The Fate of the Olympians ~ A Camp Half-Blood Fan Fiction Series

I'm not sure which part of the day was the weirdest; when my chemistry teacher used a magic wand, when the headless ghost rode into my chemistry class on a skeletal horse, or when my friend, Heather Grey, spun a bronze Frisbee into its heart. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty much as used to strange things as a kid could be, but even by my standards this was crazy. All I can say is that I hope things can't get even weirder, or else . . . well, I don't really like to think about it.

Anyway, like I said, I'm no stranger to bizarre things. My earliest memory was that of being somewhere off the side of a snowy cliff, my mother yelling at me to come to her. Soon after my mom died, and at the funeral I saw a lot of weird animals in the trees around the cemetery. I saw a creature that looked like a giant scorpion and a lion with wings. By age eight I had even started writing down all of the weird things that happened to me, like some sort of diary from the mind of an insane child. Only a few days before the . . . incident, I had been playing kickball with my friend, Lucian Wick, when the ball seemed to bounce against an invisible wall after I kicked it. Lucian gave me a great big smile with his eyes squinting the way they do when he's hiding something from me. Looking back I can't believe I never figured it all out.

On September 18, my thirteenth birthday, I'd had a small party at Six Flags Fiesta Texas with a few of my other friends from seventh grade. The entire day, Lucian and Heather stared at me and the air above my head as if they expected me to be sucked up a U.F.O. tractor beam. It was creepy how they kept whispering to each other afterwards, and I got creeped out before long. By the time my father said there would only be time for one more ride, I decided to ask them what was going on.

I led Lucian and Heather to the ride only they liked, the Rattler. It even made me nauseas, but I knew it'd be the only way to talk to them in private. The line was long and the man in front of us said the ride notice board said, "Forty-five minutes from this point." I was about to thank him when I saw just how old he was; he looked like he was about to be put in the ground. He was wearing an old-fashioned suit and top hat, both made of fine black silk. He had a wispy mustache that looked like a black baby caterpillar crawling across his white chocolate colored face. His eyes were milky and watery, and his smoky gray hair was wild, yet only hung a centimeter below his hat. His teeth were crooked and yellow. He looked like an elderly vampire.

"Uh . . ." I said.

"Thanks," said Heather, and she waved her hand, telling me to look at her. I'd always had a crush on Heather, and she knew it, but today she looked additionally pretty, or maybe it was just because the last person I'd seen was the zombie man. She had long, smooth black hair and eyes so blue they looked like sapphires. Her smile was perfect, but whenever she'd played some kind of prank on someone, you'd know. She often wore plain shirts of just one color, and jeans that always seemed to be in perfect condition, despite her love for running.

"Yeah?" I said.

"What are you doing? You keep staring at that man."

"I know, it's just—"

"Uh guys," interrupted Lucian. "Where did the old man go?"

Heather and I turned around, but all we saw was the "Forty-five minutes" sign and the people ahead of us, none of whom looked anything like a vampire.

"I don't know. That's weird," I said, but then I remembered why I had gotten into this line.

"Alex? Are you okay?" asked Lucian, with one of his slick black eyebrows raised so that it looked like it was part of his bushy mane of hair. His green eyes pierced my skin, and I felt a weird sensation come over me, forcing me to say what I was thinking.

"Uh, yeah, it's just . . . why do you guys keep staring above my head?"

Lucian bit his lip and looked at Heather, who had a similar nervous expression.

"We . . . just . . . uh . . ." started Lucian, but he didn't seem able to find the words. His eyes scanned over me, and I felt a sensation similar to the one I'd just felt, only this time, I kept thinking why did I have to say that? Change the subject.

"Um, you know what? Never mind. The line is moving, let's keeping going."

Heather looked down at her feet and led Lucian and I down the queue. For the rest of the wait until the ride, we were quiet. The only sound we made near each other for the rest of the day was on the ride, and "WOOOO!" doesn't really count as conversation.

* * *
When I arrived at school the next day, I found Lucian and Heather sitting next to each other behind the back table of the classroom, whispering. I walked over quietly so that they wouldn't notice me, put my backpack on the table, and said, "Where have I seen this before?"

Lucian and Heather both jerked their heads around at me, and stood up so quickly I thought that they would smash through the roof. Heather opened her mouth to speak, but Lucian beat her to it.

"Canada?"

I tilted my head at him and stared. I knew my eyes weren't as powerful as his, but he flinched, and I took that as a good sign.

"Ha-ha."

Heather stood up, and grabbed her backpack off of the floor. It always amazed me to see her backpack, it looked like a hiker's bag it was so full of stuff. Once she'd had a broken arm and I offered to carry her stuff home. Let's just say I wasn't so quick to offer the next day.

She hurried off to her desk across the room which left me to deal with Lucian. He tried to hurry to his desk, but seemed to have forgotten I sat right next to him.

"What were you guys talking about?" I asked, and he gave the same reaction as yesterday, but now, I didn't care.

"Why did you keep looking above my head?"

"I . . . we can't . . . tell you," he said slowly, and buried his head in his book.

At first I was taken aback by what he said, but I pressed on.

"Lucian. Why were you looking above my head?"

He kept his head in his book, but his hair was so long it blocked the words.

"Lucian!"

He tightened, like he expected me to punch him.

"Just tell me!"

"I can't!" he said finally. He lifted his head away from his book, and suddenly I saw fear in his eyes. I sat down, angry, confused, and annoyed, but also a little guilty.

The bell rang, and our English teacher, Mr. Monroe, came in, carrying a stack of text books. I looked out the door that was slowly closing, and saw several more stacks outside.

"Mr. Monroe, can I help?" I asked. Normally I'd never voluntarily lift a bunch of books, but I really like Mr. Monroe. For one thing, we shared a last name, so he rather liked me. For another, he was one of the only teachers I'd ever had who didn't bore me to death. I have ADHD, so it was hard for me to be still, even for a forty-five minute class period. Mr. Monroe would often have us re-enact the stories we were learning about. It was always fun whenever we'd be reading a Shakespeare play and we would act out the battle scene like in Macbeth or Hamlet. We would even get to act out the battle, but not necessarily have the same results. Once, in a no-story-told re-enactment of the Iliad (Meaning whoever really acted the best fighter would win, even if they played a Trojan), I, as Patroclus, avoided being killed by Hector and saved Achilles from being shot in the ankle by an arrow.

"Thank you, Alex," he said, and put down his stack on his desk. "The red ones go on my desk, and the blue ones are passed out to the students."

I nodded and walked out the door for the books. After a few minutes Mr. Monroe and I had passed out the books, and he gave me a Jolly Rancher as a reward. I knew that Lucian's favorite flavor was grape, so I pocketed a purple candy to give to him later, if he told me what was going on.

After English, Lucian and Heather took off down the hall before I could get a chance to talk to them. I headed the other way for P.E. in the gym. I didn't see either of Lucian or Heather until sixth period, science. I went into the classroom and saw Lucian at the lab table in the back, and hurried over to him. His eyes widened and he looked around to see if there were any other tables he could get to quickly, but he gave up. I sat down next to him and pulled out the Jolly Rancher from my pocket.

"You want it?" I asked, and held it up for him to see.

He hesitated, but then said, "Yeah, okay," and grabbed it.

For a while I was quiet, and let the science teacher, Ms. H talk. I realized that even now, five weeks into school, no one knew what the "H" stood for. I kept looking over at Lucian, who looked so focused it was hard to believe that he had ADHD like me. I always joked around about him being related to her, because they had the exact same shaggy black hair, yet slick eyebrows, and shocking green eyes. They both had a natural talent at chemistry as well, which made him her star student. She was also really kind to me, like how a mother of a friend acts when you come over to their house. He always laughed, but he gave me the same squinting eyes look that meant there was something he wasn't telling me. I knew Lucian's last name was Wick, so it couldn't be true, though, no matter how often I thought about it.

After about ten minutes, everyone stood up, and I realized she must have just given some kind of direction, because one kid from each table, including Lucian, walked over to her desk, and for the first time I noticed the beakers full of blue liquid and the pennies. Lucian came back to our desk and we put our safety goggles on. We also found our worksheets in the drawers, and I saw that today was another find-it day. Whenever we had a find-it day, we would have to figure out what chemical we were using by how it makes another object react. I grabbed the timer like normal, and watched as Lucian dropped the penny in the beaker. At first nothing happened, but then . . .

"Whoa," I said, and almost fell out of my chair. The penny was starting to literally glow like the sun. As I watched, the copper coin began turning brighter and brighter, and finally the water changed color too. It was becoming a light blue, now turquoise, and finally green. The penny was becoming yellow and shiny, until the glow finally stopped. The penny looked like it was made of pure gold.

"Alchemy," Lucian whispered. "Sweet."

I'd heard of alchemy before. It was some sort of ancient chemistry where the people tried to turn cheap metals into gold. I wondered . . . could this really be . . .

"It's not real gold," said Lucian, like he'd read my mind. "It's brass. Kind of like fool's gold, but it's actually worth something more than a cent."

"All right, students. Who can tell me what has happened, hmm?" Ms. H said and scanned around the room. "Ah, yes. Lucian."

Lucian lowered his raised hand and spoke clearly to the class, "A layer of brass formed around the penny. It's not real gold, but it's one of the methods they used in alchemy."

"Correct. Now, on your worksheets—"

Suddenly, Ms. H went silent, and her eyes went wide. Lucian did the same thing, and turned his head quickly to the wall as if it were about to explode.

"Uh, Lucian—" I began, but Lucian quickly gave me the finger-on-the-mouth "hush" sign, and looked back at the wall. A moment passed, and I almost thought Ms. H and Lucian where going crazy when a loud banging came from the classroom door, and a muffled voice came through. I couldn't make out all of what the voice said, but I knew exactly who it was.

"Ms. H! It's Heather!" was what I gathered she had said. Ms. H rushed over to the door, and yanked it open. The rest of the class was whispering now, but I was too scared to speak. If Lucian and Heather where acting strange, could it be why they had been whispering?

Heather ran in and over to Lucian and I. She looked stressed, and before she even got to the table, Lucian was up.

"Come on!" he yelled, and the three of us ran out of the classroom. I heard Ms. H say something behind us, and she came after us. She was reaching for something in her black coat pocket. When she pulled it out, I knew I was seeing things. At first I thought it was some kind of weapon, but it was . . . a stick.

We ran down the hallway when there was an enormous crash and I looked back, despite Lucian and Heather pulling me forwards. What I saw made no sense at all. Out of the chemistry room came a man riding on a horse. The horse was smoky black, almost as if it was made out of pure darkness. It had fiery red eyes and neighed like it was some kind of rabid cat, "Shra aha aha!"

On top of the horse was something that made me fall over on the ground. It was a man. A very old man that looked like he was ready to be put in the ground. It was the person from Six Flags. Except for one major difference.

"Why . . . why is he holding his head?" I yelled, and Heather and Lucian picked me up. The old man looked angry, and in the speed of his horse's running, the top hat blew off. His hair looked like it was molded out of dead grass that was painted like stone. His eyes were shut tight and his mouth was yelling furiously. His suit wavered in the wind like a flag, and he whipped the demon horse's reigns, making it run faster.

I was done being frozen in fear and started running for my life. Ms. H was ahead of the three of us now, but she stopped and turned around, her eyes swimming with fury.

"Lucian! Heather! Take Alex to the chariot!" she yelled, and held the wand out in front of her. Despite my fear, I saw all of the engravings on the stick and had a crazy thought, but after the headless horseman arrived, I figured it was extremely logical.

"That's a . . . you're a witch!"

"Yes, Alex, but I prefer Hecate. It is much more formal."

Hecate. The Greek goddess of witchcraft. Sure.

"Heather!" Lucian yelled, and he let go of my arm. "Take Alex to the chariot! I'm going to help my mom."

Ms. H was Lucian's mother. His mother was Hecate, the Greek goddess of witchcraft. Sure.

Lucian whipped out a wand of his own and ran towards Ms. H. Heather took me forwards, and I yelled out, "What is going on?"

Heather looked at me, and I felt truly scared. Her eyes were wet with tears and she was shaking as bad as I was.

"Heather! That was, like, the Headless Horseman!"

"Technically he's an Acephali. A Greek headless humanoid spirit."

"Why does that matter?"

"It . . . it doesn't. I'm so sorry Alex. It was our job to keep you safe! We should've realized that you needed to get out of here sooner! When you weren't claimed yesterday—"

"Claimed? What does that mean?"

"Your mother was supposed to claim you yesterday! That's why Lucian and I kept looking at you! Demigods have to be claimed by their parent by their thirteenth birthday, unless . . ."

She seemed lost in thought. We had gotten off of the school grounds, and I saw jets of light going off behind us. Lucian and Ms. H, or Hecate, were managing to hold off the Acephali. Heather turned me down into an alley across the street, and down the way I saw something silver shining. As we got closer, I saw that it was some kind of ancient Olympic games chariot, coated in a silver paint that sparkled like the moon. On the side, the carved waves glittered to make them look like rushing water. There was nothing attached to the reigns, but it looked like it could go fast, though I wasn't sure how I could know about chariot speed.

"I'm really sorry, Alex! Just . . . stay here! I have to help Lucian and Hecate!" said Heather, and took off running, leaving me alone in an alley, while my two best friends in the world and a Greek goddess fought against a ghostly Headless Horseman.

If you don't have ADHD, you can't really understand the situation. I can't sit still when I'm very bored, and when I've been still for a while. When something is happening, something dangerous, you just have to do something, anything. I tried to jump just to get rid of my nerves, but I couldn't. I heard fighting sounds going on, and I wondered why no one was noticing anything. Why couldn't anyone see what was going on?

It took too long. I couldn't take it anymore. I could not stay here while my friends where in danger. I ran down the alley and towards the school.

"Alex! What are you doing?" yelled Lucian, and Hecate turned her head. She whipped her wand around and a burst of pink light shot forward. Suddenly a giant magenta bubble formed around the area, and I couldn't get through.

"Let me in!" I yelled, but no one did anything to help. I saw Lucian jump, and he fired a green light. It hit the horseman in the chest and he almost fell off of his steed. The horse reared up on its back legs and almost trampled Heather, but she dodged just in time. Then Hecate fired a huge ball of energy which exploded on the horse, and it burst into black dust. For a moment, I didn't realize what had happened, but in her magic against the ghost, she'd lost power over the forcefield and I was let in. No one noticed until the Acephali said, "Look who has decided to join the fun."

Hecate, Lucian, and Heather all looked at me, and started yelling things like, "Get out of here! It's too dangerous!" but I kept coming. The horseman laughed, and suddenly an opportunity came for Heather. She saw the horseman distracted and pulled out a thick, sharp bronze discus with a Greek Eta, η, on it. She twisted her arm back, and spun the discus around with such force it flew through the air like a Frisbee.

Suddenly, the Acephali stopped laughing. Its eyes opened wide just as the head rolled out of his hand. On impact with the ground, the head rolled to Lucian's feet, and a second later, the entire body burst into black powder like the horse, and a foul smell of sulfur entered the air. There was a metallic Clang as the discus fell onto a water drain in the grass, and Heather walked over and picked it up. She pushed the engraved Eta and the entire disc shrank into a tiny version of the Greek letter. A chain dropped down and she pulled it over her wrist. This whole time, that wristband had been some sort of weapon.

Lucian and Hecate both slipped their wands into their pockets before approaching me. Hecate turned to Heather, who also started towards me, and said, "I told you to take him—"

"She did take me to the chariot Ms., um, Hecate," I said quickly. Hecate gave me the same look Lucian always does, and she nodded like she believed me.

"Well, then we should return to it. Heather, I shall take Lucian to camp. If you ask your father, he may send you help to fly Alex and yourself to Long Island. You may want to . . . explain things to him."

The next second, Hecate started glowing. Heather looked away, and I thought I should to. In a flash, Lucian and the Greek goddess were gone.

"What did she mean, you may want to explain things to me, and what does she mean your father will send you help? I thought you said he passed away." I asked, and Heather's expression softened. She looked like she felt sorry for me.

"First, we need to get to the chariot. I'll tell you everything on the way."

"On the way to where? All Hecate said was Long Island."

"To camp."

"Right."

"Alex, this is serious. We need to get you to Camp Half-Blood, it's the only safe place on earth for people like us!"

"What do you mean people like us?" I was starting to get impatient.

She sighed, and took a deep breath. "Demigods. Half-Bloods. I'll explain everything once we get going. It's a long story."

"Hermes? Really?" I asked.

"Yes, Hermes. He's my father."

I let that sink in. We had been flying for only a medium length of time, yet somehow it looked like we had reached the Appalachian Mountains. Heather had just been telling me that because she was a demigod, a daughter of Hermes, that she had the ability to distort distances when flying. It allowed her to be able to get places much faster than normal, but not quite as fast as her father, who could disappear from Australia and appear in Russia in less than a second.

It also helped that once we had gotten to chariot back at the school, there had been a real, honest to god, or gods, dragon. It had a scaly green body like a serpent, a diamond-shaped head with horns sticking out the back, two large scale green bat wings and four thick legs like a dinosaur. Hermes had sent it to us because he had a certain power over snakes and reptiles like them, and this was the fastest way to fly. Heather had told me all about Camp Half-Blood, a training facility for demigods. She explained that all of the ancient Greek gods were still alive, and lived above the Empire State Building, and that they would occasionally descend to earth and have children with mortals. She explained about the Mist, a magical force that keeps mortals from seeing all the mythical things around them, and many other things, but she never got to the thing I wanted to hear. She kept talking until the New York coastline was in view, and then she finally said, "Do you have any questions?"

"Yeah," I said, and my tongue said what I'd wanted to say a second before I had planned it to, and it came out like, "So who is so my who godly is parent?"

Heather raised her eyebrow and said, "What?"

I took a deep breath. "So who is my godly parent?"

Heather gulped and looked down the way she does when she feels guilty about something. "Well, that's the thing. A long time ago, the gods made an oath that said they would claim their child by-"

"Their thirteenth birthday," I said; I remembered that Heather had said that to me before. She nodded.

"Lucian and I were waiting to see who would claim you. We've both known that you'r a powerful Half-Blood, that's another word for demigod, by the way, for a long time. After a while, Lucian told his mother about you, and she came to see you as well. When school started, she hypnotized the person you were supposed to have for science, and took the role herself. The real Ms. H is somewhere in Connecticut now. And because you haven't been claimed by your mother, we don't know who your parent is."

"Wait, how do you know it was my mother who was the godly parent?"

"Because," said Heather, and the dragon slowly dipped the chariot down towards a large coastal hill. At first I didn't see anything, but then . . .

"Whoa!" I said, and Heather stopped talking. Below our chariot there was an enormous Greek village. Everything was made in the old-fashioned style, an amphitheater, a sword fighting arena, and even the dining pavilion looked like it was made by the ancient Greeks. The only thing was, everything looked so new, not like the real Greek buildings.

"Wha . . . what is this place?" I asked.

"This is your new home. Camp Half-Blood."

The dragon landed, and Heather and I stepped out of the chariot. As soon as we did, the dragon flew off, and the chariot disappeared in a flash of silver light. Ahead of us there was a large marble sign, with the words "CAMP HALF-BLOOD" etched into it. Heather didn't seem too excited at the sight, but I was in total awe.

"Anyway, we know your godly parent is your mother because you have a father. The truth is that she's still alive, and she's a Greek god."

That brought me back to reality.

"What? My mother wasn't a god. Neither of my parents were my birth parents."

Heather stopped in her tracks, right under the sign, and she turned to face me.

"What?"

"Yeah, my birth parents are, or at least the non-godly one is dead."

"Why . . . I've known you for three years! How could you not tell me that!"

"Well, it's kind of depressing," I said, which was true. "My father said that when I was only six months old, my parents had both died in a car crash. I was put in an orphanage, and right after my first birthday, I was adopted by my new parents. But even then, my new mom died."

"Whoa," said Heather, and she looked down.

Suddenly someone called from down the hill where we were standing.

"Heather! Alex!"

Lucian came running up the stairs and greeted us.

"Lucian, Alex's godly parent isn't his mom. Well, it could be, but we can't know for sure."

"How?"

"He was adopted."

"Oh," he said, and turned to me. "Well, anyway. I assume Heather told you that she's Hermes's daughter, and you know I'm Hecate's son."

"Yeah," I said, but I was kind of depressed after talking about my family history.

"Aw, cheer up man! You'll be claimed soon, and then you'll have a new parent."

"Wait, I thought you guys said I had to be claimed by the time I was thirteen. If that's true, how can I still be claimed?"

Lucian thought for a second, and he became less enthusiastic. "Well, Heather and I, we think you may have already been claimed. Have you ever seen some sort of symbol above your head? Like a hologram?"

I thought about it, then shook my head.

"Hmm. Well, oh! Heather, did you show him the spear?" He was addressing Heather now.

"Oh, no!" she said, and turned to me. "I did tell you about Celestial Bronze, right?"

"The metal that can only hurt monsters, gods, and demigods?" I said. "Yeah."

"Okay, you know how Lucian gave you that arrowhead necklace on your birthday?"

I nodded. When my father and I had picked up Lucian to go to the theme park, he'd given me my present early. He'd said it was an ancient war arrowhead, and I had put it on my neck and forgotten about it.

"That was actually a gift from my mother, Hecate," Lucian said. "Take it off."

I pulled the chain off of my neck and examined it closely for the first time. On one side, there was a shimmering iron letter pressed into the arrowhead, an A.

"That's actually a Greek Alpha," Lucian told me. "It stands for Alex. Press it."

I did, and for a second, nothing happened. Then, the arrowhead began to glow like the penny had, only this glowed silver, and it became a shiny new point. Then a long, black metallic rod grew from the base and in a few seconds I held a spear in my hands.

"Whoa," I said, yet compared to everything else that had happened today, this was actually quite mundane.

"The Alpha should still be on the arrowhead, though it's actually a spearhead now."

I looked at the tip, and found the silver letter still engraved. I pressed it, and the weapon became a necklace again.

"Wait a minute," I said, realizing something. "This can't be Celestial Bronze. It's silver."

"There are other metals witch similar powers, such as Imperial Gold and Stygian Iron," said Heather.

"But this metal," Lucian picked up. "Can only be made using Hecatian magic."

"Hecatian magic?"

"Hecate's magic."

"Oh."

"Anyway," he continued from before. "This metal is called 'Hecatian Silver.' It's just like Celestial Bronze, except for three things."

"Yeah?"

"First, like I said, it can only be made using Hecate's magic. Second, it's silver, obviously. Third and most important . . . wait, did you tell him how monsters reform?"

"How monsters don't actually die, but they are destroyed for a while? Yeah, she did."

"Great. So, the most important difference between Celestial Bronze and Hecatian Silver is that when you use Hecatian Silver to destroy a monster, they have a magical bond placed on them that keeps them trapped in Tartarus longer. It's similar to the effects of Stygian Iron."

"So, this metal is more powerful than Celestial Bronze? Cool."

"And also," Heather said. "Don't worry about losing it. No matter where you leave it, no matter who takes it, your spear will always return to you after a while. It'll come back in its necklace form, like mine comes back as a bracelet." She held up her wrist, and I saw the Eta chain.

"Well, anyway," Lucian began, and he turned towards the camp. He twisted his head around and said, "Heather, come on. We need to take Alex to the Big House. Chiron and Mr. D have been waiting to see you for a while, Alex. Let's go."

Okay, my school's kind of mellowed out now that we're further in from summer, so I'll be able to write more often! :)

For now, I'll start with chapter three:



Mr. D only had to say one sentence for me to know he wasn't exactly pleasant to be around, "Real sharp, aren't you Alec?" Lucian and Heather walked me down the hill and towards the large, sky blue farmhouse. As we walked by the amphitheater, I noticed just how incredible the architecture of the structure was. I felt right at home, and even like I was some sort of big-brother to this camp. It was weird, almost like I felt this entire place belonged to me.

We pass by the lake and across the river, and came to a collection of very strange buildings, built in the shape of a Greek Omega, O. At the end there were two enormous buildings that looked like gold and silver mausoleums. One of the neighboring cabins looked like it was made entirely out of stone collected from the ocean, which I guessed it was. There were seashells all over and on the back wall was a salt water spring. Another building looked like it had been grown from the ground, and covered in flowers. One building was made of a very dark material, and had torches all around burning with green fire.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"These are the cabins," said Lucian, and he stopped walking forward. "One dedicated to every god or goddess with children here. Until we find out which cabin you belong in, you'll be staying in the Hermes cabin with Heather."

"We take in all of the unclaimed campers, Alex," she said, and I realized just how many other campers there must be if they needed a place just to stash all of the unclaimed ones. "Luckily I'm the Hermes Cabin Leader, so I'll be able to watch over you."

We kept walking until we came across one of the other cabins. It was as black as midnight, and the walls rippled and changed as if it was alive. Above the door there was a glowing shape that looked like a set of brass scales. I stopped, and had an overwhelming urge to go forwards.

Lucian and Heather finally noticed and turned around.

"What are you doing?" she asked me, and suddenly I was brought to reality.

"I . . . I don't know. I was just entranced by this building." A crazy thought when through my mind. "Hey, guys. Whose cabin is this?"

Lucian and Heather's eyes popped open wide. "Uh, that's Cabin Sixteen," Lucian said. "Nemesis's cabin."

"Alex," Heather said gently. "Do you . . . do you think you're a child of Nemesis?"

"I don't know," I said. After a few moments of silent, we continued for the Big House.

I saw a lot of campers passing me; some had sculptures they'd made in Arts and Crafts, some with weapons like swords and shields, heading for the Sword Fighting Arena. I even saw two teenagers dueling, by the looks of them identical twins, with identical bronze lances. Everyone was wearing orange t-shirts that said, "Camp Half-Blood." Once I saw a pure white Pegasus fly over my head, and I stared at it for a minute before Heather and Lucian pulled me forwards.

We walked along a creek for a while before we reached the Big House, but when we did, my eyes almost popped out like a cartoon. On the porch there were three people sitting around a table, each holding playing cards. On the side closest to me there was a . . . a thing. It was a human boy with curly brown hair, except for two small bumps in his head. Below his orange shirt was the lower quarters of some sort of sheep. He had two shiny black hooves below his shaggy brown fur.

On the left of the creature was a man with slick, greasy black hairs and eyes of a powerful, deep purple. He was holding a Diet Coke can in his right hand, and was examining the cards in his left. He was wearing a bright orange leopard jumpsuit, but he didn't really look like he'd ever spent a day working out.

Finally, there was a man with chocolate colored hair and a beard to match. His eyes were wise, and he looked exactly like a stereotypical teacher, except for one major difference. Below his plum colored suit was the bottom half of white stallion.

It was a while before anyone spoke.

"Ah, Lucian! I have not seen you for so long! And Heather, you've grown so much!" said the horseman.

"Thank you, Chiron," said Lucian, and Heather smiled.

Then the horseman, Chiron, turned to look at me.

"So, I see the mission was a success. Has Hecate returned to her realm?"

"Yes, Chiron."

"Good, good. Now, your name is Alex, correct?"

It took me a while, but I realized he had addressed me.

"Oh, um, yes, Lord . . . Lord Chiron."

"Lord? Heather, have you not told this young man who I am?"

"Oh, sorry, Chiron. I was a little distracted," said Heather, and she turned to me.

"Alex, this is Chiron, the immortal trainer of heroes. I'm pretty sure you've realized that he is a Centaur."

"Right. Centaur."

"Real sharp, aren't you Alec?" said the man in the Leopard suit.

"Um, it's actually Alex, Mr. . . . Mr. . . ."

"My gods, Helen! Haven't you taught this boy anything? It is your one use."

"Sorry, Mr. D," she said, and turned to me. Before she could say anything, though, I said to Mr. D, "Her name is Heather."

"How fascinating," said Mr. D, and took a sip from his can.

I was about to react, but Lucian and Heather held me back.

"Alex," Heather said. "You don't want to make Mr. D angry. He's . . . he's . . ."

She leaned over and whispered in my ear.

"He's the god of wine, Dionysus."

"Oh," I said, and I felt my ears go red. "Sorry Mr. D." I tried to sound sincere, but being around this guy just made me angry.

"Well, I hope you learned your lesson, Allen."

I had to clench my teeth to stop myself from reacting.

"Now, Mr. D, Alex has just come today. Heather, Lucian, it would be best if you took Alex to see our Orientation Film," said Chiron, and he waved us off. He sat down and whispered something to Dionysus.

"Of course, Chiron," Lucian and Heather said in unison, and they led me away from the Big House.

The Orientation Film was located in a small chamber in the back of the Amphitheater. Lucian showed me that the only way to open it was to have permission from Chiron or Dionysus, which would make the doors open as we approached, but only once. Inside, there were three rows of less-than-comfortable stone benches and a misty screen on the opposite wall. As soon as the doors clattered shut behind us, the screen flickered and changed color. After a few seconds, an aerial view like the one Heather and I had seen from the chariot appeared, along the words, "CAMP HALF-BLOOD."

Suddenly a cheerful voice, much like the one you would here on an infomercial sounded all around the room, saying, "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, a hero's paradise."

"Before we get into detail about our camp, it's important to make sure you understand why you are here. For those of you who don't know, the ancient Greek gods are still alive today. If you have come to Camp Half-Blood, it means that one of your parents is one of these Olympian gods. You will train here so that you can defend yourself if needed. Now, let's take you on a tour of the camp."

The view changed and it became a bird's eye view of the camp from the entrance gate.

"We have many facilities here where young heroes can train. We have a Sword Fighting Arena-"

The view changed to the Arena.

"-An Armory-"

The Armory appeared.

"-And of course we have our twenty demigod cabins, each dedicated to a specific god. The cabins, in order, are Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Ares, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes, Dionysus, Hades, Iris, Hypnos, Nemesis, Nike, Hebe, Tyche and Hecate. Once you have been claimed by your godly parent, or if you have already been claimed, you will be moved to the cabin belonging to that parent. Until that time, however, the Hermes campers will be more than happy to let you stay with them.

"Here at Camp Half-Blood, there are two main people in charge, Mr. D, who is actually the powerful god of wine, Dionysus, and Chiron, the immortal trainer of heroes. They both can give out quests, missions for young heroes to go out into the world to complete a certain task. The Oracle of Delphi, who is currently named Rachel Dare, will give prophecies to these heroes to guide them on their quests. If you do not have a quest, we ask that you do not leave the camp. Thank You."

I wasn't expecting that to be the end of the movie, but the screen turned black and the back doors opened. I noticed that Lucian and Heather hadn't sat down like I had, but had stayed by the doors the whole time. Lucian was smiling, and said to me, "I love when we get mortals to do stuff."

I was about to ask what he meant when Heather answered my question.

"Yes, it's very funny to hypnotize mortals into doing our bidding. They do have a certain way with words." I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

"That was . . . interesting," I said, for lack of a better word. Lucian and Heather both started cracking up, and they started to lead me towards the Big House. I thought about what the movie had said about being claimed. I also thought about how I had wanted to join the Nemesis cabin.

Well, I told myself. It's no weirder than anything else that's happened. Heather's a daughter of Hermes, and Lucian's a son of Hecate.

I knew it was true, but it sounded weird to me. This morning, my biggest worry was that Lucian and Heather expected me to grow a horn like a unicorn. Now even that seemed like an ideal alternative.

I figured the best way to be able to accept it was to say it aloud.

"Come on, Alex," Lucian yelled ahead of me.

I took a deep breath, then spoke.

"I am a son of the Greek god Nemesis." Then I ran after Heather and Lucian.


"All right, everyone. We have a new member," said Heather.

We had just arrived at Cabin Eleven, where I would be staying until I was claimed. Lucian had already headed off to the Hecate cabin for the night, and I still needed to find a place to sleep. The cabin was packed. I count thirty, maybe thirty-five people. One third of them all had the same crooked grin that Heather showed when she'd done something bad. As I watched, one boy in the back grabbed a gold coin from another boy who was staring at Heather and I. Then he spoke.

"Determined?"

"No," said Heather, and the entire cabin groaned and started mumbling under their breath.

"Guys, that's what makes the Hermes cabin great! Don't be upset because of our hereditary hospitality!" She was trying to sound upbeat, but even she sounded upset about sharing her space with so many people.

"He looks old enough, is he almost thirteen?" said a girl on the left.

Heather gave her guilty look and said, "Actually, he's already thirteen. We think . . . we think he might be a Nemesis camper, though. We're going to try and find out as soon as we can.

Heather waved me inside and over to her area, one of the only spaces that had a bed. She said I could keep my stuff near her, and reminded me that Hermes was the god of thieves. After remembering that and seeing the thief from before swipe another two coins from a girl, I was glad I didn't have any possessions to lose. When the sun started to set, Heather gave me a sleeping bag, and I sat down next to her. I started asking a few more things about the camp. We kept talking for a while until another camper who was trying to sleep threatened to impale us with his javelins if we kept making noise.

"Good night," I said to Heather.

"Night."

One important thing I learned about demigods that night was how much our dreams suck. Heather had warned me before going to bed that half-bloods never got a peaceful night's sleep after finding out who they were, but I wasn't prepared for this.

The first part of the vision was so quick and fast that it was hard to realize what was going on. One second, I saw a fiery red Maserati flying, literally, through the sky. Suddenly a dark shape appeared, and the light flickered. In a flash, the scene faded, and a Greek temple appeared.

I could tell I was up high without even looking down, just by the air pressure. I didn't want to look down, but obviously my body made me. The mountain wasn't that steep, but I still freaked. I even opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out. There was heavy snow all around, and hail was pelting me painfully, even though it was a dream. There was a mild stretch of sloped, icy rock leading to the temple, and as I approached it, I wanted to vomit, and not just to see if I could hear it fall from up here.

The white marble was dotted with horrible scenes. The archway that opened into the dark interior of the temple was covered in the zodiac signs, but each of the symbols was in a moment of sickening violence. Near the top was Leo the Lion, mauling a deadly accurate carving of a Greek hero. Scorpio was piercing the heart of another victim, who looked like he was crying in pain. Next to the scorpion was Sagittarius, a Centaur who looked similar to Chiron, except that he was shooting arrows into a crowd of people. For a while I couldn't do anything at all, until a women, with a voice so dark and vicious it sounded like she was hissing spoke to me in a language I would only later realize was ancient Greek from inside the temple.

"Hello, young hero. Do you like my ssservant'sss decorationsss?"

I wanted to yell out, "Who are you?" but I still couldn't make a sound.

Another voice sounded, just as ancient and cold, but more defined, like the woman had spoken with smoke, and this man spoke with stone.

"Soon, it will all make sense to you, hero. You can be useful, or we can dispose of you. A warning, keep your friends close, and keep them safe."

I didn't know why the man was giving me a warning, as if he expected Heather or Lucian to drop dead in front of me. Especially if he owned this temple, how could he even speak words of kindness?

The two voices laughed, and I saw a shadow move behind the doorway as if one were approaching me. I never got to find out, however, for the next second, a bright burst of silver light exploded into the cabin, making everyone jump. I looked at Heather, and she mouthed, Stay calm to me, though she looked pretty freaked out herself. She stood up from her bed, and turned her wristband into the bronze discus. I also grabbed my weapon, and in a few seconds I held my spear tightly, and I saw several other campers do the same thing. For a long time, everyone stayed still, until a knocking came on the door. Heather, who was the leader of the cabin, approached the entrance and opened it. Outside it was too dark to see anything, but Heather saw whatever it was.

"Forrest?" she said, and another one of the goat men stepped in. Everyone else was staring at the creature, but Heather seemed to think no one else could see him.

"It's a satyr," she said, and I didn't have time to process that I'd just learned a new word. With my Dyslexia, words weren't exactly a big deal.

"Chiron is calling a meeting in the Big House. All the cabin counselors are coming. Bring a few others, too," said the satyr, Forrest, and he ran out the door.

"All right," said Heather after a while. "You heard Forrest. I think one other Hermes camper should come, how about Rick." The thief I had seen before stood up and walked over to her. He was much older, and for the first time I thought it was weird that Heather was cabin leader if she wasn't the oldest.

"And two unclaimed, Sierra," an african-american girl stood up. "And Alex. Come on, let's get to the Big House, and quick."


I plan to have the next chapter up by Tuesday.

By the time Rick, Sierra, Heather and I reached the Big House, every other cabin except for Hecate had arrived. Everyone was whispering to their neighbors, discussing the burst of light. Chiron was at the back wall, but he looked as though he where a full human in a wheelchair. Mr. D was sitting next to him, but he kept nodding off every few seconds.

When Lucian and the Hecate cabin counselor arrived, Chiron got out of his chair, and I saw that it seemed to magically store his horse hind quarters when he sat in it. I stared at it for a second before Chiron yelled over the other campers.

"Silence!"

He waited a moment for the last of the conversations to end. His perfect brown hair was a little ridged, like he had woken in a hurry. I heard Mr. D snore, and Chiron rolled his eyes.

"Now. I believe you all know why I called this assembly."

"Because of the moon thing," said a girl from the Hebe cabin.

Moon thing?

"Yes, the 'moon thing.' For those of you who did not witness the event directly," Chiron said, noticing all of the confused faces. "The moon acted in an odd way tonight. The light flickered before releasing the burst of silver light I trust you all saw."

Most campers nodded their heads.

"At this time, we are unaware of the true situation. However, as Athena has informed me, it seems that Artemis, the moon goddess, has been kidnapped, again."

"Again?" I asked Heather, confused. It seemed weird that a goddess could be kidnapped, but twice?

"About fifteen years ago. The Titan, Atlas, kidnapped her and trapped her beneath the sky."

"Whoa," I said, and we both turned back at Chiron.

"Of course even the gods do not know exactly, but with the evidence of the solar flare and the lunar burst, both of which are very rare events, happening on the same day, it is only possible they are connected. When Zeus called an emergency council, neither Apollo or Artemis was present, and so we believe it is safe to assume that is what has happened."

There was a lot more murmuring among the crowds, and I asked Heather, "What are solar flares and lunar bursts?"

"Well," she said. "Lunar bursts are sudden releases of lunar light, and it happens whenever something bad happens to Artemis. One hasn't happened since long ago, not even when she was kidnapped last time."

"Okay," I said.

"Mortals do know about solar flares," she continued. "But they don't care much about them. They occur whenever something odd has happened on Apollo's daily trip with the sun car-"

"Sun car?"

"Apollo has a red Maserati sports car, which is technically the sun."

My heart sunk, and I remembered the vision of the Maserati and the sudden darkness.

"I saw Apollo be kidnapped!" I said, a little too loud. Everyone in the room looked at me in shock, and even Heather's eyes were wide.

"What?" she said.

"Just now," I said, but this time I purposely projected my voice around the room. The two Apollo campers looked scared by what I had said, and I realized that I was being pretty insensitive. Apollo was their father, and they'd just heard me blurt out that I'd seen him be kidnapped.

"I saw his sports car in the sky, and suddenly it was dark, and then the scene changed," I said, but this time directly to Chiron. "It all happened so fast."

Chiron seemed to be thinking to himself for a while. A few campers started talking again, but both Lucian and Heather eyed me nervously. Finally she said, "Seeing stuff like that isn't good, Alex. It can mess with the outcome of stuff, tangle up the plan set by the Fates."

"Maybe I was supposed to see that stuff because of the Fates," I said, but I wasn't actually sure what the Fates were.

Finally, Chiron spoke.

"Everyone, quiet!" he said so loud that Mr. D jumped in his sleep and spilled the Diet Coke on the table over an Iris camper. She jumped, and Mr. D said, "Oh, it doesn't matter. Just don't go and complain, like I know you will."

Chiron gave Mr. D a that's-not-how-you're-supposed-to-act look, and the god of wine sighed.

"Go get a paper towel then. But only one, we're in a recession, you know."

The girl ran out of the room, and everyone stared at Dionysus angrily.

"Anyway," Chiron began. "If what you say is true, Alex, we can confirm that our archery gods have been kidnapped. The main questions are who and why now? There must be some sort of significance about today, and if we figure out what it is, we can figure out who it is. But in the meantime," Chiron's expression tightened. "It would be best to consult the Oracle. We need a quest."

The room burst into discussion. I didn't know what was so strange about what Chiron had said, at least nothing more strange than the existence of the Greek gods.

Heather must have sensed how I felt, because she leaned over and whispered in my ear.

"Four years ago, the Oracle gave a prophecy to the wrong hero. Because that hero went on the quest, nothing turned out as the prophecy had predicted, and everyone on the journey died."

"Ouch," I said, and Heather smiled.

"Calm down, calm down," said Chiron, and he grunted like he was preparing for a speech.

"I know that the last time a quest was given, there were . . . to say it gently, a few problems. However, I believe our Oracle is ready. Mr. D, would you be so kind as to fetch Miss Dare?"

"Hmm?" Dionysus said, and he snapped out of his sleepiness in a few moments. "Sure. Carter," he said, pointing to one of his sons. "Do what Chiron . . ." Mr. D fell back to sleep. Muttering under his breath, the boy named Carter went out the door of the meeting room.

"While we wait for our Oracle, I think we should decide who should go on our quest. I believe it would be most appropriate to send a child of Apollo," said Chiron, and he turned to the two campers, a boy and a girl. "Mitchell, as the Apollo counselor, will you accept the quest?"

"Of course, Chiron," said the boy named Mitchell without time for hesitation. He had honest eyes that were swimming in different emotions, fear, surprise, sadness.

A few seconds later, Carter returned with a redheaded women who looked to be in her early thirties. She had tricky eyes, and looked like a person you wouldn't know if you could exactly trust, much like the Hermes campers.

"Rachel, we are ready for a new quest. Our hero will be Mitchell, he is the Apollo camper sitting across the table."

The woman jerked her head around, and walked over to Mitchell.

Suddenly her eyes turned a violent green. She looked like some sort of demon had possessed her, and she opened her mouth. When she spoke, it sounded much like the woman from my dream.

"I am the spirit of Delphi," said the woman. The voice sounded like it was echoing through my head, which really disturbed me. "Speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, Seeker, and ask."

The voice stopped, and all eyes where on Mitchell.

"Umm . . . uh, how can I find Apollo and Artemis?"

Suddenly a vision appeared in the room, much like the orientation film. It showed Apollo in his Maserati, smiling at Mitchell. When Apollo spoke, though, his voice was that of the Oracle.

"The sun and moon rest in the sky,
Above the world, two of five shall die,
The deities shall return,
But their replacements shall fade,
And the leader must stay,
As debt to the betrayed."

The woman, Rachel, blinked and her eyes returned to normal. The vision faded, but Mitchell still stared above the table like it hadn't faded. After a moment, Rachel whispered something to Chiron and left. The Chiron spoke, and Mitchell snapped out of his chance.

"I believe the prophecy was clear enough. You shall take four campers with you to find Apollo and Artemis. The only question is now up to you, Mitchell. Who shall accompany you?"

For a moment, Mitchell was still, thinking hard. Then he spoke. "I want Casey," and the other Apollo girl stood up. "I accept," she said, and Mitchell nodded.

"I also want Kyle," he said, and a Zeus camper stood. "I accept."

"I also want Sierra." Everyone looked shocked by this. It even seemed strange to me that Mitchell wanted an unclaimed camper, until he kissed her. That's why, I thought to myself.

"One more," said Chiron peacefully, but he looked upset about the kiss.

"Finally, Lucian."

Lucian stood and looked at me. It was weird at first, but I realized that Lucian had friends here too. I figured if Mitchell wanted him on the quest, I couldn't stop him from going. However, that line scared me, "Above the world, two of five shall die."

I noticed Heather looking nervous about Lucian going, but she started nodding at Lucian, and I decided that Lucian going would be for the best. The quest members couldn't have a better partner.

Finally I nodded as well, and Lucian said, "I accept."

"Excellent," Chiron said, and he looked seriously at the standing campers. I noticed Heather looked nervous about Lucian going as well, but pretended not to notice.

"You shall leave in the morning. That gives you about five ours to plan. Argus will drive you into the city, and then you will be on your own. Good Luck."

Then he turned to the sitting campers, and said, "Back to bed, all of you. The quest members will use this meeting room to plan for the rest of the night."

And with that, all of the campers left, and I waved goodbye to Lucian. Only two people will return, My mind said against my will. I left the Big House trying not to think that I would never see Lucian again.

On the way back to the cabin, something really weird happened. I was completely exhausted, and my brain wasn't quite ready to acknowledge everything that just happened. I just wanted to know what time it was.

My whole life, I'd always liked to know what time it was. I know most kids are like that, because they care about how much time they had to relax or take a test, but I didn't really have a reason. I just liked to know what part of the day it was. Whenever I woke up in the middle of the night, the first thing I did was turn to the clock. Normally if it was past one, I would go and get a drink or something. Occasionally I would just watch the sky, and I would know the time by the location of the sun.

Of course I know what you're thinking, but no, I didn't think I was a son of Apollo because of the solar time thing. It was more about time. I racked my brains, trying to think of some Greek god of time. I came up with Kronos, but I didn't even want to think that the evil Titan Lord was my dad. I would've asked Heather, but I was too tired to care enough.

That's when the weird thing happened. As soon as my mind realized I wasn't going to figure it out by some external source, the exact time slipped into my mind.

One twenty-six.

At that point, I looked furiously for a clock to see if that was correct. It felt correct, and I sensed that it was true, but how could I know?

I was trying to think back of any other memories that tied in with this, when the dream I had seen entered my mind. I remembered what the man had said, "A warning, keep your friends close, and keep them safe."

Lucian was going on a life-or-death quest. Could this mean . . . could Lucian . . .

No, I told myself, like I did whenever I thought about something happening to someone or something I cared about. That person was evil, he just wanted to play with your mind.

I tried to believe that as we returned to the cabin. Heather explained what had happened the best she could, but I could tell the exhaustion had snuck up on her as well. After a few minutes of reliving what had happened, she laid down on her bed and fell asleep. A few seconds later I felt the tiredness take over and said a prayer to the gods.

Please no dreams.

Well, the Greek god of dreams, who I learned later was Morpheus, apparently has a soft spot for me. I woke up in the morning having just dreamt that Lucian and I were still back home in Dallas. (Though for some reason, Dallas seemed to have gained a large beach overnight.) I was happy for the first few seconds, until a horrible thought entered my mind. I used my internal body clock again, and learned that Lucian and the rest of the quest members had left over an hour ago.

The rest of the cabin was empty, so I was able to get up as loudly as I wanted, which felt good, seeing as how I was angry at my body clock for not waking me up. I found that someone had tucked an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt and blue jeans under my sleeping bag, and I pulled them on quickly. I stepped over everyone else's stuff on the way to the door, but I didn't care.

Heather was reading a book on the doorstep when I came out. I didn't know what the book was, but it seemed to be in a different language, with weird letters. After a few seconds I realized I had understood the name of the book, Βασιλιάς Αρθούρος, γιος του Δία, which was printed on top of her page.

King Arthur, Son of Zeus.

I started reading the page, but when I got past a paragraph talking about the lost scabbard of Excalibur, Heather seemed to notice me for the first time. She looked a little, flushed, like she thought I'd just been staring at her.

"Alex!"

She slipped a gold piece of ribbon in her page, and shut the book. The end of the ribbon waved in the wind, and I wondered if even the bookmarks here were magical. Maybe they would say what page you were on if you asked. I was tempted to say something, but then Heather spoke.

"So, you found the clothes I got you?"

I nodded, but my thoughts went to Lucian again, and she must have noticed.

"They left an hour ago. I missed them as well."

"Why didn't he wake us?"

"I was told by Chiron that by the time he realized we needed to be woken up, Mitchell said they had to go. Chiron said that Lucian had started towards the cabins, but he had to go. I was going to Iris message him, but . . ."

She froze when she saw my face. She realized I didn't understand, and reached into her pocket. When her hand came out, she was holden a solid gold coin.

"This is a golden drachma. The mortals' ones were silver, but that's not really the point. You see, the goddess of the rainbow, Iris, is one of the messengers of the gods. Most of the time, she also sends messages for demigods as well, if she can."

She stood up, threw her book into the cabin, and led me down the rows of cabins. I noticed one that looked like an iron factory, and based on my knowledge of Greek Mythology, I guessed it was Hephaestus'.

Finally we stopped at the seashell cabin. There was no one inside, but the door was open. We walked to the salt-water spring in the back, and I saw that there were hundreds of golden drachmas at the bottom of the stone pool. Then Heather closed her eyes like she was about to say a prayer, and held her coin out in front of her.

"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept this offering."

She flipped the coin above the spring, and it disappeared where the mist sparkled different colors. Out of the corner of my eye I saw another camper walk in the door, but stepped back out when he saw us there. Heather seemed not to have noticed.

"Lucian Wick," she said, but nothing happened. After a second, Heather opened her eyes, and lowered her hand. Another few seconds, and the coin we had just thrown in dropped from the mist.

"What the . . ." said Heather, and reached in to grab another coin. I wondered wether it was safe to have a hundred gold coins out in the open, especially with campers like the ones in the Hermes cabin.

Heather repeated the ritual, with the same results. She grabbed a bunch of drachmas from the pool, then handed them to me. She would toss her coin into the mist, wait, have it fall down again, then grab another from my pile. It went on for a while, but on the bright side, I learned a lot of new Greek swear words.

Finally, when I was down to just one two coins, I started playing with one. I flipped it in the air and dropped it, seeing if it would roll. When it landed, it took off towards the doorway, but right as it was about to go over the edge, it seemed to bounce back.

"Cool," I whispered to myself, but I couldn't hear it well with Heather's threat to turn the fountain to rubble.

"Ugh!" she yelled, and kicked the fountain. It looked like it would cause her a lot of pain, but she just grunted.

"Well, anyway, whenever it actually works," she said, giving the evil eye to the fountain. "You can talk to the person whose name you say."

Suddenly her eyes widened and she rolled her eyes.

"Oh my gods, Alex! We were talking about Lucian!"

She started walking back to the Hermes cabin, and we picked up the conversation again.

"Well, what I was saying was that I was planning to Iris message Lucian, but I decided to wait for you. But I suppose we can't talk to him now, for whatever reason, so let's go get breakfast. Neither of us got dinner yesterday because of your orientation with Chiron. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

My stomach was growling, so I agreed. On the way, she started talking more about Camp Half-Blood, and even started teaching my some Ancient Greek. It wasn't exactly easy to learn to speak, but it wasn't any harder than English, thanks to my Dyslexia. Heather even explained that ADHD and Dyslexia are always diagnosed for half-bloods. We couldn't sit still because of our battle instincts, and we couldn't read because our brains were wired for Greek.

By the time we reached the Mess Hall, breakfast was already starting to end. Most campers had gone off for their activities, so it was just Heather, me, two Aphrodite girls and an unclaimed camper, Hugo.

The food was incredible. We had old-fashioned water goblets that would fill with any nonalcoholic drink we wanted, and it would never run out. There was bacon, pancakes, eggs, sausages and muffins, as well as a ton of other things I didn't get to try.

When the very last other camper got up and left, Heather turned to me, and swallowed a large clump of scrambled eggs.

"I think we'd better get going. Now that you're a part of the Hermes cabin, you're going to need to learn our schedule."

She ripped off a bite of bacon and chewed for a few moments, then continued.

"Our Tuesday schedule is Sword Skills, Archery, Lunch Preparation, Greek, Stable Cleaning, Canoeing and Volleyball. Also, Cabin Inspection is on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, so try to keep it clean today."

"When is Cabin Inspection?"

"During Breakfast. The cabins switch off who has to do it every time, and tomorrow is Ares, and they're harsh."

"Okay," I said, trying to remember everything she'd said. She must have noticed my expression, because she said, "I'll remind you throughout the day. First is Sword Skills, so let's get to the Arena."

I took one last chunk out of a pancake and stood up. I was excited to try sword fighting, especially since it would be the first chance I would get to use my spear. Taking my necklace off of my neck, I followed Heather across the camp.

The first thing I learned when I got to the Sword Fighting Arena was this: Hecatian Silver weapons are awesome. A bunch of tall, burly kids in the coliseum who would never normally talk to me came over, wanting the hold my spear or throw it like a javelin. For a while, I let it go on. I'd never gotten much attention from other people at school, so the feeling was new. After a few minutes, though, I got tired of passing it around, trying to stop people from stabbing others in the chest.

"Ares campers," said Heather, rolling her eyes at the tough kids when I walked over to her. "Whenever someone has a rare weapon, they're willing to kill each other over it."

"I guess, but it's not like it'd hurt to lose a few," I said, and we both laughed. There really were a dozen of them, each with similar wide builds and angry eyes. In fact, I thought I saw a few of them flicker like they were on fire.

"So, how does this work, exactly?" I asked Heather, as more of the wandering Hermes campers came over to us.

"What do we do?”

"Well, I think we should be partners for today, at least. Just do what I tell you." I nodded.

After a few minutes, the group had split up into pairs, except for one group of three: Me, Heather, and the only friendly Ares camper, a short Hispanic boy named Jack. He had a common Son-of-Ares power that allowed him to summon any weapon he chose, but he chose a magic Celestial Bronze javelin with war carvings all around the shaft. Heather had also picked up a gold sword from the Armory, one that reflected the blazing fire in the brazier behind us like a mirror. If it had been bright enough, the light could've probably blinded me.

Heather and Edgar decided it would be best to demonstrate some basic maneuvers of sword fighting, such as countering attacks, disarming, and weapon lock, a tricky move where one opponent tangled their blade against the other's, causing neither blade to be able to move. A few more minutes passed, and I decided I was ready to try it myself.

"Okay, Alex. First, find the sweet spot on your spear where it feels balanced," Heather said to me when I stepped up.

After a few moments, I found a perfect pivot point a little ahead of the middle. I wasn't sure if this was what Heather meant by "sweet spot," but it felt good to me.

"Okay," I said, and Heather's eyes narrowed.

"Let's try the counterattack maneuver. I'm gonna lash the sword at you, but not too hard you'll be in any real danger. Turn the spear sideways like Edgar did . . . that's right, and . . ."

She swung the blade in a perfect arc, and the sun's light caused it to look like the blade was spanning out. I lost focus for a second, but right before the sword made contact with my spear, my instincts took over.

"Oh . . . oh my gods, Alex. What was that?"

She wasn't saying I had done anything bad, but I clearly hadn't just blocked the blade. I had managed to spin my spear at a precise second, and the sword had spun out of Heather's hand and tumbled through the sky over her head.

"That was . . . that was . . ."

"Something?" I suggested.

"Something," she agreed.

A few heads started looking over, and I saw Edgar whispering in another Hermes camper's ear. Soon, everyone was whispering to the person beside them, passing on the story about how I'd done an impossible move. Everyone started clustering together, coming closer. The attention was nothing like before, when everyone had admired my spear. No, this time everyone looked at me like some kind of superhero.

"How did you do that?" one of the Ares campers finally asked.

"I . . . I don't know."

More whispering.

"All right everyone," said Heather, waving her arms. "Get back to your groups."

The crowd slowly dissipated, and Heather asked, "Honestly, what were you doing?"

I took a breath and said, "I was actually staring at the blade. It was making a gold arc, and I just couldn't take my eyes off it. When I knew the sword was about to land . . . I don't know. It just sort of . . . happened."

She nodded reluctantly, like she was disappointed I hadn't done some super-fabulous sword trick.

"Let's try it again," she said, but then froze like she'd been turned to stone. From what I knew about Greek Mythology, I got scared, thinking Medusa was behind me. However, after a few seconds, I realized that Heather was doing something she'd done all day on my birthday.

I looked up, and saw nothing, but Heather still stared at me, until finally she spoke.

"The fire . . . the plume of fire . . ."

I wanted to ask what she was talking about, but I was too stunned to speak. The plume of fire? Did she mean the brazier behind her?

"Alex . . . you've been claimed."

Suddenly I understood. The "plume of fire" was something that had appeared over my head. Heather had told me what all of the different claiming symbols were, but I had never expected this.

"I'm . . . a son of Hades?"

Heather helped me move into Cabin Thirteen. My only possessions where my old T-shirt, a pair of brown shorts, and the clothes on my back. It was weird leaving the Hermes cabin so soon, I'd only been there one night, yet the place felt like my home.

We only had to turn a corner to get to the Hades cabin, yet the trip seemed to take a while.

"So . . ." I said when we reached the cabin, a solid black obsidian building with a skull over the door and torches that always burned with green Greek fire.

It wasn't quite what I pictured for "home sweet home."

"Yeah," Heather said back. After a few more seconds and an awkward hug, she trudged off to the Archery field with the Hecate, Hermes and Zeus campers.

That left me to move into my new home myself.

When we had been walking back from the Sword Fighting Arena, Heather had told me that the Hades campers would be having their Greek lessons at the moment, which gave me about an hour just to pick a bunk while I waited for the next class.

I stepped into the cabin, expecting to see some sort of horrible decoration scheme, like bear skeleton carpets, or fiery pits every few feet. Oddly, though, the Hades campers had left most of the cabin pretty much untouched. There were four bunks, three of which where covered in things like books or laptops, and so I put my extra clothes on the bottom left bed. I sat down, and considered going to sleep. But if I did, how would I be able to wake up in time for the next class?

I remembered the morning, and how I had missed seeing Lucian as he left for the quest. I thought about how we had tried to Iris message him without success. Soon, before I could help it, my brain nearly drowned in thoughts about Lucian and the quest, and I fell asleep against my will.

" . . . following us."

"No, that's not possible. How could it have stayed on our trail?"

"I don't know, but we should probably get moving, this place gives me the creeps."

"Okay, but if any sees any movement that isn't one of us, yell out and hide. Otherwise . . . well, I don't want to think about it."

"Then let's get going."

Everything was still darkness, but I had recognized the voices. It was Lucian and the other members of the quest, and something was following them.

Suddenly, a landscape came into view. Everything was shrouded in a white mist, like I was standing in a cloud. Before me, there was a girl with auburn hair, who looked to be about my age, twelve or thirteen. She had on strange, old-fashioned clothes, and her eyes were wild with wisdom, and I had a feeling this was no thirteen year old girl.

I was staring at a goddess.

"They are searching for us, hero, much as they did before. However, I doubt they will be so lucky this time." The goddess was definitely talking to me.

"Don't let them find us, they'll be in too much danger," said another voice behind me. I turned, and saw a surfer-looking man with sunny yellow blonde hair. Suddenly I realized who was in front of me, Apollo and Artemis.

I finally discovered how to speak.

"You . . . you don't want to be rescued?"

They both shook their heads.

"It is too risky, none shall survive if they come for us," said Artemis.

"So, you sent the monster after them?"

Both gods were still, but then Apollo glumly nodded his head.

"We were trying to get them to return home. It wasn't a fool-proof plan, but it was the best we could do in the time we had. We were kidnapped so suddenly, it was all we could think of."

"So, what monster did you send?"

The gods were still again, until Artemis whispered, "Cerberus."

I was too stunned to speak.

"Apollo managed to release him with his powers of music. He enchanted a bird to sing an ode to the Door of Orpheus, which is located in Central Park. The music made an entrance to the Underworld, and Cerberus was drawn out by the bird's song, which was a musical call for him."

I couldn't move from shock. No, I wasn't that shocked, I just couldn't move. The mist started fading around me, and I wanted to yell out and make the gods stay, but I suddenly woke up to a violent jerk.

Speaking of violent jerks . . .

"Hey kid," said a tall man with black hair so thick it looked like liquid darkness. "Who are you?"

I wanted to punch this guy in the face for some reason, but I thought better of it. Instead, I said, "Alex, your brother."

The man looked surprised, and angry too. He looked me over, judging me, and finally laughed.

"You? A child of Hades? Don't make me laugh."

"Oh yeah?" I said, and pulled off my necklace. In a second, I had my silver spearhead pressed against his chin.

"And who are you?"

The guy smiled, and said, "Maybe you are my brother. Name's Xavier Knight, and you might not want to point your weapon at me in the future, I used to serve Lord Kronos himself. I've still got a little pull with the Titans, too. Just don't go blabbing about it, or you and everyone you told is going to have a very powerful immortal on your trail. You got that?"

I nodded, but I didn't want to. This guy was a total traitor to everyone here, and he went around demanding respect. I didn't know if I fully believed him about the Titans, but I decided I didn't want to find out the hard way.

I lowered my spear and said, "Yeah, sure. But don't forget, I could tell Chiron, and you don't want him as your enemy."

Truthfully, I didn't know how true that was, but I knew that Chiron had trained a lot of heroes in the past. Heracles, Achilles, Jason, and a bunch of others I couldn't even name. Apparently it was a good comeback, though, because Xavier even looked like he agreed with what I'd said.

"Free period, now. In an hour, we're going to lunch, and you'd better wake me up in time. If you don't, I'll be serving idiot-kebabs for dinner. If anyone else does it for you, then they're dead, too."

He laughed, and stepped around my bed, and up a ladder on the wall. He purposefully jumped onto the bed to make it pop down next to my face, and started pretending to snore loudly.

A minute later, a girl who looked like Xavier's twin came in, and climbed up to the top bunk opposite me without a word. Another minutes passed, and one last kid, who looked like Xavier only badly shaken came in and laid down across from me. By this point, the girl had joined in with Xavier in fake snoring, and the other boy had opened a book to read. I decided to go for a walk.

I remembered that Heather had said the Hermes campers had Lunch Preparation today, so I went down to the Mess Hall to find her. When I got there, I didn't see anyone at any of the twenty-one tables, but I did see a big white marble door on the back wall. I walked over to it, and slipped inside.

Once I was in the kitchen, it was easy to find Heather. Most of the cooking devices were magical, so they didn't take up much room. Everything was white, so her pitch-black hair stood out like fire in a block of ice. I ran over to her, and she noticed me right as I reached her.

"Alex!"

She put down the tray she was holding, a metal square covered in hamburgers and potato chips. She slipped off her two white gloves and gave a "just a second" symbol with her right hand. She slipped off somewhere, and about a minute later, she came back.

"The head nymph said I could take a break. Where do you want to go?"

I said the first place to came to my head. "The Arena."

Heather nodded, and she led me out the back door. We started across the field, and I told her about the Hades cabin.

"Yeah, Xavier is a pretty tough nut to crack. He tells everyone about how he had been a part of the Titan's army like it's something to be proud of."

I wanted to yell to her, He is proud of it! He's still all buddy-buddy with the Titans! but I thought about his threat, and kept my mouth shut.

"If I were you, I'd definitely wake him up in time. He may have exaggerated about the idiot-kebab thing, but he can do some serious damage with club of his."

I nodded, and wished I hadn't brought up the topic. I really needed to talk to her about my dream. I was waiting for the right opportunity to tell her, but she kept talking about how to survive as a child of Hades.

" . . . and if you touch her hair, she'll get out her flail and literally-"

"Lucian's in trouble," I interrupted, but Heather didn't care. She looked at me funny, and a little scared.

"What? How do you know?"

"I had a dream. I also saw Apollo and Artemis. They're being held somewhere with a lot of mist. They said they had unleashed . . ." I gulped.

"What?" Heather demanded.

"Cerberus. He's been following them, and they know it."

Heather lowered her head, and I saw her lips moving, like she was talking to herself. She did that sometimes whenever she was thinking hard, and Lucian and I had always assumed she thought no one could see because of her long hair. It never seemed to make a thick veil, though.

"We need to find them."

"What?" I said, and I heard my yell echo off of the nearby Arena.

"We have to find them, wherever they are, and help them."

"How are we supposed to do that?"

Heather gave a little smile, her wicked plan smile. Rubbing her Eta bracelet, she said, "With a little help from my father."

In hindsight, her plan was so simple and obvious that I felt stupid not to have thought of it myself. We discussed it for a long time before we realized it was time for lunch. On our way back to the Mess Hall, I froze.

Xavier, I thought. One on hand, I really didn't care if the guy slept past his lunch or not. On the other, I didn't really want to be beaten to a pulp with his club.

"Just, don't draw attention to yourself. If we get there before him . . ."

We turned the corner, and saw Xavier sitting at the Hades table, a look of cold fury in his eyes. Before I could freeze, he looked straight at me, and an evil smile broke across his face.

"Nevermind," said Heather, but she gave me a look of pity, like she really believed I'd be on the dinner menu. She quickly ran over to the Hermes table, but looked back at me as I went through the room.

"It looks my alarm clock is busted," Xavier said, and the Hades girl laughed. The other boy chuckled, but he gave me an I'm sorry look. "Or at least, he's gonna be."

"Well, you know what they say. When something is broken, you just gotta hit it." The girl laughed again.

"What do you think, Evelyn? Drown him in canoeing? Maul him with a monster?"

"I'd wait for stable cleaning, then I'd hit him with the horse-"

"Just shut up. I don't care if I didn't wake you. Personally, I think you needed the beauty sleep. Bad."

The other boy laughed out loud, and Xavier yelled, "Shut up, Jordan!" Then he punched him in the face.

What I did next happened so fast I didn't even have time to think about it. All I knew was that I was on the table, spear in hand, and Xavier's forehead was bleeding. It looked like Heather had rushed to my aid, but it wasn't necessary.

"You little-" Xavier may be stupid, but he sure knows some good Greek swears. He jumped up, and raised his club. It was a pure black metallic baton with deadly spikes on the end like a pinecone. For a moment I was scared, but then Heather threw her discus, and Xavier's club was knocked out of his hands.

"You little-" More swearing. Xavier stood and went for his club, but Evelyn swung her flail out instead. It was pure black as well, and obsidian handle with a ball and chain that seemed to be made of pure dark energy. She swung, and a hole appeared in the table right where I had been standing.

"Stop!" roared Chiron, and everyone froze. He had a bow and arrow in hand, and looked furious. Mr. D, who was sitting next to him, looked amused.

"Don't be a party pooper, Chiron. They're stupid little brats, let them kill each other!"

Chiron payed him no attention. He kept his arrow notched, but I saw it didn't have an arrowhead. Instead, it had an electrically charged suction cup, like a stun arrow.

"All of you! Xavier, Alex, Evelyn and Heather! To the Big House, now!" Chiron yelled with such fury I realized what I'd said before to Xavier really was true. You did not want Chiron on your bad side.

Oops.

"Chiron-" said Heather.

"Now!" he yelled again, and all of us slowly made our way out of the Mess Hall.

For the first minute of walking, no one said a thing. Finally Xavier, who was completely red from rage, whispered to me, "You . . . are . . . dead."

I nodded and smiled.

"Don't be so down, that wicked cut I gave you might turn into a scar! You know how the half-blood ladies love scars."

For a moment Xavier seemed to be thinking about it, but then he said, "Then I'm gonna do you a favor. I figure the bigger the scar, the more attractive, do you agree? So let's make you all nice and pretty, shall we?"

He made his club appear as if he had reached into his shadow to grab it. My spear would take time to open now, and I'd be dead before I even got the chain off of my neck.

"So long, Alex," he said, and raised his club.

Heather and I both flinched, but nothing happened. A second passed, and then a blood-curdling scream echoed all around. We loosened, and saw Xavier and Evelyn on the floor. Evelyn didn't look to be in too bad of a shape. She had cuts all over her arms, and a pool of red liquid was forming under her head.

Xavier was looking bad. He had noticeable gashes all over his head, and a large cut on his chest. He still seemed to be breathing, but it was hard to believe he was alive.

"Who did that?" said Heather confused, yet also relieved.

"I did," said a mysterious voice, and suddenly the air became dark in front of us. In a second, I was staring at the Hades camper named Jordan, who was holding a long, blood red pitchfork.

"Jordan?" I asked, but then I realized that was stupid. We needed to get out of here, and I had to clarify his name?

"Yes. Now, judging by what everyone already thinks of you guys, we're going to need to get out of here fast. Any ideas?"

Heather and I smiled and nodded.

"We're going to find the people on the quest."

"How?"

I took a deep breath, and said, "You know how Heather's a daughter of Hermes? Well, she has a shared ability with him that allows her to find any mortals or half-bloods. Of course Hermes can also find gods, but they have an aura that is confusing to the demigods."

"I already have a good idea of where they are," Heather picked up. "They don't know exactly where to go, so they've been searching everywhere, and haven't made much progress. I sense a group of Apollo half-bloods along with a child of Zeus and Hecate. Another half-blood is with them, but they don't know their parentage, so the aura isn't strong enough."

"So where are they, then?" asked Jordan, who seemed to easily grasp our idea.

"They're moving. About an hour ago, they were around Baltimore. Now, they're somewhere near D.C."

"So let's get going," said Jordan, and I realized he had thought he'd be going too.

"Uh, Jordan, we weren't planning to have you . . ."

I froze. Campers had started spilling out from the Mess Hall, and staring at us. I realized Xavier and Evelyn were still knocked out, and the three of us didn't have a scratch.

I saw a gleaming projectile rocket through the air, and realized too late it was one of Chiron's stun arrows. It hit Heather dead on, and she passed out. More arrows fired, and I managed to get my spear out in time to deflect most. Another almost hit Jordan, and we locked eyes.

Now.

Jordan started running, still blocking arrows with his pitchfork, and I reached down to grab Heather. I pulled the arrow off of her head and held her in my arms. She was surprisingly light, and I realized she must have a natural lift force because of her dad.

I couldn't use my spear to deflect any more arrows because my arms were both around Heather, so I just had to run. Jordan was ahead of me, and he managed to slip into the woods. I followed before any of the other campers could get to me, and jumped into the woods as well.

"Jordan!" I yelled. "Just keep running! They won't leave the borders!"

He tried to nod, or at least I think he did, his head was shaking so bad because of the adrenaline. I ran after him, and slowly the yells of the campers died out.

Suddenly a vine flicked up from the ground and tripped me. Heather rolled over a large pile of sticks, and her face started bleeding.

I hit away the vine with my spear, but when I looked back at Heather, dozens more were starting to sprout from the ground, inching their way towards the two of us. They started growing thick around my arms and legs, forming leafy ropes. I managed to slice off a good section on my right and stood up, but my ankle caught in a knot and twisted. I yelled from the pain.

Heather was started to be coated with the vines, and if I hadn't known any better, I'd say she was starting to sink into the ground.

"Jordan!" I yelled ahead, limping over to help Heather. "Help!"

I started hearing the roar of the campers again, and knew there wouldn't be much time left to get out. I thought I saw a flicker of Jordan's red pitchfork, but it was just a dark crimson flower. One that hadn't been there a second before.

I gasped as the flower rose higher on a vine from the ground. I picked up Heather, and when I looked back at the plant, the petals had started to close together, like a rose. Leaves started making a sort of cloak over the bud, and started to take the place of a suit. The bulb started to morph, becoming more rounded, like a head. Then I realized it was a head.

It grew long leaves over the flower, and two crevices poked in underneath. There was a stubby nose below the plant eyes, and another hole for the mouth. After a few more seconds, the entire plant began to thicken, growing arms and legs.

It was a plant avatar of Dionysus.

"Now, Albus-"

"Alex."

"Alex, then. I'm not your enemy. Personally, I think that Hades boy needed to be taught a lesson. I'd also like for you to run away. Then we would have four less campers to care about. Unfortunately, and I say this with honesty, Chiron doesn't share my views. He says if you don't return he will be forced to take dramatic action. That sounds nasty, doesn't it?"

I was still too shocked to speak.

"Not in the mood for talking? Fine. Let's bring you back the fun way, shall we?"

Suddenly I started noticing the vines again. They started whipping me and Heather, entangling us both so fast I didn't even realize what was going on before I was rooted to the spot. I swung my spear to cut the vines, but another few came and snatched my weapon away. Heather was still unconscious, so I made a silent prayer to her father, Hermes.

Heather hasn't done anything wrong. She needs your help. Please, I know this is asking a lot, but I need you, and more importantly she needs you. Keep her safe.

Then I did the only thing I could do. I ripped the vines off of her and held her up. Thank the gods she was lightweight, especially after a few moments, when I hardly noticed her weight at all. No, I didn't feel her weight at all. She was floating above me, and I knew it was Hermes' protection.

"Oh dear," said Dionysus, who looked very confused. "I suppose I won't be able to strangle that one. But . . . I suppose I can settle for you, Alvin."

Suddenly the vines around me started thickening. I could feel them pressing against my chest, pushing out the air. A leafy cocoon started forming around me, and I could feel the pressure on my feet as I was pulled beneath the earth. I took one last look at Heather's limp body before a thick vine wrapped over my face.

That was when the woods burst into flame.

I heard Dionysus roar in fear, and a popping sound followed by a dull Clump, meaning Mr. D had disappeared. I started feeling heat around me, and flickering light came through the creases between vines, a flickering light that reminded me of the brazier in the arena. It seemed so long ago that I had been claimed, how the fire had appeared above my . . .

I wanted to yell out in joy, except for the blazing fire all around me. I knew any second my cocoon would ignite, and braced myself.

Clump. The vines fell down around me. For a second, I was even happier than I had been before. Then I realized that even though my prison had crumpled because Mr. D was gone, I was still surrounded by flames. I looked up and grabbed Heather from the sky, but she didn't budge. I pushed her, and she floated over, like a cloud.

"Alex!" a voice called, and I turned around. Jordan was on the outside of the fires, and ran through, but they didn't affect him at all. I felt a few grapes pop in the heat, and when they splattered on my skin, it burned for a few seconds, then became numb.

"You're . . . why are you burning? Hades' kids don't get burns."

"I know, I'm not a son of Hades. The 'claim' Heather had seen was a reflection of the brazier on her sword. It was just a trick of the light."

For a moment, I was refilled with my excitement, but then I knew it was time to run. A tree had just burst into flames. I really hoped there was no tree nymph connected to that pine.

"The borders are just a minute away. Can you move your girlfriend?"

I was embarrassed that he had called Heather my girlfriend, but I figured there were more pressing matters at the moment. I nodded.

"Good, follow me."

He ran ahead, and split the flames apart to make a walkway for me. With the roar of the campers close behind, and with Heather still riding on air, we disappeared into the trees, and away from Camp Half-Blood.

Looking at Tuesday for the release of Chapter 7.

It was past nightfall by the time Heather finally came to, and at that point it was too dark to go any further. We finally stopped at a small wooded area north of Washington DC, and Heather managed to transport a few things from camp to set up our sleeping quarters.

If you've never met a child of Hermes, then you're missing out. Because of Heather's inherited ability over messages and mail, she was able to make objects fly themselves places at the speed of light. If you every go camping with her or her siblings, you don't even have to pack.

She brought all of the essentials, a tent, sleeping bags, clothes, water bottles, snacks and even golden drachmas from the camp store. She told me that mortals didn't accept drachmas normally, but when you're a child of the god of thieves . . .

"We can leave the coins behind. That way, they get pure gold and we get the goods without a second glance."

Once it turned dark, we were only able to see thanks to Jordan's pyrotechnical abilities. He could summon a ball of fire and hold it in his hands without ease. He could even pass the fireball to one of us, and along with a special prayer to his father, the flames wouldn't hurt us. We managed to collect enough firewood for the night, and once we had set up a suitable pit, Jordan dropped the ball on the sticks and a roaring fire was born.

Heather and Jordan told me about how the Apollo cabin would lead a singalong around the fireplace on Wednesdays. They also told me that the singalong used to be every night, until Dionysus had threatened to drive every last singer insane. Following that change, the campers had tried to change more things about the camp. In the end, cabin inspection, which had originally been five days a week, had been reduced to three.

The campfire never showed any sign of weakening, but a while later, my body clock announced that it was past 10 o'clock, and Jordan put it out for the night. Beforehand, we had put together the tent, and I had to say, it was pretty awesome. Normally I'm not one for camping out in the wilderness, but the tent had been magically enlarged, so that at only three-by-five feet on the outside, it managed to hold three separate zippered sleeping bag rooms, a center room and a bath. I crawled into my little pocket of a room in the back and zipped up the entrance. I noticed that the tent magically blocked out sounds, because in a few minutes I fell asleep in silence.


Remember how I said Morpheus had to have some kind of soft spot for me? Well, I take that back. That night, I had a dream worse than any of my other dreams combined.

It started with the son of Zeus, Kyle, running through a large city. It was dark, and none of the building lights were on, which I thought was weird. Kyle was panting, and running hard, his knife in hand. As I ran ahead of him, I noticed he was dripping with sweat, and his face had a look of mortal terror. He looked like he'd been fighting a pack of wild dogs. Then I remembered Cerberus, and realized he had been fighting a single wild dog, though it did have three heads.

A loud, deep growl echoed across the buildings, and suddenly, a ghostly gray Rottweiler appeared at the end of the street.

Cerberus was almost completely see-through, but his eyes were a pure blood red. His teeth were impossibly long and sharp, and the color of cheddar with ketchup splashed on. The three heads were connected directly to the body, and the two outer heads kept barking at other things in the area, probably other members of the quest.

Suddenly, Cerberus started following Kyle. Kyle screamed and ran around a corner, and down that street I saw another half-blood take a left. Kyle started running, but Cerberus was way too fast. The hellhound lunged after Kyle, and in a few seconds he was only a few meters away.

Kyle let loose a scream, and I turned away as Cerberus pounced. Then I woke up.


You know the saying, "That's gonna hurt in the morning?" You don't know the half of it. My burns had gotten feeling back, and lying down on the ground all night doesn't help. I had to hold my breath to keep myself from screaming, and even then, I had to go outside.

The cool September air was enormously comfortable on my injuries. For a few minutes I had to sit still to let my burns hurt less, then I went back inside to wake up the others. My body clock told me it was almost eight, but Heather and Jordan both seemed to think it was the middle of the night. It took a few minutes and some Ancient Greek cursing, but I finally managed to get them both out of bed. We quickly started another fire and treated ourselves to a family size bag of Doritos. After breakfast, Heather figured out exactly where we were.

"Thirty-eight degrees, fifty-seven minutes north. Seventy-seven degrees, three minutes west."

I stared at her for a while, then said, "How do you know that?" but I thought I already knew. If she could find the general area of five far away demigods, she'd be able to know our coordinates.

Sure enough, "Hermes knows where everything is. I'm one of his kids who has the same perfect understanding of coordinates."

Jordan, however, was less talkative. He reminded me of how he'd looked the first time I'd met him, all shaken up. I remembered how he had come to our aid and knocked out Evelyn and Xavier. We went off to find more firewood for our next campsite, so I had time to ask him something that'd been bothering me.

"Jordan?" I said, and he looked up at me. "How long were you brothers with Xavier?"

He looked down and sighed. "Three years."

It was weird to think about, because Jordan looked only twelve. He'd come to Camp Half-Blood before he was even nine?

"Xavier's been at camp for eight years, since he was fifteen. On his twenty-first birthday, he was supposed to go and live his life, but he refused. Ever since, he's used me as a punching bag to assure his authority and right to stay."

"Neither of those things show authority or right to stay," I said truthfully, and Jordan shrugged.

"Yeah, but . . . there wasn't anything to do about it. He's my brother, whether I like it or not. It's took bad you're not a son of Hades, though."

For the first time, I felt a little bad about not belonging in Cabin Twenty. Jordan needed a friend.

"Well, no one else knows I'm not a Hades camper besides you and Heather. Maybe I can . . . pretend to be one, for a while.

Jordan smiled, and we went back to finding firewood.


Heather had been taking down the tent, packing up the food and completely hiding any sign that we were here when Jordan and I returned. She'd packed everything up except for a change of clothes for each of us, the water bottles and some granola bars. She was reading a new book now, called The Science of Magic and Vice Versa. It sounded torturously dull to me, but I knew Heather liked all kinds of science and things like that. We came up to her right as she turned around.

"Put the firewood on this rock." She stood up and pointed at the chunk of stone she'd been sitting on. Jordan and I put the sticks down, and Heather spoke a prayer under her breath. In a flash, the branches disappeared into thin air.

"Cool," I said, but then remembered what I had been waiting to say. We all changed far away from each other in the woods, but when we all got back together, I told them about my dream. By the time I was done, we had reached the outskirts of Washington DC.

"That is not good, Alex. If Cerberus has already gotten Kyle . . ."

I knew what she was about so say, and I was glad she didn't.

"I'm worried about him too."

It was a while before either of us spoke again.

By midday, we had gotten as far as the Lincoln Memorial. We would've easily gotten farther if Heather hadn't dragged Jordan and I to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum, where she took more than an hour to look at all of the travel equipment, airplanes, spaceships and all kinds of stuff. We bought Hot Dogs from a street vender and had lunch outside the memorial, in the shade of the Washington Monument. At one point, and owl flew from the giant marble obelisk and landed only a few feet from us. Jordan fed the bird some of his bun, and afterwards it started following us around, waiting for more food.

After five minutes, the bird let out a horrible wailing noise, Rwa! Raw!

"What is that?" I yelled, and the bird jumped into the air. It started circling above our heads like a vulture, still wailing.

"Why is it doing that?" Heather shouted, and the bird stopped yelling.

"Thank gods," said Jordan, but the next second . . .

"He's got my spear!"

The bird had somehow managed to dive down to my neck and grab my necklace in less than a second. It started flying ahead, higher and higher up, until it perched in one of the window sockets on top of the Washington Monument.

"Oh come on!" I yelled, and started running towards the building.

"Alex, wait up," Jordan and Heather both yelled at the same time, but neither managed to catch up to me. I kept running, and before long I was at the monument. Only one problem: Heather and Jordan were nowhere in sight.

"Heather! Jordan!" I yelled, but neither appeared. "Where are you?"

Then an old security guard appeared and put his hand on my shoulder. When I saw his face, I thought it was the old man from Six Flags. But instead, he had chalk-white hair and he looked, no he felt stronger. He seemed to give a sense of power, like he was some kind of superhero in disguise.

"Son, where are your parents?" He smiled.

For a second I was about to say, They're dead, but I held my tongue long enough to make a good story.

"They're already up at the top. I'm supposed to wait for my friends, Heather and Jordan, before we go up. They went to buy Hot Dogs for us."

The guard pulled a piece of wax paper from my pocket, and I gulped when I saw what it was. It was my Hot Dog wrapper from before, with grease and bread crumbs still on it.

"A second helping, eh? Maybe we should go up and clarify your story, with your parents."

I gulped.

"I . . . I can't, I have to wait for my friends."

"Oh, well if that's the problem . . ." He grinned and waved his hand through the air. Like when the Oracle had spoken, I saw a vision. However, this time I saw Heather and Jordan, chained together to a brick wall. They saw me, but they seemed to be gagged by some invisible force.

"Let's go meet them, shall we?" he said, and waved his hand through the image.


The security guard made sure that we had a full elevator, so there would be witnesses all around. He made some some of invisible gag out of air and jam it into my mouth. It was excruciatingly cold on my tongue, but I couldn't scream. The man didn't seem to realize I had no weapon, because he kept daring me to attack with his eyes. Finally we reached the top, and he dragged me from the lift.

The top room of the monument was large, a square with the center filled with sandy white bricks around the elevator. The walls looked how they should from the outside, stretching out diagonally the lower they went. The windows, however, were completely vertical. It looked like it could hold a ton of people at once, but because the school year had started, only a dozen people roamed through the building. I even looked on the ledges outside of the windows for the owl with my necklace, but there weren't any birds at all.

"Come on," said the old man, and steered me by my shoulder with surprising strength. He led me to a stone stairway with a steel mesh grate in the archway. It took me a minute to read because of my dyslexia, but I figured it said something like this:


The weirdest part was below the large English text, though. Underneath the Spanish and French translations, there were Ancient Greek letters.

The security guard pulled a keychain from his pocket and inserted a gold key into the lock. It clicked, and he pushed the door open.

"Down you go," he said, then gave me a shove. I tripped down the first step and fell onto the landing with bloody hands and knees. The man followed, locking the door behind him. He picked me up and dragged me down several flights of stairs until the stones started to grow darker and darker, even though the brightness of the lights never changed. It took a while, but finally we reached another door, but one made of pure gold.

When the man opened the door, I found Heather and Jordan, still gagged and chained to the dark brick wall. Their eyes lit up like they did before, but they still couldn't speak. Heather was shaking her head to say, Run!

"Look who came to join the party!" the old man yelled, and it echoed loudly through the air. He laughed, and two other men on either side of the doorway, who I had just noticed, did too. The old man let go of me, and I ran over to Heather and Jordan.

"Oh, did you miss your friends? Well don't worry, you'll never be parted again," the security guard said, then snapped his fingers. Black chains like Heather and Jordan's appeared on my hands and bound me to both of them and the wall.

Then the old man started to change. His chalk white hair started to grow longer, and became less defined, like mist. It shimmered in the air and quickly stretched to the floor. His black security guard uniform became a substance like smoke, and rearranged into a Greek chiton, which looked like a toga only more proper. He grew a long cape from his shoulders and a small golden crown appeared on his misty hair. He looked to me like some kind of evil version of father time.

"Now, I think it is time you spoke," said the man, and instantly the cold air in my mouth dissipated.

"Aether!" yelled out Heather, and I thought the person, who was apparently named Aether, would get angry. To my surprise, he smiled.

"Yes, yes. I am Aether, god of the upper air."

"You mean like the atmosphere?" I said, but I knew it was the wrong thing to say. Aether gave me an evil look, and I was worried that he'd turn me into, I don't know, some kind of ant.

"The atmosphere? Your mortal scientific cover of the world?" He laughed, and his cronies did too. "I am the primordial god of the air the immortals breath. Not merely the air high in the sky, fool!"

"What do you mean, 'Primordial?'" I said, and got angry at myself for not holding my tongue again. Unfortunately, with my ADHD, I couldn't be quiet if I wanted too.

"Do you know nothing? How do you think this world began, son? Where did it come from?"

I managed to keep myself from saying, The Big Bang, but I still replied.

"I don't know, I-"

"You don't know. Let me teach you a thing or two about the origin of your world.

"Before your gods, before the titans, before even I, there was nothing. A world without a world, to say it poetically. From this void, the first immortal, Khaos, was born. Chaos then birthed four children of her own, Tartarus, Gaea, Erebus and Nyx.

"Gaea created the earth, and birthed Ouranos, the sky. Together, they birthed the titans, who would go on to replace Ouranos as ruler of the world.

"Tartarus created a bottomless pit deep below the earth, where the evil would suffer for all of eternity.

"Finally, Erebus, father of darkness, and Nyx, mother of the night, birthed two other children. One was Hemera, goddess of the day. The other, I invite you to guess."

"You," I shouted. I was getting annoyed by Aether's long explanation of the earth's origin.

"Correct," he said with a crooked grin. "I, Aether, was born. I was a servant to Ouranos, and held the immortal air of the gods within my sphere. It is us, the children of Khaos and the children of those children, who are the primordial beings."

"So you'd better watch who you argue with, hero," said one of Aether's henchmen, and he stepped forward. For the first time, I got a good look at him. He had a pale devil's face, minus the horns, and a muscular body. He was also wearing a chiton, but his was dark scarlet. I looked at the other man and saw that he looked almost exactly the same. The only differences were his eyes, which were wiser and sharper than his brother's, and his clothes. He wasn't wearing a chiton like the two others, but instead he was sporting full-body Greek battle armor.

"Now, girl. If you are so smart, guess who my minions are," said Aether, still smiling wickedly.

"The algea."

For a second, I thought that Heather had gone completely insane, talking about algae. But then, Aether nodded.

"My children, or at least my faithful children. Akhos." The man in red bowed. "Spirit of pain and distress, and Ania." The armored servant bowed as well. "Spirit of grief and sorrow."

Aether lifted an old-fashioned locket clock out of his pocket. Before he could even look, I said, "It's 2:18."

Heather and Jordan both stared at me, and I realized I'd never told them about my ability. I mouthed, Tell you later, and looked back at Aether.

"Very well, then." He put the clock back into his chiton. "I think it is time that I left. Many other demigods to capture, ones more important than you." He winked at us, and I knew he was talking about the remaining quest members.

Then he looked at his two sons and said, "Anything." I didn't know exactly what he meant, but it didn't sound good. They both grinned like their father and Aether shut the gold door. When he did, the wall became pure brick, and Ania and Akhos advanced.

"We're gonna have some fun," said Akhos.

"After all, Lord Aether did say we could do anything." They both laughed, and a smoky black flail appeared in Akhos' hand, and a flail appeared in Ania's.

I looked at Heather and saw her terrified face looking back. Jordan was staring down at his feet, and for the first time, I realized how quiet he'd been during the entire conversation with Aether. His lips were moving, and looking back, I know he was praying to his father.

That was when all Hades broke loose.

An owl swooped down from darkness above and knocked the whip out of Ania's hand. Akhos took a second to get out of his shock, and swung his flail. Fortunately, the owl had managed to get far out of reach. Ania dove for his whip, but the owl bit his eye and he curled up into the fetal position. Akhos jumped and threw his flail at the bird, but the owl dodged with ease. It flew around its attacker and spat something out of its mouth at my feet.

"My spear!" I yelled, and reached down for it. Luckily, Jordan and Heather also bent down so the chain stretched far enough. Once the arrowhead transformed into my spear, I started to cut through my bindings.

Meanwhile, Akhos was attempting to catch the owl, who had picked up both the flail and the whip in its beak, with his bare hands. Ania was starting to rise, but the golden blood from his eye was blinding him.

Finally, I sawed through the chain. With my right hand free, I made a swift cut on the chain trapping me to the wall. Once I was free, I broke Jordan and Heather's chains. They both drew their weapons, and we charged.

I ran at Akhos, who was too shocked to move. I made a large gash across his face, and he doubled over like his brother. Jordan released a burst of fire from his pitchfork, and Ania was blown back against the wall, bleeding and unconscious. Heather was trying to find a way to escape, but hadn't found anything yet.

"You shall pay for this, Son of-"

I really wish Jordan hadn't chosen that moment to blast Akhos back like his brother. He had been about to say who my mother or father was. For a second I was angry, but then Heather screamed.

Jordan and I both raised our weapons, but instead of an attacker, we found a terrified young man in a white feather jacket. His black hair was wild and unruly and his eyes were stormy gray. I couldn't see much of his body because of the jacket, but I noticed he had large, wrinkly feet that were a disgusting egg-yolk color. His hands were shriveled and covered in hair.

When he spoke, his voice was dry and rough, like his throat was made of stone.

"Run, children! Run from this place, and never return! Do not go into the air, for he shall find you!"

I know it was rude, but I replied by saying, "Were you the owl?"

He stared at me, perplexed, but then nodded. "I was, child. I was transformed by the cruel Lady Demeter, after telling of how Persephone ate six seeds of a pomegranate."

"Oh yeah, I remember that story," I said, and I was proud of myself. I'd been trying to learn lots of stuff about Greek Mythology, and I knew the story of Persephone.

"Hades kidnapped Persephone and made her his queen. She ate six seeds from an Underworld fruit, I guess a pomegranate, and she had to stay with Hades six months each year, one month for each seed. Then Persephone's mother, Demeter, got angry because you told people about the pomegranate. Then she turned you into a screech owl."

I said it so fast that I bit my tongue. Jordan and Heather looked at me confused, but the owl-man seemed to understand.

"Yes, that was I, Askalaphos. However, the kind Lady Athena took pity on me, and gave me the power to become mortal if I so chose. Unfortunately, her gift only works in certain areas that are sacred to her."

"Washington DC is sacred to Athena?"

"No, the Washington Monument. George Washington was a demigod child of Athena. This monument was built in his honor, and by extension, Athena's honor."

"Okay," I said, but I was still kind of confused. How could a goddess of wisdom turn an owl mortal? How could a goddess of agriculture turn a mortal into an owl?

Askalaphos seemed to understand what I was thinking, because he explained. "Owls are symbols of Athena and Hades, and because I was in the Underworld at the time, she used that power to transform me."

"Look," Heather said. "It's important to know about Greek Mythology. It really is. But Aether could be back at any second, so we need to get moving. Askalaphos, are you coming with us?"

Askalaphos seemed to have already made up his mind about this. "I'm afraid I am not. I must stay and keep watch over Aether. However." He pulled a silver feather from his coat. "Should you ever need me, release this into the wind." He handed me the feather, and I slipped it into my pocket.

"Good luck, children."

With that, he brushed his hand against the wall and it began to glow, until the bricks were replaced with solid gold. He pulled back the door, gave a final nod, and turned into an owl. He opened his wings and flew through the doorway.

"Let's go," I said, and we followed.

8
Lucian Takes a Ride With a Hellhound​

We finally came to a stop at a beach in southern Virginia. A large forest stretched out to the coast, and we found a good pocket in the trees to set up camp. The leaves made a thick canopy above, so we were completely hidden from view.

Heather said a silent message to her father, and in a second, our tent, food and water, clothes and firewood all appeared out of thin air. She and I set up the tent while Jordan set up the campfire. The smoke was partially trapped under the tree leaves, but it slowly made its was through the cracks and into open air. Finally we all sat down around the campfire, cooking a bag of popcorn over the flames. My body clock told me it was only half-past eight, but I was already exhausted from earlier.

"I think I'm gonna call it a night," I said.

"Okay, but you'll miss the popcorn," Heather said, then opened the bag she was holding over the fire.

"Wait, Alex," Jordan said, while I was reaching for a handful of popcorn. "You never explained about how you knew the time."

"Oh yeah," I said, trying to talk with a full mouth of popcorn. I sat back down around the fire. "Well, for a while, I've just known what time it is. I just kind of have a body clock, literally. Like, right now, it's eight thirty-six."

"Why didn't you say anything about it before?" Heather said. Both her and Jordan were looking at me funny, almost in awe.

"It just . . . I don't know, seemed like a minor thing."

Jordan and Heather were both quiet for a moment, until Jordan said, "Kind of like how Heather knows the coordinates."

"Right!" I said, and realized it was exactly like that.

"Well yeah," Heather said. "But that's normal for a child of Hermes. Knowing the time? Thats-"

"Probably a normal thing for children of whoever my parent is."

"But, Alex," Heather said, looking nervous again. "A child of a god of time?"

I knew what she meant, but I didn't like it. I still didn't even want to think about Kronos being my father. It was just impossible.

"Kronos is not my father," I said, then quickly slipped into the tent before Jordan or Heather could respond.
* * *
I realized that because my mind had been so full of thoughts about my godly parent, I hadn't been worried about dreams.

What I saw was . . . for lack of a better term, weird. It was almost pitch-black darkness, but I saw two large plazas, connected by a long, narrow road. In the middle of the road, a dark shadow was running, and holding some sort of flashlight. The light coming from the figure's hand shone down the road, illuminating a dark statue and a tall castle. The statue was too shadowy to make out, but the castle behind it showed exactly where I was.

It was Cinderella's castle, and I was at Disney World.

However, the running figure didn't seem to care that they were at the most magical place on earth. They were panting hard, and a shiny trail of dotted blood was following them. There was a faint roaring sound, and I remembered the last dream I'd had.

I realized that I was standing on the Magic Kingdom railroad station at the entrance to the park, and ran down the stairs nearby. I followed the figure, but it was running too fast for me. It finally reached the statue, then turned right towards Tomorrowland.

Now, I'd been to Disney World a lot, so I knew a few shortcuts around the park. I ran on the outside of the plaza, and by the time I reached the entrance to Tomorrowland, I'd caught up to the figure.

It was Lucian. His thick black hair was dripping in sweat and almost covered his eyes. He had a wild look on his face, and I noticed a small, but deep cut across his chin. His shirt was badly torn and his chest was covered in scratches and bruises. The left leg of his jeans had been completely ripped off up to his knee, and the rest was in terrible shape. He only had one shoe on, and his bare left foot was a sight for sore eyes. It was incredible that he was even alive in this state.

He took off down the central road of Tomorrowland, then turned towards the entrance of Space Mountain, a gigantic white dome covered in long grooves. I wasn't sure if he had some sort of plan, or if he was just trying to find a place to hide. A roar echoed from the castle, and an enormous shadow leapt across the park, smashing into the Astro Orbiter, a large brown tower ride with planets all around.

Lucian dashed passed the entry gate for Space Mountain and up the slope on the left. He made it to a level platform and ran towards the gate into the actual mountain.

Then Cerberus jumped onto the platform. For a second, I though the structure might collapse, but it just dented under the hellhound's weight. The three-headed best roared loudly, and Lucian ducked into the ride.

I followed him as he ran through the meandering passage towards the center of the building. Finally he ran into an enormous room, with balconies running all around the edge towards the floor, where the ride started. In the center of the room, a futuristic rocket ship hung from the ceiling. I was pretty sure Lucian would be safe enough from Cerberus here, but a loud Graor! sound told me otherwise.

Lucian jumped over the side of the balcony near the bottom, and ran across one of the ride vehicles. He leapt behind a pillar at the back of the room, panting hard. I noticed for the first time that his "flashlight" was really his wand: the beam of light was shooting from the tip.

An ear-shattering crash sounded, and Cerberus ran into the room. It only took a second for the balcony to give way under his weight, and the hellhound jumped into the air, landing on the rocket ship above. I heard a Snap snap, and two of the rocket's suspension cords ripped apart. Cerberus slid down the side of the rocket, but dug his claws into it right before he plummeted to the ground.

Two last snapping sounds echoed through the room, and Cerberus fell to the ground, trapped underneath the rocket on one of the ride cars. He howled and roared, but the weight of the object held him down. His claws were stuck in the spaceship, and Lucian ran from his hiding spot.

He went straight to the control podium, and lifted his wand. With a wave of his hand, the entire room lit up and the vehicles started moving. Cerberus was three cars from the front, but he was still trapped.

Then Lucian ran from behind the podium and towards the exit. Unfortunately, that was the exact moment that Cerberus' claws came free of the spaceship. He pushed the fallen rocket off of himself with all of his strength, and it hit the back wall, blocking off the exit and almost crushing Lucian at the same time. Cerberus' car disappeared down the ride's track, and Lucian caught his breath.

After a few seconds, Lucian started towards the ride cars. He stepped into one, and was about to hop out of the vehicle when Cerberus pounced from the ride opening. Lucian barely had time to duck into the car before the giant Rottweiler landed behind him. He raised his wand and blasted Cerberus back, but only by a few cars. Lucian moved towards the docking platform, but Cerberus lunged again, and landed above Lucian on the ride vehicle. Lucian whipped his wand at the hellhound, and with a blinding red flash, the beast flew up into the air as the car pulled ahead. Cerberus landed with an almighty Boom! in the car behind.

Lucian fired another explosion at Cerberus, knocking him several cars back, but then Lucian's vehicle skidded forwards, and onto the ride. I barely managed to hop into the car as it disappeared beyond the gate. Cerberus roared behind him as he went through a brightly lit tunnel, neon blue flashes all around the circular walls. After a few seconds, the ride turned and sloped upwards. The new room was lit red, and was full of decorative astronaut stations. There were two tracks going up at the same time, and on the sides, two tracks came shooting down.

For a second, my mind was so full of memories from coming here, that I forgot about Cerberus. A deep, angry growl sounded from the docking platform, and Lucian looked back.

Cerberus was jumping between the cars, working his way up towards Lucian and I. His fiery red eyes were wide, so that he could see everything in the low light. He bent his knees down, and right before he lunged, the car sloped over the top of a hill.

The room was just as I remembered it, a pure black sky with shining stars on the ceiling. Cerberus flew over Lucian and fell below our track, with turned sharply. We started to speed up, and Cerberus disappeared from view.

We turned right, left, dipped, up, left, dipped, right, left, and so on. Lucian kept looking over his shoulder for Cerberus, and seemed to be looking right at me. I realized that he couldn't see me, though that should've been obvious to someone without ADHD. Someone who would think about something like that.

Without warning, the stars disappeared ahead of us where Cerberus had jumped. Luckily we dipped just in time, and Cerberus fell face-first against the car behind. He fell down, though I didn't know how far, and we shot through the side track from the red room.

When our vehicle came out of the room, Cerberus finally managed to climb on our car. Lucian whipped his wand at the hellhound, but the beast swatted it away. I raised my spear, and though I knew it wouldn't do anything, I threw it. Coincidentally, at that moment we went underneath a low track, and Cerberus went tumbling behind us.

After a few moments, we finally turned into the exit. Unfortunately, though I supposed I should've seen it coming, Cerberus was waiting for us.

Lucian's maneuver was absolutely brilliant, though I doubted he had planned it to work the way it did. He hopped off of the ride and crouched down on the ground. Cerberus reared his three heads to strike, and Lucian ran between his legs. For a moment the hellhound didn't noticed, and by that point, Lucian had slipped through the exit.

Lucian ran for about ten minutes straight, first back out to Tomorrowland, to the center plaza, down Main Street U.S.A. and out of the Magic Kingdom. Cerberus' growls disappeared after a while, until Lucian finally came to a rest at the monorail station outside the park. I thought Cerberus had finally lost track of Lucian, but his expression was still pure fear. I heard a scream, and Casey and Sierra, the two girls who had gone on the quest, came out running. They hid behind the monorail station and found Lucian.

"Where's Mitchell?" he said, but the girls were both still trying to catch their breath.

"Huh . . . he's . . . huh . . . coming," said Casey.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, the blond Apollo camper came out of the gates, holding a bronze bow and several arrows.

"Team, assemble!" he yelled, but his voice quivered in fear. I didn't think Lucian would be able to fight without his wand, but he ran to Mitchell's side. Casey and Sierra did as well, both drawing their weapons, a staff and a battle axe. Then, to my amazement, Lucian pulled his wand from his pocket.

For a moment, nothing happened, but then Mitchell fired an arrow. The shot stuck into an invisible creature's hide, and I realized that Mitchell had fired only to find the beast. It was brilliant.

"Attack!" he yelled, and all of the quest members followed as Mitchell led them towards the beast. He fired more arrows, most of which landed in the beast's fur. Lucian and Casey both fired spells at Cerberus with their weapons, and Sierra ran right at the beast, striking him in the nose with her axe.

Cerberus released a powerful roar and shot into the air. As he fell, the earth shook under the hellhound's weight, causing all of the campers to fall over. Mitchell started to rise, but Cerberus saw and swatted him away with his paw. He smashed into the wall of the fire station and went unconscious. Then Lucian and Sierra both stood. Cerberus roared and jumped towards them both, but Sierra threw her axe across the entrance plaza and stuck the monster in the eye.

Cerberus fell to the ground, not dead, but badly weakened. His face was bleeding with thick, black sludge, and his right eye was closed tight. It whimpered, and then Lucian stepped forward.

"To Tartarus!" he yelled, and with a wave of his wand and a burst of shadow, Cerberus disappeared.

Then my dream changed.

I was back in the misty chamber of Artemis and Apollo, and both of their expressions were grim.

"Our beast, as we have already shown you, has killed one of the quest members," said Artemis gloomily.

"They refused to back down. Now the beast is dead," Apollo added.

I didn't say anything, but Artemis must have read my thoughts.

"Yes, we have contacted you again for a reason. Now that their most powerful adversary has been defeated, nothing will keep them from accomplishing their goal. Which is why . . . you must stop them."

"How?" I said finally. "How am I supposed to stop them if Cerberus couldn't?"

"Not with power or strength," said Apollo. "But Lucian is your friend. If you speak to the part of him that values your friendship, he will listen. Only your bond can save all of their lives."

"Go now, boy, and save them. Remember what you have been warned. We have sent you help, but be patient. Others will send you help, and some may have good intentions, but do not trust their gifts."

"Who else will send gifts?" I said, and then, "what warning?"

"You already know," said Apollo. "Remember what the prophecy said, it will guide you. You are a key part of this quest. Without you, they shall fail."

I still had so many questions about what they had said, but the mist started to enclose me as it had before. I woke up, and my body told me that it was a little past three in the morning. Today was only my fourth day of even knowing about demigods, and I already had the fate of six people resting my hands.

11
I Manage to Find the Sky​

We ended up at exactly 25º 45' north, 80º 08' west, according to Heather. Unfortunately, that spot is in the water south of Miami. It was a relatively short swim to the nearest island, but after our battle wounds and the shock fading away, my muscles felt like they were on fire by the time we reached the beach.

Heather summoned some ambrosia squares and nectar, and after eating a single square, my wounded arm felt good as new. My spear returned as a necklace, and after a few minutes, we started looking for a way to the mainland.

Heather, proving once again how valuable children of Hermes are on a quest, managed to steal a speed boat from a family right next to it. She threw money towards them in the opposite direction to pay for it, and made the boat disappear while they went to collect the gold. We then managed to get away from the island before they even looked back.

"My gods, Heather!" Jordan said. "That was insane!"

"Thank you," she said, and turned towards me while I steered the motorboat. "What time is it?"

"Seven forty-nine," I said before even thinking about it. "We'll be at the mainland in about ten to twenty minutes."

Heather nodded and went to sit down in the back. It'd been an early morning, so she crashed almost as soon as she landed on the bench. Jordan sat next to me, but he didn't say anything. I thought he'd fallen asleep until he started a fire in his hand, trying to keep warm. I felt a rush of warmth too, which was odd seeing as how the three-inch flame was a yard away from me.

After five minutes, I started thinking about how my stepfather and I always went down to Hawaii in the summer. I had learned how to drive a boat there, on my seventh birthday. We would usually invite Heather and Lucian to come with us, and we would go for a boat ride almost every day we were there.

For the first time, I realized just how different my life was now. I doubted that I would ever get a peaceful summer again. After all, we had barely been on this quest for four days, and we'd already fought gods, flown on winged horses, and I'd just defeated a dragon on television.

"Uh, Alex?" Jordan finally said. "What're you doing?"

I realized that I had almost lulled myself to sleep. I had turned the boat left on accident, and we'd started heading south. I quickly turned us back in the right direction, making Heather stir.

"It's okay Heather, go back to sleep," I said, and she did. Then I turned to Jordan. "Nothing, just got a little sleepy, that's all."

"Here," he said, and stood up. "You need to rest. I can drive the boat."

"Really," I said, and he nodded. We traded places and I fell asleep almost immediately.

* * *​

It was a short rest, so I only saw Kronos' temple for one second before Jordan shook me awake. He had a look of panic on his face, and I instinctively reached for my spear. I stood with the Hecatian Silver weapon in hand, and saw what made Jordan nervous.

It was like some kind of monster parade. There were all kinds of creatures, literally stepping out of the water and walking down the streets of southern Florida. I didn't know what the mortals saw through the Mist, but they were sitting down on the sidewalks, watching the monsters go by.

Evidently, they weren't normal creatures even by Greek mythological standards, because Jordan said, "What are those things?"

I went back to Heather and shook her gently. She looked up at me, and when she saw my face she frowned.

"What's wrong?" she said, and sat up.

"I think you need to come see this." I led her to the front of the boat, and her eyes went wide. She said the exact same as Jordan, and turned towards him.

"Have you ever seen anything like that?" she said, and he shook his head. "No."

I looked back at the creatures, trying to take in everything I saw. There were a few sky blue serpents, but what really caught my eye was the large group of creatures that seemed to be made almost out of seaweed. They had sea green, scaly arms that stretched to the ground. Their hands were olive green with long fingers, and leaves seemed to sprout from the gaps. They were only two feet tall, but I was ready to bet they were vicious in battle.

There were also seven different monsters, who seemed to be leading the others forward. Six of the leaders looked almost identical, and extremely hideous. They were the color of pewter, and had a rocky form like they'd been carved from a mountainside. They had thick outer shells like lobsters, only olive green and covered in starfish and snails. Their hair was mossy and wild, and they had three pure black eyes each. They didn't seem to have a nose or a mouth, but they were calling out orders to the seaweed creatures.

Then there was a woman with luscious blue hair, and a perfect face. She wore a white Greek chiton and held a trident in her hands. However, below her waist sprouted an enormous, olive green serpent tail, complete with spikes. Water was swirling all around her, like she was a drain in a bath tub. I didn't know where the water from, but it kept her reptilian hide nice and wet.

"Fight them?" I said nervously, and my voice shook in fear.

"No way," Jordan said quickly, and didn't even turn his head. "I'm not getting anywhere near those monsters."

"Me either," Heather said, and I felt relieved.

"Then where will we go? We can't just stay here forever," I said, and Heather whimpered. "Jordan, can you make another shadow travel portal?"

"No, I can't," he said, but he turned to face me this time. "It takes too much of my energy to do it, and that last trip exhausted me."

"I may have an idea," Heather said, but she didn't look happy about it.

"What?" I said. I was willing to try anything to get out of here.

"Well, you remember when we were flying to Camp Half-Blood? How I bent the dimensions of the air so it only took about an hour?"

"Yeah."

She sighed. "Well, it does work better when I'm flying, but we were warned not to. We learned that lesson already." She sighed again, but more sadly this time. "However, I can slightly alter the dimensions of travel while we're on land. I might be able to distort this area enough that we can get past the monsters."

"Why didn't you tell us that before?" I said. "We could've gotten here in one day like that!"

"We could've," Heather said. "But I probably would've died in the attempt. Like what Jordan said, it takes a lot out of me. We'd need to take a long rest between each jump, and even then I'd be really loopy."

"Oh," I said, a little disappointed. "Okay."

After a few moments, Jordan said, "So just get us past the monsters for now."

"Well, we don't know exactly how far those monsters have gone," Heather said. "We might land in the army."

"No," I said, realizing something. "We can find out how far they go."

"What?" Jordan said. "How?"

I reluctantly ignored his question and turned to face Heather. "Can you bend the dimensions of the air around people away from you? Make them get here faster?"

Heather nodded. "It's even slightly easier, because there's a defined arrival location, here."

I smiled, and pulled a silver feather from my pocket. Then I turned to Jordan. "We get help from a friend."

* * *​

If you've never seen an owl materialize right in front of your face, count yourself lucky. Askalaphos, with help from Heather's powers, appeared only a minute after I'd thrown the feather into the sky. The feather seemed to act as some kind of homing device, because it flew straight into the air and released a sort of aura like a god. Once Askalaphos arrived, the feather disappeared.

After he crashed into my face and tumbled to the ground, I was surprised that he didn't warp into his human form. Then I remembered: He could only become human near areas of Athena's power.

"Askalaphos," Heather said, and he turned his head to face her. "We need your help. There are monsters all along the Miami coast. We need to know just how far they stretch."

I'm not sure if owls can nod, but Askalaphos seemed to. He took off immediately and soared over the water to the mainland. After a few seconds, he became to small to locate.

"Wait," I said, realizing a major flaw in the plan. "How can he tell us how far they go? He can't turn into a human."

To my surprise, Jordan smiled. "Yeah he can."

"What?" Heather said. She sounded as confused as I felt, which relieved me. "How?"

"I used to live in Miami," Jordan said happily, like he was reminiscing about his old life. "I lived here even when I knew I was a demigod. Because I knew about that, I wanted to find out everything I could about demigods in the real world."

He turned towards the coast and pointed to a large white building surrounded in palm trees. It looked like a New York apartment building, but much nicer.

"That building over there is the Grand Concourse Apartment building. It was designed by Robert Law Weed, a son of Athena."

Something clicked in my brain.

"He dedicated the building to Athena?" I said, and Jordan nodded.

"Of course he didn't say it was dedicated to her," Jordan went on. "He didn't want people to think he was crazy. But yeah, it's technically a monument to Athena."

"That's great!" Heather said, and balled her fists. "Where's Askalaphos?"

As soon as she said that, the silver bird that was our friend reappeared over the bay waters. He landed lightly on the nose of the motorboat, and Heather told him about the building. Then, he literally melted into his human form. He became watery and wavy, like he was made of steam. His body elongated, and his beak shrunk. His wings became a feathery jacket and his skin became deathly pale. He still had a terrified expression on his face.

"Excellent. I shall add Miami to my list of Athenic locations," he said to himself.

"Athenic locations?" I asked.

He regarded me and smiled. "Locations in the country where the power of Athena is great." He pulled a ragged, yellow paper from his pocket. I'd been to Egypt once, and Askalaphos' leaf looked a lot like Papyrus.

"So far I know of Washington D.C. because of the Washington Monument, New York City because of the Statue of Liberty, Nashville because of the Parthenon, all of California because of the state seal-"

"Okay, I get it," I said, and Askalaphos stopped talking.

"So how far do the monsters go?" Heather said a little impatiently, and Askalaphos' eyes widened like he had just remembered why he'd flown over Miami.

"They stretch about ten blocks inland and three blocks wide. If you're trying to get north of them, manipulate the air at least two and a half blocks. I'd advise that."

"Thank you, Askalaphos," Heather said.

After a moment, the old gardener said, "Is that all?"

I could tell Heather was about to say "yes" without thinking, so I jumped in.

"No, of course not," I said, and Askalaphos relaxed. "We need you to help us. We need adult guidance."

Jordan and Heather were each giving me 'What?' looks, but Askalaphos looked pleased.

"A wise choice, all of you. Now, Daughter of Hermes, let's get moving."

* * *​

So far, I'd flown across the country in a chariot pulled by a dragon, ran along the Atlantic Coast with a levitating and unconscious teenager and flown on the back of a winged horse. Hands down, traveling through warped air was the most fun.

It wasn't really like stepping through a portal, as I had expected. It was more like I had instantly become two hundred meters long. I placed my foot forward, and I saw particles of my skin shimmering over the water as they spanned the distance over the army. I placed my foot down over what would've been the side of the boat, and felt solid ground a few inches above the water surface.

"This . . . is . . . awesome," I said.

Heather and Jordan both stepped forwards, and I saw the pieces of them snap over the Miami Bay. They were out of sight in a second, leaving me and Askalaphos alone.

"I'll be flying to make sure they make it through safely," Askalaphos said. "If something went wrong, I wouldn't want to be an immortal living in antimatter." He looked down at me, and quickly added, "No offense."

"None taken," I said, but I didn't mean it.

Askalaphos wrapped himself in his feather coat and began to shrink. His face became wrinkled, and his lips cracked and hardened. The light blue color of his eyes transformed into a murky gray, and his nose disappeared into his face. Feathers sprouted all over him, and his legs withered and his bare feet grew talons. In his full owl form, he flew away to find Heather and Jordan.

Then Heather's face appeared out of thin air, but her neck stretched over the water in a stream of peach-colored specks.

"Come on already," she said, and stuck her hand out. I took it, and she pulled me forwards.

It was like watching a video tour of Miami in fast-forward. The buildings fused together all around me, and in a second, Heather and Jordan popped into existence. A large screech owl was perched on the bench to my left.

"We need to get moving," Heather said, and pointed down the right side of the street. I looked at where she was motioning me to look, and gasped when I saw the front line of the monster army cross the intersection. "I'd have us warp around again, but I don't think I have the energy."

She did look unusually pale. I doubted that she'd be able to run far anyway.

"I don't think you're able to run, either," I said, and Jordan nodded.

"We just need a place to hideout, for now," he added.

Askalaphos suddenly materialized into his human form, and gave us a look like we were all idiots.

"Perhaps you haven't noticed where we landed." He pointed a long, bony finger behind me, and I found myself face-to-face with the building Jordan had mentioned before.

"Grand Concourse Apartments," he repeated. "Come on."

Then, right before the monsters noticed us, we ran into the building.

* * *​

It was unsettlingly easy to get a room. After a short talk with the receptionist, involving a lot of hypnosis magic Heather had learned from Lucian, we ended up in a corner room on the top floor. Across from the entry, there was a large field, beyond which was a stunning beach view, except for the disgusting creatures stepping out of the bay. To the left was the street we had landed on, and I saw about half a dozen snake-like creatures patrolling they alleyways.

"Uh-oh," I said, as they slithered forward to examine the building. They made some sort of bodily communication to each other, and wormed around the apartment building. When they disappeared down a side street, we all sighed in relief.

Meanwhile, the rest of the monster army was headed further into the city. A small group of the small seaweed creatures were scaling the side of an old marble building, and slimy locks of kelp sprouted where their leafy hands crept into cracks. One fell from about half way up the side of the wall, and splattered into a starburst of green slime.

"That's disgusting," Heather said, and once again I noticed how pale she looked.

"Heather," I said, and she half-heartedly looked at me. "You need to lie down. We'll keep watch, but just rest an regain your strength."

For a second she looked reluctant, but after Jordan and Askalaphos supported what I'd said, she walked to the far side of the room and collapsed on a bed.

"So what now?" Jordan asked me. "We just stay here until all of the monsters are gone?"

He sounded like he was in favor of the idea, but Askalaphos cut in. "Definitely not. Once Miss Gray has awoken, we must continue to travel north. The army is likely to travel as far as Orlando in one day; nothing will stop monsters if they have a place to go."

"We can't ask her to use her powers again," I said. "It wouldn't be fair. You've seen how much it drains her, and that was only a few hundred yards."

"Alex is right, Askalaphos," Jordan agreed. "We can't ask her to do that again, at least for a while."

"Then what do you suggest?" Askalaphos said, and though I opened my mouth to speak, no words came. "We've got to at least make use of our time," he added.

"I know, I know," I said, thinking hard. Jordan looked like he had something to say, but didn't want to. "Jordan?" I asked cautiously. "What is it?"

"I . . ." he began, but bit his lip. After a moment, he continued. "I have an idea. You . . . you know that shadow travel thing I showed you?"

"Yeah," I said, though I doubted it was something as simple as that. Jordan looked far too nervous.

"Well, there are other things children of Hades can do. If we can't travel," he froze for a second, "We can at least figure out where to go when we're able to travel. I can find out where the others are without Heather."

It still didn't look like Jordan had said everything he was thinking, but I tried to focus on what he'd said. Unfortunately, I couldn't control myself.

"What is it, Jordan?" I asked. "What else is there?"

He took a deep breath, and finally said, "I . . . I kind of had a dream. I saw your friend, Lucian, and Mitchell. They were somewhere . . . I don't know what to call it. Kind of tropical, I guess. There were palm trees, like here. In fact, it may have been here, but further inland. They were crouched behind a large row of trees, like a small forest. I didn't see any of the others, but I could tell they were in trouble. They were both panting hard, and covered in new cuts that were bleeding, badly. It looked like Mitchell had only a couple of bows to fight with, and Lucian didn't have his wand on him."

Jordan turned to face me, and I saw his eyes filling with tears. "I think they're about to be killed, Alex. I think we need to find them, now."

I was about to say something, but I was at a loss for words. To save me from an awkward silence, Askalaphos said, "I think I should go fly around, and see if there are any other monsters coming." He turned into his owl form and shot out the window, allowing me and Jordan to talk alone.

After a few more seconds of me stuttering and mumbling, Jordan said, "There was more, too. After my vision of Lucian and Mitchell faded, I was in this really smoky, misty room."

"Apollo and Artemis!" I said quickly, and Jordan's eyes popped wide.

"How did you know I saw them?" he said.

"I saw them too."

"Oh," Jordan said, looking a little disappointed, like I had just made what he'd about to say pointless. Then, however, he seemed to think of something else important because he perked up again.

"Well, I'm guessing they didn't tell you what to do with the dead, huh?"

"No," I said, and realized too late it was a joke. Yeah, I was that tired.

"Well, anyway, they told me that I needed to figure out what the prophecy meant-"

"Me too!" I said, and Heather stirred. She slipped back to sleep, though, and I looked at Jordan. He looked annoyed that I'd interrupted again. "Sorry."

"Anyway," he continued. "They said that I could ask some . . . certain people . . . about what the prophecy meant."

Now I got the feeling he wanted me to say something.

"The certain people . . . they're the dead, aren't they? You can speak to dead people."

Jordan nodded. "But it's more than that. They wanted me to talk to a certain dead person."

I felt like I should've known who he was talking about, but my mind drew a blank. I was still trying to process the fact that Jordan could communicate with ghosts. "Who?"

"The only person who knew the secret to this quest," Jordan said. "The one whose destiny it was to provide the answer to the prophecy. In the end, his life was cut short by the only person who knew my destiny. My father."

I finally understood. Jordan's father, Hades, had known Jordan would be a part of this quest. He'd known that Jordan would be able to talk to the ghost of the person who knew the answer. I didn't know how he knew the answer, but everything was connected.

"Hades ordered Cerberus to kill him, and only him, right?"

"Yes," Jordan said, glad I'd figured it out. "Now, we need to summon Kyle."

* * *​

"Before we do this," I said, standing over the hole that, when covered with steel, had been a bathtub. "I want to try Iris Messaging again. When Heather had shown it to me before, it hadn't worked. I want to know if it'll work now."

"Go ahead," Jordan said, and poured the contents of a jar of nuts into the hole in the elevated bath platform. "Try breaking the sink."

I didn't want to, but I drew my spear and sliced through the back of the basin, making water burst out of the pipes. The light in the window shimmered on the spray, and created a rainbow. Jordan handed me a golden drachma from his pocket, and tossing it into the light spectrum, I said, "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept this offering."

The coin disappeared, but I didn't feel confident it would work, and that the drachma would fall to the ground like before.

"Lucian Wick."

Nothing happened, until the coin clattered to the ground.

"That's weird," Jordan said, shaking out the last of a lemonade drink from the mini-fridge. I didn't know how, but the earthy hole had almost filled to the brim with a frothy brown liquid. I doubted it tasted like a chocolate milkshake.

"Now normally," Jordan said, and threw the rest of his collected snacks, mostly candy bars, into the liquid, "We couldn't just automatically summon one ghost, but . . ."

He fished out a pitch-black disc of obsidian, with a strange symbol on one side. It looked like a golden drachma made of pure darkness.

"This is an Underworld Coin, like I used for the shadow travel portal at Eurus' castle."

I nodded, and with a wave of shock, I realized that we had only been on Hero's Challenge.

Then Jordan lit a fire in his hand, and the Underworld Coin burst into black fire. He threw it into the bath and the water turned to a shiny black color, and gave off a shadowy aura.

"O Hades, lord of the dead, show me the spirit of Kyle Lyons."

The bath water shimmered, and suddenly a dark holographic image appeared over the hole. Then, Kyle's figure appeared, still wearing the T-shirt and jeans he'd worn the night Cerberus had gotten him.

"I've been expecting this, Jordan," Kyle said creepily. His mouth was moving, but I had a bad feeling that the sound was in my head. "Your father told me why I was killed. Fortunately, he has granted me access to Elysium if I provided you with the answers you seek."

"Okay," Jordan said nervously. "Tell me where the others are."

Kyle nodded, and turned to his right, and whispered something to what I assumed was some other creature. After a moment, there was another whisper, and Kyle said, "The other spirits tell me they are approaching Tallahassee, in northern Florida."

"So they were here," Jordan said quietly.

Then, for the first time, Kyle acknowledged me. "And you, Alex Malone. Lord Hades has informed me of your fate as well as mine. I am sorry for you."

I tried not to take that as an insult, and instead said, "Thanks, I suppose. Now, Apollo and Artemis said that you knew the secret to the prophecy."

"Yes, I know. You see, as a son of Zeus, I can sense when something strange is occurring in the sky, if it is powerful enough. Mitchell knew this, of course, and when he heard that the quest members must head to the sky, he called upon my help. I know where exactly the so-called 'sky' is."

"Where?" Jordan asked, sounding more confident now that we were on the verge of an answer.

"Think, Jordan West. Where does the sky meet the earth?"

Jordan thought for a moment, then said, "Where Atlas is. Isn't he in San Francisco?"

Kyle laughed. "Yes, but no. Atlas is in San Francisco, but you are thinking too literally. Where, in the physical world, does the earth touch the sky?"

"Everest? The highest point on the world?"

"North America, of course. However, it is in a place beyond the gods." Then he turned to me. "Ask Alex. He knows."

I did. A wave of icy dread washed over me as I recalled the snowy mountain peak, with the mansion and the zodiac archway. I'd been there before, in real life. My mother had died there. My real mother.

"Mt. McKinley, Alaska. The highest point in America, and the location of Kronos' palace."

Jordan stared at me like I was crazy, but Kyle nodded.

"Yes, Mt. McKinley. Long ago, a quest had set out for Alaska, and everyone had almost died. Now, you must return. Good Luck."

With that, Kyle's spirit disappeared, the black liquid soaked into the ground. After a few moments of Jordan staring at me in awe, he said, "You knew where we had to go, and you never said anything?"

"I didn't know where we had to go!" I said. "Or at least . . . I didn't know that where we had to go was where we had to go."

Jordan looked confused, but he snapped out of it when Heather stepped sleepily into the bathroom.

"Uh, guys," she said, looking like Jordan had when Kyle had appeared. "I think you should come see this."

She walked us to the windows, and I immediately saw what she was talking about. Outside of the apartment building, there was an entire fleet of monsters, led by one of the bigger seaweed beasts. The large creature held a leafy cage in one hand, and I saw Askalaphos, as an owl, trapped inside. A serpentine monster head-butted the door, and the entrance burst open.

"What do we do?" Jordan asked, looking at me like I was the leader. Then I saw Heather looking at me too, and a surge of courage spread through me like an electric shock. I gripped my spear and headed to the door, pulling it open.

"We fight," I said, and together, we ran out the door.

* * *​

The Unknown Hero has just been named Fic of the Month for October! :D

I sincerely want to thank anyone who voted for the fic, it couldn't have won without you!

AlexMonroe