I spent the next three hours of my life sitting in a hospital room until finally, I could get out. The Apollo kids don't understand what really happened to me, plus I was perfectly fine, so I just got a doctor's note. I wandered around to find his office but I ended up in front of a small building. It was made of bricks but very run-down. I walked in, thinking it was some training area. Oh, how I was so wrong...

It was a mini auditorium, with seats and a stage. I stalked down the aisle, breathing in the air. I felt a weird connection or spirit in here.

I stopped, seeing the huge stage. And I suddenly had the urge to get on the stage. I climbed onto the empty stage, standing in utter silence.

"Helloooo?" I yelled from the top of my lungs, hearing a loud echo. I giggled, walking behind the curtain. There was a whole backstage area, full of props and costumes. And there was this pretty red dress with dazzling sparks.

"Aww," I said, holding it in front of me, "it's so cute,"

Then I WHOOSH. A breeze of strong wind rushed through, leaving me cold. I got a bad feeling about this. I grabbed my dagger, holding it like how I did with the kitchen knife. You always have to love the kitchen knife. I heard an eerie sound from the back of me. I swiftly turned around, throwing the dagger at the target.

"Yikes!" the voice yelped as the dagger flew right through them, landing on an old prop. I gazed up to see a sixteen-year-old boy. But he didn't even look like a boy, he was see-through like a ghost. And had a large scar gulping him at the neck.

"Who are you?!"

"You must be new to Camp Unspeakable," the ghost-boy said, raising his eyebrow, "I'm Marcus Jones, son of—"

"Apollo! You're the kid who died with Alecia Keys!" I cried, and he nodded grimly.

"So, the news has passed on?"

"Yeah, but just to let you know, things have been running smoothly at the nurse's office," I said, trying to reassure him, "wait, aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"Gee, thanks a lot, whatever your name is!" Marcus said, annoyed.

"First off, my name is Amara Shine, secondly, WHY ARE YOU A GHOST?!"

"The actual term is shade and some scummy shade stole the obol that I needed to pay Charon with. I hope they die in Tartarus pit," he spat, "so now I'm stuck haunting an old stage,"

"Dang," I replied, "that's harsh,"

"Anyway, what are you up to here?" Marcus asked, I sighed.

"Never mind that, I'll meet Chiron tomorrow. Say, could you help me with something?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"Beats haunting a stage, let's go with some action!"

Okay, so it was less action and more trying to find out who's the Poisoner. I wheeled out a big whiteboard on wheels that I found, rolling it to the front. I divided the whiteboard into four sections with a marker that Marcus found. With Marcus' knowledge of the camp's mapping, we were set to go.

"How do you poison a rock?" I asked Marcus, "it sounds so simple but finding the answer is hard,"

"Well, you can't necessarily pour a poisonous liquid all over rocks and call it a day," he replied, scratching his head, "so it's poisoning its essence?"

"So we're basically saying it's poisoning the so-called spirit of the shrines?" I asked dully, "We're repeating what we've been saying! We're going in circles like some stupid mice trapped in a cheese-filled maze!"

"What ruffled your feathers?" Marcus asked, taking a seat, "let's take a break,"

I sighed, sitting down on the wooden stage. Great, now I'm talking to a ghost.

"What's the real reason you're here spending your time here on a haunted stage? It's none of your business to stick your nose in this drama," Marcus said, I scoffed.

"I dunno, I like mysteries?"

"I've known you for half an hour, and you say you're doing this for fun?" Marcus said, raising his eyebrow.

"Well," I started, " when you put like that—"

"What's the real reason?" he asked, I sighed.

"There was this boy in my school who passed out on the playground, he said, he's back for you in some weird voice. And then I had a weird dream about the Poisoner and some other person,"

"So?"

"SO?! IT WAS MY DREAM!" I cried, "You can't share dreams and have them happen in real life!"

"And that's why you want to know about this dumb crap? Because it might solve some unexplained trauma in your childhood and about your parentage?" Marcus asked all at once.

"When you put it like that, then yes," I replied, laughing.

"Good enough for me," he grunted, standing up, "let's go back to the board,"

We continued to try thinking of plot points where the shield can't protect so the Poisoner can get the poison from outside.

"This is pointless, you can't escape the shield! It's like a bubble!" I protested, throwing the marker cap away.

"If there was a hole in Camp Unspeakable, then wouldn't the staff know about it?" Marcus asked, scratching his head in confusion. I gasped in excitement.

"UNLESS THE STAFF IS THE POISONER AND THEY'RE FORMING A LEAGUE OF BAD GUYS!!!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air, "I did it! We found the answer—okay, so that's probably not the answer."

"Oh my Graces, we're screwed as Hades to think we could have done this!" Marcus groaned, rubbing his eyes.

"It's been an hour, we can re-circle back tomorrow," I sighed, waving goodbye, "see ya,"

"Oh, Amara!"

"Yeah?" I asked, annoyed.

"Can you not tell the Apollo kids that I'm back as a shade?" Marcus mumbled, I gave him a funny look.

"Why don't you want your half-siblings to know you're—er, alive? Well, kinda," I shrugged, Marcus frowned.

"I was one of the best healers at the camp, and the Apollo kids need to learn how to manage without me...And you said they've been doing well even without me," he explained. I wanted to slap my face. This guy is basically saying, I'm just going to leave my grieving half-siblings to figure out how to live without me and run the nurse's office without me. This man sounds like a jerk to me a bit. I forced a fake smile.

"Sure, of course, Marcus," I grinned fakely, rolling my eyes.

"One thing before you go," he said, I clenched my teeth.

"Mhm?"

"Your hair looks really familiar to me, reminds me of this god..."

"So, I'm told," I sighed, remembering Cora's comment.

"Oh, I remember now!" Marcus laughed, "oh my Graces, you're a spitting picture of her!"

"Wait...what do you mean by her?"