Pollux's mother was too sweet.

It made no sense to Emilia how this woman could ever have liked someone like Dionysus. She barely knew him but everyone at camp collectively agreed that he was... definitely a character. Of course this woman had attracted his interests– she was a biologist who happened to have been adopted into the Riboli wine family.

Emilia was given a tour of her little house, filled with photographs of their family. There were six albums stacked and filled with pictures of Castor and Pollux as they were growing up, including some pictures of them in orange t-shirts, taken by a different camera than the one she'd used for the majority of the pictures.

Dionysus was present in a few of the pictures from Camp. He was more present in the twins' lives than any other godly parent. He'd spoken to their mother at length about a timeline for when they should go to camp. He sent her updates the entire time, he arranged for meetings in New York so the boys could see her without being too far from safety.

Maybe he wasn't so bad. Ms. Riboli had such great things to say about him. She even missed him now that he wasn't able to make contact with anyone outside of Olympus. He'd been a father to his children, he'd respected her as more than just a woman who gave birth to his children. It was more than what could be said about the other gods.

"What are you thinking about, honey?"

She glanced up as Ms. Riboli as she came to sit beside her, holding two glasses of wine. "Pollux is trying an Iris-message to that nice girl he mentioned, Krista," said his mother, smiling and offering Emilia a glass. "Want to try it? It's sweet, you'll like it."

Emilia accepted it. She mimicked Ms. Riboli by swirling it around the glass, then took a sip. Her eyes lit up. "Wow. If churches had wine like this, I would have wanted to do communion more often."

She laughed, still so full of life. "I'm glad you like it. Pollux said you'll be going to San Francisco and San Diego after this. You excited?"

"For SF, yes," she said. "I'll be glad to see my aunt again. SD... less so. My family wasn't so..." She gestured around at the house, "Whole. How did you do it? How did you come to terms with the fact you were with a god, that you were going to have children with him, that they were going to be at risk all their lives?" She stopped when she saw a pensive look on the woman's face. "I'm sorry, Ms. Riboli, I shouldn't be prying–"

"Nonsense," she said, waving her hand. "And please, call me Lucia. For starters, it was confusing once he finally told me the truth. The twins were so young, I was almost still a child myself, not much older than you when I had them. I was lucky to have had the privilege of a good family name. Other demigod parents aren't so fortunate. It took several weeks to come to terms with it. When he had to go, I felt empty. My boys were my only solace. Eventually, seeing them leave, it broke me. I didn't want to let them go but I knew it was for the best. I couldn't protect them here. As a parent, all you want to do is see your children succeed. How could I be sure if they would when I had nothing to contribute?"

"You contributed a lot," reasoned Emilia. "Pollux always speaks highly of you. They were both great boys. I'm..." She didn't know what to say about Castor, but Lucia seemed to understand.

"I know it was not your fault," said Lucia. "I don't blame the gods. I don't blame the demigods. I blame... bad parenting. Pollux has explained to me what's been going on, in pieces. One bad parent makes another and the cycle continues until everyone is forced to heal from something, everyone has to grapple with choices where someone always gets hurt. Kronos, he was hungry for power. It made him dangerous but it also left him vulnerable. He overlooked the strength of family, of friendships, of love. Gaea will be different, I think. She's bringing the giants back, she loves her children too much. She wants to give them the world, she wants them to tear down the lineage she thinks was tainted. It will make her more cunning, more precise in her attacks."

"How are we going to beat her?" whispered Emilia. "How do we heal all these wounds between the Greeks and Romans, how do we make peace with the gods? They promised to do better and they didn't. How do I get my mother to stop helping her?"

Lucia cupped her face. "You are all so brilliant. Demigods continue to exist because the world needs heroes and you all have half the strength of gods while carrying the compassion and humility of humans. It's unfair and it hurts you all so very much. None of you ever asked for this. It is a burden you are all strong enough to carry if you choose it. No one can force you into things. Same way you will not be able to force your mother to abandon her. You have to make her see reason. Without aggression. Find what Gaea clung to, the weak link that made your mother her target. Heal her in a way only you can, as her child. You must love yourself before you can teach others to love. Gaea will not yield easily but neither will any of you."

Emilia looked out at the vineyards far beneath them, sighing as Lucia finished, "Stay open-minded. Try to be patient. You can't win an argument solely with a harsh tone. Your words need to seep into the body, they can't just cut the surface. Causing someone pain doesn't teach them anything."

She wrote herself a mock speech while they were in Napa, planning out everything she intended to say to her father. She rehearsed it as they rode the train down to San Francisco, where her aunt was waiting with pozole and tamales. She fed them so much, Emilia wasn't sure she'd make it to San Diego in one piece.

Her Aunt Evangelina scolded her for not bringing Hylla to San Francisco (as if Emilia could've dragged her away from Seattle!). She gave her a few bits of advice on planning dates, but insisted Piper would probably know better than her– she was an old woman without much romantic experience and frankly, Emilia got the sense her aunt didn't really like that scene at all unless it was fictional and televised.

She asked her aunt a bit more about her father. What he was like as a young man, what his perspective was on having kids. Admittedly, Emilia was disappointed to hear how similar she and her father were. She should've gotten to live that. It didn't feel fair that she had to hear someone else tell her that Emilio was just as prone to respond in a sarcastic tone, just as quick to anger as his eldest child.

What would it have been like if her father was about as involved as Dionysus, enough to make sure his daughter was okay? Her aunt admitted that her father never reached out. He didn't ask how Emilia was, he just expected his sister would take care of her. Did he look for her when he heard she disappeared? How long did it take for him to find out or to be worried? Had he ever worried?

She was worried she might not even get to meet Daniel, who had expressed the most interest in her, but it turned out that her aunt had subtly suggested he go home for the weekend as a surprise for Blanca's birthday. He had no reason to argue when she offered to pay for his ticket.

Pollux enjoyed the entire drive down to San Francisco. Emilia swore he used his magic on every single field they passed by, letting the trees blossom off-season. He was tempted to stop at Disneyland once they were near Anaheim, but was coaxed out of it by Emilia, who was too anxious to get to San Diego and just rip the band-aid off. She wasn't sure she could handle roller coasters before such a conversation, and she didn't know how Pollux even expected to pay for their tickets.

"So...." Pollux slowly munched on some Cheetos and watched her glare at the entrance to a mechanic shop. Her father was standing by the entrance, explaining something to one of his coworkers. "Are we just going to sit here?"

"I can't believe I wrote a whole speech," muttered Emilia. "I already forgot it and I don't even know where to start."

"We could just pop by the house."

"I want to talk to him first. I want to see him before I approach my siblings. Before I get anywhere near her. That's who I really have to make amends with. I don't know if I even want to. But unless I see him first... there's no chance of him supporting me so I can just talk to Daniel and Alejandro at the very least."

"I could pretend this car needs a checkup or something. Or–" She abruptly exited the vehicle and heard him say, "Or you could just burst out dramatically and scare the shit out of him."

She approached as casually as she could, trying her best to keep the shadows contained in the singular one her body was supposed to create under the sun. Her father didn't notice her right away, not until one of the other mechanics called out, "Buenas tardes, Señorita, ¿con qué le podemos ayudar?" (T: Good afternoon, Miss, what can we help you with?)

As Emilio turned, his face went pale. Emilia came to a halt and gulped, instinctively taking a step back in an effort not to overwhelm him. "Yo le ayudo, Jorge," he said to the other guy, voice surprisingly steady. He motioned for him to leave and Jorge shuffled off. As soon as he was gone, he swayed like he might faint. "Me dijeron que estabas muerta. Tu tía dijo que desapareciste." (T: I'll help her, Jorge. They told me you were dead. Your aunt said you disappeared)

"Por casi dos años," she admitted. "No tiene tanto que la encontré de nuevo. Muchas cosas sucedieron y... finalmente estoy aquí. Quería hablar con usted, quería conocer a mis hermanos. Yo he cambiado. No soy un peligro para ellos." (T: For almost two years. It wasn't that long ago that I found her again. Many things happened and... I'm finally here. I wanted to speak with you, I wanted to meet my siblings. I've changed. I'm not a danger to them.)

His face fell visibly, perhaps pained. "No me tienes que decir de 'usted.' Soy... tu papá. Vente, en mi oficina podemos hablar." (T: You don't have to address me formally. I'm... your dad. Come, we can speak in my office.)

She followed him through a set of double doors at the end of the shop, then down a hallway to the last room where a small office was set-up. It was filled with boxes, all sorts of files that he didn't seem to want to put in a cabinet. He must've had records from a decade ago here.

"Do you want anything to drink?" he asked awkwardly. "I have some water bottles and a few cartons of apple juice."

"I'm fine," said Emilia, taking a seat across from him. "Look, um, there's a lot for me to say. I don't really know how to explain it all since I don't know what you do and don't know about me or what you believe... in terms of deities."

He made a face. "What? Deities?"

"Like... Greek and Roman gods. Do you believe in that?"

"I read stories before." He didn't seem to know what else to tell her. "You are... all grown up. I never forgot you were older than Daniel but I haven't seen you since you were a baby so I had no idea what you looked like now."

"You never... saw pictures of me?"

He shook his head. "No. I never... asked for any. You look so much like my mother when she was young. More like Evangelina's daughter than mine. Well... go ahead. I don't know how much I'll understand but you're here. I want to listen to whatever it is you're going to tell me." He was tense, as if bracing himself for being yelled at.

Emilia didn't yell. She tried to be as patient as possible, running him through the same story she'd told her aunt, but with more details. She told him about her memories of San Diego, about growing up in San Francisco, about feeling out of place in every setting she'd ever been in. He teared up when she spoke of her desire to go to Berkeley, he looked down at his feet when she mentioned Kronos. She wasn't sure if it was getting to be too much, if maybe explaining such bizarre things on top of making him feel guilty about his absence in her life was too much.

But if it was a lot, he didn't say it. He didn't stop her even when she started talking about Gaea, about what she'd made Eris do. She swore there was relief on his face– maybe at long last he felt like her arrival made sense. He'd almost lost his wife because she thought he'd cheated. He just listened and listened until she stopped to drink water, throat parched from talking for too long. Lately, it seemed all she did was talk. It was abnormal and he must have sensed that, too.

"Ay, mija," he said softly, unable to look at her. "Ni sé qué decirte." (T: Oh, my daughter. I don't even know what to tell you.)

It hurt her, even though she knew it shouldn't. He probably just needed a moment to process it all but to Emilia, it was a rejection. "Anything," she said, eyes immediately watering in indignation. "You... you could apologize for having sent me away. Apologize for never checking in. It's not your fault the rest of it happened but... I was five. Why would you have even kept me in the first place if... if you weren't going to want me?"

"I genuinely thought it was some sort of test of my faith. Instead... apparently... it was all... a scheme. I let it get to me, I thought I could solve what I perceived to be a problem by... sending it away. I should've fought harder to keep you there. You never hurt anyone. I can't possibly make up for it, ever."

Emilia stared at him. "Yes, you can make up for it. Apologize. You can apologize. Because everything you just said, that's not an apology!" She'd once spoken to Leo about how some parents had a complete inability to apologize when they did something wrong. Was her father one of those people?

"I'm sorry," said Emilio honestly, relaxing her instantly. "I'm sorry, I should've worked something out, I shouldn't have let Ximena talk about you so badly or threaten you. I should've called, I should have visited, I should've cared. I wanted to, at first. Then I realized how easy it was not to. To just forget, to pretend it never happened. To focus on my kids and..." He stopped once he realized what he'd said.

She reached for a paper and pen off his desk and scribbled an address. Maybe her mother had known this, maybe her mother chose him because she knew that no matter how much of a 'miracle' he thought her to be, he wouldn't hold out in the end. Maybe she'd even sowed enough discord in Ximena to get her to kick her out. Gaea could've even influenced Evangelina into moving to San Francisco— she never understood why they left.

Her hand shook as she finished writing. "I'm... I'm done here. Show this to Daniel and Alejandro, it's where I'll be staying. They can come and see me if they want. They can bring Xochitl and Blanca if your wife will let them. I did what I wanted to do, I told you the truth. It's off my chest and that's that.."

"Please, stay," he pleaded, stopping her from leaving the office. "Come by the house. Have dinner with us. I want them to hear your story. The boys, at least, and Ximena. Xochitl is a bit younger and Blanca is too small to understand but I want them to maybe hear you out, too."

She hesitated. It would be as easy for her to give up and leave as it was for him to not give a damn about her. But she couldn't set things right if she left. She couldn't make any amends if she didn't press on.

"Fine," she said. "My friend is with me, he'll come, too."

"Friend? Or boyfriend?"

"Friend," insisted Emilia. "He's my best friend. I... well, I guess I should let this out before I go into your home just in case there's anything you need to warn me about. I like both girls and guys and I'm involved with a girl right now."

She expected him to cringe, to be like most other religious folk and turn her away. Her aunt had always been more open-minded and he didn't strike her as such. Ximena, even less. She was sure her stepmother would throw a fit.

Instead, his face lit up. "After everything, you... are happy?" he asked quietly. "You like a girl?"

His curiosity and– she hoped she was reading him correctly– excitement was calming. "Yes," said Emilia shakily. "Her name is Hylla, she's Puerto Rican, she's strong and beautiful and also a demigod so... she gets me."

"That... sounds very nice. Perhaps I can meet her one day. Come. I'll clock out now, let's get going."

She and Pollux followed his car with theirs, parking across the street from the house. The only reason she didn't freeze at the entrance was because she'd already been there in the vision Gaea let her have. She could hear the television but no voices. There was only one car in the driveway but Emilio parked on the street; maybe Daniel had a car of his own and wasn't here now. Her siblings might not be home at all.

As Emilio opened the front door, the smell of picadillo washed over her. Ximena's voice called out– much warmer than she'd spoken when Daniel started snapping at her around Christmas, "Mi amor, los muchachos se fueron a traer unas tostadas– se me olvidaron. Si se te antoja algo más, mándale mensaje a Alejandro para que traigan." (T: My love, the kids went to bring some tostadas– I forgot them. If you're craving anything else, send Alejandro a message so they can bring it.)

She turned away from the stove, acknowledging that her husband hadn't come alone. "Ximena," warned Emilio as her face turned into a sneer, hands clenched as if she was about to throw the nearest saucepan at Emilia. "You need to hear what she has to say."

"¿Por qué está esta chiquilla en mi casa?" she snarled. "¡Sácala de aquí!" (T: Why is this brat in my house? Get her out of here!)

"No," said Emilio sharply, much to Emilia's surprise. "Ximena, tiene mucho que decir. La tienes que oír. Yo pensaba que había desaparecido para siempre– pensé que estaba muerta. Los muchachos la quieren conocer. No les voy a quitar esa oportunidad. Es su derecho." (T: No. Ximena, she has a lot to say. You have to hear her. I thought she had disappeared forever– I thought she was dead. The kids want to meet her. I'm not going to take that opportunity away from them. It's their right.)

With a sour expression, she slowly reached back to lower the heat on the picadillo. "And you?" she asked, pointing at Pollux. "Who the hell are you?"

"Her best friend," he said forcefully. Emilia had never heard him snap at anyone, but he seemed about to. "Here to support her. You're going to hear her out."

Against her will, Ximena sat down. Emilia ran through the story again, unintentionally speeding through it because the longer it took to tell Ximena everything, the longer both of them had to let that anger boil within.

Still, she tried to say everything calmly, without attacking her. Without instigating anything because then all that would happen was another screaming match. Ximena's face relaxed visibly when she spoke of Eris, perhaps only because the way Emilio was reacting suggested he truly believed it. And suddenly, she knew that her husband had never lied. He'd never been unfaithful.

"She didn't choose to be born anymore than I chose to have her," said Emilio once his daughter was done explaining, trembling beside Pollux with a sensation between resentment and fear. She wasn't sure which it was. "We both suffered and there was apparently a reason for it. I acknowledge I should not have sent her away. I shouldn't have washed my hands of it."

"But... she was a demon," whispered Ximena. "You saw it, you... you felt what she would do every time she was in a room. All happiness was suddenly gone. We argued all the time and when she was gone it stopped. You... you can't have forgotten that."

"She was five," said Emilio, voice breaking. "She didn't know she was controlling our emotions, making us angry at each other. She didn't know what she was anymore than we did. We blamed her for it but you heard what Daniel told us before. Our children were never afraid of her, they were afraid of us. Us arguing. We let it happen, we... chose to make it worse. Maybe her magic had some influence but I think you liked hating her as much as I liked yelling back at you because you refused to believe I was telling the truth.

"You and I, mi amor, we claim to be good Catholics but we cast out a child who needed us, we turned our backs on someone innocent because it was convenient, we convinced ourselves that a five-year-old could be a demon. All those legends you believe in, they might be true, they might not. But this... this I know is true. We failed her. She's all grown up and she doesn't need us anymore but she was willing to come here and face us to tell us her truth. We don't deserve for her to ever forgive us."

Emilia didn't realize she'd started crying again until Pollux was holding her hand. Her father smiled weakly, "You can visit us every day that you're here. I want all the children to meet you. Blanquita, she's so little she is still expecting her Hogwarts letter but I will explain things to them however you want me to. You decide. They're your siblings. They want to know you."

She glanced up at Ximena, who seemed unsure. "I'm not going to hurt them," she reiterated. "They're my family, I've never hated them or blamed them for what I went through. Whatever you think of me, I'm..." She sat up, trying to act more confident than she actually was. Maybe if she did that, she'd start to believe it, "I'm stronger than either of you could manage to be. I survived a war where I was manipulated into hurting my own. I survived a Titan who feeds off of anger and twists it and holds people hostage in their own minds. I endured months of therapy because I thought something was wrong with me but actually... nothing is. I just needed an environment where I felt accepted."

She smiled to herself, wiping beneath her eyes. "I have that now. I kept my friends alive on an insanely hard quest. I've faced off against giants, wolves, storm spirits, goddesses, and monsters you can't even imagine. I was created in the most terrifying place you can imagine. Even your devil would be afraid of Tartarus. I'm not changing myself for anyone. I'm powerful and I have carved my own path. Nothing you say will tear me down. I survived worse than anything you could put me through. I control my own fate and I don't know what's going to happen on the next quest, I don't know if I'll come back alive. But I'm willing to risk my life for something greater than myself. The only thing I want before I go is to know that I got to meet my siblings, that I gave our family a chance."

Ximena looked weary. "Well..." She cleared her throat, glancing between them. "I'll finish up that picadillo. The kids should be back sometime soon. You should know Blanquita can't keep a secret. So... she may need a modified version of all this. I don't think any of us want a twelve-year-old telling the world that her older sister is a demigod."

Emilia and Pollux only had to wait about five minutes before a car pulled up in the driveway. Ximena went out first to get Blanquita, insisting that she could go to the store with her for some dessert while the others went in to help their father serve the food. Clearly, they were confused. But as soon as Daniel walked in and saw Emilia, it made sense.

She was getting tired of telling the story, but by the third time, she appreciated that she'd had enough practice to word it all in a way that Xochitl, who was almost fifteen, could still understand. Daniel and Alejandro clung to every word, completely astounded.

"So... you're not going to be going to Berkeley?" asked Daniel at last.

"Not anytime soon," said Emilia gently. It relieved her how quickly her brother thought of seeing her on campus, of them being normal siblings. "I have to finish my quest. I'll try to visit before I go. After that... I don't know how long it'll take. We're going to be fighting a whole lot of monsters and giants so... anything could happen. But once it's all over, once we've won this next war, I will come back and we can talk about Berkeley. I don't know how admissions work anymore, you'll have to talk me through it."

"Can we see your spear?" asked Xochitl, wide-eyed. "I mean... would we even be able to see it?"

"Yes, actually," said Emilia. "Incubo, my spear, it's made of something called Stygian Iron. It can technically harm mortals. So you should be able to see it." She reached into the shadows, the room darkening significantly to form the spear. Emilio shifted uncomfortably, but the children weren't bothered in the slightest.

Xochitl immediately squealed in delight. "Can I hold it?!"

Emilia glanced at her father. "Um... I can hold it out for you." She turned the spear sideways, letting them examine it. "Don't touch the blade, it's pretty sharp..."

"This is so cool," said Xochitl, rambling. "You're like a superhero! My sister fights monsters and keeps the world safe from all the stuff we can't see. It's like Harry Potter or like The Vampire Diaries. Oh! I need to tell you about this Canadian cartoon we watched a few years back called Class of the Titans."

"Xochitl," warned Alejandro. "That's probably not a good show for her." When Emilia frowned, not understanding, he admitted, "Cronus is the main antagonist. Everything is still meant for kids but..."

Emilia's face flickered slightly, the spear dissolving in her hands and the shadows returning to where they came from. "Your mom is a character on the show, too," interrupted Daniel. "Except in the show she looks like a punk teen and she has this cell phone thing called the Applet of Discord and they say she's Hera's daughter."

"Oh, that's definitely not accurate," said Emilia, glad for the distraction. She reached into her shirt to show them her necklace. "That's my mother's symbol, the Apple of Discord. It turns into an Aztec death whistle but that might be a bad idea to blow in here."

Xochitl was fascinated by it anyway. "That almost looks like the necklace I got for my quinceañera. Oh!" She turned to her father, who was sitting with Pollux at the kitchen table to give them space. "Papi, can she come to my quinceañera in June?" She looked back at Emilia, remembering she might be leaving then. "Can you come?"

"I might be able to if it's in early June," said Emilia, unsure if this would be appropriate. She wanted to bet almost none of Emilio and Ximena's friends knew that Emilio had another daughter. The only friends she remembered meeting were a couple who became baptismal godparents of all three children, and probably also Blanca.

"If you can make it, you should come," offered Emilio with a small smile. "Xochitl has been insistent on wanting a quinceañera since she was a little girl."

Emilia hadn't even considered it as an option. Her sister seemed to be thinking this, so she offered dismissively, "I'm not a fan of parties when they're about me. I prefer to celebrate other people. I'll be there, I promise."

"Will we see you before then?" asked Alejandro.

"I'll try to visit, if I can," said Emilia. "There's work to be done on the Argo II. My friends need help preparing supplies, researching more about the giants so we know what to expect before we go. And I need to find out more about the Roman camp so we can find my friend Percy. It's also safer for me over there... where the monsters can't get close. Most don't but I don't want to put you guys in danger by staying too long. It's why we've only remained for two days in one place... outside of camp, anything can happen. We've been away long enough."

Daniel pursed his lips. "Do you have a phone so we can contact you?"

"Demigods and phones don't mix. Another signal to the monsters of where we are... they'd hear our voices and come right for us. We do use something called Iris-messaging but it's only possible using drachmas. You have to toss the coin into the rainbow and ask the goddess Iris to accept your offering but I don't think many mortals use that. Tell you what, I'm going to practice shadow-traveling a little more and maybe then, I can roam around safely from one place to another and visit more often. Would you like that?"

"Yes!" said Alejandro. "You're so cool. I wish I was a demigod, too."

Emilia half-smiled. "You guys are all smart, I bet you'd be great at it. Listen... I want to do my best to get to know you. I want to hear about your lives, I want to be a part of your futures. I needed to come and talk to you because I don't know how mine will be, so... at least I saw you once before things change. I care about you a lot, okay? You're my siblings and one day when this is over, I'd like to be around much more often than I can be now."

"Can we hug you?" asked Daniel carefully. "Is that... okay?"

She nodded. They took turns hugging her, the last being her father, who drew back at the end and performed the sign of the cross over her. "Cuídate mucho," he whispered. "Estoy... muy orgulloso de todo lo que has logrado." (T: Take care. I am... very proud of all that you've accomplished.)

They ate dinner once Ximena and Blanca were back. A modified story was told to Blanca, at least until she was old enough to be mature about things. She got to hear that Emilia had been living with their Aunt Evangelina to attend a special school and that now she was studying in New York, learning about Greek and Roman Mythology and how to speak several languages. All that mattered to Blanca was whether Emilia was willing to build a difficult puzzle with her.

She returned to Camp satisfied. Her body felt warmer than usual, fuzzy even. She told Piper, Jason, and Leo everything that night in Bunker Nine, starting with Hylla and working her way to her family. Jason swore Hylla and Reyna's names were familiar, but he didn't really elaborate on why.

They had a long talk about relationships, how they work, how you realize you like someone, how you plan a date. Emilia took notes, ignoring how Leo snickered at her. Leo insisted that being charismatic was the most important thing in a relationship, Jason believed being thoughtful about the little things was just as important, and Piper said that all that was fine, but what really mattered was that Emilia was aware of her feelings and communicated well.

People weren't mind-readers and relationships couldn't work without a good basis of what each one wanted and needed. The rest could be improvised, falling together like dominoes based on their personalities and interests.

"I'm happy for you," said Jason as he walked her back to her cabin. "You deserve this."

"Thank you," said Emilia. "You deserve to be happy too, Jason. I can't tell if you are."

He hesitated. "Reyna... I think she might've been someone special to me at... the cam I was in. I still can't remember a lot of things, but... something about her was significant to me. She mentioned Hylla to me, I think, because we were close. I haven't figured out how to tell Piper. I will, soon, but I don't want to hurt her."

"She'll appreciate the truth," said Emilia. "Whenever you're ready... she will be, too. She's strong, she can hear the truth."

"Do you think we'll really survive all this? Do you think we'll get our happy endings after this? We've been through enough but will it ever really be over?"

She put a hand on his shoulder. "I don't know what happens after Gaea dies, but I know we will survive. We will get our happy ending. I'm going to make sure of it."