He opened his mouth to answer, but was actually glad that Percy kept going because he wasn’t sure he had any justification for his actions. It was actually kind of… nice to have someone calling him out on his cowardice. He’d been getting away with it for far too long.

His heart constricted at the mention of Nerida’s death. “I saw her… your awakening,” he spoke to Kira. “I was there. I’d been watching over you since you were little… but I’d failed Nerida. I was terrified of failing you as well. When you transformed and defeated that monster on your own, I realized you didn’t need me. I’ve just… been such a failure, and it was better if I stayed away.”



She couldn’t believe this. So her guardian had just been stalking her from afar and not helping?!

“Are you serious? I could have used you being there when I was chained to a rock in the middle of the ocean! It didn’t matter what you could do. Just knowing that you’re there—knowing that someone was there for me, hadn’t abandoned me like everyone else—” she choked on a sob and stopped short. It felt wrong to be baring her soul to someone she just met and who clearly didn’t deserve any time of day anyway.

Shaking her head, she looked straight at him. “I think you need to go.”

Narcissus seemed like he still wanted to say something else, but her glare silenced him. Finally, all he said was, “Thank you… for saving my life. Even if I didn’t deserve it.”

And then he left like a dog with its tail between its legs.

Kira watched until he was gone, wiped away her tears, and took a deep breath. She hated looking weak in front of anyone, even if this was Percy. She didn’t quite know what to say for a long time.

“So… I guess I owe you another debt for helping save my home.” She smiled sadly at him. “I promise this place isn’t full of troubles. One of these days, you’ll come for a visit and we won’t have to battle any monsters or restless spirits or deal with coward guardians.”

Percy was silent as Narcissus explained himself to Andromeda, and for a moment, he understood that kind of failure and the feelings it left behind. He wanted to distance himself form what reminded him of it, but at the same time, Kira had needed his support the most.

This entire situation was a self fulfilling mess, but there was really nothing that could be done to fix it now. All they could do was try to recover from it. 

"There are no debts between friends," Percy said, smiling back at her. He pulled her into a hug, attempting to give her some kind of comfort in what they had achieved. No one had really won today. "Now let's stop moping. I think you still owe me a tour of the rest of the city, since we got sidetracked at the bar."

Surprised but glad when Percy hugged her, she smiled and returned the embrace. She really was getting better at making friends and letting people into her life. It wasn’t so bad to trust others… especially when they proved dependable.

“One glorious city tour, coming up,” she said, managing to put some skip on her step as they left the street. At least they’d freed some people from Medusa’s curse—that was something. She took comfort in the joyful expressions on their faces as they streamed out, back to their previous lives.