Now… to get the rest of the group back together…

Marcus sighed to himself as he walked through Camp, keeping his eyes peeled for the rest of his group as he went. He knew exactly where he'd find Maddie but.. Don't think I want to start there…

As he passed the nightly campfire, he spotted Jason and Joel sitting at a table with another group Marcus recognized as the local gossip. Great… looks like they're fitting in.

"Jason! Joel!" Marcus called as he crossed the space between him and the group, trying to ignore the curious looks he got from the rest of the half-bloods gathered around. "Need to talk to you."

"Marcus…" Jason replied, trying to force a smile to his face. Marcus could see that he'd been losing sleep, the bags under his eyes evidence enough, even without the energyless tone to his voice. "What do you need?"

"An' please God tell me it ain't another hare-brained scheme to sneak out of camp." Joel tossed in, casually hopping up so he was sitting on the table.

"No, no sneaking out this time guys. We got a lead on an Artifact and-"

"And somebody else can handle it this time." Joel cut him off. "We need rest, Marcus. Not all of us have been here trainin' for years with scary level half-bloods like you have."

"Training…" Jason mumbled, reaching into his inner pocket and taking out a small book.

"Oh no ya don't." Joel reached over and snatched the book from Jason's grasp. "No trainin'. Eatin' is what you're doin' now."

Jason grumbled a bit but started eating the sandwich that was in front of him.

Marcus watched all this quietly, afraid he already knew the answer to his next question. "Jason… what have you been doing the week we've been back at Camp?"

"Training… Nonstop…" Jason mumbled between mouthfuls. "Gotta get better control of the Mist… So next time… I can help."

"Ya see? We need time off. And not the few days we've been back neither." Joel muttered. For the first time since Boston, Marcus really took a look at Joel and saw that while his signs of grief weren't as outspoken, they were still there under the surface. He nodded to Joel, who nodded in return, and Marcus turned on his heel to walk away from the group, but not before one of the other half-bloods called out to him.

"Marcus! Saw you weren't with little miss crazy tonight! That mean she's single?"

Marcus froze in his tracks, feeling his anger bubble up inside him before pushing it back down. He was rewarded for his patience with the thumping sound of the same idiot getting smacked by his two friends at the table.

"Shut up!" He heard Jason hiss.

"What? It was an honest question!"

"Let the Lover Boy fix his own issues, and you stay out of it." Joel remarked.

Marcus couldn't quite keep the smile from his face as he walked away from the campfire. He sighed, knowing that between his two last options, seeing Maddie was probably the one that scared him the least… probably. Marcus turned and headed down to the lake, knowing the place with the best view of the moon would be where he found Maddie.

As he reached the docks, Marcus just had to stop and admire what he saw. The moon shone in the night sky, its reflection perfectly captured in the water before him, which was smooth as glass and reflected everything around it in a perfect mirror. Including the short red-headed girl sitting alone on the edge of the dock, her face tilted skyward.

"So anyway, I think I'm getting better but it's hard you know? I know you've probably heard enough about that, especially since you've had plenty of your own problems going on-"

"Any answer tonight, Maddie Madness?" Marcus tried to sound casual as he talked down the dock.

"Oh, Marcus! I didn't hear you coming." Maddie replied, her face a bright smile as always when she was having her nightly conversations with the moon, but he could see that her heart wasn't as in it as it used to be. "As usual, she's probably too busy to do anything more than listen, but that's okay. As long as she's listening, that's all I care about."

Marcus sat beside her, trying to keep the small frown he felt from showing on his face. Was that a dig at me…? "Almost done here?"

"You know we talk most of the night. Why so impatient tonight?"

"Chiron finally tracked down what he thinks is one of those artifacts that Aphrodite was talking about."

"Aphrodite… I've never met the Goddess of Love. What's she like?"

Marcus shook his head. "She's blunt. She's bratty. She's used to getting her own way and when she can't have it she fights back. She-"

"Are you describing Aphrodite, or Chastity?" Maddie asked innocently. Too innocently...

Marcus stopped and turned, his eyes narrowed, to see Maddie sitting there all too obviously trying to hide a grin. "You know Mads, if she heard that I'm sure Chastity wouldn't mind giving you some of what she gave me the last time we talked…"

"Attitude?" Maddie giggled.

Marcus couldn't help but smile and put a hand to his cheek, remembering her stinging slap. "Yeah… that was part of it."

"It's good to see you smile again." Maddie said softly.

"What do you mean...?"

"Well... ever since Boston you seemed like you were… pulling back… I was worried I was losing…" Maddie's voice trailed off and she looked back up at the sky, as if searching for the answer to the end of her sentence from the moon. Or perhaps seeking comfort.

Marcus reached out and laid his hand on her head, messing with her hair gently, eliciting a small laugh in response. I worried her again… Dammit. "Never Mads. Even being sent to Hades itself couldn't make you lose me." He was rewarded with a smile and she turned back to the moon, about to continue her nightly talk when he interrupted her again. "Mads… I need a favor from you."

"What do you need?" Maddie turned back to him, her brown eyes shining in the moonlight.

"I need you to keep an eye on Jason and Joel, alright? I'm going to be leaving Camp-"

"No! You're not going on your own!" Maddie shot to her feet. "After… that… How could you expect me to just be okay with staying here while you-"
"Maddie calm down." Marcus said softly, standing and putting a hand on her head again. "I won't be going alone, and I won't be sneaking out. This mission comes straight from Chiron. He wants us to track down that Artifact."

"Exactly! Us! So why-"

"Listen to me. Jason and Joel aren't ready. They won't be okay leaving Camp, and I won't be okay taking them out of it or leaving them here on their own. I need you to look after them for me, make sure their training goes well. Just like I did for you, remember?"

He could see Maddie struggling for a moment before her shoulders slumped and her head dropped a little under the weight of his hand still resting on her head. "Yeah… Yeah I guess…"

"And besides, it won't be like I'll be on my own. I still have Phil and… Chastity." Even Marcus could hear the hesitation in his voice, and he was sure Maddie picked up on it.

"You two still haven't talked…?" Maddie asked.

"I've uh… never found the right moment…"

"More like you're avoiding her." Maddie said with a small smile. "Look, you know you have to talk to her eventually… and now you have no choice right?"

"Yeah… And hey, it's bound to go okay right? Why wouldn't it?" Marcus tried to put more confidence forward than he felt, though that was crushed rather quickly.

"Because she's blunt. She's bratty. She's used to getting her own way and when she can't have it she fights back." Maddie responded with a grin. "But she's one of your best friends, so I'm sure you'll figure it out."