Arion's hooves hit the beach, sending up white sand in a mini hurricane. He stomped his hooves and whinnied triumphantly.

Persephone unwrapped her arms from Leo's waist and slid from the horse, sand immediately getting in her worn blue high-tops. She scrunched her nose up.

"He needs to eat," Hazel explained, after Arion had pawed at the sand, in annoyance. "He likes gold, but-"

"Gold?" Leo asked.

"Had this conversation, Tinkerbell." Persephone teased, knowing he'd 100% zoned out during their tour. She turned to Hazel. "I don't have any spare gold on me." She joked. Hazel didn't so much as attempt a smile. 

"He'll settle for grass. Go on, Arion. Thanks for the ride. I'll call you." Hazel had barely finished the last sentence before a trail of dust floated where the horse once stood only a second previous. Persephone blinked.

"Fast horse," Leo commented. "And expensive to feed."

"Not really," Hazel said. "Gold is easy for me."

Persephone furrowed her brows.

"Gold..." She started. "Easy?"

"Please tell me you're not related to King Midas. I don't like that guy." Persephone shivered at Leo's words.

Hazel pursed her lips, a regretful expression taking over her features. "Never mind."

Leo and Persephone shared a look. It was hard to talk to the girl. It wasn't exactly like Persephone could bond over their amazing dad, God of the Underworld. She wondered if Pluto was much different from Hades. She had no doubt that either version of her father would probably still despise her. Perhaps he cared more for Hazel. She hoped so. She didn't want Hazel to be treated like she was.

"Well... one problem solved, anyway." Leo brought Persephone back to reality. He was knelt on the ground, a handful of the white sand. "This is lime." 

"The whole beach?" Hazel asked.

"Yeah. See? The granules are perfectly round. It's not really sand. It's calcium carbonate." Leo pulled an airtight bag from his tool belt and dug his hand into the lime.

"Huh... convenient." Persephone muttered. She noticed his form freeze, staring at the lime, with a faraway look in his eyes. "Leo? Everything okay?"

He took a shaky breath. "Yeah." He reassured. "Yeah, fine."

Persephone shared a look with Hazel, who looked just as concerned. The daughter of Hades dropped to her knees and began scooping up handfuls of lime and depositing it into the bag. Hazel joined her. She nudged Leo's shoulders, trying to take his mind off whatever was bothering him.

"Think we have any buckets and shovels back on the ship? Make this easier." She smiled. He snorted at her.

"We could've made a sand castle." He agreed.

"A lime castle." Hazel joined in, a small smile on her face. Persephone grinned at the younger. "You are so much like-" 

"Sammy?" Leo concluded for Hazel. Persephone rose an eyebrow. What were they talking about?

Hazel fell backwards. "You know?"

"I have no idea who Sammy is. But Frank asked me if I was sure that wasn't my name." Leo explained. 

"And... it isn't?"

"No! Jeez."

"You don't have a twin brother or..." Hazel stopped. "Is your family from New Orleans?"

"Nah. Houston. Why? Is Sammy like a guy you used to know?" 

"I... It's nothing. You just look like him." 

Persephone sat back, watching, her brows furrowed. She didn't quite understand what was going on, but she felt like it wasn't her place to ask. Not yet.

Persephone cleared her throat and continued shovelling lime with her hands. Leo stuffed the bag in his tool belt, after Persephone had snatched it from him to make sure it was closed securely. 

Persephone sat on her haunches, glancing around them. Their surroundings were quiet, and she could just make out Festus' steam from the front of the Argo II.

"Festus said there was Celestial bronze close by, but I'm not sure where-"

"That way." Hazel pointed up the beach. "About five hundred yards."

"Uh, how did you-"

"Precious metals." Hazel cut Persephone off. "It's a Pluto thing."

Persephone thought that was highly unfair. All she could do was raise the dead.

"Handy talent." Leo nodded. "Lead the way, Miss Metal Detector."

 The sun began to set as they walked. The air was still warm, so she wasn't worried about catching a chill or anything. Besides, Leo was a walking heater, so even if it did get cold...

She still wasn't certain what the two of them were supposed to be. Friends? Friends don't kiss or make each other sword-rings. But they weren't together... that was obvious. Did Leo even like her anymore? Did he ever...

"You sure this is a good idea?" Leo asked Hazel as she turned inland. Persephone jolted frm her thoughts.

"We're close." She promised. "Come on."

Just over the dunes, they spotted a woman. Upon a boulder in the middle of a grassy field, a woman was sat, a black-and-chrome motorbike parked nearby. Each of the wheels had a pie slice removed from the spokes and rim, so that they resembled Pac-Men. She didn't need to be a mechanic to wonder how that was supposed to drive smoothly.

The woman had a fuller frame, dark brown, shoulder-length hair, and her outfit consisted of a black leather biker's pants, tall leather boots, and a blood-red leather jacket. What seemed to be broken shells lay scattered around her feet, and she was pulling more from a sack and splitting them open, letting them join the ever growing pile. 

Persephone and Leo hesitated on getting closer, but Hazel didn't falter for a second, forging on ahead of them. Persephone shot Leo a look that said 'please don't be another weird goddess'. He shrugged and nodded at Hazel, trailing after her, not exactly overjoyed either.

As they got closer, Persephone realised the broken shells were not broken shells at all. They were fortune cookies. She kept pulling new ones from a sack and cracking them open, reading the fortunes inside. Most were added to the pile at her feet, some made her mutter unhappily. She would swipe her finger over the little strip of paper, like rubbing something out from a whiteboard, than magically reseal the cookie and toss it into a nearby basket, which Persephone hadn't seen until now.

"What are you doing?" Leo asked as they got to the woman.

She looked up and Persephone gripped Leo's hand so hard that she thought she might break it. 

"Aunt Rose?" She faintly heard Leo ask the woman. Persephone felt her chest tighten, her lungs not drawing in a deep enough breath. 

"Is that what you see?" She saw the woman ask. "Interesting. And you, Hazel, dear?"

"How did you-" Hazel stepped back in alarm. "You- You look like Mrs Leer. My third grade teacher. I hated you."

The woman cackled. "Excellent. You resented her, eh? She judged you unfairly?"

"You- She taped my hands to the desk for misbehaving." Hazel said. "She called my mother a witch. She blamed me for everything I didn't do and- No. She has to be dead. Who are you?"

The woman just smirked and turned to Persephone, which felt like a punch to the gut. Leo watched the colour drain from the girl's face, her grip tightened on his hand- which he hadn't thought was even possible.

"And you?"

"Mom." She whimpered.