Annabeth and Butch borrowed the Apollo cabin's chariot with Will's permission and took off on the rescue mission as soon as possible. I offered to go but Annabeth insisted that it would just be a short mission. So I stayed at camp and waited. Again.

I swung my legs over the edge of my bed and held Chalk, the stuffed panda I got when I was a kid. For years I thought that it was my dad who gave me the toy before I found out that it was Poseidon—who kinda sorta kidnapped me—who took me to the zoo. But Poseidon is my father too, so I guess I was half right.

I stared into Chalk's beady marble eyes, half expecting Poseidon's voice to channel out of his mouth and tell me what happened to Percy. Sadly, that didn't happen. Then again, I don't know how I would've handled a situation like that.

"Where did you go?" I muttered under my breath.

Surprisingly, there was no response from the inanimate stuffed toy.

There was a knock on my door that shook me out of my thoughts. I jumped down from the bed and opened the door. It was Lacy.

"Hey, Lace," I said. "What's—"

"Annabeth and Butch just got back," she said, walking into my cabin.

"Percy?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Kai."

I looked away, staring at Percy's empty bed. Anger, frustration, and confusion churned around inside of me. I didn't know what to do with those emotions. Sighing, I plopped onto an empty bunk and rubbed my temples.

Lacy frowned and sat next to me, placing her hand on my shoulder. "There's good news. Annabeth came back with three new demigods. One of them–Jason– is so cute. Too bad Drew pretty much claimed him already."

I scrunched up my nose. "She can't just claim someone like they're property, that's our parents' job. Then again, this is Drew we're talking about."

Lacy tucked her feet underneath her. "Maybe you should give Drew a break, Kai. She wasn't always a—"

"A raging beeyatch?"

She pursed her lips and gave me a disapproving look. "Not exactly the word I'd use, but yes. There was a time when she was actually nice."

I rolled my eyes. "Pfft! And I used to be King of Mars."

Lacy decided to drop the topic and told me the rest of the story of Annabeth's return. We left my cabin and went our separate ways after saying goodbye. I decided to go speak to Chiron since Percy wasn't found. It was just a formality, really. Chiron has to give me permission to go out and search for Percy.

Halfway across the green, I ran into Will and a camper I didn't recognize—one of the new campers we got today.

The guy was Hispanic, skinny but still kinda cute in an impish sort of way. He had pointed ears and a mischievous gleam in his eye that let you know that he had already dropped the firecrackers down your gym shorts. This guy would have fit in perfectly with the Hermes cabin.

"'Sup, Kai," Will said when he saw me.

"Howzit Will?" I said. "Other dude."

"This is Leo," Will said. "Leo, Kai. She's the daughter of Poseidon. Leo here was just claimed by Hephaestus."

I waved. "Welcome to camp, Leo."

"Thanks," Leo said. "So, Poseidon, huh? That's cool. Is he the dude with the white beard, fish tail, and giant fork?"

I snorted a laugh. "That's King Triton from the Little Mermaid. And the Little Mermaid II. I didn't see the third one."

"Riiiiight. That should've been obvious."

"No, no," I said. "It's a very easy mistake to make."

Will fixed us with a deadpan look. "Sure, since Disney is known for their accurate take on original stories."

I playfully elbowed Will in the shoulder. "Very funny. Anyway, I heard what happened to your chariot. Sorry, man."

He sighed. "It's fine. Actually, no it's not. It's totally destroyed. But thankfully Annabeth promised to get it fixed."

"At least it went out in a blaze of glory," Leo rationalized.

I was too late to cover up my laugh. Will rolled his eyes.

"I'm actually in the middle giving Leo his tour," Will said. "I'll catch up with you later, Kai."

I waved goodbye to the two of them and headed towards the Big House.

It was absolute Minotaur crap.

Chiron refused to give me permission to go out looking for Percy. He said that I have a family who is expecting me to return home for the holidays tomorrow. I pointed out that Chiron could manipulate the Mist so that my family wouldn't find it strange, but even as I said it, I knew that it was wrong to abandon my family on Christmas.

"Percy would want you to spend time with your family Christmas," Chiron said. "I know that it's hard but it's for the best. I'm sorry, dear."

I still wanted argue. Percy was my family, too! How could I do nothing when he was gods-know-where? But the look on Chiron's face told me that the discussion was for over.

I tried to think positively. We had people searching all over the country. Percy was bound to found of one of them. Right?

A small part of me couldn't help but wonder if I was even capable enough to go out and find Percy. Was I strong enough to face the monsters between me and him? Could I even find him in the first place? Percy vanished into thin air. I wouldn't know where to begin. But I wanted to try. I wanted to be out there looking for him. He would've done the same for me. He has done the same for me.

"Yo, Poseidon," I said quietly. "A sign or some guidance would be nice right about now."

Instead, I got Drew Tanaka. She was arm-in-arm with a new camper who was obviously uncomfortable. When she saw me, she got a sour look on her face.

"Oh, sorry, hon," Drew said. "I almost mistook you for Chiron. Don't mind her, Jason, she's just..." she fixed me with a distasteful look. "She's just Kaia."

Jason nodded politely. "Nice to meet you."

Jason was cute, I guess. The whole blonde hair, blue eyes deal reminded me too much of my dad (squick!). He wore a purple shirt under his windbreaker that, for some reason, made me feel uneasy. I noticed the marks on his arm: a ton of dash marks that reminded me of a bar code under an eagle with the letters SPQR. I didn't recognize the markings at all, but I couldn't really disregard them either.

I straighten and smiled before he could think I was staring. "You too, Jason. Welcome to camp. And FYI, I'd steer clear of Drew here."

I mouthed "she stuffs her bra." Jason looked confused, but thankfully Drew could read lips. She balled up her hands into fist, her dark eyes burning with hate.

I strolled away innocently, resisting the urge to see if Drew was still fuming.

You might be wondering why I hate Drew Tanaka so much. Well, simply put, Drew Tanaka is pure concentrated evil down to her very core.

Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

It all started the week before I left camp for Thanksgiving break. I was in archery class with the Aphrodite cabin shooting arrows at the target. I thought I was doing pretty good—at least all the arrows were hitting the board— but Drew wasn't so impressed.

"The goal is to hit the bull's eye, sweetie." She put a sour twist to the word sweetie like it put a weird taste in her mouth.

Drew wasn't a year-rounder like me. She, Lacy, and a few other campers went to this prestigious school in Brookline, so I never met her before that day. I knew instantly that she wasn't a person I was going to buddy-buddy with.

I glowered at her, but otherwise ignored her. I had other things on my mind and wasn't about to let some vapid popular girl bother me. At the time, I was thinking of Hayden almost non-stop, and that day was a particularly hard one for me. I didn't get a wink of sleep the night before because, well, I was crying.

Drew was persistent. "Maybe you could see the target better if your seaweed hair wasn't in your face, hon."

That's when I snapped at her. "I'm not your hon, and I'm not definitely your sweetie. How bout keeping your nose in your own friggin' business, kay?"

She scoffed and mumbled something about me to her friends. They giggled like idiots.

Archery practice went on normally, everybody lining up, waiting for their turn. It reminded me of PE when we had to line up and kick the soccer ball into the net.

Will assigned Drew to change the target boards. I was up next. I limply held my bow, notching the arrow, but not taking aim when my fingers slipped. The arrow ricocheted off of the marble floor, soaring straight at Drew.

My eyes went round. "Drew!"

She wasn't fast enough. She was able to avoid getting hit but the arrow, but her jeans weren't so lucky. My arrow had pierced through her pants at the rear and hit the bull's eye of the target board.

There was a loud gasp that came from the class, followed by laughter.

I rushed to pull the arrow out of her pants. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to—"

Drew glared at me so fierce that I was stunned into silence. "'Didn't mean to?!' You tried to hit me!" She pulled the arrow out of her jeans and through it down angrily at the floor. "You ruined my favorite pair of jeans."

She was tall enough to loom over me, but I didn't balk. "I did not! It was just a freak accident."

"You're the freak, sweetie. You don't know who you're messing with."

One of the Aphrodite girls, a blonde hair in pigtails, stepped forward. "It was an accident, Drew. She wasn't even looking—"

Drew shot her a poisonous glare. The girl shrank back and shut her mouth.

"Stay out of this, Lacy." Drew turned her attention back towards me. "You are so going to regret this. I swear."

Will came up and stood between the two of us. "Come on, Drew. That's enough. Kai already apologized. It's over."

Drew looked at me, and I knew that it wasn't over. I dealt with girls like Drew before. They were stuck up snobs who thought they were so much better than everyone else. I didn't take them seriously.

But Drew was different. Her dark eyes sparkled with malice and intelligence—a dangerous combination.

The next few days, nothing happened. I didn't see much of Drew or her clique. I figured she must've forgotten about the incident.

The day before I was about to leave camp for Thanksgiving, I was showering up right before dinner. Or rather, I was in the line to get into the shower (I never understood why girl bathroom lines were so long).

After I was done, I stood at sink in a towel drying off my hair. There were a few other girls in there, but I didn't mind. I used to shower all the time with the other girls at school. You get used to it after a few years.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Drew and her friends come in, giggling and gossiping away. I held my breath, hoping that they wouldn't notice me.

Don't look this way, I pleaded. Don't look this way, don't look this way, don't look—

"Oh, Kaia, dear."

Dam.

I sighed, slumping my shoulders as I turned around.

Drew and her crew slinked their way towards me, fake smiles plastered on their perfectly made-up faces. They sneered at the other girls, prompting them to leave hastily out of the bathroom, but I wasn't about to be intimidated so easily.

"Kaia, dear," Drew sing-songed, her voice sugary sweet. "How are you?"

I blinked. "Uh, okay, I guess."

A giggle from the peanut gallery.

"That's great," she said. "I just wanted to apologize for my behavior the other day. It was… very unbecoming of me."

An apology? Definitely not what I was expecting.

"It's cool," I said. "I'm sorry about hitting with that arrow. Honestly, I couldn't have done that if I tried. "

Her smile caught me off guard. It was twisted and a bit cruel. I blinked, but the grin disappeared.

"No harm done." Drew folded her arms. "I just wanted to make it up to you."

I frowned, a bit skeptical. "Really?"

"Of course. How's about a little makeover?"

I laughed. "Uh, thanks, but no thanks. Makeup isn't really my thing, y'know?"

"Nonsense. Everyone could use a bit of improvement. And believe me," she looked me up and down distastefully, "you need it."

Her friends laughed at me again. I blushed, feeling completely embarrassed. I was suddenly self-conscious of myself in nothing but an orange bath towel. Maybe Drew was right. I needed this.

"Well," I said, my voice sounding a mile away, "I guess a little makeup can't hurt."

She smiled. "Then let's get to business."

I sat painfully still as Drew painted my face. I've never been completely comfortable in makeup. The only cosmetic thing I owned was Skittles flavored lip balm. The only time I've ever worn makeup was at weddings, or if I lost a bet to Alana (which was only once…okay, twice).

Drew had a really focused look on her face, like she was painting her magnum opus instead of smearing pink goop on my face. Every time I tried to see my face in the mirror she stopped me, saying that she wanted me to wait until she was completely finished.

"Oh, Styxx!" Drew groaned. "I ran out of mascara."

"That's okay, Drew," I said. "I don't really need it."

"No. I need it. It'll really make your eyes pop. Darn… Kaia?"

"Hmm?"

"Run out real quick and get the mascara on my vanity mirror in the Aphrodite cabin. It's in a small pink pouch."

I nodded and smiled. Suddenly, doing what Drew wanted was my top priority. "Not a problem, Drew."

She smiled. "Good girl."

You're probably thinking: "Aren't you in a bath towel? Don't go outside, you moron!" It's true, but in the moment my thoughts were cloudy. All I wanted to do was what Drew asked. Getting the mascara would make Drew happy, so of course I had to do it.

I strolled across the green without a care in the world; not paying any attention to the campers I passed who pointed and stared at me. I was standing in front on the Aphrodite cabin as my thoughts slowly got together and I realized what was going on.

I was naked in a bath towel and I'd just walked around camp as if it were no big deal. My body froze up as I turned to see campers standing around, gawking and laughing at me, the idiot in the bath towel.

My entire face was burning with embarrassment. And if that wasn't bad enough, all of a sudden, a wave of something cold and slimy hit me like a ton of wet blankets. Seaweed. I was in a bath towel and covered in seaweed.

I shrieked, and nearly let my towel slip. Looking up, I noticed the Stoll brothers on roof of the cabin with an empty bucket. I made I mental note: as soon as I could, I'd get my hands around their scrawny little throats.

The roar of laughter behind me fueled my burning cheeks. I wanted to crawl into a hole and die there, my body never to be found.

Suddenly I was grabbed by the arm and pulled into the Aphrodite cabin by the blonde girl from the other day. I was too stunned and angry to react.

"Oh, this is horrible!" she exclaimed.

I didn't get the chance take in the pastel atrocity around me before Lacy rubbed something soft and spongy on my cheeks.

"This is no good," she muttered. "It's cursed."

"What is?" I moaned. "My life?"

"No. The makeup."

Lacy rushed to a bunk, presumably hers, and dug through a chest.

I glanced around the room, catching a glimpse of myself in someone's mirror. I yelped.

Lacy jumped. "What's wrong?"

"I-I…"

My make up looked like it was done by a hooker with cataracts. The purple eye shadow was too bright and went all the way to my eyebrows and under my eyes. My lipstick was gaudy Barbie doll pink which matched the blush on my cheeks. Drew made my eyebrows look as if I was permanently angry… no, wait. I was angry.

Lacy grimaced. "It should wear off… in a few hours."

I let out a string of profanity as I brushed all of the seaweed to the floor. "I'm gonna kill Drew. Which bed is hers? I'll get the Ares kids to fart on her pillow."

"Well, before you do at least put these on." Lacy handed me a camp shirt and a pair of jeans. "I think these should fit you."

"Thanks," I said, and changed into them. The pants were a bit snug, but that was better than no clothes at all.

I looked around the perfectly made up beds and noticed that each one had a chest at the foot with names on them. My Bad Idea light bulb went off again. Scooping up the seaweed, I search for Drew's bed.

Lacy gave me a strange look. "What are you…?"

There it was. Drew's bed was made up all neat and proper, the area smelling of cinnamon and nutmeg.

I could fix that.

I shoved all of the seaweed under Drew's bed, right below her pillow. She wouldn't get any sleep that night with the mysterious scent of rancid brine keeping her awake.

A poster of Tristan Mclean from the movie King of Sparta looked at me with approval.

Lacy tried to cover up her laugh with her hands, but failed. "Gods, Kaia. That is so wrong!"

I smirked. "Hey, what's fair is fair."

"I'm just sorry about Drew," she said, sitting down on her bed. "She can be pretty manipulating."

I heaved a great big sigh and joined her. "I feel really dumb, y'know? I can't believe I fell for this."

"Don't feel too bad, Kaia. It was the charmspeak."

"The what?"

"It's like hypnosis," Lacy explained. "Some children of Aphrodite have the ability. Drew's always doing something like this. Once she convinced me to dye my hair… black."

I frowned at her. "So what?"

"My skin is pale! With black hair I look so… emo."

Her story was so ridiculous to me, I couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm never going to go outside again," I said with finality.

"It wasn't so bad," Lacy said. Even she didn't buy that.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "It was coming-of-age-movie-from-the-nineties bad. I'm the plucky heroine, you're my sidekick, and Drew is an Asian variant on the one-dimensional alpha bitch bully."

She gave me a look. "You sound like you watch a lot of television."

I laughed again, and this time Lacy joined in.

Just as I was starting to feel better, Drew and her followers walked in, snickering uncontrollably.

"That was amazing Drew!" one cried.

"We should've taken pictures!" said another.

I felt my blood boil. I leapt to my feet, glaring at Drew. "You are such a mother fu—"

"Oh, calm down," Drew said dismissively. "I could've done a lot worse, believe me. You should thank me. That look was actually an improvement."

I lunged at Drew with my fist, but was held back by her goons.

"Don't move around so much," Drew taunted. "You're prone to sweating, and you wouldn't want to ruin your makeup, now would you?"

The anger that was rising in my gut finally exploded with a familiar painful tug.

A current of water from the cabin's toilet blasted the door off its hinges and barreled into me, Drew, and her friends. The water had no effect on me, but it knocked them to the floor, their perfect hair and make-up ruined.

I thought to myself How about a little more? A geyser of toilet water shot out faster than a speeding bullet. I willed the water to carry the girls out the front door, cursing and sputtering until they were sprawled into the mud.

My head was spinning but I managed to stay standing. Lacy, meanwhile, had to pick her jaw up off of the floor.

I walked outside to see that the audience had now doubled in size. Some were laughing, others were shaking their heads, but most were probably just wishing that we could have cell phones inside camp to record this and upload to the demigod equivalent of YouTube (DemiTube?).

Drew shakily stood up, her wavy locks now flattened and grimy and her clothes filthy.

"You," she spat at me. "You little…UGH!" She stomped her foot in the mud in frustration.

"Calm down, Drew," I said mockingly. "Now we both look awful."

Needless to say, we both got into trouble. Mr. D turned us into shrubs and assigned us to stable cleaning duty after he turned us back. I got the added punishment of listening to Drew complain the whole time.

So, yeah. Me and Drew are not friends.

I couldn't be too mad at the Stolls, though. Drew manipulated them with charmspeak, and although the Trolls—I mean Stolls—liked a good prank more than the next guy, even they weren't that cruel.

Lacy and I became friends after that. In a lot of ways, she reminded me of my sister, Alana, just a bit sweeter and less condescending. I felt bad that she had to wear the shoes of shame for standing up to Drew for me. She was proof that not all Aphrodite kids were jerks.

Drew and I were on better terms now; we mostly stuck to name-calling and giving each other dirty looks. I knew for a fact that Drew Tanaka was an ice queen. Lacy was wrong. There was no way on earth that Drew was ever nice.

Dinner was excellent, but lonely without Percy. I never liked eating alone at camp, and with Percy missing, I felt a lot more isolated than normal.

Then it was time for the camp fire. I sat next to Nyssa and her siblings. I embarrassed Nyssa with my horrible singing and joked around with the new camper, Leo. He seemed like a cool and funny guy, but I wondered whether or not he'd fit into cabin nine. They all were pretty down recently because of Jake Mason, the dragon, and the curse. I couldn't help but think how sad it would be if Leo became jaded like the rest of them.

After the sing along, Chiron came up and greeted the new arrivals. He asked the Hephaestus cabin about the dragon situation, and Nyssa announced that they were working on it "really hard." This information did not bode well for the Ares cabin. Chiron silenced the crowd by banging his hoof.

Nyssa looked absolutely miserable. I tried cheering her up, but my words were cut short when a voice from the crowd said, "What about Percy?"

I stiffen, my attention fixed towards Annabeth. From my seat I could see the bags under her eyes from the lack of sleep. The sputtering fire cast shadows over her face that made her look almost eerie. She announced the news that Lacy already told me earlier.

"Chiron's talking about something different," Annabeth said. "A new quest."

A girl's voice called out, "It's the Great Prophecy, isn't it?"

I rolled my eyes reflexively at the sound of Drew's voice. Drew never really spoke up during the campfire, or during anything that wasn't idle gossip, which was strange since she obviously loved being the center of attention.

"What's the Great Prophecy?" I whispered to Nyssa.

She gave me a look. "You never heard of the Great Prophecy?"

I shrugged. "I'm always out of the loop until the last second."

Drew drew (unintentional pun is unintentional) the conclusion that the Great Prophecy was starting since Olympus shut down and all the weirdness since Percy disappeared until today. Though, if this was some sort of epic prophecy, she didn't really seem to care one way or another.

Another thing to hate about Drew: She was way too smart for how much of a jerk she was. It wasn't fair.

Everyone was silent as all eyes were trained on a redheaded girl who sat in the front. She wore a green blouse instead of the usual camp shirt. Despite never seeing her before, I knew instantly who she was: Rachel Elizabeth Dare. The Oracle of Delphi.

Rachel stepped forward and addressed the crowd calmly. "Yes. The Great Prophecy has begun."

And that's when all Hades broke loose; dozen of voices speaking all at once, asking the same questions that everyone wanted to know. The mood of the camp caused the fire to change colors and height sporadically. This prophecy, whatever it was, was a huge deal; the prophecy to end all prophecies, and considering that the last one prediction the Second Titan War, well, this one wasn't looking too bright.

The talking subsided. Rachel took a step forward and started to recite the prophecy, until Jason jump up and started chanting in Latin like he was trying to exercise the whole camp of evil demons.

I wasn't the only one stunned into silence. I didn't know much Latin outside of Pig Latin and my family's unofficial motto (then again, that was a joke by my uncle, Kristof), but it was clear that Jason either finished the prophecy in Latin, or he was crazy and just knew how to speak Latin.

All eyes were on Jason as he tried to explain why he knew the prophecy to Rachel.

Drew made a little comment that made her and her friends giggle. Even I wasn't that stupid about boys. Okay, I was, but it was a different brand of stupid. I was diet stupid.

Rachel went on about the Great Prophecy. "The seven Demigods, whoever they are, have not been gathered yet. I get the feeling that some are here tonight. Some are not here."

Campers started to look at each other nervously, with more eyes on me than I was comfortable with. As a daughter of Poseidon, I was a prime suspect to be a hero of a prophecy. My status as a child of the big three was always something I preferred to ignore. I wanted to be treated like an equal, not elevated just because of who my godly parent was. It always hurt when I couldn't live up to expectation, even before I came to camp. People at my old school expected a lot from me because Alana was friggin' perfect. At camp it was better, except when people expected me to be a good of sword fighter as Percy, or just as powerful as he was.

Rachel continued to address the group, confirming my suspicion about the prophecy. The camp was silent. The bonfire changed from green to purple, feeding off of everyone's nervous energy.

Then, Rachel delivered this Wham Line: "Then queen of the gods has been taken."

A beat of silence before chaos broke. How could the super powerful queen of the gods be captured, and why?

Rachel explained what happened to the three new Demigods before they were rescued by Annabeth and Butch (And I thought my first run in with monsters was rough); the vision that Jason and the new girl, Piper, got from Hera herself. It was obvious that Jason was the one to lead the new quest.

One Ares kid called out, "If he's so important, than why hasn't he been claimed yet?"

Chiron said that he has been claimed and told Jason to give us a demonstration.

Jason looked unsure at first, then he pulled out a coin from his pocket a flipped it. In midair it transformed into a golden spear. There were wave reviews from the Ares cabin.

The Jason raised his spear. Thunder rumbled and lighting struck Jason's lance and shot into the fire pit like an explosion. The silence that followed felt louder.

My mouth hung open as I stared at Jason, the hairs on my arms still standing straight up. Another child of the big three. No way... But here he was.

A log from the fire pit had landed right by Clovis's sleeping face. He didn't budge an inch. Classic Clovis.

The camp was once again sent into disarray, but was quieted just as quickly as Rachel prepared to give Jason his prophecy.

Her eyes glowed with a green light, and another woman's voice came out of her.

I'd never seen the Oracle in action, so I was in no way prepared for how creepy and ominous her presence would be. I fought the urge to run and hide as the Oracle of Delphi channeled through Rachel and spoke the prophecy.

When she was done, a few campers raced to catch her and sat her on a stool. Apparently we had drills for this type of thing.

Everyone started to discuss the meaning of the prophecy and who would go on the quest with Jason. Annabeth declined, partially because of her hatred for Hera and because she planned on searching for Percy by herself tomorrow. I couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy that Annabeth was going without me.

Nyssa begrudgingly volunteered to go on the quest since the forge meant Hephaestus. But then Leo volunteered, promising Jason that he could get them a ride that didn't travel over land. How he planned on doing that was anyone's guess.

Piper insisted on going on the quest, but of course Drew had to belittle her and use charmspeak to convince everyone that she should be the one who goes on the quest.

As much as I hated to admit it, Drew's charmspeak still had power over me. I felt myself agreeing with her. She should be the one to go on the quest. It made complete sense. The dove meant Aphrodite, after all…

Piper argued against that, and I started to agree with her. Yeah, that made more sense; she came to camp with Leo and Jason. She should go on the quest.

Then, a pink aura appeared around Piper, and her clothes were changed to that of a Greek goddess's, complete with perfect makeup an. She looked beautiful, but absolutely mortified. I could relate; I hated dresses, too. I only owned two and only wore them when I had to.

The only thing more beautiful was Drew's reaction. If she were a cartoon character, her face would be red and she'd have steam coming out of her ears.

Everyone bowed respectfully towards the new girl, Piper McLean, as Chiron declared her to be a new daughter of Aphrodite.

As everyone was fawning over Piper, I noticed Leo sneaking off to the woods. No one else seemed to notice him leaving.

I frowned. What on earth was he planning to do

On an impulse, I decided to figure out what he was up to. I snuck away from the crowd to my cabin and grabbed a flash light before heading off into the woods to follow him.

One of the first things you learn at camp is not to go into the woods alone. I'm pretty sure that went double for at night.

I trekked along silently, alert for any noise that might have been Leo, a monster, or a metal dragon. I could hear monsters growl and crawl along the forest floor, ruffling fallen leafs as they moved. Every once in a while a dryad would reposition her tree somewhere else in the forest.

I've played Captured the Flag dozens of times, and even gone to slay monsters with friends on a couple of occasions. I thought I knew the forest well, but I wasn't even close. The forest was alive, always changing, always moving.

Wow, that's unsettling.

Even normal things, like owls, freaked me out with their glowing yellow eyes. I wouldn't have been surprise if Michael Myers or Jason—the horror movie Jason, not the new guy—leapt out of the shadows and stabbed me in the face (I'd live, of course. The virgin always does).

I drew my sword, the celestial bronze casted a faint glow in front of me. I remembered the last time I used it in serious combat; the blood red glow of the sea glass; the joy I felt when fighting. I hadn't thought much about that since it happened; the memory was still a little fuzzy. I wondered if the sword was cursed and that was why Annabeth was apprehensive about me having it. Then again, if it was cursed, wouldn't someone have already destroyed it or at least locked it away somewhere?

My sword was my protection. I know it sounds silly, but I felt as I was connected to it and was meant to have it. No other weapon would do. But could I still trust it? Or better yet, could I trust myself with it? Would I get out of control and start attacking anyone and everybody?

Nah, I thought. I would never do that. That wasn't the kind of person I was. As long as I kept everything under control, I would be okay.

I walked deeper and deeper into the woods, feeling as if I were being watched the entire time.

The sound of two cars slamming into each other made me jump and my ears ring. On instinct, I headed towards the direction of the sound. The smell of motor oil and tobacco sauce grew stronger. A light flickered in the trees ahead of me. I dashed toward it, not prepared for what I was about to see.

The metal dragon was finally caught, trapped inside the golden net. It wiggled and squirmed, trying to get free.

I gaped. "What—"

Then a figured came into view, struggling to climb over the thrashing dragon. It was Leo. He managed to get to the dragon's head when he finally spotted me. I stared back at him.

We made eye contact long enough for it the Awkwardness Meter to short circuit and explode.

"Hi," I finally said.

Leo looked at me like I was off my rocker. "Hi?"

I ignored the tone in his voice and continued to gawk at the scene before me. "So… this was your plan? The haywire dragon?"

"Well," he sighed. "I planned on fixing it."

"But it doesn't have any wings."

"I know that now."

"You have a backup plan?"

"I'm working on it?

"So the answer's no?"

"What am I, on trial here?" Leo complained. "Why were you following me, anyway? You have a crush on me or something?"

"No," I said. "I mean yes, but not about the crush thing. I just wanted to know what you had planned."

"Why?"

I sighed, sitting down next to the motor oil pit. "Percy is my brother and I want to find him, but Chiron says I have to go home for the holidays. I didn't have much of a plan either, outside of following you. I can't help you build wings for a dragon and I don't know what to do…"

My voice quivered a bit at the end. The vapors from the pit were starting to bug my eyes.

Leo was quiet for a while before sighing. "Well, how about helping out by shining that flashlight over this way? I need to find his control panel."

I smiled appreciatively and shined the light in his direction. He went back to searching in silence.

Every once in a while there would be a noise in the wood—a drakon slithering on the forest floor, insomniac dryads, etcetera. But nothing bothered us. The silence was becoming unbearable, so I decide to break it.

"How you liking camp so far?" I asked Leo.

"Seems awesome," he said. "Dangerous training, cute girls. But I wasn't too excited to being called a Vulcan, though."

"Well, you do kinda have the ears for it," I joked.

"That was harsh," he said, although there was a lightness in his voice. "I barely know you."

"Hey, it was a complement. I had a crush on Spock when I was six years."

I blinked, not sure why I admitted that to him. Only my friends knew I was a closet geek.

Leo choked back a laugh. "Wow. That is super geeky."

"So I like sci-fi flicks," I shrugged. "Sue me."

"Any other weird crushes I should know about before you start to worry me?"

I was silent for a moment. "Santa Clause, but that's neither here nor there. Did you find whatever you were looking for yet?"

"Actually… yes!"

He cracked open the dragon's head and started to examine it. Leo went on to explain what was wrong, but I didn't follow his techno babble. Bottom line, the dragon's brain was rusty, which I kinda thought was obvious.

Leo pulled out something round and flat from the dragon's head and the dragon stopped moving, its eyes dimming.

"Did you just kill it?" I asked.

"What? No." Leo slid off of the dragon's back. "I'm just cleaning his disk. It would be better if I knew how to make a new one, but I don't have time. Besides, I don't want to risk keeping his disk out forever."

Leo used to motor oil and tobacco concoction to clean the grime off the disk.

"Percy found it, y'know?" I said.

"Huh?"

"My brother and yours, actually, found the dragon in the woods during a game Capture the Flag. It's a long story involving giant ants that spray acid."

"Capture the Flag, huh?" Leo said. "I'm guessing you're all allowed to use sharp pointy weapons to play that totally safe game."

"Mmm-hmm. Now that you found the dragon, we can start playing again."

"Sounds like fun," he said drily.

"You'll love it," I insisted. "Hey, after your quest, how bout I join the Hephaestus team. I'm usually on recon or sabotage if I'm not the distraction. I'll make sure the kids from the Ares, Enyo, and Nike cabins don't skewer you alive. The three of them on one team is a dangerous threesome."

"A dangerous threesome?" he repeated. "I can't wait."

Leo placed the disk back into the dragon's head, fiddled with the wires, and the dragon sparked back to life. It whirled its drill like teeth, flashing the world's most painful pair of fangs.

"Hold on," Leo said to the dragon the way some one might speak to a dog. "I'm going to free you."

I helped him find release clamps and untangle the dragon out of the net. When we were done, it stood and shot fire into the sky. Out of habit, I stepped back and drew my sword. But, thankfully, the dragon didn't attack us.

"There's pillar of fire in the sky like we shot off a flare?" I muttered. "The harpies will never find us now."

Leo, however, looked up undaunted at the dragon. "Could you not show off?"

The dragon let out a long creeeaaak like it was trying to say something.

"He needs a name," Leo said. "I'm naming him Festus"

"Festus," I repeated. "Sounds like Festivus."

Leo looked at me as if I mutated. "What the heck is Festivus?"

"I'll explain later."

"That's good and all, but we still have a problem." He turned back to Festus, "You don't have any wings."

The dragon—Festus—kneeled down in a familiar stance I've seen with many Pegasi. He wanted us to get on.

Leo excitedly climbed onto Festus's back. I followed suit, hoisting myself onto the dragon with the help of Leo. I barely had time to wrap my arms around Leo's waist before the dragon took off at top speed, taking us deeper into the woods.

A/N: I both love and hate this chapter.

My least favorite thing in fanfiction is where I'm reading the same story with one extra person in there, retelling what I've already seen/read. I've been guilty of it before on my old Lunaescence account with my A:TLA fanfic (which is horrendous and remains unfinished). This time around, I tried to include what thought was necessary. Unfortunately, it was inevitable with the way I was telling Kai's story. Kai is there during The Lost Hero, but isn't a main part of it. She has her own story. However, she does react to what's happening and takes it all in. I felt that I had to show that all while trying to not retell you guys a story you already know. I mainly used the dialogue in the book to break up the paragraphs of summarizing. I kept some things and omitted others. I think I did pretty god :)

I was anxious to write this chapter because I knew that Kai was going to be there when Leo discovered Bunker Nine, but I didn't want to repeat my past mistakes (example: Zuko dawns the blue spirit disguise because Princess Mary McSue inspired him, and look! She even has her own mask and blahblahBLAH!). She couldn't help too much since that would steal all the credit from Leo, but I didn't want her to be completely useless. So I hope this chapter wasn't too redundant, I promise it won't be as bad in the future.

Lost Relics sets things up for future installments, which I'm already plotting out. You won't be disappointed ;)

P.S. Kai's unofficial family motto is "Piscis aut non piscibus?" To fish or not to fish?