This is the story most of you voted for on my profile, so this is what I'll be posting xDs

The bar where they had arranged to meet was a dingy little one, off an alleyway somewhere in New York City. Chiron, in his wheelchair disguise, frowned as he turned into the narrow street, wondering why Lux always chose such inaccessible places for them to meet. Probably to annoy him. Ugh, his fetlocks were falling asleep in that box. Maybe even to cause him pain.

He entered the shady place and was greeted by the sound of a blaringly loud football game from the TV in the corner, and the smell of smoke mixed with beer and deep-fried food. Yes, just Lux' kind of place. Not many people noticed Chiron as he steered his wheelchair towards the man looking expectantly at him, the motor purring softly.

"Reservation under 'Theta'," Chiron said, the flickering from the TV lighting the room for split seconds at a time. The man frowned, looked down at a piece of paper, looked to a corner with an empty table, back at the paper, and finally back at Chiron.

"Sorry, Sir, but the young man has left already. He did, however, leave this for a person who asked for the reservation, so I guess that's you. Would you still like a seat?" Chiron smiled slightly and nodded, taking the carefully wrapped package from the man and followed him to the empty table, where the man removed a chair so that Chiron's wheelchair would fit. "Someone will be with you in a few." Chiron simply nodded him away, his hands almost shaking from wanting to open the package.

The blue leather wrapped around the small book was beautiful, with soft patterns in it, almost invisible to the naked eye, and as much as Chiron would have wondered where it came from and how Lux got the money for it, he just gently laid it aside, thinking he'd get back to it later. On top of leather bound book that might change Chiron's life was a folded sheet of yellowed paper, presumably torn out of the book.

"Hello, Sir, my name is Diane and I will be taking your orders this evening. The daily special is…" the waitress trailed off as Chiron raised his hand gently, silencing her.

"An espresso will do," he said, his voice unnaturally hard. Diane nodded and scurried off glancing worriedly behind her before she entered the kitchen, only to see Chiron already deeply absorbed in a piece of paper. Strange man, she thought.

Chiron's vision wasn't the best in the dim bar, and he had to squint to make out Lux' handwriting. The fact that Lux didn't really know how to write probably didn't help Chiron at all, he thought.

Chiron,

I am not sorry I didn't wait for you. You are an old man, or should I say, you are an old centaur, and I am a young man. Boy. Teenager. Whatever, you know? I don't exactly care any more.

Riley and I are not coming back- we're going to look for Jet and Danni. We don't care that he's half Titan and she's a forbidden child. Riley feels he is treated like just another demigod and he deserves something more. I feel the same. I never was officially claimed, was I?

At least Riley was claimed. Come on, man, he was part of the quest! He's important, Chiron! And you know why we didn't tell you when Shawn died? We didn't think you'd care. I mean, who'd care about an average son of Aphrodite who died on a quest? Would anyone care if Riley died? Would anyone care if I died? Probably not- that's the truth and you know it. And that's just because we're normal.

No, but you'd care if Jet or Danni died, because Jet is an outcast and Danni is illegal. We're searching for them. And we're not coming back. This book is written by Riley and me, and maybe, just maybe, after reading it, you'll understand why we were important too.

We hate you and have no intentions of seeing you or your fucked up camp ever again.

-Lux Θ

Chiron sighed audibly and leaned back, closing his eyes, trying to picture it: the two boys, a brunette and a blond, sitting through the quest, feeling jealous of their best friends and writing a book that would haunt him.

"Oh Lux, Riley, what have you two done," Chiron asked the air above him quietly, surprised at how pained his voice sounded at the mention of those names. "What are you going to do?"

Chiron sighed gulped down the espresso, knowing he'd need caffeine to get through the book. Then, as if it were fragile, he gently picked up the book, turning the hard cover to reveal a photo wedged between it and the first page. He pulled it out, and four teenaged faces smiled up at him; four teenaged demigods who now hated his guts.

The boy on the left was taller than the rest- a handsome boy with tanned skin and black hair swept across his face, like so many girls found attractive these days. He had strong and well defined features, and his dark eyes twinkled as he was showing one of his rare smiles. Jet. Jet Marten.

Jet's arm was slung casually around the shoulders of the girl who was standing next to him- Dana Laris, or, like she preferred to be called, Danni, and who was also Jet's girlfriend. She had her dark brown hair up in a messy bun, and her eyes were drifting halfway between the camera and Jet, as if she were just turning to look at him when the photo was taken. She was smiling- she liked to smile, a lot.

Next to Danni was her cousin, a boy named Riley Lennarts. He had dirty blond windswept hair that was probably longer than it looked, and his signature grin plastered on his face. He had piercing blue eyes that were always focused, and then was no exception. A small crescent shaped scar curved up his left cheek, something Chiron would never forget.

The last boy on the picture wasn't smiling so much. It was more of a smirk, with his eyebrows raised slightly in a 'seriously?' type of expression. His dark brown hair was the same length as the last time Chiron had seen him- slightly wavy down to the base of his neck, brushed forwards, some hanging loosely in his face. His left ear still had the little golden stud in it, of which Chiron did not know the meaning. But his cold gray eyes weren't smiling. The metallic edge they usually had to them was there, and even from the picture, Chiron shivered slightly.

He placed the photo back in the book and closed it, looking around at the now almost empty bar. The game was over, and only a few people remained, most of which were either talking animatedly to someone next to them or were drunk. Chiron shook his head at the sight of the carefree people here- people who had the time to drink.

He paid for the espresso and left a tip under the plate- he wanted to get out of that bar. Wrapping the book and the note gently in the blue leather again, he stuffed it under the seat of his wheelchair where a tiny compartment that usually contained ambrosia and nectar lay hidden.

As if in a trance, he drove out of the bar and down the alley again, to the shuttle bus where Argus and Percy would be waiting. Their drive back to camp was silent, more silent than usual. Percy's eyes were narrowed as he watched Chiron, and Chiron stared blankly out the window at the passing countryside, a grey sheet of rain sweeping across the semi-darkness.

Back at camp, where there was no rain and no dull or depressed mood, Chiron dismissed Percy and Argus, thanking them for accompanying him, but his mind was desperate to read the book, to find out what really happened- why and how Shawn died, when the picture had been taken, and why exactly the four teenagers hated him.

Getting out of his wheelchair Chiron stretched his legs and trotted over to the Big House, going in his room and locking the door. Then, he got out the book, opened the cover once more, and began to read.

What did ya think? Review!