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As soon as the words left Irene's mouth, everyone stared at her.

She didn't care for attention all that much. Of all the experiences she yearned for, having all eyes on her was one she was okay with passing up.

Said the girl dressed as a prima donna...

But here, with everyone looking in the same direction...

It was likely the only opportunity she'd have to take a group photo tonight.

She raised her digital camera and took a photo of these people. She would learn their names tonight and write them on the back after she had it printed. She'd commit them to memory, and then when she saw them again, she'd greet them by name.

The moment of silence ended just as soon as it began, though. Quickly, the room broke out into a frenzy.

"Where did she go?" the lanky girl in the duck onesie asked.

"That was so awesome," said Hatsune Miku. "How did she do that?"

"What are we supposed to do now?" the redhead, Poppy, asked. "Are there clues we're supposed to read?"

"Sloan, what happens next?" said the younger girl dressed as a raven. To be honest, Irene thought it was a crow costume because of her shiny jewelry, but then she heard her correct someone, so that answered that.

"Uh..." Sloan trailed off. She grabbed the girl next to her by her fuzzy yellow duck hood and pulled her in close, speaking to her in a hushed tone.

All around Irene, everyone was chattering away as if something exciting were about to happen. Were they going to figure out where the narrator girl went? Maybe there was a clue in her folder...

She looked at the table in front of her, remembering there wasn't anything in her spot except for a napkin that someone had thrown at the person sitting next to her. She didn't get any clues. She hadn't told anyone she was coming.

She should have, really. The problem was that she was torn between the idea of people being surprised that she came and people being mad she wasn't able to come even though she said she would. She chose the former.

Irene had a sickness of sorts. No, she wasn't going to die, and gods, no, it wasn't contagious. It was a type of chronic fatigue called myalgic encephalomyelitis. She felt tired and woozy all the time and had to miss out on a lot in favor of sleeping in her cabin.

In fact, she thought as she sat down again, she felt tired right here in this room.

Luckily for her, the beds in the Hypnos cabin were among the most comfortable beds at Camp Half-Blood. She had the softest pillow for her head and sheets that embraced her like a warm hug.

Still, Irene was determined this evening. She was going to make it through this whole party. She was close enough to her cabin that not much risk was involved. She would be able to make the short walk back if she needed to rush out, although she might ask for help on the stairs this time. That would be a problem for her to think about later.

Already, she was proud of herself for coming. She'd shown up, and now the challenge was making it through the whole party. She wanted this. She was stronger than she thought, and in the end, she would emerge with a whole table of new friends she could sit with at the dining pavilion tomorrow.

If she could even make it to the dining pavilion tomorrow.

But if she had friends, that meant there would be someone to miss her when she didn't have the strength to go to lunch, and that alone gave Irene some comfort.

Sloan turned around, finally. "She's gone!" she said. Sloan wasn't too good an actor. That was okay. She was funny, at least.

"Do you think it was the spirits?" the girl in the duck onesie asked.

Miku—Irene didn't know their real name—said, "It had to be! This is all my fault for trying to summon my brother!"

"Sister," the raven girl corrected.

"How do you know my sister wasn't genderfluid? Hm?"

"I just don't think that's what Faye meant-"

Sloan clapped her hands together. "Okay, good one, Faye! You had everyone fooled!"

"Yeah, come on out," said the girl in the duck onesie, though Irene wasn't entirely convinced she wanted Faye back.

Irene hoped she didn't leave, though, even if she was pretty intense.

They all stood still for a moment, except for the exchange camper from New Rome, Meris, who got up and went to the snack table.

Irene wanted to be his friend, but waiting her turn to introduce herself while he was surrounded by a crowd wasn't the best use of her time. If she was feeling up to the day, it was best to spend her time doing something that didn't involve waiting around, like scrapbooking or reading.

Sloan cleared her throat. "Faye, come on! We gotta get the next clue!"

"You've done a great job faking your death!" the girl in the duck onesie said.

"Oh my gods," a girl dressed in a colorful cat costume said. "She's actually gone. We have to find her."

The raven girl facepalmed. "She's not gone. It's part of the game."

"Yeah," said Poppy. Poppy's head seemed to be in a million places at once, but she'd taken the time to introduce herself to Irene, and she appreciated her kindness.

Poppy, she reminded herself. Poppy, Poppy, Poppy. That was who she would look for tomorrow.

Poppy continued talking. "Maybe we have to figure out where she is to get the clue. Like, find the body."

The raven girl furrowed her brow. "That's..." She paused. "That's not actually a bad idea."

"I have my moments," Poppy said.

"Okay," Sloan said. "Let's look for Faye! I mean, Maddie Hadley."

One by one, each person stood up and spread out around the attic.

The girl in the duck onesie took a seat at the head of the table and flipped through Faye's binder. Irene assumed that was where she kept the notes on the murder mystery story.

Was this planned?

"Hey," Miku said, holding up a yo-yo. "I used to be good at these." They swung the yo-yo around a few times, but then they tried to do a trick, and it got wrapped around their leg.

"Eva," the guy dressed as Superman said. "Put that away."

"What? Why?"

"Don't you recognize that?" the raven girl asked. "It's one of the Fates' threads."

"Oh, yikes." Eva quickly untangled himself and threw the yo-yo back into the box they found it in. Hopefully, they hadn't given some poor person scoliosis.

Finally feeling like she'd regained a bit of strength, Irene stood up and started looking around a little. She pulled back a curtain, but there wasn't anything there except for dust and a weird candle sort of shaped like the inside of an ear canal.

Oh, that wasn't a candle.

"What's this?" Meris asked. His ghost sheet opened as he reached for the handle of a closet.

"Wait!" Irene said.

She was too late.

Meris opened the door, letting out the most atrocious smell. "What was in here?" he complained. "Why do you have this? What does this mean?"

The girl in the duck onesie quickly got up and shut the door. "That's where we used to keep the Oracle."

"What do you mean?" Meris asked. "Where did they go?"

"The Oracle is alive now," Irene explained.

"This again?" Meris asked. "What do you mean by that? Was she dead before?"

"Yeah, actually," she said. "The Oracle was trapped in a corpse for a very long time. I guess... we kept her chair in this closet."

She looked at the chair where the Oracle had spent so many years giving prophecies to demigods. Irene had never been one of those demigods, of course. What kind of a champion would Irene make? Not a very good one; she was sure of that.

The chair stunk, though. When was the last time someone had spent any time in the attic? Why hadn't it been cleaned out after the spirit of the Oracle was transferred to Rachel Elizabeth Dare?

She didn't get to ponder her questions for very long, though.

"I'm just saying that we should go look for her. What if something's actually wrong?"

Poppy replied to her partner, "You literally backed Marie up when she told Loulou to go away."

Right. Loulou. The seven-year-old kid that wasn't invited to the party. Irene could relate a bit. She often wasn't invited to parties because people just assumed she'd be too tired to come.

Even if she were too tired, it would be nice to be invited. She wished she could find it in herself to not be hurt when she didn't get invited to things, but she couldn't. She really, really wanted to be invited.

"That was earlier," he said. "Now that this happened... I just feel like we should make sure she's alright."

"Everything is fine, Neil," Poppy said, raising her voice a bit. "Sloan wouldn't put us in any danger. Faye is just a little dramatic, and you know it."

"But Loulou seemed so sad-"

"If there's trouble," Poppy said, "then Loulou is now far away from it. It's for the best that we told her to go watch cartoons."

Neil frowned. "I don't know..."

"I do know," she said, putting her hands on her hips. It was a little hard to take her seriously when she was dressed as a baby deer. "Neil, everything is okay. Why are you so afraid of sticking around and making a friend?"

"It's not that," they said.

"Then what is it?" Poppy raised her arms. "You know Faye will wait for someone to have an emotional breakdown and then show up. Everything is fine."

Neil folded his arms over his chest. "It seems to me like you're having a bit of an emotional breakdown."

"What?"

Irene was quickly drawn away from the lovers' spat when she heard someone say, "Hey, get a load of this."

Eva, the person dressed as Miku, stood in front of her holding a chest.

Irene looked at him and then at the chest in their arms.

"Go on," they said. "Open it."

"Are you sure we should be poking around all this old stuff?" Irene asked. She was looking for an adventure tonight, but this was a bit much. What if they got in trouble?

Eva shrugged. "I already looked at it. It's fine."

She opened the lid, preparing for the worst. Greek fire, Medusa's head, magic tap shoes that would never stop tapping...

It was a box of wooden animals. There was an elephant, a pig, a cow, a dog, a lion... it reminded her of a Noah's Ark set, except there was only one of each animal.

"Pick one up," Eva said, pushing the chest closer to her.

"Isn't that heavy?" she asked.

"Not really. You'll see."

She hovered her hands over the animals. What if she broke one? Finally, she settled on a goat.

"Interesting choice," Eva commented. And then, all of a sudden, they said, "BAHH!"

Irene jumped, clutching the goat closer to her chest.

"It's nice," she said, reaching to put the goat back in the chest.

"Wait!"

She froze.

"Look closer," they said. "Don't you see the hatch?"

She turned the goat around and couldn't help but feel that it was a bit violating for the animal, even if it wasn't real. She did see it, though, so she pushed on the small panel of wood on its underbelly, and a hatch opened, revealing that the goat was hollow.

"A Trojan... goat?" she asked.

"Prototypes," Eva said. "They must have built these before deciding on a horse."

She smiled. "Very cool."

They set the chest down and tugged the camera off her wrist.

"What are you doing?" Irene asked. "Give me my camera back."

"You took a picture of all of us," Eva said. "You need proof that you were here, too."

Without waiting for her to smile, he took a picture of her holding the miniature Trojan Goat.

The attic held more mysteries than she knew what to do with. They were lucky this time, but it would be better for Eva to just leave the old things alone.

"Oh, I know!" Eva said. "A competition!"

The girl in the duck onesie materialized beside him. "Yes."

"Steph's in!" They high-fived.

"What are we doing?" Steph asked, stretching her arms and legs.

Eva pulled a drachma from their boot and said, "We each put a drachma into the betting pool. Whoever can find the craziest, whackiest thing in the attic wins the pot!"

Steph handed him a drachma from her Adidas crossbody bag.

"Count me in," said the person dressed as the Cheshire Cat. She handed a drachma over to Eva.

"How are we supposed to trust you to not run off with the pot?" the girl in the raven costume asked.

Eva threw their hands up in surrender. "Chill out, Marie! I would never cheat. Swear on the-"

"We shouldn't be gambling right now!" Marie scolded him. "Faye could be missing!"

"Wow, you're a really good actor," the Cheshire Cat said.

Marie facepalmed.

"Hey, Steph?" Sloan asked. "Can I see you for a minute?"

Steph ran over to the other side of the room, and the two of them spoke in hushed tones.

"I'd really like to join in," Meris said, "but I don't have any drachmas yet. I didn't realize the two camps hadn't set up any kind of currency exchange yet."

"What do you have?" Eva asked.

Meris held out a silver coin. "It's a denarius."

"We'll take it," they said, putting the small pile of coins in their boot. "Irene? You want in?"

"Um," she stammered. "I think I'd rather look for Faye with Marie if that's alright."

"Bummer," they said. "Guess it's just us. You can be the judge, though!"

Her eyes widened. "Me?"

He nodded. "Yep. You can decide who has the coolest, weirdest thing! And... go!"

The bunch of them split up, rifling through drawers and cabinets as they searched for whatever Irene would think was the strangest.

Everything in the attic was strange if you asked her.

So as to not seem biased towards any one person, she moved to the other side of the room, where Sloan and Steph seemed to be talking about something important.

"I'm telling you, none of this is in the binder," Steph asked.

Sloan lifted her sparkly cowgirl hat and scratched her head. "But we did tell her to change some stuff up. Maybe she didn't write it down."

"Let's just keep looking for clues," Steph said. She turned around, and Irene faked interest in a particularly smooth stone.

"Can you get out of my space, Monika?" Marie asked, looking at the Cheshire Cat person. "We don't both need to look for clues on this shelf."

"But she's on her way back with the next clue," Monika said. "We just need to wait for her to tell us which card in our envelopes to read."

"She's gone, Monika."

"Yeah, she died."

Marie lowered her voice. "Do you not see the way Sloan and Steph are being right now? Something is obviously wrong."

"Yeah," Monika said. "Faye died, and we have to find out who killed her."

"Faye isn't dead!" Marie shrieked. "Just... misplaced. Temporarily."

"Maybe we should read the clues..."

"Everyone," Marie said. "We need to organize. Start looking for any other way in and out of the attic. Somebody, check the stairs."

"Whoa!" Eva said. "I think I found the coolest thing."

"What is it?" Steph asked, looking at the rod in his hand.

He pressed it against his palm, and then jumped almost as if he'd been electrocuted. "Zeus's back scratcher," they said.

It was funny; that was for sure. Irene took a photo of Eva pretending to use the back scratcher.

"Print one of those for me," they said.

But after everything Irene was overhearing, she couldn't help but wonder if they needed to put their games away for now and start looking for Faye. What if she was really gone?

Marie groaned. "Fine!" she said. "I'll go look for Faye on my own. I'll be on the stairs if anyone needs me."

"Wait," Eva said, pointing at her with the back scratcher. "If you go down those stairs, you'll be leaving the party."

"And?"

Eva held the back scratcher like a microphone. "You'll be leaving the party early, and I'll win the bet."

"The bet is off, Eva," she said. "Faye is gone."

"The bet's only off if you forfeit," they said. "Are you forfeiting?"

She grumbled, "I'll look behind the cabinets for another door..."

"I'll help you!" Eva said as if nothing were wrong.

Sloan put her hand against a portrait of some old dead demigod on the wall. "Everything reminds me of Faye..."

Something was definitely wrong.

Irene peeked behind a cabinet. There had to be another entrance into the attic. If Faye had gone back down the stairs, she would have heard the door slam. She might have even heard her fall! Irene was closest to the door, and she didn't feel like Faye was anywhere near her while her eyes were closed.

"I found something weird!" Monika said from a drawer. She held up a bag of something that looked like gummy bears.

"I wonder if those are like the antidote gummy vitamins I've read about..." Marie took the bag. "Moly was what it was called in the Odyssey, but Hermes has been known to give it out in the form of gummy vitamins."

Sloan took the bag from Marie and looked at the label. "Nope," she said.

"What do you mean?" Marie asked. "I think we should hang onto these-"

"Definitely not," Sloan said, tossing them back into the drawer. "I think my dad's been looking for some alternative ways to relax since he can't drink."

"What do you mean?" Monika asked.

"Those are..." she trailed off, looking for the right words. "Special gummies."

Irene did not want a photo of those. She'd photograph Monika doing something else later.

Marie crinkled her nose. "Yuck. Put those away; I'm not getting in trouble over that."

"Oh, do you think Faye left those as a clue?" Monika asked.

Sloan put a hand on her shoulder. "No, Monika. I do not think Faye left those as a clue."

"Tada!" Steph said, running up to Sloan. "I have found... the Copper Fleece!"

Irene felt her jaw drop as she stared at the fleece material Steph held in the air. It shimmered in the faint glow of the candles. "What does it do?" she heard herself ask.

Steph shrugged. "I put it over my shoulders, and it cleared my sinuses, so maybe that."

"That's really cool," Eva said.

"I wanna find something cool," Meris said, examining another book from the shelf.

"Dude," Eva said. "You're not going to win with a book."

Sloan spoke to Steph through gritted teeth. "That's really cool, but don't forget we have to find Faye..."

Miming the same sing-songy tone, Steph said, "But it's all just pretend..."

It wasn't. That much, Irene was sure of. She chose tonight to venture out of her cabin and try to have a good time at a party, really make some friends, and now someone was missing.

She wanted to just be able to say that she hoped Faye was okay. That was what she said when the Romans attacked Camp Half-Blood over the summer, but her well-wishes didn't mean anything this time. This time, Irene was present, and she wasn't going to retreat to her cabin until they found Faye.

"We need to say something," Irene heard Sloan whisper.

Steph shook her head, but resigned herself to whatever was about to happen.

"Hey, everyone," Sloan said. "Can I have your attention for a minute? There's something we need to tell you."

"Filius canis!" Meris cried, and then they all heard the thump of a body hitting the floor.

"Meris?" Eva asked. "Where did he go?"

Marie rushed to the bookshelf and knocked on the wood. "He was right here a minute ago. Oh my gods, we can't have lost Meris, too!"

"New Rome is going to attack us again!" Monika cried.

Poor Meris, Irene thought as she made her way over to the bookshelf. "What should we do?" she asked.

First Faye, now Meris. Their party was falling apart, one person at a time.

Marie knocked on the bookshelf again. "Meris? Are you back there?"

"That's not how it works," Monika said.

Marie raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're about to-"

"You have to remove the books to open the secret passageway." Monika started taking books off the wall and casting them aside on the floor.

Hecate's Step-by-Step Guide to the Mist

Olympus Magazine: Swimsuit Edition

Finding Your Zen: Apollo's Guide to Meditation

No wonder these books had been hidden in the attic.

Irene startled at a clicking sound.

"Got it," said Monika.

"No way," Marie said, crossing her arms.

"Just like the movies..." Steph said in disbelief.

The bookshelf revolved, and a passage appeared and disappeared just as soon.

"Holy hellhounds!" Monika shouted. Her costume was stuck in the shelf, and then...

She was gone.

"Monika!" Sloan shouted.

"This wouldn't be an appropriate time to sing 'Another One Bites the Dust,' but just know that I'm thinking it," Eva said.

"We shouldn't have come," Neil said to Poppy. "We could have watched The Great Pumpkin with Loulou. She's probably scared somewhere..."

"Or she's completely safe with a belly full of candy," Poppy snapped. "We need to focus on Faye and Meris... and Monika."

The floor rotated again, revealing a gap just large enough for someone to slip through.

"Phew!" Monika shouted from the other side. "Careful, guys! That book lever thingy is sensitive."

"No shit," said Marie, although she sounded more baffled than judgmental.

Monika had figured it out.

A real rotating bookshelf! Was this what it was like to be on a quest?

"I'm okay," Meris said. He lay in a heap on the floor, tangled up in his race car bedsheet. Irene could see his face now. He was... surprisingly handsome for someone so awkward. Her romance novels had lied to her!

Meris asked, "Are you guys ready to go yet?"

"Go where?" Sloan asked.

Meris shook the sheet off his arm and pointed.

Irene stuck her head through the doorway and peered down a hall. The walls were poorly plastered in a sickly bluish-green color, kind of like a hospital.

She gulped. That was exactly what it was like. Irene had spent a lot of time in hospitals, but no amount of balloons or nice nurses with Jello could make her feel any less uncomfortable in one.

If she got enough rest, she could avoid going back to the hospital. Yearly doctor's visits were unavoidable, but as long as she could stave off the hospitalizations, she'd be alright.

She took a photo, not because she wanted the memory, but because she wanted someone to find this photo on her camera if she went missing, too.

"Where's Faye?" Marie asked.

Meris shook his head. "I don't see her, but she seems like someone who would want to explore this... whatever this is. We should look for her, right?"

Neil shook their head. "Go down the scary hallway? You really think she'd do that?"

"Dude," Steph said, crossing her duck wings. "She's like, in love with ghosts. She's definitely looking for one to make out with or something."

"How would that even work?" Poppy asked.

Monika nodded from her spot on the floor next to Meris. "So we're going down the scary hallway to find Faye? All in favor?"

"I'll go with you," Meris said.

"Me too," said Sloan. "It's my fault Faye's missing. It's only right that I help find her."

"It's not your fault," said Steph, "but sure. I'll go. Bet I can find her first!"

The two of them stepped into the cavern. Sloan helped Monika onto her feet while Meris struggled to untangle himself from his wrinkly bedsheet.

Marie groaned. "Someone's gonna have to keep you from getting lost."

"I'll still find Faye before you," Steph said.

Marie smirked. "You won't, but sure."

Eva flipped their blue Hatsune Miku wig over their shoulder. "I'll come, too! The more the merrier!"

Marie put a hand against his chest, forcing him back into the attic. "Absolutely not."

"Uh, why?"

She frowned. "Because... because what if Faye comes back?"

"To the attic?" They shrugged. "Can't argue with that logic, I guess." With that, Eva retreated. It wasn't that Irene didn't want Eva to be able to go on an adventure and help the others, but...

Well, Irene couldn't go in the tunnel. What if she became woozy? She'd just hold everyone back.

Sure, she wanted an adventure more than anything, but this was serious. Faye was missing, and Irene didn't want to be the reason why she stayed missing, so she would remain in the attic with all the old godly junk.

Besides, now that Eva was here, she wouldn't be alone. He wasn't her first choice for company, but she'd take what she could get.

Eva was probably a great friend for someone with a little more energy. They just came on so strong, and Irene needed to save all of her energy in case she needed it for an emergency. She'd already used so much of it just trying to get to the party. If she were in her cabin, she'd probably take a nap.

"Poppy?" Sloan asked. "Neil?"

"We should stay," Neil said. "What if Loulou gets scared and comes upstairs to look for us?"

"What if Faye is in the tunnels?" Poppy asked. "All you care about is Loulou! What about us?"

He squinted. "What does that have to do with anything? People are missing."

"Loulou is not missing!"

"Okay," Sloan said. "Staying behind. Cool. See you guys later. Don't be too loud."

"And help yourself to snacks!" Steph said.

As the door slammed shut behind the questers, Irene began to regret some of her choices.

She certainly didn't want to be alone with them, but now she was trapped with Eva and a couple that wouldn't stop fighting. For a while, Irene fantasized about finding her very first boyfriend or girlfriend at this party. Now, after seeing the way Poppy and Neil argued, she didn't really want to think about romance for once. She much preferred the romance in her books to the romance in real life. Real life, she'd affirmed for herself tonight, was messy.

One good thing about being confined to her bed for long periods of time was that she could spend a lot of that time with her head in a fantasy land. Dreams were a perfect escape. Nothing went wrong when she was daydreaming.

In real life, couples fought, people went missing, and Eva was overwhelming her.

"So," Eva said. "Do we just wait for Faye?"

"Faye would have left a clue, right?" she asked, even though she couldn't hear herself over Poppy and Neil's fighting.

"I'm just saying," Poppy said, "you haven't once asked me if I'm okay!"

"Fine," said Neil. "Are you okay?"

"It doesn't mean anything now!"

"What do you want from me?"

Eva leaned in close to Irene. "I wish we were with the others right now."

If they were with the others, they wouldn't have to listen to Poppy and Neil fighting.

Irene just agreed and took her seat again.

"Do you want anything?" Eva asked. "They have Capri-Suns."

"I'll get one later," she said.

They frowned. "I'm already up and getting one. Don't worry-"

"I said I'll get one later."

She didn't mean to snap. She knew Eva meant well. Everyone meant well; they just wanted to help. People saw someone like Irene and heard about how tired she could become, and all they wanted to do was do everything.

Irene wanted to do whatever she could for herself. She'd rather lose precious time from her day than gain time not lifting a finger for herself.

"We should keep looking for clues," Eva said. "I know Sloan and Steph think she's lost, but I wouldn't put it past Faye to fully commit to the murder mystery, even if it... Yeah."

Irene knew what he meant. "I'll be able to get up in a minute."

"Wait," Eva said. "I actually have a job you can do sitting."

That usually meant sitting at the arts and crafts table sorting string and beads for friendship bracelets, but she decided to give Eva a chance.

He gave her a giant book and flipped it open to the first page. A photo album.

"You like photography, right?"

She shrugged. "A little. I'm not very good, but-"

"You're better than me. I need you to flip through this one and see if you notice anything off. If Faye thinks the attic is haunted, she'll be looking for the ghost."

Irene nodded. "So missing pictures of handsome demigods. Got it."

Eva winked. "I'll go through this junk drawer, but I think Faye's more into photos than artifacts." They sauntered to the other side of the room to get Poppy and Neil's attention. "Hey!"

"We're in the middle of something," Poppy said.

"You can talk and look for clues, right?"

She nodded.

"Perfect. You guys, dig through that wardrobe over there," Eva said.

"Careful," Irene said to them. "There are artifacts associated with Aphrodite in there, from what I've heard. Those can be dangerous, especially if you're already emotional."

"I'm not emotional," Poppy said. "I'm just... expressing my feelings."

Neil asked, "Is that what we're calling it?"

Irene sighed and tried to tune out the bickering couple while she flipped through the photo album. It was easy for her to be distracted by all of the history. That girl Marie seemed like someone who would find this interesting, too. Maybe when this was all over, Irene could tell her about it.

There were photos of demigods at the Stonewall Riots in New York. Irene didn't know Marsha P. Johnson was a daughter of Aphrodite.

There was a photo of Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock; he was a son of Apollo.

Once Irene learned that Neil Armstrong was a son of Apollo, too, she realized that this entire book was photos of famous demigods from the year 1969, but who was the lucky photographer who happened to be at all of these events?

Irene raised her digital camera and took a photo of the page in front of her.

It was all very interesting, but it didn't seem like the sort of thing that would help them find Faye.

Across from her, Neil and Poppy actually hadn't found anything that belonged to Aphrodite. In fact, it was all hippie clothes that looked like they'd come right out of the photo album she'd been looking at. Somebody must have left an extensive clothing collection behind.

She turned the page and saw a face that had been described to her, only... younger.

"Hey, you two..." she said.

When she had their attention, she showed them the picture. "Is this what the Oracle looked like?"

Neil nodded. "That's her. Those must be her photos."

"And these must be her clothes," Poppy said, holding a pink floral dress in front of her. "Do you think she would be mad if I tried this on?"

Irene held up her camera and raised an eyebrow, asking Poppy a silent question.

Poppy posed with the dress as if they were just two girls at a store shopping for something to wear to a music festival in 1969.

Neil grabbed the dress and forced it back in the wardrobe. "Yes. Yes, I do think she'd mind."

Not wanting to get in the middle of that, Irene turned around in her chair to see if Eva had found any more books, but she couldn't see him through a thick purple cloud.

"What are you doing?" she exclaimed.

Poppy and Neil turned around, too, looking at the commotion.

"Oh my gods," Neil muttered. "What did you find, Eva?"

When Eva looked up, they sneezed into a napkin. Normally, Irene would have been completely appalled to see someone's snot, but when they showed her the napkin, she was intrigued.

His snot was purple.

"Can I try some of that purple cloudy stuff?" Poppy asked.

Neil put an arm on top of her to keep her away from whatever that was. "Eva, what are those?"

Eva pulled a notecard from the drawer. "I don't know. The letters are all scratched off. My Ancient Greek isn't the best..."

Neil covered their nose and reached into the purple mist. "Curses," he said.

"Curses?" Irene echoed.

He flipped the notecard over. "A group of campers from Hecate's cabin made these for a competitive project against The Manse... Hecate had a magic school?"

That sounded a little more Irene's speed than demigod training camp, but home was home. She wasn't about to complain.

"Huh..." Eva opened another one. "Most of these don't seem like they're doing anything."

Poppy shrieked when Eva turned around to put the jar back into the drawer. "Your butt!"

"Now I know I didn't rip my pants because I'm wearing a skirt," they said, glancing behind them. "Oh, gods."

Irene covered her mouth to hide a snort. This was the funniest thing Eva had done all night, and they weren't even trying.

Sticking through their skirt was a curly pink pig's tail.

Irene took a photo of that when he wasn't looking.

"Yep," Neil said. "Curses. Probably harmless, but you're gonna need a child of Hecate to fix that."

"All the more reason to find Faye, I guess."

Poppy raised an eyebrow. "You seem very calm for someone who just sprouted a tail."

"Did it hurt?" Irene asked.

Eva shrugged. "What else am I gonna do? Let's just keep looking for stuff." He put another photo album in front of Irene, so she went back to work. She loved looking at photos, but she preferred to study photography recreationally. Photography was not meant to be a life-or-death activity. She wanted to be closer to the action.

CRASH!

She turned around to find Eva standing above the broken pieces of a bust.

"Is there a broom somewhere?" Neil asked.

Poppy gasped. "I don't think busts usually shake like that when they break, do they?"

Irene just wanted to have a nice night out and maybe make some friends. Now, it seemed like she was going to finally have a shot at a high-stakes adventure.

⚬──────────✧──────────⚬

The Greco-Roman Philoi-Amici Program was supposed to be an enriching experience where demigods could experience the culture of their neighbors by immersing themselves in their lifestyles. It was kind of like doing a study abroad semester, except you didn't have to leave the country. It felt like leaving the country, though!

You'd get to experience life at Camp Half-Blood, and from the brochure, it seemed like a bit of a retreat compared to the militaristic lifestyle at Camp Jupiter. What would Meris do with free time? He wasn't sure when he applied, but he was very excited to find out.

Of course, he didn't get accepted into the program. They chose some other kid, a demigod. They had a high-up position in another cohort's leadership. Meris couldn't compete with that. It was a relief, really. Meris struggled with adventures. His life was a lot easier when there were people in charge of him. Camp Half-Blood didn't have enough rules. It was better this way, he told himself.

And then the other guy dropped out. Meris guessed they wanted to stay at Camp Jupiter.

And lo and behold, Meris was the backup choice, so he packed a humble bag of clothes that would somehow last him until mid-December, went through a MENTAL HEALTH WHILE ABROAD training, made sure his health insurance plan was accepted at one or more hospitals in New York City, and then cleaned his bed out so the exchange camper from Camp Half-Blood would have someplace nice to stay.

Now, Meris lived in Cabin 4, home to Demeter's children, not that he was anything close to one. The camper who'd taken his spot at Camp Jupiter was a daughter of Demeter, and a really powerful one, he'd heard. The other children of Demeter were easy to get along with. They showed him how to care for the plants in the cabin, and he told them what it was like living in New Rome.

To them, New Rome was completely foreign. It was nice to share the boring aspects of his life with people who found them fascinating. This was why Meris had applied for the exchange program. He wanted to meet new people and exchange cultures.

He'd already learned that Greeks got their prophecies differently than Romans, although he had yet to meet the Oracle, a girl named Rachel. He learned how to play a game called Capture the Flag and even helped Cabin 4 take first place in a baton race.

There were still some things he was learning, though, like what to wear to different functions. They had a T-shirt at Camp Half-Blood, and most campers wore it regularly, but Meris only had one, and it was hard to figure out what to wear when his orange shirt needed washing.

He could wear the purple SPQR shirt, but then he'd stand out. As much as he wanted to meet new people, he didn't want to look like some kind of stuck-up Roman.

By the time the end of October came, he thought he had everything figured out. Sacrifice your favorite part of dinner to the gods. Don't move that pile of rocks behind Zeus's Fist. Most importantly, when you see the little campers at the archery range, duck.

And then he'd found out dressing up for Halloween was all but mandatory here at Camp Half-Blood. Everyone had such creative costumes; he especially liked Faye's dead bride costume. She had a way with makeup, unlike him.

He couldn't go to Sloan's party without a costume. That would seem rude.

He hated to feel so unprepared as he paced the mossy cabin floor.

Meris had sat on his bed, worrying the fabric of his gray race car sheets between his fingers.

And then he'd looked at those sheets and realized a bad idea was better than no idea.

He hadn't been able to come up with anything else, so now he was in a heap on an oddly moist floor, somewhere between the attic and the rest of the Big House. His legs tangled in his bedsheet, which was most definitely ruined.

"Oh my gods," Marie whispered. "Are we trapped?"

Steph knocked on the door.

"Meris," Sloan asked, looking down at him, "do you remember which book you pulled to get in?"

He shrugged. "Admittedly, I was looking at the covers. This one had boobs on it."

Sloan took a deep breath. "Yeah, most of our Greek art books have boobs on them."

Meris nodded. Roman art had that too sometimes, but now didn't seem like the right moment to exchange culture facts.

"Okay," Marie said, "we have to find a way out of here."

"What about Faye?" Monika asked. "She probably knows the way out. Once we solve the mystery, she'll open the door."

Sloan put a hand on Monika's shoulder. "I don't know if we should count on that."

Meris looked around. The walls were covered in a thin layer of drywall, but the plaster seemed to be peeling in some spots, revealing a cement cavern of some kind.

Nobody would hear them scream down here. He gulped.

"This looks like the haunted house my high school student council did last weekend," Steph said. "Except this is actually scary. I'm not scared, though. I'm braver than all of you."

"Can we get out of here?" Meris asked.

"Not without Faye," Marie said. "Got any of those candles, Steph?"

"Way ahead of you." She lit a candle and handed it to Marie.

"Save some juice in that lighter in case we have to start a fire," Sloan said.

"You don't think we'll need to, do you?" Steph asked. She gasped. "Are we in the Labyrinth?"

Meris bit his lip. If they were in the Labyrinth, he might go crazy before they ever emerged. He'd never see his friends from Camp Jupiter again.

The Greek exchange camper at Camp Jupiter was probably playing War Games or eating dessert right about now.

The Labyrinth, as Meris understood it, was a maze at its core, but it was a maze that was ever-evolving. It was originally created by an inventor named Daedalus to house Tributes sent every nine years from Athens to Crete at the demand of King Minos. Fourteen Athenians—seven boys and seven girls—were shipped to Crete to be released into the Labyrinth, and at the center of the maze was the Minotaur.

Unlike The Hunger Games, there was no winner.

Marie crouched down and illuminated the wall with her melting candlestick. "If this was the Labyrinth, we'd have seen the symbol of Daedalus by the entrance."

Sloan took a breath. "Okay," she said. "That's good at least."

Marie stood up. "I think we should split up. We'll cover more ground that way. Look for Faye or a way out, whichever comes first."

"We can't leave without Faye," Sloan said.

"At this point, we might need backup to find Faye, unless she's pranking us." Marie narrowed her eyes. "And if she's pranking us..."

Meris didn't need her to finish that sentence. He got it.

"Meris and I will go left," Marie said.

"Huh?" he heard himself say.

"Monika, Sloan, and Steph... Do whatever, I guess."

Monika grabbed Marie's wrist before she could walk away. "Don't split the party!"

"What?"

She adjusted her cat ears. "In Dungeons & Dragons, the first thing they teach new players is that you should never split the party. We're stronger together."

"Huh," Steph said. "That... makes sense."

"So we'll stick together," Sloan said.

Meris was fine with whatever everyone else wanted, if he was being completely honest, so he just nodded along and went back to work getting himself untangled. His sheet had gotten stuck in his satchel, and he couldn't figure out exactly where that had happened.

A hand appeared in his field of vision. "Come on."

He took it. "Thanks, Monika."

They smiled. "Anytime."

He twisted the sheet around in his hands, trying to find the eye holes he'd cut with scissors borrowed from the arts and crafts table.

"Let's just try this way," Sloan said.

"Why?" asked Marie. "How do we know Faye didn't go the other way?"

"We don't even know Faye is in here," Steph said, stretching her hamstrings.

"Don't run so fast we can't see you," Sloan said to Steph.

"Flattered," she said, "but fine. Wouldn't want to be the next demigod to get lost."

"Hey, we found Meris," Marie said. "He's not lost."

"I'm right here," he added, following the group as they went down the dark hall. Steph used her lighter to illuminate the path, although it didn't do much.

Meris was getting tired of holding his bed sheet, so he slung it over his shoulder.

Marie held a candle low to the ground, but it would only be a matter of time before the wax began to melt onto her fingers and she'd have to blow it out.

"Shoot," Sloan said.

Monika caught her arm and dragged her back onto her feet before she could hit the ground.

"Sorry," she said, bracing her other arm against the wall. "I'm a little clumsy- oh!"

One by one, bulbs along the ceiling began to light their path. The ceiling must have been leaking because there were a few puddles on the floor, which quickly turned from wood to concrete.

"What is this place?" Monika asked.

"During the Cold War, schools and other community places had bomb shelters in case of a nuclear attack," Marie said. "I wonder if this was Camp Half-Blood's bomb shelter."

Meris shivered.

"Did you have a bomb shelter in New Rome?" Steph asked.

He shrugged. "Probably, but I don't know where it is. Some of the others might, though. There are all kinds of places to explore."

The baths! The bomb shelter was probably in the bathhouse.

Marie blew out her candle. "We should go back to the bookshelf. Tell the others where we are and establish some form of communication."

Steph turned around from about five or six yards ahead. "I'm going to find Faye before you all do, so if you wanna go back, go ahead, but it won't be as fun when I win."

"Marie's got a point, though," Sloan said. "We know where the bookshelf is now. Who's to say it won't be somewhere else in a few minutes?"

"Or it'll just repeat," Monika said. "That happens all the time in Dungeons & Dragons. Then, we'll be able to try again."

Steph overtook them again, but then stopped when the hall made a T-shape. "Left or right?" she asked.

"Right," said Marie. "Left would take us deeper into the Big House. What if we get emptied into Chiron's office or something?"

Sloan nodded. "Good point. Nice to see you not wanting us to get caught."

"This whole night is reaffirming my hatred for parties, but I'm not a narc."

"Respect," Monika said. "So... right?"

"Right, I guess," Sloan said. "Go ahead-"

"Wait," said Meris.

He couldn't explain it, but it was like there was a string tied around his waist. The closer he got to the intersection, the harder that string tugged him to the left.

When he looked right and made eye contact with Steph, his stomach filled with dread, which was strange because he hadn't even felt this nervous when he moved into his cabin at Camp Half-Blood.

"Come on, slowpoke!" Steph called.

"Yeah, what's with the holdup?" Monika asked. "Are you okay?"

Meris shook his head. He could follow the group.

His foot tingled when he took a step after them, but in a bad way. It was like he was stepping on bees. It wasn't painful, though. It was like he was stepping on the soft parts of the bees.

He'd never felt like this before.

"Wait," he said. "We can't go that way."

"Why not?" Marie asked.

"I don't know," he said. "I just feel like we really need to go to the left."

Sloan came back to the intersection and put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I think going this way will actually hurt me." He wasn't exaggerating.

"Is that like a power you have?" Steph asked.

Marie added, "Or a curse."

He shook his head. "No, I don't have any powers. I'm a second-generation legacy of Clementia, goddess of mercy, and a fourth-generation legacy of Domiduca. Legacies don't really get powers."

"What does Domiduca do?" Monika asked.

"She's a goddess who's said to lead children back home," he explained. "Why?"

"Powers..." Monika trailed off.

Marie crossed her arms. "She's not wrong. Demigods' powers often manifest in times of stress. It would make sense that a lot of legacies don't think they have powers because Camp Jupiter is even more of a safe haven than Camp Half-Blood. Besides, I bet Roman legacies don't get sent on quests nearly as much as Greek half-bloods."

Meris had left Camp Jupiter once, though. He went into the mortal world. He'd been wounded; Domiduca could have protected him, and she hadn't. He'd chalked that up to his family's curse, but now...

"Why would Domiduca want to help me get out of these halls?"

Steph frowned. "She's probably got a plan for you. Happens to me all the time."

"You get powers randomly?"

"Worse. Nike products." She shuddered and pulled her duck hood over her hair.

"Meris," Sloan said, "if you're sure we should go that way, we'll follow you."

For once, people were looking to Meris as someone they could follow. That was new. He didn't like the responsibility. If he was wrong, he'd lead these people to their doom.

Did he really trust Domiduca, who hated his family?

His companions looked at him expectantly.

Faye needed them.

"Yes," he said. "I don't know how to explain it, but we need to go left."

He had an idea.

He wrapped the blanket over his shoulder and then around his midsection kind of like a towel. He tied it off again at the shoulder.

There. Way cooler than a sheet ghost, even if a bedsheet toga was sort of fraternity-esque.

"Okay, Roman," Monika said, admiring his new bedsheet toga. It looked a little goofy with eyeholes cut out of it, but it worked. It was easier to see this way, anyway.

So they went left. These four people he'd just met followed him without question. He'd never even been in the Big House's attic.

"So," Monika said, filling the silence as Meris led them down another left. "Is this sense of direction you've got kind of like a Spidey Sense?"

"Oh my gods, Monika," Marie said, exasperated. "Let him focus."

"Uh, yeah," he said, waiting for the invisible rope to pull him down another pathway. "It is like a Spidey Sense. Straight this time."

"I don't think anyone in this group is straight," Steph said.

"As the lesbianest lesbian who ever did lesbian," Sloan said, "I think we should take the straight path if that's what Meris's Spidey Sense is telling him to do."

"It is," he said.

Steph caught up and took the lead, lighting the path ahead. Meris navigated, pulling them down paths whenever the force—Domiduca—guided him.

"You may be the navigator," Steph said, "but I'm still going to find Faye first."

That worked for Meris. Faye was intimidating.

They walked on, Steph staying a few paces ahead. He felt Marie's stare as he tried to keep himself alert for the tug of that invisible rope. It was like she was trying to figure him out.

Sloan and Monika stayed quiet in the back. He thought he could hear one of their hands dragging against the wall, catching on chipped paint every so often.

"Hurry up, guys!" Steph shouted from the end of the hallway. "Faye is totally going to pick on you when we find her."

"If we find her," Marie mumbled.

"We'll find her," Meris said, trying to reassure the younger girl.

She looked up at him. "Maybe it's different in New Rome, but people go missing all the time here. It's a fact of life."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try," he said.

The footsteps behind him stopped.

"Monika, no!" Sloan shouted, grabbing her wrist and pulling away from the wall.

"Huh?"

Click.

Marie squealed as she fell to the ground.

"Shit," Sloan said, crouching next to her. "Booby traps."

"You Greeks and your boobies," Meris said.

"No," Marie said from inside the net she was struggling against. "Booby traps."

The one time Meris tries to make a joke... Geez.

Sloan retrieved a carabiner from inside her pink boot and whipped out a pocket knife. "Hold still."

"Keep that away from me!" Marie shouted. "I'll find my own way out."

"No, you won't," Sloan said, cutting the net apart.

Steph hushed them. "We don't know what's down here."

Marie gasped as she threw the torn net off her body. She lost a few feathers in the process, but otherwise, she seemed intact.

"Keep an eye out for more traps," Sloan said as she helped Marie to her feet.

"And try to keep your feet on the ground," Steph added.

Monika leaned against the wall. "Well, now that that's over with..."

Sloan grabbed her by the arm and pulled her off the wall. "Run!"

"Race ya!"

"What?"

"Just go!"

As soon as Meris decided not to question it, he smelled the gas. It was foul, sort of like whenever his dad asked for extra beans with dinner, except he didn't think it would be at all sarcastic to call this toxic.

He pulled his blanket toga over his nose and ran. He was no match for Steph, but he wasn't running for sport. He was running for his life.

"This way!" he shouted, leading everyone to the left and down a flight of stairs.

"Ah!"

A warm body fell on top of his, and his chin hit the step. He was pretty sure his makeshift toga came undone, too, but that was beside the point.

It was dark again, except for the dim light of Steph's lighter.

"Everyone here?" Sloan asked. She coughed. "I see Steph's lighter. Who's under me?"

"That would be me," Marie said, her voice strained. "You're crushing my ribcage."

"Monika?" Sloan asked. "Meris?"

"Here," he said.

"Sloan, this murder mystery is amazing," Monika said from above Meris. "You really went all out."

"Monika-"

"Just let it go, Marie," he heard Sloan say. "Meris, are we still on track?"

He sat up and adjusted his toga. "I think we took some wrong turns while we were running from that gas."

"Can you get us back to where we came from?" Marie asked.

He shook his head, and then, realizing that the others probably couldn't see him, said, "I don't think so."

"So all we have is instincts sponsored by a goddess who hates your family?" Steph asked. She seemed genuine, actually.

He nodded. "I messed up." Wasn't that the understatement of the century? These people were his responsibility, and just like he feared, he messed up.

"No!" Sloan said. "We just need a little... light!"

She flipped a switch, and everyone screamed.  

⚬──────────✧──────────⚬  

Word Count: 8999

And the plot thickens!  Thanks for the read, as always.  Chapters might slow down a little while I work on also getting a CaitVi fic published by the end of the month (you'll be able to read it on my AO3), but of course, I would never abandon this.  I'm having a blast with this AF!