Dawn snorted slightly, but otherwise stayed silent. She knew very well Nika was in deep trouble for that particular stunt.

"Thanks." Nika grimaced. "So, the Void."

"Yes. The Void is an entity that has very little power of its own. It leeches off everything and everyone around it, like demigods. It has done this once before, but there was no known way to destroy it. Let's see... the last time this happened, the gods tracked it down by sacrificing someone to it."

"Great, all we have to do is leave someone out for food." Nika sighed. "I could always do it, I suppose."

"I don't think that'll work this time," Dawn finally spoke up. She steeled herself before glancing at Nika and continuing, "It took Aaron, remember?"

"The last time, it took seven demigods before the gods caught on and put someone up for sacrifice," Julian said quietly.

"And we have no idea how many vanished before Aaron," Dawn pointed out.

Julian nodded. "But we still need some way to find it. It doesn't exactly have a home address."

"Using someone as bait would be easiest," Nika agreed. "The only problem is putting the sacrifice somewhere easily accessible, since we don't know where the damn thing is hiding."

Dawn considered that for a moment before gritting her teeth and swearing to herself. She almost wanted to bang her head against a wall for the thought, but she knew she would have to mention it sooner or later.

Nika didn't ask her what she'd thought of, but she did shoot her a slightly worried look. "Well, I'll figure out where would be best to set up and wait for it," she said. "Julian, we'll need some way to track me. And Dawn will need to stay here until I'm wherever it's going to take me."

And there was her window of opportunity, slowly shrinking.

"My brothers are going to have heart attacks if they ever hear what I'm about to say," she muttered. She sighed and looked at Nika. "I think I may have an idea. My father can see about half of the planet at an given time, I doubt even he could completely miss something like the Void. Anything the light touches and all that good stuff."

"Huh. Yeah, that's true. You don't have to, you know," Nika said quietly. "We could find another way." She knew Dawn would hate the idea, and she knew it probably wouldn't be a very good idea, especially if Dawn lost her temper with Apollo. But maybe, just maybe, she could get the information she needed and then leave those two to talk about their issues.

"And waste even more time?" Dawn pointed out. "I still want to punch him in the face for a lot of things, but finding my brother comes first." She sighed. "And I'm shooting you if you tell any of my brothers about this. I'll never hear the end of it."

"Oh trust me, I have no intention of telling anyone, ever." Nika shook her head. "If you think this is best, then okay, we'll do that." She glanced over at Julian.

"No way. You are not dragging me into this," Julian said. "Meeting Apollo once was more than enough for me, than you very much."

"I've never met him" Dawn said. "So this should be an experience." She waved her hands half-heartedly. She sighed a bit and bit her lip. "I wish Aaron was here to talk to him. They actually get along."

"I can always beat him into submission for you," Nika said with a half-hearted grin. "Hopefully that won't be necessary, since beating two gods in one night is just a bad idea all around."

"I'm not the one responsible for indulging your need for violence," Dawn replied dryly. "Besides, it wouldn't make me feel any better." She sighed. "I might as well get this over with. Maybe afterwards I can go back to hating his guts, we'll see."

"Yeah, we'll see," Nika responded. "Well, the sooner we get this over with the better. We can't stay here, though. Julian might get into trouble somehow, and we don't want that. Let's go find some nice park or something."

Dawn nodded.

"I don't want too many other people around, anyways," she agreed. "I get the distinct feeling it might turn into a shouting match, and I don't need to be a prophet to tell that would be a bad thing."

"I'd be more surprised if it didn't turn into a yelling match," Nika said dryly. "If it comes to blows, though, that's bad." She started walking back out to the car.

"Go about four bocks over," Julian called after them. "There's a park there, and you can go into the back of the park. No one will see you or come investigate."

"Thanks," Nika called back.

Dawn followed Nika back out to the car, trying to settle her mood. Her nerves were already shot. She definitely wasn't looking forward to the little 'meeting,' and she got the feeling that one of them was going to walk away from it in a worse mood than when they arrived. She just wasn't sure if it would be her or her father.

Nika drove them over to the park and parked in a space, not caring too much about her parking job since no one else was around. Then she got out and headed for the back of the park, where an slatted-roof gazebo sat in the center of a bunch of roses.

"You want me to stay out here?" she asked quietly. She knew she liked privacy when she 'talked' to Ares, but that's usually because they ended up pummeling each other.

"Personally, I don't care," Dawn replied. She paused. "Okay, it's probably best if it's just me... I'd rather nobody else witness the shouting match," she amended. She was stalling a little, she knew, but she hated having to talk to her father in the first place. He'd ignored her for 23 years, she could just as easily ignore him in return.

Nika nodded and stayed back, outside the rings of roses. "Just yell if you need me," she said, leaning back against a tree to wait it out. If she heard anything important she could always go call Julian while Dawn was hashing things out with Apollo.

Dawn took a deep breath, and decided to get it over with before she could talk herself out of it.

"Apollo, I summon you to human form," she said firmly. At first, she thought nothing had happened.

"You've grown so much. You look just like your mother."

Dawn jumped and turned around. Even though she'd never seen him before in her life, she knew who he was. His blonde hair was tied back, out of his eyes, which were the same shade of blue as Dawn's own. He almost looked completely normal, if Dawn ignored the quiver of arrows on his back and the bow in his hand.

"What do you need, sweetheart?" he asked. That snapped Dawn out of her stunned silence.

"You have no right to call me that," she said. "No right at all."

"I'm your father," Apollo replied.

"It took you two weeks to get around to claiming me!" Dawn snapped. "Two weeks!"

"Excuse me for being busy," Apollo shot back.

"Yeah, because being with other women counts as being busy," Dawn snarked before she could stop herself. Apollo gave her a warning look.

"Careful, Dawn."

"Or what?" Dawn asked. "You've already taken my powers, what else can you do? I want them back, by the way."

"I can't do that," Apollo replied. "And I am your father, I will have respect."

"Then earn it," Dawn spat. "I need my powers back. The Void took Aaron, and I'm not letting it take any more of my brothers." She tightened her grip on her own bow, trying to stop her hands from shaking.

"I can understand if you're upset--"

"Upset? You ignored me for twenty-three years, left me to flounder with visions I can't control, and now the world is silent on me," Dawn shouted. She was angry, she couldn't help it. "Do you have any idea how painful the silence is?"

"I do remember, in fact," Apollo replied coldly. "If all you wanted was to yell, then I have other duties that need attending-to." Dawn ground her teeth in frustration and glared at him.

"If you're not going to help me get Aaron back, then at least help us track the Void so I can do it myself," she said. She met Apollo's eyes defiantly. After a moment, though, she looked away.

"I suppose I can at least do that," he replied after a moment.

Nika was silent the entire time, not even quite daring to look at the gazebo. She knew about how that worked, since she'd seen this fight many times before. She just stayed quiet, listening to make sure there was no hitting involved. Then she'd jump in.

Apollo studied his only daughter for a moment.

"Dawn, where is your lyre?" he asked. The sudden, irrelevant question surprised her.

"Not with me, obviously," she shot back. "It's kind of useless at the moment, it would only get in the way. Not that you would care or anything."

"I do care!" Apollo finally snapped at her. "Don't you ever say that I don't care about my children. Yes, I know the silence hurts and the uncertainty makes you want to jump out of your skin, but I'm protecting you all the best way I know how."

"Then you're doing a piss-poor job of it," Dawn countered hotly. "Aaron is gone, Kevin and Jake are scared shitless, and I don't even want to know what will happen if something happens to the camp. How is making us utterly defenseless protecting us?" Before she could blink, Apollo was in front of her with a dagger point delicately resting at her throat.

"Don't you ever talk to me like that again," he hissed coldly. "Or I will kill you."