You know that one annoying ex you had ages ago that just will never stop contacting you or let go of you, no matter how many times you block them? And they break no contact every single time you try to initiate it, even though you are so done with their ass and you just wish they would disappear off of the face of the earth.

Yeah, Aurora didn't either. She had never even had a boyfriend to begin with, let alone an ex.

But, if she had to picture someone that would match that exact description, it would be Luke Castellan—despite the fact that he was very much twenty years old and a literal adult preying on thirteen year old kids.

But in that horrible way where you look down at your phone and see the notification that he texted you, subsequently leaving you to inevitably fall into the trap of familiarity his presence gave you, a little spark of something slid up Aurora's veins—not in a "Yay, I'm so glad you called!" kind of way, but in a "I want to kill you, I hate you" kind of way. But, unfortunately, there was the slightest bit of the "If he doesn't kill me and we change him, does that mean he's my brother again?" kind of way nosing its way into Aurora's fixed mindset that Luke was evil, and he would never not be evil.

Because even though Luke was holding his sword against her neck, the same blade that had stabbed her in the side of her stomach last summer, he still looked like himself. He still looked like the boy who always thought of her needs first, the boy who made sure she felt seen and visible in a "family" of greats—Annabeth the wise, Gracie the kind, Luke the powerful.

"Don't touch her," Percy gritted out through clenched teeth, uncapping Riptide in a singular, swift movement. The celestial bronze sprung forward, glistening in the yellowing sun, his skin paling visibly at the sight of the sharpness of Backbiter on Aurora's pierceable flesh.

Percy was afraid. He feared for Aurora's safety, for her health. But Aurora did not. She didn't really care. After all, it wouldn't be the first time the son of Hermes wounded the girl.

"Should I be scared?" Luke laughed drily, Aurora rolling her eyes at his attempt at being the villain. He was failing miserably. Even Echidna was more entertaining than this.

Luke's bear-like bodyguards grabbed Annabeth and Grover by their T-shirt collars. The other tried to grab Tyson, but the baby Cyclops knocked him into a pile of luggage and roared at Luke.

And Percy was left unguarded. Armed. Were they stupid, or did they just want to die? Because, although Aurora would never want to admit it, the boy was powerful. He was terrifying when he wanted to be.

"What do you want, Luke?" The son of Poseidon growled, his jaw clenching and unclenching. His sea green eyes darted around calculatingly, doing a subtle double take as he realized that no one was advancing to take him into their control. "Really? No bear dude for me? That's kinda rude."

Luke just smiled, the scar rippling on the side of his face. He dug his sword deeper into Aurora's neck, until the daughter of Persephone felt something warm trickle down her neck and pool near her collarbone, before making a pathway onto her chest, beneath the fabric of her shirt.

(Aurora missed her dress from Circe's Island. Maybe Silena was rubbing off on her this summer, but if Luke was going to attempt to slaughter her again, she wanted to at least look cute this time.)

"Oh, Percy," the blond boy chuckled, shaking his head as the weapon dug deeper into the thin wound, causing more blood to be drawn. Aurora couldn't look down, but she could practically smell the metallic maroon. "We both know that if you do anything, I'll hurt Rory. And we both know you'll never let anything happen to any of your stupid friends, especially not her. Now get on board."

Aurora couldn't help but bristle at Luke's words. Percy's "stupid friends" had been his fucking family, for gods' sakes! But obviously that meant nothing to him. Percy would never let any of them endanger themselves, let alone hurt them. Luke, on the other hand, was the one drawing more blood from Aurora's neck as time ticked. The blade pressed against her pulse, not nearly touching the muscles or veins in her neck yet, but both she and Luke knew that if he went any further, he might as well call himself the guillotine because her head would basically be severed off.

"What?" Percy spat, his glower turning darker as his gaze followed where Luke started to gesture towards. Near the end of the dock was none other than the fucking Princess Andromeda, the biggest boat in the port. "You're not doing anything to her."

"You're right, I'm not. Because you will be doing everything I say, or else she's through." And Aurora watched with horror as Luke found the son of Poseidon's weak spot, and Percy listened to that evil son of a bitch.

The bear twins herded Aurora's friends aboard, throwing them down on the aft deck in front of a swimming pool with sparkling fountains that sprayed air. A dozen of Luke's assorted snake people, Laistrygonians, and demigods in battle armor gathered around.

Luke grabbed Aurora's arm and threw her with the rest of her friends, sliding his wrist in a singular fluid motion, Backbiter leaving her with a sweet parting gift. The blade slashed her skin so the cut stretched to the back of her neck, a shallow abrasion, but still visible.

He watched with apprehension and the slightest sadistic smirk as she stumbled lightheadedly, Percy's arms being the only thing that steadied her. Her gash had deepened significantly without her noticing it, Backbiter apparently pressing harder and harder the more Luke had talked. The wound was thin but gaping, a cavernous river of scarlet.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck," Percy muttered, trying to keep his concern from his voice but ultimately failing. He cupped her face, applying pressure with his palm to the side of her neck, a futile attempt at appeasing the gush of blood. "How are you—will you fucking stop?" Percy snapped, glaring fumingly at Luke, who was prodding the back of his shirt with the tip of his sword. "I think you've done enough with that piece of shit."

"Relax, Jackson," Luke mused, rolling his eyes as if they were being dramatic. "I'm just looking for the Fleece. Where is it?"

"Keep my mother's name out of your mouth," Percy bit out, his hand still wrapped around Aurora's injury as he used his other one to flip off the older boy.

However, Luke paid no mind to the teenager, and instead poked Grover's jean.

"Hey!" Grover yelled indignantly. "That's real goat fur under there!"

"Sorry, old friend." Luke grinned wickedly. "Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest."

"'Old friend?'" Grover repeated, appalled. "You just called us stupid! Some friend you are."

"It's okay, Goat Boy," Aurora grunted out with an aloof, sloppy smile. "You can say 'fuck you.' It's not that deep."

"Unlike your cut," Percy whispered, his voice low so only she could hear. It was not the circumstance for that action, but Aurora tilted her head slightly, taking Percy's palm with her as he pressed down harder to stop the flow of fluid outwards.

"Was that supposed to be funny?"

"No, I just didn't know what to say."

"Maybe you didn't hear me." Luke cut them both off, his straightened, tense posture the only sign of irritation, as his voice was dangerously calm. "Where is the Fleece?"

"Not here," Percy told the son of Hermes, a hint of boastfulness laced into his words. Aurora would've told him to shut his mouth, but she was tired, and the more blood she lost, the more her thoughts started to become one scrambled strand of mush. She didn't like seeing Percy's hands so red, or his expression so helpless—yet cocky at the same time. "We sent it on ahead of us. You messed up."

Luke's blue eyes narrowed. "You're lying. You couldn't have..." But his gaze switched to Aurora, her powerlessness and impotence, the way Percy was the only thing keeping her alive, acting as her very own personal human bandage, and his pupils widened as the horrible possibility of the truth dawned upon him. "Clarisse?"

Aurora nodded, a sense of confidence settling on the punctured girl—which was incredibly stupid for a girl who couldn't even see straight. "Suck on that."

"You trusted..." Luke stammered in disbelief, "you gave..."

"Yup!" Percy beamed, popping the "p" with smugness.

"Agrius!" Luke barked, the bear giant flinching as he rushed to his boss's side. "Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to Miami Airport, fast."

"But, boss—" Agrius started.

"Do it!" Luke ordered, his voice loud and tyrannical. "Or I'll feed you to the drakon!"

The bear-man gulped and lumbered down the stairs. Luke paced in front of the swimming pool, cursing in Ancient Greek, gripping his sword so tight his knuckles turned white. The rest of Luke's crew looked uneasy. Maybe they'd never seen their boss so unhinged before. Luke was unhinged. Even if you had one eye, you could see it. (Aurora's looking at you, Ethan Nakamura.)

"I have a plan," Percy murmured, his fingers curling around her neck with a sense of protectiveness. "Just stay with me for a little bit longer, okay?"

Aurora muttered something that sounded like gibberish, hoping he would understand that she meant to say "Okay." Percy's voice, although soothing and comforting at times, just sounded like a whole bunch of yap. Yet, Aurora's brain fixated on his words, clinging to the sound of whatever the fuck he was trying to do to distract herself from the burning of her gash, the white hot pain that was taking over her mind. All she could feel and think was just, "Ow."

She didn't even notice when Percy reluctantly switched out with a demanding Annabeth, who glared at the black haired boy long enough for him to abandon his post as her bandaid.

"You tricked all of us!" Percy yelled, a little too loudly. "Even Dionysus at Camp Half Blood."

Meanwhile, Annabeth was dumbing down his plan for a woozy Aurora, because she was not getting it, and wasn't really trying to in the first place. "Percy's actually being smart, Ror! Wanna congratulate him?" The blonde girl cooed softly, keeping the pressure applied to Aurora's lesion as she let the daughter of Persephone lean against her. (After all, Annabeth was the tallest of their group, excluding Tyson.)

"I wanna sleep." Aurora mumbled drowsily, blinking slowly. The lights were too bright.

"Sleep is good too. But don't." Annabeth tried to keep panic from her voice as she wrapped her hand around Aurora's neck—firmer this time, her grip heavy to stop the blood from cascading.

"Who poisoned Thalia's tree, Luke?" Percy rasped, his voice practically dripping with hostility. His eyes were narrowed, Riptide drawn, and to Aurora's dazed gaze, he looked like a Greek hero, with his tousled hair and determined lour.

"I did, of course," Luke snarled. "I already told you that. I used elder python venom, straight from the depths of Tartarus."

"I like your hair." Aurora hummed, reaching up to grab a blonde coil that escaped her friend's ponytail and tugging at it softly, watching as the curl bounced at the release. "The curls are curling."

"Thanks. I tried to put curl cream in it before we left." Annabeth muttered laconically, uncaring for the particular subject of conversation.

"Mmm. Mousse?"

"Yeah, Ror."

"Moose." Aurora giggled softly. "Alpaca. Llama. Happy llama, sad llama—"

"You're so delirious." The daughter of Athena cut her off with a short-lived chuckle, as Aurora was serving as an incoherent, babbling distraction.

"Chiron had nothing to do with it?" Percy could be heard saying, but it was as if someone put a fishbowl over Aurora's head, and the boy's voice suddenly seemed very far away and muted.

"Ha! You know he would never do that. The old fool wouldn't have the guts." Luke proclaimed proudly.

"You call it guts? Betraying your friends? Endangering the whole camp?" Percy asked, not looking terrified at all as Luke raised his sword.

"You don't understand the half of it. I was going to let you take the Fleece... once I was done with it."

"Noo. Not delirious, just bleh." Aurora tried to whisper to Annabeth, poking her on the shoulder like she was seven years old again, trying to get her new friend's nose out of the books and gain her attention.

Percy hesitated. ""You were going to heal Kronos. And so you poisoned the tree, you betrayed Thalia, you set us up—all to help Kronos destroy the gods."

Luke gritted his teeth. "You know that! Why do you keep asking me?"

"Because I want everybody in the audience to hear you." Percy said cooly, an annoyingly assured and poised smirk settling on his lips.

"What audience?" Luke snapped, his eyes narrowing further. He and his army looked behind him, gasping and stumbling back like idiots.

Aurora squinted, grinning lazily as she saw that just above the pool, shimmering in the rainbow mist, was an Iris-message vision of Dionysus, Tantalus, and the whole camp in the dining pavilion, sitting in stunned silence. She had to say, she was impressed with Percy. Again.

"Well," said Dionysus dryly, "some unplanned dinner entertainment."

"Mr. D, you heard him," Percy explained, his voice gaining power, his volume growing. "You all heard Luke. The poisoning of the tree wasn't Chiron's fault."

Mr. D sighed. "I suppose not."

"The Iris-message could be a trick," Tantalus suggested, but his attention was mostly on his cheeseburger, which he was trying to corner with both hands.

"I fear not," Mr. D said, looking with distaste at Tantalus. "It appears I shall have to reinstate Chiron as activities director. I suppose I do miss the old horse's pinochle games."

Tantalus grabbed the cheeseburger. It didn't bolt away from him. He lifted it from the plate and stared at it in amazement, as if it were the largest diamond in the world.

"I got it!" he cackled.

"We are no longer in need of your services, Tantalus," Mr. D announced.

Tantalus looked stunned. "What? But—"

"You may return to the Underworld. You are dismissed."

And the last thing Tantalus saw was the face of the little girl who punched him through a glistening rainbow, beaming in a crazed, hysterical way as the blood loss peaked off her inner vexation. "Did not eat that up." Aurora cackled, shouting so that her words could be projected, right before he dissolved into the mist. "Haha, get it? Because you can't eat."

"This is why I like you," Percy snorted, shaking his head at the girl's stupid joke.

Aurora stuck her tongue out, scrunching her nose with disgust. "Ew, I hate you."

Luke bellowed with rage. He slashed his sword through the fountain and the Iris-message dissolved, but the deed was done.

"Kronos was right, Percy. You're an unreliable weapon. You need to be replaced." Luke's lip curled with ire, and he closed in on where the five demigods were huddled together, his eyes fixated on Percy. One of his men blew a brass whistle, and the deck doors flew open. A dozen more warriors poured out, making a circle around them, the brass tips of their spears bristling. Luke smiled at them. "You'll never leave this boat alive."

"You can't just interrupt a conversation like that, Castellan. That's just rude." Luke turned towards Aurora with surprise, his eyebrows lifted ever so slightly to even see her speaking.

"Can't we just, like, fight it out? To the death?" She grumbled, elbowing Annabeth away. The blonde fought to hold her friend down, but Aurora staggered forward so that she was inches away from Luke, her eyes narrowed. The blood was starting to stop, but it still seeped out in bits, and she still couldn't stand up straight. But that didn't stop Aurora from confidently challenging him to a duel. "One on one. Are you afraid I'll beat you, even when I'm already hurt?"

That had to be the only reason. The reason why Aurora had done so many things to Luke, attempted to kill him so many times, tried to ruin his plans, and he did nothing to retaliate. It was because he was afraid. It had to be, because it was genuinely terrifying if there was any other possible reason. Luke's brain was genius, and it was evil. And if Aurora was on the opposite end of his planning...

She swallowed thickly, pushing down those thoughts. Remember the plan? There's five steps to murdering Luke.

Luke shook his head, as if he had the nerve to be dubious at the ask. "Didn't we do this last summer?"

"Please," Aurora snorted, rolling her eyes. "I surrendered last summer. I told you I wouldn't fight you. I let you stab me. Isn't that embarrassing? But I'm past that now. You could never beat me, Castellan. And we'll prove it right now."

"I'll kill you." Luke said steadily, not batting an eye as Aurora poked her finger into his chest, tauntingly smiling through heavily lidded, vertiginous, groggy eyes.

"You won't even get close." Aurora laughed, shaking her head with disbelief. "You don't even want to try in front of your pretty little warriors, just so they don't see me beat your ass, and you fail to kill me. Again."

Aurora knew, as Luke glanced at his men and he saw she'd trapped him, that she'd gotten to him. Oh, she'd gotten to him good. Because his brainless, maniacal soldiers didn't know that a five year old her was better than a twelve year old him, so thirteen year old her wouldn't even let the twenty year old get up. If he backed down now, he would look weak. If he fought her, he'd lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse.

In any other circumstance, Aurora would win easily. But with her shaky grip and the light feeling in her head, she wasn't so sure. And Luke was good at sword fighting—that was her mistake, even teaching him how to do so. All she hoped for was to distract him long enough to allow her friends to escape.

Aurora stared at each of them imploringly, settling on Percy with pleading eyes. She was begging him to read her, just as he did so easily all those nights ago—hell, even the other day. If Percy was good at anything, it was knowing what Aurora was thinking before she even said a word.

Understand me. Read me. It's the only time I want you to. And with a breath of relief, Percy's chin dipped ever so slightly, although his eyebrows were drawn tautly in a disapproving, enraged frown, and Aurora knew he did.

"I'll kill you quickly," Luke decided, and raised his weapon with an evil smile. "You're already in so much pain, no need to prolong it. Say hi to your stepdad for me."

(Aurora knew she had a tendency to grin when she was in danger or ready to attack, a horrible habit, but she very much hoped she didn't look like that.)

"In your dreams," Aurora scoffed, taking off her ring and twisting the flower charm, the sword springing to life. The gold glistened, in opposition to Backbiter's gray-and-bronze light, where human steel had been melded with celestial bronze. Aurora tried to suppress her beam of pride as black obsidian trailed around her own blade, the reminder of the Underworld roots and Stygian iron in Oleander.

Luke lunged forward and almost hit