"Fine," Athena sighed, "just… stop staring so hard. You're making me nervous."
"I'll try," he said.
She nodded.
Five seconds later, she felt his eyes on her again.
"Theo."
"…I'm trying."
Theodore watched her take another hesitant bite, then wiped his hand on a towel and asked casually,
"So… are we skipping class today?"
Athena didn't even look up. "You can go. I don't feel like it."
He raised a brow, slow and deliberate. "You're scared to come across Eryx?"
Her fork paused mid-air. She didn't answer.
A beat passed before she murmured, barely audible, "How many people know about it?"
Theodore's shoulders stiffened. "It doesn't matter how many people know."
"It matters to me." Her voice cracked. "How many, Theo?"
He didn't want to say it. Didn't want to throw her back into the pit she'd only just climbed out of. But the mood had already shifted into something heavy.
So he exhaled slowly and listed, "Rhydric. Azrael. Me." then he pause. "…Leo and Levi."
