★彡 [ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴀ ɴᴜɪꜱᴀɴᴄᴇ ] 彡★

A tired sigh escaped Ameris' lips as she glanced around with an impassive expression plastered across her face. Many couples filled the local bar, dancing the morning away, surprisingly, to the music that echoed through the air with their partners while a couple others sat around the corner in the booths, chatting away pleasantly.

She often came here when she wanted to clear her mind from everything, not the best place, but it stuck. Ameris played around with the glass of her cold lemonade drink. There was no point in her drinking since alcohol had no effect on her, and they unfortunately didn't sell any tea much to her dismay.

She felt someone take a seat beside her, ordering a drink from the bartender.

She let out an internal sigh before turning to face the man she'd been hoping to come after her. "You're a long way from home, Sebastian."

"And you're a hard person to track down, Ameris," he greeted.

"What brings you here?" Ameris asked him.

"You know exactly why I'm here," Sebastian answered, anger evident in his tone. "You're working for the Olympians now?"

"I do not work for anyone," Ameris corrected, a hard look in her eyes.

"We nephilims don't get involved with godly problems. You should know better than anyone else," Sebastian stated.

"Are you questioning my actions?" Ameris asked, raising her eyebrows in a questionable manner. "Need I remind you, Sebastian, that I gave you a purpose into this existence. And I can just as easily pluck you out of it."

Sebastian gritted his teeth. "And need I remind you about Davina? Artemis murdered her, Ameris. They ruined your life, and yet you still side with them? Why not bring an end to their reign? Strike them down and have your revenge?"

Ameris inhaled a deep breath, placing her drink down on the table. She sensed immediately that the rest of the mortals in the bar had left and even the bartender was nowhere to be found. Instead, they were replaced by a group of nephilims now in the room, Sebastian's people.

Her golden eyes darkened considerably as she stared at Sebastian, betrayal evident in her gaze. "You sided with Kronos."

His guilty silence gave her the answer.

Ameris let out a cold chuckle. "You're angry at me for siding with the ones that killed my brother's wife, and yet you side with the same being that killed Alexis. Quite hypocritical, don't you agree?"

"Join us, Ameris," Sebastian offered. "We'll end those gods together. And Kronos has promised he won't lay a single hand on us nephilims. He can even bring Alexis and Davina back."

"You know, if there's one thing I've come to hate the most throughout the time," Ameris began, grabbing him roughly by the collar and yanking him closer to her, their faces mere inches away from one another. "It's people like you who become disloyal to me."

"It doesn't have to come down to this," he warned.

"You're making a great mistake if you think you and your people can beat me, Sebastian," Ameris stated, and the calmness in her tone sent chills down his spine. "But you can't."

"You underestimate us," he stated.

"Suit yourself." Ameris shrugged before roughly throwing him to the side.

She then turned her attention to the group of nephilims standing in front of her in a defensive stance. Smirking, she raised her arms up in a waiting manner. "Shall we?"

Their nostrils flared at the display of arrogance before leaping towards her at high speed. Not even ten seconds had passed before all fifteen of the fairly new nephilims were on the floor, lifeless, having killed every single one of them mercilessly.

Ameris then made her way over to Sebastian, who quickly backed up against the wall, his eyes wide in terror and arms up in a surrendering manner. "Ameris, look, we can talk this out. I'll do anything, please-"

"Anything?" Ameris asked.

He nodded hastily. "Anything."

She grabbed him roughly by the throat and heaved him up, a sadistic smile on her face. "Then perish."

And with those last words, she painfully snapped his neck, a sickening crack echoing as he joined the rest of the bodies on the floor.

"Tsk, what a nuisance."

She dusted herself off, straightening her navy trench coat before navigating her way through the bodies and leaving the bar.

A month had passed since Thalia's tree had been poisoned and the camp borders began failing day by day, gaining the attention of the monsters who continually attacked. And on top of that, Chiron was fired for it which made Ameris' blood boil.

It took all of the centaur's willpower to stop the hybrid from making Dionysus fade from existence, who was just merely annoyed and bored from it all, and Tantalus, who was basically just another Dionysus.

She returned to camp in around an hour, mentally preparing herself for another long day for border patrols with countless monsters trying to charge through the borders over and over again.

And of course the Olympians were no help as usual. Ameris wasn't even fazed.

At least Clarisse had been issued a quest to retrieve the golden fleece to heal Thalia's tree. While Percy, being Percy, sneaked out after the fleece as well with Annabeth and their apparent half-brother, Tyson.

Stepping through the border, she was met with the smell of strawberries. It was a welcoming scent for, yet there was always an eerie sense of warning to Ameris.

She knew when she stepped through this border a year ago, she was back again under the boot of the gods, forced to play the role of hero once again, something she did not miss in the slightest.

Yet she knew she had no choice. The lives of hundreds of demigods depended on it.

If the Olympians weren't going to do anything, she knew she had to.

Strolling through the path, she instantly caught sight of a fire-breathing bull charging towards a seven year old girl, who was unaware of the monster nearing her and was busy marvelling at the pretty flowers growing along the pathway.

Ameris sprinted towards the young light-brown haired girl, managing to grab her protectively and shielded her from the fire spewed at them. She clenched her jaw from the insane heat before tilting her head towards the creek flowing nearby, willing the water inside the monster and drowning it.

"Are you alright?" Ameris asked softly.

The young girl trembled slightly in the older demigod's embrace as her wide emerald eyes glanced up to meet Ameris' pensive golden ones, nodding. "Thank you."

"You got hurt for me." The young girl frowned worriedly, noticing Ameris' torn left sleeve of her coat and the blood that cascaded through her freshly charred flesh on her left arm.

The dark-haired hybrid smiled warmly at her, ignoring the pain that spread through her whole left arm which didn't feel much at all at this point. Her good arm reached forward to ruffle her hair lightly. "It's not as bad as it seems, child. Don't worry about it. What's your name?"

The young girl's eyes lit up, grinning at her. "Harper."

"That's a pretty name, Harper." Ameris smiled. "Now why don't you head back towards your cabin, this place is dangerous right now with all the monsters roaming around, okay?"

"I will! Thank you!" Harper nodded, beaming at Ameris and gave her a quick hug before running off.

Ameris chuckled lightly to herself, fondly watching the young girl run off before pushing herself to her feet. She turned around upon sensing another presence nearby, catching sight of Katie, who grinned teasingly at her as she walked up to the hybrid.

"Who knew you were a total softie?" Katie smirked. "I'm so telling Silena and the others."

Ameris cast a glare at the daughter of Demeter. "If you say a word, I will deny it."

Katie merely grinned, and after a moment, Ameris broke into a small smile too. "How are the patrols going?"

The daughter of Demeter sighed tiredly at the question. "Hectic. We've been killing monsters non-stop since morning."

"Why don't you and the others take a break now? I'll take it from here," Ameris told her.

"You sure?" Katie asked. "We'll give you a hand."

"I'm sure." Ameris nodded. "Take a break, and tell the others as well. You guys deserve it. I'll handle it."

"Thank you," Katie said gratefully before running off to inform the others.

Ameris watched her leave before turning her attention back at the borders, already sensing another horde of monsters charging her way.

It was definitely going to be another long day.