AN: Here's the next one! If you have any questions about it, don't be afraid to ask! I can't promise I will answer all of them, but I will do the ones I can! Anyways, A-MAJOR-Bookworm: Thanks for revewing! I am hoping it was a good wow... ;)

Also, I do not own any of the characters created by the brilliant Rick Riordan.

~ Chapter 7 ~

Nico POV

It's been two months since I watched Amber fall through a hole in the ground, and had a 'chat' with Hecate. Since that night, I have gotten very little sleep, trying to balance acting normal around the campers and keeping an eye on Amber. The only reason I have been getting away with it, is the fact that I have never stayed at camp for more than a week straight.

I still don't know much about the people Amber is with, but from what I can gather they are a bunch of kids led by two siblings. They wear ninja like pajamas around everywhere, Amber included, and spend quiet a bit of time inside museums. They also radiate a strange magic that makes my skin crawl, although I have been getting that feeling less and less as I have spied on them. All I can gather is they must be from a different mythology, which of course means that some other kind of gods are real. Just the thought of that sends my head spinning, so I have to force myself to concentrate on what I do know and understand. What I don't understand is why their headquarters are in an old abandoned warehouse that is so protected by magic that I can't get within ten feet without the chance of setting an alarm off. I have had to resort to spying on them when they come out on outings of various sorts. One of which they are on now.

I looked over at the small group of people from my hiding spot behind a bush. They were still sitting there, just as they had been for the past ten minutes. The tall African looking guy, who I assumed was the leader just from the way he carried himself, had set a picnic blanket down in front of an ancient looking statue in one of the parks located in Brooklyn. I couldn't recall the name, probably because I was always told to stay away from said area. They had all sat down on it, and had proceeded to talk about various things for ten whole minutes. The guy has been glancing at his watch pediodically the whole time, making me think that they are waiting on someone.

My ADD almost got the best of me, and I was just about to shadow travel to a different bush, when a portal of some sort opened up right in front of the statue. While I was extremely startled, the kids looked as if this is what they had been waiting for all along.

A lady in a leopard print leotard stepped out of the portal. After shrieking "My kittens!" she embraced the siblings and started inspecting them. She did the same to the other two kids that made up the group as well, a skinny guy with black hair and a tall athletic looking dude. Amber was fidgeting awkwardly as she waited for the lady to notice her presence. When she did, the cat lady looked at her warily before extending her hand and shaking Amber's in friendship.

I felt a cool breeze blow on my back toward the group. The cat lady stiffened. She hissed, her hair standing on end, and pulled out two long knives. The group of kids immediately pulled out weapons, from where I had no clue. They were all looking around for the threat, but nobody's eyes came close to my bush. That is, until Amber looked my way. I shadow traveled as fast as I could back to camp, but I could still remember the look on her face as she watched me dissapear.

Amber POV

The weeks following my appearance at Brooklyn house started falling into a routine. One of my favorite parts of the day was whatever works class, although I was so good at it, Carter started making me help him teach it. The other part of the day that really stood out, was when Sadie worked with me on my magic. I had no problem learning the hieroglyphs, as I could somehow read them automatically, and it took a lot longer for me to get tired than even Sadie.

Today had started out like every other day, but after lunch Carter gathered a small group of us to meet Bast. The group included Carter, Sadie, Felix, Walt, and me. We had to go to of the parks in Brooklyn, because Zia, Walt, and Jaz had just used the artifact in Brooklyn House and it was currently cooling down.

Once we were at the arranged monument, we all sat down on a picnic blanket Carter laid out and waited. While we waited, Walt talked about his trip to the first nome to help out Carter and Sadie's uncle. The three of them (Walt, Zia, and Jaz) had been there a week before I arrived and got back this morning. Sadie had insisted Walt stay and rest, but when he insisted on joining us I think she was secretly excited.

He wasn't able to get to far into his story, when a portal opened up. Bast, the cat goddess, stepped out and imeditately greeted Carter and Sadie. When she was sure they were fine, she moved on to Walt and Felix. I stood as still as possible, hoping she wouldn't notice me, more out of nervousness than anything. When she did turn to me, she slowly inspected me. It was almost like she knew something about me that I didn't, which I realized was very possible. She slowly extended her hand out to me, and I shook it, realizing that the gesture meant that she trusted me, and might even start to consider me as one of her own.

She was just about to say something when a cool breeze blew past us and she froze. Next thing I knew, she was hissing and everyone had pulled out their weapons. I quickly pulled my wand from my back pocket, and looked around for the source of their concern. I almost passed over the bush, but a slight rustlifor amused me to look closer. There in the shadows was a kid. I didn't get a good enough look to determine anything before he sank into the shadows, but a wave of familiarity hit me so hard, my vision spotted and I got so dizzy I had to sit down.

A splitting headache erupted right behind my skull, and I had to clutch my hands to my head to keep from passing out from the pain. It felt like all of the monsters anyone could possibly imagine were throwing a party in my head, and they were having a contest to see who could break my skull first. There were people around me, trying to say something to me, but the pain was so great that I couldn't hear any of it. It was all so fuzzy, but I thought I felt someone pick me up and start running.

The pain finally started to subside when someone placed their cool hands on my head. When I cracked my eyes open slightly, I could see Jaz above me, looking at me deeply concerned. I opened my mouth to say something, but couldn't force out the words. She whispered something in Egyptian, and the world turned into a blissfully silent and painless black.

Sadie POV

I sighed as I stood up from the couch I had been sitting on for the past few hours. Taking one last glance at Amber, still unconscious, I left the infirmary and headed up to my room. On my way up the stairs, I let my mind go back over the events that had happened this afternoon.

I doubt I will ever forget the look on her face before she crumbled into a ball of pain. Walt had been able to get her back to the house and into the infirmary where Jaz took over. While I went with him, Bast, Carter, and Felix stayed behind to see if they could find who caused this. They had returned an hour ago, no closer to any answers than the rest of us. Jaz hadn't been able to figure out anything either, the same magic preventing me from seeing her in the Duat keeping Jaz from seeing the problem.

Everyone else, except for Jaz and me, had already gone to bed, and now here I was doing the same thing. Once I made it to my room, I quickly crawled into bed, not caring that I was still in my street clothes. The minute my head knit my pillow, I was out...

...Or so I thought. I felt my ba split apart from my body, and soon I was looking down at my sleeping body. One glance down reassured me that I was indeed in chicken form. I knew I hadn't been able to change it since I stopped hosting Isis, but I had been hoping.

A slight tug got my attention, and I flew out of my room following it. I stopped in the infirmary, the tug finally letting go of me. I looked around, curious to the reason I was here. The only person in the room was Amber, and she was still asleep.

Her body flashed a bright green, so bright that I had to advert my eyes. When I looked back, her ba, in all her chickeny glory, was sitting Indian style on the floor. She looked down at herself and let out a laugh that seemed to echo around the room. She waved her hand, and her ba form changed to look like herself.

"Please sit. We don't have much time, and my energy is quickly draining," she said, gesturing to the area in front of her. I nodded, unable to find any words, and sat down. She leaned forward and placed her hands on my shoulder. There was a bright flash around us, and when it faded I couldn't tell where I was.

It was an open expanse of nothingness, except for a huge wall extending so far I couldn't see the ends. Amber was standing beside me looking grim, but slightly awed.

"I wasnt sure that would work..." she simply said, before moving closer to the wall.

"Where are we?" I asked, finding my voice for the first time.

"That is a really good question. Its also really hard to answer," she said with a grim smile on her face. "My understanding is that this is a... Um... Well, I guess you could think of this as my memories. See?" she explained, pointing to the bubble that had just appeared to her right. It was a memory of one of our magic lessons, replaying over and over.

I stood staring at it for a while. This was definitely one of the weirdest things that has ever happened to me. "Uh, okay. So what's the wall?" I asked, and though I had a feeling I knew, wanted to hear it from her.

"It is the block that is causing my amnesia," Amber explained solemnly. Pointing to a long crack on the area closest to us, she asked, "See that? I think that is from this afternoon. I saw something, I'm assuming anyways, that was so closely tied to whatever past I had, that it created a crack in the wall of magic blocking it from me. Anyways, I am led to believe that the pain I felt was from when that wall cracked," she took a deep breath, then continued on. "I can't do it on my own, but I was hoping with your help..." I raised my eyebrows, waiting for her to finish.

"That maybe we could soften the wall, so won't render me completely useless when, it happens again. Cause it will. This was just the start, and it will just keep happening more and more often. Please?" She pleaded, looking rather small and helpless.

I immediately agreed, and asked what she had in mind. While she explained her plan, I couldn't help feeling impressed.

We both stepped back from the wall, each the same distance from it. Then we drew into our deepest reserves of power, saving only enough to prevent our souls burning up, and flung it at the wall in the form of a spell. I watched in awe as the wall absorbed the spell. It did nothing for a minute, and Amber and I exchanged a or died glance. Then the part that the spell hit swelled in, then pulsed out ward, sending a ripple out to the farthest ends.

Amber hesatantly went up and poked it. The area where her finger was went in, and when she pulled it out, it sent another ripple out. We looked at each other in shock, then burst out into laughter.

"I can't believe it worked!" I exclaimed once I had gotten my breath back.

"And I can't believe there was a spell to turn something into jello!" Amber said, a huge grin spreading across her face. Then just as fast as it had appeared, it was gone, replaced by seriousness. "I am completely in your debt. There is no way I would have been able to go through that again, and still be sane. Hopefully if it cracks again, the jello will absorb the movement. Thank you," she said, extending her hand to me.

As I shook her hand, there was another bright flash. I was back in the infirmary, and Amber's ba was no where to be seen. I was pulled back to my room where I mredged back into my own body.

The next thing I knew, it was morning. I started to get out of bed, when I remembered what had happened last night. I almost decided that it was all a dream, when I noticed how magically exhausted I was. Of course, that brought up many questiohat that I would probably never have an answer to. My stomache growled, and I decided that the questions could wait as I made my way down the stairs to the kitchen.


AN: Well, I sure enjoyed writing that! Hopefully you all enjoyed reading it too! If you did like it, could you please let me know by reviewing? I would appreciate it emensly. Thank you for reading!