spanish to english at the bottom! <3

COLORS.

That's all Mack could see.

He couldn't make out shapes—no, the colors were moving too much for him to put the pieces of a picture together. He couldn't hear very well, either. Here and there he caught a word or two, but they were inexplicably jumbled or strange for the situation, whatever that happened to be. Why would someone be talking about Tolkien Elvish?

Not that Mack knew what Tolkien Elvish was. Or could read, write, and speak it. Nope. Of course not. That would be absurd.

There was one thing he could clearly make out, though. There was a taste in his mouth. He wasn't entirely sure what it was—just that it reminded him of when he and Ruben were younger and sat in the garage for hours, tinkering with their bikes.

          He felt himself shifting in and out of consciousness, could feel time passing like breath on skin. His torso hurt a little—burned, even, like he was having an allergic reaction, but as far as he knew, nobody had put any cats on him. That would have been catastrophic. Hahaha. Cat.

          It was a while before the swirl of colors started to solidify a little. It was a while after that when he could begin to put together some shapes: a light on the ceiling, a black circle on the wall that was probably a clock, and two lumps directly in front of him that just had to be his feet. And it was a few minutes after that when he realized that there was a person sitting next to him. He had to put an embarrassing amount of effort into focusing his eyes to see who it was. She had brown hair. She was kind of short. She wore a jacket that might have been made out of leather, but he had no tangible idea.

          She smiled at him, and everything finally clicked into place. He saw her more clearly than he had ever seen before.

          "Turtle Man! Good morning. You're as slow to wake as you are to do everything else."

          Despite the deep ache in his temples, Mack had to smile back. "Yo-Yo. You're back."

Elena smiled wider. "I'll always come back." She punched him lightly in the arm. "I've only been gone for forty-two hours and this is what happens? Honestly, Mack. You're going to need a Life Alert."

          Mack couldn't help but chuckle. His abdominal muscles felt a little sore, but it didn't hurt to laugh. "Wait, wait, wait," he speculated. "Forty-two hours? Wasn't your mission supposed to last three days?"

          She waved the question away. "Nothing that Agent Piper couldn't handle. Besides, I get a call that you get slashed in half by a hellbeast, I come. No question." She took his hand, and her brow furrowed. "Well, I do have questions. Dios mio, what did you get yourselves into?"

"Uhh. . ." Mack went to scratch his head, but his arm had a bunch of wires or something attached to it. He let it drop. "Honestly? Not a freaking clue. Como se dice. . .really, super, mega dangerous?"

Yo-Yo smirked. "Solo di que es muy peligroso y estar hecho con eso. No time for using the thesaurus, Turtle Man. Use the simple words." She scooted her chair a bit closer as she said this, putting her hand on top of his.

"Muy peligroso. Right." Mack breathed out slowly, trying to piece together what had happened. He'd been sliced in the abdomen by, as Elena had so eloquently put it, a hellbeast. Why did his calf hurt? Seriously, it was like his body couldn't decide what to tell him. And why were they alone? He turned to look at her again, squinting. "Where is everyone?"

Elena just nodded towards the clock. "In bed. Only quarter to five in the morning."

"Oh." Mack couldn't help but feel disappointed. He'd kind of hoped he could talk to Daisy. His partner would be happy to know he was feeling better. "That's. . .multa."

Elena threw back her head and laughed. Mack didn't understand what was so funny, but it was good to see her like that. She composed herself shortly. "Tendremos que trabajar más en tu español. Muy inestable en el mejor de los casos, Mack. Una multa is a fee. It does not mean fine. You can say bueno, for okay, if you like."

A smile crept up on him, even though she was definitely making fun of him. "Hey, give me a break. I'm still waking up from a minor coma."

She swatted his arm. "You were not in a coma, Mack. You simply passed out for a few hours."

"So. . .a coma."

"No, Turtle Man!" Elena gesticulated wildly with her hands in something resembling exasperation. "Do you even know what a coma is?"

          "Uhh. . ." Mack put a hand to his chin. "Well, yeah, it's when you. . .fall asleep and you don't, uh, wake up. . .?"

          Mack felt as though he could run a marathon. Sure, he ached a bit, but as he sat there in a hospital bed at four-fifty in the morning, watching Yo-Yo laugh at him yet again, he developed some sort of bubbly giddiness—he could feel it moving just underneath his diaphragm. It was the best feeling. He should get injured by a hellbeast more often, he thought hazily.

          He and Elena kept each other company until the wee hours of the morning had matured long enough to wake the other inhabitants of Providence. They trickled past his sickroom door and into the living area one by one, starting with Agent May at six o'clock sharp—her eyes still droopy but her body awake, thanks to her morning tai chi, fingers undoubtedly itching for a mug of green tea.

          Mack was content. More importantly, he was alive. He wasn't sure what to make of that, since he was pretty certain he'd been sliced up como un cerdo en el carnicero, but he wasn't going to complain, not one bit. He was too busy looking at Yo-Yo and trying to remember the Spanish word for breathtaking that he didn't even feel his eyes closing until they did, and he couldn't find the energy to open them.

★

"Alright, here's the sitch," Daisy proclaimed loudly, slapping both her hands down onto the breakfast table. After a full five and a half hours of sleep, she was feeling a lot more mentally stable. "There's this. . .stuff that the kids have. Annabeth called it ambrose or whatever, and it's food. For gods." She side-eyed Fitz as he ate his morning Froot Loops at the table, listening intently. "But like. . .it heals people. No, wait, not people. Just demigods. So apparently if I ate some I would, like, literally burn up."

          Fitz set his spoon down with a clink. "Okay, b—but why did she cu. . .why did she c—" He broke off, rubbing his face with his hands, clearly frustrated. His stutter was worse when he was tired. "Why did sh—she cut him?"

          Daisy pinched the bridge of her nose. "There's a test. We actually conducted it—if you're a demigod, the special god metal cuts you. If not, it passes through."

          "Hold on," Simmons demanded as she put half a bagel in the toaster. "So you and Coulson. . .Mack. . .?"

Daisy nodded, understanding the question Simmons couldn't put into words. She grabbed herself a muffin and some cream cheese and hopped up to sit on the cold marble counter. "Well, it's weird," she said slowly as she pulled out a drawer for a butter knife. "They don't think me and the big man are demigods. Just Mack." She crinkled her nose. "Something about the alien blood screwing with the. . .whatever. They don't wanna test it, just in case." She took a bite of the muffin, and, noticing May for the first time, only jumped a little bit. The woman had been standing behind her, just out of her line of sight, silently drinking yet another mug of green tea. May just gave her a judging look. Daisy glared back defensively. "What?"

"What do you mean, what?" she exclaimed, gesturing towards Daisy's breakfast. "What are you doing?"

"Excuse me, this is a breakfast cupcake, and it is wonderful," she answered, taking a large, indignant bite. It was definitely wonderful. "And it's healthy. Got pumpkin in it. Pumpkin's a vegetable."

May rolled her eyes. "It's an abomination is what it is."

Daisy scowled. "Whatever. Bite me."

Her former S.O. just smirked and finished her tea. She went to put the mug in the sink, and Daisy couldn't help but notice that she'd been using Coulson's World's Best Boss cup they'd bought him for his birthday. They'd had to decide between that and World's Best Dad, which also worked, she supposed—if anyone was the dad friend/team member, it was him. May caught her looking and raised her eyebrows. Damn it. She'd forgotten she was supposed to be annoyed. She tried to reaffix the scowl back onto her face.

          ". . .Anyways," Simmons prompted as she took a seat next to Fitz, "what'll happen with Mack? Do they know anything about his parentage?" She leaned forward on her elbows, cradling her tea in both hands. "Does he?"

          "I have no idea," Daisy admitted, slipping down from the counter and crumpling up her muffin wrapper. "She did say they had something else to tell us, though. Seemed pretty important." She couldn't imagine what it was—although she had a feeling everything was going to get a lot more complicated than it was already. She checked her watch—it was almost eight. "Where are they, anyways? It's late."

          "We're here," Percy answered as he walked through the door, his timing perfect and his voice thick with fatigue. Annabeth trailed in behind him, limping from her leg injury the day before. "Don't worry. Not dead." They'd changed out of their clothes from earlier—instead of her purple tee, Annabeth was now sporting a quick-dry tank top, and Percy had swapped out the orange for a plain dark tee shirt with a little SHIELD logo on the breast. Their skin glistened slightly, and the fabric clung to them.

"Well, wakey wakey," Fitz greeted them with a wave of his spoon. "It's about. . .about time you sleepyh—" he stopped, and Daisy saw his eyes move from one tired teenager to the other. "Wait. You're all. . .you're all sweaty." His forehead crinkled, as if he couldn't possibly imagine why someone would be sweating at five minutes to eight in the morning.

Annabeth shrugged. "Yeah. We've been sparring. We don't really sleep for long." Daisy caught a glance between them—the look of two people who shared a heavy burden. She understood.

They wiped sweat from their foreheads and made a beeline for the breakfast table. It was unimpressive—a display of muffins, a basket of bananas, and two boxes of breakfast cereal—but the demigods were ravenous. Annabeth helped herself to a banana and put a slice of bread in the toaster. Percy opted for a muffin and reached for the cream cheese.

Annabeth noticed but pretended not to, amusement etched in the lines of her face.

"What?" Percy asked, his expression sour but also amused. "It's a breakfast cupcake. Almost as good as blue pancakes."

She just rolled her eyes and opened a jar of peanut butter.

Daisy was about to tell them that she, too, was a lover of breakfast cupcakes, but she saw Simmons perk up behind them, and turned just as Coulson walked in, wearing a black tee shirt and blue pajama pants adorned with a Captain America pattern.

He smiled at them, all lounging around the table. "Morning, team."

          He received a halfhearted chorus of "morning" back, and it only made him smile wider. Daisy could relate to the director's giddiness—Mack was alive. It was enough to make anyone happy.

          It had only been a few minutes when someone else appeared in the doorway. She wore a leather jacket and an easy smirk.

          Daisy gasped. She hadn't seen her in forever. "Yo-yo!" She practically vaulted over the table and almost knocked the tiny woman to the floor with a bear hug.

          Elena laughed and returned the hug. "Marguerite! I've missed you, chica."

          Daisy pulled away, her arm looped over Elena's shoulder. "When did you come in?" She guided them towards the group, watching them over their bagels. "I didn't hear you."

          "That's because I came at three o'clock this morning," she said, nodding hello to the group as she sat down. "Mack is on some major drugs. Can't even remember how to say dangerous in Spanish."

          Annabeth smiled at her, setting down her toast. "¿Cómo está él, por cierto?"

          Elena blinked, looking surprised, as if she hadn't noticed the two extra team members until now. "Dolorido. No puede distinguir entre izquierda y derecha, y piensa que un coma es una siesta. ¿Quién eres tú?"

          Annabeth laughed, her eyes sparkling. Daisy wished she knew Spanish. "Sorry. Annabeth. That's Percy," she said, gesturing vaguely in her boyfriend's direction.

          A flash of recognition was apparent on Elena's face. "Ah. Mack told me about you two. Not sure how reliable he is right now, though."

          Percy leaned back in his chair, a tired sigh escaping his mouth. "Probably more reliable than you think." He ran a hand through his hair. "Anyways, now that the gang is all here. . .there's something you guys need to know."

          May raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't tell us before because. . ?"

          "I think it's safe to say we trust you a little more now that you've fought for our lives," Annabeth answered, sensing the suspicion in the agent's voice. "Plus, we still weren't sure if it was relevant yet."

          Percy sighed. "But of course, it is."

Daisy frowned, her mind starting to race. This definitely didn't sound good—clearly the kids were stressed out about it, and she had seen the types of things that stressed them out. She was not excited to hear what was about to be said.

"We have an Oracle. You know," Percy waved his hand in the air, "somebody who spouts prophecies from several millennia ago. You know what a prophecy is?" He looked around, and, seeing that they were following, continued. "We've been part of a lot of them. Totally sucks," he added absentmindedly. "But our friends from before brought us news of a new one."

Annabeth took a deep breath. "It involves you guys. And by the looks of it, it's happening. Fast." She bit her lip. "It goes like this:

Hidden son, born of ash and fire
Brought back from the funeral pyre
To winter's bite he will succumb
The lover's oath to be undone
Journey deep below the ground
In the arms of guile he may be found
A secret told, a curse ornate,
A painful death to be his fate."

          It was quiet.

          Percy's jaw clenched. He looked like he was going to throw up. "Now, uh. . ." he swallowed. "It's about Mack. It's all there. He was pretty much brought back from the dead. Winter's bite—we're pretty sure that refers to the gryphons. And now we know that he's a demigod."

          Daisy suddenly became aware of how tense Elena felt next to her. A glance downward revealed that she had a white-knuckled grip on the table. A lover's oath. Elena was Mack's girlfriend. She found herself praying Yo-yo hadn't promised him anything major. A painful death to be his fate.

          A painful death.

          Daisy blinked hard. No. She wasn't going to think about it. She trained her eyes on Annabeth. "How do we stop it?" she croaked, her eyes prickling.

          Annabeth looked at her with an emotion Daisy couldn't describe. Was it pity? "There's no way around it, Daisy. We don't."

          And with that, there was a loud, echoing click, the sound of slowing machinery, and the lights flickered out.

★

Dios mio. . .my God

Como ce dice. . . How do you say

Solo di que es muy peligroso y estar hecho con eso. . .Just say it's very dangerous and be done with it.

Tendremos que trabajar más en tu español. Muy inestable en el mejor de los casos. . .We will have to work more on your Spanish. Very unstable at best

como un cerdo en el carnicero. . .like a pig at the butcher

pasmoso. . .breathtaking

Marguerite. . .Daisy

chica. . .girl

¿Cómo está él, por cierto?. . .How is he, by the way?

Dolorido. No puede distinguir entre izquierda y derecha, y piensa que un coma es una siesta. ¿Quién eres tú?. . .Sore. Can't tell left from right, and thinks a coma is a nap. Who are you?

Guys wtf look at this??? Look at what happened while I was working on this chapter???

Wattpad what the actual heckity HECKNUTS is going on here?? demons??? Y'all got some DEMONS on this godforsaken website???? WATTPAD EXPLAIN PLEASE WHAT THE FRIJOLES!?!?

on a less FREAKED OUT tangent, i'm really sorry it's taken me even longer than usual to update. i've been dealing with some personal family issues and we're on the road to healing. thanks for your patience and love!! you guys are awesome and it makes me so happy seeing you enjoy my work :) not to sound like a Mom™ but take care of yourselves and if you guys ever need anything at all my PMs are always open (and pretty dry, i really only ever talk to spathidromeas12 anyways lol). i've also recently published a short story i wrote for a contest, so check it out! i'd love your feedback because i know you guys are all pretty honest lol. aaand that brings us to our question: what is your favorite name? i absolutely ADORE the name adelina and you can bet that if i have children that i will have at least one (1) adelina.
love ya lots!
cajoling

9/2/18