Sorry, people who hate cliffys, or as I like to call it, foreshadowing, because I don't! It keeps people reading. Also sorry if I don't update quick enough, because I have stuff to do! THANKS to all of you who like the story. Yeah, I know there aren't many, so I guess I'll have to improve it. Suggestions are welcome.

Percy POV

I should have figured it out, and I would have if not for the confusing animal thing… I think. The eyes! The way they changed colour in all shades of the… rainbow.

Yep, Arasien was the daughter of Iris. Frankly, fine-maybe I wouldn't have figured it out, because iris just didn't seem like the type to have children. Well, not to me, mostly because I didn't know any children of Iris. That is, until now.

"Arasien, congratulations. You can now set off for your quest having confirmed who your Olympian parent is," Chiron smiled. She grinned back uneasily, still not quite used to his being a centaur.

"One problem, Chiron."

"What? Isn't everyone happy now that you've been claimed? You know your other parent!"

"Well, I'd say the fact that I might not succeed in this quest and Kronos might smash you to a pulp overshadows that just a teensy bit, but you still haven't told me who my mom is." Arasien was getting annoyed.

"Your mother is Iris." I told her.

"Uh?" She gave me the befuddled look.

"Iris. Goddess of the rainbow. She sends iris messages, remember last night?"

"Oh! I knew that sounded familiar. So. When are we leaving?"

"Actually, I expected you to be a little more excited."

"Why? She dumped me in a street and let my dad to die. So are we getting to Peru as fast as we can or not?" She scrunched up her nose. Chiron gave me a worried look-and I understood it completely. He was afraid. Afraid that Arasien hated the gods. We all knew that was how the half-bloods who joined Kronos' side started off-resentment for their parents.

"Arasien, your mother had no choice! She probably thought that you were in good hands… How would anyone except the Oracle know things would turn out this way?! Gods have a life too!" Oops, wrong thing to say. She just got madder.

"Why can't I be part of her life?!" She exploded. "Why can't the gods just put their children into Camp Half-Blood the moment they're born? There are loads of demigods who were killed by monsters before they even had a chance!" She shot me a killer look. "I was almost one of them."

"Hey, I saved you!"

"You have NO IDEA how scary it was for me! I'd never seen a minotaur before!"

"Maybe I do!" I rolled my eyes, recalling my first, and rather hectic, day of camp.

"But you couldn't-didn't… you saw…" Arasien stuttered, then clamped her mouth shut rather suddenly.

"What? I didn't what?" I was suspicious. She was hiding something.

"NOTHING!" She clamped her mouth shut immediately.

Arasien POV.

I couldn't let them know my secret. It would give us a great advantage if the gossip on Mount Olympus spread like wildfire. When Hermes visited me the night before the quest (I was getting a bit sick of my life being so much like Percy's!!), he told me how everyone knew about Dionysus and the nymph. Even Kronos in that pit found out within literal seconds. And when all the half-bloods completed their quests? The labyrinth was found? Kronos knew. Oh, he knew. He knew every piece of news even after Luke merged into him. The minor gods were double agents. And I wasn't too sure anyone else could be trusted either, not even the not-so-minor gods. Not even fellow demigods. You never know… So I decided to keep it to myself. Sure, sooner or later they might guess, but at least we'd have a head start.

Oh yes, and that night, Hermes came to tell me that the gods would give me their full support, and that the ancient rules said that clues would be given on the way and they would make it obvious. Unfortunately, I thought, that would mean Kronos would also have a better chance to trick us.

I was starting to wonder if this was the right thing to do. I really needed to consider my choices. What if Kronos was right, and the gods were just exploiting us for their own purposes? It was actually kinda true, because all the quests were for them, not us! Camp Half-Blood was for us to hone our fighting skills-so we could ward of monsters for them. It was so unfair! And after the way they abandoned us too! The gods hardly thanked anyone for doing something for them either. Explaining why the telekhines became Kronos' allies.

But Kronos wasn't all a sweetie pie either. He'd tried to kill his own children in his thirst for power. And if I supported him, it meant I'd have to do horrible stuff like kill half-bloods who'd done nothing wrong, who were just being loyal to their parents. Like Percy. I couldn't do this to him, he'd saved my life! Not Beckendorf, either! He was so sweet and kind even if a little shy. And Grover had only disagreed to come on the quest with us because he cherished Juniper, who was worried for his life. Luckily, the Oracle hadn't predicted any death.

Nope, only possible failure.

I sighed and waited for the Hunters to arrive so that we could leave. But they didn't…