Koinoniphobia: Fear of a Room Full of People
Aurelia was uncomfortable.
After showering, she changed into a pair of Piper's gray lounge shorts and a tighter white T-shirt.
But now she was vaguely aware of how much skin she was showing: her stomach, her arms and shoulders, and her legs and thighs (because gods be damned those shorts were not very long).
"Woah," Percy joked, covering his eyes when he saw her. "What happened to your clothes?"
"Perv," she murmured, flicking his forehead.
Coach Hedge had taken the helm and the other demigods gathered below for dinner. It was the first time they'd all sat down together—just the eight of them. Their presence should have been reassuring, but seeing them all in one place was just a reminder that the Prophecy of Eight was unfolding at last. They were under way, with a bunch of angry Romans behind them and the ancient lands ahead. The giants would be waiting. Gaea was rising. And unless they succeeded in this quest, the world as they know it would be destroyed.
Percy and Aurelia were the last to stroll into the mess hall and all eyes flickered to them as they entered. Aurelia felt very self-conscious (not that she let anyway know).
She hated how intense everyone was. The tension in the mess hall was like an electric storm brewing, which was totally possible considering Percy's and Jason's powers. In an awkward moment, the two boys tried to sit in the same chair at the head of the table. Sparks literally flew from Jason's hands.
"You two do realize, there are two heads at the table?" Aurelia asked as they stared at each other in a silent brief standoff.
Annabeth, who stood near Aurelia, chuckled as she moved to the chair they fought for. Both backed off immediately as Annabeth slid into it.
Annabeth looked at Aurelia and nodded to the other head in a simple, take it.
Aurelia didn't object as she slid into the chair opposite of Annabeth. Jason and Percy sat on opposite sides of the table—Percy next to Annabeth, Frank next to Percy, and Hazel between Frank and Aurelia. Jason sat across from Percy, next to Leo, and Piper on the other side of Aurelia.
The crew began to compare notes on what had happened in Salt Lake City, but even Leo's ridiculous story about how he tricked Narcissus wasn't enough to cheer up the group.
"So where to now?" Leo asked with a mouthful of pizza. The idiot hadn't washed off the lipstick marks on his cheek and Aurelia was glaring at it slightly. "I did a quick repair job to get us out of the lake, but there's still a lot of damage. We should really put down again and fix things right before we head across the Atlantic."
Percy was eating a piece of pie, which amusingly enough was completely blue—filling, crust. Even the whipped cream. "We need to put some distance between us and Camp Jupiter," he said. "Frank spotted some eagles over Salt Lake City. We figure the Romans aren't far behind."
That didn't improve the mood of the table. Especially considering the one person who could magically improve it was staring blankly at the food in front of her.
Aurelia was only half-listening to the conversation. She had finished her caprese salad and now had a piece of tres leches cake sitting in front of her. She mindlessly stabbed her fork into it as she thought about her cousin. And her home.
How it had been destroyed by this ship—which was the fact, no matter who lay at fault.
She glanced up at Piper, feeling the daughter of Aphrodite's guilt. "I don't suppose we should go back and try to reason with the Romans? Maybe—maybe I didn't try hard enough with the charmspeak."
Jason shook his head. "It wasn't your fault, Pipes. Or Leo's," he added quickly. "Whatever happened, it was Gaea's doing to drive the two camps apart."
Piper seemed a little reassured, but not completely. "Maybe if we could explain that, though—"
"With no proof?" Annabeth asked, "And no idea what really happened. I appreciate what you're saying, Piper. I don't want the Romans on our bad side, but until we understand what Gaea's up to, going back is suicide. Unless ..." She looked across the table at Aurelia. "Jason mentioned that you have a really good relationship with Reyna—maybe there is something you could say?"
Aurelia's hands hovered over her slice of cake. Although her lovely face betrayed no emotion, her eyes seemed a little bitter. "I do have a good relationship with Reyna. But ... that does not matter in this case. When you—" She faltered, stabbing her cake slice again, "—when we fired on the camp, we all became traitors of Rome. And if it was just a matter of convincing Reyna, sure, I could probably fix it. This is not a matter of trust anymore—it is a matter of honor. The fact remains: the Romans were attacked, no matter who is at fault. And when they find us—which they will—they will shoot first and without any hesitation." She finally took a bite of her cake. "And there is nothing Reyna can do about that. We have to keep going "
There was an awkward silence as everyone watched Aurelia. Concern radiated off of most of them, but Aurelia didn't pay them any mind.
"You're right," Piper finally said, breaking the silence. "We have to keep going."
Hazel nodded, taking Aurelia's free hand and squeezing it. "Nemesis said we only have six days until Nico dies and Rome is destroyed."
Jason frowned. "You mean Rome Rome, not New Rome."
"I think," Hazel said. "But if so, it's not much time."
"Why six days?" Percy wondered. "And how are they going to destroy New Rome?"
"The Kalends?" Aurelia tried. "I am not sure about how the day of destruction will commence, but in six days it will be the Kalends of July—Juno's sacred day. So perhaps, that had some sort of significance."
"Maybe," Annabeth agreed. Another moment of silence passed.
"There's more," Piper said, her emotions slightly scared. Aurelia put her hand on her necklace. "I have been seeing things in my knife.
Frank froze with a forkful of spaghetti halfway to his mouth. "Things such as ...?"
"Things that don't really make sense," Piper said, "just garbled images, but I saw two giants, dressed alike. Maybe twins."
Annabeth was staring at the walls—an image of a large living room, with a cozy hearth and a stuffed leopard head. "Twins like in Ella's prophecy. If we could figure out those lines, it might help."
"Wisdom's daughter walks alone," Percy said. "The Mark of Athena burns through Rome. Annabeth, that's gotta mean you. Juno told me ... well, she said you had a hard task ahead of you in Rome. She said she doubted you could do it. But I know she's wrong."
Annabeth took a deep breath. "Reyna was about to tell me something right before the ship fired on us. She said there was an old legend among the Roman praetors—something that had to do with Athena. She said it might be the reason Greeks and Romans could never get along."
Leo and Hazel exchanged nervous looks with Aurelia, who's face still didn't betray any emotion.
"Nemesis mentioned something similar," Leo said. "She talked about an old score that had to be settled—"
"The one thing that might bring the gods' two natures into harmony," Hazel recalled.
"An old wrong finally avenged," Aurelia murmured. The words were finally registering to her. The legend Reyna and Jason once told her—the one Reyna revealed may have to do with the Mark of Athena they heard about so long ago.
Percy drew a frowny face in his blue whipped cream. "I was only praetor for about two hours. Jason, you ever heard about a legend like that?"
Jason turned fearful. "I ... uh, I'm not sure. I'll give it some thought."
Percy was suspicious. "You're not sure?"
Jason didn't respond. Percy turned to the end of the table at Aurelia. "What about you, El? You said this morning that you knew a bit about the Mark—did you ever get around to asking Reyna about it?"
Aurelia was looking at Jason, who also turned his eyes to her. They were pleading a silent, Later. Aurelia's hand was still on her necklace, so the shadow of Jason's fear didn't appear on her skin—but she could still sense it.
Aurelia recalled the story Jason told her—and she could understand why he was so scared. And as much as she cared for Percy, she trusted Jason's judgment.
"My knowledge is very limited," Aurelia murmured. "All I have is the story of a boy who washed upon my island, dehydrated, on the brink of death, and completely mad—muttering constantly about the Mark of Athena. And until we heard the prophecy, I never asked Reyna about the legends surrounding it. And I did not have a chance to ask her today before we left. Sorry."
Percy looked a little more reassured—he believed Aurelia wouldn't lie to him.
"What about the other lines?" Hazel suggested. "Twins snuff out the angel's breath, Who holds the key to endless death."
"Giants' bane stands gold and pale," Frank added, "Won through pain from a woven jail."
"Giants' bane," Leo said. "Anything that's a giants' bane is good for us, right? That's probably what we need to find. If it can help the gods get their schizophrenic act together, that's good."
Percy nodded. "We can't kill the giants without the help of the gods."
Jason looked at Hazel and Frank. "I thought you guys killed that one giant in Alaska without a god's help, just the two of you."
"Alcyoneus was a special case," Frank said. "He was only immortal in the territory where he was reborn—Alaska. But not in Canada. I wish I could kill all the giants by dragging them across the border from Alaska into Canada, but ..." He shrugged. "Percy's right, we'll need the gods."
Aurelia was in deep thought. What was a woven jail? How could twins snuff out an angel's breath? The key to endless death didn't sound very cheerful.
"So ..." Leo pushed his chair away from the table. "First things first, I guess. We'll have to put it down in the morning to finish repairs."
"Someplace close to a city," Annabeth suggested, "in case we need supplies. But somewhere out of the way, so the Romans will have trouble finding us. Any ideas?"
No one spoke. Aurelia's eyes found the daughter of Aphrodite. "Piper?" she prompted.
Piper blinked, surprised that she was acknowledging her. Aurelia sent a wave to relax her and Piper addressed the group. "Well," she ventured, "how do you guys feel about Kansas?"
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Aurelia didn't go to sleep. Not that she could anyways since the satyr Hedge spent the first hour after curfew doing his nightly duty of walking up and down the passageway yelling, "Light's out! Settle down! Try to sneak out and I'll smack you back to Long Island!"
It wasn't that the room was bad. It was plain and simple, and Leo had explained that the room could adjust to whatever temperature she wanted to. A bronze lantern hung from the ceiling, glowing at whatever brightness Aurelia wished. The lantern's sides were perforated with pinholes, so glimmering constellations drifted across the walls.
Aurelia had recognized the door that led to her room. She remembered running through it in her dreams while Jason chased after her. That thought alone was to keep her unsettled.
Aurelia sat on the bed, her legs crossed under her. She still wore Piper's shorts and the shirt. She was counting down the seconds until her dress would be clean, so she could put it back on.
In the dim light, Aurelia brought out her compact mirror to look at herself. Bags were starting to form under her eyes—ugly, purplish bruises. Her hair was a little mussed from her shower, so she ran her fingers through it to make it pretty. And then she lowered her mirror down to her body.
Aurelia always wore dresses that either reached or went past her knees—even her shirts when she went to sleep were long and past her knees. And that was because of her scars. Besides the scars on her wrist, she had scars on her upper thighs as well. They were long faded, and barely noticeable in the shorts, but to her they seemed to be glowing.
She remembered each one. The thin white scar that ran down her thigh was given down by a little pocket knife. The thick one that was only an inch long, was an arrow that she got stabbed with. The small little holes was when one of the pirates punctured her with a fork.
Aurelia really hated wearing shorts.
She looked around the room, her eyes trying to close—her mind begging for sleep. Suddenly, the pretty little room felt suffocating.
She stood, her steps soundless as she made her way out of the dorm. Where was she going? She had no idea. But she wasn't going to sleep. That was for sure.
The second she walked turned into minutes. The minutes drifted into hours. Aurelia had stood on the deck for a long time—staring at the crescent moon in the sky, her mind making shapes out of the stars that shone above. She lost track of how long she stood out there.
So long that she started to see the sun start to peak out of the horizon. She went back to her dorm to get ready for the day. She found her dress and slipped it back on. She put her hair half-up/half-down and washed her face with cold water to get rid of the bags as well as she could.
She sat in the mess hall, an overly sugary coffee in her hand and a cinnamon roll on her plate.
It was barely even dawn when someone else came into the mess hall.
"Oh," Annabeth said, surprised to see Aurelia. "I didn't realize anyone was still awake."
Aurelia sipped her coffee. "Yeah, I had trouble sleeping."
Annabeth sighed, getting herself a drink and sitting down next to Aurelia. "Don't even mention it. Hedge was driving me crazy last night."
Aurelia's lips quirked upward. "Yeah, that is still very strange to me. Satyrs are so much different from fauns."
"Well, Hedge is much crazier than most satyrs," Annabeth added.
The two sat in silence for a minute. Annabeth studied Aurelia's side profile—Reyna had told her the truth, and although she could see the similarities, she still couldn't believe that it was the same girl from Circe's Island all those years ago.
"Just say what you need to say," Aurelia murmured, feeling Annabeth's emotions and gaze.
"I only recognized you after Reyna explained," Annabeth said. She chuckled. "But as soon as she said it, I remembered you from Circe's Island. I remember thinking, Wow, you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. You ... you were the girl who did my hair and makeup. You were the last person I saw before Percy and I sailed away. I'm sorry. I'm so, so—"
"Please, stop apologizing," Aurelia murmured, leaning back in her chair to face Annabeth completely. "Percy and I had spoken about this before—and he kept feeling guilty, and apologizing for what happened. But none of it was your fault. You could not have known what the pirates would do to us. All you worried about was escaping, and that is no crime."
"But I saw you ..." Annabeth's emotions were overrun with guilt. "We saw you get taken by the pirates, and we didn't even look back. And I remembered you all those years. I remembered the horror-struck look on your face—it haunted my nightmares. And you have been so kind, and lovely to me. You made me feel so welcomed—"
"That was my job." The monsters in Aurelia's eyes were slightly amused. "My job was to make girls feel welcomed—to make them want to stay. And if anything I should thank you."
"Thank me?" Annabeth was perplexed. "Why in Hades would you do that?"
"Because if you had not outsmarted Circe," Aurelia said, "I would have been stuck on that island for a very long time. I would have been stuck in the cycle of abuse and ended up a power-hungry witch, like she did. Circe was amazing to the majority of the women who worked for her (undoubtedly) but with me it was different. She made me dependent on her—I craved her approval, her attention, her abilities. And it was never enough for her. Sure, she helped me with a lot of things, and I would not be nearly as powerful as I am without her—but she was not doing it for me. She was molding a weapon. I was a tool for her to wield in battle. And it scares me how much of myself I gave to her."
Aurelia had a ghost of a smile on her lips. "Besides, because of you and Percy, I ended up at Camp Jupiter. I had a home, and a family. I had a true purpose. And I would not want it any other way."
"Then you're welcome, I guess," Annabeth managed.
There was another moment of silence.
"I remembered you too," Aurelia finally murmured. "Not because of the pirates, but because of your hair. I just remembered you as one of the girls with the prettiest hair I had ever seen. I have always wanted blonde curls."
Annabeth touched her curls, which were pulled back in a messy ponytail. "I never really have time to take care of them anymore. It just doesn't seem as important anymore."
"I can help you," Aurelia offered.
Annabeth smiled. "Thanks."
Aurelia finished her coffee and stood up. She offered Annabeth her hand and the two of them made their way back upstairs. Aurelia ran her fingers through Annabeth's tangled curls.
"Dios mio, please let me fix it right now."
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When Jason came up the stairs to the deck, the first person he noticed was Aurelia.
She wasn't looking at him, instead speaking softly to Annabeth and Percy—who were both wearing their orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirts. Percy's arm was around Annabeth's shoulders, and the two of them seemed to be in an overall better mood.
Aurelia was back in her purple dress. Her hands seemed to be a bit jittery as she readjusted them every five seconds on the railing, sometimes playing with the ring on her finger, or touching her necklace (she must have had coffee, Jason figured). Her expression was still blank and impartial, but something seemed to be wrong with her. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but a part of him just knew.
Aurelia felt Jason's presence. "I will be right back," she murmured to Percy and Annabeth who both followed her gaze to the son of Jupiter.
"You sure?" Percy asked.
"Yeah," Aurelia confirmed, pushing herself off the railing. Her eyes met Jason's in an unblinking stare. Her heart rate was picking up as he stared back—not shying away from her gaze as well. He was wearing a purple Camp Jupiter shirt. She really liked that.
"Good morning," she murmured.
"Morning," he whispered back, his eyes scanning every part of her face. "Did you develop a liking for coffee while I was away?"
Aurelia's lips quirked upward: Jason used to tease her endlessly when she tried caffeine for the first time. She had hated the taste, and had been bothering him endlessly because she couldn't calm down. "Well, it is more sugar and cream and cinnamon than it is coffee, but sure."
He smiled at that. "You still have a sweet tooth. At least that didn't change."
But a lot more had. And they didn't know if they were ready to confront that yet.
"Can we talk today?" Jason asked. "I feel like I need to explain more to you about what happened when I lost my memory, and with Piper ..."
The Argo II settled in the middle of a field of sunflowers. The oars retracted. The gangplank lowered itself. Aurelia felt another presence come onto the deck. She glanced behind Jason at the daughter of Aphrodite, who had a bagel in her hand.
"Maybe, but not now," Aurelia said, stepping away from Jason and moving back to the railing. Her movement was fluid and graceful, as though she was gliding across the deck. Jason didn't even glance back at Piper—he just watched Aurelia's movement fondly. He forgot how much he liked watching her walk. She was always so poised.
"So?" Annabeth was the first to speak once Piper finally made it up. She took a bite of the bagel in her hands, which Aurelia found a little strange—but didn't comment. "Here we are. What's the plan?"
"I want to check out the highway," Piper said. "Find the sign that says Topeka 32."
Leo spun his Wii controlled in a circle and the sails lowered themselves. "We shouldn't be far," he said. "Festus and I calculated the landing as best we could. What do you expect to find at a mile marker?"
Piper explained what she'd seen in the knife—a man with a purple goblet. But her emotions were strange. Aurelia listened to her story, slightly wary; it sounded like she wasn't saying everything she saw.
"Purple shirt?" Jason asked. "Vines on his hat? Sounds like Bacchus."
"Dionysus," Percy muttered. "If we came all this way to Kansas to see Mr. D—"
"Bacchus isn't so bad," Jason said. "I don't like his followers much, but the god himself is okay." Jason looked at Aurelia. "We did a favor once up in the wine country."
Percy was appalled. "Whatever, man. Maybe he's better on the Roman side. But why would he be hanging out around Kansas? Didn't Zeus order the gods to cease all contact with mortals?"
Frank grunted. The big guy was wearing a blue tracksuit this morning, like he was ready to go for a jog in the sunflowers (which, Aurelia honestly liked the idea of).
"The gods haven't been very good at following that order," he noted. "Besides, if the gods have gone schizophrenic like Hazel and Aurelia said—"
"And Leo said," added Leo.
Frank scowled at him. "Then who knows what's going on with the Olympians? Could be some pretty bad stuff out there."
"Sounds dangerous!" Leo agreed cheerfully. "Well ... you guys have fun. I've got to finish repairs on the hull. Coach Hedge is gonna work on the broken crossbows. And, uh, Annabeth—I could really use your help. You're the only other person who even sort of understands engineering."
Annabeth looked apologetically at Percy. "He's right. I should stay and help."
"I'll come back to you." He kissed her on the cheek. "Promise."
Aurelia watched them fondly. Their love and emotions towards each other made her feel soft. There was a time where she and Jason were that easy—just two people who cared for each other unapologetically. Now she didn't even know what they were. She wished it could be easy. She wished that she could see past Jason's indecision because of his feelings for Piper, but it wasn't just his feelings that changed. He had changed. He didn't feel quite as ... Roman, if there was a word to describe it. And she didn't know what she was supposed to do with it.
She loved him still—and she would continue to love him. But she wasn't completely sure if she still loved him for him, or for who he used to be.
Frank slid his bow off his shoulder and propped it against the rail. "I think I should turn into a crow or something and fly around, keep an eye out for Roman eagles."
"Why a crow?" Leo asked. "Man, if you can turn into a dragon, why don't you just turn into a dragon every time? That's the coolest."
Frank was very annoyed. "That's like asking why don't you bench-press your maximum weight every time you lift. Because it's hard, and you'd hurt yourself. Turning into a dragon isn't easy."
"Oh." Leo nodded. "I wouldn't know. I don't lift weights."
"Yeah. Well, maybe you should consider it, Mr.—"
Hazel stepped between them. "I'll help you Frank." She shot Leo an evil look. "I can summon Arion and scout around below."
"Sure," Frank said, still glaring at Leo. "Yeah, thanks."
Aurelia chewed on her bottom lip. Obviously she didn't do as good of a job as a buffer yesterday as she thought she did. If she didn't know about Hazel's past, it would just look like two guys trying to fight for Hazel's affection—but it was so much more than that.
Both Frank and Hazel met Aurelia's eyes and immediately they toned down their glares and got control over their emotions. "Just be careful when you go out there," Hazel finally said to Percy and Aurelia. "Lots of fields, lots of crops. Could be karpoi on the loose."
"Karpoi?" Piper asked.
"Grain spirits," Hazel siad. "You don't want to meet them."
"Then that leaves the four of us to check out the mile-marker," Percy decided. "Me, El, Jason, Piper. I'm not psyched about seeing Mr. D again. The guy is a pain. But, Jason, if you're on better terms with him—"
"Yeah," Jason said. "If we find him, we'll talk to him." He nodded to him and Aurelia. "Piper, it's your vision. You should take the lead."
Aurelia pursed her lips—she was not very excited about going on a quest with Jason and Piper. But at least she had Percy. She had to keep reminding herself that they were a team. This may have to be her new family—especially since they had fired on her old one.
"Of course," Piper responded, her voice upbeat. "Let's find the highway."
Aurelia studied Piper with a blank stare. Despite the fact that her voice sounded upbeat, Piper's emotions were fearful. A shadow danced across Aurelia's wrist: Piper's fear.
She had suspected earlier that Piper wasn't telling the full truth about her vision. But now Aurelia was sure—Piper was definitely hiding something.
Hopefully, it wasn't something that would get them all killed.