"I promise you, Nico, Will likes you."
"No, he doesn't. He's just friendly."
Julie groans and throws a balled up Honey Bun wrapper at him. He scowls at her and plucks it up off the carpet of the Hades cabin. "He's not friendly like that! The way he looks at you? You cannot tell me you haven't noticed."
Nico stalls by the trashcan.
Juliette shoots up where she's laying on Hazel's bed. "OMG, you have."
Nico turns, looking panicked. "That's not what-"
"Nope! Stop your excuses and spill!" She squeals, hugging the pillow to her chest and kicking her legs off the bed. The bronze prosthetic on her right side is slightly heavier than her left. Julie sure hopes that doesn't mean her thighs are going to end up unevenly toned.
Nico groans, covering his eyes with his hands. "You're going to make a big deal out of it."
"Only if it's a big deal!"
"Everything is a big deal to you," He snips.
Juliette just grins at him and pats the mattress next to her invitingly. Nico sighs and comes to plop down beside her.
"Look, it was just..." He grimaces, and Julie giggles maniacally when she spots his cheeks flushing red. "The other day, I was talking to Connor Stoll in the infirmary, and he got all weird and pointed over at Will across the room."
Julie nods him along encouragingly. Nico rolls his eyes and tugs on the zipper of his jacket.
"He was just...kind of staring. And smiling. At me. I think."
Juliette makes the sound of one of those squeezable rubber chickens. Nico shoves her over with one hand and scowls.
"He could have just been thinking about something and spaced out. It doesn't mean anything!" He defends.
"Or he was distracted looking at your beautiful face!" Julie insists, bouncing up and down on the springy mattress. "Oh my gods, this is so exciting. I'm so happy for you!"
"I really doubt anyone looks at me and thinks 'beautiful,'" Nico scoffs, rolling his eyes. "Especially, someone like him. It was probably nothing. He just spaced off. We all do it. ADHD."
Jaw dropping, Juliette hits him on the shoulder with Hazel's pillow. "Um, excuse me? We aren't just pedaling past that first comment. How many times do I have to tell you that you're a certified hunk, Nico di Angelo?"
He groans and flops back on the bed. "Not this again."
"Yes, this again! Are you kidding?!" She screeches, still hitting him over and over with the pillow while he stares irritably at the ceiling. "You're all black hair and pale skin! I wish you'd let me add some actual color into your wardrobe, but you're, like, textbook bad boy. Not to mention, you speak Italian."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"I dunno. Bilingualism is hot."
"It sounds more like you're in love with me."
"Don't change the subject!" Julie glares down at him.
She takes a second to scan him, looking over his classic features where they're screwed up in annoyance. He may not be Jason's brand of the hyper masculine kind of attractive or Will's kind of sunshine beautiful, but there's a reason that mortal women fall for Hades.
Nico is moonlight. Gentle and mysterious. Not to mention carrying around a set of lethal big brown eyes. She wants to smother him every time he mutters something about anyone being 'out of his league.' Can't he see himself the way she does?
Now set in her goal, Juliette huffs and gets shakily to her feet. It takes a second of wobbling to keep from toppling over. Nico raises his eyebrows at her.
"Where are you going?" He asks.
Julie puts her arms out for balance as she starts walking towards the bathroom. "Come with me."
"Why?"
She glares at him. "I'm cutting your hair. Maybe if you could actually see your face behind those ridiculous bangs, you'd understand what I mean."
"You're not cutting my hair."
"Why? Scared I might be right?" She challenges.
Nico sits up and scowls at her. Juliette just crosses her arms and sets her jaw in stubbornness.
She wins their stare down for once. Nico sighs heavily and gets to his feet to follow her into his bathroom. "Fine. If I look stupid after this, I'm sending your soul to the Fields of Punishment."
"Deal!"
"Did you hear about Percy's recommendation letter thing?" Julie asks irritably, reaching to steal the jelly out from under Mitchel's butterknife. He scowls at her, and she ignores him to spread some onto her own toast.
Piper winces. "Yeah, Annabeth called me. That's freaking ridiculous."
That's an understatement. When he had told Julie over IM the other day about Zeus' demand of three godly favors before he be considered for college at NRU, she'd gotten so mad she nearly transformed by accident in the middle of Cabin 10. Drew probably wouldn't have been happy with her if she'd done that.
"I asked if he needed help, but he won't let me," She complains bitterly.
Piper shrugs. "Well, you do have a lot on your plate right now. I'd say learning to walk again should be priority number one."
Julie rolls her eyes.
The next person to remind her out loud that she only has one leg is going to get the same treatment as Chris Rodriguez.
"I'm aware, thank you. It's going fine, though. I'm hardly even falling anymore," She shrugs, taking a bite.
Piper leans forward in interest. "How is Nyssa's prosthetic? I saw her blueprints for it, and it looked insanely detailed."
Julie smiles to herself.
Commissioning a new leg from Cabin 9 had been much less painless than Juliette had expected. Apparently, ever since the accident even occurred, the older Hephaestus campers had been putting their heads together to come up with the best design for a below knee prosthetic. They mentioned something about how knowing they needed to use Celestial Bronze for durability had made it extra challenging to keep it from being too heavy.
What they'd come up with is maybe the coolest fake leg Julie's ever seen. It's made of thin, shining Celestial Bronze wires that weave together to create a hollow silhouette of a calf and ankle. They taper down to connect at the foot, which basically just looks like Julie's wearing a permanent bronze sock.
It's perfect. They even measured Juliette's left foot to match the size so that she won't have to buy all new shoes! She will admit, that was keeping her up at night.
"It's amazing," She answers, crossing the fake leg over her knee so Piper can see it better. "It's been hard to learn to balance in, but it's better than anything I could have imagined getting. Especially better than the mortal prosthetics I was looking at with Sally."
"They did a good job," Piper nods. "What about when you transform?"
Juliette sighs. "Yeah, no, the wyvern's still tripedal. Kinda hard to come up with a design that'll work for something that big. I think Nyssa said Harley called dibs on working on it, so whatever I get is probably going to have a minimum of five flamethrowers attached."
"For once, that might actually come in handy," grins Piper.
Julie shrugs and nods.
Some whispering starts rippling down the rest of their table. Piper and Julie look over in interest to see Drew squinting across the dining pavilion with a smirk.
"Did you do that, Aster?" Their head counselor asks in amusement.
Julie beams and turns fully around in her seat. What she sees makes her giggle uncontrollably. "You bet I did!"
Nico is slinking in from his cabin, aviator jacket tucked up to his chin from the way he's hunching self consciously. He's got one hand nervously tussling at his new haircut.
Julie would like to go ahead and take at least partial credit for the complete upgrade in his looks department that's occurred since last night. Nico's trademark unkept, shoulder length mess of a mop of black hair has been trimmed back so that the curls are actually curling again. Julie had aimed for a sort of longer 70s look to preserve as much of the length as she could, but the way she'd shaped it is preventing Nico from hiding his face behind the dark strands anymore. Now, his features are out in the open.
And judging from the milk slowly trickling out of Will Solace's dangerously tilted cereal bowl, that isn't going unnoticed.
The entire Aphrodite table watches, giggling, as the medic's whole head turns to follow Nico's path as he walks by to get to where Jason's already sitting at Table 13. She sees Nico sit beside Jason, duck his head in embarrassment when the older boy punches him in the shoulder and says something cheerful (probably what an excellent job his wonderful girlfriend did on Nico's hair), and then glance over to where Will is still staring at him, slack jawed.
The son of Apollo jolts when they make eye contact, flushing and forcing on a nervous smile only to spill the rest of his cereal all over the table. Kayla and Austin both jump up in surprise to shout complaints as Will frantically starts trying to dry off the milk with everyone's napkins. When Juliette looks back at Nico, he's red faced and staring down at his waffle.
"Oh, yeah! Who's the MVP?" Julie brags, hands up to accept high fives from all of her siblings.
Drew crosses her legs and shakes her head. "We'll see if either of them actually makes a move. I have a feeling this is going to end up another Percy and Annabeth situation."
"Not if I can help it," argues Julie. She pops the last bite of toast in her mouth and grins. "I bet I can get them together by the end of the month."
"How much do you want to bet?" Drew smirks.
"Oh, gods," groans Piper, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Twenty drachmas that I can hook them up by October," Julie declares, hand held out across the table.
Her older sister leans in and shakes it. "You're on. There's no way di Angelo's coming out of the closet anytime soon. I know Catholic guilt when I see it. This is going to be the easiest money I've ever made."
Juliette is about to retort when a horn blast for attention echoes down from the Big House.
She turns in her seat and shields her eyes from the sun. Chiron is standing on the porch, looking conflicted. He's got a megaphone in one hand that he raises to shout through now that he has their eyes and ears.
"Good morning, campers. I need all head counselors in the Big House as soon as breakfast concludes. And," He hesitates. "Miss Aster and Miss McLean, please attend as well. That is all. You may return to your meals."
Juliette's stomach sinks.
She got name dropped. Why did she get name dropped?
"Ummm..." Piper also says dumbly. She and Juliette look at each other in alarm. "That didn't sound good to me. Did that sound good to you?"
Julie shakes her head. "It didn't. It didn't sound good at all."
"Want to go up now?"
"Yes, please," Julie nods emphatically. The two of them rise, Julie taking Piper's elbow for balance, and look at their older sister. "Drew, are you coming?"
"Do this latte look like it's in a travel mug?" She snips, sipping at her coffee.
Whatever. Juliette and Piper shrug and start heading for the Big House.
They all gather around the ping-pong table like usual. Julie is sat next to Piper and Jason and trying not to stare at the corner of the room Nico and Will chose to stand in together. The blonde still looks flushed every time he glances at the boy next to him. Man, Julie's good.
Drew enters last, naturally, and plops down beside Clarisse with a delicate yawn. Chiron seems a bit exasperated by her tardiness, but doesn't comment. He looks around at them all with an unreadable expression and stands taller.
"Now that everyone is here," A sharp glance at Drew. She checks her cuticles. "I have news. It may come as a shock, so I wish for you all to prepare yourselves."
Julie can feel the anxiety in the room amp up, everyone shooting each other tense shouldered glances. Carefully, Chiron pulls a scroll from the inside pocket of his tailored jacket and sets it in the center of the table.
They all stare at it for a moment. Then, the ends of the scroll spark and light up orange.
Juliette's heart leaps into her throat.
A tiny, holographic Leo Valdez is standing atop the cylinder of parchment. The image grins at them, wide and impish and dripping with sarcasm. He reaches up to adjust his goggles.
"Hey, guys!"
Julie's going to pass out.
"Sorry to just leave ya' like that! Bad news: I died."
Yeah. He did. So, what-
"Good news: I got better!"
The room erupts into a buzzing of mumbles. Juliette feels tears pricking at the perimeter of her eyes. Piper gasps behind her, and Julie watches Jason approach the table to stare at the image of his best friend with agonized desperation.
Projection Leo puts his hands on his hips and smiles wider.
"I had to go rescue Calypso. We're both fine, now. We're taking Festus to-" His voice cuts out, the image blurring like TV static.
"Back as soon as-" Interference.
"-cook tacos when-"
"-vaya con queso-"
"-Love ya!"
The image flickers out, and the light from the scroll dies.
Nobody speaks for a moment. Nobody even moves.
Then, Nico approaches the table to pick up the scroll. They all watch as he lifts it to eye level.
His face changes from blank understanding to overwhelming rage. He turns and chucks the scroll against the far wall with a crash. Julie jumps in surprise as her friend knocks aside a chair and storms from the Big House, red hot anger pouring from him in all directions.
Nobody seems to be breathing. Quietly, Will slips out the door as well and heads in the same direction as Nico.
Juliette stares at the scroll as it rolls across the laminate flooring.
What. The. Fuck. Was that?
"Where did it come from?" Jason's voice asks roughly.
Julie looks at him. He's still leaning his palms against the ping pong table, head bowed and shoulders hunched. She can't see his face. She finds that his blonde waves have adopted the Nico di Angelo emotion shielding method.
Chiron trots to pick up the scroll, tucking it back into his coat. "It arrived on the winds early this morning. I do not know from where."
Jason stands straight at that, eyes narrowed urgently. "Which direction? I can ask the wind spirits where he sent it from."
"Mr. Grace-"
"They'll tell me where he is, and I can go get him. I'll bring him home," Jason insists.
All of the counselors exchange an uneasy look. Then, they all seem to turn to Julie expectantly. She takes the hint. Shakily, Juliette stands from her chair to approach the steaming boy.
"Jace...If he sent the scroll from Ogygia, there won't be any way to track him," She says gently. Jason turns to her, and the harshness of his expression makes her stomach twist. He looks wolfish. She's half expecting him to start sprouting fangs and fur. "That island lets its prisoners off anywhere in the world they want to go. Leo could be anywhere."
Her voice breaks on her friend's name. So does Jason's composure. He covers his face before anyone can see it happen, though, flattening his palms over it and turning to stalk out of the room. Juliette watches him go.
"He's alive..." Piper says softly. There are tears in her eyes. A short, bubbly laugh bursts from her, and she covers her mouth with her hands.
The rest of the counselors start to grin. One at a time, the grins turn into full blown toothy smiles.
Leo Valdez has come back from the dead.
Honestly, it doesn't seem like many people are as surprised as they should be.
The bronze doors of Cabin 1 are locked. When Juliette visits throughout the day, the metal cold against her knuckles, the only response she gets is the empty echo of her knocks ricocheting off the temple walls.
She gets pitying looks throughout all the meals, which honestly starts to piss her off. It's not her they need to be worried about.
Jason's never locked himself away like this before. She's ready to burst out of her skin just to see how he's doing.
Because Juliette is naturally unlucky, Iris Messages seem to be down today for some reason. Every coin she flips into a rainbow just sails through without any interference. She'd probably be more weirded out by that if her mind wasn't so preoccupied on other things.
Leo. Calypso.
Juliette is actually a terrible person.
She lost a leg. Sure. But, Julie hasn't even thought about Calypso since the end of the war. Meanwhile, Leo was willing to die in order to do right by her.
It's like every time she feels like she's catching her breath, there's something else. She doesn't even know what normal life feels like anymore.
By curfew, Julie's laying in bed and glaring at the flowers painted on the ceiling of Cabin 10. Her siblings fell asleep at least an hour ago. Mitchel's snoring is rattling the whole building. Juliette's brain doesn't seem intent on calming down anytime soon.
She's bored, and she's nervous. That combination pretty much means no rules apply to her anymore.
Sneaking out of the Aphrodite cabin is easy. Sneaking across eight other cabins to get to Jason's without getting caught by the cleaning harpies is terrifying. She feels like she's in a zombie movie, checking around every corner with her trusty compact before darting between buildings.
Once she gets to Cabin 1, Julie hits a roadblock. There are two harpies directly outside, sweeping out the entryway, and it doesn't look like they're anywhere close to finished.
If they were to see her out this far past curfew...Well, Julie might end up needing to commission another prosthetic.
She throws a mental temper tantrum, hiding behind the corner of the Hera cabin. This was such a dumb idea. Now, she's either going to have to sneak all the way back without getting caught, or sit here for who knows how long and hope the harpies don't notice and tear her to shreds.
Nice going, Juliette.
She pauses.
Juliette...Juliet. Juliet and Romeo.
Oh, she just had the best idea. Now, she just has to make it to one of the windows without giggling.
The night is still. There's barely even a breeze to rattle the Iris cabin windchimes. If she's gonna do this, Julie has to be totally silent. She'll need to be one with the moonlight.
Thanks to her amazing ninja stealth, she manages it.
The harpies turn their backs to swap brooms, and Julie seizes the moment, leaping out and crouching as she limps a very wobbly run to stand underneath the only window on this side of the cabin. It's shut. It's also, like, thirty feet in the air. Good thing she's got a decent arm.
Wow, Julie really is the coolest girlfriend ever.
She picks a pebble off the ground and hurls it at the glass.
Maybe little too hard.
When it hits, it shatters one of the panes, and the harpies at the front door squawk in surprise.
Oh, shit. Oh shit oh shit ohshitohshit-
"Juliette?"
Julie looks up in panic. Jason is hanging out of the now open window, looking totally bewildered. She gapes at him like a fish.
"Did you just break my window?"
"Um-"
SQUAWK!
"Shitshitshit! Pull me up!" She yelps.
Jason squints in confusion. "Pull you-?"
SQUAWK!
Julie squeals in terror and starts hopping up and down, trying to find a handhold on the wall. Jason's eyes go wide once he spots the angry harpies rounding the corner. She can hear the second they lock her in as a target. They go from indignant hollers to vicious sounding hisses.
"What are you doing?!" Jason exclaims.
"Being a dumbass!" Julie cries back, still jumping up and down. "Just help me!"
There's a whoosh of wind, and several things happen at once. A gust blows the harpies back across the campgrounds, sending them careening through the air with startled squawks. Another channel of air circles around Julie's feet and lifts her from the ground. It carries her high enough that Jason's able to grab onto her outstretched hands and pull her through the window.
The momentum sends them both tumbling to the cabin floor. Relieved, Juliette raises up on her elbows, face hovering over his and legs bent on either side of his torso. She gives him a brilliant smile to answer his glower and makes the artistic decision to go heavy handed with her Appalachian accent.
"Well, hey there, Romeo," She giggles.
Jason glares up at her like she's crazy. And, she definitely is. This is the end of a series of terrible decisions she made tonight that he doesn't need to know details about.
Looking down at him from this angle is kinda nice, though. She'd almost get mauled by harpies again if it means they end up on the floor together.
Speaking of harpies-
SQUAWWWWWWWKKKKK!
Jason curses and sits up so suddenly it makes Julie tumble onto the marble with a yelp. He lunges across the room and slams the window shut just in time for two pissed off harpies to collide with it. Another pane in the window shatters, and Julie doesn't think she's ever heard this much profanity come out of Jason in one night.
He turns to look frantically around the room and ends up snatching the huge pile of books sitting on his desk to stack in front of the broken panes. The harpies screech in annoyance at their path to entry being blocked, their talons scratching at the window frame. After about a minute, though, they lose interest and flap off to go finish their duties for the night.
Jason lets out a heavy breath and looks down at Juliette on the floor.
She gives him a guilty smile. "That may have gone differently than how I planned it in my head."
He shakes his head, baffled. "Why were you throwing rocks at my window?!"
"I was trying to be romantic!"
"How is breaking my window romantic?"
"I didn't mean to break it! I just-" She huffs and hugs her knees to her chest, picking at the seam of two of the bronze posts in her leg. "I just wanted to see if you were okay," She mumbles.
She hears Jason sigh. A moment later, he's in front of her and there's a scarred hand reaching down for her from above. Julie takes it and lets him pull her to her feet.
"Thank you," Jason says softly, flashing her the ghost of a smile as his hair falls into his eyes. "I'm alright, though. You don't have to worry."
He punctuates his statement by turning to go back to his bed. Julie follows him, frowning. His pajamas, a blue t-shirt and a pair of grey sweats, are wrinkleless. Perfectly pressed and crisp. His desk is organized into orderly stacks rather than the chaotic mountain of papers it had been a week ago. Aside from his surfer guy haircut, Jason looks like a soldier again.
"Are you?" Julie questions him, crossing her arms over her pink silk pjs. "Because you've been locked in here all day."
"Was it locked?" He asks in feigned surprise.
Julie's face drops in annoyance. "Jason, you're a terrible actor."
He sighs again and sits on the edge of the bed, elbows propped on his knees. "I just needed some time to myself. To think."
"Okay..." Julie nods to herself. "Can I ask what you thought about?"
Jason laughs lightly at her question. "Honestly, I didn't get very far."
The way he's staring down at the marble floors reminds Julie of the way he used to look as a kid. It's the same troubled expression he'd get when she would ask him about his future plans that always made her wonder if he'd allowed himself to think about them before.
Julie's eyes trail up his wrist from his clasped hands.
His tattoo, bold and black on the skin of his forearm...She hadn't noticed before, but the scarring from her blood must have burned part of it away. Above the twelve hashmarks, a white, ropey scar has sliced through the chest of the eagle.
The nauseous feeling staring at those scars brings her makes Julie blurt out more questions.
"Was it about Leo?"
Jason's face goes blank. "Yes. Partially."
Julie approaches him slowly and comes to rest on the bed beside him. She keeps her hands in her lap, though, just peering at him. "And...How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay."
Alright, liar.
"Jason," She sighs. He looks at her from behind his hair, eyes hard and jaw clenched, and she smiles and shakes her head. "You know it's just me in here, right?"
He stares at her for a second. Then, in the blink of an eye, his composure washes away like a message in the sand. All at once, his shoulders drop, his eyes shut, and his expression crumbles. Jason bows his head and rakes a hand through his hair.
"I have no idea what to feel," He says roughly.
It sounds like an admission of guilt. Julie leans over to try and catch his eye. Gently, she guides his face up with a hand on his cheek, and Jason reluctantly connects their gazes. She looks at him intensely. Seriously. So he'll really think about her next question.
"How do you want to feel?" She asks.
He looks confused. Then, he looks hesitant. Then, thoughtful.
Angry. Relieved. Overwhelmed.
And then, he bursts into tears.
Julie sighs in relief as she feels the explosion of emotions finally being released from inside of him. When is the last time she saw this boy cry? She draws Jason in to her, and he lets her touch lead him as if he's weightless, molding to her arms like he's trying to disappear into her embrace.
He sobs, loud and choked, eyes hidden in the crook of her neck and arms clinging desperately around her back. He's so close he's almost in her lap, and the room around them seems to disappear from the intensity of the colors and sensations his internal conflict is flooding into Juliette's senses. She's lost in a cloud of emotions. They're changing so fast that Julie never even gets the chance to pin down which is which.
She doubts that Jason can either. Especially since the only words she catches in the midst of his breakdown are "I'm so confused."
She presses gentle kisses to his hair and massages the back of his neck. She can't think of anything to respond with other than "That's okay."
He probably cries for at least a good hour. Julie hasn't really been worried about the time. Eventually, she shifts them so she can lean back against his pillows, and Jason lays down on top of her, face tucked into her shoulder so she can wrap every nonmetal limb around him and run her hands through his hair.
She's in the middle of humming the second chorus of Love Story when Jason suddenly snorts. Not a snotty snort. This time, it sounds more like a laugh.
Julie pauses her internal playlist and looks down at him with a smile, pushing his hair back so she can see the strange little grin that's grown on his face.
"What are you giggling about?" She asks softly.
Jason snorts again and then turns over in her arms. His forehead is still against her neck, but his face, red and puffier than she's ever seen it, is angled so they can look at one another. He smirks weakly and shakes his head.
"Just thinking about...This is just such a Leo stunt," Jason laughs quietly. "Only he could pull something like this off."
Julie grins too at that and nods. "Do you think he was dead long enough to flip Hades the bird on his way out?"
A real laugh bubbles out of Jason this time. She can feel the wideness of his smile against her collar. "He definitely would."
"He's going to be impossible after this. Every time we complain about anything, he's gonna be like, 'So, remember when I died?'"
"Gods, and he did it to save me too," Jason groans, sounding tearful and amused at the same time. "He's going to use that to win every argument we have."
"'Hey, Jason, can I have that cookie? No? Nah, I understand. I only blew myself up for you.'" Julie mimics Leo's obnoxious tone, and Jason starts actually laughing against her chest. It begins as just a few amused chuckles but steadily snowballs into a complete laughing fit.
It's totally contagious. Pretty soon, both of them are collapsed on the bed, howling and giggling. Every time one of them calms down, the other will just start right back up and send them both spiraling again. Honestly, Julie's surprised they haven't woken up the whole camp and wound up with someone banging on the door for them to shut up.
After a while, Jason sits up and wipes the tears of mirth from his eyes. He takes a turn tucking Juliette's hair behind her ear and smiles. "I love you."
Julie's heart swells. "I love you too."
He leans in to press a kiss to her forehead, and then looks to the barricaded window. "Well, I don't think making a break for your cabin is a good idea. Want to just stay here?"
Julie feels her cheeks getting hot. She laughs nervously and twists a strand of strawberry blonde hair around her finger. "We'll get in trouble," She reminds him.
Jason shrugs. "So?"
So?
"Who are you, and what have you done with my Soldier Boy?" Julie asks in astonishment.
The wicked smile on his face makes her heart start to pound. He leans in close enough that she can taste the toothpaste on his breath. "Scared?"
Using her own words against her, huh?
Julie doesn't mind rising to that challenge. She leans in too and brushes a hand up his chest. He shivers, and Juliette smirks.
"Praetor Grace," She tuts. "Don't you know, I'm some kind of hero?"
Jason laughs against her lips and presses her back into the mattress.
Oh, they're definitely getting in trouble in the morning. But, right now, Jason's hands are in her hair, and Juliette just can't find it in herself to mind.
A/N
Hey, guys! Happy 50th chapter!
How are you all liking it so far? Ready for ToA? I've got some plot lined up to kick into gear in the next chapter, so I hope you're prepared. Love you guys!