~ ☼ ~

I woke up with a jolt, covered in cold sweat. It was the middle of the night, and I could hardly see anything in the cabin except for the moonlight coming in through the skylight and the rainbow night-light shaped like a star that Will demanded he have next to his bunk. Upon seeing this, and the mundanity of it, I slumped back down.

I wasn't back in school. Thank the Gods.

I laid there for a moment, catching my breath. Some how, that was the worst part of the whole thing - that I was back in school. And chem class, too. Ew. If I was anything, I was an English and History girl through-and-through. It was a wonder with all my time spent at home I wasn't more of a nerd, but... admittedly, I got increasingly bad grades in my science and math classes.

Shut up, AJ. There was something more important than just chem class in that dream.

But as I tried to remember what else there was to the dream, I couldn't, for the life of me. It was like my mind was actively blocking it out. It was just chemistry class... and the woman. The titaness who haunted me.

If there was a message beyond her usual speeches, I didn't internalize it.

~ ☼ ~

A couple days later, days that were pretty monotonous - for better or for worse - Chiron made an announcement in the dining hall that concerned me.

"Tomorrow," Chiron said. "We've decided to have Cabin 7 and Cabin 5 work together-" he shot a look to Michael, who glared back at him, making me think this was a continuous argument between them - "By engaging in a raid on a Titan Army armory outside Philadelphia, PA. You will leave at dawn and be back in time for dinner. Please report to your head counselors for more information, because they'll know the details."

I gasped, looking at Alec and Riley, who looked as surprised as I did. Occasionally Chiron and the War Council would send subsections of cabins off on mini-quests for the war like this, but it was usually Malcolm and his schemers in the Athena Cabin, or the mechanics from the Hephaestus Cabin trying to get a particularly needed part or something. The fact that this time, it was the whole of our cabin, the stupid, perky, musical Apollo Cabin, was shocking.

The fact that it was with the Ares Cabin was a migraine in the making.

When Chiron left the platform, noise erupted at both our table and the Ares table, in addition to the normal din of dinner (wait - are those words related?). I immediately slumped down, hitting my head against the table.

"AJ?" Alec asked. "Are you okay?"

"No," I said. I picked myself back up, shooting a look down the table, to where at least 4 kids were arguing with Michael at once. Michael, for his part, looked as unhappy with this plan as the rest of us. It was like Chiron was forcing 22 kids into one of those giant "Get-Along Shirt"s. We outnumbered the Ares Cabin, but they were all beefy enough they were basically each three violent kids in one.

"Listen!" Michael said, at last, slamming his tray against the table to get our attention. It shut everyone up just long enough for him to say, "I didn't have a choice, okay? At least we get out of camp. It'll be fun. Maybe you guys can actually be, y'know, a little positive about it? Sunshine and good vibes and all that?"

"There is no sunshine here, Michael," said one of my sisters, this girl Misha, said. She was one of the more dramatic, theater kid types in the cabin, and therefore one of the more popular. If only because she forced her way into the spotlight. Now, she looked about ready to perform a monologue, as she said, grimly, "Not anymore."

"I completely agree," Brynn said, shaking her head.

"I'm staging a coup," Aaron added.

Unfortunately, as angry as they really were, they all sounded so campy that it really didn't work. I groaned, turning back to my friends as arguments exploded again.

"Well," Alec said, smiling. "I agree with Michael. I like the idea of getting a little field trip in. Right, Riley?"

He said this because Riley's eyes were elsewhere. They came back to us when he said this, but she still looked dreamy. Nightmare-y, I should say, because she was frowning.

"I don't know," she said. "It seems like a bad idea." Then she cocked her head and said, "Well - I don't know. Maybe it is a good idea."

"Like, in a psychic way, or in a basic way?" I asked.

"Both," she said.

"In a basic way," Interjected Michael, suddenly hearing us. "It is a bad idea. But I had no choice."

"We know, Michael!" we all said, together, before he shook his head and groaned.

As the arguments dissipated, some kids getting up from dinner and some going back to their own conversations, Riley shook her head, like she didn't want to keep talking about it. She ran her hands back over the scarf that held down her baby hairs, then slumped.

"It's a good idea," She said, finally. "Yeah, I'd like to get out of camp, too."

"Are you sure?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "I don't know, at this point."

I wanted so badly to push her on this, to find a way to bring back her spidey-senses, but instead I just sat there and watched, trying to find the right words, as she lifted her plate and got up to throw away her excess food. For a moment, she felt so far away.

Once she was gone, I sat there for another moment, thinking. The last time I left camp, two people died. I wondered if this counted as a quest. Were there really 22 kids in both cabins, or was that just something I came up with? I didn't know, but if there were, we should probably have left one kid home.

~ ☼ ~

That night, when all the girls from Cabin 7 were in the bathroom, I kept trying to talk to Riley, but I kept being not able to find the words. What was I supposed to do or say? If her powers were gone, then... then they were gone. I couldn't do anything about that. All I could do was comfort her.

But whenever I went to try to hug her, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I just stood there awkwardly while she brushed her teeth and tried to make small-talk.

Then, when she used the bathroom, I think I heard her crying. I didn't know what to do. I was all the way on the other side of the shower-house, stuck between Lucky doing an elaborate skincare routine and Brynn brushing her hair, and everyone was giggling and talking. I wanted to run over to her, but first of all, what would I say? I'm not exactly good at talking to people. Secondly, the fact that I'd heard her over everyone felt kind of creepy, like I was eavesdropping. She obviously wanted privacy. If she wanted me to help her, she would've come to me.

So I let the moment pass. But when she came back out and grabbed her HBA caddy and left without another word, I immediately regretted not doing more. By then, she was already gone.

Gods, AJ, I thought. I looked at myself in the mirror. Is it possible you're somehow getting more awkward?

Everything around me seemed a little anxiety-inducing. The lights were too bright and my sisters felt like mean girls excluding me, even though they'd been talking to me earlier. I suddenly felt so stupid, still in my black band tees.

I hopped into the shower, wanting to escape. And in the process, I doomed myself, because by the time I came out, my sisters were all gone. I had to rush into my pajamas, and then, when I came out of the bathhouse - still wringing out the water in my hair - I nearly bumped right into Lacey Gonzaga.

Unlike me, she was still in her clothes from today, which made me feel even more embarrassed.

A gaggle of Athena girls were behind her. They were by no means the majority of the cabin (there was like, 3 of them) but I still felt overwhelmed as they stopped and looked at me. I didn't know what they were thinking, but it did not look nice.

"Um, hi, Lacey," I said. "How's it going?"

"Well, it was going fine," she said, "But, you know. Alexia's dead."

I blinked. Um. Okay!

"Oh," I said, trying to sound sad and polite at the same time. "Yeah, I know. That's really sad. Were you friends with her?"

"Not really," Lacey said. "Can't I feel sad anyway?"

I blinked once again. I had no other reaction for her - I just kept blinking, like I was convinced this crazy interaction might fade away on the wind if I closed and opened my eyes enough times.

Lacey looked at her sisters, then waved them to carry on. One of them bumped into me on purpose, but other than that they ignored me, violently, as they went into the shower house. I say violently because you can tell when someone's just ignoring you and someone wants you to see they're ignoring you.

Great. I thought. I'm being bullied.

I'd thought Lacey was passive-aggressive at the end of our last interaction, but 1. It was a week or something ago and 2. Nothing we had said should've turned into this. Unless she just woke up one day this week and decided, You know what? I'm gonna take my grief out on some random girl.

I knew, logically, that the right thing to do when you were being bullied was to just walk away and not let it get to you. In fact, I could even see my high school guidance counselor in my head telling me to let it roll off my back like water. But since when had I ever listened to logic and maturity?

Besides, it was too hard. I felt hurt.

"Is there..." I swallowed. "Something I can help you with?"

"Yeah," she said. "You can bring me my brother back."

I blinked one more time, and this time there were tears when my eyes opened again. Lucas in his last moment came before my mind's eyes. Him telling me I was awesome and not to stop being myself. Him being impaled by an empousa as he saved our mutual friend.

"I-" I didn't know what to say. My voice was thick.

"Didn't you ever think of trying to save him?" she asked. "Or do you Apollo kids think the whole world revolves around you?"

I couldn't figure out anything to say. I racked my mind desperately, but nothing came. Finally, I just said, "I... um."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Lacey rolled her eyes. She walked past me, bumping into me the same way her sister had, then said, "Go get some sleep. Maybe this time you won't let anybody die tomorrow."

Wow.

My entire body went cold. I stood there for a while, angry to my bones, but I couldn't find anything to say. I wanted so badly to storm after her and confront her and her sisters, but my feet were like lead. And besides, the rest of her cabin was coming. If I didn't want to see them, I had to go.

As I ran back to the cabin, I cried.

When I got back, I didn't go inside. I wanted to crawl somewhere and hide, where no one could ever see me. But there was nowhere to go, so I just sat down at the side of the cabin in the grass until I was done.

~ ☼ ~

When I was laying in bed that night, I thought of the perfect comeback, finally. When Lacey had asked me: Do you Apollo kids think the whole world revolves around you? I should've responded, Of course we do, our dad's the sun. She freaking set me up for that one!!!

I swear I never said the right things at the right moments. If I could, I would've said something to Riley. I would've said something to Kiera and Aria to make them make up before it was too late. I would've said something to Lucas so he knew I...

That I forgave him.

~ ☼ ~

A/N: Fun fact about Lacey, she was named (first name wise) for a friend I had on a Percy Jackson roleplay Minecraft server way back in the day, who was also a Daughter of Athena. Shout out to the Realm of Percy Jackson circa 2014 <3