Part One: Kristin's POV

"AAAUUUUGGH!"

I awoke from a deep, blissful sleep to hear someone screaming bloody murder. They sounded like they'd just seen my dad.

"HELP! IT'S AFTER ME!"

This exclamation was followed by a bunch of crashing, cursing, and yelling. I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but eventually it became unbearable. I stumbled out of my bunk and looked at the clock. Ugh, it was two in the morning. Two in the freaking morning. If this was someone having a nightmare, I would personally send a hellhound after them. I staggered out of my cabin to find out what this commotion was all about.

I soon realized that the noise was coming from cabin nine; Hephaestus cabin. That could only mean one person could be causing this disruption.

The cabin door opened, and two Hephaestus campers, Nyssa and Jake, came out, dragging a struggling kid between them. They dumped him outside, went back in, and slammed the door. I heard a lock click into place. The kid immediately jumped up and started pounding on the door. "PLEASE LET ME IN!" he begged. "IT'S STILL AFTER ME!"

I knew immediately who it was. "Leo?!" I shouted. "What is after you, and how do you expect me to get any sleep with you screaming like an idiot?"

He looked at me innocently. "Oh, hey, Kristin. What time is it?"

"It's two in the morning, smart one. Two in the freaking morning."

"Okay, okay! No need to lose your temper, death girl."

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind. Hey, since you're the daughter of Hades, can you, like, help me with something, like, right now?"

"What's so important that you need me to help you at two in the morning?"

"Well, I heard this scratching noise outside my window, and I think it might be some sort of monster, but nobody in my cabin believes me, so I thought you could, you know, get rid of it, or something."

"Why do you think it's a monster? Did you actually see it?"

"All I saw were a pair of glowing eyes. That's when I tried to wake up some of my siblings. When I went to show them, it was gone."

I was not in the least bit impressed. "It's a freaking chipmunk, Valdez. Go back to bed."

Leo stared at me. "I know it's not a chipmunk. Please, go look. I'll pay you."

"Eight drachmas."

"Eight?! I was thinking more around five."

"Eight."

"Five."

"Nine."

"Five."

"Ten."

"Six."

"Twelve."

"Eight?"

"That ship has sailed, Valdez. Twelve, or nothing. And I also bet you ten drachmas that it isn't a monster."

"Fine," Leo huffed. "I bet that it is. But don't come telling me it's a chipmunk until you've looked for at least fifteen minutes."

"Ten."

"Fifteen."

"Nine."

"Fifteen."

"Seven."

"Fifteen."

"Five."

"Ten?"

"That ship left with the eight drachmas, Valdez."

"Come on, ten?"

"No more than seven, fire boy. That's my last offer, and if you don't like it, I am taking your twelve drachmas and returning to my cabin."

"Alright, fine. Just go look, then I'll pay you."

"Nope. Nice try, but I want the drachmas first."

"What? No, you have to do the work before you get paid."

"I'm not going to go looking for a chipmunk until you give me the drachmas."

"It wasn't a chipmunk! How about six now, and six after?"

"Do you want me to summon a hellhound?"

"Fine! Okay!" Leo dug in his pocket and brought out a handful of gold coins. He counted out twelve and handed them to me.

"Where did you even get twelve drachmas?"

"It's handy to know the Stolls. Let's just leave it at that."

"Um, okay?" I suddenly felt uncomfortable holding the drachmas. Knowing Conner and Travis, there was a large chance that the coins contained firecrackers, or something just as explosive. Even so, I stuffed them in my back pocket. I prayed to the gods that they wouldn't go off while they were in my pocket. Having my butt explode would be too embarrassing for words.

Leo led me around the back of his cabin. I followed him around the corner, not really paying attention, letting my mind wander. I didn't realize I was daydreaming [or whatever you call it at two in the morning] until I ran smack into Leo, who had stopped.

I made a heroic little yelping noise, and Leo slapped his hand over my mouth. "Will you please shut up? It's going to hear us! Do you want to get the flesh stripped from your bones?"

I removed his hand from my face. "You've given this some thought. Since when do rodents strip human flesh? Did the chipmunk have fangs instead of buck teeth?"

Leo did not find this funny. "How many times do I have to tell you? It was not a chipmunk."

"Oh, I see. It was a squirrel."

Leo's hands caught on fire.

"Okay, okay, sorry," I said quickly, trying to save my sorry hide from getting burned to ashes. "Where did you see the chipm... I mean, the monster?"

"Over there." Leo pointed to a tree several yards from the cabin. "In the shadows of that tree."

I picked my way towards the tree. It cast a long, dark shadow that would be easy for anything from a chipmunk to a manticore to hide in. I approached with caution, kneeling down by the tree's roots. I didn't see any monster evidence, but I did find a small, circular tunnel under one root, with many tiny paw prints around it. Oh my God, I thought. It really is a chipmunk. I am never going to let Leo forget this.

I walked casually back up to Leo, trying to look serious. "Leo Valdez, I proclaim that you are being stalked by... a rodent."

"What?"

"Come and see if you don't believe me."

I led him over to the tree and showed him the tunnel and the paw prints. He shook his head. "No, I swear it wasn't a chipmunk! It couldn't have been!"

I grinned. "You're such a sore loser, Leo. Now pay up."

"Hang on! Kristin, you can't call this your proof! You have no real evidence that what I saw was a chipmunk."

I stared at Leo. "And your point is..."

"You aren't a tracker!" Leo protested. "We should get hold of a real tracker... a Hunter of Artemis, maybe?"

I groaned. I had a good friend who was a Hunter. Her name was Jessica. She was a daughter of Aphrodite, but a tomboy at the same time. She always came to Camp Half-Blood if we had a problem, but I doubted she'd want to be bothered with a story about a psychopath chipmunk that was scaring the crap out of a hyperactive demigod. Knowing Leo, he'd just want to flirt with her, or the other Hunters.

"Leo, I'm not going to bother Jessica with this crap."

"Come on, Kristin! I won't hit on them while they're here."

"No. Maybe I can get someone else to look at this when the sun rises, but I'm not dragging the Hunters of Artemis up here with a story about an evil rodent. Go back to bed."

"Fine. Then maybe I'll prove you wrong."

"Whatever, Valdez. You keep telling yourself that."

(A/n)Not the best, I know, but I hope you enjoyed it! Please review! ~TLO