On their return to the pavilion, Rowan smelt blood. She quickened her pace in slight alarm, but when she saw Nico cleaning off his sword, she relaxed.
"Dracaena?" Ethan asked.
Nico nodded. "A pack. They were looking for you."
"Not anymore."
"Rowan!" Billie rushed over to her. "Are you okay?"
After a few days of traveling with the younger girl, Rowan still didn't know how to act around her. Billie's compassion was unmatched by anyone she had met, and although Rowan was sure it was genuine, her kindness set off alarm bells.
Rowan smiled as best she could. It felt more like a grimace. "I'm alright now. Sorry about running off." She grudgingly added.
"It's alright," Will said. He had been giving Ethan a knowing look, and Rowan observed that the tips of Ethan's ears were pink. She decided to ignore it. "Gave me enough time to work out how much ambrosia Death Boy's going to need after he shadow travels us to Hong Kong."
Nico rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to die, Solace. Calm down."
"Look, it's very hard to tell whether you're going to survive an earthquake or fall over just by being blown on."
"Surely not every doctor is this paranoid."
"And I'd like to believe not every patient is as annoying as you are."
"What are we going to do once we get there?" Billie asked, interrupting Nico and Will's squabble.
"Well," Rowan hesitated. "I'm going to check on my family, probably spend quality time catching up, and possibly confront the gods."
"What are you going to ask?" Ethan said.
"If they're sending anyone to deal with the Monkey King."
From the sideways glance Ethan gave her, Rowan knew he understood what was unspoken: 'If not, I'm going to do it myself.'
"Sounds like a typical Tuesday." Nico said. "Let's go."
"Alright, I've got the right amount," Will declared. A small cube rested in the palm of his hand. So that was ambrosia – for its supposedly wondrous healing capabilities, Rowan thought it appeared underwhelming.
"Everyone hold on to someone who's holding onto me," Nico said.
Will put his hand in his, while Billie put her hand on Will's shoulder, and Rowan's on Billie's. The gesture was familiar now that they had done it once at the museum. Ethan was the only one who seemed out of place. Rowan took his hand, and the tips of his ears went even redder. Funny, considering how he hadn't wanted to let go of her before.
"Alright, don't let go." Nico warned.
Vision engulfed by black. Cold creeping into her bones. Darkness pressed down on her ears like water pressure. Rowan's stomach dropped to her feet. She gritted her teeth, felt Ethan squeeze her hand, and then they emerged in a narrow alley, the scent of which made Rowan's eyes water for reasons other than the smoke.
While Billie made a lurching noise, hand pressed against a peeling wall for support, Rowan could barely feel her own nausea. She rushed round the corner of the alley onto the pavement, lips spread into a childlike grin as she stared out at order within chaos.
Neon signs, bustling people, shops selling everything from cheesy tourist souvenirs to authentic vintage clothing. And on the streets, honking cars weaving through looming skyscrapers, glass panels and metal frames flashing in the humid sun. Clean-cut business dealt in 0s and 1s mixed with old-fashioned hawkers with change hung in steel-hooked red plastic bags.
Home. Finally. Rowan was home.
"Chestnuts!" Ethan said, eyes as wide as hers were wet. He pointed at the man nearby, whose sizzling wok was the source of thick smoke. "I haven't had those in years!"
"Is that even legal?" Will asked, watching the man flip a wave of chestnuts, catching them perfectly and making a sound like hail hitting rooftops. Beside the man was a makeshift, four-wheeled wooden stall, where a few people were queued at the counter, dollar bills at the ready.
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"Fire hazard," Will pointed at the enormous black, gas-powered stove beneath the wok. "Major fire hazard."
"Nobody's gotten arrested over it," Rowan said absently. Her mouth was watering at the scent of roast chestnuts. "Billie, do you by some miracle have Hong Kong dollars?"
Billie straightened up at the sound of her name, wincing at the way the world spun. "Huh?"
"I think you'd better give her the ambrosia instead of me, Solace." Nico said, keeping a brotherly hand on Billie's shoulder.
"You might have a point for once," Will said. "Open up, Billie."
Billie swallowed like a desert wanderer finding an oasis. She exhaled in relief. "Tastes like good sushi. Very good sushi."
With Billie no longer in need of support, Nico looked at Rowan and Ethan, both staring at the food hawker's wok with identical expressions of craving. "If we find your family first, Rowan, I'm sure they'll get you some money to buy chestnuts with."
"Right, yeah," Rowan shook her head and gently nudged Ethan in the ribs. "Follow me."
She slipped into the crowd of people, using the road as if it were a sidewalk. Cars weaving into the labyrinth of buildings drifted slowly, accustomed to parting the sea much slower than Moses did. Nico, Will and Billie looked around, heads turning to catch the glimpse of a woman dressed in a suit speaking hurriedly into her phone, flip-flop-clad children playing tag amongst adult legs, an old man with a considerable gut waving a fan that appeared to be made of dried leaves and a plastic handle.
Meanwhile, Ethan and Rowan's feet practically glided across the streets, knowing each loose brick and every neatly sealed sewer cover. Ethan hadn't been back in years, but he remembered it all.
"The park," he pointed gleefully at a wide expanse of green, families and their children looking as if they could have been the same ones that they ran circles around long ago. "God, I can't believe it's still here!'
"It's small," Nico observed. Will pinched him. "Ow!"
"You don't say that about people's date locations, Death Boy."
"Date locations?" Billie piped up.
Rowan hid a smile as Ethan turned red. "We just hung out here a lot. It's close to our place."
"You guys lived together?"
"Neighbors since birth. The day my parents brought me back from the hospital was the same day Nemesis handed Ethan to Mr. Nakamura."
They walked past the park. A monstrous apartment complex came into view, the street leading into a small roundabout dwarfed by the surrounding buildings. It was worn, completely different from the shining glass towers only a block away – narrow flowerbeds lined the walls, vines crawling up with colors more vibrant than the complex's peeling paint, a half-hearted attempt at restoring the greenery replaced by concrete and a study in urban decay.
"How many people are here?" Nico asked, unabashedly staring.
"Ten thousand. Maybe more, maybe less."
"Seriously?" He gestured incredulously at the windows, like the squares of a chessboard. "You can fit that many?"
Ethan shrugged. "Public housing. You fit as many as you can."
As cramped as it seemed to be, Rowan and Ethan's home had charm. Up above, amidst the swaying laundry hung from broomsticks poked out of windows, they heard children laughing as they ran up and down the countless stairs, people's roaring laughter as another joke was told, good-humored talk and lively gossip.
Rowan's steps grew quicker. The others struggled to catch up, following her into the lobby and up an elevator. It wasn't until its doors opened again did Rowan's fears return. Ethan felt her tense from beside him as they walked along a narrow corridor, passing doors with steel gates.
"They'll be happy to see you." He murmured, placing a gentle hand around her waist. "It's me they'll kill."
She tried to smile. Her lips felt stiff and frozen.
"I've never seen bars on anything other than jail cells before." Will glanced curiously at a dent in one and seeing his own warped reflection. "Why do you need them?"
"Extra security against thieves." Ethan answered. "Locks aren't great and they're expensive to replace."
"Surely if you're thin enough, you can slip a hand through..." Billie squinted.
"Not now," Will gently pushed her forward. "We have more important things to do."
Billie pouted. "Come on, I've always wondered!"
"You can try it on Rowan's door, not a random stranger's. Don't want anyone passing by to call the cops for attempted burglary."
Ethan stopped in front of a door to their right, a brown mat at their feet. Rowan noticed clumps of soil clung to the bristles – someone had just returned from training again.
"You ready?" Ethan murmured. Rowan's hand was clammy and nervous, his own tight in her grip.
"It'll be okay." Will clapped her reassuringly on the shoulder.
"Yeah!" Billie chorused. "What's the worst that can happen?"
Will shot her a warning look, but it was too late. Rowan blurted out. "They disown me."
"Blood doesn't mean family." Nico said strongly. "Love means family. If they disown you because you failed doing the gods' dirty work, you're coming back with us to Camp Half Blood."
Rowan hadn't told the rest her plan to continue and was even less inclined to at Nico's words. Another time, perhaps, when she wasn't bracing herself like a passenger on an airplane that was about to crash.
She pressed the electric doorbell, ringing emanating from the small piece of white plastic built into the wall. A smatter of footsteps she had heard on countless nights.
The door creaked open. Eyes peered out. They widened, as did the gap between the doorframe and the door, flung open to bang against concrete.
"Ro!"
A small figure barreled into her stomach, arms wrapping around her waist. Rowan laughed, holding back her own sobs. She hugged the eight-year-old back, who was crying too hard to talk.
"It's okay," Rowan comforted. "I'm home now."
"Ryan, what's going on – ?" Someone else came to the door, and upon seeing Rowan, let out an almost inhuman shriek.
Rachel threw her arms around her elder sister. Rowan laughed again, patting her on the back. "Good to see you too."
From inside the apartment, a voice strong with annoyance sounded. "Could you idiots keep it down? I'm trying to..."
A thin boy with glasses trailed off. Robbie's jaw dropped, and the breath was knocked out of Rowan as another hugged her as tight as possible. She couldn't hold back her tears, and they spilled over onto her cheeks, remembering when she had first woken up in America – afraid, angry and so, so alone.
"Where the hell have you been?" Rachel demanded, finally pulling away. Rowan noticed she had shadows beneath red and sleepless eyes. "It's been days!"
"A week!" Robbie said, his voice strained and an octave higher. "You were missing for a whole week after the Trials!" Then he registered Ethan, Nico, Will and Billie. "And who are these people?"
"I can explain, or I can try," Rowan said. "Let me come in first. Ryan, don't – "
Ryan shook his head. He tightened his grip on her, reminding Rowan of Ethan when he first returned, terrified that she would vanish. She couldn't blame him, and so was resigned to awkwardly crossing the living room to the couch with the youngest Ma attached to her.
"Uh, Rowan?" Will asked. She turned to see him and Nico standing on the edge of the doorstep. Billie and Ethan had followed her in, and Rowan realized that Will and Nico did not speak Cantonese.
"Sorry, guys. Come in." She said in English, beckoning them over. They sat down on the couch, while Rachel sat on the edge of a nearby cabinet and Ryan sat by Rowan's feet, a hand still wrapped around her leg. "Where are Ma and Ba?"
"Work," Robbie answered. He grabbed a phone and began to urgently press the keypad. "I'll call them."
"How are they?"
"Bad," Rachel said. "It's like..." She suddenly grew quiet, and to Rowan's confusion, watched her carefully.
"What? Like what?"
Now Rachel looked bewildered, but she continued. "Like Ethan," her voice lowered. "It was like him all over again."
Rowan suddenly remembered her reactions whenever Ethan was mentioned back home, and Rachel's discretion made sense. Speaking of which, she did not want to meet his confused gaze.
"Yeah, uh, about Ethan," Rowan said, unsure of how to put this. "He is...Ethan is..."
She gestured wordlessly. The boy with the eyepatch looked on with amusement. Rowan glared, finding no help from him.
Rowan turned back to her siblings and took a deep breath. "Listen up, okay? It's a very long story."