Kara let out a deep sigh. "Can't we call a cab?"

"No." Derek shook his head. "We want to save what money we have. It's going to be a long trip."

But Kara ignored him. "TAXI!" She cried, whistling and waving her arms in the air.

The yellow cars raced by her without a pause.

She glared at them. "Hey! Hello?"

Still nothing. It was as though she simply wasn't there. The drivers never saw her.

"That won't work." A voice behind them said.

Kara whirled around to find a large man, his muscles rippling under a black leather jacket. He looked like a man who spent his life on a motorcycle.

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

He shrugged, his eyes shining behind his dark sunglasses. "The Mist can be a powerful thing, young demigod. I didn't want you to be seen…" he smiled. "And now you aren't."

Her eyes narrowed.

Derek swallowed. "Hello, dad."

Addy and April froze in fear. Odysseus paled. Patricia looked completely sick, her eyes suddenly watery. James swallowed.

But Kara just glared. "Ares, eh? Well, Ares. I don't being invisible."

He smiled. "I take it you're Apollo's kid."

She rolled her eyes. "No, I'm afraid I'm not Apollo's kid. I'm Kara."

He chuckled. "Well, Kara. You're quite infamous on Mount Olympus."

That caught her by surprise, making her raise an eyebrow. "I am?"

He nodded. "Hardly surprising, considering you punched your father in the face and challenged Dionysus within the time span of two days." Behind his glasses, his eyes locked on hers. "Hopefully, you will value your life enough not to try the same with me."

Kara smiled back, humorlessly. "And just what makes you so special?"

"Kara." Derek whispered warningly.

But she ignored him, noting the god of war's reaction.

Ares bit his lip thoughtfully. "You are trying to make me angry, Kara. For seemingly no reason, I might add."

Her eyes hardened. "That was my reason, Ares." Razors filled her voice. "I wanted to see if you believed I was doing that for no reason. If you assumed the worst." She glared at him. "And you sadly proved my suspicions correct."

He looked at her. "And you think that give you the right to challenge me?" He scoffed. "You wouldn't last two seconds."

She rolled her eyes and muttered, "Condescending asshole? Check!"

Ares took off his sunglasses, revealing flames where his eyes should be. The fire danced furiously as he looked at her. "Enough, child. You don't know what you're dealing with."

Kara snorted. "Nor do I care, Ares. What are you going to do to me? Incinerate me? Challenge me to a fight?" She laughed humorlessly. "If you kill me now, I'll be more powerful than you could imagine."

The other demigods looked at her, and she smiled at them. "Always wanted to say that."

Ares glared at her. "If your wish was to make me angry, demigod, then you succeeded."

"Oh, great! So I pissed off another god." She rolled her eyes. "You're a little behind on the time, Ares. That's not exactly news to me."

Ares looked like he would strike her down where she stood, her head held high. But after a moment, he just smirked.

"You think you have won this war, child." He hissed. "But you have no idea what waits for you during this quest."

And with that, he disappeared in a flash of light so brilliant the demigods had to look away.

"Asshole." Kara muttered.

"Would you stop doing that?" Derek hissed. "You're going to get us all killed!"

But Patricia smiled grimly, handing Kara something. "Here."

Kara raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Patricia motioned for her to look at it. Kara obeyed.

It was a simple piece of paper, but on that paper was a list.

List of Greek gods.

Apollo**

Ares*

Dionysus*

Hermes

Zeus

Hera

Hades

Athena

Hestia

Poseidon

Hephaestus

Artemis

*gods that Kara has pissed off

**gods that Kara has punched in the face.

"There's no real order." Patricia said as Kara grinned. "And so far it's just the Olympians. But I figured it might be useful to remember who wants to kill you."

"Add Zeus." Kara said with a smile. "He's mad at me for what I said to Dionysus."

"Let's wait for him to say that." Patricia replied.

Kara consented, folding up the piece of paper and sticking it in her pocket.

"Will you listen to yourselves?" Addy demanded. "Don't you get it? Ares knows what's going to happen on our quest! If you would have shut up for a minute, we might have learnt something and avoided someone's death!"

Odysseus shook his head. "We can't avoid that, Addy. Someone has to die; it's in the prophecy."

Addy chocked. "But… but he could have told us something."

"Enough." Odysseus cut her off. "What happened can not be changed." He looked at the sun, setting in the distance. "We need to find a place for the night. We'll continue in the morning."

At his words, Kara realized she was really tired. She really did want to find a place to sleep, preferably someplace with big soft beds and room service.

They had to settle with a dark alleyway and sleeping bags. Still, Kara had no problem falling asleep; the day had been full of long walks and annoying Greek gods.

At one in the morning, Kara snapped awake. Two glowing eyes stared at her.

She almost cried out, but a small, pale hand clamped over her mouth.

Don't fear me, demigod. A faint, whispering voice echoed in Kara's mind. We need to speak.

Kara nodded slowly, and the hand took itself away from her face.

"Who are you?" She breathed.

No time. Come now.

Kara did as it asked. She followed a pale and shimmering form away from her friends. She kept walking until it seemed she was no longer in a city, or anywhere that had ever really existed.

It stopped suddenly, turning to face Kara.

It was a shimmering form of a woman. She had shimmering brown hair, and brilliant green eyes. Kara suddenly realized what she was looking at.

"You're a dryad, aren't you?"

The creature winced. Once.

Kara raised an eyebrow. "Once?"

It's a long story, demigod.

Kara rolled her eyes. "Long night. And my name's Kara."

The dryad nodded her head respectfully. No offence meant, Kara. I hadn't known your name.

"You said we needed to talk. Why?"

The dryad sighed and sat on the floor, motioning for Kara to follow. It could hardly be called a floor; it was more of a green carpet of grass. It was definitely no where near the city Kara had been in only moments ago.

The gods are not happy with you, Kara.

"Tell me something I don't know."

They are wondering if they should kill you.

"That's better, I don't know that part. Anything else?"

They've decided against it.

"That's refreshing."

Because you will die anyway.

"What?"

The dryad looked at Kara, her green eyes intense. And the dark will come to claim one's light.

Kara raised an eyebrow.

Think, Kara! They are furious with you! Do you really think they would just let your words pass if there wasn't a plan? Something bigger than one demigod? Something secret?

"What do you mean?"

I was told to come here. The dryad let out a long, deep sigh. Told to tell you parts of the prophecy that you already know.

"What parts?"

The dryad closed her eyes and recited. But a secret lurks, in heart of war, told to one at darkest shore.

"Why would that matter to me?"

Think! There is only one of the war god's children here!

"Derek."

What secrets could he have? He doesn't hide anything; he has nothing to hide.

"So?"

There is more. Revenge is taken and lives are broken, because of few words never spoken.

"What, exactly, are you saying?"

That's for you to decide, demigod. I'm only here as a favor.

"A favor to who?"

The dryad thought for a moment. A battle once more lost.

Those words were her last, echoing in the deepest parts of Kara's mind as she disappeared.

Kara found herself back in her sleeping bag, the others surrounding her. There was no evidence that she'd ever left.

She thought about what the dryad had said.

And then it clicked.

What would be the only secret a demigod would have? Something terrible. Something awful, unthinkable. Something that wasn't their fault, but had to remain hidden.

Kara could only think of one thing.

But the dryad couldn't have meant that, could she? There were a million things to consider! Kara was probably jumping to conclusions…

But Kara knew that this was exactly what the dryad was thinking. It was as though the dryad had placed the thought directly into Kara's mind.

Could it be true? There was a secret in a child of Ares, that much was obvious, but which child? There was only one here, but if it wasn't Derek, then who? Did that mean another demigod was as child of Ares? Who?

Kara swallowed at the lump in her throat. There was only one person she could think of. Only one person who it would make sense for. Someone who was always ready to start a battle. Someone who always threw the first punch. Someone who wouldn't stop until a battle was ended. Someone who had taken great risks to begin the war between demigods and their parents, simply because she didn't like how the gods were handling their children.

Was it possible?

Could Kara be a child of Ares?