AFTER HIS TALK WITH POSEIDON, Percy went back to his mother's apartment to see her—alive, because apparently Hades was the kind of god to hold up his end of bargains—and Naomi took a cab to Half-Blood Hill. 

At the top of the hill, Naomi stopped, taking a moment to take in the camp in its entirety. The cabins, the Big House, the climbing wall and crafts building and armory. She hugged the bouquet of lilies to her chest as she took it all in. 

She was home. 

And for once, she was happy to be there. 

The Hermes cabin was empty when she reached it. Naomi was too tired to wonder where they were—maybe the strawberry fields or the sword-fighting arena. She managed to find a big enough cup for the lilies, and she filled it with water, placing it on one of the window-sills so it could get ample sunlight. As she untied the small thread holding the flower stems together, she realized something else was holding them together. 

A ring. 

Carefully, Naomi slid it off of the stems, placing the lilies in the cup before examining the ring. It was a simple bronze band, just wide enough for something to have been engraved on the inside of the band. 

Kôneion.

It took a moment for the Greek to translate in Naomi's exhausted brain: Hemlock. 

Naomi frowned, looking back at the vase, then back to the engraving.

Those were definitely lilies—not hemlock.

Despite the strange dissonance, Naomi slid the ring onto her finger, surprised by the perfect fit. She rubbed a thumb over the smooth, shiny metal, a smile tugging at her lips. She'd never had a piece of jewelry, really—just hair ties and one of those cheap plastic friendship bracelet she'd made in third grade and lost a week later during recess.

She took a long-anticipated shower, then changed into a spare set of clean clothes—a too-big Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and shorts. Despite her exhaustion, Naomi figured she should probably check in with Chiron before she passed out in the Hermes cabin. 

Annabeth, Grover, Chiron, and Mr. D were sitting on the porch of the Big House when she arrived. Annabeth and Grover looked freshly showered, and there was a giant bowl of grapes on the table they were all picking at. 

Annabeth smiled tiredly at her. "Where's Percy?" 

"Went to see his mom," Naomi explained, returning the smile as she sat down next to her. "Hades released her." 

"Thank the gods," Annabeth sighed, handing her a bundle of grapes. 

Naomi took them with a grin. 

"So, how was old Corpse Breath?" Mr. D asked, leaning back in his chair. "Have a nice little family reunion?" 

Naomi shook her head, chewing her grapes. 

"Chiron, I don't think Hades is her godly parent," Annabeth told the centaur. "The way he acted toward her—he barely even acknowledged her. Would he have acted like that if she was his child?" 

Mr. D shrugged. "Never know with gods." He popped a handful of grapes into his mouth. 

"That is good news, Naomi," Chiron told her, giving her a reassuring smile. "To be a child of Hades, especially right now... it would not be a kind fate." 

"But if he's not my godly parent... who is?" Naomi asked. "What's taking them so long?" 

"Hey, gods are busy," Mr. D said defensively. "Give 'em a minute." 

Naomi fought a scowl. She'd given them plenty of minutes. 

Annabeth patted her shoulder reassuringly. "We'll figure it out," she promised. "We've got the whole summer—if your godly parent doesn't claim you, we'll figure it out ourselves." She held out her pinky. "Promise." 

Naomi's suppressed scowl morphed into a grin. She curled her pinky around Annabeth's, sealing the deal. 

❊

They were the first heroes to return to Half-Blood Hill alive since Luke, so of course, everyone at camp treated the four successful questers like they'd won some reality TV contest. 

Once Percy returned from the city, the festivities began. According to camp tradition, they wore laurel wreaths to a big feast prepared in their honor, then led a procession down to the bonfire, where they got to burn the burial shrouds their cabins had made for them in their absence. 

Annabeth's shroud was beautiful, made of gray silk and embroidered owls. Percy told her it seemed a shame to bury her in it, which earned him a punch in the arm. 

The Hermes cabin had made Naomi's, and she was surprised that it actually looked like they'd put effort into it. It was a simple white cloth, and it looked like most of the cabin members had taken permanent markers and drawn all sorts of scribbles all over it—question marks (probably to signal that she was unclaimed), several different types of smiley faces (Naomi figured those came from the seven-year-old twins, Benji and Elijah), crudely-drawn flowers and hearts and stars and what she was pretty sure was supposed to be a dog. 

Naomi almost felt bad burning it. 

The Ares cabin had apparently volunteered to make Percy's shroud. They'd taken an old bedsheet and painted smiley faces with X'ed-out eyes around the border, and the word LOSER painted really big in the middle. 

Percy looked more than happy to burn it. 

As Apollo's cabin led the sing-along and passed out toasted marshmallows, Naomi was surrounded by her friends, her Hermes cabinmates, Annabeth's friends from Athena, and Grover's satyr buddies, who were admiring the brand new searcher's license he'd received from the Council of Cloven Elders. The council had called Grover's performance on the quest "Brave to the point of indigestion. Horns-and-whiskers above anything we have seen in the past."

The only ones not in a party mood were Clarisse and her cabinmates, whose poisonous looks made it clear they'd never forgive Percy for disgracing their dad. 

Even Mr. D's welcome-home speech wasn't enough to dampen their spirits. "Yes, yes, so the little brat didn't get himself killed and now he'll have an even bigger head. Well, huzzah for that. In other announcements, there will be no canoe races this Saturday..." 

Naomi's cabinmates were a lot more friendly now that she had a successful quest under her belt. The Stolls promised to teach her the art of the perfect prank (Naomi tried to decline the lessons, but they insisted). She made friends with her one-eyed cabinmate, Ethan Nakumara, whose mother was a minor goddess without a cabin. 

When Chiron asked her whether she'd like to sign up as a year-round camper, she didn't hesitate to say yes. The nuns would fill her bed easily enough. 

On her birthday, three days after their return from the quest, Naomi was still unclaimed. She tried not to get down about it, but she'd managed to get her hopes up, only for them to get crushed yet again. 

Percy did his best to get her mind off of it. He enlisted Annabeth's help in distracting her with board games from the Big House and trying to bake a birthday cake in the Big House kitchen. It was kind of a disaster, but Naomi went to sleep that night smiling. 

As promised, as the summer went on, she and Annabeth researched every Underworld deity there was, along with any deities that dealt with hellhounds or animals in general. It was an extensive list, but some gods were easy to cross out. 

Hades hadn't seemed torn about her dying, so he was (tentatively) out; Persephone was Hades's wife, and she didn't have demigod children, so she was out, too. Hecate kids were pretty easy to spot, what with their innate skills with magic and the magical disasters that usually followed them throughout childhood—neither of which applied to Naomi. Hermes was technically an Underworld deity, but Naomi had already ruled him out in her first week of camp. Charon also didn't have demigod kids, and there was the added fact that he hadn't recognized Naomi at all.

Annabeth's picks for possible godly parents were Thanatos, Melinoe, and Nyx. They were all connected to the Underworld, which could explain Naomi's control over hellhounds, plus her innate night-vision. 

Naomi wasn't sure which one she'd rather it be: the god of death, the goddess of ghosts, or the goddess of night. All of them had few known demigod children (apparently there had been a son of Thanatos at camp when Annabeth first arrived, but he'd since left on an unsuccessful quest and hadn't come back, so he was more than likely dead—woefully ironic, given his parentage).

Naomi took to offering each of those gods her scrapes of food on a rotating cycle, but it seemed her efforts were still in vain. No matter how many prayers she sent up (down?) to her possible-parents, there were no responses.

The summer went on, and no her godly parent remained as silent and absent as ever. 

❊

On the Fourth of July, the whole camp gathered at the beach for a fireworks display by cabin nine. Being Hephaestus's kids, they weren't going to settle for a few lame red-white-and-blue explosions. They'd anchored a barge offshore and loaded it with rockets the size of Patriot missiles. 

According to Annabeth, who'd seen the show before, the blasts would be sequenced so tightly they'd look like frames of animation across the sky. The finale was supposed to be a couple of one-hundred-feet-tall Spartan warriors who would crackle to life above the ocean, fight a battle, then explode into a million colors. 

As Naomi, Annabeth, and Percy were spreading a picnic blanket, Grover showed up to tell them goodbye. He was dressed in his usual jeans and t-shirt and sneakers, but in the last few weeks he'd started to look older, almost high-school age. His goatee had gotten thicker. He'd put on weight. His horns had grown a few centimeters at least, so now he had to wear his rasta cap all the time to pass as human. 

"I'm off," he said. "I just came to say... well, you know." 

Naomi gave him a tight hug. "Good luck," she told him, grinning up at him. "You're going to do great." 

Annabeth gave him a hug as well, telling him to keep his fake feet on. 

Percy asked him where he was going to search first. 

"Kind of a secret," Grover said, looking embarrassed. "I wish you could come with me, guys, but humans and Pan..."

"We understand," Annabeth said. "You got enough tin cans for the trip?"

"Yeah." 

"And you remembered your reed pipes?" 

"Jeez, Annabeth," he grumbled. "You're like an old mama goat."

But he didn't really sound annoyed.

He gripped his walking stick and slung a backpack over his shoulder. He looked like any hitchhiker you might see on an American highway—nothing like the little runty boy Naomi first met at Yancy Academy. 

"Well," he said, "wish me luck."

He gave Naomi and Annabeth additional hugs. He clapped Percy on the shoulder, then headed back through the dunes.

Fireworks exploded to life overhead: Hercules killing the Nemean lion, Artemis chasing the boar, George Washington (who was apparently a son of Athena) crossing the Delaware.

"Hey, Grover," Percy called. 

He turned at the edge of the woods. 

"Wherever you're going—I hope they make good enchiladas."

Grover grinned, and then he was gone, the trees closing around him.

"We'll see him again," Annabeth said. 

Naomi nodded, trying to make herself believe it. The fact that no searcher had ever come back in two thousand years... well, Naomi tried not to think about that. Grover would be the first. He had to be. 

❊

July passed. Naomi's godly parent stayed silent. 

She spent her days theorizing with Annabeth, trying to get a hang of the lava climbing wall, training with her cabinmates in Cabin Eleven. She was getting a hang of sword-fighting, but the blade still felt foreign in her hand. Annabeth told her sometimes it took a few tries to get the right weapon, so Naomi tried not to get discouraged. She took to trying out different swords—shorter ones, longer ones, heavier ones, lighter ones. None were the right fit, but at least she was getting some practice in. 

The last night of the summer session came all too quickly. 

The campers had one last meal together. They burned part of their dinner for the gods. At the bonfire, the senior counselors awarded the end-of-summer beads. 

Percy and Naomi were presented with their own leather necklaces, and when Naomi saw the bead for her first summer, she snickered, looking beside her to see Percy blushing. The bead's design was pitch black, with a sea-green trident shimmering in the center.

"The choice was unanimous," Luke announced. "This bead commemorates the first son of the Sea God at this camp, and the quest he undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war!"

The entire camp got to their feet and cheered. Even Ares's cabin felt obliged to stand. Athena's cabin steered Annabeth to the front so she could share in the applause. 

Naomi couldn't pinpoint any time in her life where she'd been this happy. Home had never meant much to her. It used to be a stiff mattress in a room shared with a dozen other girls; a stuffy dorm room at a boarding school she didn't truly belong at; an unattainable place that she feared she'd never find in her lifetime. 

But she had, at least a little. The Hermes cabin was just as crowded as St. Monica's, but the people that called it home called Naomi family, and she did the same. Most of them would be leaving for the year, but Naomi knew she'd see them the next summer—and in the meantime, maybe her godly parent would finally wake up and claim her, and she'd find a new family, too. Half-siblings to annoy and be annoyed by, cabinmates that shared a parent. 

Someday, she hoped.  

❊

On the morning of the last day of camp, Naomi found Percy in his cabin, looking like he was trying to decide his fate.

She knocked on his open door. "Hey."

He looked up, smiling. "Hey." He set down the paper he'd been holding, taking a seat on his bunk. "You're staying year-round?"

Naomi nodded, sitting down next to him. "Chiron sent a letter to St. Monica's saying my biological mother had tracked me down and took me back in. The nuns didn't question it—they're sending my trunk in the mail. My old bed's probably already filled with another unfortunate orphan."

"You gonna miss Yancy?" Percy asked with a hint of a smirk.

"Absolutely not," Naomi laughed. "I'll take climbing the lava wall over those bratty rich kids any day." She bumped him with her shoulder. "What about you? You made your decision yet?"

"No," Percy said, a little sheepish.

Naomi knew the decision was bigger for him than it was for her. There was his mom to consider, and seeing as Smelly Gabe was now out of the picture (and on an unrelated note, Sally was a sculpture artist now, too), Percy could live at home with her and go to a non-boarding school.

Naomi stood up. "C'mon," she said. "Let's go do something. You've still got a few hours to decide."

They decided on sword practice.

The campgrounds were mostly deserted, shimmering in the August heat. Most of the campers were in their cabins packing up, or running around with brooms and mops, getting ready for final inspection. Argus was helping some of the Aphrodite kids haul their designer suitcases and makeup kits over the hill where the camp's shuttle bus would be waiting to take them to the airport.

Naomi and Percy got to the sword-fighters' arena and found that Luke had had the same idea. His gym bag was plopped at the edge of the stage. He was working solo, whacking away at battle dummies with a sword Naomi didn't recognize. It must've been a regular steel blade, because he was slashing the dummies' heads right off, stabbing through their straw-stuffed guts. His orange counselor's t-shirt was dripping with sweat. His expression was so intense, his life might've really been in danger.

Naomi and Percy watched, equally fascinated, as he disemboweled the whole row of dummies, hacking off limbs and basically reducing them to a pile of straw and armor.

They were only dummies, but Naomi couldn't help but be awed by Luke's skill. He was an incredible fighter. It made Naomi wonder how he possibly could've failed at his quest.

Finally, he saw them, and stopped mid-swing. "Percy. Naomi."

"Um, sorry," Percy said, embarrassed. "We just—"

"It's okay," Luke said, lowering his sword. "Just doing some last-minute practice."

"Those dummies won't be bothering anybody anymore," Percy joked lightly.

Luke shrugged. "We build new ones every summer."

Now that his sword was still, Naomi could see something odd about it. The blade was two different types of metal—one edge bronze, the other steel.

Luke noticed the interest. "Oh, this? New toy. This is Backbiter."

"Backbiter?" Percy asked.

Luke turned the blade in the light so it glinted wickedly. "One side is celestial bronze. The other was tempered steel. Works on mortals and immortals alike."

Naomi frowned. "I didn't know they could make weapons like that."

"They probably can't," Luke agreed. "It's one of a kind."

He gave them a smile, then slid the sword into its scabbard. "Listen, I was going to come looking for you guys. What do you say we go down to the woods one last time, look for something to fight?"

"You think it's a good idea?" Percy asked. "I mean—"

"Aw, come on." Luke rummaged through his gym bag and pulled out a six-pack of Cokes. "Drinks are on me."

Naomi saw Percy's willpower crumble. "Sure," he decided. "Why not?" 

❊