Percy couldn't sound intelligent. Ever. Not that he tried to sound intelligent, but Aurora simply didn't believe that it was possible. Like, even if he did, it literally was not a choice he could make. Plus, Annabeth was the smart one. No one expected Percy to sound smart, but when he stared the goddess Artemis dead in the eyes, the best he could manage was, "Um... okay." Which was insanely pathetic.

Aurora would've made fun of him, and she definitely would've made fun of Grover for gasping and kneeling hastily in the snow, yapping some shit about loving Artemis, if not for the shock that overwhelmed her body and the thick knot in her throat.

Annabeth. Aurora stared down at the graying white layered on top of the wilting grass, an appearance that made Aurora's stomach sink on the daily, knowing that spring was so close yet so far. But something else made her heart squeeze and her teeth to sink into the inside of her cheek to prevent tears. Something horrible, something terrifying that she didn't want to confront yet felt an overwhelming compelling to. Annabeth is gone.

"Aurora, come. Satyr, get up. We have more pressing matters to attend to." Artemis commanded, her voice smooth and placid. Aurora obeyed, obviously, but she did so numbly, her feet moving slowly as though underwater. Her ears were ringing, and she felt absolutely insensate.

Was it silly to expect a warm hand to brush against hers, and Percy's sea green eyes to find her own? Yes. The son of Poseidon didn't have to comfort her every single time she felt like she was floating outside her body. Yet it seemed to be a common trend, and this deviation from their past patterns almost stung. Almost.

Aurora clenched her fists so that her nails dug into her palms, the sharp pain serving as a reminder. Stop being selfish, this isn't about you. Aurora scolded herself, shaking her head ever so slightly, keeping her chin down. Artemis' presence reminded the daughter of Persephone of her goal in life—perfection—and that seemed to snap her out of it. She was acting idiotic, not perfect. And she needed to switch up, fast.

"Whoa," Bianca di Angelo was the first to speak. "Hold up. Time out."

Everybody looked at her. She pointed her finger at all of them in turn, like she was trying to connect the dots. "Who... who are you people?"

"I know Rora," Nico whispered conspicuously to his older sister, not so subtly pointing to the strawberry blonde. The distraught girl felt the sides of her lips tug up into what could've been a bright smile, if not for the fact that her best friend had just fallen off a cliff. But the fact that Nico remembered her was... everything. It warmed Aurora's heart in a way that she didn't think was possible.

"Okay..." Bianca drew out the last syllable with unfaltering suspicion, staring at Aurora with unwavering conviction. Trying to soften her expression to seem less stoic, Aurora attempted what she hoped was an understanding smile. (She wasn't very effective.) "Okay. So we know that girl. But everyone else?"

Artemis's expression softened."It might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who you are! Who are your parents?"

Bianca glanced nervously at her brother, who was still staring in awe at Artemis. Aurora related. The first time she saw her patron goddess as a child with actual memories that weren't trauma blocked out of her consciousness, she burst into tears. Now, Aurora felt like sobbing with gratitude every time she saw her aunt, the woman who raised her. But in this particular moment, Aurora just sort of felt like having a casual mental breakdown.

"Our parents are dead," Bianca said. "We're orphans. There's a bank trust that pays for our school, but..."

She faltered. Aurora guessed she could tell from their faces that they didn't believe her.

"What?" the older di Angelo demanded. "I'm telling the truth."

"You are a half-blood," Zoë Nightshade said plainly, as if it was the most simple thing to believe. Her accent had always been hard to place. It sounded old-fashioned, like she was reading from a really old book, but Aurora knew that was just sort of how Zoë was. I mean, she was also actually just old. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."

"An Olympian... athlete?" Bianca guessed.

"No," Zoë explained. "One of the gods."

"Cool!" exclaimed Nico, as any ten-year-old obsessed with Greek Mythology would react when revealed he was part god.

"No!" Bianca's voice quavered, glaring at Nico out of the side of her eyes. "This is not cool!"

Nico danced around like he needed to use the restroom, a bit overly excited for the dire situation and the very distressed people surrounding him. "Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for—"

"Nico, shut up!" Bianca put her hands to her face. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no gods!"

Aurora had never experienced discovering she was a demigod, it was just something she'd always known. Well, it's not like anyone told her—imagine the irony that she wasn't actually a demigod—but it was a fact presumed from Hades' relentless attacks on her and the fact that Artemis and Persephone casually talked to her. But she knew how Percy reacted, and she had seen countless responses to the seemingly impossible discovery. So Aurora felt for Bianca, she truly did. It was unbelievable and extraordinarily difficult to wrap your head around, and it changed your life forever.

Nico, however, seemed eager to accept his position, which Aurora remembered wishing he would never have to face.

Thalia must've been feeling something similar, because the anger in her eyes subsided a little bit. "Bianca, I know it's hard to believe. But the gods are still around. Trust me. They're immortal. And whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well... Our lives are dangerous."

"Dangerous," Bianca echoed, "like the girl who fell."

Aurora swallowed an squeezed her eyes shut. Don't cry, don't look like a baby. Don't ruin everything.

"Do not despair for Annabeth," the goddess said, her voice more tender than it had been previously. "She was a brave maiden. If she can be found, I shall find her."

"Then why won't you let us go look for her?" Percy shot at Artemis, a dangerous edge creeping into his voice. Aurora frowned.

"She is gone. Can't you sense it, Son of Poseidon? Some magic is at work. I do not know exactly how or why, but your friend has vanished."

"Why don't you jump off the cliff and see what happens, Jackson?" Aurora seethed, her tone turning bitter at his disrespect towards her goddess. What was wrong with him?

"What?" Percy seemed taken aback, as if Aurora saying something so harsh was new or unexpected. Did he even know her? But, like Percy would, he decided to turn a painfully serious conversation into a joke. "Why don't I push you off of the cliff, Miller?"

"Excuse me?" Artemis turned her head to face Percy, squinting her eyes challengingly.

"JK." Percy muttered. The urge to laugh bubbled into Aurora's lungs, but she didn't have enough energy to actually let it out, unfortunately.

"Oo!" Nico raised his hand. "What about Dr. Thorn? That was awesome how you shot him with arrows! Is he dead?"

"He was a manticore," Artemis elucidated patiently. "Hopefully he is destroyed for now, but monsters never truly die. They re-form over and over again, and they must be hunted whenever they reappear."

"Or they'll hunt us," Thalia added casually.

Bianca di Angelo shivered. "That explains... Nico, you remember last summer, those guys who tried to attack us in the alley in DC?"

"And that bus driver," Nico agreed. "The one with the ram's horns. I told you that was real."

"That's why Grover has been watching you," Percy said. "To keep you safe, if you turned out to be half-bloods."

"Grover?" Bianca stared at him, looking betrayed. "You're a demigod?"

"Well, a satyr, actually." Grover kicked off his shoes and displayed his goat hooves. Bianca looked like she was going to faint right then and there.

"Grover, put your shoes back on, my gods," Aurora snorted, rolling her eyes. "You're freaking her out. No one wants to see that on their first day of knowing they're a half-blood."

"See what?" Grover protested, frowning indignantly. "My hooves are clean!"

"You're a goat." Aurora pointed out, quirking a brow.

"Bianca," Percy turned toward the poor girl, smiling gently. "We came here to help you. You and Nico need training to survive. Dr. Thorn won't be the last monster you meet. You need to come to camp."

"Camp?" she repeated, her voice filling with inquiry and curiosity.

"Camp Half-Blood," Percy clarified. "It's where half-bloods learn to survive and stuff. You can join us, stay there year-round if you like."

"Sweet, let's go!" Nico jumped up with ecstatic elation.

But Bianca, the more mature of the duo, naturally had doubts. She was rational, and responsible—far too rational and responsible for a girl her age. "Wait," She shook her head. "I don't—"

"There is another option," Zoë spoke up.

"No, there isn't!" Thalia refuted quickly, as if the mere words Zoë spoke were deathly as well as a trigger to Thalia's brain.

Thalia and Zoë glared at each other. Aurora knew there was bad history between them, but she didn't know the specifics of what had went down, because for one, Zoë hated talking about it—or anything, really—and two, by the time Aurora had found out, Thalia was a tree. All she knew was that the daughter of Zeus and the lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis seriously hated each other.

"We've burdened these children enough," Artemis announced. "Zoë, we will rest here for a few hours. Raise the tents. Treat the wounded. Retrieve our guests' belongings from the school."

"Yes, my lady." Zoë obeyed her goddess almost immediately, raising a hand to command the rest of the Hunters.

"And, Bianca, come with me. I would like to speak with you." Artemis finished, turning toward the younger girl.

"What about me?" Nico asked.

Artemis considered the boy. "Perhaps you can show my dear Aurora how to play that card game you enjoy. My niece needs the distraction and you seem to fair well with her."

"Yay, Rora!" Nico cheered, grabbing Aurora's elbow and dragging her away, babbling about Mythomagic-related things such as hit points and armor ratings—mind you, none of which Aurora could comprehend, but she enjoyed it nonetheless.

"So... what's up, Nico?" Aurora asked, a full grin finally breaking through as Nico paused for a second to catch her breath. She had walked them around in a circle while the Hunters set up their camping site in a matter of minutes, allowing Nico to tire himself out by explaining to her why he needed the Hades figurine to defeat Poseidon. "I missed you, buddy."

"I missed you too, Rora!" Nico agreed enthusiastically, pulling her arm closer to her into somewhat of a side hug as he shivered slightly from the cold.

"It's been so long," she murmured, leaning into the hug. Aurora remembered vividly the feeling of doubt that she would ever see Nico again. And, as horrible as it was, she hadn't been distraught about that realization. To her, he'd been just another person she would meet and never actually know, no matter how much she liked him. But now... now that he was here, now that he was a demigod, she regretted that feeling and wanted to scream in the face of her old self. "When did you leave the Casino?"

"Leave?" Nico restated the word as if it would help in searching for the answer, shrugging as his brows furrowed. "I don't know. Not that long after you did."

Aurora accepted that answer, knowing that the Casino warped memories. Especially hers, as she didn't quite recall the discovery that made her realize that the Casino was a trap—and she especially didn't remember who made her realize that.

Nico sighed in admiration, his steps quickening as Aurora stumbled to keep up. "This is so cool."

Aurora simply hummed as she watched the camp begin setting up, something she'd seen only a few times before. Seven large tents, all of silver silk, curved in a crescent around one side of a bonfire. It wasn't that she didn't want to listen to Nico talk about how fun being a demigod was, but she didn't want to encourage him. If she said anything, he might even seek out a quest, to which she would rather die than witness.

"You really think?" Aurora murmured cautiously, eyeing the animated boy with smothered apprehension.

"Duh!" Nico stated like it was obvious. Before Aurora could argue with him, Nico turned to a new subject, one that the girl was quite versed on. "Do you think Shark Boy will want to play Mythomagic with me?"

The daughter of Persephone nearly let out a fit of laughter at her taunting nickname for Percy coming out of this little boy's mouth, suddenly remembering that "Shark Boy" was the only name Nico had for Percy. Which was absolutely hilarious and ridiculous, and Aurora was half tempted to leave it be, but she decided to be a good person and save Nico from Percy's annoyance.

"Percy, you mean. And I definitely think he wants to. Do you want me to introduce you to him?" Aurora asked, smiling.

"I don't think that we need, like, introductions, Rora. That's so fancy." Nico muttered shyly, rolling his eyes at the idea of formalities. "He knows me and Bianca, right?"

"Of course," Aurora answered, hugging Nico close.

"He's green." Nico said bluntly. Aurora glanced at Percy, and the young boy was right. His injury was worse than Aurora had thought: his entire arm was the color of puke, which was about as attractive as it sounded.

However, before she knew it, Nico had run over to Percy, tapped him on his knee as Grover was talking to him, and informed him of this gross feature on his body. "You're green."

Percy blinked, startled at the sudden appearance of the younger di Angelo as Aurora jogged to meet up with the three boys. "My arm?" The son of Poseidon asked, letting out a laugh to cover his wince as Grover continued to dress his wound. He swallowed his ambrosia square quickly and grinned. "Yeah, it is. Good observation."

"Nico, come on, Percy is—" Aurora started, trying to drag the said boy away from the injured Percy, yet Nico simply resisted her attempts.

"Percy is what, Flower Face?" Percy interrupted, raising an eyebrow. His expression was blank, yet Aurora could see the undertones in everything he said, everything he did. He was taunting her, pushing her to see how far she would go in front of Nico.

But Nico himself was completely unphased, and proceeded with his curiosity. "Hey, can I see that sword you were using?" He asked.

Percy's smile stretched wider as he showed him Riptide, and explained how it turned from a pen into a sword by just uncapping it. However, the whole time he was speaking to the younger boy, his eyes shifted over to Aurora in an almost gloating manner, the aquamarine of his irises glistening with smugness.

That look faded somewhat as Nico continued asking questions. Almost as if the young kid was infatuated by Percy, all of the inquiries were centered around the annoying-faced, dark haired boy with the ocean eyes. "Are you really the son of Poseidon?" (Percy stammered out a yes). "Can you surf really well, then?" (Grover nearly burst into a fit of giggles). "Do you fight a lot with Thalia, since she's the daughter of Zeus?" (There was no answer to this question from any of them). "If Annabeth's mother was Athena, the goddess of wisdom, then why didn't Annabeth know better than to fall off a cliff?"

"Nico, okay, hi." Aurora cleared her throat, grabbing the shoulders of the boy and forcing a smile that hurt her cheeks and made her teeth chatter, just to cover up how much that last question stung. How hard it made her heart ache. "Let's maybe lay off the interrogation for now, okay? We're all really tired."

"I'm not."

"Well, I know, but—"

"Is Percy your boyfriend, Rora?" Nico asked innocently, his gaze shifting from Percy to the strawberry blonde girl, who was staring at Nico with absolute shock.

Forget the cold, the tips of her ears to the bottom of her toes clad in fuzzy socks burned a bright red, and her jaw clenched as she gritted out the practiced answer of, "No, why would you even think that?" The question had only been asked to her three times before, but it still pissed her off to no end. It was ridiculous! How could anyone assume that she could ever like Percy? Scratch that, let's ask the more logical question: how could anyone assume that Percy could ever like her, of all people?

Aurora was so close to finally losing it, but Thalia finally walked over with a scowl on her face that could've turned Medusa to stone. She glared at the Hunters' tents out of the corner of her eyes, interjecting into the conversation—much to everyone's fortune. "You can't possibly like them, Rory." Thalia stared at her with utter disgust.

Not that Aurora wanted to continue the last conversation prompt, but this certainly didn't make her feel any less angry. The daughter of Persephone frowned, lifting her hand and wiggling her middle finger, which held a crescent moon on it (she wouldn't risk flipping Thalia off, it seemed a bit too dangerous).

"I think you're forgetting who my patron goddess is, Thalia. I love Artemis. So I love her Hunters. I love everything they stand for." Aurora explained, an edge creeping into her voice.

Thalia glanced over at the group of Hunters circling around the campsite, crossing her arms. "They're bitches though."

"Don't they, like, hate boys?" Percy shifted warily, his gaze crossing over Aurora's. He felt his heart beating quickly, nervousness settling into his stomach. Percy was a boy.

"I hate boys." Aurora's voice turned icy, her eyes not meeting Percy's. He doubted she was even thinking about him, because why would she? But nevertheless, as she stared up at the night sky, constellations freckling the darkness, his gut dropped.

"Be real right now. They're stupid and disrespectful. They do terrible things and women take the blame. Women are mothers, providers, caretakers, victims, warriors. Survivors. You, of all people, should know that, Jackson. Women only get credit when their men succeed. Look at the fucking history books. Men start wars, yet Troy hates Helen. We're taught to hate Medusa, Ariadne, Medea, Circe. We've met them, and yeah, they were bad, but what was done to them was even worse. They wouldn't be like that if it weren't for the men who ruined their lives. And oh my gods, Pandora. The entire world hates Pandora, but it was never her fault. She was literally created as a punishment. Ancient Greece scorned maiden goddesses too. Men always think they have a chance with Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite. And how could I forget about Hades and Persephone. He took her. Kidnapped her when she was vulnerable." She narrowed her eyes, her fist clenched. "It's incredibly unfair. It's not right."

She took a deep breath, smiling through a tight jaw as her eyes flickered at Percy, who was standing so still he could've been one of the statues from Thalia's glare.

Aurora told the truth. Percy had always known that that was the