The night past and morning came again. I laid in bed, waiting until it was time for me and my siblings to head to breakfast.

I didn’t dream that night, which was strange because I always had dreams. I should have probably told Siobhan but she might have just mocked me for her being right about something being wrong. Which there wasn’t but she wouldn’t have listened to that if I went to her for help. There wasn’t anything wrong besides a death. A murder.

Except for your powers attacking you and making you feel all your pain.

I shivered. Shut up I told myself. I was fine. My powers acted up every now and then.

Lies.

I threw my pillow against the wall. Then I threw up onto the floor. Gross. I better call the nymphs who liked to clean for some reason. We only could call them if we were sick, which I obviously was. I puked for my mother’s sake.

“Katharíste, katharíste. Eímai árrostos kai árrostos. Prosférontai prosefchés. Eímai árrostos kai árrostos.” I yelled. Lady Hecate had put charms in the walls that made it so the nymphs could hear it no matter what. Within a few seconds a nymph poofed into my room. She was a poppy nymph. We called her Poppy for lack of a better name. Her mouth was stitched closed. Every demigod knew her. She had apparently once had a child with a mortal man and wanted to marry him. But Poseidon liked her alot, so he cursed her to live forever since nymphs generally only lived for a few hundred years. She sew her own mouth shut when her husband died. No one knows what happened to her child.

“Sorry about the mess. I couldn’t make it to the bathroom.” I said. This has happened before. No one knew. I always got sick when my powers got a little messed up.

Poppy nodded and gave me a small smile, her way of saying it’s okay. She was always kind, no matter what. Always so sweet and silent.

“I don’t want anyone to know I’m sick. Not any demigod at least. Especially Alex, older Alex. Alex Bello. Yeah. Can we keep this hidden?” I asked.

Poppy looked at me and nodded then went to her work. Poppy flowers popped up around my puke. The flowers grew and reached across the puddle of puke to each other. In a blank of an eye the flowers and puke were gone.

“I should head to breakfast. I hope you have a nice day. If you ever need something, you can come to me.” I said.

Poppy looked at me and lifted her hands up and pointing to her pocket. Then she reached into her dress and pulled out a small little envelope. From my bed I could see that it said ‘Bec, my dear great grandchild and my little shaqiun.’ I stared at her. Her great grandchild. What the fuck?

“What do you need me to do with this?” I asked.

Poppy smiled and lifted up her hands. “Bec is turn fifteen in week and I give them ring husband gave me. Kore have necklace son gave me long ago. Bec needs ring. Danger. Fate. I can not go see them. Too much work to do. Please.” Poppy signed. I gaped.

She could communicate and the Nassars were her great grandchildren. I guess I knew what happened to her child. Her son. He had at least one child who was Kore and Bec’s mother. Everyone knew Ms. Nassar. She was always so kind when she would visit the city. Also Bec and Kore were always so happy. I remember Ms. Nassar giving me a piece of candy the first time I meet her. She was part nymph. Bec and Kore Nassar were part nymph. Holy Hera.

“Okay. I’ll go give it to them before I eat. I won’t tell anyone of this. Especially the great grandchildren part. Bye. I’ll see you around.” I said before leaving my room in my pajamas. A pair of rainbow boxers and a Regina Spektor t-shirt. Oh well, it’s not like I haven’t walked around like this before.

I made my way as quickly as possible to the Hades Hall. It was small and didn’t have that many doors. Or at least a lot less rooms than the Aphrodite Hall. I only been there twice in the years I’ve been in Little Olympus. But when I got there it hadn’t really changed. The dark green doors all had the helm of Hades painted on it and there was still paintings of dead demigods. My mother had told me Hades wanted his hall to have a second function of a place to hold funerals. For his children would be his priests. His mortal hands. His- there was a third things my mom said but I couldn’t remember. Don’t judge me, it was a long time ago.

I glanced at the painting of Allen Raye. He wasn’t ugly but he had his father’s smile and vibe so it was hard not to feel like punching his face. So I just walked past it, moving down to Jamie’s photo. Jamie was a demiboy. They were an awesome brother. They had only been thirteen. So young, they deserved to live a long life.

I turned away. It hurt to look at them. I wiped a tear from my eye and started to knock on doors to see where Bec’s room was.

By the tenth door I was getting pretty sure that they weren't in the hall, maybe they were with Kore or Mindy. Those three were practically siblings. Or maybe they were with Johanna. I sighed. There was about twenty more doors for me to check. I swore if Bec wasn’t in any of them I would cry.

I knocked on the next one and things went really bad. The world went dark and there was a large boom noise.

I screamed. The world was on fire. I was in pain. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t move. I screamed again. No words came out. I couldn’t breath. I was going to die. This was the end for me. The end of Reina Venus Bello, only seventeen years old. While seventeen and three months. I wondered if my body will be buried in the graveyard here or if Alex would get them to bury in the Bello Family graveyard back in the old country. My father was not buried there but my grandparents were buried there. They were kind and loved me and Alex. They died when I was five. Car wreck. I remembered how my abuela would sing traditional songs to me when she babysat me and Alex. I could almost hear her voice. The world was dark and hot. I was going to die and I was going to die today.

A blurry face appeared above me just before I passed out. I saw blues and pinks against the darkness of smoke. I could hear singing.

“Sweet father-

Apollo

Heal the wounded

Shine like the sun

Save the fallen

Apollo

Dear Father-”