Yeah, so, I gave up on that resolvement today. I just love that feeling when you click on "Add Chapter" and then you check your page and your story's there. So I'm updating right now (obviously). Thank you to the three people who actually reviewed on my fanfic!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the ideas I have used and/or altered (unfortunately). I only own the characters and places I have created.


4/

A loud crash. I opened the door to the Artemis cabin to see Eleanor standing over a smashed alarm clock, looking furious. She glanced up at me. Her anger seemed to melt.

"Sorry, Alice," she said. "I just can't stand it here anymore! Too many boys!" An explosion outside the door and a few giggles. Eleanor looked like she was going to explode herself. "I'm going back to Artemis."

I opened my mouth to reply, but a silver glow suddenly appeared in a corner. A shimmering apparition of Artemis stood there. "Come, Eleanor," she said. She turned to me. "Alice, I am afraid you are to remain here."

My heart sank a little, but I said, "That's all right, my lady. The children have yet to learn."

"I praise you for your endurance," Artemis said, smiling at me. She held out her hand to Eleanor, who took it. The glow brightened and I adverted my eyes. When I glanced back, Artemis and Eleanor had vanished.

My stomach growled. I walked to the mess hall, took a plate and glass, and sat at the Poseidon table. After I'd ordered my food, I scraped a portion into the fire.

"Poseidon," I murmured. I watched the smoke curl up toward the clouds, then walked back to the table. I cleared the plate and was startled to hear, "Chocolate chip cookies."

I looked up. Peter Montgomery sat next to me, then reached over and took a cookie. He bit into it and chewed thoughtfully. I nibbled the edge of one; it was surprisingly good. The cookies disappeared quickly between us.

I stood up and stretched. I froze when I heard footsteps from the woods and tensed. I touched my bracelet and notched an arrow in my bow. I heard Peter draw his bow too. A girl stumbled out of the trees and collapsed on the ground. She didn't move again. A hellhound ran up and growled at her. It pawed at her back; when she didn't react, it leaned down to bite her in half.

A mixture of Peter's and my arrows sprayed it in the face. It retreated, growling and scratching at the arrows, trying to get them out. My bow shrank to a silver bracelet and I ran over to the girl.

She laid face-down in the dirt. When I turned her over I saw that she had long golden hair and sharp features. Her face was grimy and her clothes were in tatters. I propped her up in my arms with her head against my shoulder. I sent Peter to get a glass of nectar and a bowl of ambrosia. He nodded fearfully and ran into the house. I examined her left arm and saw a dove tattooed into her skin, proving her to be a daughter of Aphrodite.

"How do you know that she's not mortal?" he asked when he returned.

"She wouldn't be able to cross the boundary line if she was mortal. The only way that could happen is if someone inside gave her special permission," I said. I placed my hand on the girl's forehead. It felt cold and clammy, but otherwise fine. She coughed and opened her eyes. Her irises were a deep shade of purple, like violets.

The girl coughed again—a rattling noise that shook her body. She blinked and stared up at me. "Who—where—?" Her words were cut short by another heaving cough.

"Shh," I said. "You need to rest. My name is Alice. Who are you?"

"I'm Elizabeth," the girl said.

"Where's your brother?" I asked her. Hers was the name glowing on the list, next to her brother's, James. Before she could answer me I filled her mouth with ambrosia. She choked on it, but swallowed.

She coughed. "James—I couldn't find him after those things came after us," she shuddered. I spooned more pudding-like ambrosia into her mouth.

"What is that?" she asked, eyeing the bowl.

"Ambrosia," Peter answered. I silenced her with more of it. Luckily Peter had put a straw in the glass of nectar. I put it in her hand and poked the straw between her lips. She took a sip and stared at the liquid. Then she grabbed the straw with new strength and drained the glass. I fed her the rest of the ambrosia and helped her to her feet. She swayed dangerously and Peter caught her around the waist.

We half-carried her inside the Big House and laid her on the couch. She was still pale, but better. We sat in the armchairs and talked.

"We have to find James," I whispered urgently. "If she lost him, then he is in grave danger. The goddess Aphrodite will not be happy if her son dies."

"I know," he whispered back. We glanced at Elizabeth.

"This is not good," I said quietly. "This is not good!"

"What isn't good?" Tyler asked loudly, striding into the room.

"Shh!" we hissed. Elizabeth opened her eyes slightly and looked at Tyler, then shifted and closed her eyes again. Tyler came over and sat cross-legged at my feet.

"Who is that?" he asked in a whisper.

"Elizabeth. Daughter of Aphrodite," I answered.

Tyler got sort of a dreamy look on his face. "Well that explains…"

"Yeah…" Peter said, with a matching expression.

I shook my head. "What is wrong with you two? Elizabeth's brother is missing and I am responsible."

"Don't sweat it," Peter waved away my concern. "We'll find him soon. In fact, Tyler and I will go and get him right now."

Tyler's head snapped up. "What?" Peter kicked him in the shin. Tyler scrambled to his feet. "Yeah, Alice, we'll find him. You won't get in trouble." Peter twirled the dial on the watch his father had given him. It could transport him anywhere he wanted and even turn him invisible, as well as tell the time.

"Wait!" I protested, but they were gone.

"What?" Elizabeth sat up, blinking.

I walked over to her. "Sorry Elizabeth. The boys just decided to go and fetch James."

She nodded and brightened. "Can I have more of whatever you gave me before? Sorry I can't remember the name." She blushed prettily.

"Ambrosia and nectar," I said. "No, I wouldn't digest too much. You don't want to spontaneously combust."
Elizabeth looked a little disappointed, but she swung her legs over the edge of the couch. "Where am I?"

"You are at Camp Half-Blood," I answered.

"Half-blood?" she asked, looking confused.

"Yes. The correct term is demigod," I said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Elizabeth said, holding up her hands. "Demigod?"

"Yes," I said.

"As in God?"

"Well, capital 'G' God is different; that's just a figment of the mortals' imagination. I'm talking about the twelve Olympians," I explained. "We are the offspring of these gods."

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "How do you know I'm one of them?" she asked.

In response I displayed the trident tattoo on my left forearm. "We are all marked by our parents just before birth," I explained. "We're demigods."

"What about me?" she asked, cocking her head.

"Of course," I answered. I took her left arm and turned it to show the dove marked there. "Your mother is Aphrodite."

She smiled. "Aphrodite?"

"Yes. Now," I said, standing up. "Come with me. I'll show you the Aphrodite cabin." I led her into it, which had large mirrors on the walls and a portrait of Aphrodite instead of a window. The room smelled like perfume. Elizabeth's face lit up.

"Well, this is your cabin, as you can see," I said. I put my hands on my hips. "So, what can you do?"

Elizabeth blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Follow me." I took her to the arena. The only person there was Anne Grey, reading Romeo and Juliet as she leaned against the steps. As she'd once told me, sometimes the arena is the only place to get some quiet.

I handed Elizabeth a bow and a bunch of arrows from the armory. "Aim there," I said, pointing toward the targets.

Elizabeth fumbled with the bowstring and tried to notch the arrow. She yanked the string back and—twang!

The arrow stole the book from Anne's hands, spearing it clean through and pinning it to the wall. She glared at us, and I swear, if looks could kill, Elizabeth and I would be dead a hundred times over.

I gently took the weapons from her and stowed them in the armory. "Um…on second thought, I don't think archery is your strength."

I handed her a sword. "Let's try sword fighting," I suggested.

Elizabeth nodded, even though she looked nervous. I whipped out my sword and swung. She immediately dropped to the ground and curled up into a ball, her blade clanging. My sword swept over her head. I tucked it under my arm, put my hands on my hips and sighed, shaking my head.

The stables were next. I patted one of the pegasi. It bowed to me. Hello, the horse said.

Hello, I answered. This is Elizabeth. I want to test her—to see if she can ride a pegasus.

The pegasus whinnied and bobbed its head. My name is Halima. I will be happy to allow this child to take riding lessons, lady.

I turned to Elizabeth. "Her name is Halima," I said, stroking the pegasus's mane. I draped a saddle over her back and motioned for Elizabeth to get on. She effortlessly mounted Halima and smiled widely, proud that she was able to do it.

"Okay, now walk her outside and take off," I instructed.

Elizabeth eyed me from her perch on Halima's back. "How do you know all of this?"

"My father is Poseidon," I reminded her. "He created horses from the waves of the ocean. Now fly." I pointed at the door.

Elizabeth nudged Halima outside and pushed off from the ground. I watched her for a second, then went back to the other pegasus, Linguini. Once, while rescuing another of my cousins, I'd found Castor chasing Linguini around the mortal city, trying to play a terrifying game of catch. After I'd saved him from my wolf, Linguini had stuck by me, kicking anyone else who tried to ride him.

Linguini at your service, Mrs. Boss, the winged horse seemed to grin.

Don't call me that, I told him. I didn't bother to saddle him—I just jumped on his back walked him outside. He spread his wings and took off in the air.

On top of spaghetti, and covered with cheese, sang the pegasus, Linguini is awesome and—uh…not even Chinese!

That doesn't even make sense, I told him.

Don't judge, Mrs. Boss!

He snapped at birds as we followed Halima and Elizabeth. I pulled Linguini to a standstill in midair, his wings flapping hard. I looked down on the land surrounding Half-Blood House. I froze.

I watched as three small figures bolted for the magical boundary line. They were being chased by a big group of monsters. Elizabeth was unknowingly flying Halima toward the big burly demons, who spotted her and waited for her to fly into range.

"Elizabeth!" I yelled. She looked up, but it was too late.

Dive! I shouted at Linguini. He whinnied and dived straight down, toward Halima. Get out of here! I told her.

I yanked Elizabeth onto my pegasus as quickly as possible. She was screaming in my ear as I shot a volley of arrows down into the yelling swarm of demons. Most of them dissolved into either flames or dust, but a few remained and sprinted toward the boundary line. I slid off Linguini's back and told him to take Elizabeth back to the stables.

"GO!" I shouted at them. Elizabeth shot me a fearful look, but took off as fast as Linguini could fly. I shrank my bow back to my bracelet and pulled out my sword. On the first swing, all of them exploded, leaving a coating of yellow powder and the strong smell of sulfur.

I whispered to some tree trunks carefully in Greek. Three dryads melted out of their trees in response, looking annoyed, but ready to help. I recognized them as Daphne, Cassiopeia, and Ariadne.

"Have you seen any half-bloods wandering around here?" I asked them.

The dryads looked at each other and nodded in unison. They deposited three demigods in front of me out of nowhere. "Three for the price of one," Daphne said.

I flicked a drachma into the air and they all disappeared. I heard them faintly argue over the Greek coin as I frowned at the demigods in on all fours in the dirt.

The girl stood up and brushed off her clothes. She had short black hair and dark violet eyes. She was wearing a dirty t-shirt and a pair of jeans, holding a large knife that I recognized immediately as Celestial bronze. It had the Greek letter eta carved on the blade. She gripped it tightly, her knuckles white.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her tightly.

"I'm trying to survive!" she exploded.

"Right," I said. "Doing a great job of that."

One of the boys grabbed the girl's shoulder. He whispered something in her ear. The boy turned to me. "Look, we don't want any trouble," he said. "I—we just want to be safe."

I eyed them. The boy was dirty and scratched, just like the girl. He had blond hair and blue eyes. The second boy was mud-caked and his blond hair was a rat's nest. I whistled and Linguini flew down and landed next to me. I put my hand on his mane.

You dropped Elizabeth off at the house? I asked him.

Yes, ma'm, Mrs. Boss, ma'm, he said.

Don't call me that, I said immediately.

"What is that?" asked the girl, interrupting our conversation.

I gave her a dirty look. "This is a pegasus. His name is Linguini."

She raised an eyebrow. "Linguini?"

Linguini whinnied angrily, pounding the ground with his hooves. There ain't nothing wrong with spaghetti! I patted him to calm him down. I slipped him a sugar cube and he trotted off to crunch on his snack.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" one of the boys asked.

I straightened. "I'm Alice."

"Alice who?" the boy asked.

"Just Alice," I said. I looked around, wary of monsters behind every tree. "I'll explain everything, but we should cross the boundary line so we don't die."

I called Linguini and mounted him effortlessly. "Come on," I said expectantly. I grabbed the young boy's hand and pulled him onto Linguini's back, so that he was sitting in front of me.

Watch the mane, Linguini warned. The boy had been tangling his fingers in the long black hair.

"Don't do that," I told him. I hauled the other boy up behind me by the hand and the girl climbed up after him, refusing my hand.

Whoa, Mrs. Boss, Linguini said, lurching a little. I don't know if I can make it.

You can, I urged. Just fly, it's not that far. Linguini whinnied and pushed off from the dirt. His wings flapped hard, trying to keep us airborne.

A few more yards, I encouraged. Linguini skidded in a cloud of dust, just in front of Half-Blood House. I slipped off his back and fed him more sugar cubes before sending him off toward the stables. The children stared at me.

The girl's face was stony, and her hand did not loosen around her knife. "What's this all about?" she demanded.

I raised my eyebrows as a grapevine popped up over her head. "You're Diana Hunter, aren't you?"

Her face got even more suspicious. She opened her mouth to say something, but the younger boy tugged at her sleeve. "Diana, how does she know your name?"

Diana scowled. "Snitch," she muttered under her breath. The boy didn't release her sleeve.

The other boy looked back at me. "I'm Shawn," he said, holding out his hand. "Shawn Spencer."

I touched his hand briefly before turning back to the other boy. Over his head was a dove, the mark of Aphrodite. I suddenly realized who he was. "Elizabeth!" I yelled.

She poked her head out the Aphrodite cabin door. "James!" Elizabeth ran to her brother. James's face lit up when he saw her. They hugged each other. Elizabeth madly checked her twin for scrapes and cuts, demanding if he was okay.

"Geez, Elizabeth, you act like a mom," James rolled his eyes, but he didn't look too annoyed.

"Alice." Anne Grey appeared in the doorway.

"What?" I said.

"An Iris-message just came in," she told me. "It's Tyler."

I ran inside, realizing only then that Tyler, well, wasn't here. I heard everyone following me into the living room, skidding to a stop when they saw the head floating in the air.

"What is it?" I said.

"I went with Peter to find James and we got separated. I ended up at this school, and I had to lie and say that I'm a student. It's a boarding school in Illinois and I'm using one of the abandoned fireplaces. Anyway I found three demigods here and I need help. Peter took the watch, so I can't come back. There are monsters and demons crawling all over the place. They can't sniff the half-bloods out, because the kids have no idea who they are. There are at least two manticores and three empuses. I can't get them out alone," Tyler explained.

"I'm in," Peter said from behind James.

"There's no way I'm passing this up," Diana said. She glanced at Peter. "Hi. I'm Diana."

"Peter," Peter said.

"Well, I'm definitely not staying here," I said. Diana and Peter followed me outside, where Castor was waiting.

"What the—?" Diana backed away from Castor, hands raised cautiously.

"He won't bite," I said, laughing. We piled on his back.

The usual blur of colors and the chill of speed, and we were there. I glanced at Diana; she was blinking and staring around her in wonder. Peter chuckled, and I knew he was remembering his first time with Castor too.

We were standing in front of a two-story building with lots of windows. There were steps leading up to double doors. A ring of hills surrounded the school, and the sky was barely lit.

"Styx," I muttered.

"What?" Peter asked.

"The mortals will notice me. My uniform. I don't look a thing like a mortal," I cursed again.

"So true," Peter muttered under his breath.

I ignored him. We jogged up the steps and into the school. Almost immediately a man blocked our path. He brightened when he saw me.

"That's a great costume," he laughed. "What are you?"

"What?"

"Uhh…she's a hunter," Peter threw in. "It took her forever to make it. I didn't have any time to get a costume."

"I didn't want to get a costume," Diana rolled her eyes. The man laughed again and stepped out of our way. We continued down the hall and through the doors labeled Gym.

I blinked. The room was hung with streamers and balloons and weird, eerie music was blaring through the speakers. The mortals were wearing unusual clothing. "Gods, mortals are strange creatures," I murmured. Diana snorted. I ignored her.

"Where's Tyler?" Peter asked.

"Alice! Peter!" Tyler yelled, pushing his way through dancing children.

"Does that answer your question?" Diana smiled.

"Where's the manticore?" I asked immediately.

"I'm sorry, what is a manticore?" Peter interrupted.

"I hope you never find out," I said nervously.

"We can't just stand here," Diana said suddenly. "We'll stand out." She grabbed Tyler's hand. "Come on, brother." She disappeared with him into the crowd.

Peter and I stayed where we were. I looked around the room, anxiously searching for demigods in danger. I didn't see anything.

Diana and Tyler danced closer to us. "Did you see anything?" Diana hissed. I shook my head. "Tyler," I whispered. "Who were the demigods?"

"Er…Elijah Andrews, Joan DeWitt, and Miranda Bowman," he said.

"Son of Hephaestus, daughter of Ares, daughter of Apollo," I recited. He nodded.

"Whoa," Peter said. "My sister is here?"

"Yes—wait, Tyler is that them?" I pointed to the gymnasium doors. A tough-looking girl and a muscled boy were arguing intently, looking around nervously.

"Yeah. That's them," Tyler said. I grabbed Peter's hand and began shoving through groups of mortals. I reached them and released Peter.

"Joan DeWitt? Elijah Andrews?" I asked breathlessly.

"Yeah?" they both said.

"Do I know you?" Elijah asked. He was big and burly, with curly dark hair and a square jaw, with an anvil tattooed into his forearm.

"No. But we know you," Tyler said, repeating the words I had spoken to Anne so long ago.

"We have to leave. Now," I said. "Where's Miranda?"

Joan blinked. "Miranda? Miranda Bowman?" She scratched at her left arm, where a dark spear tipped with red was marked.

"She's over there," Elijah said suddenly. He pointed to the opposite side of the room.

"We got it," Tyler said. He motioned for Diana to follow him and started pushing his way to the other side of the room. Joan and Elijah stared at me. I backed up against the doubled doors.

"Come with us," I whispered to the demigods. I felt a tightening around my waist and looked down in surprise: a tail had snaked around my midsection. I yelped as I got yanked back into the black hallway.

The double doors closed and the thing that grabbed me threw me backward. I slammed into a wall and slid onto the floor. My head spun and my vision blurred around the edges, but luckily I'd had a lot of practice seeing in the dark while hunting. I touched my bracelet silently and pulled a couple of arrows out of my quiver. I heard banging on the gym doors.

"Alice! Alice are you okay?" voices sounded faintly through the doors. Suddenly they burst open and I caught a slight glimpse of Peter in the shadows. His eyes locked on me, and he opened his mouth, but I pressed my finger to my lips. I hugged the wall as I crept over to his side. Then I heard something whistling behind me and Peter flew at me. He tackled me and we skidded a few feet. We were both breathing heavily.

"Don't…move," I whispered. I turned my head as much as I could and looked up and down the hall. I shifted to the left and suddenly there were a bunch of thuds as a group of spikes landed in the floor where our heads had just been.

"What is that?" Peter wondered quietly.

"A manticore," I whispered, closing my eyes. "On the count of three, roll to your left and hide in a corner."

"But—" Peter began.

"Three!"

Peter obeyed, rolling off away from me and slipping into the shadows. I jumped up and shot six arrows into the darkness. There were six clunks as the arrows bounced off the monster's armor. I screamed as something slammed into my side, throwing me through a window. The glass shattered, leaving a combination of manticore spikes and glass shards in my side. My blood soaked through my tunic, but I got up anyway, wincing.

I realized that I had crashed right into the middle of the dancing mortals. They stared at me as I jumped back through the broken window and shot arrows into the large dark thing crouching near the wall. I didn't want to think about what they were seeing. The manticore screeched and whirled on me and finally I saw it clearly.

It had a man's head attached to a lion's body, a tail tipped with razor-sharp spikes, and dragon feet. Quickly I slid into the shadows and searched for Peter's shoulder.

"Distract it," I muttered to him under my breath. He nodded and jumped right in the manicure's path.

"Hey ugly!" he shouted, waving his arms in its face. "Go back to Tartarus!" The monster screeched and advanced on Peter. I slipped behind it and jumped on its back; it barely noticed me. I found a large bare patch at the base of its neck and plunged my hunting knife deep into its back.

It growled angrily at me and threw me off its back. I slid and jumped up as soon as I could. My side ached, but I managed to leap back on the manticore's back and rip out my knife. I searched feverishly for a weak spot as the monster bucked and tried to kill Peter at the same time. I desperately began ripping out its armor, hacking at its neck. Demon slime seeped out of the wound and the manticore finally slammed me against a locker, its claws at my throat. It was dying for sure, but it wasn't dead—yet.

I lurched dangerously as the demon slashed at me one more time. It released me. I dropped to the floor. My side was soaked with blood and I suddenly couldn't move. I passed out.


Back at Camp Half-Blood, Miranda began inspecting the glass and spikes in my side, waking me up. Anne poked her head in, and then sent Joan DeWitt to get some ambrosia and nectar. She was confused, but returned with the godly food.

Anne stuffed some ambrosia into my mouth and poured nectar onto the puncture wounds. Then she plucked the shards out one by one. I grabbed Miranda's hand.

"Ow," I muttered. "Ow, ow, ow!" I gripped her hand so hard her fingertips turned blue, but all she did was wince. The spikes and glass clattered into a bowl as Anne finished pulling them from my side. She shoved the glass of nectar into my hand and made me drink some. I screwed up my face as my leg started to right itself.

Miranda and Anne helped me to Poseidon Beach; once I hit the water, I could feel my bones straightening and reforming back to normal, my bruises healing.

My life returned to normal as well, if you can call a demigod's life 'normal'.

I gave Elizabeth Bentley riding lessons daily. I taught Miranda Bowman how to shoot an arrow with deadly accuracy (even though she preferred healing). Lily Bloom took great delight that she could make flowers burst out of the ground. Peter Montgomery spent his days occasionally practicing archery and writing in a small book. Twin sons of Hermes appeared—Robb and Connor Heist—and continually played their clever tricks on unsuspecting demigods. Shawn Spencer was good at archery, like his sister Miranda, but he really excelled at music. He found a lyre lying around in the Apollo room and spent his days climbing up on the roof of the house and plucking the strings.

I was trying to persuade Shawn to trade his lyre for a bow when Diana and Peter appeared at the edge of the trees. Diana seemed to be arguing with the boy beside her. I turned my attention back to Shawn, who finally sighed and shot an arrow into the outside ring of the target.

"That was good," I assured him.

"I'd trade it for my lyre any day," he grumbled.

"Try notching at least three," I said. I demonstrated and sprayed the target with silver arrows.

Shawn nodded and tried it. I patted him on the back and told him to keep practicing.

"…and this is Alice, camp director," said a voice from behind me. I turned around and Peter was standing there. Diana was behind him and she didn't look happy.

"Hi," I said, smiling.

The boy eyed me with disbelief. "You look too young to be a director," he decided.

I laughed. I turned around to let Shawn Spencer take a break, but he was gone. I glanced up at the roof, and sure enough, there he was, sitting with his lyre in his lap.

"Shawn!" I groaned. He ignored me and continued to play his music. I rolled my eyes. I turned back to the boy and studied him, craning my head so I could see the symbol on his arm: a shuck of corn, otherwise known as Demeter's mark.

"Hello, Brian Bush," I said, inclining my head. "That's a powerful gift."

The boy blinked. "What are you talking about?"

I pointed at the ground. The dry dirt at his feet had suddenly turned into a thick carpet of grass, adorned with flowers that curled affectionately around Brian's feet. "You're lucky. Your sister Lily can't even do that. The plants go crazy whenever she's around, though," I told him.

I turned around, sighing, preparing to climb up after Shawn and drag him back down. "Shawn, come down here!" I called. He shook his head and stuck his tongue out at me. I gave up and started to walk around, observing the demigods go about their business.

I smiled as I watched Elijah Andrews get a dreamy look on his face as Miranda Bowman walked by him. Elizabeth Bentley was flying around on Halima and laughing. Nobody went near Linguini—they just assumed he was mine, since I was the only one that rode him. A couple of other pegasi had wandered into the magical boundaries as well; we'd put them in the stables.

At nightfall, I blew my hunting horn and everyone gathered in the dining area and sat at their tables. Brian Bush looked confused, so I directed him to the Demeter table, where Lily was sitting, her feet swinging back and forth a foot above the ground.

Miranda Bowman had somehow convinced me to play capture-the-flag after the meal, so I watched her herd everyone into the forest, right to Aphrodite Rock.

"Rules," Miranda said, her voice carrying loud and clear. "No maiming or killing is allowed. All magic items are allowed. The flag can't be tossed…"

I turned away and found myself facing Aphrodite Rock. It was true to its name: white quartz formed into the shape of the goddess of love. Nobody had carved it; it had just formed that way. The likeness to Aphrodite was incredible. Every detail seemed to have been captured. I patted the arm of the rock and a silvery line spread from the sides, making a boundary line.

I watched my team strap on their armor. Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, and Dionysus. A roar from somewhere in the forest reminded me of the stocked woods. I hoped they wouldn't interfere. I hoped this game wouldn't go result in disaster, like Miranda had convinced me it wouldn't.


Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I don't have any good cliffhangers. I just get writer's block whenever I try to make them up, and besides, it's too much effort to go back and make up some. I know these chapters go kinda slow, but you just wait: I've got some serious twists later on. :) rtgi5 (sorry I sneezed and hit the keyboard. lol)

Again, thanks to those three people who reviewed! BTW, any suggestions on how to get more?

Kisses! -Alice

P.S. To anybody who might be wondering, I did not name my character after myself, as 'Alice O'Hare' is just a pseudonym (again, I can't stress the fact that you never know what weirdos are on the Internet enough). I actually named myself after my character. Well, ta-ta!