~ ☼ ~

I woke up to thrashing above me.

Immediately I jumped, but I wasn't the only one up. Someone turned on the lights, and I was able to see the whole cabin. Across the aisle, Michael Yew, our counselor, was lifting himself up, looking confused. Beside him and to the right of us, two more of our siblings were gasping. "What's wrong with her?"

"Riley?" I asked, panicked. I slipped out of bed and started to climb the ladder upwards, ignoring the increasing amount of eyes on us. Will Solace had thrown off his blanket and was approaching our bed, Lucky and Brynn, also medics, behind him.

"Riles?" I repeated. Then I lifted myself above the bed and saw her.

"Oh my gods." I swore. "Oh my gods!"

My sister was drenched in sweat, thrashing her arms and legs, her eyes rolled back in her head. It was the most horrifying scene I'd ever seen. Riley was usually so calm and collected. Instantly my blood began to rush.

I looked at the sister on the next top bunch over, and she just looked back at me, mouth wide and her blanket clutched to her chest.

"What's happening?"

I turned now to see Alec had vaulted himself to the top of the ladder next to me, making that same girl move backwards even further. Alec hardly noticed; his eyes were flashing between Riley and I.

"I don't know!" I exclaimed. "I just woke up and she was like this!"

"What if she's having a seizure?" I heard Will call up.

"Go get Chiron!" somebody else called out.

"No, get the medics-" This was then followed by the whomp of a pillow hitting someone and one of my sisters saying, "We are the medics, idiot!"

The humor of this hardly sank in. The cabin suddenly went quiet, as if we were all holding one collective breath (it was a known fact that we had one collective brain cell, so it made sense). Then, suddenly, Riley sucked in a sharp breath and lurched up in bed.

"Manhattan's going to be set ablaze," Riley said. "At least 10 more demigods on our side are going to die. Somebody outside of this cabin is going to betray Camp."

Her eyes went to Alec, and despite the sweat on her skin and the panicked tone she had, I think I saw them soften a little bit. Whatever ghost had possessed her to say that all at once, to get it off her chest, it disappeared with one final sentence:

"And you're gonna play a bigger part in it all than you think."

If the cabin was quiet before, it was silent now.

I looked at Alec, my jaw agape. Alec's eyes, meanwhile, went from Riley to his hands. He said nothing.

Shoot, I thought.

"Alec..." I said out loud.

Alec ignored me; then he looked at the sister whose ladder he'd overtaken and shook his head. I could see how what Riley had said had affected him. It was like someone being publically disciplined in the middle of the lunchroom. Suddenly, everyone was watching him.

He descended with two steps, landing on the floor with a barefoot thud.

Awkwardly, I turned from my sister, trying to catch her breath, to the rest of the cabin. Michael's brows were furrowed, his hand up like he was hesitating before saying something. Will, too, was moving his jaw, like he was trying to figure out what to say. Brynn's eyes were soft. But beneath all the softness, all the furrowed brows, there was a chill.

There was the reminder that Alec was not actually our brother.

Alec turned to me, his jaw still agape. "Is she okay?"

I stared at him, surprised that was what he was focusing on verbally, because of course I knew mentally he was shaken. But it was an important question. I turned back to Riley.

"Riley?" I asked. "You okay?"

She gulped, nodding. "Um... yeah." She shook her head. "I think I just had a vision."

She had never had a real vision before. She'd only had vague ideas and feelings before. Aghast, I looked back at the only person who would understand: Alec. He just stared back at me, equally shocked.

The fact that Riley's first real vision had revolved around him, him and his true father, I'm sure was not lost on him.

~ ☼ ~

Even though it was technically before morning curfew, or whatever the heck the opposite of curfew is, Alec, Riley, and I went to the bathroom together. Michael offered to go, always wanting to help, but Alec turned him down.

"I got it, I promise," he said.

You could tell Will wanted to say something else, but he didn't. I swear everyone's eyes were still on us as we left.

Now, in the ladies' bathroom, a.k.a. the shower house, a.k.a. a place we really shouldn't be all together, regardless of the time of day, I leaned against the wall while Riley drank water. Alec was standing awkwardly behind her, his lips half pursed and half on the edge of asking her for the millionth time if she was okay.

"I'm fine," Riley said again, before he could even ask. "I'm more worried about you."

I found this hard to believe, considering her previous angst with her weird, off-and-on, Cory and Topanga style psychic powers. I wanted to ask her what her actual vision was like, but I knew what demigod dreams were like: non-sensical and emotionally scarring. I didn't want to shake her more.

Then I thought of the titaness.

"Um, Riley?" I asked, saving Alec from a therapy session. "Have you ever dreamt of this lady that has silver hair and is really annoying?"

"Oh my gods," Alec said. "I didn't even think about that."

Riley looked between both of us in confusion. "What?"

Alec and I both went pale.

"Well, that answers it, I guess," I said.

"Dang it," he added, pounding the sink with his fist in a very unlike him way, like a dad upset the opposing football team just got a touchdown.

"What?" Riley asked, still confused. "What are you talking about?"

I looked between Alec, now pacing back and forth, and my sister warily. Then I looked at myself in the smudged shower house mirror. There was a giant spider on the wall behind us - ick - and I was developing a huge pimple right at my temple. Oh, and Riley had just given us a fire and brimstone doomsday prophecy. All in all, we looked pretty good!

"There's this woman," I said at last. "She's been in my dreams since I first got to camp. Back in the day."

"Way back in the day," Alec added, stopping his pacing at last. "You know, in 2006. The archaic times."

I sneered at him. "2006 was archaic. It was before Infinity on High came out. I was a totally different person back then."

"Oh my gods!" Riley said, throwing up her hands. "Concentrate!"

I groaned, pushing back a thicket of oily hair from my head. I really needed to use the shower, but I didn't think it would be a good idea to ask to do it while Alec was still in here. Besides, I didn't have shampoo, unless I wanted to use the spider-

I actually don't know where that joke was going, except into something genuinely gross. Um, moving along.

"There's this woman I dream about. She was always basically telling me to join her side, but she never told me what side that was. And then, last summer..." I bit my lip as I thought of Lucas. "You know. I figured it out."

Riley's eyes went wide. "She was a titaness?"

I swallowed, looking to Alec for help now that Lucas' memory had choked me up. Alec quickly picked up what I'd put down, and said, "She was in my dreams, too, but not that often. Of course, AJ and I just came to that conclusion yesterday." He shook his head. "Sure wish one of us would've said something earlier."

I looked away, frowning, because I had told someone. And now he was dead. I didn't know if I was sad to think of the secret Lucas and I had held, or mad at myself for choosing someone who ended up betraying me.

Riley, too, seemed put out by this. She looked at herself in the mirror, mouth parted - we all loved to part our mouths and not know what to say today - before shaking her head.

"My dream had no woman," she said. "I don't really remember most of it. I just - I just saw fire." Then she bit her lip. "I don't know if it was fire. Maybe it was just light."

Alec stiffened.

"How do you know it was a vision?" I asked. "I mean, we all get vaguely psychic dreams all the time, and sometimes it's just vibes."

"Did you see me, AJ?" she asked, turning towards me. Her brown hands were clenching the rim of the sink, which told me she was not as okay as she had said. "I was having a freaking seizure. It was a vision. It was - it was not just vibes. It was a concrete image."

My lip was quivering. It was hard enough to have had that happen in front of everyone, to be told that someone would betray camp and a bunch more kids would die, but to be brought back here - to remember my best friend's titanly heritage... it made me feel a little sick.

I guess I'll add that... 10 kids doesn't seem like that much in the broader concept of a war. But we were kids. It was like... it was like Riley had just said our school was certainly going to be at least shot up, and maybe bombed too. I wanted to collapse against the wall.

And why... how... had Riley, after a summer and a half of feeling her psychic urges slip away from her, had a vision?

"I can't believe this," I said. "I can't believe you had a vision."

Riley almost looked happy for a moment. Almost liked the reminder. 

With this motivating her, she said, "We should head back before the harpies get us."

"Riley," I started, but it was too late.

She was already standing in front of us, offering both her arms. Alec looked at me, sighing, and I looked back. There was no real way to be ready for this, I guess. At least... at least I had them.

I took Riley's arm and Alec took her other one; she took us back to the Cabin. Luckily, the harpies did not eat us on the way there. It was our only consolation prize.

~ ☼ ~

It was still the middle of the night, so we couldn't exactly just stay up after that, even though I really wanted to. Some of our siblings had already gone back to bed, but a few were waiting up, watching; when we came in, they dove under their blankets and pretended they weren't. But I saw. I saw it all.

After that, and after Alec and I fussed over Riley once more and she pushed us away with a shh, I tossed and turned for hours. I don't think I fell asleep again, even though it had to be like, 3 am, max. I hated that, because it just meant I'd be tired the rest of the day, which certainly would not help my problems.

Then, as I adjusted once more, thinking maybe, just maybe, this time would be enough, I heard rustling from the other side of the cabin.

I sat up instantly, looking through the darkness. There was a skylight that made it so you could see certain things when the moon came in at certain angles. Lady Artemis must've been on my side that day, because I could see clearly that it was Alec, apparently as restless as me. Actually, more restless, because he was packing a backpack.

I quickly jumped out of my bunk and tip-toed over to him.

"What in the world are you doing?" I whispered.

He turned rapidly, looking terrified. Then he slumped.

"Sorry," I said.

"It's okay," he said. "I'm doing something."

"You're doing something."

He nodded. "I was gonna wake you up, but I guess I won't have to now."

This didn't sound good.

"Alec," I said. "What are you doing?"

He nodded towards the back door of the cabin, so I tip-toed after him, but not before slipping on my slides. Both of us were, of course, still in our PJs - him plaid pants and a hoodie for CHB, me... pretty much the same thing.

Once we were both outside, he whispered, "I think we should go to the Bronx."

"The Bronx?" I said, too loudly. Both of us tensed, looking around for the harpies, but there was no sign of them.

"The Bronx," Alec confirmed.

"What could possibly be in the Bronx?"

"Demeter's sickle," said Alec. "I asked around and heard there's a place up there that might have it."

I stared at him. In his pajamas, with his hair all ruffled and his backpack on, he looked more like a homeless runaway than a hero on a quest.

"Alec Thompson," I said. "When the Hades did you have the time to 'ask around'?"

"Yesterday!" he said. "I'm sorry, I want to find it. It's my debt too."

I frowned. "Are you worried she'll do something if we don't find it quick enough?"

"You never know with them," Alec huffed. Then he reached into his backpack and brought out, to my surprise, a beanie. He covered his head with it.

"I didn't know you wore beanies."

He chuckled, now, abruptly. "I am a man of many hats, Runaway." Then he paused. "Ha. Get it! Ba dum tss."

If I had stared at him blankly any harder, my eyes would've popped out of my head.

"Fine," I said. "Let me go get my converse. Should I wake up Riley?"

He shook his head.

"Alec."

"I don't want to worry her anymore, okay?" He scratched the back of his neck. "Besides, no matter what she says, I know that vision had to have taken a lot out of her. She'll be exhausted if she comes with."

"I'm exhausted."

"Don't try to tell me you've slept at all for the past hour." He raised an eyebrow. "I can tell when you're lying."

He had me there.

I went back in and got my converse, but kept my PJs on since it seemed like I didn't have time to change. Besides, I didn't want to wake my siblings up again. A moment later, I was outside in the cold, shivering but... yeah, feeling a little invigorated, too. It was fun to give in to my nature as an insomniac, even if I'd regret it later.

"Okay," I said. "How are we getting to the Bronx?"

Alec gave me a glinting smile, that part of him that was friends with the Stolls coming out. Immediately, my eyes went wide.

"No," I said. "No."

"Yes," he said. "Yes."

"Alec!" I said. "We haven't even gotten to properly meet him yet!"

He wanted to ride Hemmings.

"Do you have any other idea?" Alec asked.

No, I did not.

So I followed him to the stables, both wanting to argue him for arguing sake and... a little excited to get to ride the pegasus. Yes, I'd had bad experiences flying before, but I didn't want to run away. I knew it'd just make me unnecessarily afraid.

Alec must've thought of this too, because as we approached the pegasus - sleeping standing up, of course - he said to me,"Are you okay with, you know-"

The fact that he'd thought of it made me even braver. I swallowed and said, "Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," I said. "Come on, can we just get on before a harpy eats us?"

Alec sighed. "You know, we keep saying that, but I'm beginning to think they don't actually exist. Have you seen one this entire night?"

Despite the truth in this, he didn't argue with me anymore. He looked around the stables for a saddle, and upon seeing one hanging on a hook, went into Hemmings' stall to hook him up. Alec was good with his hands and stressful situations - usually... - and Hemmings was still asleep, so it wasn't that hard. I just hoped he'd done it correctly and we wouldn't go flying off mid-air.

When he was done, he tapped the horse on the head. "Well, Hemmings, you old chap. You ready to go?"

Nothing happened. So Alec then scratched the side of his face, but he still didn't wake.

"I told you," I said. "I think it's-"

"It's not dead," he said, giving me a dry look. "Hemmings. Bro. Dude. Wake up."

When that, surprisingly, did not work, he finally just sighed.

"Well," he said. "Let's just get on. Maybe that'll work."

So I did as he said. It was a heck of a stumble to get up there, but eventually we sat, me in front and him behind me, on the pegasus. And it was now that Hemmings was just barely starting to wake up. He let out a slow, low whinny.

"Hemmings?" I asked. "Oh my gods, Alec, he lives!"

I put my feet in the stirrups. "Hemmings," I whispered. "Can you understand me?"

He whinnied again.

"Oh my gods," echoed Alec. I felt him put a hand to his chest. "This is amazing. His first real whinnies. Bring out the camcorder."

I laughed, but I wasn't going to lie, I actually did feel a little emotional. I'd just met this horse two days ago, but I already would've joined the Titan Army for him. Okay, maybe not, but I did really like him. It just felt right to sit on him.

Ick. I was happy he couldn't read my mind.

"Okay, so I can't understand you, but I think you can understand me," I said. "Is that true?"

He pawed the ground. I grinned. "Sweet! Do you know where the Bronx is? Can you take us there?"

I didn't think we could be so lucky as to have him immediately do what we told him to, but he must've been tired of sleeping constantly, because he agreed. I leaned forward and pushed open the stall door. The big doors at the back of the stables, where the pegasi went out to roam, were already open; Hemmings trotted slowly outside.

"How scary is this?" asked Alec.

"What?" I asked. "Flying?"

I felt him nod, so I added, "You've already done it."

He snorted. "That's exactly why I'm scared."

Now, I turned around to look at him. I don't think he was genuinely scared, but there was some anxiety on his face. I smiled at him, hoping I could bring him some positivity about the whole demi-titan thing.

"If we fall," I said, "We know you can save us. We'll be fine."

He did not seem convinced, but he gave me a smile back.

~ ☼ ~

Flying over New York City was better than anywhere else I'd ever flown.

There was something crazy about seeing Manhattan as just a grid from above. The city that never sleeps, the greatest city of the world, reduced to that car carpet that's in every pre-school. Alec seemed just as enchanted as me; he did not say a word as Hemmings flew.

For someone that was constantly sleeping, Hemmings did fly slow. Once he was up in the air, those giant wings stretched to their full length, and sure enough, they were huge. With giant, beating flaps, he took us miles in only 10 minutes.

Finally, he paused in mid-air and began to circle. I think the Bronx was below us - it certainly looked like what I imagined the Bronx looked like, with shorter buildings than Manhattan. I didn't know what Hemmings was doing at first, then Alec said, "Oh! Um, go to Yankee Stadium!"

I turned, confused. "Yankee Stadium? You think Demeter's sickle is in Yankee Stadium?"

"Trust me!" he called back, over the wind.

I couldn't argue, because Hemmings was descending. I turned back quickly and held on again.

We landed in Yankee Stadium, literally in the middle of it, a couple seconds later. It was beyond weird to be in the middle of one of the oldest, most iconic baseball stadiums in the world, like we, ourselves, were the outfielders. The walls crept high around us, and all the seats were empty. The sun had still not yet risen, thank gods, because if it had, I would be willing to bet maintenance would already be up and ready.

Anxiously, I got off of Hemmings. "Alec, I don't like this. We're going to get in trouble."

He waved a hand before disembarking, too, landing on his feet with a thud. "We'll be fine."

Hmph. I guess I could enjoy it well enough. My parents didn't follow baseball, but if they had, they'd probably like the Yankees. Either way, they'd be impressed by this, if it weren't for the whole, you know, trespassing thing.

"Wait here," said Alec to Hemmings. "Can he understand me, too?"

"We co-parent him," I said. "I don't see why not."

As if to confirm, Hemmings beat his hoof on the ground again. Alec's face lit up.

"This is crazy," he said. "I love you, Hemmings."

At this, Hemmings did nothing. I had to physically hold back my laughter, while Alec scowled.

"Fine," he said. "Let's just find this sickle. I feel like a freaking communist saying that."

"That's a valid point. Who else uses the word sickle?"

Alec sighed. "Goddesses that expect us to pay back at an interest."

I snickered.

Together, we looked around Yankee Stadium. I didn't know what, exactly, I was looking for. I said as much to Alec, and he shrugged.

"I had a son of Demeter in the infirmary yesterday, and I'd basically started this whole conversation with a few other kids while he was listening. I asked them if any of them had connections to their parents where they felt like they could feel their parents' energy out there, in places where they otherwise wouldn't be, and a few of them said yes, including him. He said he'd started feeling like he was close to his mom when he went to Yankees games this past spring. I thought, that's good enough a lead as any."

I genuinely did not know what to say to this; this was espionage level spying. Plus, he was super lucky to have his patients agree with him and not think he was crazy. I'd never once felt Apollo's energy-

Well, actually, I had. I felt it every time I played my violin, and sometimes when I was in the sun. Maybe there was some truth to this. But still.

"That is the craziest thing I've ever heard," I said. "How the Hades did you come up with that?"

Alec shrugged again, like it was no biggie. "I'm determined to find this thing."

"Because you're worried about Demeter smiting you down?"

"No," he said, looking at me seriously. "C'mon, AJ."

Duh. Because he was worried about Demeter smiting Riley and I down. I felt my cheeks go red, having never have someone worry about me like that. I guess it was fine if Riley was being careless, because Alec was doing the freaking most on that front.

Suddenly, we heard a noise - a gate opening, at the far end of the field. I glanced at Alec, who glanced at me. Then, we quickly ran to the dugout, the closest place we had to hide.

To my chagrin, Hemmings did not flee.

"Hemmings!" I hissed. "Fly away!"

I saw over the edge of the dugout that the gate was now fully open, and a maintenance man was coming in with one of those big rakes. But Hemmings had yet to move; instead, he was grazing at the grass lazily.

"Oh my gods," I said, nearly hitting my head against the fence like Dobby.

"Listen," Alec said. "Just let him be. He chose to come to Camp Half-Blood. If he chooses to let himself be captured now and, I don't know, sent to another horse ranch, so be it. They won't know he's a pegasus, at least."

"Alec!" I hissed. "That is not a good way to parent."

"We adopted him as an adult!" he hissed back. "We cannot control his actions, we can only be there for him when he needs us."

Then, like the cops finding a teenager spray painting the side of a building, I heard the maintenance man finally notice Hemmings. "What the actual-"

I won't say what he said next.

"Come on!" Alec whispered. I couldn't argue with him; I let him drag me through the door in the dugout that led to the locker room. The maintenance man was already on his way over, and I heard him continuing to swear at Hemmings. If he found us, two 16 year olds that had apparently brought a horse into Yankee Stadium, I couldn't imagine what he would say.

Inside the home team's locker room, I frowned. "Alec."

"I know," he said. "I know."

He paced back and forth while I leaned against the cinder block walls, trying to hear the fate of our son. Then he stopped, and said, "Wait. While we're in here, we need to look for the sickle."

"We have no lead," I said. "And our son is being arrested!"

"Our son echoed," he echoed, "Has wings. He can fly away if he wants."

I pouted, even though I knew he was right.

"Come on," he said, leading me towards the office coming off of the locker room. "We can at least try. It's a magic object - heck, it's a goddess' object. We should be able to feel something."

But as he dragged me through the bowels of the stadium, past many areas we should not have seen, I could not feel anything. All I sensed was old sweat and bad team bonding rituals. Corporate money, league corruption...

I shivered. If I had been psychic like Riley, I would've had something I needed to report to the FBI. But there wasn't actually anything wrong; it was just bad vibes. Probably because I hated sports.

Finally, we stumbled out into a public corridor. Closed store fronts advertised hot dogs and popcorn and giant signs directed visitors to the 100-150 seats.

"Shoot," Alec said.

We stopped, me scratching my neck and him running a hand through his hair. It was just as we were about to give up that I suddenly felt something.

But this time, it was not a magical object, nor was it a goddess come to give us a task. I felt every hair on my body rise up, even the cilia on my cells (sometimes I pay attention in class). And then I could smell it, more than I'd been able to smell anything in the stables.

Chicken.

"Chicken!" I exclaimed. "I smell chicken."

"This is a working baseball stadium," Alec hissed. "Of course you'll smell chicken, they're probably cooking some."

"This early in the morning?" I hissed back.

The sun was just beginning to rise, making a strip of light appear above the horizon, just beyond the walkway. I snuck away from the doorway we were hiding in, looking out over the Bronx. It was a beautiful view from here, Manhattan going southwards and all the other New York boroughs around it. I felt honored to see the sun rise, and actually be able to stop and enjoy it. But Alec did not have the same peace.

"AJ," he said.

"Shh," I whispered. "I'm trying to find the good in our father."

"AJ."

Just as I turned, I heard it - an alarm clock sound, so loud I almost jumped. Standing there, on the closest food counter - suitably, advertising chicken fingers and fries - was indeed, a chicken.

"Oh my gods."

Alec shook his head, but before he could say anything, the chicken cock-a-doodle-do'd again, and I winced. It was so loud I almost held up my hands to block it out, like a child. Then, the grate to the chicken stand suddenly opened, revealing an employee in a cuffed white t-shirt and an apron.

"There you are, you little bugger!" He reached for the chicken, only for it to flap away from him, landing on the floor. He didn't notice us until the chicken ran over to us, like we were his escape route - then stopped abruptly. I swear, I saw in its beady little eyes, a genuine human fear.

Immediately, I swore, I would not let it be captured.

But it backed up from us too.

"You-" started the chef. Then he stopped, following the chicken's gaze. Alec and I were standing there with our jaws loose.

"Oh," he said. "Oh, shoot."

We stared at him; he stared at us. He was a burly guy, with a curly beard and mustache. He looked garish in his outfit for a reason I couldn't explain - his cheeks just looked too ruddy his eyes too light to fit the butcher apron and tight t-shirt, like Santa Claus dressed up as a gangster.

As if he saw me examining him, he suddenly cleared his throat, and said, in a deep voice, "Ey, I'm walkin' here."

I had to try, very very hard not to laugh.

I looked in Alec incredulously, and he looked back with his mouth clamped shut in a smile. We watched as the guy, who was surely a Greek God and not a real chef - especially after that very earnest and very bad New Yorker impression - stormed over to the chicken and scooped him up.

"There you are, ya freakin' shamus," he said. "I got you."

I didn't know what a shamus was, but it didn't sound right to me.

"Freakin' Alec," he added, for good measure, when he saw me and Alec continue to stare at him.

"Alec?" Alec, my Alec, repeated.

"Alectryon," said the butcher, like this explained everything. He shrugged, then held the rooster, whose eyes were popping out of his head in fear, closer to him.

"That's... funny," Alec said awkwardly, giving me another glance, like, okay, this is getting weird. "My name's Alec, too."

"Uh-huh," said the chef, walking back behind the counter. "That's what we call a coincidence, kid. Now, our names both starting with A, that's-"

Then he stopped himself. He deepened his voice again, and for good measure, added a fake Italian-American accent. "I mean, my name's Johnny Eastside. Watch out, or I'll shiv ya."

Okay, yeah, this was definitely not a normal human being.

With Alec - Alec 2 - in hand, he pulled down the grate, and within an instant, he and the rooster were blocked from our view. Now, all we saw was metal.

Alec - Alec 1 - and I locked eyes with each other.

"Who the heck was that?" I asked him.

"Someone with an A name," he said. Then he blinked, as if it was dawning on him. "Wait. I think I know who he is. There was this minor god of butchery and a bunch of other stuff..."

He racked his mind, and then something passed over his face. It did not look good.

"Aristraeus," he said. "His name's Aristraeus, and he's our brother."

~ ☼ ~

A/N: We hate the Yankees go Buccos baby