#anyway i would like to offer will with apollo’s statue nose? anyone?

[xixovart]

someone (@whats-a-lester) said lester with apollo’s statue nose

[miraculouswolf99]

Somebody Fix This School Already

Another of my one-shots for Miraculous Ladybug. Includes more of my original characters that can learned about from my post Originals. Please support me by becoming a patreon of me. Thank you.

*****

"Can one of you explain to us how this place is even considered a school," Mason asked the class in front of him.

The group of visiting Greek students had been talking during lunch the day after the Zombizou apocalypse. Mason, Lena, and Apollo had been sent to Ms.Mendeleiev's class while Lyon and Vallia were in Ms.Bustier's. So the other three did not know how one of the sweetest teachers in the school had been akumatized.

To say that the three were shocked by what the twins had told them would be one hell of an understatement. So Mason asked the very first question that came to mind to the nearby class that his friends belong to.

"What do you mean, dude," Nino asked, confused.

Ms.Bustier's class was all sitting together that day, except for Chloe and her minion... I mean Sabrina.

None of the class really knew the other three very well. They only really heard some passing things from Aurore and Mirelle. Nathaniel had been told that the three were nice by Marc when he asked him.

"Well, from what we know, Marinette, Adrien, Lyon, and Vallia are the only ones not to be akumatized in your whole class," Apollo says. "The fact that your teacher has now been the victim to one of those moths makes it more of an anomaly."

"Butterflies, not moths," Marinette corrected.

"We're still not convinced about that," Apollo said. "But that may be more because Beautifly is a hero from our own country so butterflies do not come to mind when evil is being spoken of."

"Anyway, there just has been a lot of akumas from this school, and your class in particular," Lena says. "Even your principle has been akumatized."

They did have a point. Their class, alone, had Bubbler, Stone Heart, Lady Wifi, Antibug, Princess Frangrance, Vanisher, Refleckta, Horrificator, Dark Cupid, Gamer, Robostus, Evillustrator, Timebreaker, Volpina if Lila ever comes back, and now Zombizou. Even outside the class but still in school was Dark Owl, Stormy Weather, Syren, Riposte, Magician of Misfortune, and even the school fencing instructor as Darkblade.

Marinette and Adrien were probably the most aware of what the Greeks were talking about. Marinette actually kept a list of all akumas on her computer to keep track of them all.

"Even if Ladybug always fixes the damage done to the school, that doesn't always stop what has caused the akuma in the first place," Vallia said.

"I don't get it," Kim was confused.

"We figure that Ms.Bustier was not the type to really feel negative emotions, especially after what she tried yesterday," Lyon said. "I mean, Chloe vandalizes Marinette's gift for our teacher out of pure spite and she tries to give Chloe credit and say that she will think of both girls when she looks at it."

"Say what," Lena did not know about that. "Why would anyone on Demeter's green earth try anything like that?"

"It's Chloe being Chloe," Alix huffed. "Half the city has basically been akumatized because of her."

"From what I know, Nino and Max are the only ones in class that haven't been akumatized because of her," Lyon says. "That is excluding myself, Vallia, Marinette, and Adrien as we have not been akumatized at all."

"After how this guy has been basically feeding off of negative emotions for so long, that is an impressive feat to have never been a victim of it before," Apollo said.

"Hold on one second," Lena halted everyone. "I have one question. How long has Bourgeois been acting like a... um..."

"Spoiled brat," Marinette offered.

"Nightmare," Alya suggested.

"The biggest bully in Paris," surprisingly offered by Juleka of all people.

"All of the above," Adrien shrugged.

The class looked at him weirdly. Whenever anyone has anything bad to say about Chloe, he is usually the first one to defend her after Sabrina.

"I guess even the humanized sunshine has his limits," Mason snickered.

Adrien sighed. "More like Lyon really knows how to harshly, but necessarily, give someone a very needed slap of reality."

"Parakaló," Lyon said. Translation: You're welcome.

"What did you say to him," Marinette asked the icy teen. "Adrien can be as stubborn as Alya, and that says something."

"Hey," the Ladyblogger protested, making the class laugh.

"I basically force-fed him a few facts," Lyon crossed his arms, as stone-cold as ever. "Mainly how this girl enjoys making the people around her miserable and is always the first person to put them down."

"You probably needed more than that to talk some sense into him," Nino said. "No offense, dude."

"None taken," Adrien shrugged.

"Trust me when I say that when my brother verbally slaps someone, he doesn't hold back," Vallia said.

"It was just a few innocent questions to those like Marinette, Nino, and Kim that got my wheels turning," Lyon says. "They all said the same thing when it came to Chloe. They all shared a class with her for ten years and the girl has been a bully for all ten of them. Did she even stop when there is a psycho out there taking advantage of negative emotions? No, she did not. All for one simple reason. She. Does. Not. Care."

The class was thinking the same thing. That when Lyon gets icy, he really gets icy. It was one thing when Marinette and Alya would stand up to her, but Lyon took the cake when it came to verbal beatdowns. Vallia was not kidding.

"Do any of us even need to bring up the fire alarm incident," Lena crossed her arms.

That got groans out of everyone, even Lyon and Vallia. When Chloe had been the only one not to be punished that day, Mason and Apollo had to basically force Lyon to be cleaning on the second floor so that he would not shoot the brat with an arrow.

The Greeks were half-tempted to allow him. Especially since it was obvious to everyone that she had been the one to make the false call in the first place yet only got out of the punishment because her father is the mayor. The Greeks were sure that anything he does to make his daughter happy and so unpunishable would be considered abuse of power if anyone bothered to look.

"Has any teacher ever tried to actually punish her," Mason asked.

"Actually punish Chloe," Alix snorted. "It is more likely for Ladybug and Cat Noir to willingly surrender to Hawkbutt than for Chloe to ever be punished."

"I think most of us see akumas going after her as the punishments that she deserves," Alya said. "I certainly went after her when I was Lady Wifi from what Marinette told me."

"When I saw her being chased by a giant hairdryer, I thought that my birthday and Christmas had somehow both had been happening at that moment," Marinette giggled.

"I may have been the Evillustrator, doing that, but you're welcome anyway," Nathaniel said.

"When Sabrina was tormenting Chloe as Vanisher, that was certainly some karma coming back to haunt her," Ivan commented.

"From what Ali had told me, I managed to make her pretty repulsive when I was Princess Frangrance," Rose added.

"I would have paid so much money to see that," Kim laughed. "Especially after she posted that humiliating picture of me that got me akumatized as Dark Cupid."

"I wish I could have remembered Chloe's face when I made her look like me when I was Reflekta," Juleka said.

Each of the students that had been akumatized by the brat all shared their own similar thoughts. That they all wished that they could remember getting her back while they were villains, even if they didn't want to remember anything else.

"Hold it," Lena halted the class, silencing them. "How many of these akumanizations happened while on school grounds?"

Alya, Ivan, Juleka, Nathaniel, and Mylene all raised their hands. All of their torments by Chloe had happened at school, only Mylene's happening after hours though.

"So even with all of you being akumatized because of her bullying or abusing her father's mayoral status, no one in this school did a thing," Mason clenched his fists.

The silence was very telling.

"Unbelievable," Vallia pinched the bridge of her nose. "If anyone behaved like that at our school back home, they'd be expelled faster than you could say Olympus."

"Athena is most ashamed of them," Lyon says. "She is not the goddess of wisdom for nothing."

"It is not like we can do anything about it," Max wiped his glasses. "After ten years of Chloe getting away with her behavior and attitude, the odds of her changing or the school staff doing anything about her is about a quarter of a billion to one."

"Leaving the math to Max, I do still agree with him," Marinette said. "Chloe has always been like this and the teachers have always allowed it. They think that just because her mom left her and her father that she gets to act as horrible as she does with no risk of punishments or any sort of consequence."

"Why not do something about it," Lena asks. "Force a much-needed change."

"What could we do," Alya did not have a plan for once. "They never listen to us and we're just a bunch of teenagers."

"The best thing about being teenagers is that we grew up during this time," Apollo says. "So that means we know what needs to be fixed. The reason why those our age do better than their predecessors is that we have seen the problems they never bothered to fix because they are so set in their ways."

"There is a reason why people say that children are our future," Mason smirked. "That isn't some insane prediction that children will one day rebel and take over the world, you know."

"We... uh... we could all demand to be transferred to another class," Adrien suggested. "Like Ms.Mendeleiev's or something?"

"Would that even work," Mylene wondered out loud.

"If anything, so many students wanting out of the same class at the same time for the same reason should raise some red flags," Lyon stated. "Does this school have a Board of Directors or not?"

Marinette actually had a better idea. She pulled out her phone. There was a look on her face that even Alya was was a little scared of.

Fate chose that moment for lunch to come to an end. The bell rang for everyone to pack up and get back to their classes. Lena, Mason, and Apollo gave the class a look.

"Don't let adults make you think you have no power," Apollo advised. "Everyone has the right to stand up to a bully and to those that won't punish her."

With that, the three of them left, joining Kagami, Marc, and Ondine on their way back to class. Aurore and Mirelle were waiting for them at the top of the stairs.

"You, Greeks, don't hold back, do you," Alya rhetorically says.

"Alya," Marinette scolded.

"Just be happy that none of us are from Sparta," Lyon stated.

"So, what do you guys think," Alix asks them all. "Class or principle's office?"

They all got up as they put their things back in their bags. They were all looking between the two rooms.

"Now or never, right, dudes," Nino said.

"I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we have had enough of Chloe Bourgeois to last all of our lifetimes," Marinette says.

The rest of the class did nothing but nod in agreement.

*****

"You all want to WHAT," Principle Damocles yelled.

"Did you not hear us," Vallia crossed her arms. "We want to transfer out of Ms.Bustier's class."

Vallia proved that Gardens did not hold back even when dealing with authority figures. It was a bit of a shock that it was the Flower Princess saying things like that and not her Ice Prince of a twin brother. Not that Lyon's silence and ice-cold stare was anything less scary. If anything, it only terrified them more.

Ms.Bustier had also been called in when what they wanted had been made perfectly clear. Chloe and Sabrina were behind her, as the teachers did not want to leave the two students alone in the classroom.

"A...All of you," Damocles stuttered, the students nodding. "It...It isn't possible. There isn't enough room in the other classes for all of you, even separated."

"Then make room," Lyon stated as if it was that simple.

"Why would all of you even want to leave," Ms.Bustier asked.

Their teacher, soon to be former-teacher, did look hurt. The students felt guilty over being the cause of her feelings being hurt, but it was also her own fault for never punishing Chloe.

"I think it's quite obvious," Marinette says. "We want to be as far away from Chloe Bourgeois as possible. We are sick and tired of her bullying us and getting away with it."

The rest of the class all voiced their agreement with the bluenette. To say that the two adults were shocked would be one hell of an understatement.

"Just because you are all jealous that you aren't as rich or beautiful as me..." Chloe started.

"SHUT UP, CHLOE," they all yelled at her.

"You can't talk to me like that," Chloe took out her hone with a huff. "I'm calling Daddy to stop you all from being mean to me."

"Call him all you want, we don't care anymore," Nino yelled, shocking the class as he had never yelled at anyone before.

"You have been destroying our work, bullying, and insulting us for ten years and we are no longer just gonna lie down and take it," Nathaniel sternly stated.

"Destroying work," Damocles was confused.

"How have you not noticed," Marinette snapped. "What about last month when Chloe destroyed the children's book that Alya was working on about Ladybug so she could read it to her sisters. Or a few months ago when Chloe dumped all that red paint on a dress I was designing in the art room."

"Well..." Damocles tried, but Marinette was not done.

"What about last year when Chloe ripped apart one of Nathaniel's sketchbooks," Marinette continued her rant. "Or that same year when she stole, and then snapped, a CD that Nino made of his DJ music. Or two years ago when she stuck a bunch of Juleka's and Rose's pictures in a bucket of paint."

"When I first heard about her doing that, I started keeping all my spray paints in a locked box that's in my locker," Alix crossed her arms.

"Which I saw Chloe try and break into more than once but you refused to do anything about it even when I had pictures and videos of her doing it," Kim glared at the authority figures.

"She tried what," Alix yelled. "And you didn't tell me!"

"Hey, even with proof, they didn't punish the brat," Kim responded. "You punching her would not have helped, even though she would have deserved it."

"Chloe would NOT have deserved it," Sabrina defended her 'friend.'

"She would have deserved that and so much more," Alya glared at the minion. "The rest of us see akumas going after her as karma coming to bite her in the butt."

"She's worse than Hawkmoth," Alix said for the second time in two days.

"She's caused so many akumas that you can almost call her Hawkmoth's sidekick," Ivan says.

"The fact that no one in this school seems to care about her victims speaks volumes about the staff," Lyon said. "There were a lot of spoiled brats back home, but at least our teachers and headmaster punished them when the punishment was deserved."

"After all this, Chloe should have been expelled a long time ago," Vallia put a hand on her hip. "Just because her victims don't remember what got them akumatized doesn't mean that the act did not happen at all."

"She even effects what other people think about those that hang around her," Adrien finally spoke up.

"Adrikins..." Chloe tried.

"No, you are not going to steamroll me this time, Chloe," Adrien actually glared at her. "I spent so much time defending you to everyone, but you just used that to hang off me no matter how clear it was that it made me uncomfortable. People already had bad opinions about me before they even met me because you were my childhood friend. They thought I'd be like you. Marinette did when she saw me messing with that gum on our first day of school."

The mentioned bluenette blushed, remembering that she did think he was a spoiled brat like Chloe when she saw that.

"Sorry about that," she said quietly.

"No need to apologize, Mari," Adrien says. "But that doesn't mean Chloe's attitude did not almost keep me from gaining friends. I've tried to get her to change for years, but she seems to only get worse. Every day she bullies, insults, and torments everyone around her and all we get told is that we need to be the bigger person or that there is nothing you can do. There is EVERYTHING you can do. Give her detention, lower her grades when she forces other people to do her work, scold her when she insults someone, act like you are TEACHERS!"

By the end of Adrien's rant, everyone was staring at him like he had suddenly grown two more heads. This was Adrien Agreste, who people have called the Sunshine of Paris. He hasn't talked to anyone like that since... he's never talked to anyone like that.

"What Chloe does to Adrien can basically be considered harassment," Lyon said. "I had a girl once try what Chloe is doing to Adrien. One phone call later and she was slapped with both a lawsuit for harassment and a restraining order before she could say Olympus."

"The look on her face when our lawyer handed her those papers was worth more than an entire family's jewel collection," Vallia giggled.

"Maybe not worth that much," Lyon says, making his sister roll her eyes.

"The point is, we are putting our feet down," Kim said. "If you won't punish Chloe, then we don't want to be in the same class as her."

"She has already been the cause of all our akumazations, other than myself and Nino's," Max pushed up his glasses. "Taking in my calculations of Marinette, Adrien, Lyon, and Vallia never being akumatized, the result of Chloe being the cause of any of us being akumatized again is roughly ninety-nine point nine-nine percent."

"How does he do that without a calculator," Vallia whispered to Rose. "Or a supercomputer?"

"We have no idea," the sweet blond whispered back.

"Have I ever mentioned I hate math," Vallia shook her head. "I'll always prefer geology to geography."

"You just need to forgive Chloe," Ms.Bustier tries. "Set an example for her to follow."

"I can let the anger go but I will never forgive Chloé Bourgeois," Marinette said. "We shouldn't be held accountable for the stuff Chloé pulls because we have to be good role models. You've only been our teacher for four years but Chloé and I have been together for ten years. She's been like this for a decade and nothing has ever changed."

"It's because of people like you," Adrien says. "Adults like you who look at Chloé and think her mother leaving her is enough of an excuse to act like a horrible person. You're better than the people who just want to be on her dad's good side, but not by much. You keep giving her second chances when she's already gotten long past the point of no return. You're enabling her behavior instead of punishing her even when she's been bullying everyone for years. Even I know that and I only started public school this year."

"Now, I wouldn't say bullying," Mme. Bustier says, trying for a smile. "That's a bit too far."

"She's been the biggest bully in the entire school," Alya says, arms folded, eyes firm. "We told you how she destroyed Nathaniel, Juleka, Nino, Marinette's, and my work several times. She's vandalized everyone's work. She's insulted and personally attacked every person in class too many times to count. There's always evidence and several witnesses every single time."

"But what have you done? Nothing," Nino took his turn to rant. "You've never once stepped in because you coddle her and think she'll eventually change even though she's proven she is never going to change . And do you want to know why? Because of stuff like this. Chloé vandalized the purse Marinette made you out of pure spite yet you had the nerve to try and give her credit for it."

"You want us to fix Chloé when you should be doing that yourself," Marinette took the baton. "Instead of doing something a responsible teacher would. Like, suggest a counselor work with her, talk to her dad, or detentions when she acts like a horrible person. You throw the people who care and respect you under the bus. Beyond preaching about love and trust, you do nothing to help us deal with Chloe. Chloe doesn't respect anyone but herself."

"The akuma that turned you into Zombizou was only even here because it was most likely going after Marinette," Lyon was not happy when he figured that out. "We can add nearly getting the human embodiment of a cinnamon bun akumatized to her already very long list of bad things she's done."

"We are the victims of Chloé Bourgeois's bullying and you expect us to understand and excuse her behavior when she hurts us," Marinette continued. "But you will never think about it from our perspective and never when this is reversed. We're sorry, Ms.Bustier, but we don't want to be a part of a class with a teacher who has no respect for us and continues to let a bully hurt every single one of us."

Silence washed over the room after they were all finished. They were all just so done with the brat of Paris.

"Now that you have all gotten that off your chests, I find that it is time you all go back to class," Damocles tells them.

There were about five seconds of silence for the students to process what their principle tried to just make them do. They were about to blow their tops and start yelling and saying that he had lost his mind if he thought that just because they said all that means that they want to get away from Chloe any less than before.

But Marinette's mother, Sabine, came walking in. The look on her face and the way she simply sat down in the visitor's chair like she was supposed to be there in the first place was a little terrifying.

"You, kids, should go and wait in Ms.Bustier's classroom," she told them in a sweet voice that brought chills down their spines. "Your principal, teacher, and I have much to discuss."

They did as she said, everyone quickly leaving the office.

Seeing her mother like that made Marinette remember a time a few years ago when she was told about the Chinese zodiac. Her mother had told her that she, herself, had been born in the years of the tiger. Marinette never truly believed that until now.

"Marinette, your mother is awesome," Alya cheered. "How did she even know to come?"

"At that exact moment, too," Nino says. "That was perfect timing if I have ever seen it."

Marinette smirked as she held up her phone, that she had brought put earlier.

"My parents were listening the entire time we were in there," she snickered. "I figured that Principal Damocles wouldn't listen to us, so I brought out the big guns."

"After seeing your mother's wicked skills with a baking slab during that one time someone tried to break into the bakery last month, I do not doubt that," Vallia giggled.

Marinette slightly shivered as she remembered the beatdown that her mother delivered against a man that tried to rob their bakery. He had arrived just after closing time after nearly a week straight of having a line out the door after the debut of Marinette's Ladybug and Cat Noir baked goods line.

The robber thought that after such a long time of good days, they would have a lot of money lying around. While they did, he had no idea of her mother's past of being very well trained in the martial arts. She grabbed the nearest thing to her, a baking slab used mostly by pizza makers to put pizzas in their ovens, and he was a bloody mess on the floor by the time the cops came.

When Marinette put her phone away, the rest of the class seemed to catch on to her actions and decided to add their own pressure to the principal.

Alya whipped out her phone with a speed that only all of her blogging would have given her. Mylene was very theatrical with her phone call, doing a lot of talking with her hands as her arms waved around as she spoke. Rose and Nino were also quite enthusiastic with their phone calls, not that anything less was expected out of them. Ivan, Juleka, Nathaniel, and Max were a lot quieter when they made their calls. Kim and Alix, of course, were basically yelling into their phones.

When Marinette looked at the twins and Adrien, their phones were not out. It made sense with the twins, having told them that their dad, who came with them, did not speak any French. He was usually very confused whenever they went grocery shopping and one of the twins always had to come with him as a translator. With Adrien, with his very absentee father and non-family bodyguard and assistant/manager, he had no one to call for something like this.

"If you want, I could drag your father here by his hair," Lyon says to the blond. "Or threaten him with an arrow to get him here."

"Lyon, as much as I would appreciate that, both of those things are illegal," Adrien sighed, but Marinette could tell that he was tempted.

"Hasn't stopped me from threatening Chloe with my bow before," the Greek boy smirked. "And that was only when I had a very long breadstick notched in it, not even an actual arrow."

"As the daughter of a baker, I can tell you just how dangerous a stale piece of bread is," Marinette giggled.

One by one, other parents and guardians of their classmates came running or walking into the school.

Otis and Marlena Césaire were the first ones there. Otis was too angry to greet the kids, but Marlena happily gave her daughter a basket of food to give out before both parents vanished behind closed doors. Fred Haprèle, easily recognized from his movie roles, tipped his signature hat to the class before entering the office. Claudie Kanté was next to arrive, giving her son a hug before vanishing behind closed doors. Mr. Kubdel arrived with Jalil, both men looking angry as they passed the class, but Alix was given a thumbs up from her brother.

Mr.LêChiến, a military man, was very intimidating as he walked by after giving his son a pat on the back. It was very easy to see where Kim got his strength from. The same could be said for Ivan as Mr. and Mrs.Bruel greeted their son, as both parents could be compared to WWE superstars. Rose's mother, a keen gardener, was as bubbly and kind looking as her daughter and it was easy to see where Rose got her love of pink from. Mrs.Lahiff did some motherly things to her son after she arrived, also telling Marinette and Alya that they were welcome anytime before she too went into the office.

Madam Kurtzberg, Nathaniel's grandmother, was last to arrive with Captain Couffaine. Luka, having come with his and Juleka's mom, helped the elderly woman up the stairs.

"Rise and rebel, land lovers," Captain Couffaine cheered in the students as she passed them, making her two kids slightly embarrassed.

Luka just joined them in the classroom, sitting next to Marinette.

"All Juleka would say was to come to the school as quickly as possible and to not allow mom to bring her sword," he said.

"If I was Juleka, I would have let her bring her sword," Vallia snickered.

"Considering that I've seen you use your bo staff against an akuma, I can see why you would," Adrien said.

"You two have slight violent tendencies, don't you," Alya asks, only getting shrugs in response.

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

Witches of LA, Chapter 2: I hope you like exposition and pro wrestling jokes because that’s all we’ve got here

[Seelie of Kurain Chapter Masterlist] [ao3] 

[Witches Chapter Masterlist] [ao3]

“And where exactly did you say we’re going?”

“It’s called Nine-Tails Vale! Jinxie – you remember her from New Years? – works there and invited us up for a yokai festival today!”

“A yokai ff – is it too late to get off the train and go home?”

-

Nine-Tails Vale sits in the hills at the base of the mountains of Kurain, far enough away that there’s a chance that they can have as normal a day as anyone at a yokai festival could, but close enough that the hills around the valley still might be faery mounds. Like most days at the WAA, anything goes, and Apollo has to live with it. And maybe he’ll die with it one of these days, sooner rather than later.

Trucy keeps trying again to explain to Apollo the storyline of the local wrestling scene, which she and Jinxie are avid fans of, on their walk over from the train station.

“It’s like a soap opera combined with a fantasy story, but also with grown men hitting each other with chairs,” she says, which is definitely a pitch that would appeal to certain people who aren’t Apollo. “They’ve got their thing that’s kinda like Court, or if there were two Courts who hated each other, and they battle it out in the ring like Daddy says some of the fae do within our legal system. Because the wrestlers are all masked and they’re the proxies for these powerful spirits who possess them whenever they’re wearing the mask. Like selkie skins but if the seal was separate and you were being controlled by it.”

“Uh huh,” Apollo says, surveying the main lane they’ve come up along. The dirt path, lined with a few scattered cobblestones, is overladen with little wheeled carts and pop-up stands selling little charms and trinkets and decorated with leering faces of yokai. Overwhelmed and shoved aside by the merchandise are older buildings bearing signs with both English and Japanese writing and weathered stone statues that have little offerings and candles scattered about their bases. “I wouldn’t feel like being possessed by a seal is very useful. What am I going to do, flop around a lot?”

“There’s always slapping,” Trucy says. “But I’m saying it’s like that. You put on the skin and you turn into it, wear the mask and bam.”

“Uh huh.”

“So when the wrestlers lose, they can have their masks stripped off, which is the ultimate disgrace because they lose both their power and the world and their enemies know their face and name and can claim them.” Trucy stops and leans over a table of paper tags marked all with a paw print and otherwise with a variety of characters and symbols. “And anyway it never got real big until the Amazing Nine-Tails – he’s one of the wrestlers obviously – started being active outside of the ring. And that’s a real no-go to use your powers like that, but he started getting attention, and the Vale started getting attention, and then this yokai craze kinda started up and now there’s lots of tourists from way out of the area watching the matches and visiting!”

“They’d have to be from way out of town,” Apollo says, “because there’s no one I know from the LA area who would hear about a town in the mountains full of monsters and say ‘yeah, I’m going to spend money to go spend time there’.”

“Yet here we are,” Trucy says. She reaches into her purse and pulls out a bracelet of wooden beads. “Oh, here.” She grabs his arm and slips it onto his wrist next to his bracelet, then shaking her own wrist to draw his attention to a matching one she wears. “I forgot to give you this sooner; it’s rowan wood, which is—”

“An anti-fae charm like iron,” Apollo finishes.

Trucy nods. “Yep! And anti-yokai, it overlaps. Anyway, Daddy says it’s very important to not get rowan mixed up with hawthorn wood, which the fae like. He says that’s a very dangerous mistake to make.”

(“Are you speaking from experience?” Apollo asked, and Phoenix cracked a broken smile and told him that’s all he has to speak from.)

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Apollo says.

“I know you’ve got your ring, but it can’t hurt us to be extra cautious out here today.” Trucy pats the necklace she is wearing; a small horseshoe-shaped charm that must be made of iron dangles from it. Horseshoes are a lucky thing, or thought to be, Apollo knows. Clay has one he keeps with him. “I think that’s why Daddy wanted you to come with me. I think he’s worried I would get into trouble alone, since Jinxie’s working and I won’t be with her all day.”

“I thought he sent me with you because he hates me,” Apollo says. Trucy smacks him on the arm.

Uphill to the alderman’s manor, the dirt roads merge with a well-kept cobblestone path to lead them into a beautiful garden, full of paper lanterns and long banquet tables. Trucy sticks her nose into a bush of beautiful golden flowers and is still admiring them when Jinxie, wearing an apron over her dress and carrying a round serving tray, finds them and slaps a warding charm – one of the thin formal slips that Apollo saw for sale down in the yokai extravaganza, like she wears on her own forehead, not a sticky note – on his forehead. Even after she remembers that she’s met him before, they have to make their way through another circular argument about whether or not Apollo is a fae demon. Trucy has apparently given up on convincing Jinxie of the truth, because she says, “He’s a demon but a good one!”

Does he look extra monstrous today, for some reason? Is his hair spikier, his voice louder? What has he done to deserve this?

Jinxie works as a maid at the manor, though she doesn’t live in the Vale but instead in the neighboring Tenma Town, and with her job she can’t spend all afternoon with them. She imparts on them some local lore from the village about the powerful and terrible yokai, Tenma Taro – is it coincidence or significant that its name bears such similarity to Tenma Town? Like Kurain and Khura’in, what does that mean? – imprisoned in the mountain that the manor is built against. Today’s festival, she explains, is a much more robust version, bolstered by tourist dollars, of a ceremony they hold every year, ritually releasing a shade of Tenma Taro and then banishing it.

Though instead of the Nine-Tailed Fox, the village’s guardian yokai – is that an oxymoron? Apollo once would have thought so, but he works in an office that has a guardian ghost fae – doing the banishing, the wrestler the Amazing Nine-Tails, will be.

Which reminds Apollo of Trucy’s one-sided conversation on the way over, and he interrupts Jinxie and Trucy starting to gush over some recent matches to ask, “So all of this you’re talking about, the wrestlers, uh, kind of channeling yokai spirits – that’s all just in the fiction of wrestling not really being real, right?” They both glare at him. “They aren’t actually using magic and summoning demons, right?”

“Apollo,” Trucy scolds, her hands curled into fists on her hips. “You can’t break kayfabe! You should know that!”

He wishes he had the strength to believe that it isn’t real, and that no one could be so stupid to be fucking around that deep into fae magic for the sake of televised entertainment, but he’s also here at a goddamn yokai festival on one of his days off and that’s pretty stupid too.

“I should get back to work,” Jinxie says. “I’ll see you later – ah!”

Making its way through the garden, causing people to spring out of its path, is a tall bird-creature, with gray feathers and three yellow eyes and sharp talons on its hands and feet, which with their yellow skin resemble the legs of some kind of raptor. It resembles the yokai on the scroll Jinxie showed them, the Tenma Taro, but it’s just – someone in a costume? Right? A costume for a festival, and not actually—

It rounds on Jinxie with a hiss. “Better watch out, little girl, or I’ll sssnatch you away!” She raises her platter up over her face and cowers back into one of the banquet tables. Apollo thinks that it probably is just someone in a costume, now that he’s seen it speak; its beak doesn’t move and its tongue lolls forth even in the middle of its speech. It’s too static, or is that wishful thinking?

But no one else is looking at the monster and how it’s cornered Jinxie, no one moving to help her – and Apollo realizes he is moving forward, not sure what he could do if it’s a yokai and knowing he shouldn’t do anything if it’s a performer (like how he and Clay got banned from a local haunted house when they were 13 because Clay reflexively punched one of the actors in the sternum), but still unable to stand by.

“Hey! Don’t stare like that!” someone nearby warns, at a volume that tries to be a whisper but doesn’t really succeed. They must be talking to Apollo and Trucy, because no one else, not even Jinxie, is staring. “If Tenma Taro locks eyes with you, he’ll steal your soul!”

Apollo turns his eyes to the ground instantly, reflexively, because that’s the one thing he knows not to take chances on even though, as he thinks about it, he’s more sure that this monster is a costume and even if it weren’t, he doesn’t think there’s anything powerful enough to just simply take a soul so easily. And if there were, they wouldn’t just casually set it loose. (He hopes.)

“Look!” Trucy whispers, nudging him and pointing toward the manor, where a small figure stands on the roof dark against the blue spring sky. Whatever – whoever – it is leaps down to the lower roof, disappearing from sight, but only a few seconds later springs again, with a long leap far too long to be human. (He thinks first of Lamiroir’s disappearing act and wonders what the trick behind this is.) The man who lands in the midst of them, between Tenma Taro and Jinxie, wears a wrestler’s belt and a golden fox-head mask, with a collar of the same color fur that turns into a cape of many long foxes’ tails. If he was going to guess, Apollo would say that there are nine.

Clearly the Amazing Nine-Tails, and with some silted words about vanquishing evil, he chases Tenma Taro back toward the manor. And Apollo might now be really convinced of the scriptedness of it – and admittedly relieved by that – but the crowds are cheering and Jinxie no longer looks like she’s about to faint from fright. With her platter still clutched across her chest like a shield, she waves goodbye and returns to work, and Trucy drags Apollo off to explore the town.

-

Trucy wants to buy everything. Apollo should have expected that – the amount of Gavineers merchandise that she acquired in the two weeks between their meeting Klavier and the concert was astonishing – and to that end he should have expected that she would run out of money and turn to him. She at least considers herself an organized businesswoman, enough to write up the invoice of what she owes him, and he strikes from it the paper warding charms they buy. He isn’t sure yet if he believes in them, but he’d probably be getting a few for his and Clay’s apartment anyway, and Trucy is talking about how it would be nice to have some kind of protective charm to give to Vera that wouldn’t hurt her like iron, and getting something for their friends seems a worthwhile investment. Trucy’s attempt to wheedle a few dollars out of him for another plush Nine-Tailed Fox keychain is not.

It’s warmer now than it was last April, enough that Apollo tentatively hopes that the fae are done throwing their winter tantrums. If Trucy had to drag him anywhere – and she would consider that a necessity – it’s a good day for it, pleasant to spend time out under the sun and the clear sky. He’s not even convinced that the town is as cursed as he first assumed.

Naturally, that’s where it always goes wrong, letting his guard down, no longer anticipating that the worst is going to claw its way up out of the dirt.

He and Trucy circle back to the manor as a crowd is starting to gather at the front doors; at the center of it, once they manage to push through the people, Trucy helping clear a path by sending Mr Hat off to the side to draw people’s eyes and attention the way a will o’ the wisp does, is Jinxie, simultaneously wild-eyed and looking close to passing out. She stretches out one visibly-trembling hand and grabs Trucy by the wrist, her other arm still hugging the platter close to her chest. It must be iron, it must. “Alderman Kyubi is dead!” she cries. “T-ten – Tenma Taro murdered the alderman!”

She sways on her feet and Trucy takes her by the elbow and helps lower her to sit on the ground, and Apollo does what is starting to become a habit in these sort of situations – which are becoming habitual in themselves – and rushes in, pocketing a charm that Jinxie throws at him as he goes.

The scene is a small room Jinxie called the Fox Chamber, up the entry stairs and down the hall to the right, and there, one thing is certain: the alderman is dead.

-

A classic locked room murder mystery: two men, one dead, the other unconscious, no one else seen when Jinxie discovered the crime. The killer? Obvious, seemingly: the unfortunate unconscious man, whose murder plan clearly ran into a hitch when it came time to get away, and for motive who happens to be the mayor of the neighboring town currently disputing over municipal issues with the dead alderman.

Except the mayor is Jinxie’s father, and if he goes to jail she has no other family, and she’s adamant that Tenma Taro did the killing, and the last locked-room murder case that Apollo defended ended up not being one at all. So, classic setup, maybe, never the obvious solution, and Apollo’s record of stumbling into complex cases while he’s trying to do something law-unrelated with Trucy continues. Is it her? Is it him? Is it them both, together? He can only write so much off as coincidence.

And he wishes he could write off Jinxie’s ramblings as those of a superstitious girl scared witless by the feathers and bloody footprints at the crime scene, and maybe once he could have, maybe this time last year, but he’s seen too much since then. If a monster, a yokai – are they connected to the fae? They must be. Isn’t everything? – murdered the alderman, then the question becomes: how does he prove it? How does he convince the judge and prosecution of it?

He should start with asking Mayor Tenma what happened, first.

Trucy tells him that the mayor can seem scary, but he’s nice, really, promise not to run away, Polly. His nerves would be frayed enough without it, but her warning snaps several more of the barely-connected threads, and like a self-fulfilling prophecy, he’s jumpy and nearly flees the room, sheet of glass between them or no. Mayor Tenma is very good at setting some very bad impressions, loudly, with great force, giving Apollo’s heart time enough to stop several times before the mayor corrects the misconception. It’s a very anxiety-inducing interview, and the facts he gleans from it are worse: Mayor Tenma’s fingerprints were on the murder weapon, and he, asleep from being drugged, remembers nothing, including who was it that hit him on the head. Apollo can’t see the wound or a bandage; the mayor’s entire scalp is covered in Jinxie’s warding charms, as though to make a full hat. Does he believe, or is he humoring his daughter? Apollo doesn’t ask.

He has barely left the building when he receives a phone call from the last person he expects. “Mr Wright? What’s going on?”

“Trucy tells me you’ve found yourself a case over in Nine-Tails Vale.” No preamble, no small talk: Phoenix, friendly as ever.

“Uh, yeah. Why?”

“Are you still at the Vale right now?”

“No, I was just talking to the client at the detention center. Why?”

Phoenix sighs heavily. “Because I’m at the airport, picking up the new addition to the Agency – Athena Cykes, Trucy’s mentioned her to you before? And I mentioned your case, and that was it, no stopping her, Athena ditched me with her luggage and took the rental car and is heading out to help you right now.”

“She – you what? She what?” Apollo won’t say that he doesn’t feel some small sense of satisfaction at Phoenix having to suffer someone else flaking on him, but what an impression to make on your new boss.

(Almost as good as punching him in the face.)

“So I need a favor, basically: can you go back to Nine-Tails Vale and intercept her?”

“I—” Once again, the way this day is going takes a sharp turn off the road. “Yeah, I can. But I’ve never met her – what’s she look like?”

“Yellow,” Phoenix says.

“What?”

“She’s got long red hair, and the way you’re red, she’s yellow. Hard to miss with how much energy she’s got.” The description is somehow both vague and incredibly specific – he can’t exactly picture Miss Cykes in his head, but he knows he won’t mistake anyone else for her when he finds her.

“Okay. I can do that. I have to go back anyway to check out the crime scene.” Did he say that Athena had a rental car? He can only dream of how convenient that will be once he gets to her.

“Cool, thanks. Good luck with the case – and with the Vale.”

So much for putting himself at ease convincing himself that it was just a man in a costume, and that there’s some sort of easy explanation for the feathers. (Or not an easy explanation, because saying that Tenma Taro passed through is very easy, but a mundane one.) “What does that mean? Mr Wright?” He doesn’t answer right away, giving Apollo’s stomach enough time to flip over itself and then squish his heart up into his throat. “The stuff Trucy was saying about wrestling, with the yokai and the masks and uh, channeling them? Or whatever it is – that’s not – that’s just the story on the show, right? That’s not…?”

“Not actually real? For most of them, it’s not, no; no magic in the mask but television magic and a tall tale to keep the audience.”

“But – most of them. You said for most of them? So for some of them it is real?”

“Yeah.”

Apollo wants to sink down to the sidewalk and cry. Or scream. Definitely scream, right here next to a police building where they can arrest him for disturbing the peace very easily.

“I can say with certainty that if any spirits involved were actually powerful and smart enough to be malicious, they wouldn’t be stooping to playing a part in half-scripted on-camera fights between half-naked men. Maybe it’ll be a nuisance to your case, at worst, but no threat to anyone’s lives or souls.”

Apollo wishes he could believe that wholeheartedly, and that he could say for sure that Phoenix’s definition of nuisance is something close to his own. “If you don’t get the Not Guilty tomorrow, when you head back up to investigate again, I’ll let you borrow the magatama,” Phoenix adds. “Just so you can really keep an eye on everything, if it’s needed.”

He thinks there will be a second day – that if Apollo doesn’t win in one, then he will have kept his head above water well enough to drag it out. He doesn’t expect Apollo to lose in a day. He thinks Apollo could win in a day.

“Thanks, Mr Wright.”

“No problem. Now you’ve gotta find Athena, and I’ve gotta figure out how to lug her suitcase home.”

Athena, Athena – what else has Trucy told him about her? She was studying in Europe – did she grow up there, too? Does she know what Los Angeles is like? Will she think him superstitious or ridiculous for everything he knows to be real? Does she know what she is walking into in Nine-Tails Vale? Did Phoenix warn her?

Apollo starts walking quicker than before. Of course Phoenix wouldn’t warn her – but hell, to be charitable to Phoenix (for once), he might not have had time to say anything to her before she took off.

If, against his own nature and his lived experience, he tries to be optimistic, he hopes for three things. First, that everyone involved in the murder his plainly human and that no monster committed murder. (That seems the most likely: would a monster know to plant the mayor’s fingerprints?) Second, that Athena has enough sense to be cautious about whatever village folklore they’re stumbling into instead of immediately dismissing it. And third, if he’s really dreaming, that Klavier will be the prosecutor on this case, easily able to identify who is and isn’t human and probably willing to share it.

But Apollo knows that’s all a little much to hope.

[garecc]

The Hidden Oracle+1

Chapter 9

This is not okay. / 'Pollo suddenly collapsed. / I'm begging, send help.

Apollo sighed as we walked, I spared a glance in his direction. He was shivering, I grimaced. “My coat isn't as wet as yours, and you're clearly shivering. Lets trade.”

“No.” He said immediately.

“No? Apollo your cold. I don't mind-”

“Artemis. Keep your coat. I don't need it, your cold too. Don't deny it, I can tell when your lying.”

“But-”

“Artemis.”

“Okay.. Okay fine…”

“It should be easy to get to camp right..?” Apollo asked walking towards the border.

“I doubt it. Seems like a straight path ahead, but woods are easy to get lost in. It’ll be anything but easy ‘pollo”

“Hmm... Say, Meg,” He turned to our young master.

“Yeah..?”

“I didn't get a chance to ask. It your name short for Margaret or Meghan?”

“Margaret McCaffery, but don't call me Margaret” Meg stated.

“Alright, then Meg.” He turns to me “Artie, did she agree to be a hunter?” Apollo asked.

“What..? Apollo, I can't accept hunters as a mortal.." I frowned. Could I? Its unlikely but maybe I could.. "probably cant. I didn't ask, and I'm going to wait until this is all over”

“Wait, hold up. You're telling me you didn't ask the homeless maiden to join your girl's club?” He asked incredulously.

“...Yes?”

“Slow down. Join your girl's club? What are you talking about?” Meg inquired.

“My hunters. I explained them earlier did I not?”

“Yeah but… I didn't know I could join.”

“You can't. Not right now anyway.” Meg pouted.

“Anyway,” Apollo cut in. “We can see camp from here.”

I glanced up, expecting to see the vague outlines of the buildings, but the sight in front of us was breathtaking. The camp was about 3 square miles in size, full of meadows, woods and strawberry fields. On one edge it boarded long island, and the other borders were rolling hills. Below us was a dense woods.

I always forget the beauty of this place. Beyond the woods, you could see the buildings, the cluster of twenty cabins. (You could see Apollo’s shining from here. I always ask myself why the entire building had to be gold. Yeah, it's pretty, but hard to look at sometimes) The Hearth glowed warmly from this distance. The amphitheater, The arena, the dining pavilion, and even the canoe lake were visible from here. It looked beautiful. With seeing the camp came a dull sense of comfort. We were so close to safety. The big house loomed in the distance, Chiron would be in there. We were so close, yet so far.

In the far distance, my sister's statue glistened in its full glory. The Athena Parthenos. After thousands of years it was finally where it belonged. Athena had always been my favorite sister, the hours we spent debating the best strategy for hunting certain monsters are some of my fondest memories with any of my sisters, I could feel the power from the statue from here.

Apollo probably wished the statue was of himself, but he’s like that. I looked at him again, my eyes lingering on the red marks around his nose and mouth. I caused those. I hurt him. He noticed that I was staring. “Artie. I'm fine ” He insisted. He really was shivering a lot.

“I hurt you,” I said miserably.

He looked up at me, frowning. “You protected me.” He countered, he sounded completely sure of himself. I envy his confidence sometimes.

“Not well enough!” I took a step back, If I had protected him we should have never been in that situation in the first place. If I had protected him we would still be gods on Olympus and none of this would have happened. Nothing he said would change that.

“But you did protect me. I would have breathed in that smog and died if not for you. Alright? You did fine”

Before I could argue, Meg spoke. “How come I’ve never heard about this place? Do you need tickets?”

“It's a secret haven for demigods” I responded, forcing my voice to stay steady. Apollo glanced at me sideways. Our conversation certainly wasn't over yet. “The magical borders keep mortals and monsters out. It's safe here. Humans would only see farmland, and if they come in they will find themselves wondering out-”

“I ordered a pizza one time!” Apollo blurted out. I stared at him for a long moment before I found myself laughing. Actually laughing. I had forgotten how pleasent laughing is.

“Did you now brother? Tell us the story of the time you ordered a Pizza.”

Apollo stared at me before he smiled brightly. The first actual smile I had seen from him all day. It was good to know he was still capable of it in these dire circumstances.

“Well, it was… what? 8 years ago? I was at the camp, I had gotten quite the offering to heal this girl. And after I had finished, these two Hermes kids, looked like they might be twins but they certainly weren't, they asked what would happen if they ordered a pizza. And as it turns out, no one ever tried that before. So bam! I take out my phone and dial for pizza. They seem a bit iffy about sending the guy all this way, but I'm a god, I convinced them. So then this mortal guy, ends up so lost, appearing randomly on edges of camp, He kept trying to get in but the wards didn't know how to handle it, so it was hilarious. Anyway, yeah. I could probably go into more detail but that's the jist of it.” As he spoke his voice gained back some enthusiasm. I smiled.

Before anyone could speak, Peaches took a mouthful of dirt. Then spit it back up. Yes, peach demon. Dirt tastes bad. How surprising.

“He doesn’t like the taste of this place,” Meg said.

“No kidding. It's dirt.” I stated pointedly stepping around the prechewed soil. Apollo snickered.

“Maybe at camp, we can get him some plant fertilizer to eat. I’ll try to convince the demigods to allow him in, They let in a hellhound dog, what's the difference between that and a dirt munching peach toddler? but it would be helpful if he doesn’t bite their heads off” Apollo studied Peaches, the fruit being clung to Meg as it muttered something about peaches.

“Something doesn’t feel right.” Meg started chewing her nails. A bad habit. “Those woods…Percy said they were wild and enchanted and stuff.”

“No kidding.” I deadpanned. “My hunters complained about it.” Trying to get them into camp was a nightmare. But, in all honesty, being in the forest felt more natural than the city. “Come on, the woods aren't that bad!” I was already beginning to recognize where animals had recently been. Apollo looked apprehensive, I smiled at him. He has always felt out of place- No… that's too strong of a statement. Uneasy? Yeah, I’ll go with that. Apollo has always felt uneasy in forests, being surrounded by trees brings back some painful memories for him. Painful memories that shouldn't be poked at.

He stumbled over roots and plants. I laughed under my breath. This is what I lived to do. Make my way through dense forests, hunting with my maidens, living life in the wilderness. I hardly struggled with making my way forward. But Meg and Apollo? My young master and brother could hardly make their way forward through the greenery.

“Artie! How do you walk through this.. This mess so easily? It's like walking through spaghetti!”

“Do you want to know how?” Both nodded, eager to learn my secrets.

“Practice. Hundreds of years of practice.” Apollo groaned and Meg looked annoyed.

Apollo was looking around like he expected the Dryads to lunge out of the trees and strangle him. He got this pained look in his eyes and I knew what he was thinking about. I slowed down to match my pace with his.

He looked at me, I smiled weakly, wanting to reach out and just pull away the thoughts of Daphne. Gods... I still want to strangle Eros for what he did to my brother. Daphne’s death absolutely destroyed him. For hundreds of years, he seemed like he was always on the edge of tears. Then came Hyacinthus and he was happy and then Zepheros came and killed him.

I would have torn him limb from limb if not for the fact he was under Eros’s protection. I couldn't have him hurting Apollo any more than he already has.

It took years for him to even become a semblance of happy again. And here we were, nearly 3000 years later and he still nearly breaks into tears whenever they are mentioned.

I attempted to meet his gaze but he shifted his eyes away “You okay?” I asked quietly, hoping he would respond.

He stared at the ground, stumble walking over roots and brush. “I’ll be fine Artie..” He murmured, still not looking up.

“Okay. Just.. tell me if you want to rest a bit okay?” Code for: If being surrounded by dryads gets top overwhelming we can take a break.

Meg watched out whole exchange wordlessly.

We hiked for what felt like hours, and my mortal body was starting to get hungry. Normally, Apollo could navigate by the sun and me the moon, but the canopy was so thick we couldn't see the sky.

I realized we had passed the same boulder 3 times. Not even I can hike flawlessly it seems.

“Don't you have any hiking skills? Reading Tracks-”

“Yes. Yes, that is literally what I do. But this forest is enchanted… And as it seems, not even I can navigate it flawlessly.”

“Maybe Peaches can help.” Yes. What a wonderful idea. Ask the demon peach baby for directions. Meg turned to her karpos. “Hey, can you find us a way out of the woods?”

For the past few miles, Peches had gotten quite nervous. Muttering peachy warnings under his breath. His face flushed bright green. He made a scared barking squawk sound, then dissolved in a swirl of leaves.

Meg shot to her feet. “Where’d he go?”

It was nowhere in sight. Megs summon must have only had so much time. Or He’d sensed danger and abandoned us. The latter was more likely. Though meg had grown attached to the peach demon, I didn't want to hurt her. (But we god's got attached to humans, so I had no room to judge.)

“Perhaps he went scouting,” Apollo suggested. “Perhaps we should—”

My brother's hands flew to his forehead and he stumbled back, his eyes widening. He looked like someone had slapped him,

“Apollo?” I stepped forward uncertainty. “What's wrong?” He made a gasping sound, he whimpered stumbling over to me.  

“Assist me, sister, we cannot remain here.” My eyes just about bugged out from my head. He only reverted to old English when something was seriously wrong. Or when he was trying to be sophisticated or really angry. But I doubted the two latter

“What's going on?” I demanded.

“Just- let's go!” He grabbed my wrist, dragging me forward. We fled blindly until we reached a significantly clear stream over a bed gravel.

“Apollo, we can't go through the water, we’ll freeze-” That fact did not deter him. He waded shin-deep into the ice cold stream before he fell to his knees. A pitiful yell bubbling through his lips.

I didn't have much of a choice now did I? I ran in after him, the water was so cold it felt like needles biting into my skin. Meg was not far behind. “Brother, you need to get up-”

“You didn't…? You didn't hear it..?” I felt my stomach drop to my feet, hear what?

This eerily reminded of a memory I still had from thousands of years ago. When Apollo first became the god of prophecy, the first prophecies he delivered made him physically sick, he didn't know how to channel them into tangible ideas and words. But of course, that was thousands of years ago. But it did remind me of that.

“Hear what!” Meg asked.

Apollo didn’t respond. Instead, he cried out in pain and collapsed face first into the stream.

So it looks like I'm carrying him. “Help me lift him.” Meg and I pulled him from the stream and I stumble-dragged him across the water. We set him on the ground. Apollo was shivering violently. I pulled his sodden coat off and threw mine over him. Good thing we didnt swap earlier.

“What did you hear. Don't go crazy on us.” My voice was serious. He laughed hysterically, I felt my own heartbeat start to pick up as goosebumps crawled up my arms. Why was this happening? He was fine! A few broken ribs, but this isn't warranted! I felt my blood run cold as I came to a shocking realization. What if the Nosoi had poisoned him? That was the only answer I could think of.

“I.. I heard..”

Before he could finish his face screwed up in pain, a violent shudder running through him. He audibly whimpered. Steam started rising from his clothes and I wanted to scream and cry and curse at Zeus. If the Nosoi DID poison him, there was a good chance he would get worse very quickly. His eyes glazed over and his mouth hung ajar.

All I could hear was the blood screaming in my ears. I found myself shaking him awake, telling him to get up. I couldn't lose him. I need him. I can’t do this alone.

I was blind to my panic.

I wouldn't watch him die.

I wouldn't watch my baby brother die.

Meg shoved me and slapped him. Hard. “GET UP!” She yelled. That seemed to break through his trance, he sat up, and immediately started retching. He vomited, I dragged him to his feet after a moment. He made a weak sound of protest. “Meg, help me carry him.” She rushed to his other side. He murmured something under his breath. I didn't catch what. He was pale, and his shivering only grew more violent as we stumbled along. He suddenly started giggling, it sounded wrong. Unnatural even.

“Keep it together brother. Please. We’ll get to camp soon, okay?” He didn't respond, instead, his head lolled to the side as he passed in and out of consciousness. My palms were sweaty, my steps misplaced, and I was terrified we were too far to get him to camp quick enough.

“We need to get him to camp, right now,” I told Meg. From the steam rising from his clothes and the heat burning through his clothes, I assumed he was running a high fever of 106 or so. Dangerously high. He only woke up to laugh hysterically, as we stumbled forward he finally went completely limp in our arms, his eyes rolling back into his head. My heartbeat steadily rose, but I had to stay calm. I had to get him to safety.

As we were running, my foot got caught in a dip in the ground, I stumbled forward, my ankle twisting, pain shot up my leg for a moment, It took a lot to ignore it, but we had to get him to safety. I bore most of his weight. Finally, finally we reached the edge of camp. We exited the woods by a campfire where a group of teens were making smores, as soon as they saw us they went for there weapons. “DEMIGODS!” I screamed, not even bothering to mask the panic in my voice. “I AM ARTEMIS. WE ARE IN DIRE NEED OF ASSISTANCE”

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