-okay, i wanna vote on whether you get to decide we don't vote-

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guys am i back???

<3



The hair oil smelt like vanilla when she brushed it through her split ends.

Teqi yanked out the last few knots, grateful her hair was thick enough she didn't have to worry about losing a few chunks, and pushed it behind her shoulders. It was silky and smooth. Her reflection stared at her blankly. The mirror was shattered in one corner, and it spread spiderweb-like cracks through the glass.

She averted eye contact and instead picked at the little pimples around her nose.

It took her a hot minute to remember which of the many toothbrushes lined up on the bench was hers, and even longer to realise she needed toothpaste.

The sound of Frank's crutch and unbalanced footsteps echoed down the hall. He had been on watch last night, and if he was coming down, that meant they'd arrived. Afales Bay.

The bathroom door creaked open, and she watched Leo shuffle over through the mirror.

Teqi chewed on the toothbrush nervously. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he said, rubbing his eyes. They were puffy. He was wearing that anime top Piper had got him for Christmas as pyjamas. "... Sorry, I was—

"Don't apologise."

Leo opened his mouth and then shut it again. Teqi spat out minty toothpaste that made her throat burn. He came up behind her, took a deep breath, and slumped over her back like someone had pressed the off button. Then he stuck his hands in the pockets of her hoodie.

"I wanna go home," he said.

"Same," Teqi said, and put her hands over his. They were shaking. He looped his fingers through and held onto them tight enough to make them still.

She sniffed. "Waffles for breakfast?"

"Definitely."



Teqi hated the voting system.

It wasn't her fault she couldn't play rock-paper-scissors without reading everyone's head for their next move. Not playing meant she was automatically sent, and now she was trudging up a white stone cliff, calves burning.

"Almost there." Piper to Annabeth earnestly. "You're doing great."

"Easy for you to say," Annabeth wheezed, holding her side. Her mouth wobbled when she talked, the wrinkles on her face deepening. She was hunched over, a limp grey plait trailing down her back. She stopped to lean on a tree. "You don't smell like mothballs."

It was true. Piper's hair was a braided spiral Teqi had pinned up for her during breakfast.

She was wearing a sleeveless chiton and silver bracelets that reflected spots of light from the sun and caught on Teqi's blind eye, which she'd found out was the most infuriating thing ever. The uncomfortable glare was impossible to avoid when she couldn't see it.

"That's what happens when you choose an old ghost disguise and don't slut yourself out like the rest of us," Teqi said, gesturing to her own tightly cinched Greek maiden dress and Jason's very revealing toga.

He was staring at a bug on his hand. "What?"

Annabeth coughed an old person's cough, sniffling. "Hazel's magic is too good. If I have to fight, I'll be useless."

"It won't come to that," Jason promised. "We infiltrate the palace, we get the information we need, and we get out."

Piper set down her amphora, the tall ceramic wine jar in which her knife was hidden. From her waist cord hung her cornucopia—the magic horn of plenty. Teqi's amphora was chipped on the side and empty. "We can still rest for a second, Beth. Catch your breath."

Teqi fiddled with her own gold jewellery. More glitters caught her eye.

Below them, Afales Bay shone, the water so blue it might've been dyed with Percy's food colouring. A few hundred yards offshore, the Argo II rested at anchor. Its white sails looked like little postage stamps from all the way up the cliff.

The island was pretty. A spine of forested hills twisted down its centre.

Chalky white slopes plunged into the sea. The hills were dotted with poppies, crocuses, and wild cherry trees. The breeze smelled of blooming myrtle. Teqi hadn't realised how much she actually knew about plants.

"Are we sure this is the right hill, though?" Jason asked. "Seems kind of...I don't know, quiet?"

Piper studied the ridgeline and the hundred metres they still had to climb on the rocky cliffside. "The ruins are up there," she promised. "I saw them in Katoptris's blade. And you heard what Hazel said. The biggest"

Teqi chuckled.

"The biggest gathering of evil spirits she'd ever sensed," Jason interrupted pointedly. 'Yeah, sounds awesome."

These two were no fun. She needed Leo back. But Piper's blade, Hazel's magical senses and Annabeth's instincts all agreed—the answer lay here in Ithaca, at the ancient palace of Odysseus, where a horde of evil spirits had gathered to await Gaia's orders. Like lapdogs. The plan was to sneak among them, figure out what the sitch was, and dip.

And hopefully not die. Teqi pulled up her waist cord. "These'll stay on, right? If they find out we're demigods..."

"Hazel's magic will work," Piper said.

The suitors were a hundred of the greediest, evillest evil, and most cutthroat who'd ever lived.

When Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, went missing after the Trojan War, this gang of princes had invaded his palace and refused to leave, each one hoping to marry Queen Penelope and take over the kingdom before Odysseus managed to return in secret and slaughter them all—your basic happy homecoming. She'd helped Will make a musical about it all when they were eight for Greek History.

But, if Piper's visions were right, which of course they were, the suitors were now back, haunting the place where they'd died.

Teqi was already haunted enough; she didn't need to deal with new ghosts. She followed Annabeth's slow footsteps, her own sandals slipping on the path. She wished she was wearing her boots instead.

Teqi was standing on the edge, only the soles of her shoes keeping her from falling to her death.

Then she stepped off. Annabeth had her fist tangled into the girl's black and purple checked top, the seams snapping one by one. Percy pushed the three of them flat against the rocks.

"Teqi, it's not real!" Annabeth cried out, not letting go.

She grabbed onto the ancient patterns stitched into Annabeth's shawl tightly, a lump in her throat. Annabeth's hand reached around and held hers like they were both replaying the same moment in their heads.

Then Teqi realised it wasn't even her own memory; it was Annabeth's. Fuck. It was so muddled up.

"Almost there," Annabeth said, her voice wobbly. "Let's—"

BOOM!

The hillside rumbled, little stones underneath their feet coming loose and falling down, down, down, into the fiery river leading them to the doors. No. Into the Afales Bay. Somewhere over the ridge, a crowd roared in approval, like spectators in the coliseum. Teqi could feel their delight from here.

"What was that?" Jason wondered. His voice sounded far away.

"Don't know," Piper said. "But it sounds like they're having fun. Let's go make some dead friends."

"I've already got enough," Teqi muttered.

madness and ecstasy // leo valdezWhere stories live. Discover now