Chapter 2

We follow the sun.

Percy.

Dinner for me was miserable-and not just 'cause I was eating alone, I just lost my girlfriend…as well as my appetite.

"Hey." Said a voice behind me.

It was Sunshine all cleaned up, her hair almost glowed like Apollo's and looked golden in a certain light. She looked like she was filled with life again, and she sat right down next to me. Now I was glad Annabeth wasn't there.

"Mr. D's gonna-"

"I don't care." Said Sunshine taking a bite of her cheeseburger, "I know it hurts, but at least you can get her back."

"What mean "I can get her back"?" I asked arching an eyebrow.

She looked down at her cheeseburger like it would be her last meal, which it probably would have been. You never know at Camp Half-Blood.

"When my friend Amber-before I knew she was a satyr-and I went shopping we met up with my boyfriend Jorden. Then out of nowhere popped a hell hound and ate him." She replied like a rock hit her neck and broke it. I knew she was lying about the way Jorden died, but I didn't know why. I decided it was the best thing to ask about during dinner with a bunch of people around. I noticed Mr. D glaring at Sunshine.

"You really need to get back to your own table." I urged.

"Eh, my siblings aren't very fond of me anyway. Besides, Mr. D doesn't scare me." She had some guts, I'm sure she and Annabeth were friends while I was gone, if they had the chance to talk. "You're right though, Chiron wanted to see me in the Big House, so I should go."

After she got up she gave the rest of her cheeseburger as on offering to Apollo, I hoped he wouldn't mind that she took on one small bite. She did look hungry though.

As she went inside the Big House I had a feeling she would be going on a quest.

I waited for what seemed like ages. Of course everyone was still at their tables. Hermes cabin was planning who to prank next-I had a bad feeling it would be me. Ares cabin kept giving me dirty looks. The Athena cabin looked like they were ready to sob in unison.

"Ah, there you are Sunset Jackson!" said Mr. D as Sunshine walked up.

"It's Sunshine Johnson." She corrected looking frightened and annoyed.

"Whatever." Replied Mr. D, "So what did the Oracle say?"

"First off, that thing is creepy." She started trying to sound upbeat, "And second, it said,

"To find the person you seek,

Your two lives will meet.

Two friends from each life you will take,

A life changing choice you will have to make.

To save the girl you must make a bet,

To save the girl you must defeat Set."

Everyone had no idea what to say next, so I thought I would ask what was on everyone else's minds.

"Who's Set?"

Everyone stared at me like I was stupid, I figured that must not have been what was on everyone's minds.

"Set is the Egyptian god of evil, Percy!" Sunshine replied trying not to sound terrified, "Trust me, you don't want to meet him."

"You have?"

"Sort of."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Once I said it I wanted so bad to take it back, she glared at me, and her eyes started to glow bright yellow and my eyes began to burn…and that's when I did something stupid. I sprayed in the face with so much force that she was knocked to her feet.

"Percius Jackson! What the heck?!" she sputtered.

"Enough!" yelled Chiron then spoke calmer, "So Sunshine, which heroes will you take?"

Lots of kids had their hands in the air. Suddenly her gaze fell on me.

"As much as I hate you, you are Annabeth's boyfriend-Zeus knows what she sees in you." She said standing up, "Just shut up and we should get along famously!"

I rolled my eyes. "So who else are you taking?"

She walked around looking at everyone as they had their hands in the air.

"Well I don't want to pick just one-Clarisse-because there are so many camper-Clarisse-and it just wouldn't be fair-Clarisse." She replied.

"Clarisse?!" yelled everyone in shock-me loudest of all, none of the newer campers liked Clarisse.

"Yeah," Sunshine shrugged. "She let me go an entire life time through camp without getting my head dunked in a toilet, so I kinda owe her one."

"Yes, yes you do." Said Clarisse beaming.

"But wait!" I said remembering one tiny detail, "What the 'two friends from each life', what does that mean?"

"As long as I know what it means it's not important." Sunshine said sternly.

"Well then, everyone is dismissed." Said Mr. D taking a sip from his Diet Cola.

I didn't know how Sunshine knew about Set or what the Oracle said. I had a feeling-I have a lot of feelings I know-she was more than she said she was.

I tried to fall asleep that night when suddenly I heard a voice in the wind, so I threw on a robe and went outside to see what-or who-it was.

As I got closer the words became clearer, and I realized who it was, Sunshine. She sang a song I never heard and when I found her she was holding a notebook close to her heart and on a boardwalk standing just two inches away from the water.

"Never heard that one before." I said startling her.

She swiveled around so fast that she fell backwards into the water. Instincts took over and I threw off my robe and dove in after her. I could see her thrashing around trying to swim, but none of it worked. She kept sinking. I grabbed her by the waist and swam up. Once at the surface and let out a deep breath and started coughing. I swam to shore with my arm still around her. When we reached shallow waters she stood up and pushed me away.

"Dude, I just saved your life!" I said annoyed at her anger towards me for no reason.

"What do you expect?" she asked throwing her arms in the air as she stood there dripping wet from head to toe in a lilac purple satin nightgown, "Kisses? A Hug? A "Oh thank you for saving my life! You're a hero!"? I'm not most girls here Percy, I'm not the kind of girls from Aphrodite's cabin that throw themselves at you when your girlfriend isn't around."

"They've never done that." I said confused.

"Because you're (a) too thick in the head to notice and (b) you rarely go anywhere without Annabeth." She said suddenly looking panicked, "Where's my notebook!?"

She started back into the water standing waist deep looking for it. Then she started to go deeper and that's when I started to move. I stopped her before she went any deeper.

"You can't swim."

"Really? I had no idea!" she gasped sarcastically.

"I'll find it." I insisted.

"I don't need you to fight my battles, Percy Jackson!" She snapped.

I dove in and started swimming. I rose to the surface to look around, I was far away from shore, but I could see Sunshine waving her arms and pointing a ways away from me. I looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a little neon yellow notebook bobbing up and down with the waves. I swam over to it and grabbed it. When I turned the pages they weren't wet at all.

When I got back over to Sunshine I handed it to her and she flipped through the pages.

"Now that's beyond weird!" she still didn't look to happy with me or even thank me. I was beginning to see why she and Clarisse got a long, "Is life always like this as a demigod?"

"Actually, more so." I replied, "We both need to get to bed before-"

"Sunny!" shouted a voice. We turned or heads to see one of her older brothers, I knew he was the toughest of the Apollo kids, but he wasn't the counselor.

"Yes Gordon?" she asked annoyed. I wondered if it was her only tone.

"I'm not gonna let you off easy because you're a newbie, tomorrow morning you have dishes before you leave." He said annoyed and in an older brother tone I've heard a lot of boys use here. He didn't seem to like her very much, "And worse, you're out in the middle of the night with Percy Jackson! Now how's that going to look?!"

"Gordon! I was out here alone when he popped up!" she glared at him.

"And then you decided to take a swim?" he motioned to our soaking wet pjs.

"I might have scared her and she may have fell in." I replied.

Gordon crossed his arms. "Oh really?"

"He's kidding." She replied, "I was giving him a hard time and then we heard a weird noise, he bumped into my and made me drop my notebook." She held it up, "I went in to get it and he followed."

"Then why is it not wet?" he asked.

This guy would have made a great cop! Or interrogator.

"It must have been a gift from Apollo." I said before Sunshine could say anything.

"Her gift was her golden headband." He replied, but he looked like he believed me and didn't like it, "Come on Sunny, before you get in even more trouble."

She glared at me for even opening my mouth with the whole gift-from-Apollo thing. As she walked out of the water she joined her brother. I started to walk out when she fell on her side and didn't get up.

"Gordon!" I gasped since he was ahead of her.

Gordon turned and looked disgusted. "She can just lay there all night for all I care!"

He started to walk away, then sighed, and then came back and picked her up like she was a sack of potatoes.

"What is it with her?" I asked, "She's so…bitter."

"Trying to fit in." he spat, "That's a little hard though when your godly parent stays around three months after their child's birth. It's been clear to anyone with eyes that Apollo loves her mom better than any of ours!"

As he walked away I sort of pitied Sunny. To be stuck with siblings who were jealous of her. By the way Gordon said it, it didn't seem like Sunny bragged about it or say anything about it. They must have just known.

Once Gordon was gone I yawned and went to my own cabin.

The next morning, Clarisse and I waited at the bottom of Half-Blood hill. She kept looking at her watch and tapping her foot in annoyance.

Finally, Sunny came running wearing the camp T-shirt with a camo backpack flapping up and down behind her.

"Where were you?" asked Clarisse.

"Gordon caught me outside taking a midnight swim, sleep walking."

"What?" she said confused.

Sunny sighed in annoyance. "I sleep walked 'till I was outside and woke up and then decided to take a swim, idiot."

Clarisse punched her in the shoulder. "Careful, Ares kids don't like competition when it comes to being bad and breaking rules."

"Ha! Sounds like fun. Better wait 'till Mr. D's gone though." Sunny had a grin on her face that spelled trouble.

Then we started walking up the hill and Clarisse took the lead. I fell back to talk to Sunny, but she glared at me, not wanting to talk. Clarisse asked about my little adventure and I told her every detail, she liked that part where I got tied up and looked like a unicorn. I also said I couldn't say the kid's name 'cause he drew this thing on my hand and if I said his name he'd pop up here.

Then I stayed quiet all the way to the city and the train station. When we got off the train Clarisse was still leading so I took the chance to talk to Sunny.

"Do I want to know why you didn't tell Gordon or Clarisse the truth?"

"First, you don't have to deal with siblings who are jealous of you that you have to share a cabin with." She began, "Second, Clarisse understands the whole complicated-siblings issue."

"Isn't it nice though? Having siblings as opposed to just you and your mom?" I asked.

"No, I'd rather have my mom back than be stuck with these people who I look nothing alike."

"Must have a strong relationship with your mom then."

"I did."

"Before you found out about being a half-blood?"

"Before she died, idiot." She snapped without getting Clarisse to turn around, "Remember what I said? Shut up and we should get along famously."

She ran to catch up with Clarisse, leaving me in the dust. I watched them talk and laugh like they were talking about cute boys, when really they were probably talking about how I'm such a loser. So what if I saved the world? I was still a loser to Clarisse and now Sunny didn't care if I saved the world.

"You coming Fish-Face?" Sunny called back.

I ran a little further, in hearing range anyway.

"So where are we going?" Clarisse asked Sunny.

"I think we're close." She relied.

"Close to what?" I asked.

"My home."