A/N: Sorry for the longish wait! I hope I make up for it in the longest chapter yet. Hope you enjoy! Reviews are always read and appreciated!


CHAPTER SEVEN

Travis thought that a nice kiss would ease the tension between him and Katie, but gods of Olympus, was he wrong. Not only was she fuming about him kissing her, but then everything he did was more annoying to her than usual.

He doodled with a pen on a napkin he had snatched off the train, and Katie complained that it was pointless because the napkin kept ripping. He hummed a few Pink Floyd songs and Katie told him there was a reason he wasn't Apollo's son. He offered her his sweatshirt and she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

There was just no pleasing her now. Why had he even kissed her? It hasn't been a bad kiss; in fact, it had been pretty good. Who knew, though? This was Katie Gardner. Travis knew that her sister Miranda, her best friend, didn't even understand Katie sometimes.

"We can sleep here tonight," Katie said, not looking at Travis. "The grass is freshly cut, so there won't be too many bugs or weeds. And in the morning, those trees over there will give us some shade, and the ground don't be too wet with dew."

"Cool," Travis replied, which earned him an eye roll. He leaned back, surprised. What had he done?

He set his backpack down and sat on the grass. Katie mimicked him and did the same, although she sat at least ten feet away from him.

"I have a drachma," she told Travis, rummaging through her bag. "Who should we Iris-message?"

"Oh, I need to talk to Connor," Travis answered immediately. "We had a prank for Ares involving strawberries, and the ones we stole...er, picked from the fields are going to mold soon."

Katie glared at Travis. "That's where the missing baskets went?" she demanded, raising an eyebrow. "Travis, you stole over three pounds of strawberries from us! Do you know how long it takes to pick strawberries?"

Travis shrugged. "Nope."

Katie groaned. She brought out a small shard of glass and her drachma. "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show me Connor Stoll, son of Hermes. Camp Half-Blood."

Travis cautiously walked over to crouch behind Katie. She didn't slap him, so he figured he was okay. The glass shimmered in the sunlight and Connor's smiling face appeared in it.

"Ew," Travis greeted. "How are things, little brother?"

"Okay," Connor answered, his smile fading. "Not okay, actually. Annabeth and some buff guy got a hint at Percy, so they're going to...the Grand Canyon, I think. I'm not sure."

"What's everyone else doing?" Katie asked.

"We're trying to prepare for...well, whatever's happening," Connor sighed. Travis frowned. In just a few weeks, his little brother looked much older. "The Curse of Cabin Nine is so bad, though. Jake made me a sword last week, and the second it hit Sherman's, it exploded into flames. The Aphrodite girls are all following Drew, which means that they're actually not doing anything, so all the buildings are filthy. The Athena cabin got cursed by the Apollo cabin for some reason, so they're all speaking in rhymes and they sound even nerdier than before." He shuddered. Then he looked expectantly at Katie and Travis. "How are you guys?"

"We've found three demigods and sent them back to Camp," Katie answered obediently. Travis wanted to roll his eyes. When it came to announcing her own achievements, Katie was the most prideful person he knew. "We were on the west coast for awhile and saw Hera get kidnapped—"

"Oh!" Connor interrupted, looking worried. "Yeah, we got word of that. Zeus is super angry, and apparently there's a bunch of tension on Olympus." His eyes widened. "Wait, you saw it? You were there? Hades, Travis, the gods are out to get you!"

Katie whipped around to glare at Travis. "I told you we should worry! This is not good!"

"Where's Nico?" Connor suddenly asked, trying to see behind Katie. "Some Hecate kids stole the fire from the front of his cabin. Thought he'd like to know."

Katie shuffled uncomfortably, realizing that their achievements on this quest weren't that great. It had taken them almost two weeks to find three demigods, they'd lost a member of their quest, they watched a goddess get captured, and had made many gods upset. That wasn't something to brag about. Also, Travis had kissed her! It hadn't been a bad kiss; in fact, it had been nice, actually. But it was Travis Stoll; Katie hated him, right?

Travis looked uncomfortable, too. He cleared his throat. "Nico...found something, so he went to go check that out. He's fine. I hope."

Connor's jaw dropped. Then he shook his head, chuckling. "Well, you two will be in a huge amount of trouble when you get back here. Good luck! I'll tell Chiron you said hello!" The image disappeared.

Katie glared at Travis. "That was such a waste of a drachma! He didn't even tell us anything!"

"Hey, that's my brother," Travis warned. "He told us how things are at Camp. He's doing more than your siblings!"

"My siblings aren't even at Camp right now!"

"Exactly!"

Katie huffed. Travis was, unfortunately, right. While the demigods at Camp were training harder than ever and fretting, her siblings were with their mortal parent, going to school, and probably didn't even know that Percy was missing. Katie envied them.

The tree next to them suddenly began to vibrate and shake. Katie hopped up, wondering what kind of tree nymph was about to kill them, and Travis pulled out his sword. He really hoped he wouldn't have to use it.

His hope came true; Nico di Angelo coughed, stumbled forward, and grinned sheepishly at them.

"Hey guys," he said, catching his breath. "I have some news."

Ω

Nico wasn't allowed to tell them everything he had found out. All he told them was that Percy was alive but didn't have his memories. Then, explaining that he would be exterminated in a second if the gods found out he knew this, he made them swear to secrecy.

"Yeah, yeah," Travis drawled, leaning against the tree. "I won't tell."

"I'm serious," Nico deadpanned, looking scared. "If you go back to Camp, you can't tell them what I just told you."

"If 'you' go back to Camp?" Katie asked, looking at the son of Hades. "What, you're planning on leaving us again? Do you realize what happened while you were gone? Travis had a rhyming battle with the god of terror and then he kissed me!"

Nico looked surprised for a moment, but once Katie told him Travis had kissed her, he grinned to himself. His debt to Aphrodite was slowly being paid off. Now all he had to do was admit his feelings for Percy...if Percy even remembered him, that was.

Travis rolled his eyes. "Come on, Katherine. Don't deny you didn't love it."

"I didn't!"

Nico sighed. "Guys, listen. I don't want to, but I can't stay with you. I can shadow travel you all to where I'm going, though. Back to California."

Travis groaned. "Gods, I just want to stay in one place for one night. Is that too much to ask for?" But he was already packing up his backpack, knowing that they were going back to California.

Nico stood in between Travis and Katie. He told them to hang out to his backpack, envisioned the warm sun and palm trees near the coast, and they were gone.

Ω

"Nico, this isn't California," Travis stated dumbly, staring at the huge sign in front of him that stated they were in Florida. "Wrong coast entirely."

Katie was kneeling next to Nico, feeding him small pieces of his ambrosia. Shadow traveling two people must have been hard on him, she figured. The thirteen-year-old was wheezing like he was having an asthma attack and was flushed and sweaty.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Nico said once he caught his breath. He shook his head. "I just need practice, I guess. Maybe there's some demigods here, though."

"I don't think so," Katie said. They were on a dock with old-looking boats. A spa was a few feet down, looking oddly clean next to the mucky water. A shiver went down Katie's spine. "On second thought, let's check this place out."

"C.C.'s Spa and Resort," Travis read out loud after a few tries. "Hey, a resort! Let's go!"

"Don't get distracted," Nico warned them. "That place reeks of magic. It might be like the Lotus Casino."

Travis frowned. "So...no resort?"

"We might as well see what's inside," Katie mused. "Maybe C.C. is on our side." She knew that probably wasn't true. What good, kind-hearted person would set up a creepy magical spa along the coast of Florida, right next to the Bermuda Triangle?

Nico wished them luck. Katie whirled on him immediately, telling him he was in no shape to shadow travel all the way to California.

Nico assured her he wouldn't. He would call his hellhound, Mrs. O'Leary, and she would take him to California. Before Katie could protest, he began walking away, and Nico di Angelo had left them again.

Travis was staring at the door, which depicted beautiful woman petting ugly pigs and other rodents. There weren't any guys in the scene, which he thought was a little strange. A ran a hand through his hair, thinking, before he realized that his brown hair was greasy and clumpy. Gross. What would Katie think?

Wait a minute. Why did he care what Katie thought?

"Go in, you idiot," Katie huffed, crossing her arms behind him. "Don't just stand there!"

Travis gave her a mock glare before pushing open the door. He gaped at what he saw. There were beautiful Greek columns embroidered with magical plants and gold detail. The space was open, and through a large opening he could see green gardens and a library that would make Annabeth weak. All around them, pretty girls with elegant braids and white togas milled around.

"Oh, wow," Katie breathed, bending down to touch a plant. "I bet these were blessed by my mother herself."

"You're right, sweetie," a woman chuckled, walking over to them. She had tan skin, elegant-looking makeup, and was wearing colorful robes. "Demeter gave those to me a few millennia ago. They're—"

"Aconite," Katie murmured. "I've never seen one in real life before."

"Well, now you can!" the woman replied jovially. "I'm C.C., darling. You, girl, can do anything you want to do here."

Travis raised his hand. "What about me, boy?"

C.C. studied Travis; she started at his dirty, ripped Converse sneakers and made her way through his wrinkled pants to his white shirt with Katie's blood on it to his mop of greasy hair. Travis figured he probably wasn't making the best impression.

"There's separate activities for boys like you on the other side," she said vaguely, waving her hand. "My building is magic, so it stretches for miles onward, when it looks very tiny on the outside." She turned toward Katie, ignoring Travis. "Why don't we go get you a bath and a massage, and then you can walk through the garden? I'll take your friend here to the men's section."

Katie had a bad feeling about this woman. She racked her brain, trying to think of words that two C's could stand for. Creepy Calypso? Crude Calliope? She couldn't think of anything.

She glanced at Travis. He looked extremely uncomfortable with C.C. feeling and judging his muscles, studying his clothes, and peering into his eyes. She figured that he deserved to suffer, at least for a little while, so she let herself be led away by two smiling girls who assured her that she would just love it here.

Ω

"Oh my gods!"

Katie stared at herself in shock. She looked...well, she didn't want to be too arrogant or prideful, but she could easily pass for a daughter of Aphrodite at the moment. She was freshly bathed and her thick brown hair was straightened and put into a near fishtail braid; she had put lotion on that made her skin soft and seem to glow; her earthy eyes looked warm with the minimal mascara the girls had put on her; the short Greek-style dress she was wearing made her legs look shapely and long. Did the Aphrodite girls feel like this every day? No wonder they didn't want to waste their time sword fighting.

One of the girls who had put on her makeup smiled. "Isn't it amazing, how we can transform so quickly?"

"Yes," the other girl answered, folding her hands dreamily. "It's almost like magic." The two girls giggled together, making Katie slightly uneasy.

She wondered where Travis was. She felt guilty, now that he was gone, that she had been trying to punish him for kissing her. Why had he kissed her, after all? It was probably some prank he had planned, and when—if—they arrived back at Camp, he would tell everybody that Kathie Gardner was a bad kisser and a gullible demigod.

Oh, gods. Katie sighed. That was a highly possible scenario. She could just imagine all of the Aphrodite girls taunting her and trying to make her their personal doll. She'd seen it happen to Annabeth once she had admitted her feelings for Percy; the effects were not pretty. (Well, Annabeth ended up physically looking pretty, but the process to get there was not.)

"Where are the boys?" Katie blurted. She immediately cursed herself. Travis was right; she couldn't keep her mouth shut.

One of the girls waved her hand, as if she couldn't care less. "Somewhere in the other room. Why do you care?" She glanced suspiciously at Katie. "Men are pigs."

"I don't care," Katie replied quickly. "I just need to make sure Travis doesn't idiotically get himself killed somehow. We're on a quest and I would be in so much trouble if I didn't come back with him." As she said that, she realized how true that would be. Everyone's emotions would be at an all-time high because of Percy's disappearance, and if she came back without Nico and Travis…

The other girl leaned forward, interested. Her eyes seemed to gleam. "A quest, really? I never got to go on any one of those when I was at camp."

Katie stared at her blankly. The girl sighed sadly.

"I'm Robyn, daughter of Apollo," she explained, and Katie could suddenly see the resemblance. Robyn had inherited Apollo's bright, fiery eyes and quirky mouth. "I was at Camp Half-Blood for about two months after being claimed…well, before I continue, you're from there, right?"

"Um, yes," Katie answered, confused. "Where else would a demigod be from?"

A boom sounded from one of the farther rooms, and the other girl next to Robyn quickly excused herself. Katie held her dagger tightly in the pocket of her dress. Her heart was beating prominently and she felt tingles shoot up her back; it was the feeling she got whenever something bad was about to happen.

"Never mind," Robyn answered. She unbraided her hair and began to redo it. "I was there for two months when I read a philosophy book. It said that life doesn't matter; you're constantly striving for something out of your reach until you die. I realized it was true! So I left Camp, thinking at least my little brother Will would at least Iris message me, but no one even noticed. If you're not head counselor or go on a quest, you're not really a camper. You're just a space filler, a background person…an extra."

Katie's breath hitched. From what Percy had told them years ago, this sounded exactly like Luke Castellan's rant about the gods before he worked for Kronos. She gripped her dagger so tightly that her knuckles became sore and she was forced to loosen her grip.

"I found myself here, and C.C. granted me immortality, as long as I worked for her," Robyn continued. "We're not on anyone's side, per say. That little battle you guys had in Manhattan? We didn't participate."

"Little?" Katie shrieked, remembering too many shrouds that had to be burned, too many faces with tears marring their cheeks, too many hardships that the teenaged campers had to go through. "Friends died! The youngest camper to go was nine years old! That's not little, Robyn."

Robyn suddenly looked worried as Katie's breathing began to rapidly quicken. Katie pressed a hand to her side and the other to her head. Her mind was filling with visions of the battle. There were images of her and Miranda, frantically growing the most poisonous plants they could think of; Percy Jackson, calling out the defense system to his home city; the poor mortals, slowly moving and sleeping like nothing was wrong when everything was; Travis and Connor, looking somehow gleeful as they slashed at monsters and had spit and blood sprayed on them…

She fell over on the ground. Tears were running down her face and she was screaming while thinking, What am I doing? What's going on?

"She's having a panic attack!" Robyn yelled. "Girls, Circe, come here! Help me!"

Katie's eyes widened when she remembered the stories about Circe, and then they closed as she passed out.

Ω

Travis shook his head again. C.C. was offering him magical drinks and delicious-looking food, and even though Travis hadn't eaten in nearly twenty hours, he knew better than to take things from a large woman who knew the gods. That never ended up well.

"Look in the mirror, Travis," C.C. ordered. Travis complied. He didn't see anything different; sure, he had taken a bath in a seriously nice gleaming tub, so his skin was glowing and he looked very clean, but other than that, everything was the same. His muscles were nicely defined by the gray tee shirt he had been provided, and his hair looked as great as ever. He looked good.

"Sorry, but I really don't see any difference," he sighed. "No drink or food will make me any hotter than I am right now. I really should've been a son of Aphrodite, you know?"

C.C.'s nostrils flared, and her eyes seemed to glow for a minute before she calmed down. "Unbelievable," she murmured, shaking her head. She fiddled with the loom beside her. "Never…in five thousand years…has someone so egotistical and narcissist entered my domain…"

Travis shrugged. He really couldn't help it that he was so good-looking.

Suddenly, a girl started screaming down the hall. It sounded like she was in pain. Travis watched, uninterested, as C.C. jumped and began to exit through the door to see what was going on. He was planning on waiting in the room he was in for C.C. when the scream became shriller. He shivered.

How many times had he heard that voice; screaming at him to move faster in the breakfast line, screaming at him to stop using so much paper, screaming at him to stop his pranks? Too many times, that was for sure. Katie Gardner was screaming in pain down the hallway.

An odd, unwanted, protective feeling developed in Travis's chest. He didn't mind causing pain and annoyance to Katie, but that was his job and no one else's. What were those freaky girls doing to her? It couldn't have been a boy, because Travis had seen none since they arrived. He leaped up and began to run after C.C. when the door slammed shut and locked itself. He screamed a curse and kicked the door.

"Hey, she's my friend!" Travis shouted, banging on the door. Katie's screaming and crying had ceased, but who was to say she was okay? He carefully studied the room. There wasn't anything special; just the loom, a few paintings, and a cage of silent guinea pigs. There was nothing he could use to quickly pick the lock on the door; his trusty pick was in his pants that had been taken from him during his bath. "C.C., whoever you are, let me out!"

He kicked the door one more time, and when his foot felt the impact of the door, his vision went white and he fell over, coughing. It was almost as if the door had pushed him back.

He stood up and lunged, preparing to throw himself at the door again when he frowned. He was in a different room with much more décor and detail than a few guinea pigs; this room had a ping pong table, framed pictures, papers tacked to the wall, and most importantly, fifteen teenagers and a centaur staring back at him.

Holy Hades. He was in the Big House at Camp Half-Blood.

"TRAVIS!" Connor shouted loudly, making most of the campers wince. They stared at Travis in shock as Connor bounded from his seat and wrapped his older brother in a hug. He stepped back and studied Travis. "How did you get here, dude? Where's Katie-Cat?"

"Travis—" Chiron said, but he got cut off.

"How am I here?" Travis demanded, spinning around. It wasn't a dream. He really was back home, without two of his quest members. One was weakly shadow traveling and the other was possibly dead. "Katie and I were in Florida! We were at this magical place, and there was a woman C.C., and she locked me in a room while Katie was screaming and I kicked the door and when I kicked it a third time I fell over and now I'm h—"

"Slow down," Clarisse demanded. She had dark bags under her eyes and it looked like she hadn't showered in days. Travis figured that was her best look. "You're giving me a headache. Gardner can handle herself for a few minutes. Where's di Angelo? Did you get a lead on Percy?"

"Katie could be dead!" Travis argued, hating Clarisse more than he already did.

"A lot of us could be dead," Will informed him, crossing his arms. "There are almost as many people in the infirmary as the battle. It's insane."

"Okay, fine," Travis sighed. He was disappointed that only his brother was at least somewhat happy to see him, but he knew that everyone was stressed and dealing with their own problems. Most of them had probably forgotten he was on a quest. He decided to break up his story into basic sentences, since each one would definitely cause unpleasant reactions.

"After sending back the two twins of Apollo, Katie, Nico, and I saw Hera get swallowed up by the earth in California." Gasps and whispers broke out among the few teenagers, and although he looked extremely shocked when Travis mentioned the location, Chiron stamped his hoof and nodded at the son of Hermes to continue.

"The Underworld doors are open, meaning monsters and the dead can come back here. Beckendorf…we talked to him. It was crazy, dude. He, um, he told us that they could watch us in the Underworld, and he said it was pointless to look for Percy because things will work out." Travis almost jumped up at everyone's reactions. People looked sad when he mentioned the old head counselor for Cabin Nine, especially Jake and Chiron, and then they looked shocked at the mention of Percy.

Clarisse scoffed. "This is great. I sent my brother out to look for that stupid piece of kelp." She glared at Travis like it was his fault, but he understood. Everyone needed someone to blame for all these problems. When he had found out Luke was the betrayer of the camp, he had blamed Chiron, Annabeth, Hermes, and even himself before he realized he had no one to blame but Luke.

Travis hesitated. "Um, Clarisse, you might want to hear this," he said quietly. "Silena didn't make it to Elysium. She's in Asphodel, I think, not Punishment, but she didn't die a—"

"Don't even say what I think you're about to say," Clarisse whispered, her voice quieter than Travis had ever heard it but somehow the harshest tone she'd ever used. "Don't you dare say she didn't die a hero, Stoll. You weren't there. You weren't there. You weren't…" She shook her head, and for the first time in his seventeen years of living, Travis saw a tear make its lonely way down Clarisse's cheek.

"I'm sorry," Travis said, but the apology sounded bland to him, so it probably sounded sarcastic to Clarisse. "After that, Nico left, saying he knew how to find Percy. We met up with him in Ohio, and he shadow traveled us to Florida, where he left again. That's where Katie and I met C.C., whoever that really is, and then I somehow ended up here."

Chiron was silent for a long moment. He stroked his beard, sighed, closed his eyes, trotted in a circle, and repeated the actions five times before dismissing everyone except Travis. The son of Hermes gulped as he stood alone with the centaur.

"You can't go back," Chiron said suddenly. "It is much too dangerous, Travis. One of our groups looking for Percy in Georgia can try and find Katie." Travis wanted to scream. No one could even say the son of Poseidon's name without hesitating or looking sad, but they all acted as if Katie disappearing were fine. That wasn't fair.

"What? No, I'm looking for her," Travis insisted. "Chiron, please. I'll feel terrible if something happens to her or Nico. It's not fair that I get to come back home safely and they're out there fighting for their lives."

"You don't know that they are, child," Chiron pointed out. Travis bit on his tongue to keep from arguing that he was going to be eighteen in less than a year, but he decided against it.

He trudged over to Cabin Eleven. Usually at nighttime, his siblings and the unclaimed demigods were listening to loud music, searching for lost items, gloating over newly acclaimed items, arguing, eating, and definitely not sleeping. Now, though, as he entered, he was met with darkness and silence. He flicked on the lights to see everyone in their bed or sleeping bag, either asleep or avoiding eye contact with him. Connor nodded at him before rolling on his side.

Travis sighed. He felt terrible. He missed Katie; yes, he missed her. She was going to hate him for this. He didn't care, as long as she ended up alive and okay.

He climbed into his bed, enjoying the comfort of a real mattress. Then he immediately felt guilty, thinking about Beckendorf, who would never get another good night's rest; Nico, who was probably passed out under a tree somewhere, exhausted from shadow traveling; and Katie, who was either being tortured by those creepy girls or about to die on the glass floor of C.C.'s spa. It wasn't fair that he got to easily sleep in his own cabin next to his own brother, alive. But he was tired.

Travis fell asleep thinking about going against Chiron's orders and the fact that his own father was the god of liars and, coincidentally, travelers.


A/N: Yay for really predictable cliffhangers! (sarcasm) I do apologize for all the dialogue. I had to include it, you know? R&R!