ƬΉΣ DΛY BΣFӨЯΣ ƬΉΣ ΣПD (ΛGΛIП)

     THE LAST THING FELIX felt like doing was waking up. Actually, there were other things he'd like to do less. Mainly things centered around a certain quest. Although that too technically required him to wake up. So at this current moment the thing he dreaded the most was waking up.

     Still, he did. As he'd done every day since being promoted to centurion. It was a position he still didn't feel comfortable in, even after a year of having the authoritative role. He knew he didn't deserve the role. In fact, he despised the role. He abhorred authority of any kind, and being centurion was some sort of punishment. He assumed his father knew that and pulled some strings for that very reason, trying to keep his playful son in check. The role required him to wake up early, and he enjoyed his sleep.

But now he had a natural alarm clock. It was called anxiety.

     Most days he woke up afraid he'd slept in and missed morning meetings. Today he woke in a flash, although he had no reason to. As of today, he was no longer to attend morning meetings. Instead he was meant to leave on a quest he may never return from.

     With that thought in his head, he knew he was not getting anymore sleep. He pushed the covers off and decided he would get an early start to his day. Based on his usual sleeping patterns, he probably had an hour before he'd need to meet the rest of the group to set off on their quest.

     A chill ran down his back. He had been picked for the quest. He supposed it shouldn't surprise him— he was the son of Jupiter after all. His father expected things from him. Still, he couldn't deny there were other demigods better fit for a quest. He never took things seriously enough, as Nyla constantly reminded him. Considering the quest would most likely take his life, he couldn't imagine himself spending his last moments serious.

    A jolt of energy ran through his neurons until they reached his brain, lighting the light bulb inside his mind. If this would be his last time at camp, he might as well make it memorable. Everything was so grim recently, New Rome could use a little excitement.

Quickly and quietly, he dressed. He packed what he intended to bring on the quest. Preparing for the worst, he realized it would be smart to travel light. He slung his bow and its quiver over his shoulder and strapped his sheath to his belt.

He looked around at his unmade bed and his scattered possessions. In general, nobody in the legions had many belongings. When you left Lupa, you wandered to Camp Jupiter with whatever was on your body and whatever you might find on your way. If he lived in New Rome, perhaps he'd have more to take, but all he had was the medal he'd carried with him since he was a babe.

Taking one last glance at all the sleeping legionaries, he shut the door and went outside. It was still dark outside, but for the first time in a while he saw stars. The never-ending clouds had dissipated from the sky. Maybe this was some sort of message from his father.

     Nobody else was out this morning, which sort of surprised him. Since the quest had been announced, there'd been a lot of early risers. He often saw a girl with sleek blonde hair taking a walk in the morning. Many others sat on the hill, watching to see if the sun would return as Aurora crept her way over the horizon. Today, no one.

     The walk into town felt shorter than it had the day before. He always thought it was funny how perception of time changed once you'd already done something. Yesterday the walk felt miles long, today it felt like listening to his favorite song—over too soon.

Luckily for Felix, his duties were gone but his centurion keys were still with him. He had to be quiet as he unlocked the doors to the courthouse. He tiptoed up the carpeted stairs, making sure to miss the faulty floorboard, and entered back into the room he and his questees had been shoved into after the ceremony.

The waiting hadn't boded well with him, and he had got to snooping around. Behind a pile of rolled up carpets he'd found boxes of fireworks. Instantly he'd perked up at all the possibilities of this discovery, but then he felt defeated knowing he couldn't use them in the future. Well, that was in the past. Now he was going to use them to leave a lasting impression on the home he was leaving behind.

He stuffed as many fireworks as he could into two of the discarded boxes. At one point he went to put the box on a non-existent couch, dropping them all to the floor with a loud thud. That had gotten his heart racing, but luckily it was still too early for anyone to find themselves in the court house with him.

Stupid, he cursed himself. He had sworn there had been a couch there last night. Maybe he wasn't as alone as he thought. He'd better get going.

     The field of Mars was closer to New Rome than the barracks were, so he didn't run the risk of alerting any of the other Centurions. He did, however, pass a few adults on their way to start their day. At first they offered him a nod out of recognition or respect, then they raised an eyebrow at the two boxes under his arms. Luckily, no one asked any questions.

    Felix got to work quickly. He knew where a lot of the placebo mines were. It was hard to work in the dark, but wires were something he was good at. He finished up the prank just as the sun began to rise. Wait.

     "What the fuck?" Felix rose to his feet so fast he nearly passed out from the whiplash. He blinked over and over again, he pitched both his arms for good measure; hell he was about to jump into the fountain. He looked around, half expecting someone else to be staring confusingly at the sunrise with him. "Today just got really weird."

    Felix felt like if he diverted his eyes away from the sun it was going to disappear. He'd use that as an excuse for being late when he finally arrived to the sendoff. He definitely was not up to anything that would have made him late. That'd be preposterous. He wiped the dirt on his hands off on his pants for good measure.

     "Sorry I'm late," Felix said. The other three had already gathered atop Temple Hill. "I was a bit busy trying to find the sunscreen I threw out."

     "Don't worry," Jaz said. "I lost a few minutes soaking in the vitamin D."

"Yeah, maybe I should leave the suncreen behind," Felix said. "I miss my summer tan."

"I'd almost forgot it was summer," Jaz said with a sad smile.

     "Since we're discussing the elephant in the room," Elvira began. "Anyone got any ideas?"

     "Oh no, did the elephants escape?" Felix asked.

     Elvira rolled her eyes. "You know what I'm talking about smart ass." She gestured to the sun that was making its way into the sky.

     "Yeah, no clue," Felix said. "What about you? You know things."

     Wahyu glanced around the group individually making eye contact before he shook his head and positioned himself to look towards the tunnel.

"Well, off to a great start on this whole teamwork thing," Felix said with a clap.

"What's got you so cheerful?" Elvira asked.

"Eh— suns out, no obligations, what's not to like?"

"Our death sentence?"

"Don't be so pessimistic, Vira," Felix groaned. "This is the A team right here. Freaky fire boy, shocky-shocky guy, zombie girl, and the Irish."

     "Why am I a zombie?" Elvira asked.

     "I'm not Irish," Jaz said.

     "But you've got their luck," Feliz said with a cheeky smile.

     "Right."

     "Whatever," Elvira sighed, shaking her head. She kicked at a rock on the ground before looking around the grassy landscape. Jaz was laughing at something Felix said while Wahyu stood a ways off staring at the Berkeley tunnel. "What do you think fire boy is doing?"

"I don't know," Jaz said.

      "Why haven't they come to see us off?" Wahyu asked. He rarely spoke, usually communicating through sign language.

     "What?" the three asked.

     "The centurions," Wahyu said. "The Rite of Odyssey says that the hero's are seen off at daybreak." Nobody's here, he signed.

The other three looked around. Wahyu was right, as much as they didn't want to admit it. The observation hung uncomfortably in the air.

     "That's weird," Felix mumbled. "Morning meetings are definitely done by now."

     "Considering this day is already off to like a weird start," Elvira began. "I've been thinking about this all morning and how I could tell you guys without any of you thinking—"

     "Oh look," Felix said happily, pointing towards New Rome. "There's Josie."

     Across the field a girl with a brunette braid and a centurion helmet in hand was jogging towards them. For a moment they'd felt a sense of normalcy return, but why was she alone?

     "What are you doing, Aether?" she yelled when in range.

     Felix furrowed his brow. "Ummmmmmm. Waiting?"

     "For?" she laughed. "Nyla's not happy you flaked on her man. She's gonna put you to work today." Josie looked around. "Interesting group you've got out here... I hope you're not up to no good?"

     "We're— we're just— sorry I'm confused," Felix said.

     Josie nodded at him. "You've had better cover ups. Now come on, I'll catch you up during breakfast. You three head to the pavilion. That's an order."

     Josie grabbed Felix's arm and began dragging him back the way she'd come. Felix staggered behind her, looking back at the confused faces he was leaving behind. He threw an arm up into the air, just as hopeless when it came to an answer.

He barely listened to a word Josie said the entire walk to the pavilion. At breakfast he barely ate a bite. Something was wrong. The five long tables were loud with conversation, but he could see that none of his quest companions were feeling talkative. He wasn't either at the moment.

     "Is everything alright?" Nyla asked, shoving him in the shoulder to bring him back to reality.

     Felix felt like he was staring straight through her. He debated what his answer to her should be. "Feeling a little strange, but alright."

     Nyla never let her emotions show. That was what made her such a great leader. Felix's emotions were written all over his face. He was sure she knew he wasn't telling the full truth, but he had made sure that nothing he said had been a lie. "Then it's a rough day to have Elephant duty."

     Felix furrowed his brow. "Elephant duty?"

     Nyla nodded her head, then looked at him skeptically. "Yes," she said slowly. "The same chore you have every Wednesday morning. Are you sure this strange feeling is of the 'alright' kind?"

     "I—yes—sorry." Felix shook the perplexed expression off of his face and took a large sip of water. Wednesday? He wasn't the smartest of the campers, but he was pretty positive that Wednesdays came before Thursdays and Fridays came after. The lack of sun had thrown off everyone's circadian rhythm, but he could've sworn yesterday was Thursday. But with all the interruption who knows.

     "Well, if you need to visit the infirmary, I recommend you do it."

     Maybe he did need to visit the infirmary. Maybe he had a concussion. He didn't remember getting hit in the head, but isn't that a symptom of concussions?

     The bell began to toll and everyone began to get up and clear their plates. Felix's legs moved autonomously, following the crowds movements while his mind was elsewhere. His thoughts were consumed by the oddity of the situation. His intuition told him something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on what.

He went about his day as he normally would. Like every other legionnaire, he stuck to his duty and got his chores done. Although he wasn't happy about it in the slightest. On Fridays he had his easiest chores, on Wednesdays he was stuck in the Elephant pens cleaning up everything he'd rather not.

     Especially when one of the boys he was cleaning with dropped a bucket and spooked the elephants. They nearly trampled a newer recruit, but Felix's reflexes had kicked in and he'd flown her out of the way.

     By the time chores and lunch were over and they were on their way to drill practice, he was in a foul mood. At least he could let Nyla take over and he could sit back and try to blow off some steam.

Until he saw the field of Mars. That was when he remembered what he'd done earlier in the morning— when he thought he'd be long gone by now.

"Oh no."

"What?" Nyla asked.

"Hmm?" Felix reacted. "Oh, nothing."

     Nyla could tell something was wrong with him. First missing meetings, then acting strange at breakfast, now messing with her when he was meant to be listening to her. She gave nothing away, but Felix knew. And him knowing that she knew only made him more anxious. And when he was anxious he hovered.

Which made the first cohort anxious. They hated when Felix flew overtop of them. What they hated more was when he swooped down to shove and push them. Usually it was when they were out of formation, but today it was constant and none of them knew what they were doing wrong.

But Felix couldn't watch every cohort, and he had rigged a lot of mines. Inevitably, it happened. And when it did, Felix made sure he was not in the sky.

A whizzing echoed across the field coming from the far left. Above the heads of the fourth cohort a purple explosion of fire sparkled down on the legionaries. Then another, red this time, burst above the fifth. Followed by the third, then the second, then the first.

Felix tried to hide in the chaos of the crowd while the sky beamed with sparkling colors, painting the blue canvas like a kaleidoscope. Younger legionaries ran wild, not quite grasping the situation the same way the older kids did.

"Aether!"

Felix knew he was in for it. Nyla did not sound pleased.

"Heyyy," Felix dragged out.

     "Don't," she growled, palm raised in front of his face. "I have no idea what kind of mood you woke up in today, but I assure you I am in no mood for it. You will clean up every last scrap of debris on this field and then you will head to bed. I expect you present at meetings tomorrow. Early. We'll go over your behavior then."

     Felix could deal with punishment, that was fine. He'd had enough detentions in his life that consequence no longer ached him to the bone. No, his anxieties stemmed from the confusion of the day. Each of the centurions could be disappointed in him, he could deal with that, but what in hades hellfire was going on?

     His brain mulled over the events of the day as he cleaned. He thought the sun returning would be the strangest occurrence, yet everything after seemed to have a leg up on the event before. Something was truly wrong. Maybe he could pretend it wasn't while he was busy, but now, as he cleaned up his mess, he couldn't ignore it.

     Felix slept terribly that night. By the time the sun began to rise again he wasn't sure he'd actually slept. Sighing to himself, he crept out of bed and to the bathhouse for a quick shower, unaware it would be his last for a while.

     The hot water felt so nice against his skin he thought he could stay in there forever. Still, he held himself to his consistently lowering standards. The centurions were already mad at him for the prank, he better not get all the legionnaires mad at him for using up the hot water.

     "Felix!" a voice called to him as he trudged down to New Rome. It was Josie yet again. "Thought we could walk together."

     "You really want to be seen with the likes of me?" Felix muttered, feeling sorry for himself. His emotions were all in knots. He was prepared to be yelled at, to feel a mix of embarrassment and frustration, but most of all he felt a prolonging nervousness.

     "Why wouldn't I?" she laughed.

    "After yesterday," he sighed. "I bet I'm about to get eaten alive."

     "What happened yesterday?"

     Felix stopped in his tracks. "Josie," he began slowly, "You were there."

     "Was I? Well, it mustn't have been that bad if I don't remember."

     But why don't you remember? he wanted to yell. The sun was just over the horizon now, rising in the east. He looked back to the west, scanning over the camp and finding nobody out on the hillside watching to see if the sun was going to rise.

     "Can I ask you something?" He had to bite the bullet.

"Yeah, anything," she said with a shrug.

     Right, he told himself. Don't sound insane. But it was insane. The more he thought about everything the more insane he sounded to himself. Had that boy really dropped that bucket? Or did he just remember a memory from nearly two weeks ago.

     "What day is it?" he approached carefully. "I've gotten a bit mixed up with everything going on."

     "What's going on?" Josie asked, worried.

     "It's nothing to trouble you," Felix said, hoping his words were true. "I was just wondering... it is Thursday, isn't it?"

     "Day ahead," she corrected kindly. "Don't skip Wednesday. Can't forget Hump Day."

     "Wednesday," he spoke breathily.

     "Yeah," Josie replied, the sparkle in her eyes dimming. "Are you all right, Felix? You look pale."

     "Yeah, yeah, um," he stammered. "I'm just going to head to the infirmary real quick. A bit of ambrosia should do the trick."

     "Do you need me to come with you?"

     "No! I mean no, no I'm fine, really. Just need a pick me up. Can you cover for me at today's meeting?"

     "Yeah, I'll just tell Nyla you've stopped by the infirmary. Shouldn't be a problem."

     Right. It shouldn't be a problem. Because there was no problems. He hadn't caused a commotion. He hadn't skipped morning meetings (unless you count the one he was about to miss). And the sun was certainly rising in the east and bound to set in the west. Because it Wednesday. Wednesday the twelfth, the day before the world went to shit.

"Oh Pluto."

The moment Josie was out of sight Felix took off at full sprint. The anxiety rattling through his veins turned to adrenaline when he needed it to. He found a new excitement underneath all of the nerves.

As Felix sprinted through the camp, his heart pounded with a mix of fear and exhilaration. The implications of what he had just discovered were staggering, and his mind raced to make sense of it all. He couldn't afford to waste any more time. If today was really Wednesday the twelfth, then he had less than twenty-four hours to prevent the catastrophe that he knew was coming.

Bursting into the infirmary, Felix skidded to a halt in front of Healer Maris. The middle-aged medic looked up from her work, her eyebrows arching in surprise at his sudden entrance.

"Felix? What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost," she said, concern evident in her voice.

"I need ambrosia," Felix panted, his hands gripping the edge of her desk. "And quickly. Please."

Healer Maris frowned but nodded, moving to retrieve a small vial of the golden liquid from a nearby cabinet. "Here you go, but take it easy. Ambrosia is potent stuff. What happened?"

Felix pocketed the vial. His visit would confirm to Josie that he had come, Healer Maris his witness, and he'd have ambrosia for whatever come next, because deep down he knew this was his last day at camp. "Thank you," he said, his voice steadier now. "I... I just need a boost. There's something I need to do, something important."

The healer studied him for a moment, her expression skeptical but ultimately sympathetic. "Just be careful, Felix. If you need anything else, you know where to find me."

Nodding, Felix left the infirmary with renewed determination. He had to find the others.
They were the only ones who might understand the urgency of the situation, the sole campers who might believe him. He made his way back to the barracks, where he knew the legionnaires would be stirring in their beds.

Pushing open the heavy wooden door, Felix scanned the room. His eyes landed on Elvira, who was sitting up in bed with an expression of stone. He crossed the room in quick strides, ignoring the curious glances from his waking peers.

     "Vira, I need to talk to you. Now," he said urgently.

      Elvira turned to him, her eyes swimming with worry. "We're in a time loop," she whispered quietly.

     "It's really important— wait how'd you figure it out?"

     "You figured it out?" Elvira asked.

     Felix looked around, eyeing the sleeping campers to see who might be awake and listening. Even walls had ears in the legion.

     "C'mon," Felix instructed. "Let's talk somewhere more private."

     By more private, he meant the hillside next to cohort threes hanger. If anyone looked over, they'd simply see two cousins having a solemn conversation. They wouldn't begin to question them, although they'd definitely be nosy as to what they were discussing.

"You go first," Elvira said. "Mine might seem a little less ludicrous then."

Felix looked at her, his expression a mix of fear and determination. "I started noticing things yesterday," he began, her voice barely above a whisper. "People repeating conversations, the same events happening in the exact same way. At first, I thought I was losing my mind or got hurt or something, but then I started putting the pieces in place. And it all pointed to today—Wednesday the twelfth."

Elvira nodded, feeling a strange sense of relief that she wasn't alone in this. "I had a similar experience. I remembered things from what I thought was a dream, but they were real. And— well, I wanted to tell you this yesterday but you got swept away by Josie—"

"Tell me what?" Felix interjected before Elvira lost her train of thought. His expression was hard, a mix of concern and determination.

"I had this really odd dream— except it felt like a strange one-sided conversation. I thought I was going crazy when I woke up, and then the day only got weirder with all the repeating events. I was about to go the infirmary—" Felix huffed a laugh then— "But I decided against it. Then last night I had another dream— similar to the one before— except she told me she was on the same quest as us and had trapped us in a time loop."

     Felix listened intently as Elvira recounted her strange dreams, his mind racing with possibilities. The weight of their situation pressed down on him, but he also felt a flicker of hope that they might finally uncover some of the truth.

     "So, what now?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

     Elvira chewed on her lower lip, her brow furrowed in thought. "I think first we need to tell the others, maybe they'll be able to put some more pieces together."

     Felix nodded in agreement. "And after that? How do we even begin? We don't even know where to start looking."

     Elvira's eyes sparkled with determination. "Well, mystery dream girl had some ideas. But before we get hers, I have some be of my own."

"Lupa?" Wahyu signed, his face a blend of shock and disbelief as Felix and Elvira briefed him and Jasmine on their discussion. Then Elvira unveiled her plan. "You want us to track down Lupa?"

"Oh, so the time loop you can wrap your heads around but finding Lupa is unthinkable," Elvira remarked, shaking her head.

"Yeah, I'm siding with Wahyu here," Jasmine interjected. "That sounds really challenging."

"Well, nothing worthwhile is ever easy," Elvira countered. "This is a quest, after all. If we're going to locate a child of one of the rogue gods, it makes sense to start with someone who might have information."

"Lupa isn't someone you simply find," Wahyu argued. "If she wants to be found, she will be. And if she wants to find us, she will. We can't just decide to seek her out."

"Eh, why not?" Jasmine shrugged. "It could be an adventure. We could pay our respects to the old lady."

"I don't think calling Lupa an 'old lady' is appropriate," Elvira muttered, but Felix cut in, saying, "You were just against finding Lupa!"

"Ummm, I changed my mind," Jasmine retorted, pointing her lollipop at Felix. "It's called free will."

     After a moment of contemplative silence, Felix nodded, his expression morphing into one of determination. "Alright, let's do it. We'll figure out how to approach this."

     Elvira smiled, relieved to have everyone on board. "Great! I have a few leads we can follow up on. We'll start by gathering information from the newest legionnaires— those who most recently encountered Lupa or know something about her whereabouts."

     Wahyu hesitated, still skeptical but willing to trust his companies judgment. "I suppose it can't hurt to try. But let's be careful— subtle. We're treading into unknown territory here."

     Jasmine grinned, her adventurous spirit ignited. "I'm all for it! Besides, what's life without a little risk and mystery?"

     With their decision made, the group set out on their quest to find Lupa, unaware of the challenges and adventures that lay ahead.