CATHARSIS, jason grace¹ [EDITING]

𝟬𝟮𝟯. the one holding the silver knife**

AERA WAS A DOG PERSON, but she didn't like wolves. She preferred cute, obedient dogs like Pomeranians or Yorkies. Dogs you could carry around in a tote bag and take to the hair salon with you. The king of wolves was not one of those. He was not very cute or obedient.

Firstly, he wore a mangled crown of bones on top of his greasy, ragged hair which was the color of dog droppings. His robes were stitched (extremely poorly, Aera might add) with tattered fur—wolf, rabbit, raccoon, deer, and several others Aera would have been able to identify if she joined the Girls Scouts in elementary school instead of Polka Dot Club (where they studied the history of polka dots and their effects on the fashion industry).

But the most hideous part of the wolf man was his face. His thin pale skin was pulled tight over his skull so that he looked like a Harry Potter villain going to a furry convention. His teeth were sharpened like fangs. His eyes glowed bright red like his wolves'—and they fixed on Jason with absolute hatred.

Rolling her eyes, Aera reached into Jason's bag and began fixing her uneven fingernails with a nail file. Typical of him to assume the alpha in the group was a male.

Jason rose and summoned his sword. Leo and Coach Hedge got to their feet too. Piper tried, but her legs wobbled beneath her.

"Stay seated," Aera told her boredly. "This has nothing to do with us girls." She hadn't budged from her seat next to Piper at the dwindling campfire. Her fingernails required her immediate attention..

Piper tried to regain her balance but eventually sat back down at the fire with her. She gritted her teeth and whispered harshly to Aera, "This is stupid. Sitting by the fire. I don't need anyone to protect me—"

"Ecce," the wolf said in some foreign language, "filli Romani!"

"Speak English, wolf man!" Hedge bellowed.

The wolf man growled. "Tell your faun to mind his tongue, son of Rome. Or he'll be my first snack."

"See?" Aera murmured to Piper behind a hand, so only she could hear. "Men are so barbaric. Just let them do their little alpha male standoff thing. They'll be back to normal soon."

Piper observed them curiously, ignoring Aera's advice. Aera suspected she was still mad about their last conversation.

"Faun is the Roman name for satyr," Piper mused quietly. "But who is this guy? And how do we defeat them?"

"Beats me." Aera shrugged. She held her hand toward the firelight to get a better look of them. "Should I do an almond shape or a coffin shape next?"

"Coffin," Piper answered lowly. "What myth is he from?"

"How should I know—"

"So it's true." Aera glanced up right as the wolf man was studying their group. His nostrils twitched. He probably caught whiff of Aera's gorgeous vanilla and rose scented perfume. Piper stiffened. "Two daughters of Aphrodite. A son of Hephaestus. A faun. And a child of Rome, of Lord Jupiter, no less. All together, without killing each other. How interesting."

Aera stifled a laugh, still filing her nails. "We're doing roll call now?"

Piper's voice was a ragged breath in Aera's ear. "How does he know who we are?"

Aera didn't understand why she sounded so nervous. The wolf man paid no attention to the two little girls huddled by the campfire, which gave them the perfect advantage.

"He's probably a fan," Aera gossiped. "As children of Aphrodite, we have lots of those."

Piper shifted uncomfortably. "From the looks of it, he seems like an anti-fan."