BRIAR WOKE UP to see that she was in a bedroom with someone pressed against her.

She looked up to see Reyna, sleeping soundly. Briar's head was tucked under her chin, and her arms were around Briar's waist, their legs tangling together.

At the head movement, Reyna woke up, blinking as she registered where she was, before looking down and smiling at Briar. "Hey," Reyna greeted, and her morning voice was so hot. Briar felt like she was in heaven.

"Did I wake you?" Briar asked.

"It's alright," Reyna started tracing shapes on her shirt. "I like looking at you better than sleeping."

"You're such a dork," she mumbled, but leaned into Reyna more, if that was possible. "And here I thought that Jason was the cheesy one."

"You love it," Reyna hummed, and Briar could've fallen asleep again on the sound of her heartbeat alone. "You're the one dating me, after all."

"I'm only dating you because you're cute," Briar fought to keep her eyes open, looking at the clock. They should be getting out by now, but training drills can wait. They were already set on that, anyway.

"And?" Reyna prompted.

Briar turned so she was eye to eye with her girlfriend, tracing her fingers on her face to memorize the features on it — the mole on Reyna's temple, the hair that slightly frames her forehead, the feel of her lips. "And you're important to me,"  Briar whispered. "I care about you a lot."

Reyna softened, tucking a strand of Briar's hair behind her ear. "Briar . . ."

"There's no point of living if you're not here, Rey," Briar admitted, and she couldn't keep eye contact. "I'd follow you to fucking Tartarus. You're everything to me. I've given you every piece of myself that I can give. My feelings for you will never change. Not even if you poisoned me, or joined the fucking Titans. I'd go wherever you go."

"Who's the dork now?" Reyna smirked, her hand cupping Briar's face.

"It's still you," Briar leaned into the contact, as she usually did. "I'm just poetic. And as the poets say, I look like fucking art."

"Yeah, you are." Reyna stared down at her adoringly, and Briar felt her cheeks flush pink. Over a year of dating, and yet Reyna was the only person who could make her blush. "I'd stare at you in a museum."

Briar scoffed, rolling away from Reyna's grasp. "That's fucking creepy, get away from me."

"Seriously," Reyna reached out for her. She didn't roll back into her arms. "In a room full of art, I'd stare at you. You're pretty. Stunning. Gorgeous. Radiant. You know, like art."

"Stop it," Briar groaned.

"It's like, I can't even think straight," Reyna continued. "Because I just love you so much, you idiot."

"I love you too," Briar rolled her eyes. "Dude."

Reyna let out a soft laugh. "You say you love me then call me 'dude'?"

"I'm a poet, Reyna," Briar smiled. She couldn't resist it. "It's just what I do."

"I can't believe I fell in love with the biggest idiot," Reyna leaned down and captured Briar into a passionate kiss, and all thoughts of sanity left her mind.

But that wasn't real life. It was just a dream — a memory.

Suddenly, she stood on a mountaintop at night, city lights glimmering below. In front of her, a bonfire blazed. Purplish flames seemed to cast more shadows than light, but the heat was so intense, her clothes steamed.

"This is your second warning," a voice rumbled, so powerful it shook the earth. Briar had heard that voice before in her dreams. She'd tried to convince herself it wasn't as scary as she remembered, but it was worse.

Behind the bonfire, a huge face loomed out of the darkness. It seemed to float above the flames, but Briar knew it must be connected to an enormous body. The crude features might've been chiseled out of rock. The face hardly seemed alive except for its piercing white eyes, like raw diamonds, and its horrible frame of dreadlocks, braided with human bones. It smiled, and Briar shivered.

"You'll do what you're told," the giant said. "You'll go on the quest. Do our bidding, and you may walk away alive. Otherwise—"

He gestured to one side of the fire. Reyna was hanging unconscious, tied to a stake.

She tried to cry out. She wanted to call to her girlfriend, and demand the giant let her go, but her voice wouldn't work.

"I'll be watching," the giant said. "Serve me, and you both live. You have the word of Enceladus. Fail me . . well, I've slept for millennia, young demigod. I am very hungry. Fail, and I'll eat well."

The giant roared with laughter. The earth trembled. A crevice opened at Briar's feet, and she tumbled into darkness.

She woke feeling like she'd been trampled by a war elephant. Her chest hurt, and she could barely breathe. Her head shot with a searing pain at the elephant part. She reached down and closed her hand around the hilt of the knife she'd had in her pocket.

So Camp Half-Blood hadn't been a dream.

"How are you feeling?" someone asked.

Briar tried to focus. She was lying in a bed with a white curtain on one side, like in a nurse's office. That redheaded girl, Rachel Dare, sat next to her. On the wall was a poster of a cartoon satyr who looked disturbingly like Coach Hedge with a thermometer sticking out of his mouth. The caption read: Don't let sickness get your goat!

"Where—" Briar's voice died when she saw the guy at the door.

He looked like a typical California surfer dude — buff and tan, blond hair, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. But he had hundreds of blue eyes all over his body — along his arms, down his legs, and all over his face. Even his feet had eyes, peering up at her from between the straps of his sandals.

"That's Argus," Rachel said, "our head of security. He's just keeping an eye on things . . . so to speak."

Argus nodded. The eye on his chin winked.

"Where—?" Briar tried again, but she felt like she was talking through a mouthful of cotton.

"You're in the Big House," Rachel said. "Camp offices. We brought you here when you collapsed."

"You grabbed me," Briar remembered. "Juno's voice—"

"I'm so sorry about that," Rachel said. "Believe me, it was not my idea to get possessed. Chiron healed you with some nectar—"

"Nectar?" The term felt familiar, but it was lost, just like everything else in Briar's mind.

"The drink of the gods. In small amounts, it heals demigods, if it doesn't — ah — burn you to ashes."

"Oh. Fun."

Rachel sat forward. "Do you remember your vision?"

Briar had a moment of dread, thinking she meant the dream about the giant. Then she realized Rachel was talking about what happened in Hera's cabin. Not Juno. Right.

"Something's wrong with the goddess," Briar said. "She told me to free her, like she's trapped. She mentioned the earth swallowing us, and a fiery one, and something about the solstice."

In the corner, Argus made a rumbling sound in his chest. His eyes all fluttered at once.

"Hera . . . or Juno created Argus," Rachel explained. "He's actually very sensitive when it comes to her safety. We're trying to keep him from crying, because last time that happened . . . well, it caused quite a flood."

Argus sniffled. He grabbed a fistful of Kleenex from the bedside table and started dabbing eyes all over his body.

"So . . ." Briar tried not to stare as Argus wiped the tears from his elbows. "What's happened to J — Hera?"

"We're not sure," Rachel said. "Annabeth and Jason were here for you, by the way. Jason didn't want to leave you, but Annabeth had an idea — something that might restore his memories. And maybe yours."

"That's . . . that's great."

It really wasn't. Briar knew that getting her memories back or not didn't matter. If she was going to save her girlfriend, it didn't matter if she found herself again, or if Jason got his memories back, because he'd hate her. No matter what happened in the past.

She looked down at the ceremonial dagger in her sheath. Annabeth had said it was a sign of power and status, but not normally used in battle. All show and no substance. A fake, just like Briar. And its name was Katoptris, looking glass. She didn't dare unsheathe it again, because she couldn't bear to see her own reflection.

"Don't worry." Rachel squeezed her arm. "Jason seems like a good guy. He had a vision too, a lot like yours. Whatever's happening with Hera — I think you two are meant to work together."

Rachel smiled like this was good news, but Briar's spirits plunged even further. She'd thought that this quest — whatever it was — would involve nameless people. Now Rachel was basically telling her: Good news! Not only is your girlfriend being held ransom by a cannibal giant, you also get to betray your best friend and this entire camp! How awesome is that?

"He's not my anything," Briar said, and her voice sounded off. "We're just friends."

"Hey," Rachel said. "No need to cry. You'll figure it out. And I'm sorry for implying that you two were together."

Briar wiped her eyes, trying to get control of herself. This wasn't like her. She was supposed to be tough, and yet here she was, crying like a baby. "How can you know what I'm facing?"

You didn't even figure out that me and Jason were just friends, she thought. She was thinking about Jason too much. How about she thinks about Reyna? Yeah. That was nice.

Rachel shrugged. "I know it's a hard choice, and your options aren't great. Like I said, I get hunches sometimes. But you're going to be claimed at the campfire. I'm almost sure. When you know who your godly parent is, things might be clearer."

Clearer, Briar thought. Not necessarily better.

She sat up in bed. Her forehead ached like someone had driven a spike between her eyes. Apparently, tonight, her mom might claim her. Briar wasn't sure she wanted that. She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms.

"Don't worry. Things will work out — just maybe not the way you plan." Rachel reassured her.

"That's not making me feel better." Briar said.

Somewhere in the distance, a conch horn blew. Argus grumbled and opened the door.

"Dinner?" Briar guessed. She wasn't hungry in the slightest.

"You slept through it," Rachel said. "Time for the campfire. Let's go find out who you are."