Mira could see the emotions passing over his face, emotions that looked utterly out of place on the boy who she used to know. He had always been so happy. Her memories were filled with his smile, it always lit up his face wholly. There was nothing half-hearted when it came to him. His smile and his laugh had been as persuasive as any spell her mother could ever hope to wield. She could remember a time when his smile had made her nervous; when his smile made her believe in a future that was never hers to claim. Now, as he glanced her way there was only contempt and malice. His words were venomous as he refused to believe her and of course, she had no ground to suggest otherwise.

He brought up his old friend again and the betrayal that she committed. Mira mentally prepared herself for the remarks that she knew were coming. The anger-fueled words that she knew he was poised to throw at her. As he continued speaking though, his choice of words made her pause. They weren't just words of anger, the way he spoke them sounded almost as if he was … jealous. Mira tried searching his face, but he turned from her and the whole ordeal went from pain to confusion. She considered that she might have misinterpreted them because there was no way in Hades that he cared anymore. Surely she had smashed any fond feelings that he might have held for her into a thousand broken shards that would forever be beyond repair. There simply wasn't a way around that. No one could hold feelings for someone that long after such a betrayal for anyone, much less, her.

His laugh startled her out of her thoughts and she felt as if he had dumped cold water all over her as he replied, bringing up her aunt. After the initial blow had landed, she swallowed hard, forcing herself to summon all of the strength that she had in her because she refused to show him how deeply his last remark landed. Mainly because it was true. All of it. She had been taught to wield every single gift her godly parent had given her to her benefit. She had been shown how to behave and think. The very worst parts of her godly parent had been drilled into her, taught, and commanded to her so that she could magnify them all. Mira forced her chin to tilt upward, even as he spoke about her being untrustworthy.

She could only stand before him, shouldering the brunt of his insults, her illusion of pride and haughty look of arrogance her only armor. She had no weapons for this fight. She had nothing to come to her defense excluding the knowledge that she was not a mortal and therefore did not belong in his world either way and even that was a flimsy one. There was nothing to say that hadn't already been said so she had played her last card of begging him to leave her alone and let her leave.

The two were looking at one another and she felt like there weren't enough words in the human language that could convey everything that they both seemed to be holding back from saying. He repeated her words back to her and a part of her ached. Maybe it was the physical exhaustion. Perhaps that combined with the emotional warfare they were waging against one another but she didn't know if she could keep this up any longer. She didn't know if she could continue to see him glare at her, with his words methodically cutting her down. She had never cried in front of anyone, but gods knew that if he continued this she wasn't going to be able to keep this façade up.

Sam spoke up, cutting the silence and she warily met his eyes once more before a sound broke through the night. Mira turned sharply in the direction of the beastly roar, all feelings of wariness gone in a flash. No. Please, gods no, she begged silently. She had no weapons to defend herself and though the promise of a safe camp remained only a few yards away, she knew that she couldn't leave him. He had, yet again, gotten caught in the web of her world. Her eyes were still poised towards the darkness that held the monster as she spoke quietly, "Sam…" Her eyes moved to him, her mouth open, intended to beg him to run when she realized that he too was facing the sound.

Was he a mortal blessed with the sight? She couldn't fathom a world where that was true, but then he moved his hands and she watched in shocked silence as sparks appeared. Mira's eyes widened as her brain ran wild with her thoughts. Was this a dream? Had she been knocked unconscious? He moved behind her, his hands touching her, causing a small shock to pass over her skin and the jolt caused a small surprised yelp from her lips. A child of Zeus? She turned, her eyes moving over him. Was he a demigod? That seemed impossible. He had never shown any signs nor indications. She felt as if she had been thrown off a cliff and sent into a world where everything was upside down.

He asked her to run through the tunnel and she grabbed for his hand, her fingers reaching for him, "Come with me. Please, Sam." She begged him, moving to pull his arm towards the safety of the tunnel. She didn't know what in the hades was going on but he could not stay and stand against whatever was in the darkness. She didn't know what he was, but they were both defenseless. The odds were very much against them both.

The creature let out a loud roar and Sam turned, Mira's eyes searching for the creature as well. Nothing emerged in front of them and Mira moved to grab his hand once more and Charmspeak him into running with her when movement appeared seemingly out of nowhere from above them. Mira was pushed away, stumbling back into a fall from the large creature's descent. Her eyes searched for Sam, widening in horror as she watched him get tossed to the side.

"SAM!" his name came out of her lips in a yell as she scrambled to her feet. Her heart was racing as she looked around for someone, anyone who could help. Her eyes moved quickly over the entrance of the tunnel and snagged on a gleaming blade. She was shockingly awful at a blade but she couldn't stand by idly as a creature tore Sam to bits.

Mira ran for the tunnel, her hands shakily moving to grab the sword that lay at the entrance. Her fingers had made contact with the hilt of the blade right as her eyes landed on a bow, with arrows neatly stored next to it. She grabbed the weapon immediately, as well as the quiver, and ran closer to the target. She moved instinctively, her body positioning itself for a clear shot, her hands swiftly nocking the arrow and letting the blade fly. The first rang true, and the creature let out a harrowing screech as she repeated the steps, letting loose another arrow. The second landed as well, the bird giving another cry and she didn’t spare a glance to Sam, terror at the back of her mind as she let another fly at the monster.

The creature turned in her direction, causing the shot to simply graze the beast and she moved to grab another arrow. The metal monster seemed to gauge that she was currently the biggest threat as it screeched in her direction, charging her way.

Sam gave her a casual shrug, the boy waving off her accusation of not being here to hike. She highly doubted that he was being serious. She had been away from the mortal world for a few years, but not long enough to believe that something as silly as highway hiking was a real thing. The very corners of her lips tugged upwards in the beginning of a grin. He always did have that effect on her. People tended to annoy her, but not him. Unfortunately, never him. Sam continued the thought though, bringing up her aunt and following trends. The smile immediately vanishing from her face.

He had never liked her Aunt. Though, in his defense, the feeling had been mutual. The woman had only known of him because Mira had stupidly brought up his name. That one mention and she had unwittingly put him on a proverbial sacrificial alter to be slaughtered. She hadn't known how much she had been sacrificing that day. She had thought that he would soon move on. That she would be nothing but a memory to him, but he had held on. He had forced her to play the hand she didn't want to play. Severing more than just his heart in the process. "I suppose she and I must be interchangeable to you now. Is that it?"

The thought made her want to drown herself. That someone like him could see no difference between her and the woman who had raised her. It was a fair sentiment, after what she had done. She had thought once, a very long time ago, that she was different. That she had the potential to be more than just a pretty face, but when it came down to it, she hadn't been. She hadn't been able to say no, choosing a path that she was much too far down to turn back from now.

Mira watched as he shifted his weight, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He was clearly defensive, a thought that she hated. He had the right, she knew that. He had been flayed open by her, of course it was no surprise that he was wary standing front and center of her. She had hoped that time indeed would heal all wounds, but it didn't seem to be helping in their case. She too shifted on her feet, adjusting the straps to sit more comfortably as he spoke her full name.

Then, as he continued, Mirabella felt as if her heart would shatter, the words causing an involuntary flinch from her. Her mouth parted, pain showing evidently on her face, the words barely a whisper out of her lips, "Sam, I'm sorry." She wanted to touch his cheek, to grab his hands and make him see that she was serious. She couldn't though, he clearly did not want anything to do with her. "I didn't want to. I didn't plan on…My Aunt-" She stopped. How could she explain something like that to him? He was a mortal, he had no idea what she was capable of, what was expected of her. He had no clue what she truly was and she didn't know if that made her feel better or worse.

Mirabella looked at the ground, forcing herself to get in control, to compose herself. The path had been chosen a long time ago and there was no going back now. It didn't matter that he hated her. It was probably better that way. "I need to go." She tried moving past him, to cross the borders and pretend that none of this happened. To let herself cry and scream as much as she wanted to, so long as it was far, far away from him.

Instead of making a clear exit, however, he stepped in front of her, blocking her way. He looked surprised that she had wanted to pass and Mirabella couldn't imagine a reason in Hades why he would want her there. "Why not? Not done making me feel awful yet?" One hand moved to rest on her hip, the tiredness edging into her words, "If so, could you do it quickly? I've walked twenty miles and I'd like to have a shower before I pass out from exhaustion."

She had then decided to move the whole process along and simply charmspeak him. Her hand moving to press against his arm. He met her eyes and she forgot how beautiful his hazel eyes were, how soft his lips use to be against hers. Memories that she had kept under lock and key in the deepest corners of her mind now playing at the surface. She missed his laugh the most, the way he would look at her sometimes, as if he was looking past the beauty of her face. Like he genuinely saw her as herself. She hadn't seen that look in years, doubted she'd ever see it again in this lifetime.

Sam looked away and Mira did the same, moving to take a step forward, taking her hand off of his arm as he began laughing. It wasn't the warm laughter that she had missed, it was a cold laugh that made her brows knit together in confusion. He asked her if she was joking and Mirabella watched him carefully. The boy shook his head softly. She had never met anyone that had been able to resist her charmspeak. Of course the one mortal who could do so would be Sam Darnay. If that wasn't poetic justice then she didn't know what would be. Mirabella let out a small sigh of frustration. Whatever God or Goddess she angered today, was surely getting their revenge.

Sam spoke about having questions and Mirabella debated on simply ending it all right then and there. Perhaps she could call on the Hunters and join their band of traveling celibates and never look back. But then the boy said Mira. A small nickname that she did not allow anyone to call her. Anyone, of course, but him.

Her heart physically ached as her brain told it to pull herself together. He was a mortal who hated her. She was a demigod who had shattered his heart. Nothing had changed. He assured her that there was no emergency phone and Mirabella gave a humorless laugh "How could you possibly know that? Does highway hiking involve exploring abandoned buildings as well?"

She again moved to go past him, his steps blocking hers once more. She felt as if she was going mad. Of all of the mortals, in all of the world, why him? Sam mentioned that she could use his phone and Mira paused. Her mind running quickly as she tried coming up with an excuse that would logically work. Perhaps she could grab it, throw it, and then run into the tunnel as he tried going after it, but she had already hurt him enough. She wouldn't add an iphone bill to his list of offenses against her. "No, thank you. It's fine. I'm sure there's one inside I can use and hey…if not, perhaps I'll get eaten by something and you can celebrate."

Mirabella was on the verge of shivering as she again, tried to move past him. The day had been long. The walk had been painful, and the only thing stopping her from warmth, food, and a soft bed was the mortal from her past who wanted to delay her for pure amusement.

Mira sighed. Most, if not all, of the haughtiness gone. Her eyes met his, "Please, Sam. I know you don't owe me anything, but please just let me walk through that tunnel and you won't ever have to see me again."

There were few instances were Mirabella found herself not having an opinion about something. This was one of them. The boy was simultaneously holding her arm both as if she was a leper as well as with enough barely concealed rage in his grip like a child who had just been caught stealing. Still, it wasn't cruel nor painful and she wouldn't have wanted him to either hold her more tenderly nor closely so tight-lipped she remained on the matter. He walked patiently with her, which had prompted the genuine thank-you. She realized of course that he could have out-paced her in a mere second, dragging her along or perhaps even slung her over his shoulders like a bag of grain to face embarrassment. She had gratitude that was well due. Then, as he merely grunted in response, Mira felt an invisible blow land. As if she was not deserving of a simple response.

Mira took a steadying breath, willing herself to ignore the response. Her chin raised the barest fraction of an inch. He could be as unkind as he wanted, that did not change who she was. She tried focusing on their pathway set before them when he spoke, the words catching her by surprise. Mira glanced over to his face, but his eyes were focused on the ground before them. There had been no further words out of his mouth, nor a smirk or smile hinting that he was taunting her. So she mimicked him, pulling her attention back to the pathway.

He hadn't been lying, it wasn't going to be a short trip. Mira could feel the heat pulsating from the injury. She found herself wishing that Charmspeak worked on wounds. If only she could will away a hurt ankle as easy as changing her hair color. She wasn't sure which was worse, walking on the injury in pain until she wanted to scream or asking him for a short rest before doing it all over again. She decided against the latter. She knew she was probably pushing her luck as it was. She also couldn't stomach another further insult on her character or camp which she knew the action would prompt.

So Mirabella gritted her teeth and bared the pain. Perhaps she would get lucky and it would eventually start to numb. She clung to that hope as they walked along. And on they walked. In silence. The silence made the trip worse. There was no conversation to keep her mind off of it. There were no distractions. Only feet moving forward, arm levied and gripped, and the awful radiating pain. They made it another few feet when Mirabella couldn’t take it much more, keeping her eyes on the ground she quietly spoke, "Do you think when we get back to camp they'll give us medals for our exemplary diplomacy skills?" A small joke that she hoped to the gods he knew was not at his expense but at the whole awkwardness of their encounter and engagement. Mira risked a glanced over at him, hoping that he wouldn't just drop her where she stood for simply speaking to him again.

The Roman edged slightly away from her and had she not been utterly and absolutely wrathful she might have found that humorous. It was yet another thing that rarely happened to her, at least in the case of guys. Normally she had to charmspeak them away from her, which sounded as tediously annoying as it was. "Respect? You're actually lecturing me about respect?" Mirabella's face betrayed the astoundment that she felt at the words that had just come out of this boy's mouth. "I spoke of your camp's love of sarcasm, lack of furniture, and resistance to leaving your boundaries and you, in turn, made fun of my hurt ankle, brought up the fragility of my camp and everyone inside, called me a princess and rude and then made fun of my camp burning to the ground while those inside perished." She felt as if she was on some sort of a reality show. Was this some awful hazing that they did to others? See who could be the biggest gluteus maximus perhaps? If so, he was certainly going to win.

Mirabella watched as he scooted away from her. Not completely left her like she had requested, which didn’t surprise her much. Apparently the pride of Rome wasn't as good as taking orders as he thought. He spoke about knowing Camp Jupiter was better and she gave a humorless short laugh, "What a surprise." He then asked if she had ever thought of being nice and had he been closer to her, she would have slapped him. She again found herself in a stupor as she listened to his words. "Me? I'm the one at fault because I don't fawn all over your self-perceived greatness? Because I don't think we are below you? Because I criticized you for sleeping in the grass in the middle of a field?" So be it. If he wanted to make her the bad guy he could just get in line with the rest of them.

She was done dealing with him. Mirabella thought about forcing the charmspeak on him again, but with his inability to take her suggestions earlier, she didn't want to waste the energy. She braced herself with her arms, slowly standing up while keeping her foot off the ground. She tried limping forward and found herself hissing in pain. She quickly grabbed for a nearby tree trunk and used it to brace herself before she took a tumble.

His name was familiar and foreign coming out of her lips all at the same time. She braced herself to hear hers, or gods forbid, Mira. She never liked being called Mira and rarely let the transgression go without comment or retaliation. She had let him though. As it turned out, she hadn't needed to worry about it. He apparently couldn't even feign politeness and address her. Not that she wholly blamed him.

She had hurt him and she knew that, but he was a mortal and he had no idea the kind of life that she led. He had no idea what kind of pressure and responsibility someone like her had to uphold. He could go about his silly little life with his main concern being what college to attend or where to live. She got none of those choices. It was hard not to be defensive about it all. As if she had chosen this life for herself. As if she had picked all of the choices that led to her becoming who she was today.

The dark brooding boy had the audacity to give her a once-over. As if he was judging how well she had fared without him. Almost involuntarily, her chin tilted up in defying arrogance. Sure she might be in flats and carrying a gods-awful backpack, but she was still Mirabella Desai, daughter of Aphrodite and well above the reproach of a mortal male. Even one who she had wrongfully jilted.

He answered her question with a sentence that didn't make sense and she crossed her arms across her chest, returning the favor he had given her earlier as she made a point of looking him over from head to toe. Unfortunately, it didn't quite pan out the way she had intended it to, her eyes catching on his muscular form before she snapped herself back to attention. "I don't see how that is relevant. If you're implying you're here because of it then I suggest you do some reading up on the hobby. You're missing the backpack and oh I don't know…" She made a point of looking around, taking in the scene of the highway, "Mountains?" She didn't dwell on why he was out there. It was of no concern to her. 

Sam commented about her backpack and she felt the irritation growing. The gods-awful backpack was an eye-sore. She lamented, if only for a moment, that she hadn't turned it into a Louis Vuitton travel case. Though that would have meant that she would have had to roll it all twenty miles by herself. She leveled her eyes at him, "There's a lot about me that you don’t know Sam Darnay." She let the slight offense at being called a hiker go. Let him think whatever he wanted of her.

His eyes moved past hers to look behind her and she silently prayed no one else from her camp was coming their way. She wasn't sure if she had the patience to deal with another person tonight. He asked her what she was doing, bringing up her home being far away from this place and she examined her nails in the moonlight, her voice casual, "Actually I'm not. California is much more conducive to modeling." She dropped her hand after a moment and looked back up at him, just a small glance, memorizing what he looked like now. Taking a silent mental picture of every aspect that had changed. "My car broke down and my cell phone died, if you must know, so if you don't mind…I'm going to use the emergency phone inside of the tunnel. Enjoy your hike Sam Darnay."

Mira, her head held high, began to walk towards him, moving to the side to casually walk past. That action was halted immediately however as he stepped her way, blocking the path to the tunnel entrance. She raised an eyebrow at the gall of the action. Had she not been extremely tired, hungry, in pain, and cold she might have had a little more patience with him. She might have feigned seeing someone or gods only knew what excuse to get her inside of the tunnel and away from his mortal eyes. She couldn't imagine what reason in the world he would have to want to delay her leaving his presence, but she didn't want to find out. The day had already been filled with enough trauma.

A small irritated sigh came out of her lips before she turned, placing a hand directly on his arm and looking him in the eyes, "You're going to turn the other way and let me go inside of this tunnel without any more questions." She had thought about leaving it at that, but at the last minute decided to double-down, willing any shred of endearment that he might still have towards her to listen to the words that she was saying and believe it. "Forget you saw me tonight."

Mirabella's cheeks reddened in embarrassment as the boy sat up, making fun of her injury and criticizing her lineage. She tried to will the heat away, but the pain was making it too hard to concentrate. Instead she straightened her shoulders, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of knowing that his words landed. "I am so sorry that my injury is such an inconvenience to you. Next time I decide to walk through your camp, I'll be sure to be on the lookout for the pride of Rome as they nap." She knew nothing of the camp, but even she knew that napping during the day wasn't exactly militaristic.

Before she could say anything or move to stop him, the boy leaned forward, his hand lightly touching her skin. She had asked him to call or summon a healer, but she hadn't thought that perhaps he might be one himself. His fingers moved over her foot and she winced only once as his touch sparked pain in her foot. Mirabella was waiting for him to heal her, perhaps speak a limerick that would fix the situation but it never came. Instead the boy frowned, calling her princess and asking her how she wanted to be carried into camp. Mira's eyes widened. "You cannot be serious. Can't you just heal me? I assume you're a child of Apollo?" If not, he certainly had explaining to do.

Mirabella was in no way, shape, nor form willing to entertain the idea of being carried by a Roman into camp for everyone to see. As if she was a helpless child. As if she was weak and pitiful. She shook her head, "No. Absolutely not." Mira was a prideful creature, not as much as some, but personally she would rather dine in the halls of Tartarus than appear to be a helpless vapid maiden that needed saving. Was she a beautiful maiden? Sure. Was she terrible at fighting? Sure. Did that mean that she fit the bill of needing to be saved or perish? No. A resounding no. "Just summon a healer. I can wait here." She crossed her arms, her eyes meeting his head on, refusing to give an inch.

Mira had no intention of backing down or giving in. Not with something like this. She was very well used to being thought of as helpless. It was no secret that she was regarded as a spoiled, untrained, demi-barbie doll around camp, but she didn't care. She knew better. She had her own secrets and knew what she was truly capable of. Talk and judgements never weighed anything against what she knew of herself. She could let all the comments and names go without a single care of them. She knew the truth and nothing else mattered.

This was completely different though. She was not faking an injury just to get a handsome boy to carry her somewhere. A tactic that she had employed a few times in the past. Nor was she playing coy and helpless. She had no control over this. She, quite literally, didn't have a leg to stand on. She couldn't be ushered into camp and carried like a child, affirming to others that they were right. Because it would mean that, at least in this rare situation...they would be right.

She would have nothing that she could hold onto to wave off their name-calling. Whatever was said would be accurate and she couldn't allow that to happen. She pursed her lips, knowing full well that if he decided not to listen to her plea there was nothing she could do to stop him. Mira swallowed her pride, her eyes still never leaving his. "Please." She didn't use her powers. Though the idea stayed in the back of her mind, a safety net in case he truly did not want to listen to her. 

Mirabella had been traveling with a small group of her siblings, all the way across the country, seeking shelter at a demigod camp. The camp was similar to their own, save the fact that they were Roman instead of Greek which Mira couldn't have cared less about. She had been standing with two suitcases that were filled with as many of her clothes, shoes, and jewelry that she could fit filled to the brim outside of the walls of her burning camp. There were no pictures, nor anything of sentimental value that she took with her. The only exception being a necklace that had been a gift that she still to this day couldn't bring herself to wear, tucked away and hidden. She had been in a state of shock as she had heard the news, got orders, and groups dispersed. She vaguely remembered something about differences, but she couldn't summon enough mental energy to focus at the time so she figured she'd find out for herself once she got there.

Mira charmed the clothes and a child of Hecate helped her charm the actual suitcases to all fit inside of a leather, vintage-looking backpack. She loathed the idea of having to physically carry the items but desperate times being what they were, she knew she had no other choice. The trip hadn't been remarkable. The group had easily charmed their way to an air-conditioned, chauffeur-driven, cherry-red SUV two miles out of camp to make the trip. It had been wholly uneventful until they had been twenty miles from Camp Jupiter's borders. The group had stopped to freshen up before their arrival into the new camp and Mira had wandered away from them to visit the coffee shop across the street.

She had apparently taken too long and found the SUV gone, her backpack on the ground where it had been parked. Anger seethed through her at the knowledge that she was now alone, with no vehicle, to carry her own things in a strange city. To make matters worse, it was rapidly approaching evening time. Mira had almost abandoned ship and called a cab to take her home, but there was no other home, so on she had gone with no other choice, her sole belongings on her back like a workhorse.

She was tired. She was hungry. She was cold. Her heels had given her blisters that were bleeding so badly that she had to charm them into flats. Her only solace knowing that it was dark and perhaps no one might notice. She hadn't been bothered by any mortals, thank the gods above. Though a few vehicles honked their horns at her as they passed. She wasn't sure how long she had been walking but night had settled in and she could only pray that she would find the place before the weather turned bad.

Mira walked and walked until she saw the sign for the Tunnel that she had remembered her driver mentioning earlier. "Thank Gods." She murmured to herself, relief washing over her as she got closer and closer to blessed sweet relief. As she neared it, however, she noticed she was not alone. There was a figure standing near the entrance. Mira stopped in her tracks, unsure if she should flee or take her chances.

The air around her was cold, chilling her to her bones, her stomach growling in protest and she decided that she had made it this far, she'd be frackinged before she let a mortal delay her further. She straightened up, head held high as she closed the distance between herself and the stranger who she realized was a male. She kept her eyes on him as she got closer, ready if he decided to do something foolish.

She looked behind her only once as she neared, as a car passed her. She shielded the light from her eyes so the headlights wouldn't blind her and as the car passed she put her attention back to the person in front of her.