A/N: I have a confession to make: Freddy's last name, Masen, is inspired by Edward Cullen's mother, whose name was, if I remember correctly, Elizabeth Masen. I had a character a couple years ago named Emma Masen and I recycled the last name (and the first name for the Masen siblings' mom.)

I SHOULD SO MAKE A DAUGHTER OF APOLLO NAMED MADONNA.

Freddy POV

Our trip to Persephone had proved fruitless, so Bunny dragged me off in a different direction. She seemed to be debating which way to go.

Suddenly she grabbed my shoulder and stopped walking.

"We've got company," she muttered.

"Guards?" I whispered back. I instinctively reached for my sword, then remembered that I'd left it on Ogygia with Rose.

She shook her head. I glanced ahead and noticed the figure she was looking at. It was the shape of a big, three-headed dog, and a couple of kids nearby.

One of the kids looked over and noticed us. "Hey!" she shouted. "Come over here and help us, will you?" She turned to her friend. "Danny, you idiot! I told you not to wander off."

"You're the idiot, Melissa," he replied, holding a dagger defensively in front of him. "I'm Mike."

"Liar!"

He grimaced. Melissa crept behind him, so they were back to back. The giant dog growled. Danny tensed, but Melissa pulled out her sword. It was a long, glimmering blade made from Celestial bronze. She was a demigod.

Melissa seemed to remember us. "Hey, you two! Can you see him?"

Bunny didn't respond, but I nodded. "Can't you?"

She shook her head. "Not yet… soon, but not soon enough." She clenched her teeth.

"Why not?"

"We're not dead. Cerberus becomes more obvious as a person gets closer to death."

"Well, he's to your right, Melissa."

"Thanks!" She turned to her right and prepared to stab Cerberus.

Bunny finally reacted. "No!" she shrieked, running to the huge dog. I followed, at a slower pace.

Melissa cocked her head. "Why not?"

Bunny ignored her, stroking the middle head's muzzle. "Cerberus, baby, did these people try to hurt you?" she crooned.

Melissa and Danny stared at her incredulously.

"What?" I asked, shocked.

"Cerberus is nice." Bunny smiled. The smile quickly spread into a grin. "He likes me. Hardly anyone likes me."

I felt a stab of sympathy. She looked like a little girl, if it weren't for her aging face and gray-streaked hair.

Danny's arms fell to his sides, and he loosened his grip on his knife. He glanced at Melissa, who narrowed her eyes and tightened her grip on her weapon.

"Mel, it's okay," he said softly.

She frowned and dropped her weapon. "Only you, Danny. Don't you dare let your brother call me that, ever."

He grinned. "Wouldn't dream of it, Mel."

Melissa's eyes hardened again. "Who are you two?"

"Dead," Bunny replied sharply.

"I'm Freddy, and this is Bunny," I said. "Are you two demigods?"

Bunny glared at me. I shrugged and grinned sheepishly.

Melissa chuckled. "Close enough. We're half-titans. I'm a daughter of Pallas, and Danny here is one of the Leto twins."

Bunny's eyes doubled in size. "Son of Leto?"

They nodded. Melissa's eyes flashed, and she gripped the hilt of her sword again.

Bunny growled, but didn't further the topic.

"I'm a son of Poseidon, and Bunny's a daughter of Apollo," I continued.

"Don't give away too much information," Bunny hissed.

"Why not?" Melissa said innocently.

"Yeah," Danny agreed. It was the first time he'd spoken to us. "We won't hurt you. You helped us out, so we owe you one. In fact, why don't you come back to our camp?"

Melissa frowned, but nodded reluctantly.

Bunny seemed to weigh our options. "Okay, yeah. For a little while."

xxx

"Did you guys get anything?" the girl asked Melissa. She ignored us.

Melissa sighed and sat down. "No. There's nothing to eat down here." She looked up at me. "Freddy, this is Brandi Lowe. Brandi, Freddy. Over there is Richard, and the Danny-clone is Mike Evans. They're twins. Don't worry, you get used to their identicalness soon enough."

I nodded. I was already used to it, thanks to my sisters. My mom had been the only one to be able to tell them apart, at first, before I caught on. They both had eyes that hovered between blue and green, but Camille's were a teeny bit bluer.

"Hiya," Richard said, glancing up from his notebook. His eyes found Melissa. "I hate to tell you this, Melissa, but we have to go back."

Melissa grimaced. "We can't! Reed and Pilar will kill us."

Richard shook his dead. "We have to. There's just not enough food left to continue. Sorry, Mel. I know how much this means to you."

She groaned and stared upward, utterly defeated. "I really wanted this to work out."

"I know you did, Mel."

"What's going on?" I asked. Bunny pursed her lips.

Danny opened his mouth to answer, but Melissa was faster. "It doesn't matter now. You two can come back with us to Montana. We know the way out."

Gina POV

As it always happens, I met a boy over the fence.

I was standing triumphantly over my garden, admiring my crocuses and now barren rose bushes. I regretted killing the poppies, because they'd almost been my favorites when I was little (second only to crocuses, in case you were wondering), but they would grow back eventually. I hadn't taken out the roots.

Back to the boy. He had thick black hair, and had his nose stuck in a book. I hated books. Maybe it's the dyslexia. It's just too much of a pain.

I knew I wouldn't be able to survive two hours without a male acquaintance. I never liked girls much. Call me a tomboy, but I wear teeny skirts in the summertime. Have you ever seen a tomboy do that?

"Hey!" I called.

He looked up from his book, and his eyes widened in surprise. He grinned. "Fancy meeting you here, Gina."

I stared at him quizzically, trying desperately to remember where I'd seen him and what his name was before he caught on to my crappy memory.

He laughed. "Matt Wright, Gina? Doesn't that ring a bell?"

It did ring a bell, but I still had no idea who the hell he was.

He raised his eyebrows. "Math class, Gina? Ninth grade math class? Come on, I thought Jack was supposed to be the dumb one."

"Yeah, I think I remember you," I said slowly. "You sat next to Jack, right? You were the only one in our group to ever have your homework. Except when I had mine, then Jack and Katy copied off of me."

"Yeah, and I was the only one in the group to finish the year with any more than a C average." He rolled his eyes.

"I had a B."

"Liar."

"Okay, C plus. Same thing." I cocked my head.

He grinned, and we were silent until his smile faded. "How've you been lately, Gina?"

I smiled, almost (quite uncharacteristically) shyly. "Pretty good." I paused. "Was it that obvious that Jack was the ditzy one?"

He smirked, and for about ten seconds, he reminded me so much of Jack that I had to pause, blink, and shake the memory out of my head.

A/N: No, I would never be cruel enough to expect you to remember Matt. It doesn't really matter – he has about one line in the first chapter of HMPWI. I had this new character developing, but I was stumped with what to name him. So then I was rereading HMPWI, and I was all like HEY, LET'S REUSE MATT. But hey, if you do remember him, kudos to you for having a freakish memory like my own.