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"HAVE YOU PACKED EVERYTHING?" June asked Leo. Her mind was running at a million miles an hour, worrying about whether Annabeth had her vitamins and Piper had her EpiPen and if their stash of ambrosia was enough and whether Jason had remembered all his stuff from the cabin.
Leo threw an arm around her, squeezing her reassuringly. "Relax, muñeca, we've thought of everything. No need to worry. Either ways, Annabeth will triple-check everything on board."
June and Leo were standing in front of their warship, the Argo II. They'd placed it on the outskirts of Camp, on a patch of the strawberry field that June had hastily cleared out. A small group of demigods were approaching them from the dining pavilion; Annabeth, Piper, and Jason, along with some of their half-siblings.
As they reached the ship, the others crowded around them, hugging them and giving them going-away gifts. Lacy gave Piper a Versace scarf, which neither June nor Piper seemed to get the point of, but the way Lacy's eyes shone when she whispered that she bought it herself and she hopes that Piper likes it was enough incentive for Piper to take it and wrap it around her neck immediately. Malcolm gave Annabeth a leather-bound notebook that they could use to keep in touch with Camp, and some kids from the Hephaestus Cabin gave Leo a bunch of nuts and bolts that June couldn't really see the use of, but Leo accepted them as if they were the holy grail.
June's eyes fell to the ground, grass being crunched under the shoes of the variety of demigods gathered around— differently colored converse, combat boots, and sneakers, and, of course, June's shiny black Doc Martens. They weren't much use when she was running from monsters but she never went anywhere without them.
She tried not to think about her own siblings. Katie, Miranda, Billie, Steve, and little Doug— all of them, gone. She could imagine what they'd be saying right now if they were here. Miranda would still be Head Counselor— fussing over her, giving her treats, trying to convince her to ditch the quest last-minute to stay at Camp, safe and sound. Katie and Billie would say that she's so cool, and that they're so jealous, and "Write to us and send a lot of pictures, okay?"
Steve would've tried to act indifferent, saying stuff like "I don't really care," but at the last minute pull her into a fierce hug and make her promise to stay safe. And Douggie would've been the hardest to say goodbye to, looking up at her with those large toddler eyes, latching on to her leg, saying, "Do you really have to go?"
Her mind went to last year's battle at the Empire State Building, how she'd been so busy healing everyone with Will Solace— running around to fetch ambrosia and nectar and gauze and disinfectant— that she hadn't noticed Miranda and Katie leading a cavalry straight into a group of dracaenae, heavily outnumbered. She hadn't noticed Billie getting run through by an enemy half-blood's javelin. She hadn't noticed Steve throw himself in front of Katie, only for both of them to get crushed under a boulder. She hadn't noticed Miranda yelling to her, locked in combat, to keep an eye on Doug. She hadn't noticed Doug crawl away from his tiny cot into the arms of an awaiting empousa.
