Nico:

"No! No, I refuse!"

"Nico, be reasonable—"

"Reasonable walked out the door when you suggested I go to California to find a demigod! With a satyr."

"I didn't think you had anything against satyrs."

"Chiron, it's not that he's a satyr, it's which satyr."

"I always found Andrew a very peaceable satyr."

"Chiron, he wears tie dye, rainbow tights, and colorful aviator glasses."

"Well, his taste in fashion is quite strange…"

"He meditates in the trash cans every day."

"His personal activities are quite different…"

"He's a nuisance."

Now, Chiron's usually calm face puckered in suppressed anger. Only a week ago, the centaur got a unanimous message telling him of a demigod who was in grave danger. What sort of danger, no one knew. The demigod was unknown until someone decided to shine light on the situation. It was a little strange that the message was unanimous, and Chiron didn't even know if the demigod was a boy or a girl. The demigod's town wasn't even on the map! Well, it was if you used Google maps. Somehow Chiron had the insane idea that he, Nico, would travel with a satyr named Andrew to find the demigod.

"Nico, you have stayed here for quite some time, and I know you do things at your own pace and accessibility, but this is not a yes or no situation. You will go to California, you will travel with Andrew, and you will find the demigod."

How am I supposed to find them if no one knows who they are? Nico thought when Chiron dismissed him. Andrew paced outside the Big House wearing rainbow tights, bright orange loafers, a Camp Half-Blood shirt, and rainbow colored aviator glasses. His blond hair was grown long and pulled into dreadlocks with strands of orange ribbon mixed in. Black guy liner surrounded Andrew's green eyes, and Nico was practically blinded by bright colors and rainbows.

"So, what did Chiron say?" Andrew asked nervously. Andrew felt the same way towards Nico that Nico felt for Andrew. Neither liked each other. The satyr complained that Nico was too 'dark', 'uncivilized', and 'ruined his chakrahs' or something like that.

"We're going to the Oracle." Nico muttered solemnly. Andrew frowned and loped after Nico as he headed for the oracle's cave. Apparently the oracle knew what they needed because she was hobbling towards them before they got a quarter of the way to her home. She collapsed by their knees and spewed green mist out of her mouth. In a strange voice she said,

"Son of death and daughter of life,

Face the dilemma of eternal strife,

Staying loyal till the coming death,

For one will face their very last breath."

She had promptly fainted after that. Nico and Andrew dragged her towards to the Big House and thought about the slightly frightening prophecy.

It clearly didn't include Andrew. Unless satyrs could be girls. The daughter of life could be a goddess, a daughter of Demeter at Camp Half-Blood, the demigod they were going to fetch, the possibilities were endless. Which made everything more frustrating.

Nico figured that the prophecy was very clear in stating that one of them was going to die. He wasn't any more thrilled than earlier. The only good news was the fact that Chiron had gotten them train tickets to and from Camp Half-Blood to California. Nico didn't want to shadow travel that whole distance with his weakened body in Andrew's rainbow-stained hands.

Once they told Chiron the prophecy, the centaur shooed them off without a second thought. Nico figured it was because he had insulted Andrew, a some-what close relative to centaurs.

Time flew by as Nico and Andrew traveled to California. There was a train that went from New York to Los Angeles, California, nonstop. Overall, the whole ride took three days. It was torture. Being in a crowded train with Andrew didn't help lighten Nico's mood. He had traveled around the US after the war, going from camp to camp, and every time he neared the Los Angeles area, he felt a strange pull tug him towards some unknown place. Often times he had to smack himself to keep from running off.

Nico could tell that he was going straight towards the unknown source.

They weren't actually going to LA; a small town called Brentwood was their real destination. It was up north of LA, and was about a five hour drive. Nico planned on shadow traveling there without wasting too much energy and taxi fare. Depending on where they landed, Nico and Andrew would walk the rest of the way.

Sadly, they couldn't barge into the demigod's school and tell him/her that he/she was a demigod. No, this person was homeschooled. Unless they wanted to break into a house, they wouldn't be able to crash a school like every other new recruit. This was where Andrew came in. Chiron didn't even know where in Brentwood the demigod lived, so Andrew was in charge of sniffing out the culprit of Nico's misfortune. It was all a little sketchy for him. Of course, Nico was the king of being sketchy.

"Andrew, where are we going?" He asked once they found Brentwood's town hall. The satyr wore jeans, converse, and a plain white t-shirt, an outfit that Nico considered an improvement. Andrew, however, was grumpy about the whole outfit and kept chewing on telephone poles and trash.

"I don't know exactly."

Nico frowned. The strange pull was stronger than ever. He wondered if the satyrs felt the same way about demigods.

"That way!" Andrew pointed in the opposite direction of where Nico's pull was coming from. Although it was against Chiron's order, Nico couldn't help himself.

"You go ahead, I'll catch up." He told the satyr. Andrew just shrugged and hobbled off. Nico was slightly sad that Andrew didn't care where he went. He brushed it off and followed the direction of the pull.

Nico wasn't really sure why he followed the pull. It tugged him into weird places like through an outdoor shopping mall and under a kid's playground structure. He finally decided that he was loosing sanity. That was the only solution.

I'm a mental idiot. Only someone who was insane would have the burning desire to go some place strange and most likely dangerous.

When the pull suddenly disappeared in a random park, Nico grew suspicious. The park was abandoned save for a single person gardening. The flowers around the person were colorful and plentiful. Something that never happened when Nico was around. He cautiously walked up to her—he decided the person was a she—and peeked at her face.

The girl turned to look at him before Nico could get an image of her face. She glared at him apprehensively and quickly stood up from her crouch. Her face was coated in dirt and mud, just like how Leo was with his machines—except he was always covered in oil.

"Who're you?" She asked, not friendly yet not hostile. Her green eyes were curious as they glared at Nico, and she brushed mounds of wavy brown hair out of her face. He was slightly flustered. Usually people felt his dark aura and backed off.

"Who're you?" He returned the question.

"Uh uh, not gonna work. Tell me who you are."

He couldn't help but roll his eyes. Who did she think she was talking to? The new neighbor across the street? Nico mentally snorted.

"I'm Nico."

"Well then, it's nice to meet you Nico."

"Aren't you going to tell me your name?"

"Nope!" She said cheerily with a grin, which was really irritating. He gritted his teeth and turned around to walk away. Nico wasn't even sure why he had wasted his time. Andrew was probably with the new demigod already. This girl was just some random mortal who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

That all changed when the hellhounds attacked.

Ever:

Ever was having a jolly good day until that Nico kid showed up. He was a little freaky with his disheveled black hair and gloomy black eyes. With his sleepy bags and skinny pale body. That strange feeling of death around him made her want to curl up in a ball and hibernate all winter, which made no sense considering it was the beginning of July.

Then came the giant monster dogs with the bad breath. They ran into the park with slobber falling like waterfalls out of their snarling mouths, and froth flew every where. Ever would have been thoroughly disgusted if not for the paralyzing fear.

There was a whole pack of them—about eight. They had pitch black fur and glowing yellow eyes; just their body was seven feet tall. Their claws were like small knives, and their teeth were blood-stained and feral. That strange Nico kid pulled out a giant black sword and started charging the mutant wolves. She had to resist the urge to yell, "ARE YOU INSANE?!"

Turns out she was the insane one. Nico parred the monster's teeth and claws like an olympic pro. He finally managed to get a hit on the beast, and it suddenly dissolved. It dissolved. What kind of possibly-man-eating beast dissolves when you hit it? That was just plain stupid.

As Nico turned another wolf into dust, an idea came to Ever.

What if I help out and throw things at the wolves? She thought with a satisfied smirk. If the monsters just dissolved when they got hit, doesn't that mean she could throw a stone at them? Ever decided to test her theory. She loaded a large stone into her hand-held slingshot and launched it at the closest wolf.

Not her smartest theory.

The wolf barely even felt it. It turned its beady yellow eyes towards her and snarled. Ever gulped.

There goes my theory…

The next thing she threw was her shoe. The monster ate it up like it was Ever's favorite Krispy Kreme donut. It growled and inched closer as she inched backwards. Drops of spit fell on her face, and once again Ever felt disgusted.

"Uh, Nico?" Ever called nervously. Hopefully that sword-wielding wacko would be able to save her because honestly, she was all out of ideas. The wolf lunged, and Ever cringed. She was expecting the pain, but it never came. Ever opened her eyes to see Nico huffing and puffing next to a pile of monster dust.

"Are you alright?" He asked stiffly. The guy was breathing heavily and quickly put his sword in a sheath that she hadn't noticed earlier.

"Yeah, I'm good." Ever said with a sigh of relief. She couldn't help adding, "I was only attacked by giant mutant wolves. No biggie."

Nico snorted and walked over. He held out a hand for her, and Ever suddenly realized that she was crouched on the grass. When had that happened? She took his hand and heaved herself up.

"You saw them?" Nico said with a grunt.

"Well duh I saw them! Unless I'm dreaming…" Ever contemplated this. What if she was dreaming? This was definitely the most vivid dream—and the strangest—Ever had ever had (ha, Ever had ever had). To make sure, she pinched herself then Nico.

"Ow?" Nico said, sounding more like he was asking a question. Ever rolled her eyes.

"You know, just had to make sure I wasn't having a dream."

Nico nodded. Suddenly, this weird blond kid—seriously, what's with all the weird people these days—with dreadlocks hobbled over and stared at Nico in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" The green-eyed kid asked. Actually, the boy didn't look like a kid. As she said earlier, he was blond haired and green eyed with his hair in dreadlocks. He limbed a lot, and he had orange ribbons in his hair. Horns curled out of his head, and a large goatee covered his chin.

Horns? Why in the world is he wearing horns?

"I could say the same for you." Nico grumbled, apparently not happy to see the man/boy—Ever wasn't sure if she should call the new person a man or a boy.

"Seriously, I thought you were going somewhere else!"

"I thought you were looking for the demigod."

"I am! That's the demigod!" The boy/man pointed at her, which was really weird because she was definitely not a demigod. That just made no sense.

Nico apparently believed the boy/man because he stared at me in surprise. "She's the demigod?" He asked. The boy/man nodded.

"I've been sniffing her out. Went around in circles for a while, but I eventually found her."

"You're sure?"

"Yes!"

Nico glanced at Ever. "Well, I guess coming here wasn't a mistake."

"Um…okay. Confused person over here." Ever commented. She was slightly irked by their cryptic talk of demigods and sniffing people.

"I'm Andrew." The boy/man said with a smile as he held out his hand. Ever shook it cautiously. "And you are?"

"Taylor Swift."

Andrew's eyes widened, and Nico snorted. First off, Ever wasn't one to tell strangers her name. That was just asking for trouble. Besides, Nico had a freaking sword and Andrew said he sniffed her out. That was just plain creepy, strange, and weird.

"Well, er, Taylor, mind if we talk?" Andrew asked. Suspicion immediately aroused. What did he mean, talk? Ever suddenly became worried about being the only sane person in the park.

"Sure. Shoot."

While Andrew cleared his throat to speak, Ever patted her pockets to see if she had her iPhone on her. Apparently she didn't, the one time when she actually needed it.

"Brace yourself, this is going to sound weird."

"Puh-lease, you just finished talking about sniffing people. I think I'm prepared."

Nico snorted and covered his mouth to keep Andrew from hearing his laugh. The boy/man blushed crimson and cleared his throat again before saying, "Anyway, we're here to tell you about your lineage. Your missing parent, I mean."

Ever immediately started paying attention. For years she had tried to figure out who her real parents were. The fact that these two knew she was missing them made her think.

Are they stalkers?!

"You're what we call a demigod. Half god, half mortal. Basically one of the Greek gods had you with whoever your parent is."

"So what you're saying is, one of my parents was a Greek god from myths?"

"Yeah!"

Ever was silent. Yup, these two were definitely insane. If they thought she would believe that, they were delusional. There was no way she would believe them. Andrew seemed to realize what she was thinking because he frowned and turned towards Nico.

"She doesn't believe us." He told the sword-boy. Nico rolled his eyes.

"Look, I know it's hard to believe, but Andrew is right." Nico told her. His black eyes stared at her with sincerity, and Ever felt slightly compelled to believe him. "Andrew, show her."

The boy/man sighed and pulled down his pants.

NO I DON'T WANT TO SEE THIS—oh my gosh.

Andrew had goat legs. Literally, goat legs. Hooves and all. His legs had curly blond hair all over, and his hooves were black. Andrew shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny.

"Wow. You're a satyr." Ever muttered. Maybe those two were telling the truth…

"Finally! No one ever guesses it right!" Andrew said in triumph. "Look, do you believe us now?"

"How about no."

Nico and Andrew both sighed simultaneously. They glanced at each other, then at Ever. She felt dread settle on her heart. Suddenly, Nico grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. The breath was knocked out of her as he started running towards the edge of the park.

It was happening. After reading so much adventure novels, Ever was finally getting kidnapped. Of course, she didn't realize how scary and frustrating it really was when it actually happened.

"Let me DOWN!" She howled at the top of her lungs. Her fists pounded against Nico's back, and she felt him strain under her weight. Unfortunately, Ever weighted almost nothing. Like the boy who carried her off, she was almost all skin and bones. No one really understood why; Ever always had the appetite of an elephant and was lazy like a sloth. "I swear my mom is a LAWYER!"

Ever didn't hear Nico's reply. She was too busy freaking out about the fact that they had melted into a shadow.

Nico:

After the shadow jump, the new demigod had been pretty shaken up.

"WHAT just HAPPENED." She howled when Nico threw her onto the ground. Her eyes were wide, and Nico couldn't tell if her hands were shaking or not.

"It's called shadow travel." Nico told her. She took deep breaths and looked like she was about to faint. Most people did on their first shadow travel. "So, now do you believe us?"

"How could I not? I just shadow traveled to In-N-Out Burger."

Nico looked around, and sure enough, they were right across the street from a place called In-N-Out Burger. He had no idea what that was.

"What's In-N-Out?" He asked with a frown. It couldn't' be that good. He had never heard of it. The girl, however, widened her eyes in surprise and looked shocked.

"You, my friend, must be from the stone ages." She said in shock. "In-N-Out is a gift from the gods. Who apparently are real."

"Then I guess we've gotta try it out!" Andrew said with a grin. Nico groaned. Sure, he was hungry, but he wanted to hurry up and get back to Camp Half-Blood.

"Yes, we MUST!" The girl jumped up and pumped her fist in the air. Her face set with determination, and she posed like a superhero.

This is going to be a long trip.

"We must depart to In-N-Out!"

The girl marched to the restaurant, and Andrew followed close behind. Nico sighed before he followed suit.

The girl sat Nico and Andrew down at a booth before she went to go order. She only gave them a minute to choose what they wanted. Nico had only managed to tell her what hamburger he wanted before she shooed him away saying, "I shall teach you the ways of In-N-Out Burger."

Nico and Andrew sat at the seat across from each other for fifteen minutes, glaring, before the girl game back with trays of food.

"Now you shall taste the amazing-ness of In-N-Out!" She plopped next to Nico and distributed the food, keeping two plain hamburgers and a tray of fries for herself. Surprisingly, she had managed to get his order perfectly. A cheeseburger with ketchup, mustard, and pickles. The fries were strange though. They were thin and long, with some weird peach sauce. Nico had to resist sniffing it.

"That's In-N-Out sauce." She said as she gobbled down her hamburgers. Andrew, too, devoured the food she gave him. Nico cautiously took a bite of the hamburger.

I think I've died and gone to heaven.

Those burger and fries were gone before you could say 'In-N-Out'.

"See? I told you!" The girl stated triumphantly as Nico searched for more food. He had too admit, those were good. Really good. He didn't say anything, though. She would probably puff up like a balloon if he agreed.

"It was good enough." He grudgingly said. "Now, who are you?"

The girl licked her finger before she spoke. "I'm Everett Jeremy Elwood. Ever for short. And you are?"

"I already told you."

"Nu uh! Your full name?"

"Why would you want to know that?" He asked in confusion. Nico had never been asked for his full name. Usually he gave it right off the bat. If he didn't they usually figured it out from gossip at camp.

"Knowing someone's full name gets to know them better. For example, if your middle name was Eugene then I'd definitely understand why you act so gloomy."

"Who says I wasn't born gloomy?"

Ever gave him a withering look. "No one's born gloomy, you dumbo."

Nico wasn't sure if 'dumbo' was supposed to be an insult. "Nico Di Angelo."

"Ah. I get it now." She said with a wry smile.

I honestly doubt it.

"So, where're we going?" Ever asked with a sigh of contentment.

"Los Angeles Union Station." Andrew said as he swallowed the french fry tray. "We'll take a train to New York Penn Station. From there we'll take a taxi to Long Island."

"We're going to New York?"

"Yep. Do you need to tell your mom?"

"Oh. Yeah. Them."

"Them?"

Ever hesitated. "My adopted parents."

She was adopted. Nico did not see that coming. When Ever had said her mom was a lawyer, he had been able to rule out all the goddesses. Now any god or goddess could be her parent.

"Do you know who your real parent was?" Andrew asked slowly. Ever shook her head.

"Naw. The only thing my parent did was name me. Apparently they wanted a boy, so I became Everett Jeremy Elwood."

"Elwood is your real parent's surname?"

"Yup. My adopted parents are the Yams. Everett Jeremy Yam. That just sounds so strange."

That was a little strange. Ever seemed bitter towards her adopted parents. Instead of keeping their last name she used the parent that left her's name. One would have thought it was the other way around.

"We should hurry before I order another meal." Andrew said with a burp. Ever grinned when Nico snorted.

"I wouldn't mind more food—" She started. Nico cut her off when he pushed her out of the booth.

"Let's go."

"Gosh, Senior Rude. No need to push."

The three of them walked out of the restaurant before Nico could cave in and suggest getting more food. They had to pause and ask for directions a couple times before they finally got to the station. The train was about to leave, but they managed to get on before it left the station.

When I get back, Chiron will pay for this.

So, I hope you enjoyed! Like and review!

Hayden: Wait a second, why aren't I in my story?!

Me: I paused it so I could write this one! =D

Hayden: Why? Aren't I awesome enough for you?

Me: If you weren't awesome I wouldn't be talking to you right now -_-

Hayden: True, true. What about Sonic?

Sonic: What about me?

Hayden: SONIC WE'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED FROM OUR OWN STORY

Sonic: We have? I kind of like this one better...

Hayden: Why?! We don't even exist in this story!

Sonic: Exactly. It's sort of like we're reading a book as the author writes it.

Me: That's exactly what's happening, weirdos.

ANYWHO. Like and review! Any comments, questions, or concerns? Thanks for reading!