The flight back to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport was short, but it felt long.
It was also probably the most turbulent plane journey that Mari had ever experienced. The plane jostled and jolted every which way like a bumpy roller-coaster ride. Will distracted himself by checking through the medical supplies he'd packed to take back from the camp infirmary, 'just in case'. Mari busied herself by reading through her summer progress report. Mr. D had insisted on giving them out this year, even though nobody was in the mood to have their survival graded.
Dear Marie Antoinette,
Below is your progress report for the summer, which will be sent home to your parents. We are happy to report that your marks are passable, so you will not be fed to the harpies at the present time. Please review and sign for our records.
Sincerely,
CHIRON, ACTIVITIES DIRECTOR AND DIONYSUS, CAMP DIRECTOR
MONSTER-MAIMING (B+):
Marion has progressed nicely in her general maiming capabilities since last year. She even managed to help take down the Aethiopian Drakon this summer! Good job, Marion!
DEFENCE (B+):
Marion has been in seventeen near-death situations this summer. A new record! This could perhaps be improved by honing her latent mist-controlling abilities.
SWORD FIGHTING (A):
Marion is highly skilled with a sword, her weapon-of-choice. However, it is advised that she actually use this weapon mid fight. We have been told that lowering your sword mid-battle may result in a slight case of death.
AEAEAN MIST MANIPULATION (C+):
Marion is the first, and likely only demigod to ever possess this ability, so we have no method of comparison. As such, we have found it challenging to grade. However, Marion should take comfort in the knowledge that she can't ever be the worst! Or is it the best? We are unsure. Regardless, she should make sure to practice throughout the year!
TEAM SPIRIT (A+):
Marion has demonstrated excellent team spirit this summer. Perhaps too much team spirit. Please note that attempting to stage a mutiny during capture the flag because 'Clovis called Drew a useless Aphrodite kid and needed to be punished' is not an adequate battle strategy.
GREEK SPEAK (A+):
Marion has always excelled in this area, we think because her time with Circe in the island of Aeaea gave her a natural head start. We would like to remind her that using this advantage to learn Ancient Greek profanities is STILL not worth extra credit.
FOOT RACING (A+):
We were unable to hold any races this summer due to imminent threats to Camp Half-Blood. However, Marion certainly excels at running away from things that are trying to kill her.
ARCHERY (A*):
Marion is a highly skilled archer, though it is not her preferred weapon. She managed three bullseyes, and didn't miss a single shot this summer!
JAVELIN THROWING (A*):
Marion is an excellent javelin thrower! However, it should be noted that she has a tendency to mix up her left and right when given instructions, which often causes her to hit the wrong target.
ROCK CLIMBING (A+):
Marion has improved her climbing skills, likely from her time spent crawling through tunnels in the labyrinth. However, she does not often turn up to sessions. It has been suggested that this is because the threat of falling into lava is 'not very fun'.
➴➵➶
Naomi was not going to like the 'Ancient Greek profanities' part. Mari tried to take a nap for the rest of the plane ride, but the sun was up so of course her Dad wouldn't let her. She just pretended to be asleep, and Will kindly didn't bring it up, even though he had light powers too, so he knew full-well that neither of them could sleep while the sun was still up.
The plane landed at midday, and Mari and Will lugged their stuff through airport security. She was a little shocked that there weren't any monsters lurking in the baggage claim, but then again, Mari supposed that a lot had died with her brother a month ago. It would probably be a couple of weeks before any started to respawn from Tartarus. Hopefully they didn't treat Mason's body like a light snack down there. The thought made Mari feel sick.
Naomi Solace was waiting for them at gate 16.
Neither Mari or Will got a word out before Naomi had pulled them both into a hug. Will burst into tears in a second. He sobbed onto Naomi's shoulder and tried to speak but Mari couldn't tell what he was saying - it was all incoherent. To be perfectly honest, she was halfway to crying herself. But she couldn't. Will was her little brother. She- she needed to be strong. And besides, Naomi would probably be annoyed if she couldn't comfort her son because his sister was too busy making a fuss. She choked back her tears but a hiccup escaped her throat, and from the way Naomi's arm tightened around her shoulder, she was pretty sure the older woman heard. They stayed like that for a while.
"I'm sorry," Naomi told them. "I'm so sorry. Let's- let's get you both home."
Home. Mari nodded. She liked the sound of that.
Naomi led her and Will to her yellow car and they drove back. Usually when Naomi drove, she played a mix of country songs, including a few of her own hits, but she put on a playlist of Mari and Will's favourites instead. Mari hadn't known Naomi had a playlist like that. Mari really appreciated it, but for once she could barely focus on the words to Hey Stephen (Taylor's Version) without tearing up. She hid it by wiping her face with the sleeve of her fuzzy pink cardigan. Lee used to belt that song with her.
Naomi pulled up on the pavement and led Mari and Will inside. The house looked just like it had when they had left for the summer. Same soft wood floors, same pale green sofas with the squishy lavender pillows, same display of old vinyls next to the TV that Naomi never turned on because demigods and electronics were like a beacon to monsters. It was probably the nicest house Mari had ever seen. Her stomach churned. How could a murderer deserve any of this? She curled up on the pale green sofa and pulled out her sketchbook. She'd promised Austin she wouldn't destroy it, so she just listlessly flipped through the pages of drawings. Adela, the sunrise over the Amphitheatre at camp, Taylor Swift, Mount Olympus, Adela, that stupid picture of her father, the Poppy clearing where Oak's remains bloomed, Adela again...
Her siblings.
It was the same picture she'd drawn in front of the labyrinth entrance, while it was Cabin Seven's guard duty. Michael with Kayla on his back, Mari and Will off to one side. On the other, Lee had his arms around Sean and Austin. Mari's lip trembled. If she'd known her brother was going to die, she would have drawn his face all over the damn book.
"He looks so happy," Will whispered. Mari jumped. She didn't realise he'd settled next to her.
"Is that him?"
Naomi leaned in between them. "Lee? The one on the left?"
"Yeah." Will's voice was thick. "Mari, this is the one you drew with us during watch, right? Before Daedalus kidnapped you."
Mari shuddered at the memory. Naomi squeezed her shoulder. "It's an amazing drawing, honey."
"Lee- he said it was one of my best," Mari whispered. She wanted to touch the paper, but she didn't dare - it might smudge the drawing. Mari gulped. She didn't have a single picture of Mason in her sketchbook. She didn't think she'd ever drawn a picture of him. But just the thought of drawing Mason in this book, it - it made her hands shake. She couldn't do it.
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"Did you mishear me? You're not doing anything! Solidify the mist!" Circe demanded.
You're not there, you're not, Mari reminded herself. It's fine.
She was sitting on the back steps of Naomi's house, bare toes in the wet grass. It was early in the morning, but Mari wasn't late for anything. The Camp Half-Blood summer session might have ended, but school didn't start for another week and a half.
The sun broke through the trees around the property and warmed her face. Lee probably would've declared this the perfect environment for a morning picnic.
Mari raised her trembling hand.
The mist fizzled into the form of a blade at her eyeline, but when she tried to make it cut through the air, it dissipated into nothing. She pressed her free hand to her temple. It was hurting less the more she practised, but it wasn't worth hearing Circe's voice in her head. She shuddered. Michael had asked her to do this. She'd promised she'd do this.
Mari held her hand up and tried again.
The mist moved for a split second this time, before she lost control of it.
"Hm. Adequate," Circe's voice snapped in her mind.
No. It wasn't adequate. She had to do better.
She raised her hand again, and-
"Boo," Will said.
"Gah!" Mari jumped. She lost hold of the mist and it dissolved into the air. "'Ello, Will."
"'Sup."
Will sat next to her on the front steps, fiddling with a roll of ace bandages. "You know you've been doing this for two hours, right?"
"No, I haven't. I started at six, it's only..." Mari glanced at her brother's wristwatch and cringed. it was 8:30 am. Will was actually being generous with his version of events. Mari shrugged.
"Well, it's not like I don't have the extra time on my hands, right?"
"You're bleeding from your nose."
"No, I'm not." She wiped her nose on her sleeve to clear up the evidence. She hadn't even realised it was there.
Will did not look impressed.
"Mari, you can afford to take a break," he said. "Correction: I am telling you to take a break."
"I will, I will. Just give me a couple more minutes."
"I have ADHD too Mari, you and I both know what 'a coupla more minutes' really means," said Will. "I don't particularly enjoy watching my little sister bleeding from her nose on the porch steps. Come on, come rewatch Star Wars with me. Didn't you say you wanted to try drawing an Ewok in Ancient Greek armour?"
Mari had said that, at the start of the summer. It had only been two months, but that felt like a lifetime ago. But Mari needed to practice. She hadn't been practising for almost a year, and Lee had died. She needed to make sure she never let herself get this weak again. But she didn't really have a good argument against Will, so she said the only thing she could think of.
"Michael told me to practice every day." She raised her hand to try again. "And by the way, I'm your older sister."
"I'm not even going to argue with that last part. It's not worth it when I already know the truth. And Michael shouldn't have done that."
Mari snapped up to stare at Will, who just shrugged, continuing, "He meant well, but he should've left it alone. You were practising anyway. He didn't need to add his own two cents. I think he's too fixated on keeping us all... safe to remember to keep us healthy, too. You're going to get yourself hurt practising like that."
"I'll be fine."
Will studied her for a second, frowning. "You ain't gonna to budge on this, no matter what I say, are you?"
"Probably not," Mari admitted.
"'Kay." Will sprang up and walked back inside without another word.
Mari cocked her head to the side. That was... not like her brother. All children of Apollo were... intense when it came to making sure their loved ones took care of themselves, but Will was a special case. He was like intense's even more intense cousin. Mari didn't think she'd seen him give up that easily in her life. Maybe he was too tired. It was early morning, after all. Or maybe the call of The Force Awakens was just too strong.
Mari banished the thought from her mind. She had to focus. Circe's voice rang through her head again.
"You are not doing anything. Solidify the mist!"
Cringing, Mari raised her left arm again, and-
And she couldn't do it. She couldn't do it. Why couldn't she do it?! She'd been able to do it at the start of summer with the Aethiopian Drakon, so she knew it wasn't just because she was too far out of practice. So why couldn't she do one simple thing? Was it just the fates, mocking her suffering? She felt like she'd had enough suffering for two lifetimes. She'd lived two lifetimes, and this life was all the worse for it. She just wanted to do this. Liquid slipped down her face. It wasn't from her nose. Why, why did her Dad have to ignore her? Why did he have to let Lee die?
Mari raised her hand again. She had to do this. Her hand just trembled. The mist didn't even form this time. She felt like screaming—
"Hey, honey."
Naomi Solace gently lowered Mari's hand back down. "Ain't it a nice mornin'? Your brother came and found me in my recording studio. He was worried. He says you've been out here for two and a half hours. Is that true?"
Oh. Will's easy 'surrender' was making a lot more sense now.
"A little bit," Mari admitted.
"I think that's time to go in, then."
Naomi pulled Mari to her feet and put an arm over her shoulder. "You know you ain't s'posed to be out here barefoot, right sweetheart? I'll let it slide cos your crocs were destroyed an'all, but next time do me a favour and put on some socks, okay? Especially if you're gonna be practicing your mist stuff out there. Who was it who taught you how to do that again? Kirby?"
Mari burst out laughing. When she'd caught her breath, she pulled Naomi into a hug.
"What's funny, honey?"
Naomi wrapped her arms around Mari's shoulders and ruffled her hair. "Did I not get the name right?"
"Oh, you got it so, so wrong."
Mari couldn't stop the shit-eating grin that spread across her face. "I'm not telling you her actual name. Ever. Promise me you'll never call her anything else."
"Sure," Naomi agreed. "If you promise me to come inside right now, and limit your practice sessions to an hour a day. I'm makin' vegan pancakes, found a decent-looking recipe online and figured you two deserved a nice welcome home breakfast. Will is having French toast with raspberries. I thought the three of us could do the bakin' part together. There's maple syrup and everything, the works. What do ya say? Up for some breakfast?"
"Okay," Mari agreed.
Naomi smiled and led her inside, and the three of them had breakfast. It was nice. It turned out Naomi was a very messy baker, but neither nobody seemed to mind. In fact, when Naomi turned around and accidentally sent a bag of flour toppling to the floor, she found it funny. Mari couldn't help but laugh a little, too. And the resultant pancakes were no less delicious for the spillage. It was almost a good morning, but then Mari remembered what she'd done to Mason and felt sick.
➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶
Two days later, Mari received a very unexpected Iris-Message.
She was in the upstairs bathroom, washing her hands, when steam fizzled up from the faucet, colliding with the sunrays from the open window to create a rainbow. A face appeared in front of the mirror. Mari jumped back in shock and fell into the bathtub.
"Percy-"
Mari stumbled up, yanking a fallen towel off her head. It was nice to see him and all, but a part of her couldn't help being a little disappointed that it wasn't Adela. "You have the worst timing."
"Sorry." Percy winced. "You okay there?"
"Fine." Mari shook out the towel. "I needed to dry my hands anyway. What's going on?"
"My Dad came to see me. For my birthday."
"Oh," Mari said. "Lucky you."
"That's not what I meant. He had some... bad news. You remember how I kind of caused a catastrophic eruption at Mount St Helen's this summer?"
"Uh huh."
"It's not stopping," Percy said. "More eruptions. More evacuations. My Dad said Typhon is stirring."
Mari sucked in a breath. Typhon was the monster. Forget Kampê - she was a playground bully by comparison. One who Typhon would probably send crying to the teacher with the wedgie to end all wedgies. Typhon was the last child of Tartarus and Gaea, and by far the scariest. When he'd been free the first time, he'd gone up against Zeus and won. He'd torn out all of Zeus's tendons and hurled him into a cave. Zeus had only managed to get the upper hand because Hermes and Pan snuck in and re-attached those tendons. Zeus defeated Typhon by hurling Mount Etna on top of the giant, but with the movement of western civilization, the mountain imprisoning Typhon had shifted to Mount St Helen's, the same mountain where Percy had caused a one-man eruption... If Typhon was free... gods, Mari had really thought it couldn't get worse. She guessed the fates loved proving her wrong.
"How long do we have?" Mari asked.
"My Dad said a couple of months. Maybe a year." Percy sighed. "When he stirs, he'll make a beeline for Olympus."
"Some happy birthday."
"I have a feeling my next one might be a lot worse." Got that right. The prophecy, whatever it actually said, was about Percy turning sixteen. He was fifteen now. Which meant they only had one year.
"That's not actually why I called you," Percy told her. "After my Dad left, we had a bunch of blue cake and played monopoly. You wouldn't think it, but Tyson is ruthless at that game. He bankrupted me within five minutes."
"Did he actually beat you, or did you just choose all the worst properties just because they were blue?" Mari asked.
"Shut up," Percy said. "Tyson, my Mom and Paul were still playing, so I left. Then Nico came to visit me."
"Huh?" Mari set the towel down and sat cross-legged on the toilet seat. "He can just visit from the underworld willy nilly?"
"I don't know what 'willy nilly' means, but yeah. Apparently. I Iris-Messaged you because Nico wanted me to give you a message."
"What?" Mari asked.
"Nico was there when Daedalus got his sentencing. King Minos wanted to boil the guy in cheese fondue - I didn't even know they had cheese in the underworld - but Hades overruled him. Daedalus is going to be building overpasses and congestion control for the fields of Asphodel forever. He gets to see Icarus and Perdix on the weekends, too."
"Daedalus would make a really sucky fondue dipper anyway," Mari said.
"Probably," Percy agreed. "Nico said he talked to the judges of the dead about something else. Mason."
Mari's breath hitched. She didn't know if Nico had forgotten about his offer. She wouldn't have blamed him – he had a lot going on. But he'd kept his word. Or, at least, tried to. Mari owed him, big time.
"It took a little bit of throwing his weight around, and he had to have a dozen ghosts hold Minos down while he talked, but he managed to get them to agree. Mason had been in the fields of punishment, being forced to relive something over and over. Nico wasn't sure what. Apparently it had to do with a car and a pack of hellhounds-"
No. Nononono.
Mari felt sick.
"But Nico managed to get things switched around a bit. I don't quite understand this part. But he managed to get Mason to be put on some kind of protocol. It's usually one they use for really little kids, but Nico pulled some strings. I don't get how it works, but Nico said the judges of the dead are going to make Mason drink from the river-"
"Lethe," Mari whispered.
"...Yeah," Percy said. "How did you know that?"
"Mason. He- he told me once."
Mari's eyes watered. It must have been the steam from the Iris-Message. She wiped at them with the towel.
"Nico said that when people drink from the Lethe, they lose all their memories. It's where souls go to be reborn. Did you know that, too?"
Mari nodded. Percy went to ask something else, but Mari interrupted him.
"Please don't ask me how."
"I- Okay." Percy nodded. "Nico said things would be a little different with Mason. He's not going to be reborn as a child of Apollo. He's going to be a mortal."
Mari gulped. She tried to imagine what that would mean. Mason would be gone. Actually, depending on how speedy the underworld management worked, he might already be gone. The thought filled her with a strange kind of acidic emptiness, like her gut had been sucked clean by a malfunctioning vacuum cleaner. Mari would never see her brother again, not even in the underworld when she died. He was lost to her forever. Even if he was reborn, he wouldn't ever be Mason anymore. It didn't feel right. It felt like she'd been cheated. She still needed to talk to him, get him to- to what?
That was the problem. She didn't know.
But, even if he wasn't Mason, wouldn't he still be happy? She didn't know a lot of what she wanted, but she knew she wanted her brother to be happy. Even if he wasn't... even if it meant he wasn't her brother anymore.
"That... seems fair," Mari said.
It was. To him. It didn't feel fair to her.
"Are you okay?" Percy asked.
"My brothers are dead." Mari said. What do you think?!
Percy's mother called him back, probably to help clean up the remains of his party, and he ended the Iris-Message.
Mari sat on the floor, back against the sink, and put her head in her knees. She tried to imagine a little baby Mason, but she could only see the little four-year-old boy from those awful Frankie dreams in her head. The one with the crooked tooth when he smiled, and the felt tip pen stains on his shirt. She wouldn't know what he looked like now. His teeth wouldn't have grown in yet, and there would probably be no stains. He could look like anyone.
Mason... No, that was wrong. Mari had to cut the thought off in its tracks. He probably wouldn't be called Mason anymore, not without a horrible coincidence.
Brother? No. That was wrong, too. He was a mortal now. Not a child of Apollo. He could be anyone, anywhere, but that person wasn't Mari's brother. Not anymore. She wondered if Mason had been happy about that, as he drowned in the Lethe. If she were Mason, she wouldn't want to be related to Mari. There was only one thing left to say, and it didn't seem like enough.
Who could she say it to, anyway? The stolen ghost of a brother she'd never even had in the first place? The words would feel empty. Mari felt empty. Had Mason ever felt this empty? She really hoped not.
Whoever you are, wherever you are, Mari thought. I'm sorry. I hope you can be happy without me.
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The next week passed without incident.
Mari practised with the mist on the porch steps in the morning when she woke up. It only took three days for Will to slam a timer in front of her and tell her to limit the practice to exactly an hour a day. He did not phrase it as a question. Naomi got them both textbooks and pens and everything else they needed to start school again. She even got them special planners. Will's was Star Wars themed, Mari's was a Speak Now notebook. She flipped through it, but when she got to maths, all the numbers jumbled around in her brain like mixed up puzzle pieces. Whoever created algebra must have been laughing their head off while they were boiled alive in the fields of punishment.
It was probably the most peaceful week Mari had experienced since summer began. She really should have expected something to throw a wrench in it.
It was Wednesday. The day before school started for the year. Naomi had struggled to find Mari and Will a place after they got expelled from the last one. Apparently, the principal of Upper Boggy Elementary was well-connected and loved to talk. She'd managed to convince a small place right off of Fort Branch Boulevard to take them. It was called Havenplant Middle School, and it was right next to Fort Branch Greenbelt, a public park. Naomi said she'd picked it because it had access to the gardens. Nice as the gardens sounded, Mari was still dreading it. She hated schools, and schools always hated her.
Mari was sat at the kitchen table with Will. Each of them was sipping a glass of Naomi's favourite raspberry iced tea, since she'd just gotten a new delivery of it. The were sorting things into a backpack when the doorbell rang. "You two stay there, keep packing. I'll get it." Naomi got up and headed towards the door.
"You think it's gonna be a good school?" Will stashed his thermometer in the front pouch of his backpack. "As good as it can get for us, I mean."
"Hope so." Mari held a packet of sparkly gel pens in one hand, trying to decide between pastels and neon. "I just don't want to burn it down."
"It can't be any worse than last time, with the Karkinos." Will made a face.
"Don't jinx it-"
There was a gasp from the hallway.
Mari and Will both froze, sharing a glance. Monster? Will mouthed.
Mari shook her head. "If it were a monster, there would be more noise. Monsters love to talk. We should check it out though."
The two of them slipped off their chairs and headed down the hallway. Mari's gut clenched. She was pretty sure it wasn't a monster, but what if she was wrong? Naomi was a mortal, and she didn't have a weapon. She'd be defenceless. They had to do something. Fast. Mari didn't have Drys on her wrist; the sword-bracelet was upstairs on her bedside table. But she did have good aim and two packets of gel pens that she could use as projectiles in a pinch. Will had his stethoscope, which he was already pulling from his neck. He was pretty good at strangling monsters with it when he had to. They could do this, they just had to get a reading of the situation, find out what kind of monster it was...
Mari turned the corner and froze at the sight of the person at the door.
"Tell me about your music! I haven't listened to it, I must admit. I know, I know, you must be completely devastated. Please, try not to be too upset. It's not your fault. Obviously, it isn't mine, either. I am a very busy and important god, after all. But I'm sure it's perfect. It must be, since your songs are undoubtedly all about me, and I am the perfect muse. Actually, how would you like to hear all about a recent fling of mine with one of the muses?"
"I wouldn't." Naomi stood in the doorway with her fists clenched. "Why are you h-"
Next to Mari, Will gaped. Both sets of pens slipped from Mari's hands and crashed to the floor. The plastic lid snapped off, sending Crayola lids sliding everywhere.
Naomi whirled around at the noise, panic on her face. "I thought I told the botha y'all to keep packing. Just go back to the table. I'll be there in a-"
"Ah! There she is! Marion, just who I was looking for."
Apollo turned back to Naomi with his trademark blinding smile.
"Well? Aren't you going to invite me in?"
Only one meme today - I've had a huge piece of law coursework for the last three weeks so I haven't had time to make memes.