For once I'm glad to announce, I've woken up headache free. My eyes opened, and there was a soft yellow light melting into the room I was in. I was also in a bed, in pajamas, with a few bandages wrapped around my cuts and bruises. I would have been more miffed about the change of clothes had they not been really comfortable pajamas. They were white with little birds on them, cute.

      I squinted until my eyes adjusted, then took in my surroundings. There was still a hazy fog in my brain, like someone had clogged up my train of thought with cotton balls. Each new object processing was like a sip of cold water first thing in the morning. I was on a bad, a very fancy bed, with white sheets and a thick blanket on top. There were curtains on the window, a side table to my right, with a wash cloth and a bin of water sitting on top. The room was very large and there were other beds with people in them, most asleep, some were chatting happily with other humans in chairs next to them. Some of the beds, like the one to my left, was closed off by curtains. I recognized something in this midst of confusing unfamiliarity, the familiars. They were everywhere.

     "Hey sleepy head," a voice said, full of warmth, from behind me.

     There, on the back of my bedframe, perched my wonderful little green parrot.

     "Peri!" I cried, my voice cracked from misuse.

     "Take it slow, kiddo," he hopped into my lap for scratches.

     "Am I dead?" I asked.

     He laughed, "no, thankfully, but you tired your best, didn't you? Gave us all and awful scare. This is the hospital at the Capitol. Before you ask, yeah, you've been out for like a week. Felix is stable, he's in the bed over there," he glanced to the curtained off bed to my left, "Percy's back on the throne, everyone knows about Thanatos and they're digging up her grandmother's blueprints from the archives. Everyone else is okay, I think they're waiting for you to really talk about what happened."

     "Where are they?" I inquired, Kosmos, I really wanted to see them again. We barely got time to catch up.

     "They should be here soon, they visit you every day around lunch time, which is soon because a few minutes ago one of the nurses dropped this off for me." He had on foot on a bowl of cut up fruit.

     "Craig!" A voice that was very evidently Ryan shrieks from down the hall, cutting into the soft chatter of the room.

     The next thing I know I'm tackled, Ryan squeezes me tightly. "You're awake!"

     "I am!" I laughed.

     There are my friends all lined up around me now, Aurora's knowing grin, Jason's smirk, Sky's only slight relief (she knew I was going to be fine), and Eryan beaming like a ray of sunshine. We were finally all together again, like a family. My heart was beating so fast and I clenched my bedsheets, unable to contain how happy I was. This... was my family.

     "Alright Ryan, my ribs hurt," I gasped, patting her shoulder.

     She let go, still grinning. "Guess what! Your mom is going to be here soon, and the chief of your Pack! We got a letter from them yesterday."

     "My-my mom?" My voice cracked again, the thought of seeing her again had my eyes swelling. "And Felix's mom? I... I have to heal him before—"

     "Absolutely not." Aurora crossed her arms, and Ryan stopped me from getting up, "you're not allowed to do anything for a while."

     "Too much magic Craig, you gotta detox," Jason explained.

     Just him speaking about magic made everyone go quiet. I realized the full extent of what Peri meant when he told me the group hadn't talked about what happened yet.

     "Ah..." Jason rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess we don't have an excuse to avoid it anymore."

     "You're like Eddie," Ryan finished for him, holding out her palm, "you can hold fire."

     "A Daímonas, yes." Jason sighed, "um, I understand if you guys don't want me hanging around anymore. I've gotten my fill of adventure, we got Craig's friend back, I'll leave."

     I remembered the pain of his rejection, but it was dull now. A week ago, I might have wanted him to leave us, but now... I didn't. I didn't want Jason to go back to his lonely, empty house and hide from the world again. I watched blossom on the island, I'd witnessed him challenge everything he knew and come out stronger for it. I didn't want him to be sad anymore.

     "You don't have to leave quite yet," I said.

     "Yeah," Eryan was already prepared to back me up. "I for one, don't care. Sure, you've been a little annoying sometimes, but who isn't? I like having you guys around. You're like an older brother."

     "Ugh, same." Sky rolled her eyes.

     "Yeah," I said quietly.

     Jason visibly cringed, but I smiled to let him know it was all right.

     "I've been talking to the Queen," Aurora explained, satisfied that we had moved on. "She gave me an internship, for advisor. I'm going to be here for a while too."

     "I'm staying," Ryan said, needing no explanation.

     "I'm still keeping tabs on Katestra," Sky explained. "Craig attracts them like flies to sugar water."

     Eryan hesitated, "I... don't have much of a place to go home too."

     I nodded to her reassuringly, "it's okay, you can come with me back to my Pack, they'll be okay with it, you're canine."

     Eryan let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much."

     I slid my legs off the side of the bed, Ryan held her hands up in confusion, "what are you doing?"

     "We have plenty of time to talk, later." I huffed, "I want to see my best friend."

     She bit her lip, then helped me stand on my wobbly legs. Aurora pulled aside the curtain. I sat down in the chair next to his bed, and let out a deep breath, maybe one I had been holding in for a while.

     There he was.