𝟬𝟬𝟱. long time no see

HAVING BEEN GONE FOR SO LONG, Aera used to dream about returning to Camp Half-Blood. In the best ones, she would be welcomed back by her besties on a warm golden day. With the sun shining in her hair and her eyes, they would hoist her onto their shoulders and carry her up Half-Blood Hill. At the peak of the hill, where a flourish of leaves cascaded from her favorite trees, they told Aera they forgave her, they loved her, and they were always going to stand by her. Crying tears of joy, Aera laughed and hugged them, vowing to never be parted from them again.

In the worst ones, the half-bloods Aera grew up with would bear arms against her, chasing her into the forest with swords and spears. At night, they made a game out of hunting her down like a wild monster. Barefoot, Aera would run through the forest until she was covered in nicks and cuts.

Near the end of the dream, her half-siblings would have her cornered against Zeus' fist. One by one with biting remarks, the Aphrodite Cabin took turns using Luke's dual-metal blade, Backbiter, to cut her open. Ravaged, Aera would lay there, limp, bleeding out, staring at a starless sky. Unable to die, unable to escape from the pain.

Not the most glamorous way to go, Aera had to admit. She always suspected having the demigods compete in a twisted sport of who could dice her up in the most aesthetically gruesome way was the worst that could transpire upon her return until the campers gathered around to see what all the ruckus was about on the beach.

After being hurled onto the eastern shore of Long Island Sound by a petty water nymph who still held a grudge against Aera for allegedly trying to steal her tree nymph girlfriend four summers ago (so not fair; it wasn't Aera's fault she radiated charm without trying), a throng of at least twenty campers started to coalesce around their group, eager to feast their hungry eyes on whatever trouble was stirring at the lake.

As soon as she caught sight of them, Aera straightened out her back, swiftly flattening down her soaking wet clothes, adjusting her sleeves, and forking her fingers through her tangled hair. She didn't give a pegasi's peaches what those highlighter-wearing creeps thought of her, but that didn't mean she could be spotted looking like a watered-down lily. She was going to need a proper change of clothing and a clay face mask, stat.

The problem was, well, Aera was at Camp Half-Blood, the least fashionable, least beauty-innovating place in the world (after court-managed public schools named the Wilderness School, of course).

Upon drying Annabeth, Leo, and Jason, a detail of campers ran up to Aera with a giant bronze leaf blower. Ugh. The last time they used one of those cheap things on her, Aera couldn't get the tangles out of her hair for weeks. Worst. Hairdryer. Ever. Now that her hair was precariously long, Aera needed to take even more precautions to maintain it.

"Don't even think about it," she hissed.

With a slitting glare of her eyes, Aera had that gaggle of hair-sabotaging idiots scampering away. Next to her, Jason the mascara monster raised his eyebrows as Aera wrung the water out of her hair and clothes herself. She would never be caught dead admitting it, but he was looking even more charming after that little dip in the lake. Somehow the blown-back hairstyle suited him like he didn't even have to try with his appearance, which obviously, without saying, was incredibly aggravating.

"You'll catch a cold," Jason told Aera, eyeing the puddle that formed beneath her on the sand. He was totally checking her out.

Suddenly, all of Aera's previous spite vanished into thin air. A smirk that emerged across her lips. "What? Are you worried about me?"

A muscle in Jason's jaw tensed. "Aera, let's make something clear. You and I—"

"Me and you?" Aera batted her eyelashes at him. "Finally admitting I'm your type, huh?" She winked at a random girl in the crowd, whose face bloomed profusely in a red blush. Still got it. Annabeth's inferior plan of marring Aera's charm was a total doozy, just like that horrendous camp outfit.

"No," Jason denied, shaking his head. Aera had already forgotten what he was talking about, waving coyly to that girl in the crowd. "I just need you—"

"You need me?" Aera's smug smile expanded.

"—to not get sick," he continued pointedly, "because you're the one—"

"I'm the one?" Aera gasped, laying a hand on her chest.

"—who also doesn't remember," Jason insisted, "what happened between us—"

"There's already an us?" Turning her attention away from the other girl, Aera's voice was kittenish as she covered her mouth with her hand. "Wow. We're moving fast. Not that I mind." Smiling dotingly at him, Aera wiped a stray drop of water off Jason's cheek with her thumb. "I like a man who knows what he wants."

Jason seized her wrist immediately, removing her hand from his face. "I thought half-bloods weren't your cup of tea."

Aera accepted his indifference without a fret, peering up at him through her long eyelashes. "There are exceptions to everything."

Unflinchingly, Jason didn't say anything for a moment (no doubt stunned by Aera's angelic radiance) before letting go of her wrist.

Aera wasn't even faintly demoralized by his show of nonchalance. Jason could pretend all he wanted with his tough exterior and hard-to-get demeanor, but Aera could feel his pulse speeding up the longer she fixed her eyes on him.

Arguably, the only perk of being the daughter of the meddlesome love goddess was the inherited ability to snoop through other people's most deeply hidden feelings. And Aera was already having a blast reading Jason's accelerating heartbeat like the latest romance novel.

Unfortunately, an essential to every romance novel was a villain that drove the two main love interests apart in the most unnecessary attempts of obtaining a scrap of relevance to the story. In Aera's case, that lame, cock-blocking villain nobody liked was Annabeth.

"Ignore her, Jason." Annabeth, the soul-sucker, just had to butt in. "That's what I do."

Malice returning, Aera couldn't stop her forked tongue from a riposte. "Before or after you stab people in the back and pretend it's the wisest decision of the century?"

"You really wanna talk about stabbing people in the back right now, Aera?" Annabeth snarled, coming closer so that their conversation couldn't be overheard by the other campers. "Because I can name a few people here who are more than willing to sort out their grievances with you."

Obviously, Aera had noticed the large number of watchful eyes trained on her since she crash-landed their chariot into the lake. She didn't blame their thirsty eyes for drinking in her beauty. But only upon adding further attention to the effort did Aera actually hear what they were saying about her.

"Isn't that Aera Kim?" they murmured uneasily.

"—the infamous daughter of Aphrodite—"

"—betrayed Olympus—"

"—Kronos' most loyal demigod lieutenant after Luke—"

"—got her own siblings killed—"

"—responsible for the death of so many demigods—"

"—get too close and she'll rip your heart out of your chest—"

"—or worse...mind-control you—"

Whispers of Aera's arrival spread like wildfire, consuming every set of ears in a conflagration of heated words. All the while, Aera noticed Jason's eyes ping-ponging between Annabeth, Aera, and the crowd. The space between his eyebrows shrunk as if he was getting closer to the conclusion of who was going to be the more valuable ally. He peeked over at Leo, who was also listening to what the campers were saying. Leo merely shrugged.

In front of so many campers, Aera felt compelled to step back from Annabeth, albeit seethingly. It was just like that soul-sucker to act all high and noble, especially when there were other demigods watching.

Gods, Annabeth still wasn't done ruining Aera's life? Aera wanted to stick the armory's most glittery polearm up her—

"Annabeth!" Will Solace, the excruciatingly bright son of Apollo, came thundering out of the mob with a bow and quiver pounding against his back. "I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"

Annabeth laughed humorlessly. "You can thank Aera for that one."

If looks could kill, Annabeth would've already been buried in the depths of Tartarus. Scowling at the sight of his smashed chariot and the unharmed pegasi Butch was relentlessly trying to rein in from the water, Will fidgeted with the strap of his quiver almost nervously as he faced Aera.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her.

That was it. No welcome back party, no charging at her with lethal weapons. Just a what are you doing here? As if Aera was just some rando who never used to call this place home.

"What does it look like?" Aera asked, face wiped of emotion. "I brought new demigods." Ignoring their protests, Aera pushed Jason and Leo forward a few paces as freshly regurgitated Piper joined them on the shore and lost a few years of untangled hair life to the giant leaf blower. "You're welcome."

"You brought new demigods?" Annabeth challenged. Aera ignored her, and found herself pleasantly surprised that Will did, too.

"These are the new ones?" Will asked. His eyes swept over to the three newbies impatiently like he was glad to have an excuse to break eye contact with Aera. "Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed yet?"

"Aw, why do you sound so surprised, sunshine?" Aera purred, half condescending, half cynical. "Did you really think the gods would keep their promises?"

At this, an uproar erupted in the assembly of half-bloods. "She shouldn't be here" and, "the gods let her off too easy for what she did" were only some of the stinging comments her ears caught onto amongst the rise of their heartbeats.

Sadness sunk into Aera's chest, prompting the pulley of her pride to raise her chin higher. She had a reputation to maintain around here. Not to mention, there were three newbies probing her curiously, wondering what was going on. She certainly didn't look the part of the world's most beautiful demigod right now, but she at least had to act like it.

"What about Percy?" Will asked, gnawing on his lip as he glancing back at Annabeth. "Any sign of him?"

At the sound of his name, the campers grew eager, inching closer to hear better. Envy replaced Aera's sadness in a heartbeat. She bet nobody cared this much when she left.

No one missed the reproachful side-eye Annabeth shot Aera. Thankfully, that killjoy seafood fanatic managed to scratch up enough brain cells to barely be wise enough not to point fingers in the presence of so many campers who were already tense because of, well...Aera's timelessly lovely disposition, of course.

"No," Annabeth answered darkly.

Will's gaze veered towards Aera for the slightest second before darting away. It was a weak attempt at hiding his suspicion. However, Aera supposed she couldn't exactly fault his effort when the other campers were not so muted in their accusations.

"Aera did it!" someone from Cabin 7 yelled. "She made Percy disappear!"

"Think about it," one of Annabeth's half-siblings entreated before Aera could even get a word in. "Percy goes missing without a trace and then Aera, of all half-bloods, shows up to camp a few days later. This has to be another one of her schemes!"

A camper from the Demeter Cabin gasped. "You don't think Kronos is the mastermind behind Percy's disappearance, do you?"

"He's back?" another shrieked.

"Guys." Will tried to lasso in the horde. "Let's not assume—"

A bulky son of Hephaestus shifted forward savagely. "You have some nerve showing your face here again. You've got guts."

"And you've got to be kidding me," Aera uttered, unamused. Did he really think he could take her on? After everything she'd accomplished, Camp Half-Blood still underestimated her?

"Oh, so that's what you're here for?" Another daughter of Ares gripped her spear like she was ready to skewer Aera into the world's hottest shish kebab. "You came back for more?"

"Hold up. Hold up." Leo put both of his hands up, but hardly anyone noticed. "What is going on here? Er, ma'am, please stop pointing that sharp, extremely pointy stick at me?"

"They're treating you like some sort of criminal," Piper noted next to Aera. "This isn't that kind of camp, is it?"

Their objections were lost to the discord rippling through the mob. With so many hearts hammering unrestrainedly in her ears, Aera was at a loss. She knew how to muffle the sound of hearts when entering populated areas but she usually only exercised this skill in peaceful settings. Now, too many voices were shouting. Too many emotions were festering. Her senses were fighting for their life to keep up with the burden of everyone's high strung feelings.

Overwhelmed, Aera struggled to formulate a response to calm the campers down. Her body was way too divinely ravishing to be cut up like tofu like in her dream, but she was pretty sure none of them were down to be bribed by her designer bag collection to leave her alone. And her BTS tickets were definitely not up for grabs either.

That's when another girl stepped out from the crowd—tall, Japanese, dark black hair in ringlets, plenty of jewelry, and perfect makeup. When she came forward, her presence seemed to eat up all the attention and leave no crumbs, forcing everyone around to focus on her. Aera couldn't recognize her face, but her heartbeat seemed familiar, skipping every couple of beats like she was repeatedly sucking in the air in her stomach.

"Don't be ridiculous," she asserted haughtily. With only a handful of words, Aera could feel the power of her smooth voice rolling over the wave of anxious unrest suspended in the air. "Aera kidnap Percy? Puh-lease, he is so not her type. Everyone knows Aera prefers blondes."

Hostility taking a complete 180, the campers started agreeing among their death-breath, fashion-killing selves again.

"Hey, I'm blond," a son of Apollo put in.

"We're all blond!" his brother snapped, smacking the back of his head. Horrified, Will Solace tugged at his shaggy blond hair as if it were fire instead.

"Besides," the Japanese girl continued effortlessly, "even if Aera did kidnap Percy, she's clearly outnumbered at camp. There's no reason she would come here unless..." Her catlike eyes raked over Aera from head to toe. "...she's lost both her style and her mind."

Lost her style? Aera had never been more insulted in her life. "What did you just say—"

Annabeth caught her arm before she could get any closer.

Snootily, the girl raised her eyebrows at Aera like, admit it, you're a hot mess. Then she barely glanced at Leo, scanned Jason like he might be worthy of her attention, and curled her lip at Piper as if she were a box of expired haircare products. Shoving Annabeth's disgusting seaweed-infected hand off her, Aera tried to place a manicured finger on where she knew this...surprisingly glamorous girl from.

"So you finally decided to come back," she addressed Aera directly. It was very, very subtle, but the saltiness lodged in her voice was clear. She let out a scoff. "I hope these people you brought are worth the trouble."

Leo let out a snort. "Gee, thanks. What are we, Aera's new pets?"

"No kidding," Jason muttered. "How about some answers before you start judging us—like, what is this place, why are we here, and how long do we have to stay?"

Piper nodded in agreement.

"Jason," the glorified Anna Elizabeth, intervened, "I promise we'll answer your questions after I'm done with Aera. And Drew"—she frowned at the decent-looking girl—"all demigods are worth saving. But I have to admit, this trip—"

"Drew?" It took Aera a full fifteen seconds to process what she had heard. Even then, she still couldn't believe her own ears. "As in Drew Tanaka?"

The girl in question shot her a cryptic smile, her plump lips sparkling in the sheen of her lip gloss. "Long time no see, Aera Kim."

Aera blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. Just to ensure that her eyes were working properly. The last time Aera had seen her Japanese half-sister, Drew had uneven blunt bangs chopped at a 20 degree angle and her nose stuck inside a shoujo manga wherever she went. She could hardly curl her eyelashes without ripping half of them out and she never spoke unless she was spoken to first.

Back then, Drew couldn't even put on a bra without seeking Aera's opinion first and now she was wearing electric pink eyeliner with confidence and rocked Camp Half-Blood's grotesquely orange t-shirt and jeans ensemble like it was the latest red carpet trend. She even had the most mindlessly aggressive campers backing away from Aera with a few words.

Exactly what kind of universe-bending event did Aera miss in the time that she was gone?

"What happened to you?" Aera asked mournfully. "You're...gorgeous."

The other campers snickered. Rather than be eternally grateful for Aera's rare-gifted compliment, Drew narrowed her eyes at Aera as if she had just stomped on the grave of her dead grandmother (who was quite literally the most fashionable lady of her time, but Aera would get into that later). "Is that so surprising to you?"

Aera racked her brain for some possible explanation but before she could fully grasp the concept of her little sister's unbelievable glow-up, Annabeth put forth, "Like I was saying earlier...this trip didn't exactly accomplish what I had hoped."

"Hey," Piper snapped. "We only came because of Aera. We didn't ask to be brought here."

Drew sniffed, glaring at Piper with clear distaste. "And nobody wants you here, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?"

Fists balled, Piper stepped forward, looking ready to smack Drew into the new year, but Aera said, "Piper, stop."

Piper stopped. At least she was smart enough not to cross high heels with Aera.

The same, however, couldn't be said about Drew.

Though Aera had known Drew much longer, she somehow felt more protective of Piper than this semblance of exquisiteness Drew was fronting. Had it been a couple years ago, Aera wouldn't have hesitated to take her sister's side. Since they were little, Drew was always getting picked on for being clumsy and timid, and Aera was always the one fishing her out of trouble like a small forgotten tube of lipstick at the bottom of a purse. Now it seemed like things had changed.

Standing poised with an attractive figure and an air of conceited sophistication, Aera couldn't spot a single fault in Drew's appearance. Even more astonishing was that the expert charmspeak in Drew's voice was almost as prominent as their former head counselor, Jolina Kamarov's, and Aera couldn't remember any time in history anyone had ever said no to that Chanel-wearing parasite.

Aera didn't know a lot about Piper—she wasn't even sure she liked her honestly—but if there was one thing Aera did know it was how much she hated Jolina Kamarov for what she did to Cabin 10. In her time, Jolina had gone to such awful lengths to force all of the Aphrodite siblings to become self-absorbed, self-injuring Black Swans. It was one of the primary reasons Aera had defected in the first place. To escape the pressure of being beautiful.

To sit back and watch Drew, the annoying, little sister who used to borrow Silena's oversized clothes and insist on squeezing into the same twin bed as Aera whenever she couldn't sleep, stuff herself into that mold would be the biggest beauty crime in the universe. Aera had seen the film Drew was now the starring lead in too many times before and she didn't like the ending. And if sweet, innocent Drew had turned out this way after everything that had happened, she worried what the rest of Cabin 10 looked like.

"We'll talk later," Aera decided, conscious of the presence of others. "Looks like us sisters have a lot to catch up on."

"Sisters?" Piper gaped.

Before, Drew could never look anyone in the eye when she spoke to them. Now, she wasn't wavering, returning Aera's gaze with just as much arrogance. "Looks like we do."

"OK, everybody, stop," Annabeth butted in again, sharing her pointed look between Drew and Aera, who could care less. "We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome. Not like they just walked into a Mean Girls movie. We'll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they'll be claimed."

"Would somebody please tell me what claimed means?" Piper asked.

Suddenly there was a collective gasp. The campers backed away from the light. Above Leo's head was a blazing red holographic image—a fiery hammer, the symbol of Hephaestus.

"That," Aera said boredly, "is claiming."

"What'd I do?" Leo backed toward the lake. Then he glanced up and yelped. "Is my hair on fire?" He ducked, but the symbol followed him, bobbing and weaving so it looked like he was trying to write something in flames with his head.

Aera's nose crinkled. Just being around these newbies was so embarrassing.

"This can't be good," Butch mumbled. "The curse—"

"Ooh," Aera said, interest piqued, "I like curses."

"Aera, shut up," Annabeth said. "Leo, you've just been claimed—"

"By a god," Jason finished for her. "That's the symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?"

All eyes moved to him.

"Jason," Annabeth said apprehensively, "how did you know that?"

"I...I'm not sure," was his perpetually irritatingly vague answer.

Annabeth squinted at Aera. "He's..."

"Not my problem," Aera responded. As much as she enjoyed flirting with that grump, she did not want those not-so-happy campers barking up her ribbon-laced tree again. Being held accountable for someone else was not a good look on her. It didn't go with her shoes.

"Right." Annabeth nodded. "You already have enough of those."

"Kiss my—"

"Vulcan?" Leo demanded, looking around like a helpless deer. "Like, Star Trek? I don't even like Star Trek. What are you talking about?"

"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus," Annabeth explained in her classic know-it-all self, "the god of blacksmiths and fire."

The fiery hammer faded, but Leo kept swatting the air like he was afraid the ghost of his horrific outfit choices was haunting him. "The god of what now? Who?"

"Ugh," Aera groaned, rolling up her still damp sleeves, already bored to death. "Somebody take him away already."

"Take me where?" Leo asked. Gods, his never-ending string of questions was longer than a CVS receipt.

Annabeth gave Aera another ugly glare before turning to the head Apollo clone. "Will, would you take Leo, give him a tour? Introduce him to his bunk-mates in Cabin Nine."

"Sure, Annabeth," he complied.

"Sure, Annabeth," Aera mocked. What a bottom.

"What's Cabin Nine?" Leo asked. "And I'm not a Vulcan!"

"Come on, Mr. Spock, I'll explain everything." Will put a hand on his shoulder and steered him off toward the cabins.

As soon as they were gone, Annabeth turned on Aera like she was going to draw her knife again.

"Aera," Annabeth warned. She was studying Aera like a complicated blueprint. Aera always hated that intense look in her ordinary grey eyes. It only came out when Annabeth was about to say something Aera didn't want to hear. Which was basically everything that came out of her mouth.

"What? What?" Aera snapped impatiently at her. "It's your fault I'm here anyway. It's not like I wanted to come here and see all of these ugly—"

"Hold out your arm," Annabeth ordered.

"Why?"

Annabeth didn't wait for a response as she reached over and wrapped her fingers around Aera's arm. Annabeth was lucky Aera wasn't in her best battle gown. If she had been, Annabeth would've been shanked and quartered for touching her with those sea anemone claws.

"Since when did you have tattoos?" Annabeth demanded.

Tattoos? Aera looked down at what Annabeth had been gawking at with her owl eyeballs, and her own eyes bugged out almost to that of owl eyeballs too. On the inside of Aera's right forearm were a descending line of thick rectangular bars, like she had been bar-coded as the world's hottest demigod. Over that was a flying dove with a rose in its beak. The edges of each tattoo were fiery red and practically smoldering at the borders, as if they had been recently singed into her skin with a hot iron.

Aera counted nine bars in total—the same number as the years she would have been at Camp Half-Blood had she stayed. How did Aera not notice them when she rolled up her sleeves? Or swapped outfits? She had stared at herself plenty in the bathroom of the Grand Canyon Skywalk.

To say Aera was horrified was an understatement. She suspected she might have done something reckless and totally barbaric in that mysterious week-long gap in her memory—like forget to moisturize—but she never thought she would stoop as low as getting a tattoo like some rebellious emo (she already had that phase in middle school and it was not pretty). And the design—the gaudy bars, it looked so wrong, so foreign on Aera's wrist. She liked to think she had much better taste than that.

Drew appraised her suspiciously. "I thought you said you would never ever get a tattoo. Or, was that a lie, too?"

"Do you know how long it took for me to get a perfectly smooth and clear complexion?" Aera rambled furiously, not missing the resentment in Drew's remark. "These look burned into my skin. Why would I do that to myself?"

"Maybe..." Piper reluctantly gestured to Jason. "You didn't."

Jason had stripped his windbreaker after their little dip in the lake, also leaving his arms bare for everyone to see. What took Aera's breath away wasn't the size of his muscular biceps, but rather the similar tattoos on his forearms. He had a dozen lines and an eagle with the letters SPQR looming over it. Only his were darkly etched with nothing burning at the borders. They looked like they had been there on his arm a lot longer than Aera's had, which could only mean one thing.

"You were with me," Aera realized with a chill. "In that week I don't remember." She locked eyes with him. "Who am I to you?"

Skepticism passed over his face. "Are we really doing this again?"

"Isabel said you were sent to the Wilderness School directly from juvie," Aera recalled, for once, actually serious. "Was I...with you?"

Jason winced as if she had dropped a coconut on his head. "I'm getting really tired of saying this, but I don't know. I can't remember anything."

Aera didn't buy it. Jason's unyielding nature made it clear he was a hard person to get close to. That's why Aera was so interested, after all. But if they were strangers to each other, Jason wouldn't have hugged her on the bus nor would he have been jumped off the Skywalk to rescue her, despite being unaware of his apparent ability to have "the wind supporting us". For whatever reason, he was holding back some seed of information and the skip in his heart when Aera questioned him only supported that.

Still, taking into account the presence of so many others, Aera was once again forced to take another step back. There was an unsettling feeling looming over her shoulders, one that only appeared right before something devastating was about to happen. Call it intuition. The last time that intuition had overcome Aera was the day she lost Silena.

Whatever this new feeling was supposed to warn her about, Aera was starting to understand that messing around with Jason might not bring her the entertainment she'd hoped for. She would have to handle him more carefully by herself now. Playing with hearts was a dangerous game, even more so when you were unsure of your own. Something fishy was going on here and for once, it wasn't the stench of Percy Jackson.

"I've never seen marks like these," Annabeth observed. The other campers pushed forward, trying to get closer looks at their tattoos. The marks seemed to bother them a lot—almost like a declaration of war on the beauty industry. On Aera, they were an absolute scandal but on Jason...they seemed rather fitting. Okay, those tattoos were hot on him.

Stop that, Aera scolded herself. You're hotter.

Annabeth peered at Aera dubiously. "You really don't remember where you got these? You really have amnesia?"

Aera rolled her eyes. "I've only been trying to tell you that for the past thirty minutes."

"And Percy?" Annabeth asked, desperation clinging to her voice. She cleared her throat. "You don't have any idea where he could be?"

"Seriously?" Aera snapped.

"Do you?"

"No!"

Annabeth grimaced as if Aera had just impaled her with the heel of a Louboutin stiletto, which was an incredibly tame response in comparison to Annabeth's disloyalty.

Aera couldn't even remember what happened last week, bearing marks branded into her arm that screamed she had been in danger or held against her will, and Annabeth was worried about that idiot fish instead? All Annabeth ever cared about was Percy Jackson this, Percy Jackson that. What about Aera?

In her sweet dream, the first face that welcomed Aera back to camp was Annabeth. Not Drew. Not Silena. Annabeth. What a lame joke. Aera still couldn't understand what could have possibly made her dream of her in that light. Annabeth had chosen that hideous sea creature over Aera years ago.

No one else dared to say a word as the two girls stood off against each other. Those cuticle-ridden idiots saw Annabeth as their leader. They were waiting for her stupid verdict. Or maybe they were just waiting for her to make the first blow.

"You need speak to Chiron," Annabeth declared after a pause. "You and Jason. He'll know what to do."

"Like he knew what to do with Luke?" Aera scoffed, voice cold as ice. There was no way she was going to pay that horse man a visit. "When are you going to stop depending on that old horse to give you answers he clearly doesn't have?"

"Don't you dare," Annabeth said angrily, "pin that on Chiron. You have no right to blame him for the damage you've caused." She rammed a finger into Aera's chest. "In case your amnesia caused you to forget, Chiron wasn't the one who brainwashed three of your siblings into sacrificing their lives to blow up the Empire State Building."

"I didn't brainwash anybody to do anything," Aera growled. Her heart felt like it had been prodded with an icicle and not just Annabeth's mangly finger. "I told you to surrender Mount Olympus or face Kronos' wrath and you just had to listen to the advice of your precious Seaweed Brain, who―by the way, in case you forgot―led Beckendorf to his death by bombing our ship with Greek fire and jumping off to save himself."

"That wasn't his fault!" Annabeth argued. "Percy got lucky. He barely made it out alive!"

"Guys..." Butch tried to get in between them, but Aera darted around him. She didn't care that other people were watching anymore.

"You're still defending him?" Aera shouted incredulously. "We were doing perfectly fine before he showed up! He's the whole reason the Great Prophecy unfolded! He's the reason Beckendorf and Silena and Luke are all dead—"

Aera regretted the words as soon as they came out. Annabeth let out a scream of rage and it took the manpower of both Butch and Jason to hold her back. Aera fell a few steps back, where Piper pulled her by the sleeve even further away. Drew opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but flickered back to her younger self, and closed it. The other campers backed away from the shore like it was about to swallow them, including that daughter of Ares who wanted to fight Aera not ten minutes ago. Even she knew she had to wait her turn to get her hands on Aera when Annabeth was around.

"You know what?" Annabeth spat after unsuccessfully thrashing against the boys. "You were right! I should've let the gods kill you last summer. No—I should've killed you myself!"

Aera secretly wished they would let Annabeth take a swing at her. Aera was so livid, she willingly stormed off towards the Big House herself. On the way, she shoulder-checked Jason, who instantly released Annabeth to follow her.

She heard Piper calling her name several times behind her, but Aera kept going. Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest, it was painful.

Aera had been Annabeth's best friend since they were seven years old. She had rendezvoused with Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth in the final stretch of their journey to camp. Annabeth promised that their friendship wouldn't disappoint each other the way their neglectful mortal dads did and they had sealed their vow with the simple string bracelet Aera made. Since then, the two girls had been inseparable.

Annabeth was the only person Aera ever shared her extensive wardrobe with. Annabeth spent hours over the table sketching blueprints of a grand mansion they could live in together when they got older. Before she left, Aera wasted years in Annabeth's shadow at Camp Half-Blood, watching her get praised for her masterful battle strategy and combat skills while her glory was reduced into Annabeth's pretty-faced sidekick.

But when the decision came, Annabeth had thrown it all away, thrown them away. She abandoned Aera just to take the side of some stupid sword-swinging boy she had a crush on. She had ripped off their friendship bracelet like it was nothing. And because of her choice, Aera lost everything.

Anger was roaring up to Aera's ears by the time she passed the climbing wall. She glowered away the alarmed and mystified gazes of every camper that went by. She knew her way around here. She didn't need anyone's guidance.

Aera was loaded with enough fury to tear a dress apart seam by seam. She wanted to hit her silk pillowcase or break a nail or—

"Aera," Jason said. "Wait."

Part of her was surprised Jason had followed her all the way here. The other larger part that overruled her astonishment, well, you wouldn't need to be the Oracle to foresee her reaction.

"What," she fumed, "do you want? Here to burn another tasteless tattoo into my arm?"

"I'm here to see Chiron," Jason answered, taking her jab standing up. "Maybe he can give us some answers."

"Don't bother." Aera crossed her arms and took off without him. "He's as useless as neck cream."

Jason fell into step next to her. "What's wrong with him?"

"Besides the fact that he's literally the universe's worst teacher and always smells like coffee and tweed?"

"So, he's a bad mentor," Jason concluded. "Still, that doesn't explain why you hate this camp so much."

"They don't want me here, okay?" Aera said sharply. "They never have."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because I'm not anybody special!" Aera exclaimed, unable to contain her animosity any longer. "I'm not a hero and I'm done trying to be." Aera scoffed a bitter laugh. "Why am I even telling you this? It's not like you'd understand. You don't even know who you are."

Jason gazed at her wistfully, as if he had just realized something. "Neither do you."

Aera didn't have enough patience on her to even try and discern what that meant. Who did he think he was? A flying psychologist?

"As much as I enjoy arguing with you," she said crudely, "maybe you should channel that energy into making some real friends instead of relying on The Mist to do it for you."

"So I can be as loved and popular around here as you?" Jason raised his eyebrows. "I've been at this camp for ten minutes and I've already heard all about Aera Kim and the power she abuses to get people to do things for her."

Aera unfolded her arms to get a better glare at him. "So, you followed me all the way here to do what? Ask me to 'mind-control' you into having some better fashion sense? Sorry, but I don't do charity work."

Jason sighed. When he spoke again, he stopped tensing his jaw and took on a gentler tone. "Aera, listen. We woke up on the same bus with no memories and the same marks on our arms. Whoever's out to get you is out to get me too. The best chance we have at surviving is if we work together. Making enemies out of everyone at this camp isn't going to help."

Aera didn't know what this guy's problem was. He had heard what the campers said about her, and her explosive argument with Annabeth, and he was saying they should form an alliance? And not even a date kind-of-alliance?

"I used to be one of the bad guys," Aera told him boldly. "I'm still a bad person now but back then I was even worse. I'm sure if you stick around here long enough, you'll hear more about it...the things I did...how terrible I was..." She leaned closer, challenging him. "You really want someone like that on your team?"

His silence sounded a lot like no.

"I don't trust you, Jason," Aera admitted, retreating a small amount. "And you'd be a fool if you trusted me."

Jason surveyed her intently. Though his eyes were soft and blue, there was something like sadness in them, too, like he had seen a lot of victories at the cost of even more losses. It made Aera wonder what kind of life he had led before they met...

"Why are you saying this? And back at the Grand Canyon, you were so eager for us to part ways."

Aera could have lied. She could have stalked away again or started insulting each of his charcoaled toes. But Jason wasn't hubristic like Annabeth or sly like Luke. He had kept his cool the whole time and maybe that was why Aera had the guts to confess, "Since nobody else will, I'm giving you a chance."

"To do what?"

"To run away," Aera said plainly, relishing the way his eyes widened the slightest. "My amnesia only erased back a week, but your whole life is wiped clean. You can be whoever you want, make whatever choices you want. I know if I had another choice..."

In that moment, Aera allowed herself to wish she knew who Jason was, and what she was to him before their memories had been taken away. She hoped that maybe they were even friends. Then Aera pulled back the reins on her heart.

"I would've never come to this place."