"I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact."~Claude Levi-Strauss

In all honesty, Reid felt like his skin was crawling as he and the rest of the BAU followed the teen through Camp Half-Blood, and it wasn't just from the group of teens and kids parting like the sea for Moses. The gods exist... literal gods! How omnipotent were they? Could they see everything? And how many of the myths were just stories to begin with?

Reid could hear the sound of hammering before the forge even came into sight. A tall, muscular boy was the first to approach the team, but his attention was solely on the young brunette guiding them. "Holy Hades, if it isn't Ashley Al'Ghul. I heard you went apeshit and like axed down twenty people."

Ashley raised an eyebrow. "I think you've been inhaling too much of these fumes, Jakey boy. Now, do you have what I asked for?"

He fished several random objects out of various nooks and crannies on the workstation. Ashley seemed to inspect each item. She was quick to set aside the coin and the ring before grabbing the black metal watch as if it were a bomb. "How does this work?"

The teen boy grinned and responded in what sounded like Greek.

Ashley grinned. "You guys might want to back up a little bit."

The BAU let out several different sounds of awe and disbelief as the watch transformed into a sword with almost impossibly dark metal. Even Hotch and Rossi seemed surprised, even if only for the briefest moment.

The teen created an X in the air before nodding. "I'll take her. How much?"

"10,000 drachmas with the bullets you asked for."

The brunette frowned. "How about 5,000 and I throw in free training sessions. Any weapon and style you want."

The boy grunted slightly. "Done."

Before anyone could object, Ashley quite literally pulled a briefcase out of the shadows and thunked it down. A flick of her wrist and the sword was a watch again. She grinned almost maniacally as she turned around to face the group. "We should head towards the lake next."

The group had fallen into awed silence for the most part. After a while, Ashley whispered something to a girl covered in a bright orange Camp-Half Blood t-shirt and fiery red hair who introduced herself as Rachel.

"I know that look." Morgan nearly jumped two feet in the air as Ashley appeared beside him with a bitter-sweet smile.

"Jesus lady, give a guy a warning! And what look? I'm fine."

"The 'I'm angry at the guys upstairs' face. Hell, I'd go as far as to say I invented it if it wasn't for Luke. Trust me when I say he won on that front."

Morgan lowered his voice to match her almost whisper-like tone. "I'm not angry at the Gods."

"Then why are you whispering? It's fine, most of us are, at some point or another. It's why I'm an atheist."

His brows furrowed together. "Aren't you part god?"

Ashley smiled cheekily. "Indeed I am my friend. But I find knowing they exist and having faith in them are two very different things. The only belief I have is that without demigods, humanity would've been wiped out a long time ago because we're the ones doing all the work to keep this species afloat."

There was a loud crack of thunder despite the clear sky. She scowled slightly. "Oh please, you know it's true otherwise you would've shot me down a long time ago. Anyways, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I know what it's like to be angry at the Gods, so if you ever need someone to talk to about it, I, of all people, would be able to understand."

Morgan sighed. "Thanks, kid. I might just take you up on that."

She made a clicking sound with her tongue and gave him a two-fingered salute before disappearing into the shadows and then reappearing towards the front of the group. They were getting closer to the water now.

Before Ashley's shoes even hit the water, a gigantic wave literally singled her out and soaked her from head to toe. Ashley gingerly removed a piece of seaweed from her hair. "Nice. Real mature, seaweed brain."

A boy with wild black hair suddenly shot out of the water. "Admit it, I got you that time."

The drenched teen raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "Only because I let you. Now, dry me off Perseus."

A dramatic shiver ran down his spine. "Ouch, Full naming me? Low blow Death Breath."

Despite his jab, the other teen ran a hand casually over her arm, and the BAU watched in fascination as the water seemed to vanish completely, as if it had never been there at all.

He turned to them with a charismatic smile. "Hey, I'm Percy Jackson, and if any of you call me Perseus, it'll be the last thing you do. Now come on, I'll show you to the Pegasi."

The rest of the day went by in a flash between the Pegasi, nymphs, and a rather competitive game of Capture the flag that seemed to leave Hotch questioning his life choices about letting Ashley out of prison, even if she WAS innocent.

If the game wasn't enough for Hotch to regret several of his life decisions as of late, the stories told around the campfire certainly were. For example, Ashley saw absolutely no problem with fighting a literal GOD at the age of twelve. She'd simply raised an eyebrow before proclaiming she'd do it again if given the chance. When the blonde girl next to her scolded her, the brunette rolled her eyes. "Wasn't it your  idea in the first place?"

"Technically speaking it was Percy's."

The son of Poseidon threw his hands up in an 'I surrender' motion. "Hey, how was I supposed to know she was going to try to drown a god with sand-bending?"

Reid winced slightly. "Wouldn't that technically not do anything too harmful? I mean, because of immortality and all."

A wicked grin worked its way onto Ashley's face. "No, but it is very uncomfortable. I heard Ares's still hacking up sand when he no one's looking."

For what it's worth, most of the team hid any horror at her sociopathic tendencies as the demigods moved on. Ashley's tales of the next year after that seemed fairly skewed compared to everyone else's. While her friends focused on the life-threatening aspects such as monsters and traitorous plots, Ashley mentioned everything else from Percy being turned into a guinea pig to Grover seducing a cyclops with photographic polarized proof as well. I̷n̷ ̷h̷e̷r̷ ̷d̷e̷f̷e̷n̷s̷e̷,̷ ̷i̷t̷ ̷p̷r̷o̷b̷a̷b̷l̷y̷ ̷w̷a̷s̷ ̷h̷i̷l̷a̷r̷i̷o̷u̷s̷.̷ ̷T̷h̷e̷ ̷d̷r̷u̷g̷s̷ ̷j̷u̷s̷t̷ ̷h̷e̷l̷p̷e̷d̷ ̷h̷e̷r̷ ̷l̷o̷o̷k̷ ̷o̷n̷ ̷t̷h̷e̷ ̷b̷r̷i̷g̷h̷t̷ ̷s̷i̷d̷e̷!̷ A̷t̷ ̷t̷h̷e̷ ̷v̷e̷r̷y̷ ̷l̷e̷a̷s̷t̷,̷ ̷K̷l̷a̷u̷s̷ ̷h̷a̷d̷ ̷t̷h̷o̷u̷g̷h̷t̷ ̷i̷t̷ ̷w̷a̷s̷ ̷f̷u̷n̷n̷y̷.̷

The next year, they had met Nico and Ashley had literally dragged a small emo kid who had been listening in out of the shadows. "Isn't my kid uncle a little heathen?", asked Ashley as they struggled to free himself. Eventually, Nico pulled a dagger out and her grip finally loosened.

Nico begrudgingly sat by her side for the rest of the night. Every once in a while, the other necromancer would grumble their input.

In the end, they all ended up staying overnight in the Hades cabin, which happened to look like it had been designed by a vampire in the 1800s. Everything was black with splashes of blood red here and there.