Mari woke up slowly.
The memory of what she'd said the night before came back in a rush, and she tore her eyes open. The rising sun was filtering through the translucent curtains, casting a soft blurry light across the floor. Had she dreamt the whole thing? Maybe. It seemed like a more plausible explanation than Naomi Solace being okay with a murderer living under her roof. It definitely seemed like a more plausible explanation than anybody believing her about the snakes. A part of Mari really hoped that it hadn't been just a dream. Talking about everything she'd endured had felt like putting her soul through a paper shredder. She didn't want to have to do it again.
"Good morning!" Naomi was sitting on a pink bean bag chair on the other side of the room. "How are you feeling?"
"Better."
It was true - Mari didn't feel great, but it didn't quite seem like the world was trying to drown her anymore. She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Thanks for - thanks for not hating me."
"Honey, I'm not ever gonna hate you," Naomi told her. "How'd you feel about taking the day off school today? I know it's the first day an'all, but there aren't any classes on the first day. I can call Havenplant Middle School and say you're not feeling too good. I figured you could use the rest."
"Okay," Mari agreed in less than a second. School was probably the only thing she didn't like about not being a year-round camper anymore. Chiron had been a pretty great teacher. He yelled out questions in Ancient Greek mid-sword-practice, he turned maths lessons into scavenger hunts in the north woods, and he once used a cookie half-dipped in milk to teach them about Achilles during breakfast. He made it fun. Mortal teachers didn't make it fun. They made Mari sit still and try to listen, and even if she managed to get through classes without zoning out, half of what the teachers said still didn't go in. Mari was happy to avoid that for as long as she possibly could.
Naomi left to check on Will, and Mari changed out of her pyjamas, shrugging on a pale yellow patterned dress and sandals. Then she grabbed Drys and headed downstairs. Will was ready to go, with his backpack slung over his shoulder and his thermometer around his neck. Mari didn't think there was any other twelve-year-old in the state who brought a fully-functional thermometer to school, but then again, none of those twelve-year-olds were half as cool as Will.
"Sorry I'm not coming," she said.
"S'okay."
Will grinned. "I'll bring you back whatever the teachers give us. Also, this way, I get your lunch. And I'm going to tell everyone at school I'm older than you."
Mari stuck her tongue out at him.
"Alright, c'mon." Naomi said. "Let's get goin'. Mari, I'll see you in an hour."
Naomi and Will left, and Mari was left in the house with just her thoughts for company. She sat on the steps of the back porch and stared out at the sky. it was barely past sunrise, and Apollo's chariot was just starting its journey across the sky. The sun took on a strange intensity as she stared up at it, almost as if her father was looking at her. That would be a first. Mari had the intense urge to flip him off. No, she thought. Bad Mari. As usual, her thoughts were really terrible companions.
This wasn't what she same outside to do, anyway. There was an apple tree in the back-yard, between the two-storey climbing wall and the sword-fighting dummy on the gazebo. Naomi had been saying she needed to trim the leaves. Mari raised her left hand and closed her eyes.
"You are not listening to me, Marion."
Circe glared. "The mist is a servant for you to bend to your will, as you are a servant for me to bend to mine. Control it, do not try to play with it!"
"But it hurts!" Mari gasped.
"Pain is power," Circe told her. "You will learn that soon enough. Now concentrate."
The mist formed a shaky blade in mid-air, around a particularly overgrown branch on the apple tree. Mari tried to make it move, but her fingers shook and the blade dissipated into nothing. She scowled. That wouldn't do a thing in battle. Maybe a monster would be a little intimidated by something they'd never seen before, but after that, they'd realise she was no threat and go right in for the kill. She needed to do better. She'd promised Michael. A familiar headache started to form. She tried again, and another blade formed mid-air. She lurched her hand forward, and the branch shook. Mari shot up and ran over, but she'd barely scraped off the tree bark. It might scratch a monster's cheek in battle, but that would just make the monster angrier. Gods, this was pointless!
"Again!" Circe spat. "You're wasting my time, Marion! Focus, or I will make you focus!"
"Can't I please just have a tissue?" Mari clutched her bleeding nose.
"Didn't you hear me?" Circe asked. "Again!"
Mari raised her shaking hand again, and-
Wait.
A different memory flashed in her mind.
"I can't do it!" Mari threw her bow to the ground, glaring at the sandy floor of the archery range. She'd tried to shoot a flaming arrow at the target, but she'd miscalculated the force she pulled the nock back with, and the point had burned her fingers. It was like every time she tried to do this, something went wrong. It wasn't fair! Michael could do this kind of thing with his eyes closed.
"Woah, woah, woah."
Lee laughed, picking Mari's bow up and brushing off the sand. "You're lucky Michael didn't see you do that. Here..." He passed her a shot glass of nectar. "Take it for your hand and then tell me what's wrong."
"Fine."
Mari tossed back the nectar, savouring the taste of Jaffa Cakes, and relaxed as the tingling pain in her hands was chased away by the food of the gods. "I don't know why I can't get this right. Every time I try to shoot, it goes wrong."
"You're way too tense," Lee told her. "Rookie mistake. Most people think that to shoot a bow, you need to keep your hand tense around the grip. That's wrong. You're going to want to keep your grip light instead. It stops your hands from shaking and keeps your aim steady. It's not just your hands, though. Forget shooting the target – you look like you're going to glare a hole right through the bullseye. The most important thing when shooting a bow is to make sure you're relaxed while you aim. You can't focus on shooting if your mind is worrying about something else."
Oh. Mari supposed that made sense. To be honest, she'd probably been glaring because she'd been pretending that the target was Circe's face.
"Want to try again?"
Lee handed her bow back and passed her another arrow. This one was a regular one, which didn't catch fire. That was probably for the best. Mari took a deep breath and pulled the string back so that it pressed into her nose. "Grip!" Lee reminded her. Mari relaxed her hand, and aimed at the target. Lee had been right. The bow wasn't as shaky this time. Mari smiled, and let the arrow fly. It hit the target just outside of the bullseye.
"I did it!" Mari squealed with glee. "Did you see that, Lee? I did it!"
"Yeah, I saw." Lee grinned, catching Mari in a one-armed hug. "Good job. Why were you so tense, anyway?"
"I was kind of pretending that the target was Circe's head," Mari admitted.
Lee paused. Then he burst out laughing. "I've got half a mind to do the same thing. You know, I overheard Travis and Connor plotting something to do with stink bombs around the Aphrodite cabin this morning. Do you think that we could send a bulk package to Aeaea? Give Circe a nice surprise."
"Oh, absolutely." A deadly grin spread across Mari's face. "Make sure to sign my name on the package. I'll even give you a head start. You have an hour to find as many stink bombs as you can before I rat Connor and Travis out to Drew and then she and I watch Silena Beauregard tear them both to shreds."
"You're no fun," Lee told her. Then he hugged her tighter. "I'm really glad you're back."
"Yeah," Mari agreed. "Me, too."
Mari blinked out of the memory. She stared at her hands. Her fingertips were trembling. Circe had taught her to embrace the pain like it was all she was good for. Lee had taught her to relax and keep her mind calm. Mari wasn't a genius, but she knew who she'd rather listen to.
She held her hand out, and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and relaxed.
Then she sent a sharp blade of mist right through the protruding branch, snapping it off from the tree.
By the time Naomi Solace got back, Mari was happily munching on her apple under a newly trimmed tree. It was pruned to a standard that would make the entire Demeter cabin proud. There was a pile of dead branches next to her.
"Well." Naomi blinked. "You've been busy. I was only gone an hour."
"I figured this way you wouldn't have to call a gardener," Mari said. "Uh, did I do it right?"
"You did a better job than a professional. Are you sure you weren't born in a wildflower patch?"
"No, I was born in a hospital." Mari made a face. "Probably."
"How'd ya cut off all those dead leaves, anyway?"
Mari grinned, and raised her hand. She had the mist grasp onto several of the branches, and lift them into the air to form the shape of a person. She used her apple core as the head, and had two tiny twigs form an L on the apple-forehead. Then she hid behind the person and put on a low voice.
"Hello, Naomi. My name is Puke Castellan and I think that kidnapping people is funny. I am currently infested with a very bad tapeworm called Kronos."
Naomi burst out laughing. Mari smiled and continued.
"This tapeworm is also my only friend. I have no other friends, because I'm actually a massive di-"
"Mari!" Naomi interrupted. Mari lost her concentration and all the sticks fell into a heap.
"Despicable person. I was, uh, I was totally going to say despicable person the whole time," Mari lied.
"What? No, no, I didn't mean the language."
Naomi shook her head, pulling out a tissue from her bag. "Well, actually, now that ya mention it, I did mean the language. We're gonna hafta have a talk about that, honey. Who even taught you to swear? Never mind. That'll be a conversation for later. Sweetheart, you're bleedin' again."
Naomi pressed the tissue under Mari's nose, and sure enough, it came away red.
Mari's heart sank. She should have known practicing with the mist wouldn't be that easy.
"Hey." Naomi squeezed her shoulder. "This is all real impressive, Mari. I mean it. I think you mighta actually done a better job than the neighbourhood gardener. Don't go tellin' her I said that, now."
"I won't," Mari said. "You know, I didn't technically say anything about swearing."
"Uh huh." Naomi deadpanned. "How do ya feel about gettin' out of here? I figured you could use a day to yourself. We can take my car and get lunch, too. Is there anywhere you wanna go?"
Mari racked her brains, but she didn't really know anywhere in Austin. She didn't have much experience with the city, even though she'd been there for five months before the summer session of Camp Half-Blood. Then a memory popped into her head, and Mari grinned.
"I'd really like that, Naomi," Mari told her. "And I already know exactly where I want to go."
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"You sure this is the place?"
Naomi eyed the huge ranch house up in the distance like it was about to explode. It was no Mount St Helen's, but knowing Mari's luck, she wouldn't be surprised if it found a way.
"Yeah, this is the Triple G Ranch," Mari told her. "It's different than it was before, though."
A good different, definitely. Naomi had parked the car at the bottom of the huge hill that led up to the Triple G Ranch. Even from a distance the place was nowhere near as bad as it had been last time Mari had seen it. For one thing, it didn't smell like poop anymore. Eurytion must have listened to Mari and Grover's advice about enlisting that naiad for help. The grass looked fresher too, like it had been trimmed for the first time in millennia. Up ahead, at the top of the hill, she could see the ranch house where Percy had shot Geryon with an arrow guided by Hera, because Apollo had been too busy twiddling his thumbs to help. It looked like it had been given a fresh coat of paint.
Naomi stopped Mari before she could get out of the car. "Hold up."
"What's wrong?" Mari asked. "I promise I'm not going to go near the entrance to the labyrinth. Never again. I just want to see the cows."
"Not in those shoes, you won't."
"But I like these shoes." Mari frowned at her sandals. They were light pink and she'd stitched heart-shaped blue beads into the material with Drew in the arts and crafts pavilion during the summer.
"I like 'em too, but you don't wanna ruin them." Naomi reached behind the car-seat and pulled out a pair of sparkly lavender cowboy boots - Mari's favourite colour. "Trust me, you're gonna be needin' these. I grew up on a cattle ranch. you do not wanna be wearing those shoes in that dirt. Gets everywhere and it's a nightmare to wash out. These boots'll do the job just fine."
"How long have you had those?" Mari asked.
"A while," Naomi told her. "Look, honey, have ya ever had to walk around with dirt between your toes? I have, and it ain't no fun."
"So, the cowboy boots are non-negotiable?" Mari asked.
"The cowboy boots ain't negotiable."
"Right." Mari put on the boots and headed out, Naomi following.
As she walked up the dirt path towards the ranch, she noticed some other things that were changed, too. The animal pens looked cleaner, and their food troughs were completely full. The hippalektryons were squawking around each other like they were having a screaming match, but they weren't fighting over seeds anymore. There were huge piles of the stuff stacked in all four corners of their pen, more than enough to go round. Up ahead, a stable full of fire-breathing horses stood. Previously, it had been made of cheap wood, which Mari thought was the single biggest crime against architecture and fire safety she'd ever seen in her life. Now, it was padded with an orangey-beige material. On closer inspection, it was the same stuff that Will said bunsen burner mats were made from.
"Those are real impressive." Naomi said, reaching out to put her hand under a horse's nose. Mari snatched Naomi's hand back with a shake of her head. "Yeah, but they also breathe fire."
The horse Naomi had been reaching for chose that moment to neigh, and a surge of hot smoke shot out from its nostrils. Flame licked at the place where Naomi's hand had been a second before.
"Oh." Naomi sounded faint. "That's... well, that's sure somethin'."
"Not as bad as the flesh-eating ones," Mari told her.
"The what?!"
"Uh, nothing." Mari dragged Naomi away from the horse-pen. "Just don't go near any of the animals, okay?"
"I'm starting to think maybe we should just go walking along the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge or something, Mari."
"Oh." Mari tried not to feel to disappointed. "We can go somewhere else, if you want."
"No!" Naomi said. "I mean, no. Honey, if this is where you wanna go, then this is where we go. Just... keep a distance from anything with fire or teeth, won'tcha?"
"Promise." Mari nodded. "Look, we're... here?"
It seemed that the animal enclosures weren't the only thing that Eurytion had upgraded. Before, the house at the top of the hill had been totally unprotected from any monsters (not that any would have attacked - no, the monsters had been the customers). That had changed. Now, surrounding the entire ranch house was a bright red fence, painted with cartoon daisies. Chain link ran along the top, buzzing like it was electrified. It looked like something cabin five would cook up in the middle of the night, to trip up the Stoll brothers. Mari remembered that Eurytion was a son of Ares. Clarisse would probably dig this décor.
"Is there a code or something?" Naomi asked.
"No, I don't think so," Mari said.
Then she leapt into the air and kicked the door in with the heels of her feet.
The soles of the cowboy boots were sturdier than Mari had thought. Naomi was right. These things were really useful. The red wood splintered in two, and the door swung open, to reveal a very frazzled looking Eurytion. The cowherd was still wearing his Don't Mess with Texas t-shirt, but he'd switched out the denim jacket with the sleeves ripped off for a bright red blazer. Mari supposed Eurytion was trying to look more business-like, since he owned the ranch now. Only, it didn't quite work, because he'd ripped the sleeves off his blazer, too.
"Marion Carter?" Eurytion looked incredulous. "You're alive? And you're here?"
"This isn't a social call, Eurytion. I'm here for Janina."
"You destroyed my fence." Eurytion gave her a flat look. "Those things ain't cheap, girl. I'm tryin' to make an honest living here."
"You stabbed my hand with a rake," Mari said. "You have no room to talk."
"I thought you said you were willin' to let bygones be bygones!"
"It was rusty."
"I'm sorry, he what?!"
Naomi pulled Mari behind her, glaring at Eurytion like a flip had been switched. She dug a pair of tweezers out of her bag and turned to Eurytion with a deadly look in her eyes. "You got ten seconds to explain what she was talkin' about, and if I were you, I'd use 'em. These things are sharper than they look."
"Okay, okay."
Despite the fact that Naomi's tweezers were not made of celestial bronze, and at most would probably feel like a light gust of wind, Eurytion held his hands up on either side of his head as if Naomi had him at gunpoint. He gave Mari a side-eye as he spoke. "You know, kid, I like you an'all, but you really gotta think about how you say things. Look, Naomi Solace, is it? I didn't do nothin' to hurt your dau- the kid. I pulled the rake outta her hand. I wasn't the one who stabbed it. And I gave her burgers after!"
"She's vegan," Naomi said.
"It's, um, it's alright," Mari said. "He did kind of pull the rake out. Not that pulling it out was the brightest idea, since ideally you want to reduce the blood flow, but it's not his fault that he's an idiot. And the fries were nice."
"Look, insults aside, we're all friends here," Eurytion said. "So how 'bout we put away the sharp objects and I let y'all see my farm? I think Mari'll like some of the... uh, upgrades I've been workin' on since my boss... uh, took a permanent vacation to greener pastures. I gotta say, business is booming. We've even got a vegetarian range going now. Tofu and stuff. It's real popular with the folks up in the city."
"Fine." Naomi glowered at Eurytion. "But if you go pullin' any tricks, I'm leaving you a very nasty yelp review."
"Noted." Eurytion nodded.
"How'd ya know my name, by the way?" Naomi asked him.
"Oh, the kid-"
"-not a kid!" Mari interjected.
"The kid said she was gonna talk to you a couple of months back, after Geryon departed from the business. And from life. She went inside to Iris-Message you while the others were summoning spirits out back. Still smells like root beer and death there, by the way. Three bottles of bleach and I can't get the stench out. Anyway, Mari over here went into the house to talk to ya. I wasn't there for the next part, Mari, but I did see your older brother lugging you outta the house like a sack of flour. Ran to get the others, but he was quick. There wasn't much we could do. How did you get out of that, by the way? Cos' I don't wanna have to deal with that guy comin' over here and messing with my cattle."
Mari's hands started shaking. She looked away. She probably should have told Eurytion that he didn't have to worry about Mason at all, that he couldn't be robbed by a dead man. But suddenly when she went to speak she felt like she'd swallowed a huge mouthful of the coal from Eurytion's grill.
"Didn't you say you wanted to give us a tour or your 'new and improved farm'?" Naomi put one arm around Mari's shoulder and pulled her into a hug. She used the other arm to make air quotes around the words 'new and improved'. "Let's go."
"Yeah, I want to see Janina!" Mari nodded. "Gods know, she's probably starving for intelligent company." Then she stuck her tongue out at Eurytion.
"Uh, who's Janina?" Naomi asked.
"My best friend."
"I thought Drew Tanaka was your best friend."
"My best non-human friend."
"Janina is a cow." Eurytion gave a long-suffering sigh. "When the kid was here, she somehow got it into her head to name the cow Janina. Even tried to get me to let her take the damn thing with her. I hadn't been in the business of naming my animals – the boss-man wouldn't let me – but if I could I woulda picked something cool like skull-crusher or spine-smasher. Not Janina. Ever since you left, though, the damn cow won't answer to anything else."
"I want to see her!" Mari bounced on the balls of her feet. "Please."
"Fine, c'mon, c'mon." Eurytion kicked some of the splintered wood out of the way and waved Mari and Naomi through. "You can see Janina. Actually, there's someone else I think you'll wanna meet, too. I think you'll like him."
"Who?" Mari asked. "What did you do? Hey, look, that kind of rhymed."
Eurytion just smiled. "I got myself an apprentice, little miss."
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It turned out, Eurytion had kept his word to Mari and Grover. More than that, actually. He seemed to have decided that the correct response to the statement 'Eco-Friendly' was to worm his way into the good graces of every single dryad, naiad and nymph on the entire property. To be fair, he wasn't wrong. But Mari hadn't expected him to make this much of an effort.
The roof of Eurytion's ranch house was covered in windmills, solar panels and even a couple of plants poking out in between. Mari hadn't the slightest clue how Eurytion had managed to plant moss on his roof. There was a Naiad standing on his porch, which was strange because Naiads didn't tend to like leaving their natural sources of water. In fact, some of them stayed so long, they became attached to the place. Mari's confusion was quickly abated when she looked down, and saw that the Naiad was standing in a huge barrel of lake water. She was wearing jeans, a green shirt, and a hat that had the logo of the Triple G Ranch printed in green, and she was watering another array of potted plants on the top of Eurytion's porch fence. If Mari had to bet, she'd say that this Naiad was the same one who helped Percy out. But Percy had said this Naiad hated the Triple G Ranch. It seemed like things had changed. When the Naiad saw Eurytion, she grinned and waved. Eurytion waved right back.
Around the other side of the house, there was a line of mortals, all clamouring to look at the various food products that Eurytion had on display. A dryad stood at the stall, exchanging a thick wad of cash with a mortal at the front. Then she handed the mortal a recyclable bag and a green pamphlet for something. As the mortal thanked her and left, the dryad's hair sprouted with leaves. Mari wondered what the mortals were seeing. Maybe a gust of wind?
Mooooooooo!
The sounds of close to a hundred cows filled Mari's ears as she and Naomi followed Eurytion down the path to the cow paddock. It looked positively shiny compared to the state it had been before. Not a speck of poop in sight. Mari still wouldn't eat off the grass given the choice, but she might advise Travis and Connor Stoll to have a picnic on there. "Woah," Naomi said. "This place is in great condition."
"A recent development," Eurytion admitted. "It took a whole lot of work to clean this place up of all the... pollutant influences."
Mari had a feeling Eurytion wasn't just talking about the poop there. The Apollo's red sun cattle had always looked beautiful, but they definitely looked a lot better when they weren't covered in their own waste. Their red coats seemed to catch the light of the sun, lighting up in the rays. It probably would have made a mortal, or any demigod not related to Apollo have to look away. In fact, Eurytion had slapped on a pair of bright red sunglasses, and Naomi was shielding her eyes with her hands. Eurytion led them through the cow paddock gate and the next thing Mari knew, she was swarmed with cows.
"Honey, be careful!" Naomi yelled, panic in her voice. "Those things don't like bein' approached from behind! Move slow!"
"It's okay!" Mari called back. "These guys are my friends!"
The cows moooed in approval. They came at her from all angles, brushing up against her hands and nudging their baby cows in her direction as if she was a celebrity. It was like a very loud bovine nightclub. Mari looked through the sea of cows, but she couldn't see the one she was looking for, until a head pressed against her shoulder. Mari turned around, to face a familiar adorable face, with the bit missing on the left ear and those huge shiny eyes. Mari felt a grin break across her face. She reached out an arm, and gently scratched underneath the cow's neck.
"Hi, Janina!" she said. "I came back!"
Janina moooed happily. A couple of the cows stared at Janina, and Mari wasn't the best at reading cow-expressions, but she could have sworn they looked jealous.
"Look, Naomi!" Mari led the cow over to where Naomi was standing by the gate, looking very amused. "This is Janina! Isn't she cool?"
"She's plenty cool, Mari. I'm surprised she's so calm, after all the stuff you said happened to the animals here. Do ya think she'd be calm enough for me to try petting-" Before Naomi could finish whatever she was going to say, a bee flew right at her and nearly stung her on the nose.
"Aw!" She swatted it away. "Where did that come from?"
"Uh..." Mari turned around, jaw dropping. "I think it's a pretty safe bet that it came from that thing."
Walking towards them was the blurry outline of a figure. The outline was moving, little dots in the distance shifting over each other, and as the figure got closer, a loud buzzing sound formed, like a lawnmower. The bigger the figure became, the louder the buzzing got, until Mari didn't think she'd be able to hear anything else. Eventually, they were around ten meters away, and the buzzing was more like a roaring. Mari drew her sword. She felt a hand pull her back. It was Naomi, and she had her tweezers out again.
"Y'all are gonna want to put those away!" Eurytion yelled over the sound. "He's harmless!"
"You know him?" Naomi barely managed to shout the question over the buzzing. Mari squinted, and she realised what all the shifting shaped around the figure were. He seemed to be covered from head to toe in bees. Even the eyes were covered.
"I told ya I hired an apprentice!" Eurytion roared back, fingers in his ears. "Aristaeus! Would ya please send the bees away?"
The figure, Aristaeus, held out one hand in a very buzzy thumbs up, and and the bees swirled around him like a mini, humming tornado. They flew up in a haze, settling above Aristaeus like a small cloud, leaving him bee-less.
Without his... entourage, Aristaeus looked a lot less intimidating. He had dark hair and skin and was wearing a straw hat, kind of like Eurytion's, but the cone was solid gold, and the brim looked like it was made from honeycomb. His shoes were ancient leather sandals, but they didn't seem to be getting dirty from the field. In fact, it looked like wherever he went, he was leaving a trail of honey-footsteps. He was wearing a white Chlamys with a yellow shirt over the top, and on the shirt the words YOU CAN BEE WHOEVER YOU WANT TO BEE were printed in solid gold letters.
"Hiya!" Aristaeus grinned at them and walked over. "Boss! Are these guys special guests?"
"Somethin' like that," Eurytion muttered. "Marion Carter." he pointed to Mari. "Naomi Solace." He pointed to Naomi.
Aristaeus looked at the cows surrounding Mari, and his expression went from polite to warm. "I wondered where all the cows had run off to. And Janina led the herd, too. She's usually a lot more reserved. Seems you're like me, huh?"
"Like you?" Mari asked.
"Yeah, like me. Allow me to introduce myself."
He held out a hand for Mari to shake. His nails were painted yellow, with pieces of honeycomb sticking out of the polish.
"Aristaeus. God of beekeeping, cheesemaking, shepherds and honey. Son of Cyrene and Apollo. At your service."
"Apollo?" Mari spluttered. "That means you're my-"
"Brother, yeah. I know." Aristaeus smiled at Mari. "The red sun cattle love children of Apollo. They haven't left my side since I took the job from Eurytion. I mean, usually I prefer sheep, but the pay here is great and I have to admit, these cows are the most endearing animals I've ever met."
A bee flew down and angrily whizzed around Aristaeus's head. "Hey, hey, hey!" Aristaeus laughed. "I said animals, not insects. You guys are still my favourite. Anyway, I got a little confused when the cattle all ran away from me at top speed. I asked my bees if they'd got a little territorial with their stingers, but they all denied it, so I came over here to make sure everything was okay. I'm glad I did. I always love meeting my demigod siblings. I don't usually get the chance."
"I live with my little brother. His name's Will," said Mari. "And yes, he is younger than me. Just so you know. We can bring him next time, too. We can come back, right Naomi?"
"Sure thing, honey." Naomi nodded. "So long as you and Will keep up a C average in school. But Eurytion better keep his rusty rake away from your hands this time, cos' if he hurts either of y'all, then we're gonna have problems."
"Hey!" Aristaeus glared at Eurytion. "You didn't tell me you stabbed my baby sister with a rusty rake!"
"I didn't think it would be important on the job application..." Eurytion muttered. "If it means anything, I feel real bad..."
"Not important -!" Aristaeus turned to Mari, looking apologetic. "Free lunch. On the house. It's the least we can do."
"Yeah!" Eurytion agreed. "Yeah! We've got vegan burgers this time, and we can do loaded fries with tofurkey instead of bacon. How's that sound?"
Mari's stomach made a growling sound, answering for her. Aristaeus laughed and ruffled her hair. "That a yes?"
"Yeah, that's a yes."
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"So."
Mari turned to Aristaeus as Naomi turned the music from her phone off. "We've already established that the bees like Natalie Sloan. Now, for the equally important question. Do the bees like Taylor Swift?"
It was the first thing that Mari had done once she sat down. Eurytion was busy grilling the burger buns outside, so she'd asked Naomi to help her test Aristaeus's bees on their taste in music. First, she played a one of Naomi's songs, then a Taylor Swift song. The bees had bopped around Aristaeus's head in delight at both, so currently they were passing with flying (pun not intended) colours.
"Yeah, I think the bees like Taylor Swift."
Aristaeus nodded. "But I want to hear more about the labyrinth. You said there's an entrance at camp. It's a nightmare. A bunch of my animals keep wandering in, and I have no idea how to close it. Do you have any ideas?"
"No." Mari shook her head. "My friend, Clarisse, tried to close an entrance with a wrecking ball, but it just moved around a bit. There are already a few endangered animals running around in there. It's not an uncommon issue. Last winter, Clarisse and I were nearly killed by a lost Yale. I guess you could try shifting the entrance, but I don't think you guys have any wrecking balls lying around."
They would totally ruin the décor, too. Mari never would have guessed it, but it turned out that Eurytion was actually pretty decent at interior decorating. The colours didn't clash like an eyesore anymore, and it smelled like citrus air freshener. The horrible wall of mounted animal heads was gone. According to Aristaeus they'd all been burned in an offering to Artemis. In their place was a beautiful picture of the animals that grazed outside. Mari would have designed it all differently, and she probably would have replaced the cream carpet with hardwood floors, but it was still a massive improvement.
"And you said you got this in Daedalus's workshop?" Aristaeus twirled Mari's paintbrush around in his hand, looking at it in wonder. "That's amazing. I've always wondered if he'd have any inventions that could help with straining honey... Have you tried this brush out yet?"
"No," Mari said. "I haven't had a reason to."
"Huh." Aristaeus frowned. "You should. Oh, look, food's up!"
Eurytion came back with a platter full of vegan patties and buns, and a huge pan of fries. He set everything on the coffee table and they all tucked in. Well, three of them did. Aristaeus picked apart his burger and replaced the tomato with honeycomb. Then he tipped his hat forwards and drizzled a huge pile of raw honey onto his plate. Some soaked up into the bun, and he used the rest to dip his fries in like ketchup. "Oh, you've got to try this," he told Mari. "It adds the perfect sweet flavour."
"Uh, no thanks." Mari plastered on a smile. It truthfully looked really gross, but thankfully she had a good reason not to hurt Aristaeus's feelings. "I'm vegan."
"What's a vegan?" Aristaeus asked.
"Uh..." Mari gulped. "Never mind."
They finished their food (Aristaeus failed to persuade anybody to try the burgers with honey), but by then it getting on to early afternoon, and the drive back to central Austin to pick Will up was long. Mari said goodbye to Janina with the promise to return. She said goodbye to Eurytion by stomping on his foot (he took it without complaint) and she said goodbye to Aristaeus by strangling him with a hug. He smelled like honey. Mari didn't want to cry, but she hadn't expected to meet a brother today. Mari wondered what Lee would think of Aristaeus. No, she didn't have to wonder. Lee would've loved him.
Mason probably would've hated him.
"Come back and visit!" Aristaeus urged. "It gets lonely with only this old guy for company."
"I will," Mari promised. "I'll bring Will, too."
Aristaeus did insist on giving her a box of honeycomb to take back with her, and a bag of cheese. Mari didn't have the heart to tell him she couldn't eat either, so she just stuffed them into her pocket with a smile, waved goodbye and followed Naomi out.
There was a small family by their car. A woman was sitting in the driver's seat of a huge blue truck with a bumper sticker that said KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD, and a man talking to her from outside with a one-year-old boy perched on his hip. The kid was chewing on the ear of his platypus teddy bear, getting slobber everywhere as he tortured the poor creature, and the parents weren't seeing a thing. Mari's chin wobbled and she felt a tear slip down her left cheek, splattering off her chin.
The ages didn't match up. It wasn't him.
Mari wished it was.
If it were Mason, she'd run over. She'd be on her knees, begging the baby for forgiveness. She was sorry, she didn't ever want to kill him, if she could go back and do it all differently, she'd even pretend to be Frankie Ray, she'd do whatever he wanted as long as he got to live a little longer-
"Hey." Naomi put a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing!" Mari's voice was strained.
The noise got the baby looking up. He stared at her for a second, with big curious brown eyes. Then the baby threw up over his father's shirt. Mari cupped her hand over her mouth, choking back something that was either a laugh or a sob.
"Do you... do you think he'd ever forgive me?"
Naomi sighed.
"I'm gonna be real honest with you, honey," Naomi told her. "I can't answer that. I didn't know him. I only ever saw him once, and to tell ya the truth from what I saw I wasn't a fan. But I don't think you're the one who should be apologisin'. You haven't done nothing wrong."
"I don't understand," Mari said.
"Sometimes family lets ya down," Naomi said. "Happens a lot. Happened to me. They hurt you. You hurt 'em back. Sometimes that can make you feel like it's your fault. But it ain't your fault. You didn't have a choice, Mari. So really there ain't nothin' to forgive."
"But I-"
"Nuh-uh," Naomi said. "Not your fault."
"I could've been faster-"
"You're a demigod, not a divine being. Not your fault."
"I could've gone down there with him-"
"Absolutely not!" Naomi said. "You couldn't have done anything. Even if you could, you shouldn't have done that. I might not know a whole lot about the myths, but I do know how bad that place is. I'm sure Graham Yew, Latricia Lake and Darren Knowles know it, too. If your father was ever good for one thing, he mentioned how awful that place is. You don't got no business going there. Do you understand me?"
"But-"
"M'kay." Naomi put both of her hands on Mari's shoulders. "I'm a very patient woman. I can and will keep having this conversation with ya as long as you need it. It is not your fault. Do you understand me?"
Mari didn't know what to say to that, so she asked Naomi a different question instead. "What did you mean, when you said you have family that let you down?"
Naomi sighed. "Let's just say my parents... left a whole lot to be desired. They were real hard-core religious types. When I came home pregnant outta wedlock at 23 they... didn't take it well. Kicked me out. I couldn't exactly tell 'em the father was the Ancient Greek sun god - they probably woulda thought I was possessed by the devil. Besides, Apollo was long gone by then, chasin' after a doctor from Seattle."
Mari still didn't know what to say. She didn't understand how anybody could treat anybody like that, especially Naomi, who was the kindest woman Mari had ever known. If she'd been lucky enough to have Naomi as her family, she would've thanked the gods. Since she didn't have any words, she hugged Naomi as tightly as she possibly could.
"Don't go feelin' sorry for me, now," Naomi said. "I don't regret anything, cos' it taught me some good lessons. Family is what you make it. When Will was born, I swore to myself I'd never be anything like 'em. I think I've done an alright job there."
"More than alright," Mari told her.
"Thanks, honey." Naomi started walking, but kept one arm around Mari's shoulders. "Now, c'mon. We need to pick up your brother. You ready to go?"
"Yeah," Mari nodded. "I think I am."
"Good."
Naomi smiled at her, and they climbed into the yellow car. As Naomi (recklessly) drove off, Mari glanced back at the baby in his father's arms. He seemed to have abandoned the platypus toy, and he was now chewing on his father's long hair instead. Mari looked away. Naomi put on a few more songs, a playlist which contained a mix of some of her own stuff, some Dolly Parton, and a whole lot of Taylor Swift. Mari looked away from the small family and their blue truck. Then the yellow car crested over the hill and left the Triple G Ranch behind.
[Just to clarify, the baby was not Mason. The ages don't match.]
Guys... next chapter will be out in three weeks, not two. April is revision season and May is exam season for me, and I am BUSY.
With that out of the way, on to the memes!