~* You Ask of My Companions ~ *

5

"Can't you stay the night?

Poseidon, who was in the middle of buttoning up his coat, gave a pause. He finished the last few buttons, leaning over to search for his shoes, without making a reply.

"Poseidon."

The voice was amused now and Poseidon looked up with a grin. His date raised an eyebrow, her hair loose and cascading over her shoulders as she watched him prepare to leave.

"I had a smashing time," he avoided, leaning over to kiss her.

She tried to pull him down for a long, deep kiss but he pulled away. She pouted and he laughed warmly, grabbing his shoes from their place discarded hastily by the door.

"We will do this again sometime," he promised.

"Stay," she repeated, holding her hand out in invitation.

"I would love to and I am very tempted, believe me, my lady," Poseidon chuckled even as he checked his pockets and headed for the door. "But the boy will be quite upset with me. I am already later then I said I would be."

The father card usually did the trick and sure enough, she sighed, leaning back so her dark curls fell over her eyes. She certainly was pretty, but hardly worth the trouble of an irritated Percy.

"Dutiful father rushing back to tend his young."

"Yes, that's the idea. Now, Daddy's gotta run. But I'll call you."

"You better."

He probably would call, Poseidon thought as he left the apartment and hailed a taxi. He whistled the whole way home, generously tipping the taxi driver in a manner that was undoubtedly in excess and was still whistling when he opened the door to the boat. The sitter, Poseidon's own semi-reliable nephew Hermes, rose an eyebrow at his cheerfulness.

"Good date then?" his nephew asked with a crooked grin from his place at the kitchen table, a laptop open before him.

He was quick to close the top when Poseidon drew closer but the biologist didn't dwell long on the secrecy; he was better off not knowing, undoubtedly. As long as Percy was in one piece, Hermes could do whatever he liked, it was of no concern to Poseidon. He would even applaud any illicit activities if they angered the sister-in-law from hell, Hera.

"Indeed," Poseidon agreed, throwing his coat on the kitchen table and spinning the keys on his finger. "How was the heathen?"

"Oddly quiet. He stayed in his room with his . . . pets, the whole time." Hermes rose an eyebrow at the word pets. "It's a rather . . . eclectic bunch."

"Yeah, don't ask," Poseidon dismissed. "How much do I owe you?"

They made their exchange and Poseidon bid Hermes goodnight before checking in on Percy. He found the boy as indicated: in his bedroom, surrounded by his creatures. Percy sat cross-legged on the bed, hair damp from a shower. Grover curled up at his side, head rested on the boy's knee as his owner gently stroked him behind an ear. Nestled on Percy's other knee was the new hamster, eyes closed as Percy ran a single finger over its head, looking far more content than any rodent had a right to be. Even Medusa's cage had been moved closer.

"Hey, Perce, you still up?" Poseidon asked, lightly rapping his knuckles against the door despite it already being ajar and seeing the boy obviously awake.

"Yeah . . . you're late," Percy muttered without looking up.

Poseidon hummed, expecting the reply. "Little hamster thing settling in alright then?"

"Yeah." Percy was silent for a moment, continuing to pet the hamster thing. Grover gave a little baa, nosing at Percy's pants. "We're out of milk. And Medusa needs more crickets."

"Yeah, okay, we'll go to the store tomorrow." Poseidon frowned, watching Percy's rhythmic petting and dull eyes. "You feeling alright, kiddo?"

"Yeah. Think I'll go to bed."

"Okay."

Poseidon watched Percy gently shake Grover off, curling Chimera close, holding the little rodent over his heart as he shuffled over to the creature's cage. Grover stayed on the bed, baaing softly as he and Percy's father watched the boy gently set Chimera in his cage. Percy, with more delicacy than his gangly preteen frame suggested he could, ran a finger over the minute hamster's head before pulling away. Percy locked the cage, his fingers curling around the metal bars and sticking inside. Chimera gave the fingertips a sniff before turning around on its little spherical hindquarters and making a beeline for the annoying plastic wheel. Percy gave a little sigh, his fingers falling back down to his side.

He turned, jumping a little when he spied Poseidon still lurking in the doorway.

"Why are you still here?" Percy demanded, trying to cover his surprise with anger as one hand dramatically flew up to his throat.

Poseidon ignored the question, scrutinizing the boy's scowling face instead. "Are you sure you're okay? Did Hermes say something stupid?"

Zeus's children were known to cause ruckus.

"I said I was fine," Percy repeated, scuffing his feet against the floor as he turned around. "Tired. Night."

His angry, clipped words did little to assure his father and indeed contradicted the boy's own words but Poseidon allowed the prepubescent moodiness and retreated to his own room. Percy would sort himself out or eventually come complaining so Poseidon could fix whatever was causing his moodiness. Always had to do things the hard way, that boy. He gets that from you, a Sally-like voice whispered in his mind. Poseidon shook his head, a reluctant smile tugging on his lips.

"Alright, kid, goodnight."

As an independent researcher (and current federal scientific expert) Poseidon's schedule was as fluid and ever-changing as the ocean itself. He woke an hour before dawn and began his day. After brewing a strong pot of coffee, he braved the cool ocean air to take some readings and check his equipment. He sat on the helm of the boat, bare feet dangling in the water, coffee balanced on one knee and a laptop on the other as he cataloged the collected data. Dawn had just begun to break, the sky blushed in pink, when a figure plopped down next to him.

"I need milk for my cereal."

Poseidon frowned, coffee suspended en route to his mouth. The figure sounded like Percy, it looked like Percy, but it was barely a quarter past five and Percy never rolled out of bed until well after nine. Poseidon reached out, coffee cup still in hand, and nudged the phantom.

"Cut it out!"

Hm. Well, it was probably Percy then. Poseidon sniffed, returning the coffee back to its intended target, i.e. his mouth. He'd need the caffeine to deal with whatever made Percy get out of bed so early.

"What on earth are you doing up so early?"

"We're basically out of cereal too. And Medusa still needs crickets."

Kids. Honestly, there was no making sense of them. Poseidon drained his coffee. Percy plucked at the hem of his almost too short shirt, impatiently watching him. Poseidon swore he bought the damn shirt only a few weeks ago. The kid was growing like a weed.

"Still alright kid?" Poseidon asked the oddly silent boy.

"Fine. Hungry."

"Alright, we'll go to the store then," Poseidon said lightly, setting his equipment aside.

It took nearly twenty minutes to pack all the equipment away and his son was still uncharacteristically silent throughout the entire affair. He glanced at Percy out of the corner of his eye and found the boy gazing out at the calm ocean waves, eyes large in the budding sunlight. Poseidon casually reached out under the guise of using Percy's shoulders to balance himself as the boat rocked, letting his hand linger on Percy's neck before running his hand up to pat the boy on the head, an elaborate scheme to try and nonchalantly check the boy's temperature. He felt normal. Percy made a face but didn't object to the invasion of his personal space, which only made Poseidon frown harder. Dads not-so-subtly checking your temperature was 'uncool' he was pretty sure, and unnecessary touching in general was frowned upon by most prepubescents.

Getting Percy to talk was akin to pulling teeth, so Poseidon let it go and shuffled the kid off to the rental car. The trip to the nearest grocery store was nearly thirty minutes and Percy sat staring out the window for its entirety, not even fiddling with the radio as he normally did. So Poseidon fiddled instead, settling on an obnoxious old country station that he was sure would rouse the boy to some form of excitement but Percy gave no indication he even noticed.

The grocery store didn't open until seven so Poseidon dragged them off to a breakfast joint, hoping a greasy, fatty breakfast might reanimate Percy. Percy predictably ordered blueberry pancakes (Poseidon blamed Sally for the boy's unnatural obsession with blue food) and Poseidon all but forced him to shovel down fried potatoes and thickly sliced ham in a desperate bid to pump him full of protein; by the end Percy looked decidedly full but no more animated than when they came. Poseidon mentally threw his hands in the air and gave up.

Fine, let the boy sulk. He'd come around eventually.

By the time Poseidon paid for breakfast and shepherded his sulking son back to the grocery store, it was six fifty. Poseidon sipped tasteless coffee from the cheap paper to-go cup the breakfast diner provided, waiting for the store to open.

Percy, never good at waiting, seemed to be trying to see how low in his seat he could sink.

"What's that?"

"Hm?"

It was the first time Percy had spoken basically since ordering his stupid blueberry pancakes and Poseidon actually stopped mid-sip in mild surprise.

"That," Percy repeated, pointing.

Poseidon followed the direction and found himself watching a strange older man set up a stand of sorts before the grocery store's gate.

"No idea—"

"Let's check it out," Percy said, flinging his door open and disappearing quicker than Poseidon could even process his words.

"That's what I get for wanting him more animated," Poseidon grumbled, sighing as he climbed out of the car and trotted after the boy.

When he caught up, the old man was dumping something from his own cupped hands into Percy's.

"What's that?" Poseidon called, suspicious at once as he protectively hovered over Percy's shoulder, trying to get a look at the thing.

"A Mexican red rump," the man said proudly. "And she's a beauty."

"And what exactly is a Mexican red rump?" Poseidon demanded, not liking the sound of this as he leaned over Percy's shoulder—only to swear colorfully when he saw what exactly a Mexican red rump was.

The creature was as large as Poseidon's fist, hairier than his nephew Ares, and eight-legged with a bright red hindquarter.

"It's a tarantula," Percy said.

"Yes, thank you, I can see that, why is it on your arm?"

Percy was quiet as the old man, a vendor of sort Poseidon assumed sourly eyeing his other wares, defended the disgusting creature.

It's quite docile, the vendor claimed, blah blah, easy to care for, blah, blah, not that active, blah, blah. Poseidon said nothing, letting the man prattle on as the tarantula made its slow up his son's arm.

"Percy?" Poseidon demanded, cutting the vendor off.

"She's cool," Percy said almost indifferently, without looking up. When Poseidon didn't make a reply, he heaved a great sigh, reaching his other arm over to gently scope the spider up. He hesitated a moment, then held it back out to the vendor.

"Wait."

Poseidon cast his eyes to the sky. "How much is it?"

Percy's face lit up, a smile breaking over his stupid face as he whirled on his father.

"Not a word out of you," Poseidon pulled out his wallet. "Don't let me forget salt water tablets."

+1

"Do you really think it's a good idea to invite your ex-husband to your wedding?"

"We're adults, Poseidon."

"Won't your new husband be jealous?"

"Of course not because he's an adult, Poseidon, and besides, what's there to be jealous of?"

Rude, Poseidon thought as he heard the sound of paper turning in the background. He stood in the kitchen, getting the coffee ready with one hand, the other holding the phone up to his ear as he was apparently being invited to his ex-wife's wedding.

"You're an important figure in my life, Poseidon, and the father of my son. Besides, I need someone to be with Percy that night."

Ah, babysitting duty. "Will there be an open bar?"

"Poseidon."

"Alright, alright. Of course, I will be honored to attend, Sally, and be on my most perfect behavior. It'll be a beautiful ceremony I am sure, let me know if there is anything I can do for you. I can certainly keep Percy from burning the church down."

Sally clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "Percy wouldn't. He loathes to upset me."

"Hm. Yes, you're too right there, he does hate that. Wish he'd extend that to me."

Sally ignored him. "I don't want him to feel left out."

Poseidon sighed. "Alright, alright, I'll keep him occupied. We'll sample the open bar together."

"There won't be an open bar." Then, sternly, "And you will not give our underaged child alcohol."

Poseidon laughed heartily, digging out a coffee cup and giving it a courtesy wipe before pouring himself a cup of coffee. "Alright, alright, cake then."

There was more ruffling of paper. Poseidon could easily imagine Sally Jackson, beautiful despite the world-weariness that hung around the corner of her eyes and mouth, sipping a tea and writing the next great American novel. He smiled fondly at the image, taking a long drink. Even if things didn't work out between them, Sally was right about one thing: they were still important figures in each other's lives.

"The wedding will be the Sunday before Percy's spring break, it should already be marked on your calendar."

"Probably."

"We'll take our honeymoon then, so you'll have Percy that whole week without having to worry about taking him to school."

"Shall I have to explain to him what exactly a honeymoon is?"

"Poseidon."

"Alright, alright, just checking. He is almost twelve you know. That's a conversation better handled by you though."

"You're not getting out of that one," Sally warned. "But save the date. And for heaven's sake Poseidon, if you take him into international waters again, be sure to bring his passport this time."

"You'll never let me forget that will you?"

"Never." There was another pause, the sound of ceramic scrapping against a hard surface. "How is he?"

"Strangely and intensely obsessed with pets," Poseidon grumbled. "Child goes nearly twelve years without a pet and bam, suddenly it's all he can think about." Poseidon frowned as a deep voice buzzed in the background. "Is that Blowfish?"

"Blofis," Sally scolded. "And yes. I have to go, Poseidon. Write down the date and don't forget about it. You'll have him the whole week. Give Percy a kiss for me and tell him I'll call when you're docked in Virginia."

"Uh-huh," Poseidon said absently as the line clicked off.

He let the phone fall from his shoulder, catching it the crook of his elbow before tucking it safely away in his pocket. Coffee in hand, he quit the kitchen and stepped out on deck.

A storm was brewing in the Atlantic. Poseidon went to work, tying his equipment down, one eye on the sonar, the other on the sea. They would sail back up the coast to Virginia, dock in the harbor near his mother's until the storm passed. They weren't needed here anymore and Poseidon grew restless; the FBI had moved on, the trap had been laid. The rest was up to brute muscle of the law. Poseidon had already turned his eyes to the north. It was Great White breeding season. Pregnant females would be moving through Cape Cod about now. Sally wouldn't be the happiest to learn this was where he was taking their son but it should cheer Percy up. And perhaps this summer, Poseidon would make another great discovery.

Who knew, there were a few weeks left in the season.

Twenty minutes or so before Sally called, Percy had run off to the store at the end of the dock, declaring he needed an ample supply of empty calories in order to survive the journey back to Virginia. Poseidon could see his raven head bobbing up and down in the store window.

Satisfied, Poseidon turned back to his task, listening for the sound of Percy's return. Sure enough, a couple moments later, he heard footsteps announcing the boy's arrival.

"About time, come on, I want to make sure you tied down those pests of yours nice and good. I will not be happy if halfway to Virginia, I find a snake in the fridge."

Percy didn't respond. Percy never missed a moment to back sass his father so the silence set alarm bells off for the hundredth time that summer. Poseidon abandoned his task to lean over the side of the boat and watch Percy gingerly climb aboard—a cage almost too large for the eleven-year-old to cradle in his arms.

"Perseus!" Poseidon accused furiously, stalking up to the boy.

Percy resolvedly avoided his father's gaze, clutching the cage like a lifeline.

"Haven't I brought you enough confound creatures this summer? Five, Perseus, five! I bought you five pets, crazy, exotic, filthy—what is this?" Poseidon demanded, too angry to finish his sentence, coming to a halt before Percy, hands sternly on his hips.

"Well?" he demanded when Percy made no reply. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Percy shrugged, which proved a dangerous action given his precarious grip on the cage.

"What is this?"

"A dwarf angora rabbit," Percy muttered.

"Why?" Poseidon's voice was sharp and clipped.

Percy hunched his shoulders. His arms shook violently, causing his whole body to shake as the cage, with its furry content, was too large for him to carry. The cage slipped down his chest so Percy jerked his knee up to compensate, which set him completely off balance and the idiot nearly toppled overboard.

Poseidon sighed, deflating a little at the ridiculous sight.

"Here, you're going to break something, give me that."

Percy's mouth stubbornly twisted and he resisted as Poseidon stepped forward to take the cage from him.

"Perseus."

Percy met his eyes, stubbornness edged into every inch of his face as he suspiciously eyed his father.

"I'm not going to hurt it, Percy, just stop you from hurting yourself, come on now."

Percy's lips convulsed. The cage lurched again as Percy's arms shook but before either cage or boy could collapse, Poseidon swooped in. Percy gave in with an unhappy sigh, allowing Poseidon to pull the cage to safety.

"There we go," Poseidon said, setting the cage down on the newly cleaned deck.

"Sit," Poseidon instructed, turning back to his son.

The command, and the unusual seriousness behind it, caught Percy's attention. Poseidon was the fun, not serious parent after all. Even things as simple as breakfast nutrition were danced around and awkward, serious conversations avoided like the plague. Well, half of Europe was dead, it was time to purge the rats.

Poseidon rose an eyebrow and Percy obediently sat, obviously unnerved by the strange seriousness.

"This is all your fault, I hate these conversations as much as you," Poseidon accused, sitting down across from him. "If you could just be a normal child and use your words, we wouldn't have these problems."

Percy's mouth downturned, eyes flickering over to the cage.

"Now, wait a minute—"

But it was too late. Percy lifted the monstrosity of hair out of the cage and plopped it onto his lap. Curling into himself, Percy drew his knees up to his chest, cradling the animal over his heart. A pink nose twitched before nuzzling into Percy's neck. Poseidon heaved a great sigh, running a hand over his face. Lord give him strength. He didn't even ask where the monstrosity came from, jumping to a different, more important point instead.

"Why the animals, Percy?"

Percy made a nonsensical noise in the back of his throat.

"Can't I keep her?" he begged, avoiding the question. "I'll clean her cage, all their cages, so it won't smell and she doesn't make much noise—"

"I don't—!" Poseidon started to explode before catching himself. He took a deep breath, exhaling slowly to try and lower his blood pressure.

"I want to know why," he said slowly. "Why the dog? Why the horse? Why the obsession with the pets?"

Percy's nose twitched disturbingly like the rabbit's. Still avoiding his father's eyes, Percy combed his fingers through the rabbit's hair. The rabbit gave a sniff before rubbing its face happily against him.

"Are you going to keep seeing that lady?" Percy blurted out.

Poseidon frowned, thrown by the question.

"What lady? What does this have to do with the animals?"

"The FBI lady." Percy ran his finger over the rabbit's pink nose. The happy bunny attempted to nibble the offered appendage and Percy only half-hearted attempted to stop her.

"You introduced me to her."

Poseidon's mind churned slowly. "Hm. Yes, I did . . . but you just happened to be there, I hadn't planned on it. Do you not like her or something?"

"Is she your girlfriend?"

Oh boy. This was uncomfortably close to the birds and the bees conversation he fully intended to push off onto Sally.

"Ah, well, it's a bit more complicated than that Percy. But no, no she's not my girlfriend."

Like a puppet whose string had been cut, Percy's shoulders fell, his face relaxing.

"Oh." He wiggled the finger the rabbit munched on. "Did . . . did Mom tell you Paul asked her to marry him?"

"Yes, we talked about it this morning actually. She's afraid I'll sneak you alcohol during the wedding."

Percy's shoulders tensed again and Poseidon frowned, him and the rabbit both taking notice. The blasted vermin pushed its nose against Percy's fingers and the father took a good, hard look at his only son. Percy had said he was lonely back when he first asked for a dog. Poseidon had thought he was simply getting more manipulative but . . . but maybe . . .

"You didn't—you aren't—your mother and I divorced, Percy," Poseidon said, tripping over his words as he tried to find the right ones. "You weren't holding onto some hope that we would—?"

"Oh God no," Percy interrupted, his nose wrinkling. "Mom deserves better."

Well. Poseidon didn't know whether he was more offended or relieved.

"But we love you anyway," Percy quickly added.

"Hm. Yes."

Poseidon watched Percy's face carefully. He reached out, forcing Percy's chin up. Percy fought it at first but eventually looked his father in the eye. There were bags under his eyes, his skin pale and lips pulled tightly together. In short, the kid looked miserable.

"Is it . . . do you not like Paul?" Poseidon asked slowly, letting his hand fall as the conversation grew more awkward. He couldn't imagine that conversation: hey Sally, yeah, this is 110% not jealousy speaking, but our son hates your fiancé.

Percy's lips squiggled. "No, Paul's fine. He's nice. He really loves Mom."

"Which is good," Poseidon said, still speaking slowly, toeing this strange line to find the sore point.

"Yeah . . ."

"And your mom being happy is good."

"Of course it is," Percy said crossly. "Mom's the best."

Poseidon only hummed in response. Percy stared over his shoulder at the sea behind them.

"Am I gonna be spending more time on the boat?"

Poseidon wasn't sure what that meant. Damn kid kept jumping from subject to subject.

"Once we reach Virginia?"

"No, I mean after," Percy interjected irritably, flapping his hand in the air as if it somehow signified the wedding.

"After the wedding? Yeah, sure, you'll be with me after the wedding—"

Percy looked like Poseidon punched him.

And Poseidon finally got it.

"Just for one week, though kiddo, just one week. Hey, move over."

Poseidon shoved the rabbit's cage aside, cementing himself to the kid's side. He threw an arm over Percy's shoulders and gave the ridiculous child a shake. Alarmingly, after his head stopped bobbing, Percy deflated and curled into his father's side.

"Your mom isn't abandoning you, Percy! She's not going to get married and forget all about you. She's your mother, for crying out loud. You're her entire world, kiddo, always have been. Her getting married won't change that. She's not going to shove you off onto me so she can gallivant away with her new husband."

"Really?" Percy asked, his voice painfully young as he twisted to look up at Poseidon. His brows were drawn together, lips pinched and he looked like the little boy who used to crawl into his father's bed because there were monsters in his closet.

"Really," Poseidon promised firmly, squeezing Percy's shoulders. "It'll be different, Percy, I'm not going to lie. Paul's going to be a steady part of your life from now on and that's going to change how you do some things. But your mom's not going to love you less or spend less time with you. Her love for you will never change. Moms are funny like that. When they love someone new, it doesn't mean they love everyone else less, the amount of love they have just grows."

Percy thought about this.

"So, things aren't going to change?"

"No, kiddo, they're going to change, but only your routines, not how much your mom loves you. Never how much your mother and I love you. You're not being replaced. There's no need to get all depressed and hoard animals to love you. Promise your mother and I will always love you enough."

Poseidon smiled, watching the words click in his son's mind. He laughed a little, ruffling Percy's hair before plopping a kiss on the top of his head. It was a testament to how worried Percy had been that he didn't object.

"She's not going to send me away more?" Percy asked hesitantly.

"Nope," Poseidon promised, popping the 'p'. "She'll still have you basically all school year and I'll still steal you away in the summer."

"Not even weekends?"

"Only if you want me to kidnap you."

Percy thought about it. "Will Paul get annoyed with me?"

"We all do, kid, you're right annoying sometimes," Poseidon teased. "But only for a short while, like your mom and me. Paul likes you. He's gotta, or your mom wouldn't marry him. And if it comes down to it, she'll always choose you over him. She picked you over me."

This brightened Percy up immensely. "Yeah, she did."

"There's a good boy. Now, run along and tie all your animals down nice and tight. This one too, I guess, since we don't have any time to return it to where ever you nabbed it from. I swear boy. But this is the last one! Any more and I'll take Paul up on his therapy offer quicker than you can blink."

Percy wrinkled his nose. "I don't need a therapist!"

"You didn't do a great job of convincing me otherwise this summer, kiddo," Poseidon teased with a broad grin. "Now beat it. There are few things left I need to tie down."

"Are you . . . still gonna see that FBI lady?" Percy asked hesitantly.

"Maybe, maybe not. We'll see. But don't you go worrying. I'm not getting a girlfriend anytime soon, much less marrying anyone. Besides, I always come back. And don't tell anyone, but you're probably my favorite person in the world."

He gave an exaggerated wink and Percy's entire persona brightened, his face lighter than it had been all summer as he gathered the rabbit's things.

"Okay. Can we see Blackjack when we stop?"

"Yeah, sure, kiddo."

"Awesome." Percy straightened up, the rabbit's things all tucked in his arms, a wide grin on his face.

Poseidon couldn't help smiling back, relieved to finally see a true smile on the boy's face.

"Oh and Percy?" Poseidon called before the boy disappeared inside the boat.

Percy turned. "Hm?"

"Love you, kid."

"Gross." Percy grinned. "Yeah, whatever. Love you too, old man."

"Brat," Poseidon fondly called as Percy disappeared.

The door swung shut behind the boy and Poseidon turned back to the boat, watching the helm gently bob in the calm water. Walking to the edge of the boat, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, dialing the old, familiar number.

"Hello, Sally? Yes, I know you said you were busy, but this is important. It's about Percy. No, he's fine but we need to sit down and have a talk. All of us— you, me, Paul and Percy. No, no, I think everything will be okay, just need to soothe some fears."

Poseidon untied the boat from the dock.

"Although, there is the matter of deciding where the pets will stay. No, that wasn't a mistake, I said pets plural."

A/n Ta-da! Part three of three complete. Yes, Poseidon is terrible with women, but at least he's got the parenting thing kind of down. What, no dog? No, no dog. I couldn't make Mrs. O'Leary a little dog and no big dog could stay on that boat or in a tiny NY apartment. Sorry Mrs. O'Leary! It also broke away from the idea of exotic pets. BTW, the spider's name is Arachne and the rabbit is Artemis. Sorry that took so long to get out my lovelies, it's been rather rough going on my end but thank you all so much for all your love and support. For my beautiful readers also reading Ecdysis I swear an updating is coming.

Shout out to my lovely beta rhig122! Love ya!

Please let me know what you thought and, as always, I hope you enjoyed ~ *