~ ☼ ~

At lunch that day, I told Alec and Riley about what had happened in the woods.

"That is absolutely insane," said Riley, shaking her head. "Why ask you specifically? We were all there."

"I don't think she cares which one of us do it," I said glumly. "She just wants her sickle."

Alec shot me a grin. "Well, now you know to never go out on your own again!"

I smiled back at him, because I had promised them that last year, and yet when I was overwhelmed I had not turned to them. I just couldn't - it wasn't in my nature - but I wanted to try. I knew I certainly could not get this sickle on my own, anyway.

Riley sighed, stabbing her fruit salad with a fork. "I feel like we're under martial law."

"I was kidding, Riley," said Alec, his grin disappearing. "I don't actually care if AJ goes out on her own."

I frowned. Maybe I wanted him to care.

"It's not that," Riley said. She shook her head. "I just hate how everyone's constantly getting ready for the war, you know? I wish we could just go find Luke and kill him already."

I tensed, hoping no one who'd once loved Luke had heard her. Luckily, the only people within listening reach were our fellow kids of Apollo, including Will Solace. Will was super nice, but only 13, which meant I was kinda annoyed when I realized he was listening into our conversation. Like a little brother that wanted to be part of the big kid crowd.

Right. My little brother. That was always weird to remember. Sometimes I thought my siblings were actually just random people I'd been paired with and we were all just part of one giant role play.

"I agree," Will said, once he realized I'd caught him. Then he swallowed and went back to his food, but it was too late. Riley turned to him.

"You have power," she said. "Can you get Michael to shut up about Clarisse?"

Now, Will blanched. "I - I don't have that much power."

But within the politics of the cabin, he did have power. In fact, if something happened to Michael - gods forbid - I wouldn't be surprised if he was Head Counselor next. Having a 13 year old be Head Counselor felt woefully wrong, but then again all of this did. I stabbed my fruit salad the same way Riley had, then felt bad, because it wasn't the watermelon's fault.

"You can try," Riley said, putting on a smile. "Please?"

"Ri," I murmured, but she ignored me.

Will, meanwhile, had changed his gaze from Riley to Alec. When the two caught eyes, despite knowing each other for years, I saw a little blaze of fear in Will's eyes. Then he said, "I'll do what I can."

Then he got up and went to go do his food sacrifice. For the second time.

"Great," said Alec. "Riley, you're being just as bad if you're gonna intimidate people like that."

Riley was genuinely confused. "I wasn't the one who intimidated him. It's not my fault that-"

She swallowed, shutting herself up before she could say anything more. I had an idea of what she was going to say: it's not my fault you're a demi-titan that scares everyone.

Alec frowned.

"Oh. I didn't realize it was me," he said. "Sorry."

When Riley gave him a forgiving smile, he went back to his food, now more sad than angsty. I hated that - it was bad enough to see him grumpy, but him sad? That was just wrong.

"Hey," I said. "Let's focus on this little quest of ours. No talk about the war or anything else."

"Got it," said Alec, but it didn't look like he did.

"Where do you think the sickle could be?"

My siblings thought about it, but before either of them could say anything, someone suddenly stopped right behind me. I felt them breathing, but I also smelled them. I imagined it was a child of Aphrodite, because only they would smell like roses and amber and all those other stereotypical perfume scents at a summer camp in the woods.

I saw Alec and Riley's matching brown eyes go up to the person, and I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Slowly, I turned.

It was not a child of Aphrodite, after all, but a daughter of Athena. I knew this based purely on her vibe. She held herself with too much pride and grace to be anything else. But unlike Lucas and his mom, she did not have those signature gray eyes; her eyes were brown, and they and her tan skin and perfectly wavy dark hair indicated to me that she had Asian heritage.

I had never seen her before in my life.

"Um..." I said. "Can I help you?"

She was holding a tray, which told me she was on her way to her table, but she stopped to look down her nose at me. "Are you AJ Hood?"

I swallowed, nodding.

"My name's Lacey Gonzaga," she said. She sniffled, and I couldn't tell if it was sad or haughty. "You knew my brother."

All the blood drained from my face. I know I probably must've looked like a vampire to her.

"Yeah," I said. "I did."

"If you could," she continued, "I would like to talk to you. Tonight or tomorrow, it doesn't matter to me."

She was treating this as if it were a business meeting. I swallowed, feeling more like an awkward, gangly, golden child of Apollo than ever. She was really pretty.

Not this crap again, AJ.

"Okay," I said. "I'm open whenever."

"Tonight, then," she said. "Meet me by the beach at 8 pm."

Then she walked away, squeezing herself through the tables with all the grace of a celebrity used to maneuvering through crazy fans. I watched her, feeling a bit sick, then turned back to my friends, who looked as confused as I felt.

Alec was the first to close his mouth. "Well," he said. "With that, how about you meet me by the infirmary at 9 pm? Gods knows you'll probably need a cheering up session."

I couldn't help but smile, feeling honored by this idea. "It's a deal."

"While we're at it," said Riley, "Let's talk Quarter 3 earnings."

She leaned forward onto the table, clasping her hands together. I couldn't help but laugh, thankful I wasn't the only one who'd thought of that.

~ ☼ ~

Little did I know that 8 pm was sunset.

It was beautiful - pink clouds, peachy skies, the thin ribbon of yellow on the horizon. It reflected on Long Island Sound like a painting, and was my only comfort going into my conversation with Lacey Gonzaga. That and the knowledge that afterwards, I had someone to talk to about it.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

I turned and saw Lacey had arrived. She had her hand up to her mouth, looking out on the water with all the panache of an art critic at the MOMA. She was wearing a Camp Half Blood shirt and bedazzled strappy sandals, while her hair was up in a Snooki-like bump. Once again, I was surprised she wasn't a daughter of Aphrodite.

"It is," I said awkwardly. "Stunning."

After a moment, I saw Lacey sniffle again, and this time I knew it was definitely because she was sad. I saw her wipe away a tear from her dark eyes; then she turned to me.

"I wanted to talk to you about Lucas," she said. "To try to make sense of what he did. I've been told... I've been told he was a traitor."

She'd been told, through the grapevine, by Alec and Riley. They'd been the ones to tell everyone what had happened to me on my quest. At the time, I didn't really think anyone had cared - not when we still thought Percy Jackson was dead. But I'd never stopped to think in depth about Lucas having siblings that might miss him.

I'd always assumed that he was an outcast, because... because why else would he join the army?

"He wasn't in the end," I said, trying to control my own tears. My voice felt thick. "He sacrificed himself in the end."

Lacey nodded, like she'd been told this, too. I didn't know what else she wanted to know.

Then she asked, "Why did he do it?"

I blanched. "I... I don't know."

It was the truth. I didn't know. I had a vague knowledge that he had been manipulated by Luke through his pride and empathy, but that's it.

"I don't know," I said, shrugging. "I'm sorry."

"He never said?"

"No." I bit my lip, hoping she wouldn't get mad at me. "I didn't know until the last minute. And then he was-"

Dead. And then he was dead.

I felt the tears come to my eyes. Embarrassed, I turned away, wiping them away while I thought of him, his crinkled polo and cargo shorts and the way he'd tried to impress me by taking down the tent on his own. I still had the tent - I'd taken it with me, and it sat in my bedroom at home, like a blessing from my namesake that hadn't really been intended for me.

"I know he wasn't happy with his home life," Lacey said, seemingly either not noticing my tears or not caring. "But I didn't know he was that unhappy with his camp life."

I didn't know that, and that bothered me. I had to restrain even more tears, because if I thought too much about it I might sob.

"I also didn't-"

Finally, I turned. "Lacey, I told you all I know. I'm sorry you lost your brother. I lost a brother last summer, too. But I have nothing else I can tell you. I barely knew Lucas. We'd interacted twice before the quest."

My cheeks burned as I finished. Shoot, I thought. Now there's gonna be a feud between Cabin 7 and Cabin 6, too.

But Lacey was hardly phased by my sudden outburst. She just frowned deeper, then said, "I was told the two of you were in a relationship."

I almost burst.

Not on her, but on my siblings, for revealing that. But at the same time, I was happy they had. Even though it embarrassed me now, ultimately, the idea that Lucas and I's brief, brief summer romance would live on in posterity made me feel better. So I got myself together and sighed.

"We were," I said. "But it wasn't serious."

The unspoken second sentence there was, we never got the chance to make it serious.

Lacey examined me for a moment, until I started to squirm. The sun had all but completely set now, the only light remaining that thin band of yellow along the horizon. A cool breeze blew through, making my hair whip around my face. I was becoming so uncomfortable - the grief, the social awkwardness, and the tension combining to make a nearly intolerable feeling - that I would've walked away right then and there, had she not finally sighed.

"Okay," she said, her voice icy. "Well, I'm sorry for being invasive. Thanks a lot for the great conversation."

Then she gave me a nod and walked away.

I stood there, gaping, not knowing whether or not I should go after her. Why should I - to apologize? I hadn't done anything wrong - I had never accused her of being invasive. It was just two grieving people whose forms of coping contrasted the other.

So I shook my head, feeling bad all the while, and went to find Alec.

~ ☼ ~

Alec was still on his medic shift, his first of the summer, when I found him in the infirmary. I had stopped at the cabin to get a zip-up sweatshirt and a snack, but it still wasn't 9:00 yet. So I just hovered outside the door and waited for it to be 9. I could see through the windows he was in the middle of treating someone's burn injury, probably from the rock wall. Once upon a time, I would've been horrified by rock wall that ended in lava... now, that felt like a sweet return to normalcy for me.

"AJ Hood," said a deep voice. "Everything all right?"

I turned to see, to my surprise, Chiron coming out of the Big House. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, because he lived there. Right?

Wait, does he live there? Or does he live in the stables? Or-

"AJ?"

I blinked. "Sorry. Um... yeah, I'm fine."

Chiron considered me. He was in his wheelchair rather than his horse form, which I vastly preferred. When he was a centaur, he felt like our cool trainer, but when he was human-looking, he felt like our guidance counselor.

"Are you sure?" he asked. He wheeled himself over to where I stood, and the closer he got, the more I knew I was in for something I didn't want to be in for. "You seem upset."

"I'm okay," I swore. "Just, you know-"

I waved to the general vibe of camp, then winced, because by saying that I had just opened Pandora's Box (not really - as far as I knew, Pandora wasn't still alive... gods, please let that be true.) Sure enough, Chiron sighed, then said, "I see. You are not the only one."

He turned back towards me, considering me once again. 

"You and I haven't had a conversation since your arrival here this summer," he said. "Perhaps we should discuss-"

No. No no no.

"I'm good," I said quickly, feeling my cheeks go red. "There's nothing to be said. I'm over and past it now."

"- your brother's heritage," he finished, giving me a disapproving look. "Although, of course, now that you've reminded me of it - talking about your quest last summer might be useful, too."

Shoot.

I sighed, giving him an awkward smile. "Sorry. We can talk about Alec. I'm actually waiting for him right now."

Chiron nodded. "I figured."

I imagined Alec and Chiron had talked quite a few times in the past, based on how familiar Alec seemed like he was with him. I bet Chiron had given him very uncomfortable small talk; with his professorial look and wise, tired eyes, he had a way of making even the most casual of conversations feel parental.

Sorry. I'll shut up about my daddy issues now.

"How do you feel about his parentage?" asked Chiron, jumping right to the chase. "I imagine it must've been a surprise."

"It was definitely a surprise," I said, scratching my neck. "But, um, other than that - I don't know. I think it's pretty cool. He's always had powers-"

Then I stopped, not knowing if Chiron knew this or not. But when he waved a wrinkled hand, gesturing for me to continue, I figured he did. I couldn't believe Alec had told him - he trusted him more than I realized.

"So I guess it makes sense," I finished.

"Yes," said Chiron, nodding. "His photomancy. I thought it was interesting, too, when he told me about it after your first quest. It's not impossible for a son of Apollo to have those powers, but it is rare."

"Either way, he's unique," I said, surprising myself. "That's the coolest part."

Chiron raised an eyebrow. "You think so?"

I nodded. "Uh, yeah. I think it's really cool, honestly. I know he's not gonna hurt anybody-" My stomach hurt with this conviction, because I had been wrong before - "So all it does is just... give him some clout, I guess."

"You're not worried about him being on the side of the titans?"

I wasn't so stupid as to think Chiron himself was worried. If he had been, he wouldn't come right out and ask me. Instead, he was either testing me, or trying to gauge how I felt. This wasn't really about Alec.

"No," I said finally. "Not even remotely."

But the more confidence I had when I said it, the more I was scared.

"Good," said Chiron. "I agree."

Then the door to the infirmary opened, and I immediately turned. There was Alec, wiping his hands on his shorts. Luckily, he didn't seem to have heard any of our conversation. Upon closing the door, he looked up in surprise. "AJ! You're early!"

"Yeah," I said, smiling. "Our conversation didn't last long."

"Mr. Thompson," said Chiron in greeting.

"Hey, Chiron." Alec waved a hand, looking nervous. "How's it going?"

Chiron sighed, raising his eyebrows like he wasn't sure how to answer that. Then, like I had, he gestured vaguely towards the camp. "You know."

I couldn't help but giggle. At least he had a sense of humor.

~ ☼ ~

A/N: I know damn well only three people are reading this but to those three people thank you. One day people will print and bind this the way they do all those Dramione fanfics and you and you and you and I will all just sit back and laugh