Hey I stopped in a really awkward point last chapter because I didn't want to make one really long chapter so this is a continuation of chapter one. If you have any feedback, questions, comments, or concerns, just leave a review. Thanks!

"You'll have to trust me, but we have to leave. You're one of us now."

"Can I at least find my shoes and a coat first?" I asked meekly. The winter air was frigid and I was starting to lose feeling in my extremities with only a tee shirt and shorts on.

Nico took off his shoes and his aviator's jacket and handed them to me. "I'll be fine" he said after I hesitated. "We're going somewhere warm."

I took the coat and shoes and put them on as quickly as I could. Nico seemed to notice my pain for the first time.

"Are you okay?" he asked, a little more lucidity coming through.

"No," I replied instinctively. I had learned in my old foster home not to complain about injuries or illnesses because dealing with the pain was better than dealing with the foster parents.

Nico quickly grabbed my right wrist and I wailed in pain, making him drop my hand. I cradled it as tears stung my eyes and his face hardened to stone.

"We're leaving" he said coldly. I heard him mumble about forgetting something called ambrosia, but I didn't know what it was.

I wondered what I had said to make him mad but before I could ask or react in any way, he grabbed my good wrist and I felt us slipping into the shadows. Darkness and cold washed over me and voices called out, pleading for help. A blood curdling scream filled my ears right as we came out. We landed near a fire that had been built. It was starting to go out but could easily be brought back with a little work. As I was looking at the surroundings, I heard a thump, so I turned around and saw Nico on the ground. He looked half dead.

"Nico! What are you doing? What's wrong?" I stammered.

He murmured something along the lines of "I need sleep" and then passed out. I could hear light snoring, indicating that he had miraculously already fallen asleep. I looked around, not having any idea where we were or what to do. I decided to survey my situation. We were in the middle of the woods with a fire that was going out, a boy was passed out from exhaustion, I had almost no survival experience, monsters could be after us at that exact moment, and I had broken my dominant hand's wrist. The outcome looked grim, but I decided that building up the fire was priority one. I went around and gathered as much firewood as I could and during my chore, I found a thick blanket that I assumed Nico had packed and I draped it over him to keep the cold at bay since I had his jacket and shoes.

Once the fire was blazing again, I sat down and attempted to accept what I had learned over the past hour and a half. I was a demigod, one of my parents was a god, I apparently could summon chicken bones, and I was stuck in the middle of the woods with the possibility that monsters could be hunting me. I tried to be surprised, but I honestly wasn't. through the years, I had learned to become numb to change and let it roll off my back without a second thought. I believed instead of brooding and worrying about what I couldn't change, you should go with the flow.

I laid down and tried to sleep, but I was too cold and my wrist hurt too much. I should've been exhausted but anxiety gnawed at the back of my mind. I sat up and stared at the fire, letting my mind wander and I remembered something Nico had said. "You have powers" I replayed in my head. I thought about when I summoned a bone earlier and guessed that that was one.

Ever since I was little, I somehow kind of knew where things were buried. It freaked the other kids out when I'd tell them they were standing over a dead rabbit or cat, so I kept it to myself. But now that I knew I could at least summon bones, I was curious to see what I could do.

I decided to attempt something familiar, so I tried to sense any bones that were around and I found that I could tell that there was a dead deer about 100 feet to my left. All of its bones were there and it had died a long time ago; weeks, maybe even months ago. I held out my hand, mimicking what I had done earlier and imagined one of its bones coming to me, thinking that that's how that worked. The same icy trail started up my fingertips and I could feel it start to move. As it got closer, I could sense the death on it and after a moment, the bone shot into my hand like before. I examined it for a second and then tossed it into the woods, seeing as it held no value. Though I was slightly disappointed one of my powers was centered around death, I was excited that I had any at all. It seemed that Nico had been telling the truth about at least one thing.

I had no idea what other powers demigods had so I tried to think of potential ones but came up blank. My creativity had greatly diminished over the years. The only other power I knew of was the shadow traveling and raising of the dead that Nico did. Both seemed terribly out of reach for my ability but I wanted to try something and shadow traveling seemed safer than summoning skeletons. I was scared and felt completely dumb for trying, but at this point, there was nothing to lose. I was alone with no one to miss me, so why shouldn't I try something that could be potentially dangerous?

I didn't know how traveling in the shadows happened but I had always imagined super powers worked by you imagining what you wanted to happen and it would, so I tried that. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and thought about my body melting into the darkness surrounding me. I imagined myself sitting on the other side of the fire and when I felt iciness washing over me and the screams of what I assumed was the dead, I knew it was working. When I opened my eyes, I found myself right where I wanted to be: on the other side of the fire.

"Woah" I whispered to myself.

I smiled, elated that I had figured out something on my own. I decided I'd try again and thought of myself going under and reappearing next to Nico's sleeping figure. A split-second later, I was sitting next to the goth boy. I went back and forth for about ten minutes, letting the cold and screams wash over me each time. I was freezing, but the adrenaline pumping through my system didn't notice.

After I felt like I had gotten the hang of shadow traveling, I settled on the decision to push the boundaries. I was nervous but quickly reminded myself that I had literally nothing to lose.

I stood up, taking care of my wrist, and thought of the only place I wanted to visit in that moment. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as I closed my eyes and thought about where I wanted to go. I felt the side effects of traveling by shadows take hold and when it was over, I opened my eyes.

I was standing on the edge of the woods by my foster family's home. Red, blue, and white flashing lights of different speeds blinded me and I realized what I saw. Police, ambulances, and firetrucks lined the street. Men and women in uniforms sifted through the rubble that used to be where I slept, looking for me. My foster parents were standing outside looking frustrated and inconvenienced while their two children yawned and continuously wiped sleep from their eyes. I heard my foster dad yell "How long is this going to take? Its 2:30 in the morning for fucks sake." He was always a yeller. I watched as the baffled police officer talk to him a moment more before walking off. I realized it at the same moment as that officer did that my family didn't care about me. They weren't worried about whether I was dead or alive or screaming in pain from being crushed by a fallen building. All they cared about was their sleep and how much the rebuilding of the garage was going to cost.

I could feel the tears streaming down my face and I tried to wipe them away because I knew crying was not going to do me any good, but the tears wouldn't stop. I had seen enough. I closed my eyes and thought of me standing beside Nico and the warmth of the fire. In the blink of an eye, I was there. I looked around and noticed he had rolled over but nothing else had changed since I had left. I built the fire back up a little and laid down next to it, trying to melt away the cold of the shadows. I don't know when, but at some time in the night I fell asleep.