the world is just better off without.)

Meg is nowhere to be found. She took off somewhere between Nero threatening to burn Austin alive and Apollo getting his ass kicked in a swordfight with her beer bellied stepfather. That's fine by Juliette. Just as long as Meg is out of this monster's hands, she knows the kid will be alright.

The fire that Nero started by the hostages is spreading. Julie can see Apollo on his hands and knees trying to put it out. There are dryads gathering around him to help. Peaches disappeared into the fray at some point in the last minute or so. Julie doesn't know if he escaped or worse. She's a little busy taking on all three enemies at once.

Well, two now. She doesn't think bonfire man is getting back up.

"I AM AN EMPEROR OF ROME!" Nero shrieks at her, face red and spittle flying like shrapnel. "YOU WILL OBEY ME!"

Julie's cuff starts to burn against her scales. It's stuck up on the joint of her left wing, and she can feel it searing into the flesh there. She hisses in pain and stumbles backwards. The Germani takes that opportunity to slam a club into her only back foot.

She tumbles forward, but throws out a wing to smack the bodyguard into the rocky side of the myrmeke den. He collides with a grunt and has to sit for a moment, dazed. Juliette whirls on Nero.

He's planted directly in her path, shoulders squared and ugly face set in an authoritative sneer.

"Your kind belong to the Emperors of Rome," He spits, teeth bared. "You will kneel before me!"

If Julie were human, she'd have laughed in his face. Maybe it's a good thing she isn't, because that would have been embarrassing once the daze in her brain started taking over.

She blinks her giant eyes again and again, shaking her serpentine head in an attempt to clear it. There's red fog seeping in around the edges of her sight. Her vision flashes crimson, and her cuff burns.

She's so distracted by the strangeness of the sensation that she doesn't even realize she's following Nero's command until she's on her knees and human again.

The sudden change of height is her first sign that she may have fucked up. Her second sign is the fist of the Germani slamming into her cheek.


Jason's tether has been silent for three months. It wakes back up in the middle of third period Human Geography at 11:59 AM.

He has probably been living up to his friends' 'teacher's pet' prediction since coming to school. Thanks to their heckling of course, he knows better than to be reminding teachers about homework and quizzes, but Jason doesn't think he's gotten a single question wrong on any of his assignments all semester. Even the teachers that were side-eying him at the beginning of his stay here have warmed up, and now adults he doesn't even know are saying hello to him in the hallways. There are constantly new brochures for different ivy league colleges being slipped into the mail slot on his dorm room door. They always make Jason smile to see. It's nice that they think he has such a bright future ahead of him.

He doesn't have the heart to throw them away, so the brochures sit in a neat stack on his bedside table. A little pile of unfinished plans. Maybe in another universe, Jason would be able to do something with one of them.

His popularity with the teachers doesn't really translate with the other students. Jason doesn't think he's exactly disliked, but the solitude he's been enjoying doesn't budge. Every so often, he'll get an invite to play basketball or football with a group of guys that need a another member for even teams. Jason's pretty sure they only choose him because he's, in Juliette's words, 'a blonde hunk of muscle that grew two legs,' but sports have always been a good outlet for his stress. Or, he thinks that they have been...They have been in the year he actually remembers, at least.

That's what he's talking about with the guys who sit around him in Human Geography when it happens. Basketball, that is.

"We're going down to the blacktop during lunch," The guy next to him (Jason thinks his name is Mark?) explains in a quiet tone. "You down?"

Jason glances down at the half finished homework on his desk.

"C'mon, Grace, it's not like you can't get that shit done in your sleep," The other guy next to him (Jamie? Jimmy?) snorts.

Hmm. Does he feel like talking to everyone today, though? He was going to go back to his room and work on the Arch of Amicitia he's been designing. Doing that instead seems a little ironic, though.

"Sure, I'll be there," Jason nods.

The two guys whisper-cheer and pat his desk in celebration. Jason can't help but smile a bit. The bell rings, eliciting a collective groan of relief from just about the whole class, which makes their teacher drop his jaw in mock offense. Jason breathes out through his nose in amusement as he packs up his stuff. He has a study period next. He plans to spend it locked in his dorm.

When he stands from his desk to leave, though, his vision of the room tilts on its axis.

Jason gasps, stumbling backwards and catching himself on an empty desk. The classroom is swimming around him. He puts a hand to his forehead and closes his eyes.

"Grace?"

"You good, man?"

What in Olympus?

Gold sparks pop in Jason's eyes. It doesn't hurt, but it startles him into snapping them open. The hot bursts of light continue. Jason feels like his eyeballs are steaming. It's like there are fireworks going off millimeters from his pupils. He grimaces and shakes his head, trying to clear them from his sight.

"Dude, are you alright?"

"Yeah..." Jason winces. "I-I'm-" He tries to say good. But, at that moment, he gets a burning pain in the left side of his chest, and Jason's consciousness is yanked from the classroom.

When the world stops spinning, he's standing in the woods.

Jason's immediate impulse is to cough, even though he isn't actually breathing the air wherever his mind thinks he is. The woods are completely filled with smoke. Jason can feel it in the sky all around him like a coat of tar over his powers. He grits his teeth, trying to see through the cloud of it to whatever it is his demigod-brain decided was important enough to show him in the middle of the school day.

It doesn't take him long to figure out. Jason's gut wrenches as he watches the familiar shape of his girlfriend get slammed into the side of a mound of rock. Some kind of monster den. Jason lets out an embarrassing whimper of fright as his body kicks into gear, zipping him across the forest floor in an instant so he can stand at her side.

Now that he's closer, he can see through the smoke. Juliette is being held by the throat by the largest man Jason has ever seen. Even larger than Hercules. He has her lifted up off the grass enough that her feet are kicking uselessly at his chest. Her struggles don't seem to phase him.

"Juliette?!" Jason yelps.

She doesn't react to his voice. Her right eye is bruising a deep purple. He looks around frantically for something he can do. Some way to help her. Another shape approaches through the smoke, and Jason turns to see a pudgy man in a charred purple suit. He has sideburns that Jason just knows Piper would be demolishing with criticism. His eyes are black and beady like a feral dog's, and every one of his fingers is laden with gold jewelry.

The man stops just behind the giant soldier and laces his hands behind his back.

"Release, Vince."

Immediately, his goon drops Juliette to the ground.

She ends up on her knees, coughing roughly and clutching her swiftly bruising neck. Jason falls down beside her in concern.

"Rosa, what's going on?" He asks.

Again, she doesn't even glance at him.

She does catch her breath, though, and a wicked smirk paints itself across her face. To her enemies, she probably looks smug. Unbothered. Maybe a little crazy.

To Jason, she looks terrified.

"He's got you well trained, Vince," She pants. She hacks a little more, the smoke probably not helping her breathing skills at the moment, and turns her head to spit onto the forest floor. "Like a little puppy."

"We had an agreement," The man with the sideburns growls.

Jason watches his girlfriend roll her eyes and adjust her position so she's sitting up on her butt, leaned back against what Jason thinks is a myrmeke den. Is she outside of camp, then? Is there a way Jason could contact help for her?

What the Hades is even happening?

"Hey, we agreed they would open the Gates," Juliette shrugs. "I never said I was going to let you burn down the forest."

"You double crossed me."

"Uh...duh?"

The man snarls at her and motions at his minion again. Jason tries blocking the guy from getting to Juliette, but it's like he's not even there. He can't touch anything. The soldier just steps through him and snatches Juliette around the neck again to slam her back into the side of the monster den.

She gasps when her head hits the rock. Jason is shaking. He's pretty sure he just saw a splash of purple against the wall through the smoke.

The man in the suit approaches slowly. "We made a bargain," He snaps lowly. "It's time you delivered."

Juliette's smirk is still fighting to stay on her face. She laughs, hands wedged between the guard's meaty fingers and her very very fragile looking neck so that she can breathe. "Don't you worry your shiny cufflinks about it, Lord Emperor, sir. I'm a girl of my word."

Emperor? No. No, no, no. So, there are more than just Caligula. Reyna was right.

The goon drops her again, but this time Juliette stays on her feet. She sighs and brushes off her clothes. The action is probably meant to make her appear nonchalant about the situation. Jason knows her too well for that, though. Her hands are shaking. She's terrified.

Gods, he needs to help her. He needs to think of something.

"You know Apollo is going to beat you guys, right?" She asks.

Jason stills. Apollo?

The emperor laughs meanly. He stalks across the distance between them. Jason's stomach rolls when Juliette actually stumbles backwards. The man doesn't stop until he's barely an inch away from her, Juliette's back against the side of the den.

Jason is frantic. He's angry. He wants to grab this pathetic excuse of a man by the ears and tear his skull in two. He even tries. But, he can't touch him. He can't do anything but watch.

The man's hand snaps up to violently rip Juliette's left sleeve from her shoulder.

Once the orange fabric is removed, Jason's legs will no longer support him. He holds onto the rocks to keep from falling to his knees.

Gleaming on Juliette's arm is a band of Imperial Gold. It's almost seamlessly blended to her skin. Like it's melted into her flesh. Like it's a part of her. Jason watches pain flicker across her face as the emperor clasps his fingers over it, and the symbol etched into the gold burns a blinding red.

That same red starts to bleed into the green of her eyes. Like drops of blood falling into a pool of water. In seconds, her irises are entirely crimson.

She's digging her teeth into her bottom lip. She's doing everything she can to keep from crying out as the skin on her arm sizzles.

She's fucking incredible. He's so proud of her.

Jason is going to tear this man limb from limb.

Finally, the emperor draws his hand back, and Juliette gasps in the smoke filled air greedily, head falling back against the stone in relief. There's a disgusting smirk on the man's face. Juliette stares him down as he braces a hand on her shoulder to tear away her other sleeve as well.

For a moment, Jason is relieved to see only smooth, freckled skin on her right bicep. Then, he watches the emperor hold out a hand to his minion, and the enormous guard steps forward to place a small metallic object into his master's hand.

No.

This can't be happening. Not while Jason is so far away.

This can't be real. He can't be losing her.

But, he was going to lose her anyway, wasn't he? Jason was leaving. Forever.

But, this was never the way it was supposed to go.

Jason can't breathe. He blames the smoke. He shakes his head frantically as the emperor shoves the second Tiberii donum up to Juliette's eyes so she can see it.

"A Gift for you, my dear."

Her brave face finally drops. It breaks Jason's heart.

He wants to scream for the scene to stop. He wants to ram his gladius between the man's vertebrae and disconnect them one at a time. If he were there right now, this emperor would be choking on lightning.

But Jason isn't there. So, the cuff closes around Juliette's arm with a snap.


The battle is over. The dining pavilion is destroyed. Cabin Four is flattened, and Meg is nowhere to be found.

What a day this turned out to be.

"Where's Julie?"

If there was one question Apollo was hoping not to answer just yet, it is that one.

Will doesn't even seem all too concerned. The question is posed off-handedly. Perhaps even with slight annoyance, like he's feeling miffed she isn't making the rounds and helping him with healing. He is not even looking at Apollo when he asks it. He's focused on distributing packs of tissues to Apollo's plague victims out of a wicker basket he has balanced on his hip.

If Apollo had thought to make up a lie in advance - She made a stop at the mall. She went home for vegetarian Seven Layer dip - perhaps Will never would have known the difference. But, alas, he is the god of Truth.

And, maybe...Perhaps lying to William Solace after all he's done for him this past week feels wrong.

Perhaps lying about the lives Juliette Aster saved today feels wrong too.

"She..." He chokes on his words, watching his son effortlessly shine smiles onto each camper he interacts with.

Gods.

What can Apollo even say?

The tone of his voice must say enough. Will's hand stalls over his basket. He seems to freeze in place for a moment.

How does Apollo speak of this? Of oaths on the Styx and the sacrifices of friends when he has spent the past week spitting on each...

"I'll tell Drew," Will says quietly.

Apollo pauses. He stares at the back of his son's blonde curled head in confusion. "Drew?"

"Her sister," Will explains. The basket creaks under his grip. "Head counselors break the news when somebody..."

Apollo's mind reels. He's too overwhelmed to even respond.

Head counselors. Break the news. Will is a head counselor too.

'Where were you then?' Juliette had asked.

"Oh, gods," Will gasps, a hand coming up to presumably rub at his eyes. "...Nico..."

Apollo shakes his head quickly, frantically, and speeds to his son's side, clasping his shoulder. "No! She isn't-Well, at least I do not believe she is-"

Will is staring at him in blank faced confusion, eyes red around the rims. Blue. Like his father's eyes. Apollo's eyes.

Apollo takes a deep breath, squeezes both of his son's shoulders, and tries again.

"She is alive. At least, she was the last time I saw her."

Quite a few emotions play across Will's face. The main one is relief. The others all conflict. He certainly sees shame in there somewhere.

"Where is she then?" He asks.

Another sore topic. Family bonding would be much easier if Apollo's children would stop asking him to tell stories that make him look bad. He has plenty of tales in which he is the mighty hero who saves the day, but no-

"She's with Nero," A voice pipes in. Apollo and Will both turn to where Nico is now sitting up on the cot he was deposited in for his post-shadowtravel nap. His chilling dark eyes stare deep into the Sun God's soul. "Isn't she?"

Words allude Apollo again. Even his poetry is failing him. He just watches the son of the Underworld somberly and waits for the poor boy to crack beneath the weight of such a tragedy.

Nico sighs. He pushes his dark curls out of his face. He swings his legs off the side of the cot and leans back onto his palms to stare up at the ceiling of the infirmary.

Then, he smiles.


The emperor's throne room is seating two tonight. If he didn't think this silly mission will probably have a promotion on the other end of it, he might be grimacing at all the gold in the ridiculously ornate ballroom they have set up to receive their little retrieval party. It reminds him too much of home.

He can't say Commodus' stadium has been much of a culture shock, really though. Emperors like their gold. As do kings.

He puts his hands in his pockets, eyes heavy with boredom as he leans against the wall beside Commodus' throne. He hasn't been paying a whole lot of attention to the conversation his boss is having with Nero. Something about some new creature they're trading for. Likely just something fancy to get shredded to bits in the arena. At least it'll probably be a laugh.


"Is this a new mortal custom?" Apollo asks, genuinely concerned he may have missed some new rules of etiquette. "To smile when one is told of their closest friend's kidnapping? Or, did Miss Aster do something to offend you recently?"

Will looks a bit concerned too, so maybe Nico is the strange one. That would not be unusual for a son of Hades. Apollo has always found his uncle to be a bit of an oddball.

"It worked..." Nico shakes his head, still smiling, and lowers his gaze to the two of them. He leans a bit to the side to reach into the pocket of his aviator jacket.


He's swallowing a yawn and trying to subtly crack his back when Nero finally snaps his fingers, and the doors to the ballroom are pulled open.

Commodus is bouncing up and down in his seat from excitement, clapping his hands together. If it wouldn't get his head chopped off, he'd snort at the ridiculous sight.

A line of guards enter. Then more guards. Then more. Then, finally, in the center of a long line of what looks like even more guards all the way down the hall still...

Is a girl.

Long strawberry blonde hair, dirty, singed, and yet still somehow falling in perfect waves down to her elbows. A pretty face. A gorgeous face. One of the most perfect he's ever seen - even with the purple bruise over her eye. Symmetrical pink lips with a bleeding split down the middle that are set in an expression half between annoyance and false bravado. An orange shirt with the sleeves torn off, and two golden armbands secured to her biceps.

His eyes nearly bug out of his head. As do hers when they float from the emperors before her to find him standing beside them. They both stare in shock at seeing one another again - especially in this context.

He starts to tell himself 'Well, it looks like I came out on top.' Then, those lips twitch into the beginnings of wicked smirk.


Nico withdraws, unmistakably, a Tiberii donum.

As Apollo lets out a dumb yelp of surprise, the boy's smile becomes a smirk. "Nyssa owes me twenty drachmas."


Shit.

That's the only thing Lityerses can think as he watches his emperor stand to greet Juliette Aster.