He Stoll My Heart - Connor Stoll.

Ch.8: Fear and Love.

A/N: This chapter takes place during TLO, ch.12 ("Rachel makes a bad deal.")

I just spent the past few hours re-editing the writing in the past chapters, fixing the dashes and stuff. There shouldn't be any more typos, but there might be plotholes, so if anyone notices any, please let me know so I can fix them.

Thank you!

- - -

"There was so much... noise and— and screaming," Jinny said quietly, wringing her hands, once Katie and co had gotten them down.

Rose softened and pulled her in for a hug. "You were so brave. I'm really proud. Of all four of you."

Violet, Andrés, and Loyal stood there trying not to look scared and uncomfortable.

"Hey, come here, you all need a hug," said their protector.

The three of them embraced Jinny and Rose.

Rose waited for twenty seconds before pulling away. She looked towards Katie, who was observing Steve, Miranda, and Billie's injuries. "Katie, I'll go call Annabeth, see what's going on," she said.

Katie sent her a thumbs-up.

Rose turned to the kids. "I'll be right back."

She left the tunnel, searching for some poor sleeper with a phone. Instead, she found a phone booth, which she figured was just as good.

After returning to the tunnel, she explained: "Annabeth got hurt. Jake Mason picked up, he said to bring any injured to the Plaza."

Katie nodded. "Alright. Miranda, Douglas, Billie, you go with Rose to get cured. The rest of you, let's refortify our defenses." She turned to Rose. "I'll join you later, I'll probably be needed at the Plaza as cabin counselor. And you four," Katie looked at Andrés, Jinny, Violet, and Loyal, "what do you want to do? Stay here with me and defend the tunnel or go with Rose and help out with the injured?"

"With Rose!" Jinny said immediately.

Violet and Loyal shared a glance.

Violet looked at the other demigods. Without Steve, Miranda, Billie, and Rose, they were reduced to half, which wasn't many. "I can stay," she said quietly.

"Me too," said Loyal.

Andrés pointed towards Rose.

"Okay," said Katie.

"Steve, can you walk?" Rose asked him, concerned, as she could see him limping on his hastily bandaged leg.

"Yeah, definitely." He winced and held on to a wall.

Rose raised an eyebrow at him, unconvinced. "Right. You two?"

"Just my arm, I can walk," said Miranda.

"Me too," said Billie.

With Steve's arm around her shoulders, Rose led their little group out to the street, finding the motorcycles they'd borrowed on their way here.

After briefly discussing the pros and cons, they decided that Rose would drive with Steve, Billie with Jinny, and Miranda with Andrés.

Rose didn't love the idea of having two injured drivers, but there were no other options. Jinny and Andrés weren't old enough and couldn't even reach the pedal brakes.

- - -

Tactically speaking, the Plaza wasn't the best place for a headquarters. It wasn't the tallest building in town, or the most centrally located, but it had an old-school style and had attracted a lot of famous demigods over the years, like the Beatles and Alfred Hitchcock, so that was probably a good omen.