Alexa and her little army of bronze helpers were quick to clean up after Artemis departed, neither she nor Luna wanting to risk another interruption. Within ten minutes of the hunters leaving the bags were packed, the trash was stuffed into its own bag and the three travel companions were making their way North.
Luna flew slower than she had on the way down, slowed by the additional weight. By the time the Manhattan skyline came into view it was nearly dinner time. Briefly Alexa considered flying straight up to the nearly hidden mountain top hovering over the Empire State Building. It would be faster, but she also didn't exactly have permission to do that. Instead she steered her metal canine down into an alleyway a block away from their destination.
"Keep your head down, and wait for the whistle. I want to make sure we can all get through." Luna nodded her head and hid herself and the Hind behind a set of overflowing trash cans that just barely hid Luna's bulk.
Alexa took the rest of the journey on foot, marveling at the city of her birth. Had it always been so loud here, had the air always smelled so thickly of car exhaust? The whole place was familiar, but so odd to her after being away so long.
Alexa made her way into the building, scraping the mud off her boots at the door. There was the same security guard, his nose buried in another thick book.
"Excuse me." She said, clearing her throat. "I'm Alexa Barber, here to see Mrs. White."
Unlike the last time, his head snapped up as she spoke. She couldn't help but revel a bit in the surprise on his face. His eyes flicked over to a sticky note on his desk, and then back to her again.
"Do you...have an appointment?" He asked quietly.
"No, but she's expecting me." Alexa answered, fighting a grin off her face. He nodded and began to reach for the phone.
"Oh! And I have a delivery of a private nature for her… Is there a side door I could use?" She asked.
He blinked up at her and slowly nodded his head. He grabbed up the phone and said into it.
"Jimmy, I need you at the front desk." It took only a blink for a young man to appear at the guard's elbow, beaming eagerly.
"Please take Miss Barber to the private entrance." He said, waving at her. "I'll inform Mrs. White that you're coming."
"Thanks!" Alexa chirped, following Jimmy down the hallway. After a minute of twisting and turning Alexa became convinced that the Empire State Building was not originally designed to have this hallway. She was about to voice this, when they arrived in a small lobby with a single elevator and a thick metal door directly opposite it.
"Here we are, Miss. This is the service entrance!" He gently pushed on the door, revealing the outside of the building, a whole section of the outer facade peeling away and swinging outward onto a side street. Alexa blinked and glanced back at the elevator, noticing for the first time that it only had one button labeled with an omega sign.
"Huh. Well alright." Alexa muttered, pulling out her dog whistle and giving it one sharp blast. In seconds, Luna was landing, her glide slowing to a trot as her paws touched the floor.
"Thanks for the help, Jimmy!" Alexa smiled, turning back to the elevator and jamming on the button. She, the robotic dog, and the silver deer all piled in and in no time the floors began to creep by. Despite being off the beaten path, the elevator opened at the same pathway Alexa always used when she came to Olympus. Alexa only spared a second to admire the view before she and Luna made their way out at a trot. Luna, being a curious sort, sniffed at every statue, tree, bush, and person they passed. Alexa found herself continually apologizing as they walked and attempting to keep her creation in line.
She walked right up to the gates of Olympus, between the golden statues of Zeus and Hera. She raised a fist to knock, when doors began to creak inward. Alexa found herself faced with a set of brown eyes, and dimples cheeks before she heard the squeal.
"Oh my gosh a puppy!" There was a blur of motion and the next thing Alexa knew, a pint sized, brown haired goddess on a cloud had begun petting and preening a very confused looking Luna.
"Hebe, sweetheart, leave the puppy alone, she's not yours." Commanded the voice of Hera. The goddess was sitting on her throne, just as she had been the last time, however today she was in slacks and a red blouse.
"Fine!" Hebe whined, giving Luna's ear one more pet before stepping back. Alexa smiled and waved at the goddess of youth, who eagerly returned the gesture.
"It's nice to see you again." Alexa said "Still playing secretary?"
Hebe giggled and nodded her head.
"Mom says I'm really good at it!" She chirped happily. Alexa smiled, nodded, and turned her attention to Hera. She dropped into a little bow.
"Lady Hera, I think I've completed my first Labor." She announced, lifting the Hind off Luna's back and gently placing her down on her bound hooves. The Hind tried to stand but she nearly tipped over without Alexa's support. Hera looked over both deer and demigod before a grin spread over her face.
"So you have! Congratulations, dear, your first Labor is complete." All at once she felt an electrical charge run through her body, starting on her right arm and working its way out. It wasn't as bad as the first time it had happened but it still caused Alexa to wince. Upon checking under her sleeve she found the numeral on her tattoo had changed from I to II.
She smiled and once again dipped her head in Hera's direction.
"Thank you, ma'am." She said
"It's my pleasure to be able to say it." Hera responded with a smile. Without another word, Alexa brought out a small knife and began removing the ropes from the Hind.
"Now you wait right here, okay? I'll take you back aft- Hey!" The moment all four legs were free the deer bolted. She ran from the hall and upon reaching the top most step leading up to the gates she leaped into the air.
She bounded away as if the air were solid ground under her softly glowing hooves. In no time she was out of sight.
"...she flies." Alexa muttered. This was met by a bark and several sequenced whirring sounds from Luna. Sounds Alexa immediately translated.
"Pretty sure it's more complicated than just being a skilled acrobatic, Luna." More whirring. Alexa rolled her eyes. "Okay, then I think there's more to it than 'jump good'."
She turned back to Hera, who was looking down at her, bemused.
"So...um...what's my next task?" Alexa asked, trying to brush off the oddness.
"I haven't decided yet. I'm afraid I've been on the busy side lately." Hera explained. The goddess' smile was genuine, her words warm, but there was a mischievous twinkle in her eyes that made Alexa worry.
"I'll come up with something and send someone along to inform you of my decision. Until then enjoy some time to yourself." As Hera finished speaking, Hebe broke into a fit of giggles.
"What?" Alexa asked the giggling goddess.
"Nothing!" Hebe grinned. "But you're gonna be so surprised!"
That only served to put Alexa further on edge. When a goddess, any goddess, told you they had a surprise for you it was almost always bad news. She didn't voice this opinion outloud, and simply bowed, first to Hera, then to Hebe.
"Bye puppy!" Hebe cried, waving to Luna as Alexa led her away. From Olympus, Alexa flew on Luna's back straight back to camp. Alexa barely noticed the flight, too caught up in worry. She only really took in where they were when Luna lighted down on Half-blood Hill, right next to the pine tree that had once been Thalia Grace.
She unclipped her belt and slid off Luna's back. She gave the tree's trunk a soft pat, gazing up at it's...her?...swaying branches. She breathed in the smell of strawberries and pine sap. She smiled down at the twelve cabins and the big blue house.
"It's good to be back." She muttered, patting Luna's side. She and the metal pup descended the hill. Alexa made her way towards the dining pavilion where dinner was being served if she hadn't forgotten the timing, while Luna made her way to the Big House for a dinner of sticks and a well deserved nap.
The happy babble of campers floated down to Alexa as she climbed the stairs to the dining pavilion. Summer had just arrived, and part time campers had just started coming back from all over the country. When she cleared the last step, the assembly grew quiet. Most of the campers, Alexa found, she didn't recognize. All but the older of the councilors. Had it really been that long?
"Please tell me I didn't miss the desert." Alexa joked into the awkward silence.
"Oh joy, the illustrious Miss Baker has decided to grace us with her presence." Mr D drawled, picking at a piece of turkey. "I suppose this means you didn't fall off one of the mountains."
"Oh I did, a few times actually. The key is to not let your head hit the ground first and to try to hit a tree on the way down." The assembled campers were almost as surprised by the quip as they were by Alexa's appearance. Not many gave a god, of any kind, lip. But Alexa had been in the woods for three years, and her stomach was rumbling for food that wasn't mostly granola. He could deal with a little back sass.
"For those of you who haven't met her," Chiron said, taking the reins of the conversation "This is Alexa Barber, one of the senior campers. She's been absent for a number of years now, undertaking her own tasks." He turned his attention away from the muttering multitudes and looked Alexa fully in the eyes.
"Does this mean you were successful, my dear?" He asked gently.
"Only managed the first part." She explained, keeping things as vague as Chiron had. "I was just in the neighborhood and had some spare time, you know?"
Chiron nodded solemnly.
"Then come, sit, eat, and relax." He turned to address one of the harpies picking up scraps from the floor. "Have the guest room in the house set up, please."
Alexa grabbed a plate from table nine and loaded it up with food. As she passed, making her way to the sacrificial fire, she cast her eyes at the other tables. Most of the faces were confused and curious, but she spotted Annabeth at the Athena table, staring her down with such a fierce look of concentration Alexa briefly wondered if Annabeth was trying to make her head explode so she could pick through its contents. It wasn't an angry look, just an intensely contemplative one.
Luke was the one that surprised her. She noticed the blonde young man on her way back to the table, after sacrificing a whole baked potato and a good portion of her steak for Hera, Artemis and Hebe. The first surprise was the obvious one; the white scar that ran down his face hadn't been there when she had left. What was more important than that was what she noticed seconds later. The ferocity he had once had in his eyes had gone. He looked at her, not with anger, but the sort of cautious expression someone wore when looking at an animal they didn't personally know. Alexa tilted her head at him, shrugged and gave him a slight smile. He offered a small, cautious smile back and unexpected relief flooded her. He didn't blame her! Or at the very least he understood that she was trying to make up for what happened.
The rest of Alexa's meal passed in a happy blur of good food, good company, and stories from her time in the mountains. All of her little siblings seemed so eager to hear about all of it. How small they looked, peering up at her with wide eyes...had she ever really been that little? Had she grown that much in just a few short years?
Chiron called an end to the meal and gently pushed everyone to the campfire for the nightly sing along. However, when Alexa got to her feet the centaur motioned for her to follow him. Frowning, she stepped into place next to her teacher.
"So you captured the Ceryneian Hind. You didn't harm it in the process?" He asked once they were a good distance away from the other campers.
"Nah, catch and release, couldn't have been gentler." Alexa answered.
"Wonderful, and... nothing else happened?" He asked, giving Alexa a searching look. Alexa frowned
"No…? Just a three year long hunting trip." She responded, returning Chiron's look with a curious one of her own.
"Alexa, my dear, you smell like a winery." He said, dropping all pretenses.
"O-oh! That!" Alexa's cheeks turned pink. "My latest trap involved some misdirection. I had to convince her that I was depressed and unable to catch her. I didn't actually drink any of the stuff...but I did use some of it on my skin for effect."
Chiron sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I'm not going to ask where or how you got that much wine. Just please shower before Mr D gets any bad ideas. Your old room is still acceptable, I suppose?"
"Yeah. Do you mind if I take the care package now, since I'm back?" She asked with a small grin.
"I'll make sure it's ready for you when you get clean." Chiron agreed, nodding towards the stairs.
A shower, a proper shower after so long bathing in shallow streams or gym showers, felt positively wonderful. Alexa spent way too much time just enjoying the hot water and steam cascading down her body. It really had been too long.
She quickly changed, putting on a fresh tshirt and jeans before making her way to the bedroom that was hers. Just as promised, the partially filled box of supplies and mail sat on the bedspread, next to Luna's saddle bags and her own pack. There were a few letters, of course, but what caught her eyes was a thicker looking envelope at the top of the stack. It was wider than the others, a card maybe, and judging by the hand writing on the front, Melody had been the one to send it.
She mentally combed through the reason Melody might send a card. Her birthday wasn't for a good few weeks, though maybe she wanted to make sure it got to her with the next care package. Shrugging, Alexa let the towel drop from her damp hair and opened the envelope.
Seconds later, two senior campers were interrupted after making some incredible efforts to sneak away unnoticed, by the front door of the Big House bursting open. The young man tried, for a brief moment, to go back to the kiss they had been sharing, but the girl was too absorbed in the mild spectacle.
Alexa hopped onto the grass, trying to shove a shoe on her foot with every bounce of the packs on her back. She shoved a bronze whistle into her mouth so forcefully that she was in serious danger of cramming it down her throat. Regardless, she blew, the sound far beyond the range of human hearing made it's fair share of monsters howl in the woods.
The great bronze canine responded to the summons immediately, hopping up from the spot on the porch it had been lounging in and scrambling to her side. Without a word Alexa climbed onto the eight winged beast's back and took off. Chiron would remain confused until the following morning when he found the card on top of the pile of mail in Alexa's room.
For their part, Alexa and Luna traveled through the night, trying to out pace the coming sunrise, only pausing to refuel somewhere in Michigan.
They made it to their destination a little before sunrise, Alexa estimated sometime around six am. She gave Luna a thankful pat and stumbled up the familiar walkway.
She rang the doorbell and, several seconds later a giant of a woman with bright red hair opened the door with a comically large cup of coffee in her hand. She was still an early riser.
"Hi Me-" Alexa began to say, only for Melody to reach out and yank her into a fierce embrace, nearly cracking three ribs. "E-easy! I'm delicate!"
"If I believed that for a second I wouldn't have let you go on that ridiculous quest of yours!" The woman chuckled, waving her in. Alexa paused and turned back to Luna.
"I don't think there's enough room for you to make it inside this way! Head around the back." Luna responded with a short woof. Alexa grinned and followed Melody inside.
"I just got back to camp last night and I got your letter. Is...is she here?" Alexa asked, trying to keep her excitement contained. Melody grinned right back, winked at Alexa and quietly pointed at the ceiling where the pair could just make out the sounds of movement.
Alexa grinned right back and snuck to one side, hiding herself from the direct view of the stairs.
"Who the hell rings the doorbell at six in the morning?" Jazz growled as she came downstairs, glaring at the front door.
"Oh, just a delivery." Melody said, lightly sipping from her coffee.
"Is the idiot still on our street? I'm going to chuck something at his truck!" Jazz was already marching towards the front door.
"Oh I don't think the delivery person was so stupid, she did get the right house after all." Alexa said lightly from her corner. Jazz whirled around, and Alexa's grin grew even wider. It wasn't often that she got to see Jazz stunned like that. She crossed the room and threw her arms around her surrogate sister.
The two squeezed each other tightly for several long moments before pulling away.
"What are you doing here, Spits! You should still be hunting!" Jazz muttered.
"I caught the deer yesterday, and Hera offered me some time off while she cooked up her next Labor." She nodded at Melody.
"Auntie sent me the invite and I found it when I got to camp. Though admittedly I'm a bit put out. You didn't do it in person!" Alexa added with a pout.
"Come on Spits...you know I couldn't risk your quest like that." Jazz said, lightly brushing Alexa's hair.
"I guess you have a point." Alexa chuckled "But I'm here now, and if you think you can have a wedding without me as your maid of honor you're out of your mind!"