SITTING IN A FORGOTTEN CORNER of Olympus, Ophelia closed her eyes and focused on the steady warm breath against her leg. Leah had finally fallen asleep. Ophelia had at last rid her fine, black hair of tangles. She let the girl just rest.

Beside her sat Tyler, fidgeting with his small celestial bronze knife. Her thirteen year old half brother had barely spoken ten words since they'd woken up with the return of the lyre. As far as Ophelia could tell, Tyler Ahmed and Leah Kim were the only children of Hecate left alive after the Battle of Manhattan. So few.

All the rage in Ophelia's body had settled deep in her chest. A heavy weight made her struggle for breath, a painful reminder of her weakness. Leah and Tyler didn't have that problem. They could still use magic. Their power increased at night, but they never went without. They never lost a part of themselves under the sun.

She had Eris and Nyx to thank for that. Ophelia forced herself to take a deep breath. When she had stopped breathing, she wasn't sure. As she continued to methodically run her fingers through Leah's hair, she tried to think positively.

They were going back to camp. Leah and Tyler had both agreed to give it a try. She had confidence that Leah would find a place there. But risking a glance sideways at Tyler, still spinning his knife in his hands, she wasn't sure about him. They'd try.

Most of the demigods had refused to go to Camp Half-Blood. At least, not right away. Some of the runaways agreed to go home again, to give it another shot. The older ones refused out of spite. They said they would rather live on the streets for a year or two than associate with the enemy.

Ophelia sighed. She hadn't tried very hard to dissuade them. She understood, more than they realized.

Hoofbeats on marble echoed from down the hall. She looked up as Chiron came through the doorway, a sad, pitying smile on his face. He looked pristine in his professor's clothes. Ophelia stopped playing with Leah's hair.

"How are you feeling, my dear?"

"Fine," she said.

Silence lingered between them. He knew what had happened, she was sure. Everyone on Olympus probably knew. She'd felt their judgment as she'd limped up the roads to the palace, struggling with Kitty behind Alex. Glares, small gasps of recognition. She'd heard them all. She wondered if the half-bloods Chiron had been leading knew.

Looking on the faces of the children they'd saved left Ophelia hollow. They were a reminder of her failure. They'd settled for half a victory.

"It's time. Those who have chosen not to return to Camp Half-Blood have already left," Chiron said. "Ready?"

She sighed, looking down at Leah using her thighs like a pillow.

"I'll carry her."

Ophelia looked up when Alex spoke. Her eyes went first to his perfectly healed face and then to his new, bright orange Camp shirt. She hadn't expected him to put the tattered Disney shirt back on but for the briefest moment, seeing him in the orange felt wrong.

"She needed sleep," Ophelia said. "Real sleep."

He lifted her gently off the ground, cradling the small girl to his chest. Not risking another word, he just nodded to her. Ophelia tried to smile back.

Leah still hadn't woken up by the time she, Alex, Tyler, and Chiron reached the gates of Olympus. Kitty would be staying. Apollo still had some ideas he wanted to try to bring her memory back. It felt a bit too much like a scientist and a lab rat to Ophelia, but she kept her mouth shut. Far be it from her to keep Kitty from regaining what she'd lost.

A small host of demigods awaited them. Chiron had sent his field trip ahead of them back home in the care of a satyr. Though they'd have to integrate the twenty or so survivors of Luke's side into the demigods of Camp Half-Blood, the entrance of Olympus before a long bus ride back hardly seemed the place to do it.

Ophelia watched the way Alex kept Leah close to his chest. They hadn't been particularly close. But he cared so deeply. A creeping ache took root around her heart as she remembered his tears in the Underworld. Tears she had caused.

The gods deserved the pain she had tried to inflict. Alex did not. She had watched the way he would absentmindedly feel the scar she had given him through his shirt. It had taken over the scar from his childhood. Ophelia had taken the place of the memory of his mother. It didn't seem fair.

Then again, what did fair mean? Percy Jackson, a child born to an Oathbreaker God, had been offered godhood himself. The Olympians retained their bloody thrones. She lost her powers to the daylight.

Chiron passed out camp shirts when they reached the lobby of the Empire State Building. Only a few children put them on. The others just held the folded orange tees as they clambered into an old yellow school bus.

Ophelia leaned her head against the weathered glass as the bus struggled against New York traffic. The camper tee Chiron had given her sat atop her crossed legs. She couldn't bring herself to put it on.

The seat shifted. She turned her head to look and forced a smile through unshed tears. Alex didn't say anything, he just grabbed her hand and held it. He always had such warmth in his grip.

They didn't speak the whole way to Camp Half-Blood. Most of the children in the bus stayed quiet. Others got into trouble. But so much had happened the last few weeks that it felt like another lifetime ago when they had been singing Spice Girls by the campfire.

When the bus stopped near the foot of Half-Blood Hill, the children seemed to come to life. Leah grinned from ear to ear as she raced Tyler up to the tree where Peleus the Dragon slept all curled up. Others followed, screaming and laughing.

"They seem happy," Alex said. He stepped lighter than she remembered. Less weighed down. "Makes my job easier."

Ophelia paused. They stood at the base of the hill, watching Chiron ascend after the demigods. She turned to face him. "What job?"

"Chiron asked me to serve as his assistant." Alex smiled. "Senior Camp Counselor. I'll be helping all new half-bloods integrate into Camp life. Among other things."

A lump formed in her throat. But Ophelia forced a smile. "You'll be amazing at that. Camp Half-Blood is lucky to have you."

He laughed. They stayed up the hill, wading through the grass. "I don't know about all that. But I can't wait to see the Stolls when they hear I'm in charge of them. Kind of."

Even Ophelia had to chuckle at that. They crested the hill. Camp lay below them. In the distance she saw the Big House. A couple of older campers used the volleyball courts. Three canoes raced each other in the water. Olympian bliss.

"Come on," Alex said. He grabbed her hand.

She allowed herself to be dragged down the hill. They found Chiron speaking to all the new children in the center of camp near a massive wooden notice board. Year-rounders trickled over.

"If you know your godly parent, please see the notice board. We have posted a map of all the cabin assignments, one through twenty."

Ophelia paused. Twenty?

Alex looked as confused as she felt. As she went to ask if he had any idea what the new cabins wore, a voice whispered behind them.

"Welcome back."

Ophelia and Alex spun around to find Connor and Travis with arms folded and smirks on their faces. As she tried to calm her racing heart, all she could do was roll her eyes. Travis laughed.

"Twenty cabins?" Alex said.

Travis nodded. He gestured off in the direction of the camp cabins. "We've finished all the cabins for the minor gods. So you don't have to go back to Cabin 11, Ophelia. You get your own room."

Her own cabin. Hecate's cabin. Leah and Tyler would have their own home already. She'd forgotten about that.

"'To Herald's home but one returns'," Alex said. He grinned. "That's what it meant!"

"Kitty gets one too," Travis said. He glanced around and past them. Then he paused. His smile fell. "She's here?"

As Chiron droned on about rules, regulations, and information on learning sessions while at Camp over the school year, the four of them fell silent.

"Kitty's still in Olympus," Alex said. He frowned. "It's a long story, but she lost a lot of her memory. Apollo's trying to restore it."

"How'd that happen?" Connor said.

Alex shook his head. "I'll explain later. Right now, I should help Chiron."

"With what?" Travis said.

"Oh, did you not hear?" He smirked, walking backwards away from them. "I'm in charge of cabin counselors now."

He turned as Connor and Travis broke into fearful objections. Ophelia watched in amusement as they chased after him through the crowd. It left Ophelia alone under the sun. Her skin had started to sting, pins and needles across her arms and hairline. The late morning sun beat down over them with a fury. Ophelia risked a quick glance up at the sky before making her way to the cabins.

She sensed Hecate's before she saw it. Power emanated from the very stones as Ophelia approached. They were dark, engraved with runes of protection that Ophelia had never seen. She wondered who had carved them.

The answer came in the form of a teenage girl with long dark hair and brown skin, her cheeks rosy in the sunlight as she sat on the steps of the cabin eating ice cream. As a few drops fell onto her ripped jeans, she muttered something. The stain evaporated.

"Who are you?" Ophelia said.

The girl looked up. With a raise of an eyebrow, she took another long bite of her soft serve vanilla cone. Then she stood up. "Lou Ellen Blackstone, counselor of Hecate's Cabin. You are?"

Ophelia's mouth dried. Another sibling. A new one. Where had she been during the war?

"Ok, nevermind."

"I'm sorry. I'm Ophelia Byrd," she said. "Daughter of—"

"Hecate!" Lou Ellen smiled. "I've heard about you. You were on a quest! Wanna come inside?"

Ophelia wanted nothing more, if only to escape the daylight. So she followed Lou Ellen in the entrance of the cabin. High ceilings had moss and bioluminescent plants dangling around an old iron chandelier. Cushioned benches lined the walls around a table with a built in cauldron at the center. They had wall scones holding electric torches and the symbol of Hecate's wheel carved in the wooden floor of the entrance. Ophelia flinched at the reminders.

"Welcome home!" Lou Ellen grinned, settling down in one of the benches. "Do you like it? Annabeth Chase and I designed it."

Home. A home surrounded by symbols of the gods. A home for Leah, for Tyler. It would've been a home for Samuel and the others had they lived. If she hadn't killed him. If she hadn't failed to bring him back.

But as Ophelia told Lou Ellen how much she loved it, she knew in her heart that this would never be her home. To these gods, she could never pray.

She found Alex and Chiron in the library of the Big House after dinner. She hadn't seen him so joyful in years. He had a purpose. He had a home.

Ophelia knocked on the open door. Chiron and Alex turned to her. The former invited her in.

"What's up?" Alex said.

She took a deep breath. Her voice trembled at first. It took all her concentration to straighten it and herself.

"I can't stay here."

"I had my suspicions you would want to leave," Chiron said.

But Alex didn't respond. He'd been stricken silent, the joy evaporating from him the moment she spoken. Ophelia tried not to look at him. She tried to stand resolute in her plan.

"I can't live here," she said. "Not while there are other children out there I can find."

"What?" Alex said.

Ophelia glanced at him again. "I'm going to find my other siblings. Lou Ellen was out there. There must be others." She took a deep breath, choking a bit on the stinging lump in her throat from unshed tears.  "I'm going to bring them here."

Chiron walked over to her. He placed a hand on her arm and smiled. "I think that is the right decision, Ophelia. You know what it's like to be alone. You can help others not feel the same."

"Thank you," she said, tears in her eyes, "for understanding."

Chiron left them alone surrounded by books and knickknacks. They found themselves silently staring into each other's eyes in the same place they had planned their quest a few weeks ago. She forced her tears down as Alex stood away from the couch and moved over to her. She had feared seeing anger in his eyes. But instead he grasped for words, tears filling his eyes. Why did her love keep causing him to cry?

"Ophelia."

"Don't try to stop me, Alex." She covered her mouth, stuffing the sobs back inside. "I've thought about this all day. I can't stay here."

He didn't respond. He mirrored her, hand over mouth, arms crossed, shoulders tight.

"I can't. I can't be here. Not right now," she said. "But I'll be back. I promise."

"You're leaving tonight?" he said.

Ophelia could hear the exhaustion in his voice. But she had to leave. "At sunset."

"For shadow travel."

She nodded.

"It's almost sunset."

"I know."

Her Stygian Iron dagger hung from her belt. Ophelia had found a loose purple tank top she'd found in an old storage chest from the Aphrodite cabin to replace her dirty Disney World shirt. Goodbyes had already been said. Will had given her a small bag of ambrosia. Lou Ellen would look after Leah and Tyler. Alex had been her last stop.

"Walk me to the border?" was all she managed to say before her tears fell.

He didn't need to be asked. Alex had already taken her hand. They left through the front door, listening to the laughter of demigods, satyrs, and nymphs on the wind as the Apollo Cabin kick-started campfire songs.

They walked side by side, hand in hand to Thalia's Tree. A mosaic of purples, reds, and golds painted the sky. Clouds that almost glowed from the light of the dying sun crowned the sunset. As they stood side by side a few meters from the tree, she caught the scent of fresh strawberries and bonfire.

"I love you," Alex said. She could hear the tears in his voice even before he turned to face her. "You know that. I will always love you."

Ophelia couldn't stop an ugly sob from escaping her practiced countenance as pulled both her hands to his chest. "I know. I know. Alex, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's okay. I get it," he said. "I ran from this place, too." He pulled her forehead into his. She felt the warmth of his breath against her face. "You just have to come back. Promise me."

"I promise."

Ophelia kissed him as the sun went down. Shadows fueled her as she struggled to breathe against him. She would come back. She would. She needed him here, to give the children she would find a home, a leader. But she would be back.

"I promise," she whispered. Ophelia didn't want to pull away, standing with her head against his. "I promise."

"Then go be a hero," he said.

Ophelia chuckled through her weeping. She stepped back, not letting go of his hands. Every callous, every scar she recognized. She loved.

With a final smile and memorization of his pale blue eyes, golden hair, and beautiful face she released him. The shadows spun and danced around her. She heard no whispers. She only felt the close blanket of the darkness as with a single thought, the world went dark.