A/N: Sunday night chapter drop! I lived and escaped the hospital after last weekend so this fic gets to continue. Also, I just finished The Burning Maze for the first time and I'm not okay?

Annabeth

Percy, Cara, and Phillip met me on the library steps.

Marshall had texted me that he finished pulling the literature I'd requested, so all we had to do was head to the archives to retrieve it. I waited patiently under the NYPL lions scanning the crowd for a glimpse of orange t-shirts. I spotted Percy first, wearing jeans and a black t-shirt, with the other two next to him in their Camp Half-Blood orange.

When they arrived, I noted immediately that Phillip did not look good. Since I'd only met him twice, I didn't have much of a baseline, but his appearance was similar to the other night in the Big House. Percy and Cara jogged up to me, and I noticed he was having a hard time keeping up. His face was devoid of color except for the dark circles under his eyes, and he put his hands on his knees to catch his breath when everyone else stopped. Percy and Cara greeted me, and I said hello and asked him if he was okay.

"Fine," he said, still catching his breath. I glanced at Cara, who met my eyes and shook her head.

"We think being within the magical borders of camp is helping to keep the curse under control," Percy explained. If that was true, then I felt bad for bringing him here.

When I said as much, Phillip made a joke about not wanting to miss out on the fun. I glanced at Percy, thinking all the way back to when we were 13 and he decided to seek out the Golden Fleece even though Clarisse had already been given a quest to do so. Something about male demigods at that age couldn't turn down a challenge. They always needed to be the hero.

"Let's just go ahead and go inside," Percy suggested, so I led the group up to the archives section.

"This place is fantastic," Cara remarked, looking around after we entered the building. "I'm from Missouri, we don't have anything like this there."

"Did you know that when it was first built, it was the largest marble building ever constructed in the United States?" I said.

"Oh yeah?" Cara asked with genuine curiosity in her voice.

"Yes, it's Vermont marble, which isn't particularly rare but is known for its clean white color," I said, finishing my fact.

"I've always been interested in the engineering behind buildings, like arches and stuff. It always amazes me how they're able to bear the weight of the entire structure and not collapse. In Missouri we get so many tornadoes, but most of the well made buildings stay standing," she said.

"You would love this building I'm working on in Brooklyn, then. The original architect highlighted all the keystones, and there are a lot of them, but the most recent renovators covered them all up. I'm trying to bring it back to the original stonework, so every time we take parts of the wall off it's like a keystone treasure hunt. I'll have to show you sometime," I said casually as we continued to walk.

Phillip looked like he was still trying to catch his breath, but I heard Percy laugh.

"Alright, Wise Girl, let's keep moving," he said, and I stopped in my tracks.

"What did you just call me?" I asked.

I could tell Cara felt the moment shift, so she dropped to Phillip's side and checked in with him. Despite the kids, I felt like Percy and I were alone in this hallway. He swept his hand through his hair and didn't meet my eyes.

"Nothing," he mumbled. "Let's go. The archives section is right up here, right?"

He continued to walk, but I stood there for a moment longer, feeling like all the air had been squeezed out of me.

I suppose you have a plan, Wise Girl?

I love you, Wise Girl.

Being around him again was making ten years worth of small moments claw their way back up to the surface, and I wasn't ready for it.

"Hey," I called to get his attention, he stopped to wait for me. "Can we talk after this?"

Our conversation on the hill had left me with more questions than answers, and I couldn't take it anymore. The analytical part of my brain was going crazy, and the emotional part was starting to doubt my own memories, which was not a feeling I enjoyed at all. If Percy was going to be back in my life, even if it was temporary, we needed to set things straight. Like he said the other night, I had villainized him for so long. While I wasn't totally convinced that I was wrong, I could tell he was hurting too.

He nodded at my request and we kept walking. I swallowed a massive lump in my throat. In a moment, Phillip and Cara had reached the archives section, and I checked in with the clerk who promptly retrieved the literature I was looking for.

The four of us sat down at a table and I got them up to speed on my research so far, putting the moment in the hallway with Percy behind me.

"That makes sense," Cara agreed at the end of my rundown. "If Dolus and Apate tricked you, Phillip, it could explain why your memories are so hazy."

"If we haven't run into them before, there's a good chance they were in Tartarus until now, especially if they were associated with the Titans," Percy said. I shivered at the mention of Tartarus, and I thought I noticed Percy do the same.

"We can't be sure, they could have come through when the Doors were open," I countered. "I don't remember seeing them in Tartarus, but that place is huge and the Doors were open for a while. Do you remember how many giants we watched go through in the short time we were actually at the doors? They had a whole queue system and everything."

"Wait," Phillip said, "that was you that closed the Doors? During the Giant War?"

"Yes, but that was a long time ago," I answered, trying to move the conversation along. I hated talking about it, even back then, and it wasn't something I was eager to revisit. When we were in the pit, I was certain we were going to die. When we got out of the pit, I was certain there was nothing that could have broken Percy and me apart. Turns out I was wrong on both counts. Another feeling I didn't enjoy.

"Wow… that's badass," Phillip said, sounding genuinely impressed.

"Language," Percy muttered, still looking at the pages. I stifled a laugh, because I hadn't been able to see him as a teacher before this moment. After all the trouble we gave Chiron and Mr. D during our time, I hoped these campers were giving Percy a run for his money.

I flipped the page, and a large color photo of a snake on a piece of pottery appeared. The group stilled as we all looked at the photo and then looked at the mark on Phillip's arm.

"What's everybody looking at?" Phillip joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Cara rolled her eyes at him. "It's an exact match."

"What does it say underneath?" I asked, squinting to read the subtext.

Symbol of Apate, goddess of deceit.

"I think that confirms it, then," Percy said. "We're dealing with Apate and Dolus."

We decided we needed to do as much research as we could while we were here, so I took out my laptop, Cara and Phillip left to go look for more books, and Percy scoured the text in front of us for any information on either spirit. I tried to make a mental list of everything we still needed answers for.

"So we still need to figure out what exactly the curse is, how to break it, and how to find Apate and Dolus," I muttered, mostly to myself but also to Percy. "Phillip was cursed on his way to camp, right? That was already a few weeks ago. I don't like that it didn't kill him instantly."

Percy gave me a quizzical look, and I clarified. "I mean we don't know how much time we have. He could drop dead this afternoon, or they might be waiting for something even worse."

"Let's hope not," Phillip said, setting a pile of books down on the table. "Book delivery from the messenger's son, heir to the Hermes Express."

I smiled. He was really starting to grow on me. He reminded me so much of Percy when we were that age. I hoped the Hermes' cabin relationship with their father had improved.

After looking at the curse mark for a few more minutes, I decided it must be a home brew by Apate. I remembered a little bit about curses, and a lot of the more standard curses shared symbology. I didn't recognize any of the symbols here, so it meant it was either more complex or something Apate cooked up herself.

"Have you heard anything at camp that could relate back to this? Any rumblings about movement in Tartarus, or any other quests that sound similar?" I asked Cara.

Except she wasn't there. I turned around in my chair and scanned the room.

"Did Cara come back?" I asked Percy and Phillip. They both looked up from what they were doing, as if only realizing her absence.

"This is a big building. She probably just got caught up looking for a book," Percy said, but I saw his hand drift to his pocket. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Something was coming. I made eye contact with Percy, he felt it too.

"Did you hear that?" Phillip asked, his head whipping around to the room entrance. "It sounded like Cara."

"I didn't hear anything," Percy said, but he started to rise out of his chair. "You two stay here while I—"

Phillip was out of his chair in less than a second. For someone suffering from an unknown curse, he was incredibly fast when motivated .

"There it was again!" He exclaimed and ran out of the room, yelling Cara's name as he went.

"Stay here," Percy commanded, and I admit I did hesitate for a split second. It had been a long, long time since I had fought anything, and I was a little nervous. However, if Cara and Phillip were in danger, I wanted to help. And I had my weapon back. Rachel had turned out to have perfect timing, as usual. I leapt out of my seat and followed him out through the door.

We ran down the hallway towards the back of the building, following the sound of Phillip's footsteps as he ran through the bowels of the library. He had a lead on us, and he was moving fast. I had no idea what we were running into, but we needed to get as far away from other people as possible.

Percy and I rounded the corner to a back corridor, just as Phillip was bringing his sword down on a giant dog-like creature.

"A leucrocotta!" I yelled, surprised that I recognized the beast. I tried to remember anything I knew about them, which wasn't much. They were a mix between a hyena and a lion, with very large teeth… nothing else helpful was coming to mind.

Unfortunately, three more emerged from the shadows.

"Phillip!" A voice came out of the leucrocotta's mouth in a perfect imitation of Cara, and I instantly remembered how they operated.

"It's tricking you!" I yelled over the snarls. "They hunt in packs and lure away people by imitating voices." And we had fallen right into their trap.

Percy positioned himself between me and the pack, and charged the other three. He and Phillip were making quick work of them, but hadn't been able to land any direct hits. I noticed one peel off from the group, and it made a wide arch in my direction. I gripped my dagger.

As the creature approached, I tried to dig deep into the countless combat lessons at camp over the years. I had fought off monsters, ghouls, cyclopes, giants, and even gods and titans. I knew I still had it in me. I had to still have it in me.

I stood my ground as the leucrocotta approached. It lunged at me, and I dodged, but it managed to grab my pant leg, causing me to fall to the floor and land hard on my back. I didn't have a chance to catch my breath before the beast brought its teeth down toward my neck. I heard Percy scream my name in the background.

I'd had many near death experiences over the years, and I didn't think this was one, but I thought about all the normal people and things in my life. Grayson was coming over for dinner tonight, and I was supposed to go wedding dress shopping with Kennedy soon. My life had been so different one week ago. I had to make it out of this so I could get back to that.

I rolled, and managed to stab the beast in the side as it tried to bite my throat. Percy pulled it off me and threw it to the ground, landing a solid strike with his sword. The creature evaporated in a mist of golden ichor.

I looked around, trying to catch my breath. Phillip and Percy had made quick work of the other leucrocottas, and we were alone in the corridor again. Percy hauled me to my feet, steadying me with an arm on each shoulder as he looked me over for injuries.

"Are you okay?" He murmured as his eyes went up and down my body.

"Only a torn pant leg," I said with a shaky voice. Our eyes met, and his hands lingered on my shoulders.

At that moment, Cara came rushing in, weapon in hand.

"What's going on?" She asked urgently as she surveyed the scene.

"Nothing now, trickster hyenas from the trickster goddess. We must be on the right track," Phillip replied, also trying to catch his breath as he hobbled over to her. "Where were you?"

"I was talking to Annabeth's friend Marshall," she said, pointing at me. "He said he's going to come down in a few minutes to say hi."

I groaned, and Percy dropped his hands from my shoulders. I swayed forward a bit, subconsciously chasing the touch. "We have to get out of here. Marshall is the biggest gossip in New York, if he sees me like this I'm going to be dodging a million questions from everyone."

We agreed that we had all the information we needed for now, and Phillip and Cara returned to the reading room to put the books back.

"So," Percy started in a slightly sing-song tone, as if trying to break the tension of the last few minutes. "Do you still want to talk after this?"

I was trying to tame the curls that had come loose during the fight back into my bun. I looked at him, seeing the Percy I'd known my entire life for the first time.

"Yes, but I'm going to need a drink while we're at it."