Well, I finally got the second installment of Unclaimed Souls on. Phew... WARNING: THIS IS THE SECOND STORY IN A SERIES. If you have not read the first one I wrote, then I suggest you go read it RIGHT NOW, or else you're going to be very confused. The first story goes by the name of the series: Unclaimed Souls. It goes along the same canon timeline: the Percy Jackson books from an unclaimed camper's POV. Namely: Shiloh Lawson, my OC.

And before you start reading, I would like to say something to clear up any confusion. This first chapter takes place about, oh, five days before The Sea of Monsters, so this story is basically around the same general time of the second book, but it starts a little before it. S'kay? Enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Full rights go to Rick Riordan, I just own my OCs.

Chapter One—Things Change

Our feet sunk into the thick, plush carpeting as we walked down the long halls. I looked over at my friends and smiled: Levi Roday, Lee Fletcher, Vanessa Samson, and Rosie Howards. They were some of my closest demigod friends, but it was too bad that Ethan couldn't come with us on this trip. I pushed that thought aside and returned to the situation at hand.

Levi gave me a grim look. It almost resembled the same expression he had worn when his twin sister Harley had joined the Hunters of Artemis last summer. That was almost a whole year ago… that was a real life changing journey. In fact, if it weren't for Vanessa's older sister—also a Hunter—Levi would have died. She had given up her own life so he could keep his.

I turned to Vanessa herself. She grinned at me, radiant smile lighting up her face. For a daughter of Aphrodite, she was rather plain, but she was still pretty compared to other demigods. She had recovered amazingly since last summer, when we had brought back news about her sister. It had resulted in us bonding, and now… Well, let's just say I never thought I'd find another close girl friend after Harley left.

Except for Rosie, of course. Ethan, Levi, and I had found her last summer living in a filthy alley in New York City. We had brought her back to Camp Half-Blood with us, but she remained unclaimed too until just a few weeks ago. Chance has it that she can still live in the Hermes cabin with us, but she actually belongs there, unlike me, where I don't have anywhere else to go. But thankfully her godly parent claiming her didn't break our friendship.

Then there was Lee… nothing had really happened between us in the last year, but… well, hopefully that would change. I hadn't seen him half the summer, being gone and all, but the new summer session was almost upon us, and hopefully, just maybe, we would attend the firework festival together this year.

Yep, it had been a time of change last summer, some for the good, some for the bad, but all in all, my life had been quite eventful this past year. And surely you remember me, Shiloh Lawson, demigod daughter of who-knows-what-Olympian-goddess, but hopefully that would change too, just like my "just friends" standing with Lee.

Well, I was holding hands with him as we continued walking. Except for the fact that I was holding both of his hands. Behind his back. Lee looked over his shoulder at me. "Shiloh, you don't have to do this."

I smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, but… this is what has to be done.

Levi grunted. "C'mon, girls, this isn't right!"

Vanessa, who was holding Levi captive, prodded him forward a little. "Stop talking, prisoner," She gave me another confident smile, like she was enjoying this.

Soon a dracaena slithered past us, and gave us all suspicious looks. "You have found the ssspiesss? Very good, demigodsss, Luke will pleasssed. It mussst be a firssst for you all." She laughed a mocking hiss.

I kept from saying something spiteful to the snake-woman and kept walking on. Did I forget to mention where we were at the time? The crew aboard The Princess Andromeda took us in warmly when we proposed joining the titans for the upcoming war.

Rosie stood in between us as we walked, a sword drawn across her chest, and her shield in the other hand. Vanessa and I were holding the prisoners, and altogether, the three of us looked like the perfect traitors of the gods. If Ethan could see us now, I know he would be so proud. But he wasn't here, he wasn't even at camp. Being unclaimed like me and Levi, no one would miss him. The Hermes cabin was full enough, and with the beginning of the summer session starting that week, it would probably get a few more kids in it.

We continued at a steady pace toward Luke's cabin. It was crazy to think that our common enemy last year was now leading us in a common cause. Well, except for the boys, or course. I cleared my throat. "You know, guys, you could still switch back."

"Over my dead body," Levi snarled.

I ignored him. "Lee," I pleaded, "Please, don't make us do this. You know I like you, I can't stand to turn you over so that Luke's men can do who-knows-what to you."

"Then just don't," His light blue eyes pleaded with me. "Please, Shiloh; If you like me so much, if you're such a good friend, let us go. Come back to the gods."

Vanessa laughed mockingly. "Why? Because they have cookies?"

Lee glared at her momentarily, but continued trying to look me in the face, though that was hard because I was behind him, prodding him forward. "I know you think the gods aren't the winning side, and maybe they're not, but how can you betray your own mother?"

I tried to keep a bitter laugh inside. "What have the gods ever done for us, Lee? What have they ever done for me and Levi? They're too ashamed of us to even claim us." He tried to interrupt, but I kept going. "What about Rosie, huh? Hermes had to have known she was living in that alley; filthy, homeless, motherless, like a stray puppy. What did he ever do for her? Nothing."

Rosie tried her best to keep a straight face while I talked, but a pain-filled frown was tugging at the edges of her mouth.

"Lee, you have to see, the gods don't love us. Please, just stick with us." I put as much emotion as I could into my voice. It hurt me to have to bring my friends to this place, but… we had no other choice. Traitors to Kronos must be eliminated.

Lee didn't speak up again as we approached the doors to Luke's cabin. Rosie walked forward and knocked on the door with the back of the sword that the titan army had given her when we joined up.

The guards—two burly bear-men—opened the door and frowned at us with their hairy muzzles. They looked over the prisoners, then nodded for us to come in. Once we were inside and the doors were shut, Vanessa and I pushed the guys onto their knees.

Luke turned around, looking better than he ever had before. His eyes scanned us, then the prisoners, then back to us. He chuckled and nodded approvingly. "Very good, Shiloh. See, I knew you would come around one day." He walked right in front of us and pushed Lee and Levi's heads down forcibly. "You two are in quite a bit of trouble."

I tried not to flinch when he did that.

Luke then looked at us. "I'm impressed. You caught the spies so… smoothly. Quickly. You have the makings of soldiers for the titan lord's army."

"Luk—I mean, sir," Vanessa looked down. "Uh… I was just wondering—and if I may ask—when are we going to get the things you promised us?"

Luke smiled kindly. "Just as soon as you do one more itsy bitsy task for me."

"Oh…"

"Oh, really, it's not that hard!" Luke assured us, then started pacing around the room. "Shiloh, your mother's identity," I drew in breath when he brought up our deals. "Rosie, your voice," The mute looked up anxiously. "And Vanessa, your dear, dear sister."

I still wasn't sure how Luke was planning to bring someone back from the dead, but I'm sure he had his ways.

"You all can have these instantly," He stopped pacing, then smiled evilly, his scar reflecting the look. "As soon as you kill these traitors."

I gulped. Would it really be worth it to kill my friends? I looked over at Rosie, who was staring far off, seeming to imagine having her voice back. I turned back to my two friends who were on the ground, pleading silently with us to stop.

I bit my lip hard, until I could taste blood. It felt like my heart was being ripped in two pieces inside of my chest.

I was torn out of my thoughts when I heard something on my far right. I looked over to Vanessa, who was unsheathing her sword. There were tears forming in her eyes. "Sorry, Levi, but Isabella should've let you die… so that I wouldn't have to kill you myself."

"N-no, Vanessa, please—" he tried to plead.

"No!" She screamed, cutting him off. "You let her DIE! The gods let her die!" Her voice was broken by sobs.

Luke walked over to us. "That's right, Vanessa, they didn't care. They issued her that terrible prophecy, and they deserve to fall for it, along with everything else they've done to their children."

I blinked. There was that prophecy again. The one that Ethan knew, but wouldn't tell me. Vanessa must not have known about it either, a puzzled look playing on her face.

"Wh-what prophecy? What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Oh, it's nothing, really." Luke waved it aside and motioned to her sword. "Is this your decision?"

My hand reached for the sheath attached to my belt. Before it could reach my sword's hilt, though, Lee grabbed it.

"Shiloh, please," was all he said.

I squeezed his hand, trying to send him a silent message, but forced myself to let it go. "No, Lee, I have to do this," I took a deep breath. "For my master." I tried to slide out my sword, but all I grabbed was open air. I looked down at my sheath and cursed silently, having left my weapon back in the room. I looked at Rosie, and she handed me her sword. She had never really been good with it anyway.

The bear twins came over, and forced our friends to bend over, execution style. I looked at Vanessa, who had tears streaming down her face. She raised the sword above Levi's neck, and tried not to look.

"I'm sorry," was all I could choke out as a stray tear left my own eye. I raised the sword, the dull iron gleaming evilly.

Yep, a lot of things had changed since last summer.

A/N: A bit confused? Anxious to know exactly what the Hades is going on here? Angry and really annoyed that I dropped such a random first chapter on you and you have no idea why or how or when or what? Good. The next chapter will start a series of flashbacks that lead up to this point, so all your questions shall be answered in due time. Oh, and reviews are always welcome!