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"I wouldn't say I really ded anythin, all I said was dat we'd fend de doors and end up dere eventually. No idea when or 'ow or what. Dat's naht exactly much to go ahff o'," Janelle responded to Kristin with a bit of a shrug. Sure, there was hope and all, which was what she had intended to say in the first place. There was the small glimmer of hope, they didn't have a time table or anything, but there was at least that small amount of it for the most part.

Sounded like they were going to end up getting the help of the Hunters of Artemis in locating the doors at least, that would make things a lot better for them and hopefully they'd be able to find the door quicker. There wasn't much they could do about anything right now, not until they found those doors again, and who new fully how long that would be. However she was hoping they found it soon, that was at least her thinking with it anyway.

---

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Leda nodded, listening to the criteria. It was going to be a long journey - and she wasn't even sure if time moved normally in Tartarus as compared to the rest of the world. For everything that she knew about the gods, she knew frighteningly little about where they were now. But she had her speed, and that was an asset. "'Course, everyone knows that the high ground is for winners," Leda agreed, as she exited the cave with Mads. Mads seemed remarkably well adjusted to all of this - and Leda didn't know if it was just a mask or if she also felt terrified.

"Hm, I s'pose monsters do eat for more than, just, recreation," she commented - perhaps a bit foolishly. Monsters loved to eat demigods all the time, but Leda had never really considered whether they needed to eat. They reformed and turned into dust when they died, and they were monsters, so she'd never really thought of them as truly living, breathing creatures that would need food. But that was obviously the case - she hoped - and that there'd be food down here. Not that Leda herself needed food. She was dead, after all. "Though I think the food and water is more of a you problem than a me problem."

But nonetheless, Leda gave her a wink before taking off at a dash. The immediate area seemed clear, so she let herself use her speed, scouting ahead quickly. At first, she couldn't find much of anything. But eventually, she found a nearby ravine, featuring dead trees and rocks that would provide cover - and a pond with clean water for Mads. Racing on back, Leda then relayed her findings. "C'mon, follow me."

---

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Nancy's hearing muffled, her vision blurring as her body sank into the vision - as her limbs shook and twitched, her corporeal form no longer her own. And she was no longer in the place of her greatest tragedies, her spirit gone from the Lotus Hotel. No, instead she was in a famous scene - a park she had seen time and time again on the silver screen. With the skyline, it was unmistakable. It was Central Park. This was New York - Greek territory. She was not alone either. Diana's hunters were with her, as were Niah (her heart ached), some of the Greeks, and two faces she did not recognize. A newspaper blew by in the wind, indicating the date - July 4th.

But that wasn't what caught her attention. No, it was the Doors of Death. They were here. She reached out instinctively, wishing to pry them open and force Mads back to her, but the vision faded away, disintegrating to dust before her eyes. Her cards were spilled on the floor, dirt sullying the gleaming gold backings. And she was on the floor, the sobs still ripping themselves from her throat as her lady - as her goddess - swore on the Styx that she would help, that she would use her hunters to find the Doors, to save Mads.

Her lips twitched.

Demetri said that they had to leave now - that they had to return to Camp.

Rome needed her.

No, Rome needed Mads. Nancy needed Mads.

Janelle's vision detailed them making it to Tartarus, to a shrine of Mercury.

They couldn't wait months. She couldn't just go back to Camp Half-blood and wait, waiting for the doors to open. "Let me come with you - let me help your hunters look," Nancy asked. "The Doors will be in Central Park on July 4th. But Mads can't - I can't - wait that long."

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San Fransico, Sierra Trail:

Persephone looked over at Andy as she asked to say hello to Arthur for her and nodded towards her. "Of course." Persephone said as she wrapped the blade around in vines as a makeshift sheath for the sword along with the strap and slung it over her shoulder. She looked over at the others who were there she wasn't sure if they had anymore money on them or not but she took out a small handful of drachmas and went over towards Niah. "When you get to the closest road toss one of these drachmas onto the ground and say. "Stêthi 'Ô hárma diabolês." It'll summon the Gray Sister's taxi service for you all, and they'll take you to wherever you need to go." She told her, the Gray Sisters were known to be very fast and could get anyone to where they needed to go in minutes.

Terminus started to think for a moment at Niah's offer to go back to Camp Half-Blood with them, there wasn't anything in New Rome for him to protect at all he had failed in his duty to protect New Rome from being destroyed and nodded towards her. "I'll return with you all." Terminus told her as Damon went over to pick up Mary's unconscious body. "Lets get going then." He said wanting to get back to camp as soon as possible.

---

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Kristin stood by as she watched the others, she used her spear and turned it back into the bracelet that she wore around her wrist, they more or less had finished what they had came here to do as she made her way over to Leandra and helped her back up to her feet. She was still very much bleeding from her mouth and offered the demigod traitor a sip of it. It wouldn't heal her now removed tongue but it'll help with the healing process. That and she didn't want her to die there could be some more information or something from her as well to they just needed to find out those that helped her flee camp in the first place.

Alexios turned to look at Demi and smiled towards his betrothled and returned the hug giving Demi a kiss on the head he then nodded towards him. "Of course, and afterwards i'll come back and treat you to dinner." Alexios offered to Demi as he watched him heading over towards Zeke, feeling slightly jealous still but decided to not say anything about it right now.

Diana listened to Nancy wanting to join her and the Hunt along with the Hunters of Diana, she could understand her wanting to go and help find her friend and the Doors of Death. "You are more than welcome to join the Hunt the offer goes to the other women here as well to if they choose to join. Just repeat the oath after me 'I pledge myself to the Goddess Diana. I turn my back on the company of men and women, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt.'" She said as she looked at the others in the room, if any of the other girls wanted. Kristin listened to Artemis as she spoke, she had thought about joining the Hunters before but knew that it really wasn't for her either really.

---

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Madalyne was indeed scared of being down here, however she did know and expected her death to eventually happen and had more or less had accepted her condition right now. She followed Leda outside of the cave and looked around the area, it was incredibly hot down here and she was a little bit thirsty as well to. If they could get a better lay of the land better then it would be better to navigate this place a bit better. Leda had sped off to scout on ahead and see if there was anything useful probably she stood by and leaned up against a rock slightly.

It didn't take to long for Leda to return back to her which was fairly quick as she looked at her fellow demigod. "What did you find?" Madalyne asked Leda as she stood up and would follow her to what she had found. Luckily there didn't seem to be any other monsters in the area just yet which was good and a bit worrying. They were deep in monster territory at the moment. Madalyne took a moment and spotted a rather tall looking mesa that was towering over the landscape That would be a good place to try and scout out later.

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Kiera could feel that they were both being watched now as well to which made her feel slightly unnerved at the moment as she took a moment to look around as well to, and spotted someone who looked suspicious was slowly approaching them. However luckily for them their subway train had came up to their current station. "C'mon lets hurry." Kiera said as she grabbed Sera's hand and quickly ran forward as soon as the closest doors opened and the people had left they quickly entered. She spotted someone's water bottle nearby, and decided to use that against them sending a splash of water right into their face at very high speed knocking them back and stunning them.

Just then the doors had closed behind them and the subway quickly had left the station behind them, Kiera sighed slightly as she went and sat down on a nearby chair. "That was close." Kiera said as she looked over at Sera and smiled slightly, they were in the clear by the looks of it for now which was good then. "This should take us close to the Empire State Building and we can get back to camp from there." Kiera said to her.

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Andy squeezed Stella's hand back and nodded as Persephone gave the directions. Niah took the coins from Persephone. Her other hand held the Master Bolt. "Come on Chocolate." She said and whistled a little. The pup followed quickly. She stumbled a little as they walked down the path but with Stella there, it was easier.

"I don't know what you know about the Gray sisters." Andy said. She knew Stella was new so it was likely she didn't know much. "They have one eyeball and tooth they share between the three of them. They don't like demi-gods much because the original Perseus threw their other eye into the lake." Andy wasn't certain how to act around them, but she figured the best action would be to just be nice.

"We should go to camp first. They can help Mary. Then from there go to Olympus. Maybe Argus can take us to the Empire State Building."



"Thank you." Niah told Persephone as she took the coins. She was tired. Emotionally and physically. She nodded at Terminus when he said he would go with them. "Thank you, Damon." She told the strange boy that she barely knew. He was doing a kindness carrying Mary. Hopefully, she would be alright.

"Let's go." Niah headed off the mountaintop and down the trail. She had walked this path before. How long ago had that been? It felt like so long ago. But also that it wasn't enough time. That had been the day the world had started falling apart. She didn't know what she would do going forward. With Mads gone...

She cut off the spiraling thoughts and got to the road. There she threw the coin onto the ground and said "Stêthi 'Ô hárma diabolês." Niah knew about the Gray sisters, she hoped they were in a good mood. They likely wouldn't be too excited about having four demi-gods in their car.

---

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Ezekiel didn’t move until he felt someone grab his hand. He shifted, looking at Demetri, and squeezed his boyfriend’s hand tightly. Zeke was scared. What if they didn’t succeed? What if he lost Nancy? What if he lost Demetri to that blasted god? Ezekiel looked back at Nancy, and he spoke before Diana did.

”We need to get out of the hotel. We’ve been in here for a long time. It could already be July,” Zeke said. With how time worked in the Lotus Hotel, they may not have to wait months to get another shot at this.

Diana spoke the oath, telling Nancy to repeat it after her. Ezekiel watched Nancy, feeling a mixture of pride and sadness. He wanted happiness for his half-sister, but Zeke knew once Nancy took that oath, and after this quest was completed, he probably wouldn’t see his half-sister again.

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Stella was glad that Andy had taken her hand and was guiding her. She was still trying to calm herself down, and holding hands with Andy, and having Arbor lick at her other hand was helping. She listened to Andy as she explained who the Grey sisters were and just nodded softly at that point. Though, hearing they only had one eye, between the three of them, that did bug her a bit. How did that work if they passed it between them and one of them was driving the carriage?

However where the questions would have normally come out of her mouth, it did not open at all. She was still too stunned, too upset to voice her normal stream of questions. Maybe she could ask them later. For now, she stood there at the edge of the road, waiting with Andy, Niah, Damon and the unconscious Mary for the carriage.

---

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Location: New York City

Skills: N/A

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The timing of the train coming was a blessing, Sera really didn't want to have to face off against the mysterious stranger. Yet she was sure the suspicious person or whatever it truly was would return again. "Yeah, good thing you saw that bottle of water. Who knows what we'd be dealing with if you hadn't. I couldn't tell what was trying to come for us...but I could tell it wasn't going to be a friendly encounter." Taking the next empty chair she could before anyone else was able to. Her heart was still beating a bit quickly from the rush of running and being a bit scared. "Hopefully the rest of the journey to camp will be simple." She didnt want to jinx them too much, saying easy would probably make things super difficult. Saying the word 'simple', well, if they got into a fight maybe it'd be a simple fight and nothing crazy.

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"There's a ravine up ahead - loads of rocks and dead trees, should give decent cover. And there's a stream near it, for the living to have some water," Leda explained, as she guided Mads to the location she had found. It'd be safe enough for now, a temporary base of operations, but one that they would still need to abandon. They needed to keep on making progress towards the Doors - they could rest for a little bit, but they'd need to move again.

There were no monsters around at the moment, not that Leda could see at least. Maybe they'd have a chance to get some rest. Leda didn't particularly feel tired, but she had to imagine that Mads must have. If anything, Leda's mind was running a thousand miles a minute and some time to just think could do her good.

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Nancy had been thinking about joining the Hunt for a while now. But it wasn't the time. She couldn't make a vow to Diana, not until she fulfilled the vows she'd made to other people - to Rome and to Mads and Niah. Her oath was not hers to give - and maybe it never would be. Maybe she would die righting this wrong, die bringing Mads back, die defending Rome. She was her people's praetor, a responsibility that she could not shirk so easily, especially after New Rome fell under her leadership. She had to see this through before she could move on - before she could make this vow.

She shook her head, even as mixed emotions overfilled her. "I can't swear that vow to you. Not yet," Nancy explained. Her body was thick and heavy with grief - it was a miracle that she could keep her tone steady, that she could hold the shattered pieces of herself together. "Not until they're okay." Mads and Rome. Rome and Mads. She was tied to them - a cord that was not so easily replaced.

And Zeke was right. They had to leave. The last time Nancy had been here, decades had passed. A lump formed in her throat.

---

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Janelle was unsure what all was going on really, as Nancy seemed to be talking about joining the hunt and all, at least at first. What that even was, she wasn't entirely sure what it was honestly. The idea of it always seemed a bit odd to her, at least in her opinion. She wasn't super sure why it was such a big deal or anything, but she said nothing with regards to it at the moment.

Zeke was saying how they needed to leave, and Nancy decided at the last moment to not join the hunt at the moment, so she'd be heading back to camp with them. Personally she agreed that they should get out of there as soon as possible, since it sounded like they'd be stuck there for a long time if they didn't leave soon, since who knew how long it had actually been since they had entered the hotel to begin with.

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San Fransico, Sierra Trail:

It didn't take to long for a taxi cab to suddenly come driving down the road and quickly came to a stop in the front of the car three old ladies could be seen at the wheel. The doors opened one of them turned their head to look at the group and glared, she was the one with the eye within it's socket at the moment. "Where do you want to go?" They asked, sounding very irritated at the group clearly not liking that they were dealing with a bunch of demigods. "Uh we'd like to go to Mount Olympus." He said as Damon looked at the group for a moment he was pretty sure that Zeus wanted his Master Bolt back first.

"I'm sure that someone there could heal her or something." He said to the group, the old ladies huffed and the back doors opened, and it would be large enough to fit the entire group. "Get in." The one old gray sister said. Once everyone was inside of the taxi cab the doors all suddenly closed and locked on their own, and the taxi quickly started to speed through the streets of San Fransisco, and onto the highways. Everyone in the taxi would feel the speed as they were driven across the country at a very fast speed passing through the various cities and towns, and eventually made it to New York City and parked right in front of the Empire State Building. "There you go, now that will be twenty drachmas." One of the gray sisters said extending an old boney hand towards the demigods whoever would be the one paying them.

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Diana looked at Nancy and smiled slightly towards her and nodded she could understand that she still had things that she needed to do before taking the oath to join the Hunt. "I understand." Diana said as she pulled out a box and then presented it towards Nancy, as a gift for her future service. They were a pair of silver colored hiking boots as well as what looked like a whistle of some kind. "This is a gift, they'll make your movements very silent and able to sneak up on your foes a lot easier. The whistle is also yours, if myself or any of my other Hunters are nearby they'll answer it." She said to her as she looked at the others and then over at Nancy. "I have to take my leave now, you shouldn't encounter anymore issues and should be able to exit the hotel easily." Diana told the group and she quickly disappeared.

"Alright then lets get going and get out of here." Kristin said as she started to head back the way that they had come with Leandra in tow lightly guiding the traitor out of the basement and into the hotel. As the group left the hotel basement they would all notice that the hotel staff were all keeping their distance from the group, and they were able to exit. The moment Kristin was out of the hotel she spotted a news paper that was on the ground and looked to see the date. The date was February 3rd an entire month had passed since they had entered the hotel, she handed it towards the others. "We have been in there for awhile it's February now." Kristin told them mostly to tell Janelle as well to "Do you all need a ride home?" Alexios asked offering his own transportation back to camp if they needed it. The group would be able to see Kiera as well as a new face coming out from the subway station not to far from them approaching the Empire State Building.

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Madalyne followed shortly behind Leda letting her lead the way towards where she had found the ravine, she was decently surprised to see some fresh water in the area and looked over at Leda and smiled towards her. "You did great." She said as she slowly started to walk down and started to look around the area somewhat. She thought about what to do, she knew how to make shelter out in the wilderness pretty well which was standard practice for Romans to make up camp.

"We could move some of the loose rocks around here and make some shelter with them, the dead trees we can use to make a fire from the wood and bark. The only major problem would probably be food though." Madalyne said she still wasn't sure if Leda could eat or not really. "We should stay here for a day or two see if we can get some other supplies, here before moving on I can make some wards and whatnot as well for added protection to." Madalyne explained Leda.

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Kiera looked at Sera and smiled at her. "Thank you." She said she did feel a little bit bad about using someone's water bottle to defend from their stalker. "I couldn't tell what kind of monster that was honestly and I don't really want to find out really actually." Kiera said as she leaned back slightly and looked outside the window at the subway tunnel in front of her, as it occasionally passed a station or two and making a few stops here and there.

When it was their stop Kiera got up and motioned for Sera to follow behind her. "Have you been to the Empire State Building before?" Kiera asked Sera as she headed out of the subway station and back onto the street level the building could be seen nearby as a taxi started to come to a stop in front of the building itself as well to.

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Zeke hadn't really responded to his question, more so speaking to the group in general instead of addressing what might be going on inside his head. It worried Demi a little, but perhaps now was the time. Maybe they could talk back at camp or on the way there. Really how had Demigods lasted this long and not invented a way to teleport from one side of the map to another. Sure he understood Glory and the Hero's Journey, but there had to be a Greek god of Transportation that could fold space in two and allow them to cover vast distances in less time right? Demi let out a sigh, squeezing Zeke's hand once more as he watched with bated breath to see if Nancy would recite the oath.

To his surprise she didn't. This was a shot to get out of Camp Half Blood and find her friends, yet she turned it down. Why? Demetri decided that trying to figure out why Nancy did anything was an exercise in futility. Artemis seemed to understand though, even going so far as to put Nancy on her PR list fully equipped with a welcome basket. As they made their way out of the Hotel and Casino, Demi watched as the sea of people parted ways for them. Only when they were truly outside did he feel safe, letting out a held breath of relief until Kristin pointed out the answer to what had been on everyone's minds. How long were they gone? ”Well that's not exactly brills is it? Gone a month away from camp with no word back to the others…I'm all for taking Alexios up on a ride but I understand if that's vetoed again.”

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Damon had a point that they should take the Master Bolt back to her father, but she didn't want to have to drag Mary around. She certainly didn't want to leave her in the cab either. But at least from New York City, they could call Argus to come pick them up. Climbing out of the cab, Andy looked around. She felt better on this side of the States. She hadn't realized she had missed New York.

As she looked around she spotted Kiera with someone she didn't recognize. "Hey! Kiera!" She yelled and waved trying to get her attention. Chocolate followed her out of the cab. Andy didn't have any money on her so she couldn't pay the fare. She held onto the Master Bolt still.



"I have Denarius." Niah said. Jason had been carrying a lot of the cash, which was now teleported back to camp. Niah did have twenty Denarius on her, but she wasn't sure if they'd take that.

Niah glanced up to see where Andy was looking. She mostly only knew of Kiera since the girl was a Greek Camper. That did release some of the tension from her though. She was glad there were other campers nearby. She felt like the one adult leading a school trip at the moment since Mary was still unconscious. Niah was also thankful that Jason's sister wasn't the one there. She did not want to be the one to tell yet another person that their family was dead.

At the thought her breath caught and she fought back some tears. Niah quickly covered over that by reaching into her bag and offering the twenty Denarius that she had. Hoping the Grey sisters would take them. They did and she quickly slid out of the taxi joining Andy on the sidewalk.

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Stella had filed into the taxi with the others, silently ushering her canine companion into her lap and pet him softly. The trip went by much quicker than she had anticipated, and she watched as the whole countryside went by again quickly. She had rather hoped to have some time to see her father's again since she was back on this side of the country but it seemed they had no time. They had to get up to Olympus and return the Master Bolt before anything else could happen.

She filed out of the taxi when they got to New York, and looked around and blinked as Andy called out to someone. She waved shyly, barely recognizing the other older demi-god. It seemed that she had someone else with her as well, and that they might all be heading towards the same place. She gently put the leash back on Arbor and held him close, still keeping quiet at that point as they headed to the Empire State Building.

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Ezekiel breathed a sigh of relief when Nancy didn’t take the oath yet. She would remain with him and the camp for a little while longer then. Zeke knew Nancy’s end goal was to join their aunt, but he guessed she wanted to pass on the mantel of praetor properly.

Ezekiel stays with Demetri as they walk through the Lotus Hotel. He looked around, seeing the hotel differently as they were left untouched. It seemed less vibrant, less daunting. Ezekiel squeezed Demetri’s hand when they reached the Las Vegas streets. The sun was blinding after so long in the dark, but it was comforting, too.

Ezekiel took a deep breath in, not caring if his lungs were filled with pollution. He was outside. They all made it out. Blinking several times, Ezekiel glanced around at the group. Alexios offer was appreciated, and it meant they would all get back to camp quickly. Still, he had a party bus. Unless they could turn off the lights and music and have a calm drive back to camp, Ezekiel didn’t think that option would be viable. He would travel back to camp with his half-sister. Zeke had to make every minute count with her.

”What do you think, Nanc?”

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"Don't werewolves eat demigods?" Leda asked, perhaps a bit insensitively. If there was one thing that death hadn't changed about her, it was her ability to simultaneously have great empathy and cruelty towards other people. Her intention thought wasn't to be hurtful - merely to get right to the point. "I'm not sure how the rules work, if I just grow an arm back if we cut it off or not, but cannibalism might be an option - if ghost demigods count." She frowned though, furrowing her brows. "Not that dead demigods are supposed to end up here... I still can't fathom why I'm here, no offense. I ought to be in Elysium right now."

"Cool cool cool, camping with warding, reminds me of a book I had to chuck in a fire..." Leda mused. It all sounded pretty straightforward, at least. She never could really get her head around how magic was supposed to work - if it was all the Mist or if there was something more. So she tended to just never question it, just accepting it at face value. If Madalyne could use wards to protect them, she wasn't going to complain.

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The lump remained in Nancy's throat. It wasn't that she wasn't grateful for Diana's gifts - she really was, truly. She had been given more by the goddess than she deserved - her bow, and now these shoes and a whistle, all three of them enchanted. Nancy had wanted to go with Diana and her hunters, to help them look for the Doors of Death - not as a member of the Hunt, but as an ally. But she understood the goddess' decision - understood that the half measure was not accepted. She would have to fulfill her duties to Rome.

And that meant returning to Camp Half-blood.

Returning to face the people she had failed.

To face the people who had saved her before, who she could not repay the debt for.

She felt haunted as they navigated through the Lotus Hotel and Casino, more of the ghost than the victim. Each sight brought back horrid memories, vague and distorted and glittering, but dipped in trauma and fear. It was like she had exhumed her own corpse in the basement, and was now gently leading it back to the land of the living, as a million different thoughts pulled her in a million different directions. It wasn't until they had exited the hotel that Nancy realized she'd been holding her breath.

It wasn't as disorienting as last time. Things mostly looked the same. The air tasted the same. The street smelled the same. Kristin mentioned the date - February. They'd been inside for a month. Mads had needed her help desperately for a month. Her stomach curled and sweat cooled on her face, leaving her skin nauseatingly clammy. She stumbled backwards, her back hitting the casino's exterior wall, as she slid to the ground. To save face, she untied the laces of her boots, switching them out for the silver ones Diana had provided her with - as if that had been her intention all along.

She was so tired of being strong.

"You know what I think."

Had she meant to snap at Zeke? No.

But it had happened anyways.

---

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Location: New York City

Skills: N/A

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"I think once maybe when I was younger. My mom would rarely take me on any of her travels when she had to go to out on business for her job. I'd just stay with other family members. I'm sure she wanted to keep me out of harms way." Sera was following close being Kiera. not wanting to get lost at all. The building was so tall, she could believe that Olympus was high above them with how obscure the Empire State Building was. "Wow.... No wonder people come here and get pictures of this place. What a sight to see." She glances over at the taxi that had just stopped nearby. Being a bit on guard just in case it was a monster in disguise, now Sera really was trying to keep focus on her surroundings more now that she knew what was to come.

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Janelle wasn't too sure what the whole plan for them was at this point. The walk out of the hotel, at least they didn't seem to be too much stuck there anymore, no one seemed to bug them at all as they left, so that was something at the least right? No more going around, dragging everyone back and all to stick together. Which had definitely been getting incredibly annoying before they had even been seen heading into the basement or something.

Stepping back out of the hotel was nice, definitely nice to have some fresh air, but then Kristin mentioned just how long it had been since they had gone into the hotel. The fact that they had been in there for so long when it definitely hadn't felt like it was insane to her. At least it wasn't a super long amount of time like several months or a year or something like that, so that was the sort of silver lining to everything. It seemed like they were going to be going back to camp one way or another, then figure out when they'd find the doors of death again.

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Alexios wandered over and leaned himself up against a nearby wall and then snapped his fingers, just as a large bus started to drive down the street and parked just in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. "The offer still stands if you all want to go in or travel back your own way. If you take the bus you won't have to deal with the monsters on the way back." Alexios offered the group, he wasn't sure how much money the group still had or not if they were planning on doing mortal travel again. "Or I can give you some mortal money and you all can get back the mortal way, or the Grey Sister's cab service works to but thats if you have the drachmas for it." Alexios told them.

Kristin thought for a moment at what they could do to get back home, Alexios was offering them all a free ride back to camp which would be really good and they could take it easy as well to and they wouldn't have to deal with monsters on the way back which was good to. "What does everyone want to do to get back to camp?" Kristin asked looking at everyone whichever the group decided they would get back home one way or the other.

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Madalyne started to look around finding a few dead looking trees and what not to use for their camp and started to set it up. She turned to look at Leda and laughed slightly. "If you are worried about me trying to eat you, I won't you just need to stay away from me during the full moon." She told Leda, she started to set up a small campfire pit of sorts with the rocks nearby and started to light a small fire for the two of them.

Madalyne wasn't sure how long they'll be down here for or how far the Doors of Death would be either. "If it comes to it i'll eat a monster or something, but hoping it doesn't come down to that though." Madalyne said as she leaned back slightly before getting up and made her way towards the small lake of sorts and scooped up some water into her hands and took a drink from it. "One way or the other we'll get back home to our friends and family." Mads said looking over at Leda.

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Kiera took a moment to look up at the Empire State Building before them, it was still very amazing to see up in person still she turned to look at Sera and smiled. "You'll probably see the inside of the building whenever the Winter Solstice comes, usually Mount Olympus hosts us there to have dinner and stuff and sometimes meet our parents there to." Kiera told her half-sister, her attention quickly turned towards the cab that was dropping some familiar faces off. "C'mon lets go." Kiera said offering her hand to Sera as she led her over to meet the others she was happy to see that Andy, Stella, Mary and Niah had all made it.

"I'll take her inside and call for Argus to come and pick us all up." Damon said as he started to make his way into the building itself Kiera didn't recognize the guy carrying Mary but it looked like she was breathing which was good. "Hey guys, how are you all doing?" She asked as she motioned towards Sera. "This is my half-sister Seraphina." She said introrducing them to the group.

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"I've got to return this to my dad." Andy held up the Master Bolt. "We got the sword. Persephone took it back to Hades." She paused in her recitation of what had happened, even shorthand she didn't want to say what was next. How many they had lost. She hoped Kiera could guess from who was missing among their numbers.

She followed Damon into the Empire State Building, but she went for the elevator bank. First, she stopped to talk to the security guard showing him the Master Bolt, which was easy enough to get the key to the 600th floor. Then to return the Master Bolt.

Then to rescue her aunt.



Niah wasn't sure what to do. The payment had been accepted, the cab had driven off almost as soon as they had all gotten out of the cab. As if the drivers couldn't wait a second longer. There were a couple of Greeks there now, they must have been who Andy had been yelling and waving at. "I'm Niah. I'm one of the Roman Senators." Niah introduced herself.

Would she be promoted to Preator now? Did she want that? The responsibility of the whole camp on her shoulders seemed like too much. At least she'd have Nancy. They'd figure it out together.

As long as Nancy came back. She could be strong for Nancy. She couldn't be strong alone.

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There hadn’t been any word from the other group yet. Andy didn’t know where her brother was. Or several other people that had gone with them. They hadn’t even been able to tell Janelle that her brother was dead yet. She hated that. Not knowing what was going on. She felt like she was going through motions. Trying to make it to the next day so that she could get answers, but the next day didn’t have answers.

Andy liked being around Stella though. The other girl knew what Andy had been through and didn’t ask questions about that. They talked about everything else. Andy felt like the older kid when she was explaining how camp worked, and that gave her something to do. At breakfast she waited for Stella. Andy had no one in her cabin and didn’t want to sit alone so she liked to sit with Stella.

Stella had been going through the motions as well, putting on smiles when she was talking to her fathers, assuring them that she was fine, and around some of her new found siblings when they asked her how the quest had gone. There was one person that she felt like she could be honest, and be herself around though, and that was Andy. As it turned out, when you shared holding up the entire sky together with someone it really did bond you together.

That morning she got up and headed to the dining pavilion and saw that Andy was alone, as usual, since her brother was still missing. Stella gathered up her breakfast items and went to sit down next to Andy. ”Still no word?”

Andy smiled, it didn’t reach her eyes. She shook her head. ”Nothing yet. I don’t know what to think.” Andy sighed and pushed the food on her plate around a bit. Andy considered asking Stella if she slept okay, but that usually meant she’d be asked back and Andy hadn’t been sleeping well. Every night she had nightmares. ”What do you want to do today?” The rock wall was one of Andy’s favorite things to do, and otherwise there was always something to do around the camp. Though the non-summer months were a little less busy than the summer ones.

Stella set her tray down and tore the blueberry muffin she had gotten in half and put half of it on the ground of Arbor, since he had tagged along, as usual. He didn’t seem to like being far away from Stella, and if she was being honest with herself, she preferred it that way. ”Sorry there’s still no news… not even an Iris message.” She shuffled and pushed her own food around a bit. “As for today, good question. I think I do have some language lessons later, since I’m still new to this, otherwise no plans. Wanna go to the wall again?”

Andy nodded, ”Yeah, and maybe we can ride my Gryphon later.” Andy munched on her food a bit thinking. Greek had been oddly easy to learn. English had always been difficult. Andy had gotten more schooling since coming to camp a year ago. That had helped her improve her education, but she was still way behind in a lot of things. Some of the older, smarter, campers had made it a point to teach her stuff. She had liked learning for once too. Now it felt scary. The wall was good because she couldn’t think about all that other stuff, just climbing and making it to the top without lava or rocks hitting her. She hadn’t done a lot of riding since coming back and she felt a bit bad about that. ”How are lessons going?”

”Mmmm that might be fun.” Stella took a sip of her green tea, trying to calm the storm inside of her mind as she also tried not to focus on the myriad of other things going on. ”The lessons are going well, it is weird how easy Ancient Greek is to learn, and it does explain the dyslexia, and the like” She took another sip of her tea and looked at Andy. ”...you been having them too? It was less a question and more a statement, as she could see the tired mirrored in Andy’s eyes. Those nightmares that had plagued her since Mount Tam.

Andy froze for a second, her fork pushing food on her plate, then she set it down and nodded. ”Yeah, Chocolate wakes me up from them, but they happen every night. It’s,” She looks away and to the sea ”The labyrinth and everything. I wake up feeling like I’ve been running and lifting weights all night.” That was part of why she kept doing a lot of exercise when she could. She fell asleep a bit better at night if she had worn herself out, but the dreams still came and she couldn’t get back to sleep after that.

”Arbor wakes me up as well… but yeah. I know the feeling. Especially the… crushing feeling.” In a weird way, it was comforting to know that she wasn’t alone in having nightmares after what they had gone through. ”You know… maybe I can ask Eve if you can sleep in our cabin? I… I doubt that it’s… easy alone.”

”What if he comes home and I’m not there?” Andy asks her eyes filling a little with tears. She didn’t want her brother to worry about her. If he came home in the middle of the night and went to their cabin and she wasn’t there would he fear the worst?

Stella saw the tears in Andy’s eyes and got up and sat down next to her friend and hugged her tightly. ”Want me to see if I can sleep in your cabin then? I don’t feel right leaving you alone.”

Andy nodded at that. She didn’t let the tears fall but she sank into the hug. It felt good to be hugged. Even though she didn’t like things on top of her anymore, even heavy blankets upset her. But hugs felt good. ”If you can. I know they can be strict about the sleeping arrangements. And I’ve got Chocolate who’s a good boy.” Chocolate was sitting at Andy’s feet, his head pressed up against her legs.

”I’ll ask Mr. Chiron… he might be more sympathetic. I won’t tell him why. That’s not my reason to tell.” Stella let her head lean against Andy’s gently, enjoying the hug as well. She probably needed it just as much as Andy did, and she’d take the moment to enjoy it.

”I can go with you.” Andy offered. It was for her after all. She expected that Stella might need the companionship as much as she did. ”At least we have beds in our cabin now.” Andy wryly smiled. ”When I first moved here, before Demi got here, there weren’t any beds. I just had a sleeping bag.” There had been so few children of Zeus but there were slowly more and more.

”No beds before? Wow. And thanks for coming with me.” There was a small genuine smile on Stella’s face, the first in some time that might have reached her eyes. No false smile for her friend. ”Want to go when we’re done eating?”

”Yeah, that sounds good.” Andy says and takes a few bites of food. That was a good step. She hadn’t been eating a lot, and she had already been skinny.

Stella smiled and took a few bites herself, glad that they had a plan, and glad for her friend.