"I'm not going to let you go alone," Dawn argued. "This isn't one of your missions. This is something else, and it would be better for you to have an extra set of eyes out there with you." She knew Nika would never let HER go alone, either, so the best she could argue for was to investigate together.

Nika frowned, considering that before she sighed. "Fine," she agreed quietly. "We'll go together. But I want your promise that if I tell you it's too dangerous, you'll come back. Okay?"

"I can't promise you that," Dawn replied. She couldn't even lie and say she would. "I can take care of myself, Nika. I'm not some helpless mortal. Besides, with your track record, I'm sure you could use someone to watch your back once in a while." She didn't say that a seer could be useful from time to time, as well.

"I know you can take care of yourself." Nika growled, getting frustrated. She didn't say that having Dawn around could be helpful, but she'd also be more worried about the other demigod. Instead she just shrugged.

"Whatever. Your choice. Make sure you have everything you need if you're still determined to come with."

Dawn nodded. Of course she would be prepared. She wouldn't leave camp without everything she needed to survive on the outside. And, although she would deny it to her grave, she grudgingly picked up a few good tips from the Romans about essential supplies and survival gear.

"I can be ready to go in fifteen minutes," she said. She looked at Chiron. "As long as that's okay?"

Chiron nodded. "Go ahead. I'd rather have you two investigating it." He couldn't leave the camp at the moment, since he had to keep track of all the kids. So he nodded, giving them permission to go.

Nika sighed. She might as well go see Jason, if for no other reason than because it would make her feel better. Even if he didn't heal her, which she was sure he would insist on.

"Alright," Dawn said. "We'll make sure to check in when we figure out what's going on." She kept a third kind of coin in her emergency bag now: Roman denari. Call her paranoid, but she wanted to make sure every option was open, even if she had to tap a Roman resource to do it. It was a last resort, though, and she would much rather stick with what was normal and familiar to her.

Indeed, Jason was waiting for Nika to finish up so he could heal her. She looked particularly beat up after this last mission, and he wanted to patch her up before she went off to do anything else.

The whole camp knew something was up, so Seth had been elisted to go talk to Dawn. He approached her cautiously, knocking on the doorframe.

"Dawn?" he called quietly.

Nika managed a small smile for him, slumping down to sit next to him. She was starting to ache, now that she wasn't in quite such a hurry. She didn't say anything, instead rolling her shoulders and doing a damage assessment.

Jason started to rub Nika's shoulders a bit, humming under his breath and working his healing magic. He didn't sense anything broken this time, which was a plus, but there was plenty of bruising to take care of, not to mention all of the skin-level damage. He worked steadily, making sure everything was healed properly.

"Yeah?" Dawn asked as she packed things into her emergency bag. She had the standard nectar and ambrosia, as well as a more modern first-aid kit and her pouch of assorted coins. Other things followed into her bag, basic necessities for the outside world. "Come on in, you won't be smote or anything."

Nika shivered and let him, relaxing and closing her eyes. She hissed when he managed to find a particularly sore, tight spot, but she didn't tell him to stop and she didn't swat at him, like she had once or twice before.

"You sure about that?" Seth moved into the cabin carefully. "'Cause I'm pretty sure your father still doesn't like me very much." He hadn't forgotten the almost being shot incident.

Jason focused on the spot, massaging it away as he worked his healing. He knew by now how to help Nika when she was all knotted up like this.

"I'm sure," Dawn replied as she finished cramming things into her emergency bag. Reaching to the end of her bed, she grabbed her quiver and slung it over her shoulders, securing it. "You won't be smote or shot." She ignored Kevin and Jake, who were sitting on their own beds practicing with their lyres; she'd already told them she was headed back to the outside.

Nika shuddered again and let him continue, her eyes slipping closed as she relaxed. "Thanks," she mumbled, not looking at him.

"You going somewhere?" Seth asked, looking at her more carefully. She didn't look as relaxed as normal, which was not a good sign. He briefly wondered if he and Jason were going to have to go after them again.

"No problem," Jason replied. After a few moments of silence, he asked, "so what's going on? And don't say nothing, I'll know you're lying." The last part was added as a joke, meant more to lighten the mood than anything.

"Back into the outside world," Dawn replied as she gave the string on her bow a quick test. Satisfied that it was still good, she unstrung the bow again and stashed it in her quiver with her arrows, out of the way but within reach. "We have a bit of a... security issue."

Nika sighed. "I was careless," she said quietly, still refusing to look at him. "A human saw me and got a couple pictures before I realized." She winced.

Seth hummed quietly. "Security issue, huh? What kind of security issue?" He followed her, watching her with raised eyebrows.

Jason was silent for a moment, contemplating that.

"The camp is protected," he said at last. "All of the younger ones will be safe. But there are demigods on the outside who might need help." He said it all calmly, not laying blame anywhere. He knew his sister was probably in on things already. "What do you plan to do about it?"

"Someone saw Nika," Dawn said softly. "When she was taking down a harpy. And there are pictures. That kind of security issue."

"Go track down the reporter," Nika said quietly. "See if we can do damage control, sully his reputation or something. I'll do whatever I have to." And she meant that. Even if she had to kill the human.

"Ah," Seth said after a moment. "I understand. I assume you have some kind of plan?"

"Is Dawn going with you?" Jason asked. It was really kind of a stupid question, but he thought he should ask anyways.

"I want to talk to a few of my people on the outside," Dawn said. "See if the shit has really hit the fan yet. If it hasn't, there's time to fix things. If it has... well, we'll figure something out."

"Yeah, she's going." Nika made a face. "I tried to convince her to stay here where it's safer, but she wouldn't listen to me. Go figure." She sighed.

Seth nodded. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Let me know when you know something, in case I have to go tell Chiron."

"She's like that," Jason said as he finished up the healing. "If I know my sister, this whole thing has her going out of her mind. She probably just wants to make sure nothing goes too horribly wrong."

Dawn nodded.

"I will," she said. "I'll do my best to keep you updated." She sighed. "I really don't like this, Seth. Nobody should have been able to see Nika and the harpy. The Mist exists for exactly that reason, and it failed. And if that protection is failing, what else might be going wrong?"

Nika nodded with a wry smile. "Yeah, I figured. Hell, this whole thing is bothering me." She shook her head as she stood. "We should get going, though. The sooner we go, the more likely it is we can do some damage control."

Seth nodded. That was a sobering thought, one he didn't want to dwell on too much. So he shook his head.

"Hopefully you'll be able to do something about it. Without getting yourself into trouble."

Jason nodded.

"Be careful, alright?" he said. He gave her a kind of almost-careless grin. "We won't be able to chase you back down a second time, remember." He hesitated for a second, and then leaned in and gave her a chaste peck on the cheek. Then he backed off to see what her reaction would be.

"We'll see what we can do," Dawn said. "I've got a few people in mind to talk to... Ironically, one of the girls I work with during the rest of the year. She's a total flake, but she's got an ear on all of the interesting gossip that happens ever, just about. And I'm passingly acquainted with a few demigods on the outside, although we usually have a don't-ask-don't-tell kind of relationship." She knew she shared the strip mall with at least two others, although she didn't know whose children they were and they never asked her about her parentage in return. In this situation, though... she would approach them and see what they knew.

Nika nodded her agreement to that. She could try to do that. But when he kissed her cheek, she just stared at him, her eyes wide, the 'deer in headlights' personified. She didn't move, didn't try to shove him away, and, most importantly, didn't try to stab him. She just kind of stared.

Seth nodded. "I might be able to contact a few people," he said speculatively, frowning a little. "I know a few people on the outside. Some older people, and a quarter-god." He shrugged. He liked having contacts. It helped him. A lot. But he would only call them if she agreed to it.

Well, she hadn't stabbed him. That was a good sign. Jason didn't try to kiss her again, though. Small steps.

"You're right, you should probably head out... My sister's probably about ready to leave," he said. He snickered a bit. "In that flamboyantly gold car of hers. She doesn't hate it the way she used to."

Dawn considered that.

"Not yet," she said after a moment. "Let me talk to my people first, and if I don't get anything, I'll let you know. Then you can talk to whoever you have." She didn't want to call in too many contacts at once if they didn't have to. After a moment, she picked up her bag and put it over her shoulder. "I should probably go... Nika's probably waiting for me."

It took a few more moments for Nika's brain to restart. Then she nodded, shaking her stupor off.

"Yeah," she agreed. "It's grown on her. Like a flesh-eating fungus." She couldn't help but grin at that one.

Seth nodded his agreement, getting up with her.

"Alright. Well, be careful." He didn't say come back soon, because he didn't know if she would be able to. So instead, he leaned forward and kissed her cheek. If he didn't get smote for that, he was freaking lucky.

Jason snorted.

"Exactly like that," he agreed, grinning as well. He still teased his sister about her eye-searingly bright car.

A faint, but ominous organ chord came out of nowhere, but nothing else happened when Seth kissed Dawn's cheek. Dawn glanced around before glaring at the ceiling, as if daring her father to do more than warn them. Her two brothers who were in the cabin looked around warily, but relaxed when nothing else happened.

"I'll be careful," she promised Seth.