[The asshole returns at last]

" "

Leah knew that he entered when the thrumming returned. 

The thrumming was a the thrum of a low dull harp string, but it was infinitely louder and mixed with white noise. Leah had loved the harp as a kid; her mother had taken her to an art museum where they had a harp player, and she really enjoyed the show. Now, she didn't like the harp anymore, because it reminded her of Porphyrion and his presence. 

She looked down at her hands, counting all her fingers. She knew she was in his mind, but she was checking. This is why it didn't surprise her when she counted nine fingers and the ring finger on her right hand was a bloody stump. Must've been because I read His dark materials a while back, she thought to herself. Will got a wound like that when he got the Bronze Knife. 

She blinked. The character's name made her think of Will Solace, the demigod from the Apollo cabin who had nursed her back to health after she collapsed at Camp. She wondered if Aiden knew to call him, or even knew how to call him. Wait, she'd explained how Iris Messaging worker, so he knew. 

Leah touched the base of her neck and felt the hairs rise, although it didn't feel real, like all her senses had dulled. Now that she thought of it, her hearing had worsened a lot since she'd entered her dream. Or her sleeping state. Whatever it was. 

Her Remedial Sleeping State hadn't started yet, but Leah knew it would soon. If she didn't get out of her mind soon, she'd shut down completely and anyone would be able to trap her in. Being trapped in her mind hadn't been the best experience the last time she'd gone through it. She wasn't looking forward to going through it again. But she wouldn't have to, she told herself. 

Her thoughts echoed through the eerily calm location she was at. It was her mind, so her whispers, her screams, even her thoughts were the same exact level of noise. 

But that didn't disturb her, or did it worry her. What did was that Porphyrion hadn't shown up yet. "This isn't right," she mumbled to herself. "I heard him enter. Why can't I see him?" She squinted and then realized something. The 'eerily calm location' wasn't just a grey room, it was filled with fog. And her hearing-

"Porphyrion, you absolute asshole!" she screamed, although it didn't make much of a difference. She was still talking at the same volume. "Are you going to keep me trapped in here? Try to make me go insane in my own mind?" she asked rhetorically. "Because that won't work! It hasn't worked before, and it won't work now." She stomped her foot and caught the slight crack of glass. Or ice. Her eyes brightened. 

"I'm on ice?" she said enthusiastically. Wait. "I'm on ice," she whispered. Her mood had changed like a flip of a switch. Ice was snow. Snow...

"I knew you'd realize some point or another, Leah petite."

Khione answered Leah's call, her long silk ballgown flowing behind her. Her hair was as ebony black as ever, but this time it was pulled back in a fish braid. She raised her arms, as if she was welcoming Leah for an embrace. "Did you do this?" she asked the snow goddess. "You- how did you even get in my dream? This is my Dream! You can't just ask for passage and get it. I've worked really well on my wall, there's not a damn soul on this planet that can break through." Khione just smiled icily and waved it away. 

"That does matters not, Leah," she answered cryptically, "I assume you know I'm not alone here." Leah squinted in confusion. "You've figured out how to enter Dreams with multiple people?" 

She wouldn't lie, she was really curious of this newfound power. She knew of people entering Dreams - hell, she'd done it before under Porphyrion's command with a certain person's help - but with more than one person? That sounded impossible. "It's not impossible, just improbable," she muttered. 

She scoffed. "How'd you do that, Khione?" She raised an eyebrow. "Didn't know you were the sorceress type." The snow goddess  laughed softly, slowly walking up to Leah. "Oh, I'm not. Your master brought me some help, just like he's done before for you." "I'm a pawn," Leah protested, hoping to stretch time, "just a stupid little pawn. Porphyrion's never shown any interest in me for the future. Why are you here?" "Oh, you think that's no interest?" Khione answered, frustrated. "You weren't locked in dungeons, like all the others were! You think he had no interest in you? You were the most interesting thing he'd gone through in thousands of years!" She shouted angrily. But she covered up her anger quickly, Leah noticed, and her frown morphed into a sugary sweet smile. 

"But you, Leah petite, didn't even ponder on joining us," she continued. "You could bring anyone you want, you know that, right? You could be a sister. You could be my sister. We could give you all the power you want, and more." She paused for effect, her charmspeak strong. "Don't you want that, Leah petite? It just takes one - drop." Her smile lit up, and the fog disappeared, showing the horde of people - monsters - that were huddled behind Khione. Leah could identify most of the beings in the army - Draecenae, some of Lycaon's wolves, Earthborn...

The power wasn't what would've brought Leah in. She wondered whether they knew of a way to control her powers, a way that she could stop suffering, but no one did. She knew that, or she'd have found the cure way back. Khione's charmspeak had gotten better. Leah wondered whether she'd had lessons with Medea, or Aphrodite. 

"You think you can convince me to betray my friends? You're really contradicting yourself here, Khione. You just implied my friends would be locked in dungeons and not paid any attention by Porphyrion. Besides, you've been wanting to kill me for ages now. Why are you turning a new leaf?" Leah frowned and turned her back on the army. 'This is my Dream, my Dream,' she repeated like a mantra in her head. 

"I hear you," Khione sing-songed. It was obvious she was making a desperate grasp at manipulating Leah, and it was obvious it wasn't working. "Oh fuck off Khione," Leah said off-handedly. She stretched her neck and heard a satisfying crack, although it was soft, like everything else except for the thumping in her heart. 

"Well, I admit that I wasn't looking forward to you joining us, but your master insisted on trying," Khione said. She continued casually. "Anyway, thanks. I get to kill you now."

« »

"Hi, Aiden."

Aiden had been called again by Will and Chiron this time, with Jason, Leo and Piper in the vicinity. He'd also called Thalia after Jason had basically forced him too, so now Aiden had a very confusing conversation like a group call. He debated on throwing Hedge into the chaos too, but his concern clouded his thoughts. 

Will had instructed him to pray to his half-brother Asclepius first. Next to Hypnos or Morpheus, or both, whatever he preferred. 

Aiden ended up also praying to Demeter and Persephone; anyone who was related to Leah could help. 

Will had told him exactly what happened last time. Leah had collapsed, she'd twisted her ankle, fallen on her side, almost broken a leg or an arm. Thankfully Piper was around to send her to the infirmary, where Will had been residing. This was the point where Aiden had called Will the first time. 

"So after she arrived, I tried just shaking her awake, obviously didn't work. It started about an hour in, but it might be different this time, I don't know. I fed her ambrosia and Piper said Leah had given her moon water, didn't work either. My medical knowledge didn't help at all for this, so you have a chance." Aiden drew an offended face, but kept listening attentively. Seeing as this was for Leah, he needed to. 

"I prayed to Asclepius and Hypnos, brought Clovis in, thought maybe he could help. I'm trying to keep this short, but what happens is that Leah gets into a Remedial Sleeping stage, where she has no control over her body or her mind. This means that her mind is easily accessible. And people who've accessed it before, can easily access it again." He let that sink in. "We don't want this to happen, seeing as she's basically a vault of information and could easily let the enemy gain the upper hand." Will clapped his hands and picked up the notebook that had been laying in front of him. 

"So first thing you do you've already done. Sprinkle in a prayer, maybe meet up with someone, I don't know. Does France have any healing gods?" He asked Aiden. The demigod in question frowned. "I don't know, we didn't research that particular subject. I do know of some Roman and Irish ones, so maybe I could just call them up." He waited for an answer. 

After some hesitation, Will nodded. "Try the Irish. We're still on thin ice with the Romans, don't wanna risk it." Aiden hummed. "Do you want me to stay on the call?" he asked, his eyes squinted. He was tired too; Leah usually made two cups of coffee after their morning run, but now that Leah wasn't there to make it, he hadn't had the chance to.

"Yeah, that would be great, thanks man." Leo was now also in Aiden's line of sight, together with Jason and Piper. Peer pressure is the worst, Aiden thought to himself. He also knew that Thalia's eyes were piercing through him, waiting for him to make a mistake so she'd have an excuse to kill him. Although Fleur, another friend of Leah's, was there too. She was nicer and opted to show him her knife collection. Sadly, Aiden had had to decline politely so he could save Leah from whoever had accessed her mind before. Gods, he hated being out of the loop, although it seemed like the majority of her friends - were they friends? acquaintances? friends, Aiden decided they were - didn't know either. 

He'd set up a small shrine in the bedroom, where he was now praying softly to Airmed, the Irish goddess of Herbalism. A minor goddess, but an incredibly important one to Leah's survival. He hoped his attempts weren't futile; he'd hate to break the news that his contacts wouldn't help and he'd have to depend on the Greek (and one Roman) demigods. 

Thankfully, that didn't happen. 

Airmed appeared shimmering, her blonde hair waving, guided by the non-existent wind in the room. She was about two inches taller than Aiden, and he wished everyone would just be short for once. But he cast that thought aside. Leah comes first, he said to himself.

"Oh lady Airmed, accept my offering and help my friend," he said humbly, kneeling down and taking out his sword. He knew its worth; that's why he was hoping it would sway the goddess to work in his favor. She just laughed. "Oh, little one, you don't have to do that. I haven't been -" she paused mid-sentence for a yawn -"called on in a while. Everyone seems to forget about me." A melancholy smile grew on her face, but it quickly faded into a happy smile instead. 

"Who am I here for?" she asked the demigod. He pointed behind her, where Leah was sleeping peacefully. Well, now that Aiden actually looked, it didn't seem that peaceful to him. He could see her fingers twitching and forming into a fist. Her face had formed into a scowl. 

"This is Leah Kovach, a Greek demigod, daughter of Demeter," he said. Realizing he hadn't introduced himself, he added: "I'm Aiden Murphy by the way. Son of Nemain, you probably know her." He hoped Nemain and Airmed didn't have some ancient rivalry going on.  

A shout came from the bathroom.  Then Aiden heard a loud shushing. The goddess looked up from Leah, confused. "Who was that?" she asked Aiden. He just sighed. "I'm on a call with a bit more experienced demigods. You want me to hang up?" She waved it off. "No worries honey, it's fine." She stopped for a dangerous chuckle. "What are you willing to pay for her health?"

Aiden gulped. What was he willing to give up? His time, for one, or he'd never on this quest. He'd already given up his life long ago, so that wouldn't be too bad. He couldn't ask anything from other people though...

"What do you want?" he asked suspiciously, an eyebrow raised. 

"Oh, it's nothing, dear." She turned her back on him and focused on Leah. "I want a stone." Aiden was confused. She wasn't going to ask for two years of his service? His soul after he died? "A.. a stone?" He asked her. She sighed. "Oh, heroes are always so assuming that gods want to mess up their lives somehow. But yeah, there's some specifications, though only two." She stopped for a deep breath and continued with a sterner tone. 

"You will bring me a stone from the river Drowes at Sunset, and the girl will be cured by then. If not, she'll stay in this state forever and I will curse everyone she knows. Deal?" By now, she'd turned to Aiden again, her right arm stuck out for a handshake. Aiden brought his chin up and shook her hand, looking her dead in the eyes as he spoke. 

"Deal."

A/N

Hi, I'm going to be focusing on Aiden in the next chapter, I think. Maybe I'll introduce a new character. Airmed actually is the goddess of herbalism and health in Ireland, a very talented Druid, and this is all linking with each other some way or another. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Stay hydrated, eat an apple, and my PMs are always open if you want to talk!

Ciao ciao fuckers~