The Shadow of the Sky

by Paulblofish223

Derrik Vario wakes up in Camp Half-Blood and doesn't remember a single thing from his past. That's not the only problem. He figures out that his dad is Ares. When he receives a prophecy from Rachel Elizabeth Dare, he tells Percy. Percy tells Chiron and then is sent to stop Ouranos from starting to rise. Will Derrik find out what his past holds? Will he return to Camp Half-Blood?

Chapter 1: The Greatest Day Ever

So, it started like this.

I woke up in a room. The room was filled with stuff that had, the owl symbol on it. Where am I? I thought. I sat up. There was a girl the room with me. She was wearing an orange T-shirt that had black letters that spelled out: Camp Half-Blood.

"Oh good, you're awake." the girl said.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"You are at Camp Half-Blood, in the Athena cabin. Your name is Derrik isn't it? My name is Annytha. Annie, for short. I guess you could call me your cousin."

That explains a lot, I wanted to say, but I didn't.

"How did I get here?" I asked.

"We found you coming back from a quest. You were on the shore of the Long Island Sound. You kept saying something about monsters. So we took you in. They put you in the Athena Cabin." Then I blacked out.

I was on Alcatraz Island. I saw myself walking and taking pictures with an older woman. I think it was my mom, but I wasn't too sure.

"Are you havin' fun, hon?" asked the woman.

"Yeah, I guess so." I said. Out of nowhere, a giant bird thing grabbed me and carried me away.

"Ahh! A monster took my little boy! Help me!" The woman said. The giant bird thing took me far across the country. That's probably how I ended up here.

I woke up again. Instead of just the girl, Annie, there were more people. Surrounding me. I think I was getting Claustrophobic, because I was having short breaths.

"Give him some air." said one of the kids. He had shaggy black hair, deep blue eyes, and he also had a Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. He had a pen in his hand. What would he need a pen for? Anyway, they backed up. Then I got up off the bed.

"Okay, someone tell me why I am here, please." I said.

"I'm Percy Jackson," said the kid with shaggy black hair, "I'll show you around." He gestured his hand for me to follow him. And I did. He led me out of the Athena Cabin. Outside of the Athena Cabin, was other cabins. Was this a Greek Mythology camp, for Greek Mythology nerds? There were other kids were walking around with Camp Half-Blood T-shirts on them. I was shocked when I saw a teen with goat legs and horns.

"You guys must be great makeup artists." I said.

"That's not a costume. That's a satyr. And not any kind of satyr, that's Grover. My friend. I'll go introduce you. Come on!" said Percy. I was shocked when he said 'That's not a costume'. It had to be a costume. There's no such thing as Greek gods, were there?

We got to Grover.

"This is Derrik, right?" asked Grover. A beautiful girl ran over to Grover.

"Hey, Juniper! It's been so long! How are you two doing?" asked Percy.

"Wait, They're dating?" I asked with a shocked look on my face.

"Well, I have A girlfriend too, but she is on a quest right now." said Percy. If that isn't confusing enough, there was a short kid running around with fire on his hands, yelling: 'Piper! Wait up!'. Chasing after the short hispanic kid, was a man morphed into a horse casing him.

"That's Chiron." said Percy. That makes loads of sense. Sarcasm much? Percy said good-bye to Grover and Juniper, and walked on.

As we walked, a kid with olive skin came up to Percy.

"Is he new here?" the teen asked.

"Yeah. Annie found him on the way back from her quest," said Percy, "Derrik, this is Nico di Angelo. He is the son of Hades."

"He's the son of... There is no way-"

"I am too the son of Hades. I can prove it." Nico cut me off. He pulled out his sword and threw it into the ground. There was a huge crack and skeleton warriors came up with armor on them.

"Ookay, so your the son of a fake god. You must be really good at special effects." I said.

"This isn't special effects, Derrik, the Greek gods are real," said Percy, "I am the son of Poseidon."

"There's got to be some category thing you do. That or you guys are crazy." I said.

"I know how to get you to believe us! Nico, can you show him the Underworld?" asked Percy. Nico nodded. Percy pulled out a whistle. It had a bronze coloring to it. He blew it. No sound came out.

"I think your whistle is broken, bro." I said. Out of nowhere, a black dog the size of a dump truck came running towards me, and I winced and ducked. It stopped and started licking Percy.

"Are you even looking at the size of that thing!?" I yelled.

"This," Percy said, "Is Mrs. O'Leary. She'll take you to the Underworld with Nico by shadow travel."

"What?" I asked confused.

"In other words," said Nico, "Get on Mrs O'Leary's back."

"Okay." I said, and got on Mrs O'Leary's back. Immediately, she ran into a shadow of a tree. At first, I winced because I thought we were going to crash into a tree. Then we ended up in a cold dark place. I looked over at a castle in the distance.

"Are we in the Underworld?" I asked. Which seemed stupid, because I was talking to a dog, or whatever this thing was.

"Woof!" the giant mutt said. I guess that was a yes.

"Yeah, we're in the Underworld." said a familiar voice. It scared me because I jumped. I turned around and saw Nico.

"You guys are really good at special effects." I said.

"This isn't enough proof? Well, there's one more thing I could show you. One more thing, how old are you?" asked Nico.

"I'm eleven, I turn twelve tomorrow. Why?" I asked.

"Oh, no reason. let's go to the Big House." said Nico.

Chapter 2: I Meet Mr. D.

Mrs. O'Leary ran into another shadow. We ended up right next to a big wooden house which was next to a field of strawberries. Nico was right behind me. He lead me into the house.

"Chiron should be on the porch. He usually plays this board game with Mr. D. Com on!" said Nico. He lead me into the back porch.

Like Nico said, Chiron the guy morphed into a horse was not a guy morphed into a horse, he was sitting in a wheel chair playing a board game with another person. That person was wearing a wierd Hawaiian shirt that had short sleeves, and he was wearing shorts.

"Are you Mr. D.?" I asked stupidly.

"No, I'm a giant rat. Yes I'm Mr. D." said the Hawaiian guy. He held out his hand and a diet coke appeared in his hand.

"How did you do that? I didn't see a cooler when I came in." I asked amazed.

"I'm the Greek god of wine. Except I can't have wine. I have diet coke instead." said Mr. D.

"Greek gods aren't real." I said. I was starting to rethink that, though.

"So, you're saying that I'm not real? My real name is Dionysus, idiot!" said Mr. D.

"Calm down, Dionysus. He's just a skeptic. I know exactly how to gt him to believe us." said Chiron.

"Are you sure? I brought him to the Underworld, and thought it was just special effects. Mrs. O'Leary shadow traveled and he still thought it was special effects." said Nico.

"Hmm. Maybe, he is just too shocked to admit that the Greek gods are real. Am I right?" asked Chiron. I nodded. It was true. It was all too real to be special effects. What am I doing here then? What god am I the son of? Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Athena?

"That's what I thought. How old are you Derrik?" asked Chiron.

"I'm eleven. I turn twelve tomorrow. That's the only thing I remember from my past, is my birthday." I said, sort of disappointed in myself for not remembering my past.

"Usually one of the gods claim you as their child at the age of twelve." said Chiron. He moved a piece on the board.

"So tomorrow I'll know who my dad is?" I asked. I was surprised I had asked that. Something clicked in my head. I blacked out... again.

You know the lady I was with on Alcatraz Island? Well she was my mom. I went back to a memory. I was four years old. There was a man arguing with my mom. The only thing I remembered, was that he had sunglasses. And I could just barely see flames in his eyes. I don't mean it like a metaphor, I mean he actually had flames in his eyes. He went out the door. My mom went over to me. She picked me up and held me. She had tears in her eyes. What was wrong?

And I woke up. I know it would be like a cliff hanger. It was a cliff hanger to me too. I wanted to know why she was crying. I woke up in a different cabin this time. Two teens (they must have been brothers) came over and looked at me.

"Well, look who decided to wakey wakey." said one of the two kids.

"What? Where am I now?" I asked sort of tired.

"Your in the Hermes Cabin. They always put newbies in the Hermes Cabin. Anyway, I'm Travis Stoll." said one of the two.

"And I'm Connor Stoll." said the other.

"Great, and I'm-" they cut me off.

"Derrik. We know. Chiron told us when he transported you here." said Travis.

"What time is it?" I asked looking at my wrist thinking there was a watch there.

"It's time to got to the bon fire." said Connor.

Chapter 3: Nighty Night Bonfire

We sat at the bonfire and told stories. Percy Jackson started first. He told the story of how he fought the Minotaur twice. The first time he fought the Minotaur, was when he entered the camp. The second time he fought the Minotaur, was when they were defending New York City against the forces of Kronos. I never knew that Kronos rose again. Well, Percy did say that every mortal was asleep. I might have been asleep when it happened. Then an African American dude full of muscles, told the story about this bronze dragon, Festival I think it was. Anyway, it went haywire and ran into the forest. The hispanic kid, the one that had his hand on fire, told the rest of the audience that he tamed the dragon and used him for a quest. Two quests, actually. Festival was used as a the front of this ship they made. They called something like the Argo II.

It was my turn to tell a story about my past. I tried to remember something from my past. Then I remembered something, finally without blacking out, from my past.

"One time," I said, "I was taking a hike with my mom. We heard a noise deep in the forest we were hiking in. We went to check it out. When we got to find out what it was, I started to freak out. It was my worst fear. Fire. I hated fire. There was a griffin, I think it's called, squaking like crazy. So I went to calm it down, but I was too scared of fire. Finally it flew off. Recently, my mom and I were tourists at Alcatraz Island. We were taking pictures. Then out of nowhere, the same griffin picked me up and flew me to the shore of the Long Island Sound. That's the most I remember from my past." I slumped down on the log I was sitting on. And guess what? I blacked out again.

I was in my mom's laundry room. I was about two years old. I saw myself crawl behind the dryer. Behind the dryer, was a mark. It looked like a triangle, but looked more 3Dish. It looked like this: ∆. I touched it cause I thought it was interesting. Then There was a stairway leading to a long long hall way. I was about to go into it, but my mom found me. She picked me up and cradled me.

"No. Don't go in there, my little yogurt cup." she said. Yogurt cup?

I woke up again. It was another morning in the Hermes Cabin. It wasn't exactly morning yet, it was about 3:00 in the morning. Everyone was still asleep. I wandered outside.

I wanted to explore Camp Half-Blood. I wanted to know more about it. I had decided to go towards a cave in a hill. There was a girl wandering around in the cave. Specifically, she was pacing back and forth. She had red hair and was about as old as Percy.

"What are you doing here? Do you know the harpies could find you!?" said the girl.

"What harpies? I don't see any harpies. Besides, I was just exploring. No harm done!" I said.

"What do you wa-

Son of War, Water, Death, and Air

Behold a second affair

Flares of war, an oath to keep

A brand new soul to reap" said the girl.

"Whaat just happened?" I asked a little freaked out.

"I'm the oracle here at Camp Half-Blood. I just told you a prophecy. I don't know what it means, or why I told you it, but I told you a prophecy. My name's Rachel Elizabeth Dare, by the war, I mean way." said the girl.

"I should, um, go back to my cabin before, um, the harpies find me." I said as I started running back to the Hermes Cabin. I opened the door, closed it. I quickly went to my bunk and put myself under the covers and closed my eyes. I eventually fell asleep.

Chapter 4: I Blow Stuff Up

When I woke up, Travis Stoll was painting words on another cabin. Judging by all the girls, I think it might have been the Aphrodite Cabin. Connor Stoll, Travis's brother, was out chasing girls that went into trees. I got out of the cabin. I remembered what the girl, Rachel I think it was, told me last night. I decided to tell Percy about it.

"Say that again?" yelled Percy.

"I said I snuck out and found Rachel. She told me this prophecy thing. I think it went something like this:

'Sons of War, Water, Death, and Air

Behold the second affair

Flares of War, an oath to keep

A brand new soul to reap'"

"I think we should tell Chiron about this." said Percy. He looked a little worried. He looked like he had been on a few quests, and he still looked worried. I followed him to the Big House.

"Oh, I've never heard that prophecy before." insisted Chiron. He seemed like a wise guy, but he looked a little confused. "However, that does not excuse you from sneaking out of your cabin."

"Dang it!" I yelled. That probably didn't help, though. Chiron rolled his wheel chair over to an old looking book. On the cover it said:

"Prophecy Book."

I had no idea how I could read that writing at the time. Finally I had decided to ask.

"What writing is that?" I asked.

"Greek." said Percy.

"How can I read it? I've never learned Greek in my life."

"Most demigods didn't have to. Hey, do you happen to have both ADHD and Dyslexia?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Yeah, he's a demigod. Happy birthday, by the way." said Chiron. I had almost forgotten. I was so distracted by the prophecy that I didn't even realize that my father would claim me as his child. Honestly, it kinda creeped me out.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot." I said looking at the wooden floor. Chiron opened the book. Dust floated every where I could see. It almost filled the room. He looked up the prophecy. He searched and searched. He finally found it.

"Ah," he said, "Here it is." He recited the prophecy.

"Should we call for a council, Chiron?" asked Percy.

"No, because right now is scheduled for Capture the Flags, and then later is Chariot Races." he replied.

So I ended up in a forest, with Greek armor on, with a bronze looking dagger in my hand. I was next to Travis and Conner. We were teamed with the Poseidon Cabin and Athena. Good, because, I was sort of interested in Annytha. She was sort of cute.

"How does this work again?" I asked.

"Just stick with me." said Percy. I was sort of nervous. What if I got killed? Or worst, I got beat by Annie. I didn't have to worry about that, though. She was on my team. Anyway, The game started. Here I go, I thought. This was going to be an epic failure, just waiting to happen.

Percy told me to stay with him. I knew a little bit about strategy. He was supposed to guard the perimeters. I stuck with him, like I said. I started thinking about, Malcolm from the Athena cabin's plan. There was one tiny little flaw. Malcolm was guarding the flag. He had the Hermes Cabin go for the enemy flag. The flaw was, the enemy could capture Connor and Travis, come attack us, get Malcolm off track, and capture the flag. I needed to tell someone, so I told Percy.

"How, in the name of the gods, did you figure that out?" asked Percy.

"I'm actually not sure. It just sorta came to me." I admitted. I wasn't even sure how it came to me. It just did. At the time, I had just remembered that Athena was the goddess of strategy. Here was the problem, she was a goddess, not a god. She couldn't have been my godly parent. Gahl, this was confusing.

"Nyah! I am so confused!" I yelled. I threw my hands in the air, then the nearest tree blew up. Percy's jaw dropped all the way to the ground.

"What?" I asked. He pointed to the top of my head. I looked up. A misty dog was above my head and then faded.

"You're the son of Ares!" yelled Percy. Well, now I know who my father is. "And you blew a tree up."

"I did?" I asked. I looked over to a tree. It had steam coming up from a crater of where it used to be.

"I did that?" I asked. I scratched my head.

"Why aren't you freaking out? Usually when demigods get claimed by their godly parent, they sort of freak out. I sort of freaked out. Well, not really, I was just surprised." admitted Percy. Now that I know who my dad is, I can move into the Ares cabin. We had to finish the game first, though. Maybe that's how I got the flaw. It made so much more sense. Then I herd some footsteps. They were far off, but not that much.

"Did you hear that?" I asked.

"Yeah, get your dagger out." said Percy. I listened to him and got it out. The dagger was about three inches long. I was starting to doubt that I could do anything with this dagger.

The sounds came closer. We got really quiet and listened. They got closer and closer. I saw a face. It was the face of a beautiful girl. Daughter of Aphrodite maybe? Might have been. She was wearing pink Greek armor. Yes, I said pink. She stepped right in front of us.

"Piper, you are our prisoner." said Percy. Oh, her name was Piper. That is an interesting name. Piper. Piper. It rang a bell in my head.

"Wait," I said, "Is your last name McLean?"

"Yeah, why?" she asked

"You're the daughter of Tristan McLean, the movie star! Oh that is soo cool! I'v always watched him in his movies! He is awesome!" That was cool. I wonder if she could get him to autograph my poster of... Oh. I couldn't remember. Anyway, we took her as a prisoner. I wonder if she had a boyfriend. Gah! I'm getting off track! Anyway, again, Percy looked a little confused.

"How did you know that? Most people don't think that my dad is a movie star." said Piper.

"I, uh. Hmm." I frowned. Why couldn't I remember. Maybe hitting the water made me lose my memory. Maybe. She looked at me like I was from another galaxy.

"You, can't remember? Oh, you're that kid they found. Some say you got carried away from your home by a griffin. And you, like, lost all your memory," said Piper, "That's sort of what happened to my boyfriend, Jason. Only he got picked up by Hera and placed on my bus at Wilderness School." Darn it! She had a boyfriend. That sucked. I had to control my anger, since I was the son of Ares. I could probably start a war. Me, a twelve year old? Start a war? That sounded ridiculous. I think I won't start another war. I decided to get angry. It probably wasn't the best to do. My face got red, and all the trees around me, blew up. Then I could hear nothing. I saw nothing. Which probably meant I blacked out.

When I woke up, I found myself in a different cabin. The Ares cabin, most likely. A strongly built girls, probably about 19 came up to me.

"What do you want, shark bait." she said. What did she call me? "You blew some of the forest up, dummy. What did you do that for?" Honestly, she was getting annoying.

"Hey, my name's Derrik. What's your name?" I asked.

"That's Clarisse La rue." a familiar voice said. It was Percy's voice. The son of the sea came over to me. "Welcome to your new home, Derrik." he said.

"Yeah. Home sweet home." I said. Percy chuckled a little bit, and so did I. Why was I the son of Ares? Why me? I mean, it won't be so bad, but Clarisse would get so annoying. It reminded me of the prophecy I heard. Sons of War, Water, Death, and Air. Would that mean Percy, Nico and I? But who would be the son of air?

"What about the council?" I blurted out. Dang it ADHD!

"What council- Oh, that council. I'll go tell Chiron now." said Percy as he went out the door.

Chapter 5: Flying Horses

About an hour later, I was invited to go to the council. Great, I thought, My first demigod council. I was nervous to see how this would go. When I got there, Percy invited me inside. It wasn't a big room. Except that Graver was eating ping-pong balls with whipped cheese.

"So, what is the prophecy that Rachel recited to you?" asked Chiron.

"It went something like,

Sons of War, Water, Death, and Air

Behold the second affair

Flares of war, an oath to keep

A brand new bowl to keep. Wait, that was soul, not bowl. Sorry." I said.

"Well, we need to find out what it means." said Grover with his mouth full of ping-pong balls and whipped cheese.

"Um, since I am the son of Ares, the god of war, does that meanI can go?" I asked.

"We need to find out what the second affair is." said Chiron.

"Maybe its another war." said Nico.

"You may be right. It makes sense. Flares of war, and oath to keep. We need to find out what exactly it is. And A brand new soul to reap. Who could that be?" said Chiron

"It could be any of us," said Percy, "It couldn't be Kronos, because we already killed him. Who would want to kill us? I mean, we killed Kronos, we beat the giants, who's next?" asked Percy. Sons of, War, Water, Death, and Air. Air. Air. I gasped. Everyone in the council looked at me.

"I, I think I know who would want to kill us." I said.

"Who?" They all said it in unison. It was kinda creepy.

"Uranus. I, I know it sounds strange, but I think he is coming back to Earth, Gaea, whatever you want to call it. We want to find the son of Uranus, Iapetus maybe. Flares of war, an oath to keep, I think it means he wants to start a war. One of us has to keep an oath. Uranus is the new soul to reap!" I explained. Everyone's jaw dropped to Tartarus. They stared at me like I was from another planet.

"How in Hades did you figure that out!?" asked Nico.

"Air. You said that Gaea wanted to wake up? Well, I figured that it was Uranus's turn. You guys have had it bad. I mean, you fought the Titans, you fought giants. So, I think now that Uranus is coming back to Earth to destroy it. We need to find a Titan that is the son of Uranus. As I said, Iapetus maybe." I said.

"Well, since that's all that makes sense, Percy, Nico, and Derrik, will go on this quest tomorrow. First, we need to find Derrik a weapon.

They tried spears, and bows. The only thing that fit me was asword about two feet long and about three inches wide. It was called Absence. I guess that sounded cool. Then Chiron sent me to the camp's arena. They had dummies.

"Go ahead, try it out." said Chiron. I went over to a dummy. I swung the sword at the waist. Stuffing flowed out. "Wow. That was a pretty good swing." I was surprised I knew how to even swing a sword. I've never been able to sit still in a chair on account of my ADHD. That got me thinking about the prophecy. Sons of War, Water, Death, and Air. I was going on my first quest. Behold the second affair. What was the second affair? War? And would I be a part of it? It was filling my brain with ideas. Then the dummy next to the dummy that had stuffing around it blew up into bits of stuffing.

"How did you manage to do that? The last person that did that, blew up part of Japan." said Chiron.

"I'm honestly not sure. I think I remember one time that... Oh man! I can't remember. I'm sorry Chiron, I just can't remember." I said. The horseman pulled out a water thermos.

"What would I need that for?" I asked. He handed the thermos to me.

"Here. Try this. It's called nectar. It's the favorite drink of the gods." said Chiron. I drank it. And guess what! My memory came back. Then I blacked out.

I was in my crib. My dad, Ares, came over to me.

"You know kid, you're more special than any other kid I've had. I bless you with the gift that one of my sons I've had. It didn't go well, though. I know that you will be able to control this gift." said Ares

"Boom boom!" I said while hitting my hands against the crib wall and laughing.

The memory shifted to when I was in a preschool. We were playing tag. I was one year old. A two year old pushed me down. I got angry and pushed him down. The explosion of the World Trade Center that made it collapse was the result of my anger. The day I pushed the kid down was September 11, 2001. After I pushed the kid down, the memory shifted to the World Trade Center. The first tower had collapsed.

I woke up. I was still in the arena. Chiron was right by me. He looked worried.

"Derrik, are you going to be okay?" asked Chiron. Percy was with Chiron.

"You were out for about ten minutes. Did the nectar help?" asked Percy.

"It actually did. I remember my past now. And I caused the World Trade Center to collapse." I said.

"No you didn't. Stupid humans did that." said Chiron.

"No. Whenever I get angry, I blow stuff up. I was little. I was young enough to have temper tantrums. My gift would have been out of my control. I got angry that day and pushed a two year old down. Then the World Trade Center blew up. I-I think I've learned to control it now." I said. I was telling the truth. After seeing the memory, I learned to understand my gift. It's not about anger, it's about love.

"It's time to go find the demigods and go on the quest." said Percy.

"Okay," I said, "I'm ready to go."

About an hour later, we were all at the Big House. There were winged horses waiting for us.

"Are all those pegasus? I thought there was only one." I asked.

"No, there are lots of pegasus around the world. That black one over there? That's Blackjack. The one you're going to ride is Annabeth's pegasus, Porkpie." said Percy. He showed me to Porkpie. I got onto him. He neighed wildly. Percy responded to the neigh.

"Yes he's new and he's not going to make you crash. Now will you just relax?" said Percy. He got on Blackjack. Nico said he would shadow travel to where ever they were supposed to go. Apparently we were supposed to try to go to Las Vegas first. To go get a map of some sort. They said that they had to be extremely careful trying to find a map. It was in some casino of some sort. Something like the Lotus Casino.

"I got stuck in there for three days and never even knew it. It felt like only an hour. You'll also start forgetting your past. I almost forgot who my mom was." said Percy. I remember who my mom is. Her name is Judy Varsin. That's my last name. Varsin. Chiron handed us a duffel bag. It was full of American money, and ancient Greek, drachma. It also had bags of nectar and ambrosia.

"You'll need this. Every demigod that goes on a quest needs these supplies." said Chiron.

"Okay, I think we're ready to go. Except for one thing. We need to fly low. Being the son of Poseidon and all. I can't be in the sky. That's Zeus's terrain." said Percy.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." I said.

"Okay, Porkpie and Blackjack, let's fly to Las Vegas." said Percy. Porkpie started to fly. This was about to get interesting.

Chapter 6: I Meet the Flying Griffin of Death

About half way to Las Vegas, we stopped at an old gas station to get some food. I was hungry. I looked in the duffel bag for some money. I grabbed about ten bucks. I went inside the store with Percy. The cashier was sitting down reading Mad Magazine while sitting down on a chair. We rang the bell at the counter in front of us. The cashier looked up from the magazine. The cashier was a woman. She was wearing clothes that were out of the modern day style, clothes from the 60's maybe? It was hard to tell.

"Do you need anythang, hons?" she said. Her name tag said: Mrs. Griffin. Percy kicked me. I looked at him. He pointed to a silver thing sticking out of a cupboard behind the counter. It was the first map.

"We need to get that map." Percy whispered into my ear.

"Aww, but I'm hungry. Can we get food first?" I whispered back. He stepped on my pinkie toe.

"Oh! I mean, wowee, this is a nice place! Can I get a tour of this place?" I asked. Her eyes widened.

"Anythang for you, honey sugar," she said, "Come right behind this counter, hon." She opened a door. It had a sign above it that said:

Employees Only! She pulled me behind the door.

"We seldom get any visitors. We get very hungry." she said.

"I'm hungry too. Wait, did you just say 'We get very hungry'?" I said. She started to grow wings on her back as she grew bigger. Her head? It was an eagle's head. She had transformed into a griffin. I ran out the back door. Two other griffins were waiting to eat me for a snack.

"PERCY!" I yelled. Mrs. Griffin picked me up with her sharp talons.

"Ahh! Percy! Help me!" I yelled again. It didn't help, though. We were already about thirty feet in the air. The two other griffins followed.

"We are just going to eat you up, sugar lump." hissed Mrs. Griffin. The other griffins squaked.

"Were are you going to take me?" I asked. That was a stupid question.

"We're taking you to our nest, honey sugar. To eat you up!" she said.

"Well, my friend is going to find you!" I said. The next thing she said really made me worry.

"Your friend is going to be eaten." she hissed. I heard my name being called. I turned around. In the distance, I saw Percy. A glare of hope filled my body. This time, I could here my name loud and clear.

"Derrik! I'm coming! Hang on!" said Percy. I tried to look for my sward, Absence. Oh no! It was in the duffel bag! I was in trouble. Percy was getting closer.

"Percy! My sword is in the duffel bag! Throw it to me!" I yelled. I saw him reach into the duffel bag. He pulled out my sword, Absence. He threw it. It just barely missed my hand. Luckily I caught it before it fell thirty feet to the ground. I looked at Percy. He just stabbed one griffin. It turned to dust. He flew to the other griffin. He stabbed it in the leg. It also turned into dust. Porkpie flew right below me. I cut Mrs. Griffin's talon off. She turned to dust. I fell onto Porkpie. Glad that worked. We landed onto the desert ground. Percy got off of Blackjack. I got off of Porkpie.

"Yeah, yeah. Here's your apple Porkpie." Percy handed Porkpie an apple.

"How did you fend off the griffins?" I asked.

"It was easy. I just stabbed them with my sword, Anaklumos, also known as Riptide. Yours is Apouia, or Absence. Oh, I grabbed you some chips and some sandwiches." He handed me a bag of Funyons and a chicken sandwich. I unwrapped the chicken sandwich.

"Did you get the map?" I asked. Percy put his hand in the duffel bag. He pulled out a silver map.

"Uh, let's see. Yep." he said.

"How?" I asked.

"Well, after you left with Mrs. Griffin, I crawled behind the counter and grabbed the map. I heard you yell my name, so I quickly grabbed some food. Then the Griffins came and tried to carry me away. Well they lifted me about three feet off the ground before I stabbed them. I tried to get Porkpie to go with me to get you. He said he'd do it for an apple. So I ran inside and got an apple. Then he decided to go," said Percy, "Well, sorry Blackjack, you didn't ask for one."

"So what does the map say?" I asked. Percy looked at the silver map.

"It says that we can find the son of Hades in the Lotus Casino." said Percy. The sky started to darken. Finally, Nico showed up right behind me.

"What did I miss?" he asked.

Chapter 7: We Meet the Son of Death

We decided to make camp where we were. Nico set up a small tent out of some tarp and stakes that were in the duffel bag. There were also sleeping bags (from the Aphrodite Cabin) in the duffel bag. I took one out of the bag. I lied under the tent with the sleeping bag. Nico and Percy did the same. Then I closed my eyes. So tired. Sleep, finally.

I had the weirdest dream ever. I was in a hotel/casino. There was a 14 year old kid that woke up in a bed. He got up and went to play in the casino. He opened the door. A man walked into his bedroom.

"It is almost time for you to leave, sir." the man said.

"But dad said I had three more days! Man! I'll never understand my dad." said the boy.

"Jerry, your father is a very confusing god. Being the god of death and all." said the man. Jerry was the kid's name? Hmm.

The scene shifted to a beach. A kid was washed up onto the shore. He had blonde hair and a blue shirt. He wasn't wet at all. He woke up. He got up off the ground. He looked confused. He went over to a lifeguard tower. He walked up the ramp and looked out through the window.

"Poseidon." he whispered. From the water of the beach, walked a man that had the trident in one hand, and a pina collada in the other.

"You called my name, Henry?" said the sea god.

"Why am I here? I thought I was supposed to be on my way to Camp Half-Blood!" said Henry.

"You will be found in time. They will find the son of Hades, my brother, first. You are going to help the Olympians greatly, my son." said Poseidon.

"Father, are you playing a prank on me? That is great!" said Henry.

"Yes, you are thirteen, you know that you are my third favorite son." said Poseidon.

"You have two other sons? Other than me?" asked Henry.

"I must go back to my palace, Henry." said Poseidon. The sea god went back into the sea.

The scene shifted. There was a kid about my age laying on a hill in the middle of nowhere. Nebraska or Texas, maybe. He had dark hair and a yellow shirt. He stood up and wiped the dirt off of his blue jeans. He looked around. Then it looked like he was staring at me.

"Father, where am I?" asked the kid. Wind whipped up a whole bunch of dust and then a man with a long beard and a striped suit came out of the dust cloud.

"You are in Texas, Jacob. Other demigods will be here soon to pick you up for an important quest. Go north. You will find a small town there. Take this drachma and give it to the cashier. He will know what to do with you next." said, who I assumed, Zeus. The boy started heading in the north direction with his drachma. Then I heard a voice.

"Derrik!" it said. It was Nico's voice. I slowly opened my eyes. Nico and Percy were next to each other shaking me.

"I-I'm awake! Stop shaking me! Sheesh!" I said. Nico and Percy exchanged looks. "I, uh, also had a dream about the other demigods."

"Well, tell us!" said Nico. I told them everything.

"So we know for sure that Nico's brother is being kicked out of the Lotus Casino in Las Vegas." said Percy. He started to pack up the tent and stakes. Nico started to pack stuff in the duffel bag. I got out of my sleeping bag and packed it in the duffel bag.

"Yes, and we need to hurry." I said. I grabbed a pop-tart from the duffel bag. I unwrapped it and started eating it. Percy mounted Blackjack. He put the duffel bag around his shoulders. I got on Porkpie. Percy blew the broken whistle and Mrs. O'Leary came running to him. Nico mounted Mrs. O'Leary. Then he ran into a shadow of a cactus and was gone. Percy started to fly. He didn't fly too high, though. Being the son of Poseidon and all, he couldn't go too high, or else... Anyway, I started to fly. Porkpie seemed a little nervous.

We flew for about two hours, and then I saw the Welcome To Las Vegas sign. I've never been to Las Vegas before. Sin City. The gambling central. Time to find the son of Death.

We finally found the Lotus Casino. There was a man waiting for us at the door of the casino. By him, was a kid probably one year older than me. He was wearing a black shirt with one giant white skull on the front of it.

"Are they it? Are those guys the ones who are supposed to bring me along with their quest? Honestly, they look kind of stupid." the kid told the man. The man knit his eye brows.

"They do look somewhat pathetic." he said.

"Hey, so we don't have fancy clothes on. So what?" said Nico.

"Are you supposed to be my brother?" asked the kid.

"The one and only." said Nico. The kid looked familiar. He had the same hair, the same voice. It was Jerry from my dream.

"You're supposed to be Jerry?" I asked.

"Yeah, so?" he said.

"Come on, we have a quest to finish. We have other demigods to find." said Percy. The rebellious teen started to come towards us. The man, who happened to look like a lawyer, looked like he hadn't been impressed.

"Wait. You're a fate. You are just in disguise." said Percy.

"I'm glad you remember me. I was also your pre algebra teacher when you were in sixth grade." said the man. Percy didn't look impressed either. He just shook his head. Then he looked at Mrs. O'Leary. That made me wonder how people didn't know that there was a giant dog in the middle of the street. I would ask Percy later. We needed to get inside. The silver map was in there. I looked at Percy.

"Hey, do you know where there is a bathroom?" I asked.

"Inside." said the man. I went through the doors.

Chapter 8: Time Flies Like an Arrow

I searched as long as I could for the silver map. Then I actually had to go to the bathroom. So I went to find the restroom. I went through the door. On top of the mirror, was the silver map. I couldn't reach though. I climbed on to the top of the sink. Got it. Then I rolled it up, and used the restroom.

After I got out, was the problem. I couldn't find the exit. Trying to find the exit, I ran into a woman. Well, not really a woman, it was a girl. She had dark hair and electric blue eyes. She was holding a bow and arrow. She looked at me like I was familiar to her.

"Are you from Camp Half-Blood?" she asked. Wait. Was she a demigod too? What was she doing in here? I had decided to ask.

"So I see you also a demigod. I'm the son of Ares. Yes I'm from Camp Half-Blood. Why the heck are you not at Camp Half-Blood." I asked.

"I'm the daughter of Zeus. My name is Thalia. I am part of the Hunt. That's why I'm not at Camp Half-Blood," she said, "The Hunt and I were searching for a cyclops. He was in the Lotus Casino, but we can't find him. Can you help us?" she asked. I nodded.

"We need to be careful, though. We could be trapped in here for days." I said. She nodded. We slowly made our way through the crowd. Thalia went and found the other members of the Hunt. When she found them all, we started our search. I clutched my sword Apouia. I'll just call it Absence. We searched for about ten minutes. The n Thalia stopped dead in her tracks. She held out her arms for us not to go past her.

"I think I found the cyclops." she said. She pointed towards a man with a trench coat that seemed too big for him. He was bald. He was eating fried chicken. He slowly moved his head towards us. He started to get bigger. After that, he only had one eye. That was a cyclops all right. He got out a tooth pick, which transformed into a giant club. I drew Absence. Before I could step forward, Thalia and the Hunt launched their arrows toward the monster. I ran towards him. I stabbed him in the leg. He wasn't dead. The Hunt launched more arrows at the cyclops.

"You cannot kill me! I am the bane of Uranus! I hold his secrets! I am invincible!," said the cyclops, "I am Forus!"

"Did you just say you're Bruce?" I asked. He smashed his hand next to my body. I slashed my sword to cut off his finger. It worked. Golden blood poured out of the wound.

"Ichor, the blood of the gods." whispered Thalia. She launched an arrow into the wound. More ichor poured out.

"You-you can't kill me! I am invincible. I threw my sword at his face. It stuck in. Golden ichor poured out of his face. His face went slack. He fell down.

"I, cannot-" the cyclops didn't continue. He had died.

"Another victory, right?" I said.

"Usually, cyclopes don't have golden ichor for blood. They usually just turn to dust, like any other monster. He had ichor. Something isn't right here." said Thalia.

"Well, we should try to find an exit. It could be 2014 already." I said. The Hunt agreed. We decided to go look for a map. Then I remembered. I had a map that told us where we needed to go. I pulled it out of my pocket and unrolled it. A shape formed on it. It was a door. Percy just went in. Along with Nico and Jerry. On top of the door said: North Door. I rolled the map up and put it in my pocket.

"Let's go to the north door." I said.

"How did you know which way to go?" asked Thalia.

"I looked at the map." I said. I pulled out the silver map. I unrolled it and showed Thalia.

"Oh, duh." she said. She handed it back to me. I rolled it and then put in my pocket again. My sense of direction kicked in. North was at my right side. I turned to my right. I headed in the direction. I gestured my hand for the Hunt to follow me. They started to walk towards me. I knew that they were following me.

We walked for what seemed like hours. Then we found the exit. Neither Percy, Nico, or Jerry, were at the door. Were they outside? I opened the door. It was night time. On a big lighted screen it said: June 22, 2012. We've been in there for five days! It felt like an hour or two hours. Percy was right. We needed to be carefully quick. We were almost out of time. We had promised that we would be back July 1st. We had nine more days to find the other demigods, fight Uranus, then get home. We had to hurry. I went back in the casino. Someone pulled on my shirt. I turned around. It was Percy and the others.

"Where were you?" asked Percy.

"Long story." I said. Percy looked at Thalia.

"Thalia? What are you doing here? I thought you were with the Hunt." asked Percy.

"I am. We were looking for a specific cyclops. His name was Forus. I thought he would turn to dust, like other monsters, but he had golden ichor. The blood of the gods. He said that he was the bane of Uranus. He held his secrets." said Thalia. Percy had a worried look on his face. So did Nico. Jerry just looked bored.

"We should go." said Percy.

"We'll go with you. You might need help with fighting monsters. We brought our chariots." said Thalia. I got a little excited. I've never used a chariot before, though. I was riding Porkpie, though. We got outside. It was morning. Man, time flies like an arrow flying through the air hitting a monster that was invincible. Percy mounted Blackjack. I got on Porkpie. Nico and Jerry got onto Mrs. O'Leary. The Hunt got on their chariots. Before we flew off, I showed Percy the silver map. I don't know what it showed him.

"Looks like next stop is Miami, Florida." said Percy. Then Blackjack started to flap his wings into the air. The Hunt rode their chariots out into the desert. Mrs. O'Leary ran into a shadow of a person and disappeared. Porkpie started to fly in the air.

Chapter 9: My Family Reunion

We flew over the old gas station that we almost got eaten by griffins. We flew for hours. Then it was evening. We stopped in a small town about fifty miles from Salt Lake City. I suggested staying in a motel overnight. We all agreed. I payed for our overnight sleep. We all had our own rooms (FINALLY!). When I got in my room, I lied down on the bed that was in their and switched on the TV. It went automatically to a news station. There was a lady with bundled up on Miami Beach.

"I am here while the strongest hurricane scientists have ever seen is washing a shore." the news lady said as she was pulling back her hair. She went over to Henry, who was still in the lifeguard tower watching the waves.

"Can you tell us why you are on the beach?" asked the lady.

"Oh, I'm just waiting for my friends. My father said they would be here. Coming any minute now." said Henry.

The scene shifted. I saw Jacob go into a small motel, like we were in. He handed the cashier the drachma. The cashier looked around to see if anyone was watching. Then he led Jacob behind his counter. He went right through the walls with Jacob. I had decided to follow them. I went through the walls. Behind them, was a huge city. Probably the size of New York City. The cashier led him to a small apartment that said: Sons of Zeus on the top of the door. When they went inside, there were probably twenty teens in there.

"Your brothers will show you where you will sleep." said the cashier. The other teens agreed. They led Jacob to an empty room.

"No one has slept here for about three years." said one of the teens. There were clothes all ready for him. Then he stared right at me.

I woke up with a start. I heard a knock at my door. It was Thalia.

"Yo! New guy! Wake up!" she said. I quickly got out of bed. I got my shoes on and opened the door.

"Wide awake," I said. She didn't look surprised. "What do you need?"

"We need to go. You know. To Miami beach." she said.

"Yeah," I said, "About that-"

"What are you doing, Thalia? I told you to get Derrik up. Oh, hey Derrik." said Percy. He glanced at a motorcycle moving towards us. The guy driving it, parked in on the sidewalk. He looked really familiar. I recognized him when I looked into his eyes. His flaming eyes. It was my dad, Ares. He walked up towards me. He looked angry. Which, by the way, was probably not a good thing.

"Kid, your killing me." said Ares.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Hunters, get lost." said the god of war. They got on their chariots and left. The only trace of their presence was a trail of dust. Nico and Jerry got out of their room. They looked pretty tired. Jerry was in pajama bottoms with skulls all over them. Nico was in clothes.

"Ares, what are you doing here?" asked Percy.

"You know that only three are allowed to go on a quest, right?" asked my dad.

"Well, yeah," said Percy, "But-"

"But nothing. Percy, Nico, you need to go back to Camp Half-Blood where you belong." said Ares.

"He's right. Jerry, Derrik, you are on your own I guess." said Nico.

"What?," asked Percy, "Your not going to let him do-"

"Listen to your friend there, bub." said Ares. Judging by the word "bub", Ares and Percy go WAY back.

"Fine," said Percy, "I'll go back to camp. But only because there is a chance that I might die." He got on Blackjack, and Nico got on Mrs. O'Leary and they left for camp. Great. Now I'm on my own, fighting Uranus. With only the sons of the most powerful gods of Olympus. Just what I have always dreamed of.

"Kid, you are more powerful than you think. Like I said, you are the most powerful son I've ever had. Well, other than my immortal sons." said Ares.

"I know, I know. I have the power to blow stuff up. Blah, blah, blah." I said. Ares scowled at me.

"Don't push it, kid." he said. Jerry and I exchanged looks. I grabbed the duffel bag. I told Jerry to get some clothes on. We were going to Miami this time.

"Oh, and one more thing, kid. You have my power. Here, take this." said Ares. He handed me some money.

"What is this for?" I asked.

"You'll find out soon enough." said Ares. He started the motorcycle engine. Then he rode off into the country. 'You'll know soon enough.' What was that supposed to mean? I'd have to get used to it. Jerry got out of his room. He was wearing tight jeans, with a black shirt that read U Got a PROBLEM with ME?

"Where's your dad?" asked Jerry.

"He left. He gave us this money." I said. I decided to look at the two dollar bill. It didn't have the face of George Washington. It was the face of my dad. What kind of money was this?

"Is that your dad on there?" asked Jerry.

"Yeah, uh, yeah. He said I'd need it soon enough. What ever that means." I said. I turned the two dollars over. The other side was a silver map, like the ones we've been trying to find. It had an arrow pointing to an old warehouse nearby.

"Is that a map? Where does it lead to?" asked Jerry.

"An old warehouse near this motel. We better get moving." I said

Chapter 10: A Winged Horse To Mount

I grabbed the duffel bag and we headed off. We walked for probably twelve minutes. Then, we found the warehouse. Jerry opened the door. We went inside. There were a couple of old horse stables. We decided to go exploring for what we were looking for. I was looking at one of the old stables when Jerry called me.

"Hey, Derrik, come look at this." he said. I went in his direction. He was standing at an opened door. Inside the open door, were an entire garden of statues.

"Come on, we need to find whatever we're looking for. Let's go inside." I said, walking by the first statue. The statue looked sad. Its mouth was open and looked like it was crying. Next to it, was a statue of a little boy. He had a small backpack on. He looked really surprised. He had a small cap on. The cap said: Salt Lake City Boy. Wait. Why would they make a statue like that? It was so modern. Modern. Modern. M. M. It was Medusa's lair! I had to tell Jerry. He was looking at a statue. Then a lady found him. She put her hand around his mouth and took him away. I had to save him! But how? I had an idea. I clutched Absence. Then, I went after Jerry.

It didn't go as well as I planned. I got trapped in a cage, with some other people. And by other people, I mean statues. Absence was in my hands now. I tried to break out of the cage by cutting the iron bars, but that didn't work. Oh, irony. I hate irony. Then Medusa came in with sunglasses. I closed my eyes tight.

"Oh, Derrik dear, don't be so silly. I won't hurt you! Every thing will be fine. Just look at my eyes." said Medusa. Her voice was so calm. Calm. She couldn't hurt a fly. So calm. I almost opened my eyes. That would've been a huge mistake, because I could hear about one hundred snakes hissing. That was a bad sign. She probably had her eyes open. I turned away from her and opened my eyes. I looked at her through the celestial bronze blade.

"Oh, deary, don't be so stuck up. Look into my eyes and everything will be so much better. After you, I will go to your friend. Jerry, is that his name?" said Medusa, as she opened the stone cage. That was the stupidest things she could do. Not that I'm saying that it was bad for me, it was great for me. I closed my eyes tight and swung Absence.

CHING!

She gave out a faint cry. Her head was cut clean off. I didn't know if her eyes were open, so I looked at her head through Absence. Her eyes were still open. Staring at me. Her eyes so sad. I closed her eyes. Picked her head up by her snake hair. The duffel bag was right outside the cage. I got out of the cage, of course, and put Medusa's head in the duffel bag. Then, I went to look for Jerry. That was a close call with Medusa. She almost made me open my eyes.

Jerry wasn't hard to find. He was screaming for help, after all. I got him out of his stone cage. He thanked me, and then we started to find a way out of the garden of statues. That was before we hear a neigh.

"Did-did you just hear a horse?" asked Jerry, he had a really concerned look on his face.

"Yeah. Let's go find it." I said. I grabbed the duffel bag, put it over my shoulder, and went in the direction of the neigh. Jerry, even more concerned than before, followed me. We went passed a whole bunch of statues. They all looked so sad. They must have felt what I felt when Medusa talked. She was almost like a siren. I learned about those things in History class one day. We were learning about Christopher Columbus. In legends, they had encountered sirens. Sirens are horrible creatures that sing to you. When they sing, they give off a projection that lets you see what you want the most. Medusa didn't sing, though. She used persuasion. Like, we're talking extreme persuasion.

We finally got to an old stable. In the stable, was a white pegasus. He looked like he was young.

"Hello, Derrik, Jerry." said the pegasus. I jumped back, like, two feet. So did Jerry.

"How-h-how," I asked, "How can-"

"You hear me? I am the pegasus. I was the original one. The first pegasus. The one that Medusa gave birth to. Along with my brother, who is not with us. You can hear me because I am the original. My name is Roris. Early, in English translation. People mistake my name for pegasus. That's not my name. I named myself. I am sorry I startled you. I know you need transportation to Miami Beach." said the pegasus. Or Roris, if you want to call him that. Jerry looked calm now.

"Get on my back, the both of you. We need to leave now, or we will not get there before Ouranos makes his kingdom." said Roris. We mounted him. I put one hand on his mane, and one hand on the duffel bag. I opened the stable. There was a big hole in the roof, in which we flew out of. We started speeding far across the country. The town went by like a bug scuttles across a floor. He was the fastest pegasus I've ever ridden. He's the second pegasus I've ever ridden. Anyway, we passed Salt Lake City in about ten minutes. I started to get tired. My eyes slowly going down. I wouldn't allow myself to sleep.

"Sleep, Derrik," said Roris, "You'll need it."

Chapter 11: Sophisticated Rodeo

All I remember was passing the Grand Canyon before we landed. Where we landed, was a small farm next to a fresh spring. It was pretty cool looking, until I noticed the smell of smoke.

"Where are we Roris?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. I just felt that we had to land here. I just have a strange feeling that this will help us defeat Ouranos." said Roris. Then an old wrinkly farmer came out of an old camper. The camper was probably made in the fifties. All he had was a buttoned shirt and overalls on. And he had an old straw cowboy hat on. He looked like he had forgotten that the Western frontier was overwith. He looked at us as if saying something like: Those pesky teenagers! He slowly walked over to us.

"What are you fellas doin' 'round here?" asked the old wrinkly dude. He started to scowl at me.

"Especially you demigod." said the old wrinkly dude. How did he know we were demigods? I decided to ask.

"How did you know, you know, that I was, uh, am a demigod?" I asked. He coughed.

"I've seen you demigods 'round here in my dreams. People think I'm crazy. You know I'm not crazy, right?" asked the old dude.

"Uh, sure, um, what's your name?" asked Jerry. He glanced at Jerry.

"Name's Gordon. I need your help. Will you help me?" asked the old man.

"Uh, sure, I guess." I said. He pointed over to a fenced area. In the fenced area, was a bronze bull. And not just one, there were three.

"You see them bulls over there? I need you to tame them. If you don't, you will die." said Gordon. Jerry and I exchanged looks. He nodded.

"Okay, when do we start?" I asked.

"Tomorrow. At six. It's sunset, you don't want to tame them now. You won't see what your doin'." said Gordon. He led us into his old fifties camper.

After we got settled in our beds, Gordon went out to show Roris where he could stay. He led him into the horse stables. When Roris got settled, he went back into the fifties camper. He got under his covered and snored like the Minotaur. I, however, couldn't sleep.I finally went to sleep an hour after we were sent to bed. And, of course, I had dreams.

I was in Seattle, Washington. I was on top of the Space Needle. Clouds were swirling around the top like a cyclone. I could here a laugh. A big low laugh that bellowed throughout the entire city. Then I saw a giant face out of the clouds. The face had a long beard and long shaggy hair. It had a big scar going across its face. Its mouth was saying something in Greek. Something like: You will pay for your choices Gaia!

The scene shifted. I was at the apartment building that Jacob was in. He was laying in his bed messing with a golden drachma. There was a spring that was spraying water. He went over to the spring.

"Oh, Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept this offering." said Jacob. He inserted the drachma into the spraying water.

"Show me the demigods that will find me and pick me up." said Jacob. The Iris message showed Jacob the farm we were at. Roris was out of his stables, walking around the fenced area. Then the Iris message shimmered and disappeared. Jacob went back to laying in his bed.

The scene turned into darkness. I felt like I was being shook. I saw lightning. I heard thunder. A continuous pattern for what seemed like hours. I woke up, Jerry was shaking me.

"Wake up dude. It's 6:01. We're late!" said Jerry. got up quickly and got dressed out of my pajamas. After I quickly got my clothes on, I went outside with Jerry. Gordon was waiting for us out by the fenced area.

"One minute late. I ain't impressed with you," said Gordon, "First thing's first. Get on the bull, ride it until it likes you. Then get off and take it back to the gate. Gots it?"

"Uh, yeah, we got it." I said. Jerry looked tired. He rubbed his eyes. Gordon opened the gate. Jerry went first. Gordon helped him get on the bronze bull. The bull's eyes turned blood red. The golden horns flashed in anger.

"Uh, Jerry," I said, "You should probably be ca-" Gordon opened the gate of the bull. The bronze animal rushed around the fenced area in a rush of rage. Jerry was screaming his head off.

"Ah! Derrik HELP ME!" he yelled. The bull bucked him off. Jerry ran to one of the fences and climbed it. The bull was chasing him. Luckily, Jerry climbed over the fence in time. He landed on the ground with fast and deep breaths.

"I," he said, "Am NOT doing that again!" It was my turn. I was nervous. Maybe, I thought, I could control his anger since I was the son of war. Gordon helped me on the bronze bull. He opened the gate and the bull rushed. I held on tight. He ran a complete circle around the fenced area twice. Then he started to buck me off. I kept holding on. He bucked harder and harder. I almost fell off. I called the will power of my dad, Ares. Nothing happened. Then the bull stopped bucking. The bull started breathing hard. Breathing fire. The bull was breathing fire. He breathed a whole tornado of fire and the fire tornado started coming toward me. I blew up the tornado using my powers, which was awesome on my part.

I think I actually tamed the bull, because Deltio (Greek for bull, which I decided to name him.) lied down on the ground. I started to pet his neck. Gordon came over and congratulated me.

"Two more to go!" he said. Then he helped me off Deltio, and helped me on another bull, which I named Thumos. Which is anger in the Greek language. When Gordon opened the cage, Thumos flew all the way across the fenced area and bucked like he never bucked before. He almost made me fall off of him. Then he started breathing fire. I hoped that I could blow it up. I tried to use my powers, but it only blew the wind. (In other words, it didn't do anything.) Thumos roared with rage. He kept running circles around the fenced area. It made me dizzy. It almost felt like I could fly. I almost flew off. I channeled the will power of Ares through the bull. Thumos suddenly stopped. He calmed down. Thumos sat down. And I don't mean lied down. I mean he sat down like a dog. Gordon was really proud of me.

"You really are a demigod, ain't ya?" he asked. I fell off of Thumos and got onto the last bull. I called him Orge. A Greek word for rage. Wanna know why? He was the worst of them all. Gordon opened the gate and Orge tried to ram his way out of the fenced area. He tried to breath fire on the metal fence. Which he almost melted. I stopped him by channeling my dad's will power into him. It took a while, but he finally gave up. Then Orge fell to his right side. He was breathing fire heavily. Finally, he stopped breathing fire. Then I got myself off of Orge. I got out of the fenced area.

"How did you do that? I couldn't even stay on ONE!" said Jerry. I told him how Ares said that I had his power.

"Oh," he said, "That makes sense." Gordon came over to say thank you. Or so I thought.

"You have real good cowboy in ya. You can have those prized cattle for a thank-you gift." said Gordon.

"You know those are bronze, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I'm not the only one who can see through the Mist." said Gordon.

"The what?" I asked.

"The Mist is a magical force that doesn't allow mortals to see what us demigods see." said Gordon.

"Wait, you're a demigod?" asked Jerry.

"Yep, my pa's Hephaestus. I was born fifty miles west of here. That's why those bulls came to me." said Gordon.

"I thought most demigods die before they actually grow up." said Jerry.

"Oh, no. Some of them are guided by their godly parent to where I am now. I've encountered Medusa TWICE, I've met empousai about eighteen times. I hate them things." said Gordon.

"We, uh, we should get going now." I said.

"Those bulls will teleport to you where ever you are." said Gordon. So, I thought, I've tamed Deltio, Thurmos, and Orge, and they like me so much that they will follow me? Didn't know I was that popular.

Jerry and I got on Roris and flew east. To Miami Beach. We passed Houston, which passed like a bumble bee that found a flower. We passed cities in minutes. After about ten minutes, we landed in Miami.

Chapter 12: Miami Beach, And Other Bad Situations

We landed beside an old apartment building. When we got off of Roris, we started to walk towards Miami Beach. We didn't know which way that was, though. One building we passed was a movie store.

"Are you sure it's not far from here, Roris?" I asked.

"I am sure," said the pegasus, "It is not far from here."

"I'm tired." said Jerry. We passed a sign that said: Miami Beach 20 miles. Twenty miles is a long way away.

"Can we ride on you, Roris? It's twenty miles." said Jerry.

"No, I am, as you are, tired. Going twenty miles fast wears me out." said Roris.

"Maybe we can get a taxi," I said, "Roris can rest while he can so we can use him when we ned him."

"That is a good idea, Derrik." said Roris. A taxi passed by. I waved my hand to get the driver's attention. The taxi stopped. Jerry and I got in.

"To Miami Beach." said Jerry.

"Are you crazy? Its probably flooded by now. Don't you know there's a hurricane comin'?" said the taxi driver.

"We need to get there, though." I said.

"Okay, but after I drop you off, I'm evacuating." said the taxi driver. He started to drive. I looked at Roris from the back window. He flew up to the top of a building and lied down by one of the gargoyles.

It was about an hour later that we got dropped off at Miami Beach. The taxi driver flew off in the other direction. Henry was waiting in a lifeguard tower that was flooded with water. Well not completely. The water had reached the legs of the lifeguard tower.

"Uh, Henry?" I asked. The boy turned around. His eyes widened when he saw us.

"Father said you would come," he said, "I've been hidden on an island for about two hundred years. Father said I would be heading to Camp Half-Blood, but he said to wait. And I have!" The wind blew hard. Salt water sprayed at my face.

"Come with us! It's too dangerous here," I said, "Can you swim!?"

"I am the son of Poseidon! Of course I can swim. I don't even get wet!" said Henry. He jumped off of the lifeguard tower and ran on the water towards us. And that's not a metaphor. He actually ran on water. When he reached the shore, we started to walk to the city. That was before the rain fell.

When the rain fell, we got soaked. Then the debris stated to fly. We dodged a metal wall flying toward us.

"We need to get out-" I started to say, then I got knocked out by a flying piece of wood. It felt like hours had passed.

"Help." I groaned. You couldn't hear because of the wind, though. All I could hear was the wind, rain, and debris making all sorts of noises. I could feel like I was being dragged. I was soaking wet, and cold. Very cold. I think I was getting Hypothermia because I started to shake. I could barely breath. I herd Henry and Jerry talking.

"Is he going to be okay?" Henry's voice asked.

"Yeah, I think he's Hypothermic now." said Jerry's voice. Then I heard Roris talk.

"Maybe I can heal him." he said.

"How are you going to do that?" asked Henry.

"With my powers." said Roris.

"You have powers?" asked Jerry

"Yes, I can show you. But, give him some Ambrosia. If that doesn't work, I will use my powers." said Roris. Something went in my mouth that tasted like chocolate chip cookies. It melted in my mouth, though. I felt no better than I did five seconds ago. I felt so far away from the conversation. Like I was being pulled away. To another world. I was going to die. An image flickered in my head. An African-American man with a British Accent was leading me somewhere.

"You are almost dead, chap." he said. I didn't want to be dead. Then I felt a slight breath on my back. It was hot. The image went away. I was feeling better. Way better. I couldn't believe that I almost died. I woke up on the wet ground of Miami. It was still raining. The wind was still blowing. Jerry, Henry, and Roris were staring at me.

"Well, is he okay?" asked Jerry.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I said as I rubbed my head. I sat up.

"We need to leave this area. Poseidon is making hurricanes on almost every coastline, from what Henry told us." said Roris. I whistled for Deltio, Thumos, and Orge. They appeared instantly in front of us. I got on Orge. Jerry got on Thumos. And Henry got on Deltio. Roris looked at me.

"You demigods need to get to a small town in texas called Hernville. There, you will find Jerry. The other dollar your father gave you should lead you there." said Roris. I forgot all about the dollars. My head was still a little groggy, so I could blame that.

"Will we see you again?" asked Henry.

"You will. I will be in the city of the needle. Waiting for you." said Roris. City of the needle? What was that supposed to mean? I patted Orge's head. He knew we needed to go. He bolted towards the sunset, along with Thumos and Deltio. Things went by faster than when we rode on Roris's back. We got to Atlanta, Georgia in five minutes. I could tell that Orge was tired, because he decided to lay down and breathe heavily. Deltio, Thumos, Jerry, and Henry, decided to rest for a little bit. We went to a small hotel to stay in. I payed the money to the cashier, then we went to our rooms. I stayed in a simple room with a fridge and a T.V. I lied on the bed, exhausted, and then fell asleep. Which meant weird dreams.

Chapter 13: The Magical City

The first part of the dream actually wasn't that bad. It showed me Jacob. Jacob was watching the hurricane in Miami. The wind was blowing violently. The rain bashed down like buckets. Debris filled the air. There was almost no one was there. The beach wasn't there. The new beach was the beginning of a street. Jacob looked worried. Maybe he thought we were still in Miami. I tried to yell at him, but my voice didn't work. He stopped the Iris message. He went back to his bed. I could tell he couldn't sleep. He tried to sleep in different positions, but it didn't work. He seemed to stare at me...

The scene shifted. A young girl was at the top of the Space Needle. She was looking up at the sky.

"The sacrifice is almost ready, brother." she said.

"Very good, Kaeoto." said a familiar deep voice. Ouranos. Kaeoto? Who was Kaeoto? Then a sleeping face showed up in front of me.

"Hello hero. My husband and sister are coming back to rule the skies. There is nothing you can do." said the sleepy face.

I woke up. It was morning. I was still wondering who Kaeoto was. I opened the window to get some fresh air. It was raining. Not really raining, it was more of a slight shower. The sound and smell of the rain was awesome. It's awesome unless it's pouring down in buckets along with wind and flying debris. Been there, done that. Never doing that again. I realized what Roris meant. 'The city of the needle' he meant Seattle, Washington. Which meant another hurricane. Which meant I was going to have go through it again. This time maybe I wouldn't almost die. I packed my stuff in the duffel bag and went out of my room.

Jerry and Henry were waiting for me in the lobby. They looked tired. And kinda mad.

"Sorry I'm late guys," I said, "I had a weird dream. It involved an unknown goddess and Ouranos." They looked at me like I was speaking in another language.

"Oh, let's just go." said Henry. I put the duffel bag around my shoulder, went out the door, and looked for the bronze bulls. I named them Deltio, Thumos, and Orge. They were sleeping on top of a Dodge Ram pickup. The mooed furiously when we reached them. They left some dents when they were sleeping. Okay not some, a lot. Orge greeted me excitedly.

"Good boy, I guess." I said. I thought I heard a tiny voice in my head. Sort of like a dog barking. It said: Hey You! Feed me biscuits please! I'm really hungry! I turned and saw a dog barking at me.

"Um, maybe some other time?" I said. The dog started wining. It was then that I realized that dogs could talk to me. Which was sort of strange.

"Who were you talking to?" asked Jerry.

"I know this sounds strange, but I was talking to that dog over there." I said.

Yep that's me! I'm that dog over there! Can you get me doggy biscuits now? said the dog.

"I said later." I replied.

"Uh, o-okay." said Henry. Talking to dogs was starting to kind of freak me out. My only friends probably thought I crazy at this point. I got on Orge, Henry got on Thumos, and Jerry got onto Deltio. The dog I talked to looked at me, growling.

I will find you, Derrik, for my name isn't, Hecktor! But it is, said the dog. I laughed. He couldn't find me. I would be in Hernville, Texas. Too far away for him. I patted Orge's head, and then we went off to Texas.

Atlanta, Georgia went by in a flash. We got to Hernville, Texas in five minutes flat. We had to find the small Holiday Inn. We stopped at the beginning of a small road, which lead into a bigger road, which lead into a highway. It was a very small, simple town. About the size of Camp Half-Blood. Well, as big as I remember. I haven't been there long, but when I was, there were about twenty four cabins, the Big House, an arena, and a theater. This town had about fourteen tall buildings, a town hall, a modern day theater, and about twenty houses. Oh, and lastly, about three restaurants. I looked at Jerry and Henry. Today was the 25th of July. I have five days to get to Seattle, destroy Ouranos's and Kaeoto's base at the top of the Space Needle. Oh sorry, we. We walked on foot to find the Holiday Inn.

It took hours, but we finally found the Holiday Inn. Jerry opened the door for Henry and me. I went inside. Business wasn't much. Only a few people were there. The cashier looked like he did in my dreams. A short, chubby guy with blonde hair. He was wearing a silk suit.

"Welcome to Holiday Inn, how may I help you?" asked the man.

"We need to find Jacob." I said. I gave him a golden drachma. He looked around to see if anyone was watching us.

"Uh, o-okay. Look. You need to find Jacob? Follow me, while no one is looking." the man said. He lead us into the wall. To my surprise, we didn't get bumped in the head. We went right through the wall. Behind the wall, was a city the size of New York City. Just like in my dreams. The man lead us to a small apartment building. On top of the door, a sign said: Zeus. Jacob was in here, I could feel it. The man showed us the room that Jacob was in.

"And this," he said, "Is Jacob."

"You look like I thought you would, Derrik." said Jacob.

"Wait, how do you know my name?" I asked.

"Hermes told me some things. Along with Iris." said Jacob.

"We need to go to Seattle now. Will you come with us?" asked Henry.

"Well, yeah." said left the city and the Holiday Inn. Roris was standing in the parking lot waiting for us.

"Roris? How did you get here? I thought you were in Miami?" I asked.

"Four is a dangerous number. I said I would wait for you here after you picked up Jacob." said Roris.

"Why is four a dangerous number?" I asked.

"Because," Roris said, "Three is a sacred number. Look around you. Three fates. Three Furies. Three old sons of Kronos. Three, again, is a sacred number. Anything above is too much power. It goes against ancient laws."

"Oh," I said, "I see." I got on Roris's back. Jerry, Jacob, and Henry, got on the three bulls.

"To Seattle, I guess?" asked Henry.

"To Seattle." I said. We set off west.

Chapter 14: I Help Hephaestus

We got to Seattle, Washington in a matter of minutes. I've seen the Space Needle in pictures. An I thought it would be huge, but in person, I was impressed. It was like a giant needle touching the sky. I heard that there was a restaurant on the top. There were probably no one in the restaurant on account of Ouranos and Kaeoto. (I still didn't know who Kaeoto was.) I got off of Roris, along with Henry, Jacob, and Jerry. The sons of the three main gods and the son of war. They probably have special powers like I do...

Anyway, we started for the Space Needle which was now surrounded by swirling clouds. It wasn't hard to follow, because it was the biggest building in Seattle. We stopped to take a break. There was a restaurant that we decided to eat at. The waitress was really nice. I was sort of paranoid ever since that griffin incident. When she brought us our food, we chowed down.

"Have a good day." she said. I took another bite at my cheeseburger.

"Well," said Henry, "She seemed nice."

"I'm nervous. There's no way we can fight a titan and lady titans on our own. I mean, we need help." I said. The waitress glanced at us. She was walking toward us.

"You need help, right? Follow me. My husband will help you." she said. If that wasn't strange enough. She seemed to use persuasion. Just like Medusa did. She was a beautiful waitress. She had long blonde hair with deep brown eyes. She seemed to be wearing lipstick with eyeliner. I took another bite of my cheeseburger and then started to follow her. Jerry, Jacob, and Jerry followed me.

"My name's Aphrodite. I was hoping you would stop by. Zeus sent my husband and me to watch the Space Needle. Apollo said you would stop by. My husband, Hephaestus, he made automatons in the shape of Spartans. He's programmed them to be monsters." said the waitress. So, I thought, she's Aphrodite, eh? She actually seemed like it. Aphrodite lead us into a huge factory with tons of robots being programmed. I don't know how the mortals didn't notice this. Probably because of the Mist. Anyway, in the middle of the factory was an old man with a whole bunch of welts all over his body. The man looked up at us.

"Oh, there you are, Aphrodite. And... The others." said the man. It was almost like he wanted to say imbeciles.

"Hephaestus, honey, these are the demigods that Apollo was talking about. Remember, the quest about Ouranos." said Aphrodite. Hephaestus put down his hammer and got up off his chair.

"Hello, uh, demigods." said Hephaestus.

"Uh, my name's Derrik," I said, "Derrik Vario."

"And my name's Jerry." said Jerry.

"My name is Henry and the one next to me is Jacob." said Henry.

"Uh, hello, Jerry, Derrik, Henry, and Jacob," said Hephaestus, "I'm sorry, I don't do well with organic life forms."

"Aphrodite said you would help." I said.

"Yes, I have thousands of automatons that I have been working on. I will give them to you, for a price." said Hephaestus.

"What's the price?" I asked.

"Let's just say, you're going to need to sit down." said Hephaestus.

"But," I said, "There's nowhere to-" A chair poofed right below me.

"No there is." said Hephaestus.

"Okay, tell me what the price is." I said.

"You will find a part that I am missing," said Hephaestus, "See that hammer? That's not my hammer. At least, not my sacred hammer. My sacred hammer is somewhere in the Space Needle. I also need you to find some packets of Greek fire while your at it." said Hephaestus. Okay, I thought, Sacred hammer, Greek fire, got it. He seemed to wince when he sat down.

"I'll do it." I said.

"Wait," said Jacob, "We didn't have a say in this."

"You didn't need to. Derrik has a big decision coming up. He needs to learn how to have his own say in things." said Hephaestus.

"What?" I asked, " What do you-"

"I know what I mean. Do you know what you mean?" said Hephaestus.

"Uh," I said, "I, uh."

"Let's go get his stuff, Derrik." said Henry.

"Uh, okay." I said. We left Hephaestus's workshop. After we finished our food, we set off for the Space Needle.

Chapter 15: I Blow Up The Space Needle

About half way to the Space Needle, mist started forming around our feet. I've never actually seen mist before, so I was a little scared when I saw it.

"What is this?" I asked.

"It's mist. Looks like there's tons of it." said Henry. The mist seemed to gain more around our knees now. We kept going. I looked up at the Space Needle. Clouds were swirling around it like a cyclone. Like in my dreams, I could see a face coming from out of the clouds. That sent a chill down my spine. Soon the mist was at our waist. It was dampening our clothes. The sleeping face I'd seen in my dreams reminded me of Percy. I wondered how he was doing. If he got back to camp safely. Camp. I wanted to go back to Camp Half-Blood. I needed to stop thinking bad thoughts. Maybe that's what the mist was for. To make us think of bad thoughts.

"Are you guys thinking of bad thoughts right now?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?" asked Jacob.

"I think that's what the mist is for. To make us turn back." I said. The mist was at our elbows as we got closer to the Space Needle. We walked and walked for probably an hour. Then, the Space Needle was right in front of us. I could barely see it, though, because the mist was so thick. I opened the front door. The inside was really empty, like we just entered a desert. There was an elevator leading up to the top next to a desk. Which was also empty. I pressed the button to open the elevator. Guess what? There were monsters. They grabbed us and pulled us into the elevator. There was a woman that, at the waist, were to huge snake trunks where her legs should have been. There were three wind spirits. And then the lady I saw in my dream. Kaeoto. She was scowling at us, like we were annoying kindergarteners yelling and screaming at each other. Trust me, been there, done that.

It was a period of about six minutes. When we got to the top, Kaeoto pushed us out of the elevator. Where the restaurant used to be, were sets of barracks. One barrack was full of the snake women, with nets and spears. Another barrack was full of wind spirits and giants. What did Percy call them? Laistragonian giants? The cannibal giants. I bet Ouranos planned this revenge for eons. They all looked at us. Behold the second affair. Was this the second affair? It had to be. Kronos, Gaea, Ouranos. Makes sense, but I wouldn't want to think about it in this situation.

"I have brought thy prisoners." said Kaeoto. Thy? Who says thy anymore?

"Can we eat them, my lady?" asked one of the Laistragonian giants.

"No, thy brother wishes them to be alive. It would be merciful if we had thy prisoners be eaten." said Kaeoto. Honestly, I was getting a headache just listening to her say thy and thou and stuff like that. I had had enough of her speaking. Finally, I drew my sword, Absence. Then I finally realized that Henry also had a sword. It looked like some sort of stone. Henry mouthed something like: Greek stone. Was that the stone? Never heard of it.

"Put down thy sword, it is no use for thee." said Kaeoto. There it was again. It made my headache worst. Then one of the barracks blew up.

Ka-BOOM!

All the snake women blew into dust, along with some Laistragonian giants. That was it! I could use my special power to kill them. Flares of war, an oath to keep. The promise was to bring Hephaestus's items back! Flares of war, that was me! I could use my powers to defeat Ouranos. Duh, why couldn't I thought of this before? I concentrated on the rest of the barracks. Okay, I thought, Any minute now. And then:

Ka-BOOM Ka-BOOM!

The rest of the barracks blew up. That was the good news. The bad news was, that I started a raging fire and that a giant hole had formed in the side of the Space Needle. I could hear a loud scream of rage. Kaeoto was on the ground with golden ichor pouring out of a wound in her chest.

"You have made thy brother angry. We shall not give up! We will bring him back! You have not heard the last of thee!" said Kaeoto. Finally, I had enough. I sliced her head off. It bounced on the floor, golden ichor pouring everywhere. I could smell ozone. The hairs of the back of my neck stood up. I could sense lightning. No, it was Ouranos. We had to leave. I didn't have to tell the others, because they just followed my lead. I ran to the elevator, pressing the button so fast I thought my hand was going to catch fire. The monsters were getting closer. Bing, the elevator door opened. We scrambled inside. Jerry frantically pressed the button. The monsters were almost at the door. The elevator door closed. We went to the bottom.

"That was too close," I said, "We almost died."

"Yeah, but that thing with the sword, how you cut off her head? Wow. How did you find the courage?" asked Henry.

"I just got tired of her saying thee and thy. It was getting annoying. So I just closed my eyes and, slice." I said.

"I think we might have some wind spirits when we get to the bottom. I sense it." said Jacob.

"Okay, I think we can handle this. After we fight, we go to camp. We have to tell Chiron what we saw." I said.

"Who's Chiron. Wait, didn't he die, like, two thousand years ago? And wasn't he a centaur?" asked Henry.

"Yeah, I remember now. He trained Hercules. And his dad was Kronos." said Jacob.

"Yeah, how could he be at camp?" asked Jerry.

"I don't know, guys." I said. The elevator door opened. Mist rolled in. I could smell ozone.

"Wind spirits are near." said Jacob, he shivered.

"Come forward, so we can partake of your soul." said a voice.

"WHAT," I said, "Why would they want to eat our soul?"

"Because they're cursed. Cursed by Ouranos. All they can eat are souls." said Jacob. Whn I stepped outside of the elevator, it felt like I was at the top of a mountain with only my pajamas. In other words, it was cold.

"Come, so we can partake of your soul." said a new voice. I started to run into the mist. I kept running. Somehow I ended back up at the elevator.

"I thought I was running straight." I said.

"Come, so we can partake of your soul." said voices in unison. It sounded like a thousand snakes hissing. I ran back into the elevator.

"Show yourselves! I'm not afraid!" said Jerry.

"Shut up!" I murmured. I elbowed him in the stomach.

"I'm not afraid, Derrik." said Jerry. Then fifteen beautiful teenagers came out of the mist. The scary thing was, that their faces kept shifting from an ugly snake face, to a beautiful teenager.

"What are they?" I asked.

"We are the Forens. No one wrote about us in the Greek legends because we ate the people who saw us. We are like the sirens but in the sky." said one of the teenagers.

"Come, so we can partake of your soul, Derrik." said one of the teenagers. The voice seemed familiar. It was Annytha's. Then the teen shifted to look like Annytha. She was coming towards me.

"Come, Derrik, come with me to camp. Let's go tell everyone that we're dating." said Annytha's voice. Her voice was so calm. So persuasive.

"Um, uh." I said. I started to move forward.

"Derrik! Snap out of it!" said Jacob. I blinked my eyes twice, and then Annytha was a giant snake creature with bronze teeth and piercing red eyes. Annytha's tail was about thirteen feet long and she was six feet tall. In other words, a freak.

Chapter 16: We Almost Get Eaten By Pythons

"Come, so we can partake in your soul." the Forens said in unison. Then one of the Foren's skin shifted to a familiar form. My mother.

"Come, Derrik, I can take you away from danger. I can take you home. We can be peaceful." said my mother's voice. Another one of the Foren's skin shifted into another familiar person. I couldn't tell who he was until I looked at his eyes through his sunglasses. It was my dad, Ares.

"Kid, come with me to Olympus. I can make you immortal. You have to come to me first." said Ares's voice. His image kept shifting. I started to come forward. Step by step I got closer to Ares. Then I felt a tug at the back of my shirt.

"Derrik! Snap out of it! They are going to eat your soul!" Jacob's voice was a million miles away. Then I felt like my chest was being pounded on. I couldn't breathe. Everything around me started to darken.

"Yes, yes, you are almost close to immortality, kid." said Ares's voice. I started to back up. Then I ran in the other direction. I could feel my heart barely pounding. I still couldn't breathe much. I blinked and then saw there true form. The snake monster form. They chomped their bronze teeth and hissed.

"Come, now, so we can partake of your soul!" they all said in unison. It was really creepy.

"Jacob, honey, come home! Come back to Olympus to visit!" one of the Foren's said while hissing. Jacob started to walk forward. I grabbed him before he could get out of the elevator.

"Woah! Jacob, who do you see?" I asked.

"I see my mother, and, and my dad. And my sister, stepsister." he said.

"Jacob, they're not real. Don't listen to them." I said.

"But they sound just like them and look just like them." said Jacob.

"They're not real! Snap out of it!" I said, breathing hard. I might have been using too many words. Finally, I ran up with Absence and stabbed them. They turned to dust with a scream. Then I realized that we completely forgot the sacred items. We had to go back up.

"We have to get back to the top. We forgot the sacred items!" I said.

"I don't know if we can fight that many monsters, we haven't had any training." said Henry. We all got inside the elevator and pressed the up button. On the way up, we had to listen to horrible elevator music. For about six minutes, we listened to something called Soul Sister or something. When we got to the top, the elevator door opened. Monsters flooded in. I stabbed one, and then another. One by one

I stabbed them until there were only fifteen monsters. I looked to my left, and found a flaming hammer. I ran to it, or tried to at least. Four of the monsters blocked it. then I felt a warm sensation around my entire body. I killed the monsters in one slash. I grabbed the flaming hammer. Six more monsters blocked my path. They all turned to dust in two swipes of Absence. I ran to the elevator. Henry, Jacob, and Jerry killed the remaining monsters and then ran to the elevator. We went down to the bottom.

Chapter 17: We Win Robots

The mist was hard to pass. It was thicker than it was when we were entering the Space Needle. There weren't many people any more. I guess they got board of this city. We went into the restaurant, which in the back was one of Hephaestus's forges. There was no more than five people in the restaurant. It was June 31st. How could that be? (Later, I found out that when you're near Forens, time goes by really fast, so we were trapped by the Forens for more the five days.) We went into the forge of Hephaestus. Again, there were thousands, maybe millions, of automatons. Hephaestus was messing with some string and a hanger, making all sorts of things. He made a perfect replica of the Eiffel Tower, a small wind up toy, and a statue of Athena, and kept going, disassembling and assembling in three seconds tops. When we stepped in front of his chair, he looked up at us.

"Well, did you get it? Where is it? Show it to me Derrik." said Hephaestus. I pulled out the flaming hammer.

"Here it is." I said.

"I hear that you got the blessing of Ares." said Hephaestus.

"What?" I asked cluelessly.

"You, Henry isn't it? Did you se him on fire but not on fire?" asked Hephaestus.

"Yeah, was that the blessing of Ares?" asked Henry.

"Yes, amazing was it not," said Hephaestus, "Anyway, I want to give you prizes for your bravery, or something. For Jerry, I give you Herald, one of my best automatons." An awesome looking robot, automaton, came up to Jerry. It wasn't human looking, though. It looked like a panther. I could see all the gears turning and clicking.

"For Henry," said Hephaestus, "I give you this shield. Magic and mechanical. Use it when you fight." It wasn't a shield, though. It was a metal glove.

"This isn't a shield, it's just a metal glove." said Henry. At the word "shield" the glove turned into a strap of a huge shield.

"As you wish, Major." said the shield in a series of clicks.

"Oh, I am going to have fun with this." said Henry.

"Jacob," said Hephaestus, "I give you this. It will guide you to wherever your puny little heart desires." The automaton was a small metal beetle. It twirled around in Jacob's hand.

"Wait, did you call my heart puny?" asked Jacob.

"And finally," said Hephaestus, "I give you this. It will show you anything anywhere at any time." He handed me a small piece of metal. It was shaped like a triangle. Camp Half-Blood shimmered into the piece of metal. Percy was climbing a wall with lava pouring down it. He seemed to get passed that with no problem. Then Gordon's ranch came into view of the piece of metal. He was messing with a sword he made out of scraps of metal. Then there was just a shine in the metal.

"That's actually pretty cool," I said, "We should get going. We need to get to camp before the summer solstice begins." We went out of the forge. And out of the restaurant. We started walking, so we could find our bulls. We didn't have to walk far, though. Orge, Deltio, and Thumos appeared eagerly in front of me. I got onto Orge. Before I could say anything, he blew fire all over the place, and caught a building on fire. Jerry got onto Deltio, Henry got onto Thumos. Jacob got onto Roris, when he landed on the ground. We rode off east, to Camp Half-Blood.

Chapter 18: I Bond With My Sister

We got to Camp Half-Blood at sunset. We crossed the magical boarders. Orge, Deltio, and Thumos couldn't cross, because they were monsters and apparently the magic boarders were specifically meant for keeping monsters out. It was July first. In three days, we would be watching fireworks on the Long Island beach. I went to the Athena cabin to ask Annytha if she wanted to come watch the fireworks with me. I went in the door and found Annytha speaking with Percy's girlfriend, Annabeth. I could see why Percy had dated her. She had intense gray eyes. Annytha looked at me.

"Hey, Annytha. Would you, um, mind if I asked you if, um, if you wanted to got to the fireworks with me. I mean watch the fireworks." I asked.

"YES!" she said. She came over and kissed me on the cheek. She giggled and then left.

"So, your Annabeth?" I asked.

"Your new? Who's your parent?" she asked.

"Ares." I said.

"I hope you don't turn out to be like the other Ares children. Blood-thirsty jerks." said Annabeth.

"No I'm definitely not blood-thirsty. I have started a war, though." I said. She looked at me like I had an ugly face.

"I've got to do something." said Annabeth. I left the cabin. I walked over to my cabin. I walked through the door. Clarisse was sitting on her bed. She was talking to some guy who must have been her boyfriend.

"Well, I got to go. See you." said the guy. They held hands for a little bit, looked into each others eyes, and then the guy left.

"What do you want, pipsqueak?" asked Clarisse.

"I thought we might want to bond since we're going to have to deal with each other until we die." I said.

"Fine. You've got three minutes, pipsqueak." she said.

"Well, I think we've got off on the foot. I can't remember much of my past. I'm pretty good at running. I've tamed three bronze, fire breathing bulls. I've killed a goddess. She's probably rotting in Tartarus right now. I've just asked a girl to the fireworks on the fourth of July. This summer has sucked so far, I've made friends with the children of the big three. So, how have you been?" I said. Shed didn't seem surprised.

"I've just been at practices. I've been with my boyfriend. I've been fine." said Clarisse.

"Wow. Your life has been soo simple. My life, however, has been very dramatic, as I remember. I only woke up here. The only thing I knew was my birthday, and my name." I said. Percy came in and interrupted our conversation.

"Chiron wants to talk to you." said Percy. Then Clarisse scowled at Percy for no more than five seconds and then Percy left.

"Well," I said, "Looks like I'm needed." Clarisse nodded and then I left the Ares cabin. I headed towards the Big House.

When I got there, Chiron was in his full centaur form. He looked worried.

"Sit down," he said, "You're going to need to."

Chapter 19: I Am Adopted

"Your mother is outside of the borders, waiting for you." said Chiron.

"Who is my mother?" I asked.

"She says her name is Myranda Vario. She says she's been looking for you." said Chiron.

"Well, what do I say to her? I want to stay until the fourth of July. I already asked Annytha to the firework show." I said. Chiron looked into my eyes.

"Tell her the truth." he said. He lead me out of the Big House and out of the borders of the camp. Peleus the dragon guarded a golden fleece that hung suspended from a pine tree. My mom, Myranda, was petting the dragon. She smiled at me. She was the woman I saw from when I first blacked out. I felt warm inside.

"Mom?" I asked. She came up and hugged me.

"Derrik! Oh, I've been looking for you everywhere. Ever since that griffin flew off with you." said my mom.

"I've been on this dramatic quest thing. I've tamed three bronze bulls. I've killed a goddess, and now I think I've got a date for the firework show on the beach," I said, "Mom, I want to stay here until the fourth of July." She nodded her head.

"I support your decision. Your a demigod. You need to make some more decisions when you grow up." my mom said. She hugged me again, and then got into her car.

"I'll come get you on the fifth." she said. I petted Peleus's head, and then went to my cabin.

Days passed quickly. It was sort of a blur. All except for the fourth. That day was the best day as far as I could remember. I woke up with a smile. Everyone in the cabin was gone to breakfast. I slowly got ready.

I sat next to Clarisse in the Ares table. I had three waffles with chocolate milk. When I was done, I left a little bit of my last waffle to sacrifice to the gods. (Apparently they like the smell, or at least that's what Percy explained to me.) Then, Chiron announced that we were going to have a chariot race in one hour. I got my Greek armor to fit me in thirty minutes. Then I borrowed an old chariot from Percy. I got the reigns fitted on the horse I was going to use. I decided to use my triangular metal piece so I could see anything behind me or anything that would be dangerous to my chariot. I placed the piece of metal right in front of me. Then I used scraps of metal to form spikes for my wheels. Then I made braces for my feet to stay on. For my horse, I asked Roris if he wanted to help me, he said yes, so he was my horse. Then, it was time for the chariot race. I put my feet in the braces I installed, then tightened them. Roris neighed.

"Are you ready to win?" he asked.

"Yep, definitely." I said. All the other chariots went up to the starting line. Chiron was armed with a flaming arrow.

"Get ready. Get set. Let the chariot race begin!" said Chiron. He shot the flaming arrow into the air, marking the beginning of the race. Roris stampeded toward the pole. The others were equally as fast as Roris. I looked in the piece of metal. Clarisse's chariot was coming up close. I went around the pole, I was in first place. Then, Clarisse was in front of me. I whipped Roris so he could go faster. And sure enough he did. Now I was in front of Clarisse. We were getting so close to the finish line. I closed my eyes. For some reason, Roris stopped. I opened my eyes. We were passed the finish line. But I didn't know who passed it first, me or Clarisse. When everyone passed the finish line, Chiron announced who won.

"In third place, is Chris Rodriguez and his partner, Percy Jackson. In second place, is Clarisse la Rue. And, in first place, is Derrik Vario." said Chiron. I was in shock for the first few minutes, but while everyone was clapping, they lifted me up and carried me to Chiron. Everyone clapped and cheered.

"Now, campers, you have one hour to clean your cabins for cabin inspection." said Chiron. I quickly ran to the Ares cabin. All of my other siblings made their beds and cleaned the area around their beds. I decorated mine, with my sword Absence hanging on the wall next to my bed. On my dresser, I placed my triangular piece of metal on a stand made of glass. I made my bed nice and tucked in and sweeped the floor around my bed. I didn't get anything but dust, because I went on a quest and my bed was not occupied. Soon, an hour passed and Piper McLean came and inspected the Ares she looked at my bed, she looked impressed.

"Umm, five." said Piper. About an hour later, the lunch bell rang. I sat at the Ares table again. I had three slices of sausage and pepperoni pizza with red Dr. Pepper. Then we weren't scheduled for anything else, so I decided to go for a walk along the beach.

For about three minutes, I watched the waves lap on the shore. Then, my dad Ares appeared next to me. He was wearing sunglasses to hide his flaming eyes. His military cut was as short as ever. He looked at me with a proud face. He came over and ruffled my hair.

"You did a good job, kid. Ancient things are stirring again, though. Ouranos is trying to come back to rule. Thanks to you, you put Kaeoto to Tartarus. She will never see daylight for eternity. Another war has started." said Ares. That was the first time I've ever felt appreciated.

When evening came, I went over to the Athena cabin to pick up Annytha for the firework show. She was wearing owl earrings and regular Camp Half-Blood clothes. I was wearing the same clothes I was wearing when I woke up in camp. We walked down to the beach, and then the firework show began. I can't remember much after that, except for eating dinner.

The next day, I packed my sword and the triangular piece of metal and waited for my mom to pull up at Camp Half-Blood. I waited for about an hour, and then turned around. Right when I turned around, a car pulled up by the border. It was my mom. I turned around and saw her coming out of the car. She ran over and gave me a hug. She backed away.

"I'm so glad to see you." she said.

"Yeah I know. I made friends, and I'm ready to go home. Wherever I live." I said.

"Yeah, I live in Philadelphia," said my mom, "I know you don't have many clothes and we have more clothes at our house." I got into the car, and then went to Philadelphia.