Would you believe I'm actually getting an update in like, uber fast? Haha. You better.

Chapter Disclaimer: I don't own the song Walk This Way by Aerosmith. It was used as inspiration for the title of this chapter.


Walk This Way

Unlike a lot of the other campers, Talia was familiar with the outside world. Being an unclaimed camper had its high points, one of them being that Talia spent quite some time away from the camp during the year. The last time she had been out was earlier that summer for a skating camp in upstate New York. Even Jasmine, who hardly ever left camp due to being a child of Zeus, attended.

However, as she stood on the other side of Half-Blood Hill, surveying the empty country road, the young blonde-turned-brunette was starting to have a bit of doubt. Where was she going to go now? How in all that was holy was she supposed to find the gods? They could be anywhere in the country and Talia was only two hundred feet out of camp.

"The city," she mumbled to herself, tugging self-consciously on her newly dyed hair. Everything felt weirder: the dagger in her pocket, the bag on her back, the ground under her feet. It felt surreal to be out in the world without a real purpose, or sense of direction.

Sense of direction! Talia opened one of the compartments on her backpack to find a golden compass that reminded her of a pocket watch. It opened like a locket to reveal an intricately designed compass rose that Talia needed to help her get into the city. It wouldn't do her any good to be walking in the wrong direction and waste valuable time.

Although Jazzy hadn't mentioned it when she had first offered Talia the quest, she only had three weeks to find the gods, wherever they may be hidden.

Talia examined the compass closely, watching the needle spin. She knew that New York was south of Camp Half-Blood but as she continued to scrutinize the navigational device in her hand she found that instead of pointing north, the needle had spun to the 's'. It was pointing in the direction Talia wanted to go instead of true north.

"Great," Talia voiced aloud. "Five minutes into the biggest quest in demigod history and my compass is already broken." However, something deep inside Talia told her that the direction the compass needle had been pointing was indeed south. With one last glance at the compass, she slid the golden chain around her neck and tucked it inside her shirt. She was so quick about it that she didn't even see the letters fade off the face.

The road into the city was long and plain. Dust coated the asphalt as if no one had driven it in ages, which was in fact, true. The last strawberry crop had been two weeks previous and as new campers hadn't arrived in quite some time, being the middle of summer break, no cars had travelled the road. Besides, there was no point. To any mortal the road led no where but a large strawberry crop and then dead ended near the Long Island Sound.

Long Island. She was on Long Island. It was going to take forever to get back into the city on foot. Why hadn't she taken a Pegasus or asked Argus for a ride in? Talia knew the answers, of course, but she couldn't help but grumble as she trudged along the road. It wasn't long until she hit civilization, but even then she hadn't thought of any ideas. Three weeks wasn't a long time if you were going to be walking the entire way.

The more populated road that Talia had stumbled upon was filled with cars heading into Brooklyn or Manhattan, each streaming past her with reckless abandon. No one paid any attention to the eight-year-old on the side of the road.

And who would? Talia asked herself. New Yorkers were all the same. They were all too important for everyone else, and it was something that Talia had never gotten used to in the one and a half years she had been living at Camp Half-Blood.

As she continued to trudge down the side of the road, the thought of hitchhiking crossed her mind. No one was stopping because she wasn't asking them to stop. Jasmine had taught her about hitchhiking once, just in case things went bad back home, and Talia searched her mind for the memory. Right, stick out your thumb and pray someone will stop for you.

If Talia had been a little older and a little less naive, she would have maybe come across the thought of how embarrassing the whole procedure was, but she wasn't a little older and she wasn't a little less naive and so she waited for someone to pick her up. Being the adorable little eight-year-old that she was, it didn't take long.

A lady with a minivan pulled over not even ten minutes after Talia had started. Matteo Hughes, the leader of the Hermes cabin, had once told her to be wary of anyone who seemed interested in a demigod, but Talia couldn't see this lady as being a threat. She had three kids in the backseat all under the age of ten. If they turned into monsters too, Talia would have given up skating.

"Do you need some help, honey?" The lady asked, rolling down the window of her minivan.

"Yes please," Talia replied in her most convincing 'my-life-is-so-horrible-please-help-me' voice. "I just want to get in to Manhattan."

"That's where we're going!" One of the boys in the back chimed. "We're going to the carnival booths in Central Park."

Carnival booths? Talia thought. It could be a good place to start because really, Talia didn't know what she was looking for. A clue of some sort, according to her sister. The clue was hidden somewhere in the city and could only be made out by the demigod of the quest. Jasmine had been sceptical about whether or not Talia would be able to see it or not as she had not been the chosen half-blood, but was up taking the quest instead.

"Don't worry about it," Jazzy had said. "We'll deal with it when we get there."

"That's where I want to go too," Talia chimed brightly. "But... we don't have a car so my mommy said if I wanted to get there I needed to walk."

"You'll be walking all day then," the oldest boy replied.

"Well, do you have a place to go in Manhattan?" The mother asked. It was clear that she wanted to help Talia, though not be outright responsible for her. If it involved carting this girl all over the city, than she would probably just tell her to go home.

"My grandma lives not too far from Central Park," Talia invented wildly. She had never been a good liar so she hoped the lady would buy the story. Her grandparents lived in Canada, a far stretch from the concrete jungle of New York City. "I... I could walk there when I'm done at the carnival booths."

The mother cast a glance at Talia, taking in the black skating jacket with the long, coloured tunic tank-top poking out from underneath and a pair of dark black leggings matched with equally black ballet flats. The backpack slung over the girl's shoulder should have been the giveaway that she didn't have intentions of staying in New York, but the mother simply figured it to be an overnight bag.

"We can give you a ride in to the carnival booths," she said with a sigh as she unlocked the car and motioned for the front seat. It wasn't strictly safe to have children under the age of twelve, let alone tiny girls under the age of twelve, sitting in the front seat due to the airbags, but she had three boys in the back and hadn't added the extra seats to the minivan.

"Thanks a million," Talia chimed as she climbed in and dropped her backpack on the floor at her feet. The minivan pulled back into the lane and sped off towards Manhattan as Talia silently congratulated herself for her first obstacle overcome.

/Walk This Way\

The carnival booths that had set up in Central Park for a one weekend only event were the types you'd find at the state fair. Throw a dart, pop a balloon, get a prize. Throw a ball, knock down the bottles, get a prize. Simple acts that brought so many kids so much joy, but Talia was going to be mature and keep her head on straight. She had no idea where to go to find the clue she was looking for and simply out of frustration she pulled the golden compass from beneath her jacket and examined it, as if it would magically reveal to her the whereabouts of her first clue.

It was only at this time that Talia noticed something was off about her compass, though she couldn't quite place it. The artefact was old, dating back through the ages and had been given to her by a member of the Hermes cabin, no doubt stolen from an unlucky camper and passed down through the hands of the children of the Messenger of the Gods.

The needle was spinning erratically, a whirling blur in the glass casing protecting it. "Stupid compass," Talia muttered. "If I had the time I'd take you in to get checked. " But there wasn't time, and as if understanding completely what she was saying, the needle stopped, pointing somewhere off to the right.

Subconsciously, Talia turned her gaze to follow the needle, allowing herself to look upon a booth that seemed set apart from the others. It had glittering gold decorations and laid out upon the purple velvet table cloth were five, shimmering apples, the narrow beams of sunlight reflecting off their golden surfaces that matched the decorations of the booth. The sign next to the booth read, "Win a Golden Apple," and if Talia had been paying enough attention like her sister would have told her to, she would have noticed that the board was written in curvy Ancient Greek.

Something drew Talia towards the stand. It wasn't like the others where it took skills and precision to win the prize. It most likely had to do with wit, and while Talia was no daughter of Athena, she was smart enough to know how to win these kinds of games, or at least, she hoped.

"Welcome, child," the maintainer said in a sickly sweet voice. She had platinum blonde hair plaited neatly at the back of her head and wore a white sun dress with intricate golden trim around the neck line. "Welcome to Erin's Booth of Desire. You pick the real apple and win it and whatever prize it may hide inside." Somehow, Talia figured that the 'real apple' wasn't in fact the kind of apple that you ate, but the one that held what you may find desirable. It seemed simple enough.

"How much?" Talia asked, reaching in her bag for the change purse that held her mortal and demigod money.

"One golden drachma," Erin replied, and Talia handed over the money of the gods, without so much as a second glance. She was wary now, though unsure. The apples were part of a myth from ancient times, though she couldn't remember what they connected to. However, if her theory was right and what she desired most was hidden in an apple than the clue was almost in her grasp. One gold drachma would have to be the price.

"So, I just pick an apple and that's it?" The young skater asked as she examined each closely. There was no way to distinguish one from another without touching them.

As if reading her mind, Erin replied, "Yes. Pick an apple and win it and whatever it may hold. No touching the apples though, unless you've made your decision."

Talia straightened, fidgeting. How was she supposed to tell which was the apple she wanted if she couldn't touch any of them? It seemed impossible now, and she fiddled with the golden compass, feeling the needle act up again. It spun wildly, before resting in what Talia felt to be slightly to her left.

Well, nothing to lose really, the blonde-turned-brunette thought miserably as she pointed at the apple sitting directly left of the one in the middle.

Erin's eyes narrowed briefly before she picked up the apple and tucked it under the table. "Pick again," she said, "until the last apple standing is left."

"But you never told me that!" Talia exclaimed, eyes widening. "If I had known that I would have picked differently."

"Fine, you get a redo, but only because you're too young to remember all the rules."

Talia's blood boiled as Erin swept all the apples off the table before picking them up again and re-arranging them on the velvet table cloth. The familiar feel of the spinning compass needle told her that perhaps picking the apple on the far right would be the best bet.

"That one," Talia said, pointing to the far left instead. Erin picked it up loftily and handed it to Talia.

"Here you go then," she said sweetly. "Take it and run along."

"But I have to go until there's only one apple left," Talia said stupidly, looking appalled. Her clue was waiting for her inside the apple on the far right and Talia was playing the game like Erin had told her to.

"Rules change, sweet cheeks," Erin snarled, thrusting the apple at Talia, who shook her head.

"No way," she said. "Give me my drachma back and let me pick the apple I really want."

"That's not how we do things here, Talia," Erin replied back. If the young skater hadn't been so caught up in the anger directed at the stall owner, she may have wondered how Erin had known her name.

"Fine," Talia countered. "Two can play at that game." She turned her back on Erin, looking out at the people scattered around the park. There were dozens of families here, more than enough people to cause a diversion.

Because if Talia had learned anything from Bree Whitley, leader of the Athena cabin, it was that a diversion was the best tactic for Capture the Flag, no matter how many times the other team expected it.

"Help!" Talia screeched, causing the closest passerby's to cast their wary eyes upon the tiny girl. "This lady stole my money! Help!" She backed up into the booth as a few families drew near and a couple security guards also. Soon, they had flanked the booth and Erin and Talia was gone, taking two apples with her: the one with the clue and the one Erin had offered her, which was in fact a real apple painted gold.

"You never know when you'll get hungry," Talia voiced aloud, a twinkle in her laugh as she tossed the apple into her backpack and headed off to find a secluded area to try and unravel the mystery of the golden apple.

/Walk This Way\

After fifteen minutes of winding herself through trees and down empty paths, Talia figured she was safe from Erin's wrath. Not having much experience with things demigods encountered on their quests, Talia was unsure of what to make of Erin. Had she been a monster or even a goddess? Or perhaps a demigod like herself. The thought puzzled through Talia's head for a moment before returning to the golden apple she had picked up from the stall, the one that her compass had told her to get.

The compass! When Talia had time she would definitely be taking a closer look at it. It was like it had a mind of its own, just knowing which apples to pick. However, Talia wasn't one hundred percent sure the apple she was holding was the one with the clue in it.

I should have just taken them all, she thought with a bit of panic. Then there would be no second guessing. Still, the apple in her hand felt like it belonged there, like it was just right. It was this feeling that reassured Talia of her misgivings.

But now, how to open it? Talia glared at the apple in her hand, willing it to open. This would perhaps prove she was a daughter of Demeter and her mother had been lying to her for eight years, but someone Talia doubted that. It wasn't a real apple, but it didn't feel like it was made of anything else. Should she bite it? Smash it? Talia opted for the first option, deciding that it was an apple after all. What better way to unlock its secrets than to eat it?

It tasted like a regular apple but underneath the initial taste, it was a hundred times better. It was juicy, crisp with beautiful white insides and the flavour of all the apples in the world together.

As Talia continued eating the apple dwindled until all that was left was the core and the stem. Nothing else. Disappointed, the young skater was about to toss the core into a garbage when something caught her eye. A miniscule ruby was inlaid in the core and Talia gazed at it for a moment before picking it out. Immediately, the core melted away to reveal a tube of rolled parchment, undamaged despite the fact of being hidden inside an apple.

Excitedly, Talia pocketed the small gem which she could no doubt sell in times of need and unrolled the scroll, her eyes scanning the curvy Ancient Greek handwriting.

So young demigod,

You have found this little clue.

Shows next spot on back.

-I am Apollo

God of Poetry and such

Give me some food please!

Perhaps her father was Apollo after all, Talia mused, but even as she thought it she knew it to be untrue. She was absolute rubbish with a bow and arrow and besides, this clue was meant for anyone. It had just simply been Talia who had stumbled upon it.

She flipped it over, watching as ink spread across the page to show a tiny map of the United States. A small golden sun appeared in the state of Louisiana, New Orleans to be exact.

Talia smiled as she pocketed the parchment. Finally, she was getting somewhere. Still, the aspect of getting to New Orleans bothered her. How was she supposed to get there?

"I'll take a bus," she decided and without a second thought she exited the park and headed off to find someone who could tell her where the nearest bus station was.