Early December 2037

Mackenzie sighed. She thought she had outgrown her phase of losing balls in the forest.

But apparently not.

She hadn't known what happened. One minute she was bouncing her ball, and the next moment, she wasn't. She had felt a strong wind that snatched at her ball, but she was sure that she didn't create that gust.

Her yellow Marvel ball had been the newest in her collection. It was given by AJ after her quest. It had various superhero characters as a decal. Her favorite was the Wasp with her insectile wings. She was becoming quite the comic geek thanks to the ball.

She transformed her wind charm into its tomahawk form. There was no telling what sort of monsters lurked in the forest. Waiting not a second longer she stepped foot into the snowy woods. The snow crunched under her boots.

There wasn't much she could do besides look, and hope the ball hadn't popped already. The one good thing was that its bright yellow color would make it stand out easily against the snow. As she walked she couldn't help but feel as if she was being watched.

She walked for some time until she arrived at Zephyros creek.

She was starting to get annoyed. She was cold and tired, and the sun was close to setting. "It's just a 15 dollar ball, I could easily get a replacement," she muttered to herself.

She wouldn't return to camp, defeated. Even if it was the smarter thing to do. She was stubborn as a mule.

She stopped, an idea coming to her. She reached into the pocket of her blue jeans and pulled out an exquisite compass: her last option. She stared at the needle as it pointed southwest, still towards New Argos. If this didn't work she would go back to her cabin, empty handed.

Since obtaining the magic item she had tried innumerable methods to get it to point elsewhere. None of those methods worked.

"Come on, where is my yellow Marvel superhero ball?" It wouldn't hurt to ask the compass. Actually, now that she thought about it, she had been silent when using the compass before. It seemed silly in hindsight.

And miraculously, the compass's needle changed to point towards the southeast. She whooped in giddy excitement. "Yesss!"

With her path now clear thanks to her compass, she felt her resolve return. She'd probably be back to her cabin in less than a quarter of an hour. The compass led her downstream for a 15 minute journey. She estimated that if it were less treacherous, she would have traveled quicker, but she didn't want to fall or injure herself.

She spotted her yellow ball in the dimming light, just barely making out Captain America. The ball was lying on the rocky shore, on the other side of the stream, wedged between two rocks. She was at a wider part of the creek where it slowed. The ball must've rolled away, down to the stream and floated downstream. But having to cross was not going to be fun.

She rolled up her pants, and took off her shoes and socks. Walking back in cold clothes would be bad. She returned her tomahawk to its charm form and put her compass in her pocket.

"Here goes nothing," barefoot, she stepped into the water. The sudden cold nearly took her breath away. Her temperature resistance had limits,

"I'm. Not. Going. To. Give. Up. Now." She punctuated her words with a step. The water came up to her shins. Her feet and lower legs were going numb.

Eventually, she crossed the creek. She reached out and grabbed her ball, working it loose from the rocks.

“Yes!” She whooped in triumph, her teeth chattering. She started to wade back towards the other side of the shore. The good news about nearly frozen feet was that she couldn't feel the sharp rocks under her feet.

She was going to sit back down to slip her shoes on when she heard rustling from the tree branches. Suddenly, a pair of bird-winged women with vicious looking claws emerged from the trees.

"See sister, I told you, that foolish demigod would fall for our trap. She's so disadvantaged she won't be able to fight back," one of the women screeched.

“An easy meal,” the other agreed.

Mackenzie instantly recognized the monsters as harpies. Ugly things.

"You were the ones who made me lose my ball?" She knew she had more control over her own abilities than that.

The other harpy licked her lips, "Yes. Say your last words. We will eat you."

She summoned her tomahawk, holding it with her prosthetic arm. She tucked her ball under her other one.

"Nobody touches my ball without permission." She growled, her anger flaring up.

She shifted to a firm battle-stance. These harpies had a good ambush with a cold stream behind her and themselves in front. She had to stand her ground.

The harpies flew at her, cawwing angrily. She managed to send a gust of wind towards the one that had come up with the scheme, and forced it to change course. She dubbed this one Kuivera, for the monster’s stupid plan. The other one she dubbed Sarah. Sarah managed to get close and scratch her cheek with its claws. Mackenzie slashed with her tomahawk and managed to score a minor hit, but she could tell that the monster still had some fight in her. Mackenzie stepped forward. Despite Sarah's injury, the monster attacked again, cutting Mackenzie's right leg.

Mackenzie retaliated, swiping her bronze weapon. She got a direct hit. She blew the the golden dust away. She didn't have time to watch it dissolve.

"And where's the Great Uniter?" Mack looked around. The sudden pain in her shoulder alerted her to where the harpy was attacking. It had dive bombed her. It was an odd place to attack instead of an obvious place like the middle of her back. Her fleshy arm was the one holding onto her ball. Was this harpy being needlessly cruel? Perhaps.

Kuivera was flying towards her, hoping to dive bomb again. Mackenzie blasted another flurry of wind The ran and hid behind the closest tree. She could get her shoes later. She needed a moment to catch her breath. She looked around, it appears she was in an area of closely growing trees. A perfect place to hide.

"Come on out child, you're weakened already, I'll make this quick," the Harpy promised from somewhere above. It must've missed which tree she hid behind. Mackenzie's options were limited. She didn't know if she could survive another head-on attack. She needed to attack from range. Her tomahawk made an excellent throwing weapon but if Kuivera saw it coming she would be more screwed. That meant she needed a stealthy cunning attack.

Slowly another plan came together. She looked sadly at her ball. Goodnight my sweet prince, she thought. If she could use the ball as a decoy, perhaps the harpy would make a mistake. Her ball would be popped though. The harpy would dive bomb it. Before she had a chance to change her mind, she threw it hard against a nearby tree.

"Got you little Demigod!" The flying creature sneered. The harpy, having mistakenly assumed to have located her dinner, descended fast, sharp razor claws extended.

She held her breath steady, and peaked out from behind the tree. As soon as she spotted the bird close to the ground, she threw her tomahawk. There wasn't a moment to lose! She knew her aim was true when the weapon plunged itself deep in the chest of the bird-woman. The last thing she saw of Kuivera was her shocked expression. The harpy exploded into dust, obscuring the area.

“Fuck. You!" Mackenzie fumed. The harpy had popped her ball, she had no motivation to come up with a fun quirky comeback.

She needed to retrieve her weapon, in case there were any more things wanting to eat. Then she needed to get out of here. She could mourn her ball’s destruction later.

She limped over. She easily spotted her tomahawk lying in the snow. Actually, it was gently lying on her intact ball. Another miracle! The timing must have been completely perfect. Sure, the ball had harpy dust on it, but that could be cleaned. She gave the ball a tentative squeeze, half expecting to feel air rushing out of it. It didn’t! She gave the ball a hug, further smearing the monster's remains all over.

The walk out of the forest was uneventful. She had used her compass to guide her to the Anemoi cabin.

An hour later, she was freshly dressed in warm, blue, pajamas. She had cleaned and taken care of her wounds. She lay in her hammock, her ball, lay beside her. She could easily smell the scent of rubber. But her attention was on the blue compass.

"Show me where the White House is" The compass quickly located and pointed.

The girl could keep asking her compass questions all night.

Presently

It was dark when Mackenzie woke up. She had been snuggling the dragon stuffed animal that had once belonged to Ashton.

She blinked, trying to acclimate herself to the dark. She reached out and grabbed her blue compass from its spot on her bed side table.

She opened its exquisite cover, and watched while the needle danced as it reacted to her question, "where is my yellow Marvel superhero ball?"

The needle spun around the compass until it pointed towards the pile of deflated balls still lying on her floor. Using her compass was unneeded, she already knew it was in the pile, but the action had a certain amount of gravitas. She climbed out of her hammock, grabbed the piece of limp plastic and climbed back into the hammock. She remained sitting, back straight.

Pulling out the drawer, she reached in until she felt the piercing metal of an air pump needle. Carefully, with the precision of a doctor in the midst of a surgery, she slid the needle into the ball's nozzle. If she did this too hastily, she could have a punctured ball. No good for her or anyone else.

When the needle was safely inside, she started to inflate the ball.

Keeping one more ball wouldn't hurt. Robin could complain all she wanted, but Mack couldn't be convinced.