~ ☼ ~

I did not want to tell my friends. I didn't want to ruin the vibes of the quest so far. Lucas and Kiera were already so angsty, and I think this might've been the last hurrah for Aria and Kiera together. I couldn't - couldn't tell them that.

So I kept my mouth shut and pretended I hadn't dreamt anything.

"Are you okay?" Lucas asked me anyway. His storm eyes were concerned. I wanted to focus on them, but I also wanted to run at Usain Bolt-speed from how closely he was looking at me.

We were just pulling into Cleveland. I could see the station outside, but we weren't allowed to disembark yet. In the distance, the skyscrapers of the city touched the sky and made me think of the smoke of Percy's shroud.

"I'm fine," I said. "Bad dream."

"You were muttering in your sleep," he continued. "I heard the word 'titans' and the word 'death'."

My stomach plummeted. I tried to put on a brave face and act normal, laughing awkwardly.

"Well, you know nightmares this time of year," I said.

He frowned, looking disappointed, but didn't push any more.

I looked over at Aria and Kiera. Aria was awake, having stolen Kiera's earbuds; they still, I think, connected to air, unless Lucas had loaned her his secret Blackberry. She stared out the window mindlessly. Kiera was just waking up, rubbing her eyes.

"Damn," she said. "We're here already?"

I nodded. "You slept the entire time."

She yawned once more, then said, "Ugh. I had the weirdest dream, too."

Lucas' eyes went back to me, making me stiffen. I focused on Kiera, hoping she would continue; luckily, she did.

"I dreamt of this... abandoned mall. It was like, totally dead, and the roof was caving in and everything. I think it was near here. I... I think that's where we're supposed to go."

Finally, Aria broke her own daze. She lookd unhappier than normal, and it showed when she said, "You want us to go to an abandoned mall."

"Yes." Kiera frowned at her. "It's my quest, isn't it? And demigods have psychic dreams all the time. We're definitely supposed to go there. I can feel it in my bones."

I gulped.

"You sure this isn't just an attempt to go to an abandoned mall because it's cool?" I asked her, making her scowl.

"No," she said. "I swear, this is it."

So when we got off the train, we asked a worker at the station where an abandoned mall near here was. He said the only place he could think of was this place called Merrill Park Mall, in some suburb outside of town.

"Ki," said Aria, clutching her bag with both hands. She looked weary. I don't think she'd slept at all on the train. If Lucas had, that meant she'd been alone and bored that entire time. "There's no way we're going to an abandoned mall 20 minutes away."

Kiera pleaded with her, though, and in the end Aria conceded. We found a public bus that had a stop near there, and we took it there. Luckily, they weren't checking for fares, and we were able to sneak on, or else we would've been screwed. We'd have to walk - or, Gods forbid, not follow Kiera's weird wild goose chase!

But Kiera was a miserable, emo little elf, like me, and if it were me I'd want them to humor me. So when we got off the bus at Merrill Park Mall, I tried not to judge her too much. Besides, I was emo too, and as the sun began to set the mall looked really freaking cool.

From where we stood, you could see the entire parking lot. All the concrete was cracked, and weeds were growing through. The mall itself had broken windows and planks of wood boarding up all the doors. The main entrance had a large concrete overhang where I assume the sign for the mall used to hang; now, all you could see was grime shaped vaguely like letters.

Lucas shivered. "Let's all be on our guard. I believe you, Kiera, but that doesn't mean I like this."

Kiera gave him a beaming smile. "Thanks, Lucas. That makes me feel so much better!"

I snorted as she led us forward, towards the entrance. There was no obvious way in. Aria peered through, her hand up against the glass, but no luck; she turned back, shaking her head.

"It's completely abandoned, all right."

"Are there any lights?" I asked.

"There are a bunch of skylights," she said. "But at this point, we only have like, 20 minutes before the sun goes down completely."

"Shoot," Lucas said.

"Maybe we should just-" I started.

Then Kiera lifted one giant combat booted-foot; she kicked the plywood at the entrance, and it collapsed inwards in a million splinters. She fell forward and swore. Then her head popped back up, now on the other side, and said, "I'm okay!"

"Oh my Gods!" Aria yelped. She crept through the hole Kiera had made quickly and helped her best friend up. "Are you okay?"

I glanced at Lucas. He was frowning. Then he said, "AJ, you should get your sword."

"You feeling psychic omens, too?"

He frowned further. "It's not an omen. It's logic. A place like this is a breeding ground for monsters. Whether the god that gave Kiera her vision knew that or not, I don't know."

My cheeks went cold. Reluctantly, I followed Aria inwards, Lucas behind me, because I had no other choice. But I was scared.

I liked this kind of stuff. In fact, every time I came upon a new abandoned place, I felt this little shiver, like I'd just uncovered the secret to a long lost mystery. But since finding out I was a demigod, they'd had less of a charm on me. After all, Lucas was right: they were breeding grounds for monsters.

And up to this point, I felt like for every fight I'd been in, it had been pure luck that had gotten me out of it.

Inside the mall, everything was dusty. A long hallway led to the left and right, making a square of paths. Some of the storefronts still had their signs above them, but every single one had its grate down. And Aria was right - there were no lights on, just shattered sky lights that let in the end of the sunset.

"Apollo-" I tried to pray, then gave up. If he was gonna help me, he'd have made me a person with more fighting skills. Or bestowed on me a magic violin instead.

"Weird set up," said Lucas. "I've never seen a square-shaped mall like this before - at least, not without an interior courtyard."

"Of course you would think of that," Kiera said. Then she swore, "Prep," like it was a slur.

"I noticed it too," I said.

Kiera stared at me.

"Come on," said Aria, picking her feet up to step over Kiera's damage and other debris that was strewn over the floor. "Let's go find what we're supposed to find. Whatever that is."

We'd barely taken two steps, though, before there was suddenly a noise. Not just any noise, but the patter of footsteps. I'd barely heard it before, suddenly, a giant furry shape came bounding around the corner from the right.

"Move!" Lucas shouted.

We all moved just in time, shoving ourselves back against a storefront. The furry shape came flying past us, a giant flood of orange. It wasn't until it was already past that I realized, with my mouth shaped like an 'o', that it was a fox.

Then, shortly after it had run past us, there was another giant animal. This one smelled like wet dog, and sure enough, it was one. I stared at it as it pounded by us, a hound with its tail pricked up and its nose sniffing the air. Once both were gone, I knew we only had so much time. I had this feeling that they would come back around the corner again soon.

Slowly, we pulled ourselves away from the wall. Kiera turned slowly towards Lucas. Then she said, "What the hell was that."

"That," he said, panting for breath, "Was the Teumissian Fox and Laelaps. They're cursed to go in a constant circle. The fox is destined to evade everything that hunts it, and the dog is destined to catch everything it hunts."

"The unstoppable force and the immovable object," I said, breathless too.

Lucas nodded.

"I don't understand what that has to do with our quest," said Kiera.

"Neither do I," I said. "But it was your vision."

Kiera frowned. "That doesn't mean I think it was a flawless idea!"

"Okay, stop." Lucas put up his hands. "There has to be a reason. Maybe one of them - maybe one of them will help us."

"You expect us to try to stop one of them?"

"Yes!"

"I'll do it," said Aria. The other three of us looked at her in surprise, but she had already set her face determinedly. She stepped forward, notching her bow. Except she was out of arrows, remember?"

"What are you doing?" I asked.

She was already in the middle of the path. The fox came running past, which meant it would be the dog she would stop. She nodded as if this was what she wanted, and said, "The dog won't notice there aren't any arrows. They have horrible vision."

It was so absurd I almost laughed.

She jumped out in front of the dog just as it came running through. Instantly, he skidded to a stop and howled, telling her to move. I had to give it to him - he cared about demigods at least a little bit, because he could've just squashed her.

Then, when Aria didn't move, looking for the right thing to say to it, it jumped forward on top of her.

"Aria!" Kiera screamed.

I yelped, but once the dog was gone, it was clear Aria had rolled out of the way at the last minute. I felt relief flood through me. Kiera looked like she might cry.

"Figure out what to say beforehand this time!" Lucas said.

"I don't think the dog can speak!" she said. "I'll try the fox. They're intelligent."

I didn't think they were so intelligent that they could speak to humans, but I also knew sometimes beasts like this could. After all, Python had taunted me in the Outer Banks with his slithery speech. I just thought it would be weird that the fox talked but the dog didn't; it was like Custard and Pupcake.

Um... if you don't know what that's from, don't look it up. It won't help my ego. Don't judge.

Just as the fox, in its eternal gerbil wheel or high school track practice session, came running through, Aria jumped in front of it again. "Stop!"

He hissed at her. "I can't!

He leapt over her - over her, meaning she wasn't even remotely in danger. She ran out of the way the moment she could, back to us, grinning.

"He can talk!"

"And he didn't kill you," I said. "That means he might be willing to help."

Kiera gave me a look. "You have a low bar for what indicates helpfulness."

I glowered at her, but it didn't matter. Lucas was already thinking of what to do.

Then he thought of it; I should've known from the sad look in his eyes that it would be something bad. "We need to kill the dog."

I yelped again. "What!"

"I know," he said. "It goes against human nature, but - Kiera had a vision that led her here, and the fox can talk. There's no way this isn't on purpose. Maybe the fox has a clue for us."

"Or maybe," I said, frowning, "This is some god's side-quest for us."

"If it is," he retorted, "They'll give us something in return. Most of them, anyway."

I couldn't argue with this. Aria looked disappointed, but agreed. Only Kiera was left to convince. She was looking at Lucas like he'd suggested pre-meditated, criminal, first degree, all those fancy words, homicide.

"It was your vision," Lucas pointed out.

"Well, I was wrong, okay?" Kiera shook her head rapidly. "Maybe it wasn't a vision."

"You felt it in your bones!" I reminded her, and she groaned.

Suddenly, the fox came sliding through again. He stopped in front of us just long enough to say, "Hunt him, and I'll tell you what you need to know. About Chicago."

He said the word Chicago with a legendary voice, like it was the great city of Troy or Sparta. His entire voice, really, was deep, making the debris that was in the midst of falling from the roof shake menacingly. Then he was gone again, in a copper flash. Laelaps, the hound, followed shortly after. At this point, I was used to it.

I did not want to kill the dog, but there it was. It was just like Lucas said. We didn't have a choice. It was what the powers that be wanted.

"Gods." Kiera shook her head. "Fine. But I'm not gonna be here while you do it."

She looked at Aria, who looked at me, just as Lucas did. It was only then that I realized, if Kiera wasn't going to help, Aria was out of arrows, and Lucas didn't have a weapon...

It had to be me.

"No," I said. "I'm not killing it."

"Ohh, suddenly now it's okay to be against killing it!" Kiera clenched her fists. "Yinz have screwed up morals."

"You were okay with Pallas dying!" I called after her, but she was already storming away, randomly, down the eastern hallway.

Still, I heard her call back, "That was a human! Screw humans! This is different;"

Any other time, I would've agreed with her. But instead, surprisingly, I felt myself growing angry at what she said. Laelaps had almost killed Aria, and Pallas hadn't, and yet it was Pallas that was fine to die? I hated that idea that animals were infallible and every person sucked and eserved what came to them. If I'd learned anything in the past year... it was that some people were okay, after all. Even Apollo, stupid Apollo, my father with whom I had well-cooked beef, didn't deserve that.

This anger was all I had going for me. With it, I turned, swinging my sword. "Fine," I said. "But this is for Camp Half-Blood."

Riley telling me, Smiles for Riles! passed through my mind. In a very morbid picture, once the fox had ran back through, I placed myself in the middle, Liakada at the ready, and tried to be smiley for Riley.

When Laelaps came bounding through, nearly crushing me, too, I jumped upwards. The sword immediately impaled itself. I fell to the floor, hoping I'd both done enough and that the corpse of a giant hunting hound wasn't going to fall on me. Luckily, both were right. Just like that, with yet another single decision on my part, the hound was dead, at least temporary; it disappeared into a cloud of golden dust, which fell on me in showers.

I knelt there for a moment. Then I brushed the glitter from my skin. It disappeared in a moment.

"You've done it. My gods, you've done it."

I looked up. The Teumessian fox was standing in front of me, looking regal and relieved. We stared at each other for a moment, its huge dark eyes staring back at me. I knew I was screwed up from being a demigod when seeing a giant fox talking to me didn't make me think twice.

"Tell us the clue," I said, standing.

"It's under the Bean," he said immediately. "The Cloud Gate, that is."

My jaw dropped. I'd never met someone so forthcoming with information.

"Thank- thank you," I said. "Wow."

Lucas was surprised, too. He walked up, stopping a few feet away from me, and said, "You'd risk telling us that much?"

"Somebody told me to do it." He sat down, sighing, then immediately put his head in his arms, the way dogs did when they wanted food. It could've been cute. I had to resist the urge to go jump into its giant furry hide and cuddle with it. "Besides, I'll take any punishment the Gods give me at this point. Better that than this."

Lucas swallowed; he eyed me, then said, "I suppose you aren't going to tell us who told you to do it?"

"Of course not," said the fox. "Even I don't know."

Its eyes looked woeful. It was enough to make Kiera approach it from behind. Even with this, the fox didn't move. He just looked up at a broken skylight and sighed through his huge wet nostrils.

For a moment, we all stared at it. I felt Aria wrap an arm around me, like she was trying to comfort me after I had committed murder. I did not like this type of physical affection, but I let it happen anyway, because I was too afraid to tell her to not do it. 

"What happens for you now?" I asked the fox.

"He'll reshape eventually," he said. "I just get a bit of a break for a couple days until it happens. Not that that means much at this point."

How depressing.

"Well," Lucas said. "Um... thanks."

He scratched the back of his head, then turned to leave. Us girls watched him, waiting for him to realize none of us were leaving too. He only did once he was already through the hole in the door. I had to chuckle as I watched him turn around, confused, and head back through.

"Are we going?"

I tried to nod subtly towards the fox, but he just gave me a look like, What the heck do you want me to do? Give him therapy? I liked this. I liked that we could have a conversation with a look. That or I was delusional.

"Are you okay?" I asked, walking up to the fox.

Aria came with me. She held out a fist for the fox to sniff, which he did (which was funny to me... you think he'd already trust us after killing his eternal enemy for him). Then he slumped back again.

"I'm fine," I said. "It's been a long hundred thousand years."

"I thought Zeus turned you into a constellation," Lucas said.

"He did," sniffed the fox. "Best 1000 years of my life. Then, Artemis and Dionysus got mad and brought us back down. They were the ones who had set us after each other in the first place."

I wondered which one did which. I really hoped I'd just done what Artemis would want and not freaky Mr. D.

"I just feel so listless sometimes, you know?" The fox whacked his tail twice against the floor, which I took as the vulpine form of a shrug. "Whatever. There's nothing you guys can do. If you want to spend the night here, feel free to. Lay against me. I've heard my fur is super soft."

I think this was a joke, because I doubted anyone had ever gotten close enough to him to touch his fur before. But I watched as Aria did, and her mouth widened.

"Wow," she said. "You're in the wrong career line. You could make blankets instead."

I had to violently restrain the laugh-gasp that came with this.

The fox didn't notice. He just closed his eyes. "Uh huh."

I suppose that was it; he'd gone from sad emo to apathetic emo just like that. Kiera to I, in a way. We all looked at each other.

Then Aria said, "There's no reason not to take him up on the offer."

"Um-" said Kiera. "He might eat us in the middle of the night?

"He's not gonna do that," said Aria. "Are you?"

She was still scratching him behind his ears. He was purring like a cat, but he did not respond. Slowly, Lucas walked up to it and touched it too. Then he started petting his back loins. 

Lucas leaned up against the fox slowly, then said, "Yeah. I could get used to this."

He slumped down. Kiera scowled as Aria did the same.

"They're crazy," she said to me as I approached it too.

"C'est la quest," I said. "One of us can keep watch. Would that make you feel better?"

"Come here, Kiki," said Aria, reaching out her arms and squeezing her hands like she was trying to grab her from afar. "It's super soft. And it's been so long since we slept in a real bed."

"This isn't a real bed," said Kiera, "And it's been one night."

But if Aria told her to do it, Kiera did it. She sat down, slowly, next to her bestie. I guess that left me on watch. it would make sense. I wondered if, when it came to their turns, I would have to loan Aria and Lucas Liakada so they had a weapon on hand.

It was bizarre to see them sleep like this - sitting up, leaning against a giant fox like they were his pups. As I was left alone, I watched them, wondering how I'd gotten here - and how it'd become so normal. How death had become so normal.

Okay, AJ, my mind said. Your second favorite album of all time is Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Let's not act like you didn't already think about death 24/7.

That was different, I shot back, but now that my favorite albums were in my mind that made me start to think. The fox reminded me of myself at my most emo - withdrawn, sad, and just generally pathetic. I mean, he had no idea we wouldn't kill him - after we'd killed his peer so easily. But maybe he didn't care. That was the mark of a true emo.

I shivered. Gods.

My point was that, I wondered if he'd ever had the chance to listen to emo music before. If he was a MCR fan or more of a scene kid. He looked like he would be a scene kid.

I wonder if there's a music store in here.

I started pacing around, looking for a directory. Luckily, I found it only a few meters down the hall. I scanned it and found that indeed, there was an FYE just around the bend. With a glance at my friends, making sure the fox was well and indeed asleep, I walked over to it.

The grate was down, of course. I rattled the grate, but nothing happened. I peered through and saw row upon row of music stuff - music stuff from like, 2 years ago, at least, but music stuff still. Half of the rows had been cleared out, I imagined stolen from. That meant there had to be another way in.

It took a few minutes of searching, but finally I found an employee entrance door. Frightened but intrigued, too, I headed towards the back entrance to FYE... and came out behind the counter.

"Wow," I said. "This is freaking awesome."

I'd never been urban exploring before. I felt like such a criminal. Even though I'd been freaked out before, I was nothing but curious now; I picked through the aisles, looking at Britney, Christina, and The Wiggles CDs. I was thankful beyond my means that I'd gotten past at least a little of my cowardice last year. I wouldn't have been able to do this without that.

Smiling as I thought of Alec and Riley again, I finally found what I was looking for - like thinking of my siblings had summoned them, there was a giant display for My Chemical Romance.

The Newest Album from the Emo Band That's Sweeping The Nation, it read: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge!

Underneath that, there were little badly printed pictures of the members of the band.

We didn't have a display like that back home in our local FYE. I shot a thank you to whatever bored, passionate MCR fan/FYE employee had set this up three years ago.

Okay, I thought, Do I steal just one for the fox or do I steal a bunch?

I stole a bunch.

I guess I shouldn't have done that, but also, like... why couldn't I? Beyond my own guilt, locked away like a heart beneath floorboards, potentially rotting me away from the inside and eating me away until I snapped... there was nothing stopping me. Nobody was losing money!

I took two copies of Three Cheers, one for the fox and another for myself. Then I did the same for a stack I found of American Idiot, and even for Hot Fuss by the Killers. Plus I found a little something extra for my friends.

By the end of it, I was using my Blink-182 shirt like it was a basket. Awkwardly, I left the store, wishing I could steal everything in it, and headed back. As I did, I thought of the year 2004, when they'd all come out. If 13 year old me had known I would end up in an abandoned F.Y.E., scavenging for 3 year-old albums, I imagine I would've been so flabbergasted I'd have a crisis. But I liked it. I liked feeling a little edgy without actually having to, you know, murder immortal dogs. Or send goddesses to their watery deaths.

When I got back to my friends, they were thankfully all asleep. So I set the radio I'd taken up and laid out each CD beside it, hoping the fox would be able to operate it with... like, I don't know, its tongue. I couldn't stay and be its DJ, but at least I was giving it the chance. It was stuck out here in these hallways, after all.

Then, taking somebody's backpack, which they'd placed in front of them, I put in my albums. Plus a Walkman - they weren't exactly selling new iPods in an Ohio mall in 2004 - and a Taking Back Sunday album or two. For Kiera. If I'd known what type of music Aria, or even Lucas, listened to, I would've put them in, too.

Then I stood guard, feeling just good enough about myself to survive half a night with no sleep.

~ ☼ ~

A/N: It's crazy how you can have nostalgia for a time period you weren't lucid in... I was born in 2002 so I obviously have memories of 2007, but I didn't start listening to emo music until middle school, which was around  2014 for me. However, since the golden days of emo were super romanticized then, I still associate my emo experience with both the mid 2010s and the early 2000s and feel nostalgia for both <3 Long live high tops, Monster energy, and summer pop punk!!

Also bc Wattpad hates me for some reason its not letting me insert my signature pic here so T_T Positive vibes, stay awesome :)

-Athena