"I'm telling the truth, Naomi, I swear."
Mari crossed her arms. "I'm older than Will. I might have the mental age of, like, eleven but I've been alive for sixteen years, and Will has been alive for eleven. It's just basic maths. And I've actually been doing that for a few months now, so I know that eleven is smaller than sixteen."
They were sitting by a window in the Spanish restaurant, where they'd been for almost half an hour. Mari had glanced out the window a few times, but she couldn't see Adela anywhere. She was probably gone. Again. By the time the food had been ordered (Mari had got Patatas Bravas with a side of broccoli) she had given up on searching.
Mari and Will had had this conversation multiple times over the last few months. Will was insistent that she was both illegally (Chiron was an expert at forging legal documents) and physically a few months younger than him. Mari was insistent that Will's 'logic' was absolute bullshit (Naomi had charged her five dollars for the profanity). Mari was older. After all, she'd been running around causing chaos and scribbling stick-figure families on the walls to pretend she had her own, while Will was still wearing nappies.
Even more frustrating, Naomi had diplomatically refused to side with either of them. So Mari was taking things into her own hands. Will was in the bathroom, taking his sweet time, so Mari was seizing the opportunity to convince Naomi that Will was really lying to himself about who was older (her, obviously).
"I might be more inclined to believe you if you'd tell me when your birthday was," Naomi told her. Mari scowled. Her birthday was a touchy subject - mainly because she didn't have one. Her social worker, Andrew Rush, hadn't been able to tell the exact date she was born. The best guess anybody had was that she'd been something close to two weeks old when she was abandoned. She was either born at the end of June or the start of July. No specifics. No beginning. Nothing. She didn't like to remember that, so nobody else had to know, either.
"My birthday just doesn't matter to me all that much," Mari told Naomi. "But I am older than Will. Promise." She may not have known when exactly her birthday was, but Will's was in August. At the very least, that meant that Mari won.
"Okay," Naomi sighed. "I'll get it out of you another time. Will you at least tell me about that girl you were talkin' to outside?"
Mari's fingers went slack and she dropped her fork, sending Bravas sauce splashing everywhere. Pain flared in her left eye, like the top layer of her iris had been seared off with acid. She blinked harshly, trying to force the chilli juice out. "Aw, shit! Shit!"
"No no, don't rub, that'll just spread it and get it on your hands. Here." Naomi handed Mari a napkin, ignoring the dirty looks sent Mari's way, probably from people annoyed about the language. "I'm sorry 'bout that. I didn't realise I'd shock you so badly, Mari. You were smiling with her, more than I've seen you smile before. I was just curious. I didn't realise it was some kinda secret."
"How did you know she was there?" Mari asked.
"Honey, you're really not as subtle as you think." The comment didn't sound mean the way it would if most other adults said it. "The window is glass. Not metal. You were in front of it."
"Oh." Mari gnawed the inside of her cheek. "Did you see where Adela went?"
"Adela, huh? Nice name. And no, I didn't. Sorry, sweetie. She was there one second and gone the next."
Mari's stomach felt like it was full of earthworms. It wasn't just because Adela was absolutely right about this restaurant, which was a piss-take on what Spanish food could be (if Mari could tell that, then there was a problem). Adela had run away from things a whole lot before. Not just physically, even though Adela had done that twice now. It was... something else. Adela had wanted to tell her something, but had changed her mind at the last minute. Mari wasn't sure why, but it made her feel ill.
"Hey. I'm sure she'll be okay. She looked smart. She was paying attention to her surroundings an'all. Trust me, I know. I'm a good judge of character." Naomi squeezed Mari's shoulder. "And I ain't gonna make you pay up for swearing. Just this once, 'cos I did shock you."
"Jeez." Naomi's smile faded as she checked her watch. "It's been over half an hour. What is your brother doing? I'm gonna check on him and then we'll get the bill, okay? I'll be right back."
Naomi left Mari alone to her thoughts. Maybe if she could find a way to get in contact with Adela's father, she'd have a way to make sure her... friend at least had somewhere safe to go. Even if Adela didn't want to risk her father's life, the man would at least make sure his only daughter had a safe haven, right? No, scrap that. If Mari went and told Adela's father, any trust the girl had in her would be dashed to Hades. And if Adela ended up accidentally killing her father, it would break her. Mari couldn't let that happen (wow, her thoughts were terrible company). Maybe if she-
"Mari!" Naomi rushed over, panic painted across her face like a rough draft in Mari's sketchbook. "Has Will come back while I've been gone?"
"What?" Mari frowned. "No, he hasn't. Is he not in the loo?"
"No." Naomi choked. "He- he wasn't in any of the stalls, I asked around, and, and the sous chef said he went outta the back door. Left me this note. Twenty-five minutes ago. I- I- Mari, he doesn't do this. He knows not to worry me."
"What?!" Mari's heartbeat sped up. "Then where is he?"
"I don't know. The sous chef said he didn't see. I need you to open it. I can't. My hands are shaking... Oh gods..." Naomi looked pale all of a sudden, and Mari suspected it had fuck all to do with the food. Sure enough, her fingers were trembling. Mari took the napkin and unfolded it. The letter was written in Will's yellow highlighter, the one he always had in his front pocket at school. Mari could barely make out the words, let alone read them.
Naomi took it from her, scanning her eyes over the paper. "He- he has 'business'. Said he'll be five minutes... oh, no no no..." Naomi's voice shook. Mari wanted to comfort her, but she wasn't sure that she was much better herself.
"So... he's..."
"He's gone, Mari." Naomi shuddered. "All alone. And I have no idea where."
≪•◦ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ ◦•≫
ADELA
≪•◦ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ ◦•≫
"Well?" Mason's Adams' apple bobbed, making the knife in Adela's hand wobble too. "Are you going to stab me or are you just going to sit there and stare?"
"I'm going to kill you," Adela whispered.
Mason paused. To anybody else, waking up with someone you hate crouched next to you, dagger to your throat, would be terrifying. Not Mason. Oh, no. Mason Ray burst out laughing, the movement nearly making Adela drop her knife. "No," he told her. "No, you aren't. If you were, I'd already be dead. Now do us both a favour and put that dagger away. I have important business to take care of. I was meant to have done it by mid-morning but my alarm didn't go off. Thank you for that, by the way."
"I'm going to kill you!" Adela snarled.
Mason gave her a flat look. Then he rolled his eyes, and put his pinkie finger under the point of her blade, pushing up. Adela's stomach dropped as a bead of blood rolled away from his pinkie, splattering down the side of his nose like one of his sister's nosebleeds. No. Mason didn't look a thing like Marion. He was way too cold for that. Mason frowned, pushing up again and Adela had to lift the dagger to make sure it didn't break through to the flesh of Mason's neck-
Oh. She wasn't going to kill him, was she?
Adela sagged. Mason looked vindicated for a second, then he shot up, crashed his elbow into the side of her face and rolled away, narrowing his eyes at the open window. Adela pressed a hand to her eye. Her forehead was swelling in a way which definitely meant it was going to be a bad bruise. She glared at Mason with the other half of her face.
"I'd bill you for damages but you don't have a bank account," he mused. "Oh, well. This is all on Luke's tab."
"I know what you're going to do," Adela told him. "You're going to kill that woman."
Mason stiffened, turning towards her. "That's not exactly right. What I do depends on what my sister does. Whatever happens, she'll be coming back to the Princess Andromeda with me, willingly or not. If Naomi Solace happens to die in the process then she only has herself to blame. She shouldn't have meddled where she wasn't welcome. My sister doesn't even need her."
"Marion doesn't need you," Adela told him. "She'll hate you. Forever."
Mason paused. "She'll get over it."
"What- what about your brother? Will? He'll hate you, too. He will never forgive you."
Mason stormed over, leaning right in her face and glared. "I. Do. Not. Care."
"You should," Adela told him. "Because Mari won't forgive you either if you kill her brother's mother. I promise, she likes him a lot more than she likes you."
"Yeah, she can't be too happy with me at the moment," Mason agreed. "Like I said, she'll get over it. You have no idea what's going on here, Adela. Trust me."
Adela scowled, summoning her push dagger back. "Telling me to trust you doesn't work the same way it did when Marion said it."
"How did you get so close to my sister, by the way?" Mason asked. "I'll have to lecture her about her choice of friends. First you, then Naomi Solace... I'm really not very happy about the decisions she's been making."
"Stop acting like they're your decisions to make!" Adela snarled. "I don't care if you don't like me, or Naomi Solace, or anybody, it's not up to you!"
Mason looked surprised. "I actually do quite like you, Adela. I would be more than alright with my little sister being... friends with you, if not for the fact that you could kill her with one wrong step. My sister cannot be allowed to die, not-"
"Not what?"
"Not your business!" Mason snapped. "I am leaving. I'm not coming back and my little sister will be joining me. Naomi Solace might end up dead, she might not. I don't care. I don't care about anything except my sister being with me, not anymore. You're not going to stop me. You don't have the guts. We've already established this. All of it. So you can stay out of my way or I can knock you out and leave you here."
He walked towards the door, swapping the axe on his back for a long bronze knife. The same knife he'd used to slit Gladys's throat - Adela knew he'd do it again. And this time he would destroy Marion with his blade, whether he used it to physically harm her or not.
"Wait!" she called.
Mason turned, groaning as if it caused him actual physical pain. "What?!"
"You're right." Adela nodded her head. "I can't stop you. I can't kill you, I can't do anything. But you can't do anything either. Because if Marion goes with you, willingly or unwillingly, I'll follow her to get her out. You're going to end up going to The Princess Andromeda with her, right? It's not like you have anywhere else to go. Camp Half-Blood won't accept you back, and I think a lot of them would just see it as an excuse to beat the crap out of you anyway. Yeah, it'll be The Princess Andromeda. We both know the second I step onto that yacht Luke Castellan is going to want to make sure I'm locked up, so that I don't join Camp Half-Blood and give them a huge advantage. I'll be held against my will. Another word for that is kidnapped."
"Yes, and?"
"When I fisrt met Marion, I didn't trust her," Adela told him. "At all."
"Unsurprising."
"She trusted me, from the start. She only tried to help me, I think because she's genuinely kind. Nothing like you, or me. Nothing she did was ever enough for me to believe her, until she did the one thing that nobody can fake. She made a vow on the Styx that she wouldn't kidnap me. If you take her to The Princess Andromeda, she'll be bait. That counts as helping you kidnap me, even if she doesn't mean to. You'll be helping her break an Oath on the Styx. Getting her killed. You clearly don't want her to die."
Mason froze. "You... no. You're lying. You have to be lying. My sister can't be that utterly stupid. Tell me you're lying, Adela!"
"Marion isn't stupid," Adela whispered.
The axe fell from Mason's hands and he dropped to his knees, his mouth open in a wide O. "No, no, no, Fra... no..."
Adela thought for a second it was over, and sagged in relief. Honestly, she didn't know if half of what she was saying was true. Being accidental bait might not even count, and Mason probably knew that, too. But it was enough that even the possibility existed. Marion could die if Adela followed her, and that was enough.
Mason's eyes zeroed in towards her.
"No," He said. "No, there's a way I can still make everything work the way I need."
He got up again, axe in hand, and started walking towards her. "You can't be kidnapped if you're dead. All I have to do is kill you, and then everything will be back on track. Yeah, this is all okay. Everything is going to be okay. For me."
Adela scrambled back, stretching out her left hand to summon her push-dagger from where Mason had discarded it. Mason whipped his hand out, catching the blade by the sharp edge before it could get within a couple of metres of her. He dropped it to the ground, seemingly oblivious to the blood dripping from his fingertips.
"I thought you said you liked me." Adela's back hit a chest of drawers. "You said-"
"I do like you," Mason agreed. "But not that much. If you're in my way then you're in my way. I'm sorry it had to end up like this, though. I mean that. You've done a lot for me. I wish I could pay back what I owe. Having your throat slit is a horrible way to die. It isn't usually the wound that kills you, did you know that?"
Adela shook her head, clasping her hands around her throat as if that would actually do anything. You still have another dagger! Her mind screeched. Reach for it and nail him between the eyes! But she couldn't move.
"Well, the wound hurts, I'm sure, but it's usually the blood that does it. The stuff bubbles up in your throat, like a mouthful of saltwater and clogs up your airways. You can't breathe, you can't cry out for help, sometimes you can't even stay upright but that just makes it faster. Eventually, you start to choke, and that is when the lights go out, so to speak." Mason sighed. "Believe it or not, there are worse ways to die than having your throat slit. Being ripped apart by a pack of starving hellhounds, for instance. That would be so much worse. At any rate, this isn't going to be painless but I promise to try and make it quick."
Adela closed her eyes, trembling. If she was going to die then she'd rather do it without having to look at Mason's face as he killed her. She'd rather think of someone she actually cared for. It wasn't a very long list. Her Papa was at the top. Then her Tía Anita, then Marion, then Gladys the cat. That was all. Mason was crouched in front of her now. She still hadn't opened her eyes but she could feel his presence in front of her.
"I really am sorry about all this, Adela."
If Adela had been able to squeeze her eyes any more tightly shut, she would've.
I'm sorry, Papa.
Adela tried to prepare herself for death. She'd had a few close calls over her short, short life and she'd always wanted to be the type of person who was cool and collected when the day finally came. But she just wasn't that person. She couldn't stop herself from flinching at the feel of the blade on her neck, and she wasn't ready to die. Gods, she didn't want to die...
The blade wasn't moving.
Adela opened her eyes.
Mason was right in front of her, blade at the ready and a very frustrated expression on his face. Relief flooded Adela's chest, enough to nearly make her laugh.
"Well, Mason?" Her voice was quiet as a mouse. "Are you going to slit my throat, or are you just going to sit there and stare?"
"I... can't." Mason looked like he was more surprised at his words than she was. He snarled at her, and removed the knife.
"Why do you seem to make it your single goal in life to ruin everything I want?"
"I don't," Adela told him. "What did you do to Marion's forehead?"
"She needs to remember. That's all she needs. To remem-"
Whatever Mason had been about to say, Adela never got to hear it. A figure appeared behind Mason, tapping his shoulder. Mason frowned, whirling around. "Who-"
A fist flew at Mason's face.
The fist belonged to a boy about Marion's age, in a short-sleeved yellow shirt with a sword strapped to his leg. His hair was dishevelled, like he'd just run a marathon in his flip-flops, and he looked very angry. Mason dropped his dagger and managed to catch the fist, but the boy just swung with his other one, nailing Mason in the jaw. Mason stumbled back in pain, letting the boy go.
"That... really hurt," said the boy, shaking out his hand and wincing. "Wow."
"Will." Mason's voice was rich with displeasure. "How did you get here?"
"I live here. How did you get here?"
"How did you find me?"
"I followed her." Will grinned at Adela. "Gotta say, climbing up three storeys was not fun but she did it and I didn't want to waste time trying to find wherever she was going the pesky legal way. Oh, and if you're wondering why I punched you, it's 'cause you deserve it and Mari won't do it, so I will."
Adela decided that she liked Will.
"Get out of my way!" Mason snarled.
"No." Will shrugged. "There's no way in Hades I'm listening to you after everything you've done."
Mason looked between Will and Adela, who finally summoned back her left dagger and brandished it at him. Will didn't bother with a weapon. He just shook his head at Mason, crossed his arms and glared. Mason's hand twitched towards his axe, but then he rounded on Will again, and his eyes softened. "Fine." He turned to Adela. "You get your way. I'll find another."
Then, he vaulted out of the still-open window and out of sight. Adela wanted to run to the edge but Will was already there and she didn't want to touch him.
"I can't see him," Will told her. "My father's kids are not great at the dark, but he's probably gone by now anyway. I wasn't at camp with Mason for long but he was always a fast runner. Are you Adela?"
Adela nodded. Will grinned. "Thought so. I'd, uh, I'd shake your hand but my sister told me not to."
"She told you what?" Adela's heart dropped.
"Not to touch your hands. She didn't say why, just that it's your business."
Adela's heart went back to normal again. Will sat cross-legged in front of her, glancing out of the window. "Yeah, he's probably not gonna come back any time soon. I'm cool with that. I'm sorry about the whole following you thing. It's just that Mari talks about you all the time. I don't think she realises it. But I think she likes you a whole lot so I wanted to meet you. I tried to call you to get your attention but you seemed like you were really focused on where you were going, so I just followed you. I was only meant to be five minutes, gods... my Mom is going to be so mad."
Adela's gut clenched. "Will... that's your name, right?"
Will nodded.
"Don't tell Marion or your mother where you were. Or that you saw Mason here," Adela told him. Will looked like he was going to protest, but Adela interrupted before he could. "Look, I know I'm asking a lot. You don't even know me and I should probably be honest about the fact that I came here with the intention of killing your brother-"
"I'm actually pretty cool with that last part," Will interrupted.
"Good." Adela continued. "Do you love Marion?"
"Absolutely." Will nodded. "I don't pick favourites with siblings but she's definitely up there."
"If you mean that, then you won't tell Marion you saw me here, or that I was after Mason. If she knew what was happening here, if she even had he slightest chance of working it out, then she'd go back to Camp Half-Blood as a year-round camper and there wouldn't be a single thing in the world that you could say to make her think otherwise."
Adela didn't want to cover for Mason's... murderous tendencies again. She hadn't even wanted to do it the first time (and she wasn't sure why she had) but somehow that was where she always found herself. But if she did come clean, then she didn't trust Will not to tell Marion about the fact that Mason had been after Naomi Solace, and that would be the fastest way to get Marion to leave and never come back.
"Why was Mason here, then?" Will asked.
"Don't worry about that," Adela assured him. "I took care of it."
Will was silent for a second. Then he nodded. "My sister trusts you. That's enough for me."
➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶
MARION
➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶
"Oh, thank the gods."
Naomi used her free arm (the arm that hadn't been clutching Mari for the last hour like she'd disappear too) to pull Will into a hug, practically strangling him. "Thank the gods, thank the gods..."
"You're a fucking idiot," Mari whispered to her brother. It meant a lot that even though Naomi had probably heard Mari say that, she didn't protest. She just clutched them both tighter instead.
"I know," Will murmured into Naomi's shoulder.
Will had wandered back into the restaurant with a sheepish expression on his face and bruised knuckles, which Mari was pretty sure Naomi hadn't noticed yet. It was great that he was here and all, but it definitely would have been a whole lot more helpful if he'd been able to turn up, well, before Naomi almost got the police involved and the restaurant had to close early because an underage guest had disappeared on the premises. All the other customers had been given a refund and Naomi had been given the entire bill for free, so Mari was guessing that Will suddenly striding in, totally fine, did not make the owners especially happy.
"Do you have any idea how long you're gonna be grounded for, young man?" Naomi asked him.
"Uh," Will gulped. "I'm not going to guess, 'cause I feel like whatever I say it'll end up bein' longer."
"Oh, you're absolutely right about that," Naomi agreed.
Mari would have snickered but the situation felt too serious for that.
"Ma'am?" One of the restaurant owners came over to Naomi, an old man with a grey and blue scarf and a stern expression. "If everything is alright now, do you think you could please leave this establishment? Before I involve the police, that is."
"Fine." Naomi nodded. "I need to get my kids home, anyway. Sorry 'bout all this."
Kids. As in plural. Naomi had said kids. Mari gulped and let Naomi drag her and Will out of the establishment, giving the owner a quiet "Bye." as she went. Naomi ruffled her and Will's hair.
"C'mon, let's go," Naomi told them both. "Somethin' tells me we won't be invited back here any time soon. And William, you are grounded for the rest of the week until you two go back to camp, and then again for a week when you two get back at the end of summer, do you understand me? My heart can't take it if you keep running off all the time, not when it could really mean some kinda monster has you and I can't do nothin' to get you back."
"I know." Will nodded his head. "I'm sorry, Mom."
"S'okay." Naomi smiled. "I'm just glad you're not hurt. Let's get you both home. You guys leave in five days. You hafta start packing."
For an excursion that had ended in multiple tears, a very bad imitation of Spanish food, and law enforcement having to nearly be called, the drive home was actually very lively. Naomi let Mari and Will take turns choosing the music (and no, Will was not allowed to choose the backing track to Star Trek, because that took an hour; Naomi didn't have that kind of time and Mari didn't have that kind of patience).
Almost a week later, Mari and Will were all packed and ready to go, and Naomi was taking them to the airport. Mari had a backpack and two full suitcases in her name, a pastel blue one and a light pink one - that had never happened before. She'd been allowed to pick her own clothes when she was in the foster system in the UK, but her old foster home had been underfunded and there had been a lot of kids, so she'd never had more than a few shirts. When she'd had foster parents who bought her things, a lot of the time those things had been taken by the older kids or she'd felt bad and given them to the younger ones. Now she had dresses, skirts, shirts, leggings, shoes - everything.
Naomi said goodbye to Will, hugging him with a hand in his hair. She whispered a few things and he nodded, his eyes scrunching like he was trying not to cry. Then she sent him to wait for Mari at the end of the terminal. Before Mari could follow him, though, Naomi grabbed her shoulder and smiled.
"Look after-"
"I'll make sure Will is okay, I promise." Mari nodded. It was really the least she could do.
"Yourself. Take care of yourself, sweetie." Naomi squeezed Mari's shoulder and smiled. "I already told Will he better stay safe and come back in one piece. I'm tellin' you the same thing. I fully expect to see ya get off that plane with your brother once summer's over, you hear me?"
Mari gulped. She wanted to tell Naomi that yes, yes, she absolutely would, but for a demigod that just wasn't a realistic promise. At most, she could give Naomi... maybe a 30% certainty? If camp was attacked, which it damn well could be, that probability went down to about 10%.
"Mari?" Naomi asked. "Please, give me an answer."
"I'll try." Mari told her. That was an answer she could be honest about. "I'll try my absolute best. I swear."
Naomi pulled Mari into a hug, just as firm as the one she'd given Will. "I'll see you once summer's over, then."
Mari and Will headed past airport security and boarded the plane, Mari settling down for a nap because it was a four-hour flight that they'd had to get up at 3am to catch. Mari fully intended to make up as much sleep as she could before her Dad decided to grace the world with his sun chariot, especially since no snakes would bother her on an aeroplane full of people. Will was already checking a list he'd been working on over the last few days, of everything he predicted would need replenishing in the infirmary. This was because, in her brother's own words, the rest of their siblings were 'incompetent idiots who don't know the difference between an autoinjector and an arrow'.
The plane took off just as Mari was about to fall asleep (which was very annoying, she should definitely demand a refund), and they were on their way to camp. "Mari, do you like Adela?" Will asked her.
"Uh, what?"
"It's a pretty simple question. You talk about her, like, a lot. Do you like her?"
"O-of course I do. She's my, um. She's my friend." Mari's cheeks were really heating up now, but seriously? That question came out of absolutely nowhere. "Why are you asking?"
"No reason." Will looked like he was trying to hold back a grin. "Just curious."
"Okay..." Mari trailed off. Something about Will's response had been a little too quick. Maybe he was anxious about going back to camp or something, which actually made a whole lot of sense. Even if Will didn't know that camp might be attacked, there had been a certain... tension in the air, even before Mari and Will left last winter. Mari remembered her worry about Hades. If that was actually true... well then, they could all be fucked. No, no. She'd made a decision and she'd have to stick with it now, so there was no point in overthinking it. Besides, for all she knew, she was worrying over nothing. Hades might not even have a kid, and Luke might just be looking into the labyrinth because he needed extra space for his massive ego.
Yeah, it could all be fine. What was that thing Lee had said, before she'd left camp with Will? Oh, yeah. 'Evil Titan lord or not, I'll make sure next summer is the best ever'.
So why didn't Mari believe that?
╱╲❀╱╲❀╱╲
Hannah Murray as Marion Carter
Colin Ford as Will Solace
Dafne Keen as Adela García-Sánchez
Amadeus Serafini as Mason Ray
╱╲❀╱╲❀╱╲