Lila's been sleeping at the Demeter cabin for the past week, since returning from her travels with Nico. The year she spent with him was honestly the best of her life. Coming back to Camp, everything is cast in new light - a better, clearer light. She doesn't feel so inadequate when she loses to Clarisse anymore; she improves everyday. She doesn't feel quite so stupid beside Annabeth, because she knows things about poisons and plants that Annabeth doesn't. They're a team, it's how it's supposed to be. She doesn't even groan and curse the gods at every minor inconvenience (okay, that one's only because there aren't any minor inconveniences anymore, only major ones, so she curses the Titans instead). 

After breakfast, it's time for inspection. Lila's ... well, she's not the neatest, so Katie Gardner drags her to her makeshift bed and practically forces her to redo it. Who knew she could be so menacing? Not Lila, that's for sure. Miranda only snickers at her sister's disposition and abandons Lila to her chores, ignoring her pleading eyes. 

She somehow manages to do her bed so it doesn't look that different from Katie's. Just in time, too, for Percy and Annabeth appear at the door. They both hate their chores - sorting reports and cabin inspection, so they do them together. 

"Huh," Annabeth looks around. "Nice." 

Percy steps in behind her. "Oh, hey." 

Lila doesn't really know what to say. It's the first time she's seen him since the prophecy and that awful council meeting, where everyone was crying. Not exactly the best welcome to camp, but it is what it is. "Hey," she settles with. 

They've Iris-Messaged over the year, but haven't met up more than twice. It's weird to see him in person, standing in front of her, but she smiles shyly up at him. He's grown a couple of inches again - so has Annabeth, so they're about the same height, towering over Lila. She's not even short, but Annabeth is pretty tall, so is Percy. 

"How have things been?" Lila asks, and then realises it's a stupid question. Everything is terrible. 

Percy scratches the back of his neck. "Uh, not that great." He stares at her for a second. "So... how's your family?"

Annabeth examines the windowsill. Lila stares at him. At least her question isn't as bad as his. "My godly one? Or mortal one?"

"Mortal," he nods, cheeks glowing red.

"Oh," Lila nods back. "Dead, then."

Annabeth sighs. They both look at her. "Sorry. You're both idiots." 

 It's a pretty accurate description. 

"The cabin gets a four out of five," Annabeth decides. 

"Four?" Lila gasps over-dramatically. "Why a four?" 

Annabeth looks at the floor, and it's covered in soil stains. Apparently someone's been bringing plants inside (even though Katie forbids it, for this very reason). The room smells faintly of fresh air and soil; Lila loves the smell, as do all the Demeter kids, but it's probably not Annabeth's thing. Also, Lila's bed is still a bit of a mess. She was overrating it a little. 

"Fair enough," Lila stops arguing. "Who've you got left?"

"Just Athena," Annabeth mutters. 

Lila scrunches her nose up. "Do you even have to check them? Just give them a five." 

Both Annabeth and Percy stare at her in horror, like she's said something completely horrifying. Okay, fine, Lila commits a little bit of fraud in her own inspections, but everyone in the Hermes cabin does it. Connor always gives the Demeter cabin zero out of five, which is definitely undeserved. Zero isn't even on the scale. How does the Hermes cabin ever beat Demeter's? You can't even see the floor there.

"Never mind." She glances at Annabeth, who still looks scandalised at her suggestion. "I'll come with you, I have nothing better to do anyway." 

"Wow, thanks," Annabeth mutters. 

In retrospect, it's probably a good thing Annabeth didn't follow Lila's suggestion, as her cabin is actually a mess. Well, just Annabeth's bunk, which is covered in papers. Her bed is done, probably because she hasn't slept and is running on coffee, while her laptop is still running, charging with a portable charger hanging over the edge of the bed. There's building schematics and random faces of missing demigods, maps with lines drawn all over them, mapping out certain places in Central Park and Manhattan. Some monuments even have circles around them, or large red crosses. Honestly, it looks like Annabeth's planning a murder, or solving one. Knowing her, likely both.

"Vlacas," Annabeth says to herself. 

Malcolm presses his lips together, probably trying not to laugh. "Yeah, um .... we cleaned everything else. Didn't know if it was safe to move your notes." 

That's fair. Annabeth says her knife is only for monsters and people who touch her stuff. 

Lila gingerly looks over at the map. "Hey, are you planning a murder?"

Annabeth narrows her eyes, and Lila steps away, raising her palms in surrender. Who knew Annabeth was so scary when she wants to be?

"So," Percy asks. "Get any good info from that thing?" he points at the laptop. 

"Too much," Annabeth hums, eyes lighting up. "Daedalus had so many ideas, I could spend fifty years just trying to figure them all out."

"Yeah," Percy meets Lila's eyes, and they share one of their classic Annabeth glances where they raises their eyebrows like, what is wrong with her? "That would be fun."

"Three out five," Annabeth mutters, "for a sloppy head counsellor. Come on. Let's finish your reports and get back to Chiron."

They head back to the Big House, walking through the camp. Together, they go through the reports Percy's supposed to sort through. Most of them are pretty depressing, about missing demigods, nymphs, dryads - the worst are from the satyrs and nature spirits. 

" 'Dear Grover,'" Percy reads aloud. " 'Woods outside Toronto attacked by giant evil badger. Tried to do as you suggested and summon power of Pan. No effect. Many naiads' trees destroyed. Retreating to Ottawa. Please advise. Where are you? —Gleeson Hedge, protector.'"

"Giant evil badger?" Lila wonders.

Annabeth grimaces. "You haven't heard anything from him? Even with your empathy link?"

Percy shakes his head. Grover's been missing for a few months. Lila's never been that close to him, so they didn't really keep in much contact while she travelled, but she knew he was working with the nature spirits to protect the wild, seeing as the Council were ignoring him. But nobody has heard from him for a while. He's definitely not dead, but ... there are other fates. 

"Okay," Percy sets his shoulders, as if preparing for a fight. He doesn't even do that when he's actually preparing for a fight. Whatever he's about to tell Annabeth, it must be bad. "Listen, I had this dream about, um, Rachel ... "

Lila listens intently. Rachel's pretty cool. If she were a demigod, she'd probably be a child of Apollo. (For some reason, Lila has wondered about this). Mostly because of her artistic prowess; no other gods beside the Muses take such an interest in it. 

Percy's dream is unnerving. Apparently Rachel's been having dreams about Luke as a child, and about New York. It would honestly be less weird if Percy didn't describe her artwork as strikingly accurate, down to every angle of Luke's face. It's eerie. 

For a while Annabeth doesn't say anything. Lila can't decipher the emotions she's trying to repress. Then she rolls up her scroll so tight she rips it. "What do you want me to say?"

"I'm not sure. You're the best strategist I know. If you were Kronos planning this war, what would you do next?" Percy looks to Lila, who nods supportively. 

"I'd use Typhon as a distraction. Then I'd hit Olympus directly, while the gods were in the West."

Lila winces at the thought. They are not prepared for that.

"Just like in Rachel's picture."

"Percy," her voice is tight, "Rachel is just a mortal."

"She did lead us through the Labyrinth," Lila admits. "She might be special or something." 

Annabeth waves her hand dismissively. "Any clear-sighted mortal could have done that."

"But what if her dream is true? Those other Titans—they said Olympus would be destroyed in a matter of days. They said they had plenty of other challenges. And what's with that picture of Luke as a kid—"

"We'll just have to be ready."

"How?" Percy throws his hands in frustration. "Look at our camp. We can't even stop fighting each other. And I'm supposed to get my stupid soul reaped."

Oh, Lila wishes he hadn't mentioned that. She's been trying to forget about it. 

Annabeth throws down her scroll. "I knew we shouldn't have shown you the prophecy. All it did was scare you. You run away from things when you're scared."

Percy blinks, too confused to be offended. He shares a bewildered glance with Lila. "Me? Run away?"

Lila frowns. "Just to be clear, we're talking about Percy, like, this Percy - "

"If you don't like our chances," Annabeth says, "maybe you should go on that vacation with Rachel."

Lila stares at him. "You were going on vacation with Rachel?" They're about to die, and he's going on holiday?

Percy stares at her helplessly. "I don't - "

"If you don't like our company." Annabeth adds another blow. Lila knows she's always hated Percy's relationship with Rachel - for many reasons. She's always worried there's something romantic going on between them (Lila doesn't think so, though), and she's always felt that Percy uses her to escape his destiny. Lila doesn't agree with that, either. 

"That's not fair!" he snaps at her. 

Annabeth storms off. She tramples a bunch of strawberries in her path; Lila winces at each one, squashed beneath her sneakers. 

Percy turns to Lila. "What - I don't even know - " he's literally speechless. 

Lila stands there awkwardly. "Uh, so... vacation?"

"Yeah, well that's not happening," he raises an eyebrow, like duh. "As if I could leave now." He stares off, toward where Annabeth stormed away.

"She doesn't really think you're a coward," Lila informs him, since he's pretty bad at understanding Annabeth sometimes. "I think she's jealous of Rachel." 

Percy stares. "What? Why?"

"Because," Lila deadpans, "you're her best friend. She hasn't seen you for like, a year. And apparently you've been dreaming about Rachel." 

"They're not very nice dreams," Percy mutters. 

"Oh, I wouldn't tell Rachel that," Lila advises, biting back a laugh. 

Percy laughs, slinging an arm around her shoulders. "I missed you." 

Lila smiles up at him, slipping her arm around his waist. They fit together perfectly, and even though they're on the brink of war, his arm feels like a shield, protecting her from the dark future they're about to suffer. "You know, Annabeth will come around. I think she's sleep deprived. You should've seen how much coffee she was drinking this morning. It's definitely not healthy." 

Percy grins. 

"Then again, did you have blue Cherry Coke for breakfast? Because I don't think I can condone that either," Lila adds. "So much sugar." 

He hums. "It was sugar-free?"

She stares at him. "I was joking."

He has to remove his arm from her shoulders to properly laugh, his entire body shaking. "What did you have, then?"

"Cereal." Lila has cereal everyday. "It's way healthier, you see, and Lady Demeter blesses it specifically for us - " 

Okay, she can see him zoning out as she talks about cereal, which is understandable. 

"Anyway, Lady Demeter's not fighting Typhon, so the cereal supply hasn't been stopped," Lila regrets speaking immediately. They'd been doing a good job of avoiding it. 

Percy tenses, slipping his arm around her again. Maybe it comforts him to hold her, too. "Where is she?"

"Hades has taken her back to the Underworld with my mother," Lila explains. "Nico told me."

He looks a little unnerved, but they are children of the Underworld. "So, last I heard, you and Nico were on a quest to find your family, and answers. Any luck?"

Lila grins, and they begin to head back to the Big House. "Well, Nico is following up a lead right now, I'm pretty sure. I decided to come here instead, help with the war. But we summoned my dad's ghost, so that was nice." 

It wasn't that nice. He'd been pretty mean. Lila's still reeling from those blows. 

"What did he say?" Percy asks. "Like, about your mom?"

Lila chews her bottom lip. "Uh, nothing interesting." 

He doesn't look convinced, but he drops the topic and lets her be. It's a little embarrassing to go into the details of her strange birth; of how Persephone apparently made Lila without a mortal father, and how he had no idea who she was when she was abandoned on her doorstep. He'd abandoned her at a park on her ninth birthday, where she was taken to Camp Half-Blood to spend the next years of her life, and apparently he died a couple of years ago.

"Have you thought about Nico's suggestion?" Lila asks, and the air thins. 

Percy shifts, paling. "I've thought about it a lot." 

A swim in the River Styx sounds incredibly unpleasant. Lila hates the suggestion with all her heart, but Nico had a point. What if there really is no other way to beat Kronos? But then, what if something happens to Percy? It's a double-edged blade; whichever way it turns Lila will be cut. 

"I don't like it," Lila admits, her own voice frayed and taut. "It's dangerous and scary. If I were you, I don't think I could do it." 

Percy waits. "But..."

"But I'm not you," Lila admits. "And you know I'll be behind whatever you decide." 

He smiles at her, and he looks slightly less worried. Percy doesn't show it, but Lila's certain he worries about letting them all down. It doesn't matter; whatever happens, she will be behind him, and so will Annabeth and Grover. They are his friends (or something more) through it all. "I know that. I don't think I could do any of this without you." 

Lila laughs. "You'd be fine, trust me."

The day gets worse, quickly. 

There's no time to wait before holding a memorial; they may be dead by the end of the week. Silena is in too much of a state to prepare a shroud, but thankfully Beckendorf's siblings fashion something out of chainmail to burn. 

Even the Apollo and Ares stop bickering to attend in respectful silence. Lila forces herself to ignore Clarisse's presence, focusing on Silena, quietly watching between them both. Maybe it was selfish to fight with Clarisse when Silena is in such a state, but Lila's certain she's in the right. The campfire burns black, enchanted to reflect the mood of the camp. At the end of the funeral, Silena sits and begins to cry. Lila sits beside her, putting an arm around her. Clarisse and Chris try to console her, but there's nothing to be said. What softens this? What consolation is there?

After a few minutes, when everyone has left, Percy wanders over. "Hey, Silena, I'm really sorry." 

Lila offers him a sad smile, but Silena only sniffs. 

"Silena, you know Beckendorf carried your picture. He looked at it right before we went into battle. You meant a lot to him. You made the last year the best of his life."

Silena sobs a little harder.

"Good work, Percy," Clarisse mutters.

At least he's helping, Lila thinks, but through some restraint, she keeps her mouth shut. She's never been angry like this before, and never at a friend like Clarisse. She was furious with Luke for his betrayal, but it was rooted in hurt. She was angry at Ethan, too, but that faded quickly away into grief. Most rare instances of her temper being lost last a few minutes at most.

She's well and truly angry with Clarisse. She can't see her side of the argument at all - well, she can see it, and it's stupid and prideful. She's so angry, because Clarisse is so stubborn and nothing Lila can do will change her mind. There's nothing she can do to convince her. It's not fury or rage anymore, it's resentment, simmering inside her and slowly rising. 

"No, it's all right," Silena says. "Thank . . . thank you, Percy. I should go."

"You want company?" Clarisse offers.

Silena shakes her head, running off.

"She's stronger than she looks," Clarisse mutters, almost to herself. "She'll survive."

No thanks to you, Lila thinks, but doesn't say.

Percy must be on the same train of thought. "You could help with that. You could honor Beckendorf's memory by fighting with us."

That's what irks Lila the most. Not Clarisse's stubbornness, nor her pride, but the blatant disrespect to all those who have died, who would have given anything for their cause. Clarisse won't even pick a side, only dooming them. 

Clarisse goes for her knife, but it's not there. Silena isn't here anymore, so Lila rolls her eyes and stops pretending everything is fine. 

"Not my problem," she growled. "My cabin doesn't get honor, I don't fight."

"How is it not your problem?" Lila snaps. "Are you rooting for Kronos or something?" She doesn't dare call Clarisse the spy. Clarisse would never be so spineless, however angry she is. Clarisse would just tell them all to screw themselves, as she kind of already has. 

Percy blinks at her tone. He's probably never heard her speak so cruelly. Chris and him exchange a look, perhaps realising that they are fighting. "All right," he says. "I didn't want to bring this up, but you owe me one. You'd be rotting in a Cyclops's cave in the Sea of Monsters if it wasn't for me."

She clenches her jaw. "Any other favor, Percy. Not this. The Ares cabin has been dissed too many times. And don't think I don't know what people say about me behind my back."

Lila always defended her against those people. Now she deserves it. 

"So, what—you're just going to let Kronos crush us?" Percy says. He paints a bleak picture.

"If you want my help so bad, tell Apollo to give us the chariot."

Percy seems to lose his temper, too. "You're such a big baby."

She charges at him, but Chris steps forward, blocking her path. "Whoa, guys," he says.

"I'll fight," Lila offers. "I really want to punch you."

Clarisse sneers at her, though it's more from bravado, disguising the hurt Lila can see in her posture. "You're so stubborn." 

"Me? I'm stubborn?" Pot, kettle. 

 Chris steps between them, too. "Clarisse, you know, maybe they've got a point."

She sneers at him. "Not you too!" She storms off, with Chris following behind, attempting to placate her ire. 

Lila looks at Percy, all energy seeping from her body. She shouldn't've lost her temper. Beckendorf deserved better than that. Silena deserves two friends who can hold themselves together. His memorial is now tainted with their fight, with her resentment, with Clarisse's hurt. She's a pretty shitty friend, all things considered. 

She looks at Percy. She doesn't know if his expression mirrors hers, but she can see fear in his eyes, and that's scary enough. If Percy is scared, what hope is there for the rest of them?

yo

 im done with school forever now so hopefully more regular updates. so weird to write that. i started writing this fic almost three years ago and now im here. i rlly want to finish it - probably not this summer, but at some point. 

how are you guys?

ly