Just imagine Charon on that big ole boat of his, smuggling his goods and keeping Chronos undead fleet at bay on the rift of Thessaly. At least, that's what he tells himself as he keeps his eyes peeled on the night's sky.

A burst of light, a weight slamming into him without warning, and before he can take his hands off the helm, there is a chattering Hermes at his side. The greeting, general update about himself, and important information flowing from the god is difficult to keep up for most but Charon is not most and is well practiced at this point, eons of listening dutifully to him during all their many ages working together. But the suddenness, the disbelief, does shock him and Charon must take a moment to remember himself.

Hermes is already starting to pull away, casting about for the materials and goods he is to take up the mountain where Charon cannot reach but massive arms stay him. He is crushed to Charon's chest in a shockingly swift movement from the Stygian boatman before a soft sigh is being groaned in his ear. Hermes does not take as long to hold him back and his staff clatters to the floorboards as he quietly returns Charon's admission of longing with an equally aching 'I miss you too'.

Adam genuinely forgets it’s his birthday at first

Until he comes downstairs and Ronan’s making breakfast and arguing with Opal, who wants to decorate them with grass and rocks and stuff

Opal made him a card with a family picture drawn in crayon and overloaded with stickers. Like every sticker she could find. Even the ones that come on fruit.

Gansey, Blue, and Henry video call and sing to him. It turns out they’d shipped his present -- a collection of little knickknacks and things that made them think of Adam throughout their trip -- and Ronan had hidden it until then

Matthew and Declan come by later. Matthew and Opal made him a cake decorated with his name and everything on it (and pointedly no grass and no rocks). It’s the first time Adam’s ever had a real homemade birthday cake. He’s very touched. 

Declan’s gift is something that seems very pretentious and snobby (dress shoes or a tie or pocket squares, something like that) but it’s actually something Adam needed for Harvard. He genuinely appreciates it and makes sure Declan knows, despite Ronan’s heckling. He and Declan have some kind of silent mutual agreement/alliance and it’s reinforced with Declan’s subtly thoughtful gift

Ronan’s present is a proper case for his tarot cards (the original paper box had fallen apart and he’d been keeping them rubberbanded). As soon as Adam touches it, he knows it’s laced with both dream magic and love and he doesn’t point it out, but he and Ronan share a look that might as well say as much. It’s waterproof, heatproof, everything-proof. It’s leather and has Adam’s monogram embossed it so it blends in with his Harvard stuff. 

And she buys it and its never mentioned again and she grows up, but those two are always Kind of Suspect around each other. Like she sees them maybe holding hands, and they're always touching something of the other's, and they're always disappearing somewhere together with very weak excuses. Then when Hermes has to be away for however long he's away for before the events of Hades 2, Charon's overt and near constant worry solidifies the theory Melinoe has that these two memory-holed her ass over their secret relationship.

But she knows its gotta stay a secret despite how weird everything is now, so she's in this limbo of 'I know you two are more than professional associates but I also know I shouldn't know that but I want you to know I'm chill about it' thus the whole here's this bottle of ambrosia for you and your Very Platonic Work Pal conversation when you reach max bond with Charon.

I HAVE ALSO HAD THOUGHT ABOUT THIS SIBLINGS. I'm pulling out the metaphorical cork board with all the character pictures and interconnecting, overlapping strings. And the collapsable pointy stick. So here's the thing:

Big ancient black dragon who's got a foothold in some fuckoff mountain he's been haunting for centuries that few people try to actively clear out anymore. With no knights or adventurers braving his lair, he finds himself bored with the day to day evil shenanigans of his goblin underlings and his basement lich. So he does what any self-respecting old, lonely dragon does:

Disguises himself as a peasant and goes to the local towns and cities to goad hot knights and adventurers into fighting the local problematic wyrm in as slutty of armor as he can convince them. For personal glory or honor or whatever.

He's the bartender. He's the cashier. He's the taxi driver. He's the band manager. He's operating the carnie ride. He's not the bandit or sheriff but the guy selling shovels for the gold rush.

He's not the ringmaster or the performer, but the weirdo outside of the circus running the ticket booth and the lemonade stand. And he might have driven you there himself too. And he might actually own the circus. But you'll never find that out but it's implied. Also everyone's scared of him except the guy who owns the land the circus is on and also also he might be the reason you can buy drugs in the area despite the landowner.

Acitrox - Ancient black dragon, 1100+ years old. Known by the locals as the Crowned Shade for the gold adorning his curved horns and how he blots out the sun when he flies overhead. His lair is situated in a lonely mountain surrounded by swamps, and his territory extends to an entire kingdom. For a black dragon, he is oddly nuanced in his evil, uninterested in domination or overt blanket cruelty as he finds that to be boring at this point in his life. And boredom, it seems, is the one persistent enemy he has left. He's taken to trickery, meddling in the human population of the kingdom, looking to seed opportunities for future conflicts or intrigue, whether that be allowing other dragons or monstrosities to take up residence, mentally tormenting key political figures, or luring the knights away into his swamps for his own amusement. He keeps a small population of goblins in his lair, who serve as his underlings, spies, and army when he wants to have a bit of fun and while his treasure hoard grows from battles with giants and other dragons, there is one paladin besmirching his name he wants to add into his possession...

The Lich - age unknown, actual name forgotten, gender also forgotten, lives deep under the mountain in their own maze like catacombs. Evil to the point of apathy for most living things but tempered only because they have no interest in dealing with mortals and prefer being hidden away with their studies and their ghouls. They find Acitrox intellectually stimulating when he isn't on some bullshit and enjoys the symbiotic relationship they have, given Acitrox's presence deters explorers and holy warriors and in return, the lich has taught the dragon greater magic than he could ever learn on his own.

Ixsy - young adult in goblin years, newest right hand goblin-servant to Acitrox after her superior got eaten and she was chosen for the position by a democratic and not-rigged-at-all drawing of sticks. Her job is to communicate orders from the dragon to the goblins, anything from raiding some village in the kingdom over to finding a few barrels of wine he likes. Ixsy does not like her job at first, but she does eventually grow into it, learning how to easily placate Acitrox's most foul moods and finding enjoyment at being essentially the head honcho. She hates being told to go talk to the Bone Thing downstairs and is happiest when Acitrox is busy with his knight schemes so she can focus on reading his books and doing her art or when they are visited by his mate and Acitrox is on his best behavior.

Naria - 220+, powerful sorceress, mate to and blessed by Acitrox. In her very late teens, she was offered up as a sacrifice to the dragon, who, already being old and uninterested in this affair, would usually take the sacrifices in, give them some gold, and send them off to a different kingdom to live their lives. Naria refused to leave, not wanting to be destined to some nunnery or as a wife working her womb and her hands to the bone, and he took her under his wing as a sort of apprentice. After several years, they eventually fell in love and started a relationship. Naria stuck around for decades, honing her magical craft before eventually leaving to seek experience, power, and further knowledge but she does come back to visit from time to time. She is bull-headed, determined, calculating, and highly independent, choosing to spend her time alone, though she has her own gaggle of allies out in the world.

Gilead the Dragonsbane - 29, the ever famous paladin. Born a whole country away, he was a humble butcher's son who dreamt of being a fierce warrior. Taking up lessons at the local church to become a paladin, he was entirely unprepared at the tender age of 13 when a goblin army headed by an immense black dragon laid waste to his town. He tried to challenge the ancient drake, able to knock a piece of his horn off in his attempt, but was swiftly knocked aside and out by a swipe of the dragon's claws. Being the only one left alive to tell the tale, he fashioned the piece of the horn into a pendant and swore some kind of revenge, exaggerating his encounter to make it seem like he scared the drake off with his holy powers to get into a different order of paladins to continue his training. This lie has carried him through his life and becoming second in command in the paladin chapter in our kingdom and, while he is highly skilled having thrown himself into his craft and is very accomplished in other acts of heroism that have added to his status as a beloved and local legend, the title of Dragonsbane makes him flinch with every use. While Gilead is generally a confident, no-nonsense, stick-in-the-mud goody two shoes in the armor, outside of his duties, he's a kind, thoughtful soul with a humble and gentle disposition who enjoys playing the fiddle. He has a grand friendship with the local bards and the court wizard and is struggling with extremely conflicting reactions to Acitrox's torments. You would not believe the dreams he's been having about going into the dragon's swamps and getting 'caught'.

Two years on, and the town is still slowly dying. A new set of builders has come in to replace old Mason. Trudy is out in the desert doing research. Haru is contemplating going to college. Logan's life and investigation has seemingly stagnated.

Until yakmel start turning up dead, ripped apart and half-eaten as the rest of their body is left to rot in the sun. And it stumps Logan, has him off-kilter. Ain't nothing in the desert that could kill a yakmel like that without it alerting half the town while it did it and yet two months pass, and three more end up dead, including one in the new builder's own back yard and another being one of Cooper's own. Then Logan sees it, late in the evening with the moon full and clear in the sky. Hunched over the body of another one of Cooper's animals is a beast large, lupine, standing on two legs as it turns to Logan with a liver clenched in its maw. Before he can even draw his gun, the beast has bolted, gone without a trace as Logan spends the next two hours on Rambo looking for the thing.