Mmm. Soon I might upload a list of all the demititans at Camp Fireblood. It could get a little confusing in the future. Does anyone ever listen to music while they type? Cause I do, and I feel weird for it.

Disclaimer: The plot is MINE!!! The demititans are MINE!!! The idea of mythology is...not mine :(

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(the curse is laid on those with a taint of fate)

The morning of the quest was absolutely the best morning ever, hands down.

The sun had shown up, beaming brightly through my window. The doorbell rang, making me get up out of bed earlier than I would have liked. But the person at the door soured everything up a bit.

I opened it to see Abbey standing there, her mouth already zooming at one million miles a minute.

"Ohmigosh, jayimsogladyourstillhere-areyouexcitedcauseiam," she said, without taking a single breath. (translated into: Oh my gosh, Jay. I'm so glad you're still here! Are you as excited as I am?)

"So, whatsyourquestabout? Areyougoingtohavetogofaraway? Causethatwouldmakemesad&upset." She added before I had time to say anything. (Another translation: So what's your quest about? Are you going to have to go far away? Cause that would make me sad and upset.)

I sighed minutely. Abbey always made me feel like I needed a nap. "I don't know what the quest is about. We'll find out later."

She opened her mouth. But I was faster.

"I have to go, Abbey. See you later." And then I shut the door in her face.

"She'll just keep coming back, you know," Fell's voice sounded behind me. "She really likes you."

"What do YOU know about girls?" I inquired politely, waiting for his blank face. But he surprised me, as Fells everywhere are known to do.

"Plenty," he said mysteriously, his eyes flipping between green and blue. Sal snorted behind him, spraying the counter with Sprite.

"Would you like a translation, Mr. Sylver?" Sal said in an official voice. "The translation from Fellese to English is as follows; I know nothing, absolutely nothing about girls. For questions of that nature you will have to ask Sal the Magnificent."

"Don't you mean Sal the Idiot? Sal the Stuck Up Know It All?" Fell broke in. I could tell he was just teasing, but still Sal turned a little red. He was opening his mouth for a retort when his eyes slipped past me.

I whipped around. Cherry was standing behind me, her emerald eyes lighting up.

"Hey guys," she said, giving a little finger wave. Fell burst into little, muffled giggles behind me, while Sal turned even more red.

"Hey, Cherry," I said.

"What's up?" Fell asked from behind me. I could hear Sal rummaging through the fridge, pretending to be looking for something.

"I heard about your little girlfriend, Jay," Cherry said as she brushed by me to sink down into the sofa next to Fell. "She was telling everybody about your little date last week."

"It wasn't a date," I mumbled, but I was sure Fell and Sal couldn't hear me over their sniggering. Raising my voice, I said, "We got partnered up for sword practice. How could that possibly be a date?"

"In Abbey's mind, everything's a date," Cherry explained. Then she bit her lip. "I take that back. Anything with you in it's a date."

I sighed as I fell into the armchair. "Any gentle ways of getting rid of her?"

Fell opened his mouth.

"No, feathering and tarring her don't count. And I'm NOT going to feed her to Tiny, Sal." I added. Tiny was his purebred Hellhound. Luckily for me, she was NOT coming on the quest with us.

He shrugged, not looking nearly ashamed enough in my view. "The only way to avoid her is to get yourself killed on the quest."

"Okay," I said. All three of them looked at me like I was insane. I tried to look like I was actually considering it.

"You better not," Sal threatened me with a ladle.

"You're right. You know what won't leave evidence of a suicide? If you eat Sal's cooking." Fell said, jumping off the sofa. Sal advanced on him with a mad look in his eyes, brandishing the ladle like it was the most dangerous thing in the world. I settled down next to Cherry as I watched Sal chase Fell around with random kitchenware.

"You know, I'm actually looking forward to this quest a little," I said, watching out of the corner of my eye as Sal traded the ladle for a meat cleaver. "Especially the fighting."

"Of course. It'll actually be for real. I'm just so excited!" Cherry bounced up and down. Behind her Sal slipped on some of the Sprite he had sprayed earlier, the meat cleaver hitting the ground with a resounding crack. He stood up shakily, and switched the cleaver with a butter knife.

"If I kill you with this, it'll barely leave a scratch, Fell! You won't even feel the pain." Sal sounded completely insane.

Someone knocked at the door. Our heads all swung around at the same moment.

"It's time, guys," Delilah said. Sal sadly set down the butter knife with a whispered "Later," that no one was supposed to hear. Cherry and I stood up, Fell pushing to be the first one out. I could tell he didn't want to be last in the cabin with Sal.

The quest was waiting.

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I slung the quiver across my back, gently slipping my bow in with the silver arrows. The arrows were the most perfect I had ever seen, and they were a gift from Delilah. I looked around the weapons room, my gaze skittering over Cherry, Sal, and Fell.

Fell was running his hand up and down a bronze spear that was crackling with electricity, examining it with one experienced eye. He must have liked what he saw, because he put it in the small bag at his feet, and moved on to swords. Cherry was already looking over our sword collection, and she picked out a thin silver one. Fell went over to her, arguing in a low voice. Sal, completely oblivious, was stuffing his bag full of mini powdered doughnuts from the vending machine. He dropped in the remaining drachmas for our journey, the coins clinking against each other gently. He looked up at me, then looked over at Fell and Cherry, both of them having decided they would wrestle each other for the sword.

I rolled my eyes. "Break it up!" Cherry pinned Fell against the ground, then looked down, grinning at him.

"Don't get between a girl and her weaponry," she warned him, hefting her huge backpack and scooping up the sword. She dramatically left the tent, her red hair fluttering in the breeze. Fell looked after her, his blue eyes sparkling.

I held out a hand to him. "Hey, good effort."

He took it, shaking his head. "I went easy on her. That sword wasn't worth the effort."

"Whatever," Sal said icily. I tipped my head as I looked at him. His face was downcast, and he was glaring hard at the ground, almost as if he could melt it with one glance. I pulled Fell up and followed Cherry out, not wanting to get caught up in their fight.

The whole camp had gathered around the fountain today, their enthusiastic faces all turned toward us. I took my place by Cherry's side, waiting for Sal and Fell to emerge.

Fell was the first one out, and I could tell by his face things hadn't gone well with Sal. He loped up to us, standing on my other side.

"What's up?" I asked him in a low voice.

"Sal," was his reply, "thinks I like Cherry."

I almost burst out laughing. "Yeah right. You're more likely to fall in love with a naiad then with Cherry." I looked into his eyes and saw the sadness growing in them, blossoming to life in front of me.

"Try telling Sal that," Fell said, turning his head the other way as said person stepped out into the sunlight, his eyes squinting. He stopped beside Cherry, his mouth a stubborn, angry line.

The whole camp looked at us for a second, completely silent. Then they erupted into loud cheers, and Delilah came up to us.

"Alright, guys." Her brow furrowed in confusion as she held up a slip of paper. "Wait, that can't be right." She examined the paper again. Her eyes widened.

"No," she said in a whisper. "That isn't it! Tell me this isn't happening."

I didn't understand what she was getting so worked up about. The paper had been sent from the Titans, telling us what quest they wanted us to undertake. Of course, if we refused to go on it, the penalty was death, but I had no doubts about that. Surely they would have given us something easy, since this was the first quest that had been announced for at least a century. What was wrong?

"Your quest is," Delilah said in a shaky voice, her hand holding the note trembling, "kidnap the Oracle from Camp Halfblood." A tear leaked itself down her face, shining in the sunlight.

All four of us froze. We all looked at each other, the only movement the trembling of Delilah's hand. The entire camp fell silent.

"No way," Fell spoke up from my side. "That's suicide. We can't."

"We don't have a choice!" Sal snarled at him. For the first time I felt Fell shrinking back, his eyes wide. "We're dead if we don't!"

I looked up at the sky, praying that it was a joke. WE couldn't do this! There were only four of us, and there were more than a hundred demigods at Camp Halfblood. I doubted I could freeze all of them at the same time. It would take up too much power.

"I'm sorry!" Delilah burst into tears. "But you have to do it or they'll kill all of us!" She ran away sobbing, her face in her hands.

I looked at Cherry. "I'll do it."

To my surprise, she nodded. "So will I." We both looked toward Fell.

His eyes were hardening into silver. "I'm in."

We all turned to Sal. He bit his lip, his eyes turning fiery. "You'll need someone to guard your backs. Of course I'll come."

Looking at my loyal friends, all willing to do whatever it would take to protect the camp, I knew we had what the demigods didn't-family. Because no matter what, I would give my life to protect all of them.

But then the seed of dread grew in me once again, and I wondered, not for the first time, who wouldn't be returning home.

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Hmm. So this is where Rachel enters into the story...R&R!!