ONE LAST TIME . . . heroes of olympus

6

AFTER ATTEMPTING TO call her mama, it had only worked at three am, in which she had decided to come to camp to yell at Kat in person. She'd arrived at around five, so now they were walking around as Viktoria Mikhailova scrutinized the report Kat had nicked from Chiron's office. She wasn't a daughter of Hermes for nothing.

"You've written better reports before," her mama said curtly.

"My friend was in a coma in the next room over, and you're blaming me for having a shit report?"

"Katya," she scolded. "You're sixteen. Act like it."

She was not, in fact, sixteen. Not until next week, anyway. Kat bit her lip to keep herself from crying. She tried, gods, she tried to keep her emotions at bay, but it was so hard around her mama. She felt like an extension of her, someone that's supposed to be more successful and more competent and all of that shit. She just wants to live life, is that too much to ask for?

This is what it's like to be sixteen, even though she's never been sixteen. The double standards. The expectations. The crying. The hormones.

Kat inhaled sharply and looked up at the sky, willing the tears away. She was tired. She wanted to go to sleep, because she had a quest today.

Oh, shit, she had a quest today. Immediately the tears were gone. Well, that was a solution. She'd take it.

Her mama saw the expression on her face and sighed, leading her to Cabin 11. "I asked your brother to pack a bag for you," she told Kat. "Because I knew you wouldn't do it."

She'd already started packing, in between failed attempts to contact Viktoria Mikhailova. She just hadn't finished. Kat resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Which brother?" she asked. Because if it was Travis or Connor—

Nope, it was Chris. Of course it was. He nodded at her mama, intimidated by her ( as most people are, including Kat ) before handing Kat her backpack. "Finished what you started."

She smiled. "Thanks, Chris. I appreciate it."

"Yeah, well, don't die, Kitty Kat," he grinned at her before turning to go back into the cabin.

"Never mind, I don't appreciate it anymore!" she called as he opened the door and promptly slammed it shut.

"Quiet, Katyusha," Viktoria Mikhailova wrinkled her nose. "Escort me to the car. I don't have all day."

It's, like, six am, Kat thought, but she followed her mama to Half-Blood Hill, examining what was in her backpack; clothes ( with three jackets this time ), toiletries, Cortana, some first aid supplies, and some money. Sick.

"Don't die, Katya," her mama told her. "You're the only heir to the Mikhailova name."

"Gee, thanks," drawled Kat, trudging up the hill. She just wanted to flop down and fall asleep. "Don't be too excited for my death."

"The queen of Heaven is trapped by giants," her mama said seriously. "If you save her and stop the giants, she will favor our family again."

Kat furrowed her eyebrows. "She doesn't like the family?"

"Not after what my idiot brother did."

Ah, right. When her uncle had gotten drunk and mocked Hera and the virgin goddesses for being . . . virgins? Which was ridiculous, but since then Viktoria Mikhailova won back Athena and Artemis's favors because she was just that good. Not because of Kat's connections and valiant fighting or whatever.

"I will try and save her, and hopefully kill a bunch of monsters on the way," Kat promised, as they finally made it up the hill. "And if I don't, get Rihanna to play at my funeral."