It was amazing how little damage was done to the house. Other than a few marks on walls, a ruined painting, and sandy floors, it was spotless.
Once we were all done cleaning, Natalie flopped down onto a couch in her family room.
I didn't feel comfortable just laying out on any of her other chairs, but I also felt awkard just standing in front of her.
"You sure you're okay?"
Her head came up from under a pillow. She tried to give me a nice smile.
"Yeah, I'm just worried. They know where I live now."
I didn't know what to say to that, she was right.
What were we supposed to do? It wasn't like I could just take her back to camp.
"I, uh...I'll get ahold of Connor tomorrow. Maybe we can get Katie down here too."
She gave me a tired nod, one that made me feel horrible. "Let's get your bed ready."
Natalie put me in her guest room and told me if I kept the door closed, nobody in her family would even know I was there.
Once everything was settled, she clapped her hands. "Well, I'm going to bed and will probably stash a few knives under my pillow, just in case we get anymore visitors tonight."
I thought she'd said it to be funny, but I wasn't sure if I should laugh.
"Alright, well..." she waved a hand. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," I told her, but something was still bothering me as she disappeared into the hallway.
I didn't know why I did it, but I stepped out of the room and called, "Wait, Natalie."
She turned to me with her hands in her hair and a hair tie in her mouth. She dropped the hair tie and responded, "What's up?"
"I just...I just wanted to apologize. I never wanted you to have had to fight anyone."
She took a few steps closer with her hands on her hips. "You have nothing to be sorry about."
"No, I'm here because you can't get hurt and I couldn't enforce that today."
Natalie rolled her eyes like I was talking jibberish. "What are you talking about? I'd be dead if you hadn't come today."
"But-"
"Jake!" she gasped, grabbing my arm. "Lady!"
"No, actually I'm a-"
"No! My dog!"
I raised my eyebrows. "Where is she?"
"I don't know!"
Natalie took off sprinting down the steps and I followed after.
I hadn't seen the dog during the fight, had the manticore done something to her?
"Lady?" Natalie started calling throughout the house. "Lady?"
"Hey," I said, touching her shoulder, "I'll check the backyard."
She gave me a nod and resumed her search.
There was a sliding glass window that led outside of her kitchen.
Seeing as it was pretty late at night, it was almost impossible to see anything. "Lady?" I tried calling.
There was rustling in the bushes against the house, it almost scared the pee out of me.
"Lady?" When I pulled away the branches the dog was there, trying to scratch her way into the house.
She turned and saw me, only to ponce and send me flying.
At first I wasn't sure if I was being attacked or played with. So when she started licking my face I felt weight drop off of my shoulders.
I laughed and hugged the dog's head to me. "Were you trying to get in the house? Huh?"
After a few good pats I knew she hadn't been harmed and Natalie would be relieved.
"Let's go inside," I sighed, taking the dog by the collar.
When we were inside I called, "Natalie?"
Her head popped into view from behind the door to another room.
I let Lady loose and watched as Natalie knelt to the ground and opened her arms like a mom picking up her child from the first day of school.
"Puppy!" she cried. "You scared me!"
She wrestled around with her dog for a little bit before looking up to me. "Thanks, Jake."
I waved my hand. "Just call me...dog...finder?"
Smooth, Jake. Smooth.
She gave a nice laugh. "Alright, Dog Finder, whatever you say."
She stood with one hand on Lady's head. "You're sleeping with me tonight."
I turned to her with raised eyebrows. It took me a moment to realize she wasn't talking to me, but to the dog.
I followed the two of them back upstairs and into the rooms.
"Night, Jake! Thanks again."
"Yeah, goodnight," I told her before closing the bedroom door so that only a sliver of light crept through and getting ready to sleep.
I opened my bag to see what I had packed. Unfortunately, it had been a while since I had gone anywhere but camp, so I may not have packed enough.
My pack was mostly filled with various weapons I had made. Standing there in dirty clothes made me realize that bringing stuff to sleep in would have been smart. I had to settle for the pair of sweatpants I usually wore when I worked out. I didn't want my disgusting pants to get Natalie's bedsheets dirty, so I laid down on top of the covers.
As soon as I closed my eyes Lady nuzzled the door open and jumped onto the bed with me.
"Traitor!" Natalie yelled from a few doors down.
I contemplated getting up and shutting the door completely, but I was so warm and the door was only slightly cracked open.
"Goodnight, Lady."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Jake, Jake wake up."
Natalie was standing over me with wide eyes. A sliver of moonlight leaked through the windows, showing her scared face.
"What's wrong?" I whispered. I became faintly aware of Lady barking from downstairs.
"I think there's someone outside my house."
"What did you see?" I asked a little louder.
She put her hand over my mouth. "Shh, my dad is home. He's asleep."
Natalie stepped away once I nodded.
"Someone was on the balcony outside of my window. They were knocking, like...aggressively."
I pulled my blankets away and swung my legs over the bed. "Where did you see them last?"
She backed away so I could get up. "They're trying to ram my window down."
I grabbed a sword from my bag and stretched a little. "What room is your dad in?"
She pointed in the opposite direction of her room. "At the end of the hallway."
We snuck out of the guestroom and made our way to Natalie's. The floor under my feet wouldn't shut up. I thought for sure we'd be caught.
Once we were completely in the room, Natalie shut the door.
"Where is it trying to-" A huge thump rattled the doors in the far wall.
I stalked over with my sword at the ready. I could hear rain patter against the glass. With great caution, I pulled the drapes away to see out.
Sure enough, there was a creature probably the size of a small dog, ramming itself against the door.
"Holy-" I jumped back, crashing into Natalie, who had an aluminum bat ready.
"Is it out there?" she hissed.
I nodded. "Something is. It doesn't look too big, though."
Her shoulders fell at that. A sigh of relief left her mouth.
"Alright, I'm going to open the door and, uh..." I made a jabbing motion with my sword.
Natalie stepped back. "Go right ahead."
I gripped the doorknob and took a breath.
1...2...3!
I whipped the door open (as quietly as I could) and raised my sword, but something stopped me.
There wasn't just one creature. There were three...and they were opossums.
"Oh my gods," I muttered, stepping back.
Natalie gave a small squeal. "Ew, oh my gosh. Gross."
Rain was blowing into the house. "What do I do?"
She came next to me and shut the doors. "They must have climbed up the tree branches. I'll deal with them tomorrow. Sorry I woke you."
"Don't be sorry. I'm glad you did."
"I'm just a bit jumpy from today." I could barely see an embarrassed grin on her face.
"No worries. Go to sleep."
"Thanks, Jake. Sorry."
I watched her crawl into bed as she said, "I'm glad it wasn't anything threatening."
I grinned at that. "You kidding? Possums are disgusting, I would much rather it be a monster."
She softly laughed at that. "True."
Before opening the door I told her, "Goodnight."
"Wait, Jake."
I turned my head to her. "Yeah?"
In a teasing tone she whispered, "I like the boxers."
I looked down at my legs. My sweatpants must have been pushed down while I was sleeping. The top of my blue boxers with tiny hammers on them were out in the open for everyone to see.
I rolled my eyes and pulled my pants up. "Go to sleep."
The floorboards were even louder on the way back from Natalie's room, but Mr. Natalie's Dad never woke up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I woke to the sound of clashing pans and footsteps on wood. It reminded me of when I lived with my mom. Smelled like it too.
Throwing on my camp t-shirt and my shorts, I tiptoed out of the room, checking to make sure Natalie's dad wasn't up. I slid to Natalie's room and pushed the door open.
She wasn't in bed. It was safe to assume Natalie was the one making the noise.
I wanted to be sure her dad wasn't downstairs with her, so I used mirrors around the house to check for a second body. By the time I had snuck down the stairs, Natalie was all I saw.
And Lady, of course.
She was the one who gave my hiding spot away. The dog came galloping towards me, bringing Natalie in tow.
"Lady, where are you going- Oh, hey, yeah come on down," her face lit up when she looked up to me. "You want breakfast?"
I started following. "Oh, that's alright, you don't have too..."
She laughed. "That's too bad, because I already made eggs and bacon."
I couldn't help but let a smile out. "Then eggs and bacon are perfect."
"Want anything to drink?"
I sat down at the table with Lady at my feet. "Water would be great, thanks."
"Coming right up."
It was bright outside, it must have only rained for a little while that night.
"Your dad isn't home, right?"
Natalie set a glass of water in front of me. "Yeah. He left at seven o'clock."
I nodded. "Just making sure."
"Yeah," was mumbled distractedly as three plates were attempted to be carried at the same time.
I stood to take two from her. "Thanks." She met my eyes for a moment before bluntly looking away. "And, uh, sorry for last night. I was just a little freaked."
I placed a plate of eggs in front of Natalie's seat and the other in front of mine.
"Seriously, don't feel bad."
"Well, I do." She laid a plate of bacon between us and sat.
I rolled my eyes. "Well, don't."
"Well, I d-" Before she could continue I interrupted, "Wait, I've been meaning to ask you something."
She raised an eyebrow and brought a fork full of eggs to her mouth. "How did I get to be so cool?"
"Close. How in Hades were you able to flip that lion yesterday?"
She took the moment to chew her food. "What do you mean?"
I laughed incrediously. "I mean how did you flip your neighbor onto your stove?"
"Wait, did you say lion?"
"Yeah, manticore. Face of a human body of a lion, tail of a scorpion."
"What? Are you crazy? It was a human. A man only about five foot five, with a beer gut."
I shook my head. The Mist made so many things complicated.
"I see things different than you do."
She made a pfft noise. "Apparently. I think you need to get that checked out."
"I'm the one seeing things correctly. You're vision is impaired," I teased, grabbing a strip of bacon.
"As if!" Natalie scoffed, sitting back.
"It's true. You people, you one hundred percent humans, can't see what we see."
"That hardly seems fair!"
"Life's not fair," I put with a grin on my face.
"So how will I be able to see what you see?" she put with skeptism in her eyes.
I shrugged. "Nobody knows."
"There isn't some kind of invention?"
"Nope."
She looked at me for a moment then turned her attention to the food. "Well, there should be," she grumbled.
"I'll work on that."
"Oh yeah? You an inventor?" She sat back a little and looked at me with amused eyes.
I gave an awkward laugh. "Well, my dad kind of is, but before I get into that can I use your hose?"
I don't think I completely convinced Natalie that Iris messages were real. I mean, I wouldn't have believed me if I was her. She gave me a hose anyways and I got ahold of Connor. We would meet downtown at noon in some coffee shop.
I walked back inside to find Natalie holding up the damaged painting that had been hanging in her upstairs hallway.
"Sorry about that," I told her honestly.
She rolled her eyes and sat it down. "You should be. I would much rather have had you die than ruin this ten dollar painting."
I knew she was being sarcastic, but I still went, "Ouch, that hurts."
She gave me a sassy little smile. "Good."
"Anyways," I continued, rolling my eyes, "I'm meeting Connor at some cafe, if you'd like to come."
"Yeah, totally. I've got to shower, though. So, make yourself at home while I'm doing so. Want me to turn on tv?"
I shrugged. "Sure."
She waved for me to follow into the next room.
Her tv was gigantic. Like, seventy inch screen, huge. I had no idea how I'd managed to miss it the night before. Natalie turned it on and handed me the remote.
"Go crazy."
I allowed myself to drop down onto her couch and glue my eyes to the screen in front of me.
"Thanks."
It had been a while since I'd watched actual tv. It was usually just movies back at camp that played. I had no idea what any of the shows were.
Lady eventually came and jumped up onto my lap and watched Mythbusters with me. It was a nice feeling, looking down to see a dog, laying out on a comfy couch, the feeling of having a house to myself.
Now, I knew I wasn't in charge of the house by any means, but it was cool not having counselors and campers constantly around. Plus, I liked Natalie, so it was nice being in good company, too.
As I sat, I noticed a clock on one of the end tables next to the couch. It wasn't ticking and I hadn't been in contact with any sort of machinery for at least a day, so I picked it up and started fixing.
It wasn't anything complicated, I could do the whole repair with just my hands, and in no time, it was back to working just like new. It made me feel better when I was able to fix little things like that. A tiny sense of accomplishment.
Lady and I were halfway through an episode of How It's Made (a show I could totally get into) when Natalie came down with a towel wrapped around her head.
"Okay," I said, "I've got a question."
She plopped down on the couch next to me. "Shoot."
"Where does girls' hair go when you do that?" I nodded up to her head.
"It's in the bath towel. It helps it dry."
I still didn't totally understand, but I nodded like I did.
Natalie turned her attention to Lady. "I think someone is starting to like you," she laughed, smushing her dog's face.
I grinned and sat back. "Can you blame her?"
Natalie rolled her eyes. "Oh, please."
I smiled at that and turned my attention back to the tv.
"You don't need to shower, do you?"
I shook my head and tried to descreetly smell myself.
"That's alright, I'll probably shower back at camp tonight."
"Oh, you're going back to camp?"
I kind of frowned. "I don't really know. I guess we'll talk about it with Connor."
She nodded and sat back like she understood.
"What time do we need to be downtown?"
I looked to my watch. "Two hours."
"Perfect," Natalie decided. "Wanna watch a movie?"
I stretched a little. "What movie?"
She stood. "Up to you. I'm going to repaint that portrait before my parents notice it missing." Natalie walked over to some shelves beside the television and slid open the doors.
Rows upon rows of movies filled the shelves. "Woah," I let out, nudging Lady off of me for a moment.
"So, yeah. You pick. I'll be back."
All of the movies were lined in alphabetical order and by genre.
I came down to choosing between The Sandlot or The Goonies.
Natalie walked in with an art easel in her hands just as I pulled the two out.
"Goonies or Sandlot?" I asked.
"Sandlot, Lady likes that movie."
I laughed and put The Goonies back into place. "Did she tell you that?"
Natalie grinned at me as she set the easel next to the couch and on top of a blue tarp. "She goes nuts when the dog comes on the screen."
I put the dvd in the dvd player and fell back down on the couch. Lady resumed her original position.
Natalie had a blank canvas set up next to the painting I had ruined.
"Did you paint that?" I questioned.
She shook her head. "No, but I'm going to copy it. Can't be too hard, right?"
I looked at the original. Before, I had only seen a mess of different flowers, but looking at it harder made it clear that the flowers formed to make a face. It was actually pretty neat.
"Hey, that's pretty cool."
She sighed. "Let's hope high school art classes pay off."
I turned my eyes to the movie and distractedly asked, "How many years have you had art?"
"Four, if you count this coming year."
"You'll be a senior?"
"Yeah, how about you? What year are you in?"
I shrugged. "I guess I'd be a senior, but I'm at camp year-round, so I'm not really in school."
"But you're homeschooled, right?"
"Yeah, they have tutors."
"Any idea where you want to go to college? If you want to go to college."
I gave an awkward laugh. "Yeah, that'd be nice, but I don't know if I've got the brains for it."
"Well, if I'm not wrong, you are perfectly capable of fixing a clock that has been broken for years. Maybe engineering would be your thing."
I looked to her with an eyebrow up. "You noticed?"
She smirked and splat some paint onto a tray. "Don't call yourself dumb if it's not true."
I didn't know what to say to that. I've always been one of the stupidest guys in camp, college never seemed like a possibility for me. What she said made me feel weird...good, but weird.
Lady looked up at me with big eyes like she was telling me to quiet down so she could watch the movie. We didn't say much after that.
When the movie was about ten minutes from being over Natalie turned the easel towards me.
"How's it look?"
At first I thought she was messing with me by just putting up the original painting and claiming it as her own.
All did was laugh and look away.
"Really? What should I change?"
That was when I realized she really had copied it. I stood up and walked closer.
"Wait, that looks awesome, Natalie." I carefully pulled the canvas back to check for any punctures. It was brand new.
"Really?"
I nodded. "Exactly like the old one."
She clapped excitedly before reaching down and grabbing the original canvas. "This one is for you. Souvenier for the time we almost died."
I took the painting and laughed at it. "Aww, you shouldn't have," I joked.
That got a grin our of her. "Yes, I should have. It's nothing," she played along.
"Must have cost you a fortune."
"Not a penny."
"I'll keep it forever."
"You'd better," she threatened, taking her easel down. "Twenty years from now I'm going to find you and if that isn't hanging over your fireplace, we're going to have a problem."
"We can't have that, now can we?" I teased, helping her with the paints and tarp.
"No, because you saw what I did with that guy. Excuse me, what I did with that manticore."
"Yeah, about that. I still want to know how you managed to flip him," I pushed, following her throughout the house.
"An assassin never tells her secrets."
"Oh, boy. Here we go."
She scoffed. "You doubt that I'm an undercover teenage murderess?"
"No," I played. "Not at all."
"Good," she sighed, kicking open the door that led to her garage.
After we set the supplies down, she stood and looked at me.
"What?"
She just shook her head. "You're weird."
"I'm weird?" I asked, disbelievingly.
"Yes, you." Natalie started back into the house.
"Alright, Miss. Teenage Assasin."
She threw her head back and gave a nice laugh. I caught myself smiling again. It was weird, I had been away from camp for barely a day and I felt happier than I had been in a while. I was starting to like the monster-infested real world.
"Hey, we should go now so I can give you a tour of town," Natalie suggested, turning around suddenly. I almost ran her over, I wasn't paying attention.
Connor had already kind of given me the rundown of what town was like, but I told her, "Yeah, let's do it."
I was surprised to find out that Natalie didn't drive one of the two sports cars parked in her garage. It was easy to see that her parents were loaded just by looking at their house, so I kind of expected her to take her pick. Instead, she hopped into a rusty old station wagon.
When I got into the passenger's seat I asked, "Is this yours?"
She nodded proudly. "Bought it myself."
"Cool," I said, looking around. She had a cardboard cut out of cotten candy hanging from her rearview mirrors. "What's that?"
She glanced at it before pulling out of the garage and into the sunlight. "It makes the car smell like cotten candy."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. Sniff it."
So I did. It really did smell like the real thing.
"Woah."
She smirked. "Yeah, woah."
I sat back and sighed a little as we took off down the street.
Was this what normal teenagers did? I can't remember that last time I took a drive with someone my own age.
I watched the houses we drove by. Natalie's neighborhood was pretty high end.
She slowed down in front of a blue one with white shutters. "That is the home of a boy I had a crush on in first grade. Then he threw gum in my hair and it was over."
"Tragic."
Natalie sighed dramatically. "It really was."
The car accelerated and we moved on. Not to far down, she pointed out a red brick house.
"Once upon a time," she started, "I was an eighth grader and middle school was tough on me, appearance wise, and the chick who lives here never let me forget it. She was so pretty - still is, unfortunately - but boy was she a brat. Did and said some pretty rude things to me back in the day. So when I had had enough, I cut all of her hair off."
I raised my eyebrows and looked away from the house. "Wait, really?"
Natalie sighed and started rolling past. "No, but I really wanted to. Now she goes to a private school and I don't have to talk to her."
"Huh..."
We drove through the neighborhood a little longer until we saw a guy jogging down the sidewalk with earphones in his ears.
"Hey, that's Dave," Natalie muttered.
Dave was a huge guy with tree trunks for arms and skin darker than dark. He kind of had an intense face that kind of terrified me, his size probably had something to do with it too.
Natalie pulled the car up to the curb and rolled my window down. When Dave saw it was her, his face eased up and he looked like a nice guy. I didn't feel so terrified as he came over to lean into the car. He was breathing heavy as he took the headphones out to talk.
"Hey, Dave!" Natalie greeted.
"Nat, looking as perfect as ever," he grinned.
She rolled her eyes and turned to me to explain, "He owes me fifty bucks."
I only smiled at that. I felt awkward meeting new people. I wasn't exactly and extrovert.
"What's up?" he asked.
"Not much. How much have you ran so far? What, ten miles?"
Dave laughed. "Only four so far."
Natalie made a pfft noise. "I would be dead after the first one."
"Who's this guy?" Dave asked, pointing to me.
"Hey, I'm Jake," I told him, reaching up to shake his hand.
His grip felt like it could have crushed every bone in my body.
"Jake, this is my cousin Dave."
"Cool, nice to meet you," I told him honestly.
"You too." He nodded to the both of us.
"How do you two know each other?" I could hear a hint of amusement in his voice. I knew what he was getting at.
I looked to Natalie for this one. "He's new to town. Moved in next door."
Dave looked like he believed it. "You holding him against his will?"
Natalie grinned. "No way!"
"Okay, sure. Hey, Jake, be careful with this one," he nodded to the driver, "it doesn't get better than Natalie. Welcome to the neighborhood."
I shook his hand one more time and said, "Thanks, man."
He peered in and grinned at Natalie. "Bye, Nat."
"Later, Dave."
Dave resumed his run and we drove off.
"He should chill with us one day. He's pretty cool," Natalie told me.
"Yeah," I said, not sure if it was a good idea with monsters after Natalie, but I thought he was pretty cool.
"I mean," Natalie corrected, "once everything settles down with the creepy people after me."
"Yeah," I said, relieved. "That'd be best."
"He moved here a few years ago, because my aunt and uncle adopted him from a foster home. Ever since, people here absolutely love him. I mean, it's kind of hard not to, he's probably the sweetest guy anyone will ever meet."
I was at a loss for words so all I replied with was, "We'll fix the monster thing so it will be safe for you and your family."
She gave me a small smile. "I hope so."
"So, were you serious about him running ten miles?"
Her eyes widened with some sudden excitement. "Oh my gosh, yes! Holy crap, he runs literally sixty miles a week. Absolutely nuts."
"Makes me feel so bad about myself," I admitted. "I pass out after two."
"Same! It's so embarrassing. Dave was in my gym class last year and we had to run a mile. He finished in like, four minutes, while I was still on my second lap! Thank God we don't have family olympics or anything, cause I'd get crushed."
I liked hearing Natalie talk. She was so normal (and I mean that in the nicest of ways). It made me feel normal too.
"Does your family do anything like that?" she asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.
"Oh, no. It's just me."
"Just you? No parents? No siblings?"
I shook my head. "My dad is a Greek god, one who I've never really met, and my mom passed away when I was younger. As for siblings, all I have are the half-brothers and sisters at camp."
It was quiet for a moment and I started to panic a little. Had I said too much? Was I dampening the mood?
"That's too bad," was what she said.
"Yeah, it's alright. I mean, I love all of my half-siblings. They are my family."
"That's nice. I've always wanted to go to a summer camp. It'd be cool to see what it's like."
"Yeah, I wish you could," I told her honestly. "You'd be safer there, too."
I watched as the row of houses ended. We exited the neighborhood and made our way into town.
"When do you think this will all be over?" Natalie asked with a voice that tried not to sound too concerned.
I imediately felt bad. She didn't deserve to be stuck in the middle of this Luke mess. "I honestly don't know. Hopefully soon."
She only nodded to that.
"Hey, want to get ice cream after this?" she asked, a little more peppy this time. "There's this candy shop with homemade ice cream and it will blow your head clean off."
I laughed. "Who doesn't love explosive ice cream?"
"Exactly."
"Yeah, let's do it. This little meeting shouldn't be too long."
"Nice. I love ice cream."
"Who doesn't?" I pointed out.
"True."
By the time we were done driving around town, seeing all of the sites that needed to be seen, we made it to the coffee shop, five minutes after twelve.
Connor was already seated at a table with a girl I'd recognized from the Apollo cabin. Her name was Kayla. It was funny, for being a kid of the sun god, she had fair skin and light features. Though, her appearance was decieving. She was one of the camp's best fighters.
The shop was cute. A few other customers sat with laptops or books in front of them while they sipped their drinks or ate their danishes.
"Hey, guys," I greeted with Natalie by my side.
"Hey," Connor told me. "Hey, Natalie." We took a seat in front of the two.
Natalie gave a genuine smile. "How's it going?"
"We're doing alright. It's you we should be asking. I heard there was some trouble last night."
She shrugged. "Nothing we couldn't handle." She then turned her head to Kayla.
"Hi, I'm Natalie."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Kayla. I'm going to be with you tonight while Jake goes back to camp."
Natalie raised an eyebrow at that, I'm pretty sure I did too.
"Oh," was all I said. I hadn't brought any of my things to the shop with me.
"We were going to send Katie, but since she's in charge of her cabin, people will definitely notice she's missing. Chiron doesn't want people asking questions," Connor explained.
"I'm going to stay for two nights, then we'll switch off every other night," Kayla told me.
"Sounds good. I have some weapons back at the house, if you need them..."
She waved a hand. "I've got my bow."
Apollo kids and their archery.
"Cool, so how long do you think this will last?" Natalie asked. "I mean, the sleepovers are fun, but I've kinda been on edge for the past twenty four hours."
Connor shrugged. "We have no idea."
I felt terrible at the sight of Natalie's disappointment. I was just sick about everything she'd have to go through.
I turned to Kayla. "Does Austin know about this?"
She shook her head. "I'm the only one from Apollo who knows. Luke and I kind of have history and I guess Chiron knew about it, so he sent me to help."
History? What kind of history?
"Thank you, by the way," Natalie put in.
Kayla gave a grin. "Yeah, no problem. It should be fun."
I didn't think it'd be too fun, seeing as they were sitting monster bait, but maybe girls get a kick out of that.