This chapter is dedicated to Gaia-was-Framed, since I think that he/she's the only person still here.

...you should never, ever threaten a goddess...

...Mistress ordered us to bring all demigods to her alive...

...the Cyclops will save them...

...take them to Gaia...

I felt like I sat there forever staring at the place the owl vanished. My thoughts swirled like they were in a blender set on high. But I was grinning, victorious. Because those few sentences the owl spoke opened up a possibility that I had never thought of before. It seemed to match up to all the other pieces of evidence perfectly. At the same time it was something I didn't want to believe. If I'm right...

Stop. First I need to know I am right.

I jumped up off the rock and I sprinted into the forest. My new burst of adrenaline let me run in 3 minutes farther than I walked in 3 hours. Soon I was out of the forest and heading toward my house.

It didn't take me long to realize something was wrong. I didn't come out to the Big Barn like I planned. There were houses around me; I was standing in the backyard of one right now. From where I was standing, the area looked a lot like my street, but the house numbers where different. I walked to the front door of the house that I came out at. The house was a light-ish blue, light-ish tan color with a flat roof. The driveway had only one broken down car in it, and the porches lights had no light bulbs in them. All and all, it looked like the place was getting ready to be torn down.

I checked its house number. 243.

Crap! I'm on the other side of town. I must have further in the forest than I thought. How am I going to get to my house now?

I made a split second decision. I was going to go in house 243 and hang out there for a while, get some food, use their computer if they had one. It's not stealing, I told myself, it's just borrowing.

If there is one thing that I learned today, is that I suck at breaking and entering. I wasn't tall enough to reach any of the windows and even if I could I wouldn't have enough upper body strength to pull myself up. The roof was out of the question, considering I didn't have a ladder, and there was no freak'n way I would be able to punch a hole through the wall to get in. That was practically the only thing I hadn't tried yet.

Except for the front door. I just decided to screw this and to go and see if who was inside would just let me in. I walked up the rickety stairs and to the door. Everything on the porch seemed to be peeling paint and wood getting ready to give someone a splinter. As lightly as I could I rapped on the door (it didn't have a doorbell).

It was obvious that something was up when the door fell inward. I looked at it for a little, but I put it to the hinges rusting and snapping. I slid into the dusty, horribly kept house, heading to the kitchen. My stomach started growling like there was no tomorrow, so I grabbed some trail mix I found and ate it. It was really hard not to think that the raisins were mouse droppings, but I managed to eat them all. Then I went over and booted up an old computer, long past being concerned that someone was home.

When the rusty thing finally booted up and was on the internet I typed in the first thing I needed to confirm- Gaia.

Bing, the search engine I was using, popped up with all sorts of things. I hit a link to that said it would Define Gaia. It said this:

-n

the goddess of the earth, who bore Uranus and by him Oceanus, Cronus, and the Titans

That didn't answer very many questions. I typed in Uranus into and got this:

noun

1.

Astronomy . the planet seventh in order from the sun, having an equatorial diameter of 32,600 miles (56,460 km), a mean distance from the sun of 1,784 million miles (2,871 million km), a period of revolution of 84.07 years, and 15 moons. See table under planet.

2.

Also, Ouranos. Classical Mythology . the personification of Heaven and ruler of the world, son and husband of Gaea (Earth) and father of the Titans, who was castrated and dethroned by his youngest son, Cronus, at the instigation of Gaea.

So... basically people used to think that Uranus ruled the world and that he had sons, the Titans, and that one of them, Cronus, kicked him off of his throne because Gaia, his wife, asked him to.

Flip. My sour thoughts about Gaia turned even worse when I realized that she had someone ordered to be murdered. At least, that's what I infer. If I had a throne I'd protect it with my life.

I looked up Cronus. It said:

a Titan, son of Uranus and Gaea, who was dethroned by his son Zeus.

Wait... Cronus dethroned his dad by the orders of his mom, only to be dethroned by his kids! And isn't Zeus from Greek Mythology?

I hit the definition for Zeus.

noun

the supreme deity of the ancient Greeks, a son of Cronus and Rhea, brother of Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, and Poseidon, and father of a number of gods, demigods, and mortals; the god of the heavens, identified by the Romans with Jupiter.

That made my head spin. But I saw one thing that made me jump for joy. The word demigod, sitting right there on the screen, waiting to be looked up.

I held my breath and clicked the button.

1. a mythological being who is partly divine and partly human; an inferior deity.

2. a deified mortal.

That's when I figured it out. Demigods are children of the Greek gods and goddesses.

And my best friends are one.

I spent the rest of the afternoon searching the internet for anything on the Greek gods and goddesses. I read about each of the Twelve Olympians and found out what their specialties are. Athena is knowledge and her animal symbol is the owl. She is the one who sent me the note she was the owl in the woods. Zeus is the sky, more famously electricity. Poseidon is water; the oceans. Artemis is fertility, childbirth, and archery. She leads the Hunters of Artemis in the legends and is an eternal maiden. They must be true also. I read about all of gods and even some extra. I read about Hades, king of the Underworld, and how he became that way. I read about Hestia (goddess of fire and the hearth, eternal maiden) and how she gave up her seat as and Olympian to Dyanosis (god of wine) or Demeter (goddess of grain) to avoid blood shed.

It was hard to believe that all of this was true. I was never a religious person, but this is the only thing that could possibly be true. That must be why I'm putting such blind faith into it. Although, my faith isn't really being invested blindly, considering what's been going on for the past week.

Man, has it really only been a week? It doesn't feel like it.

It took a little while for it to occur to me that I solved the Mystery of the Demigods. I'd done what I had come to do. But now I'm in so deep that I don't think I could get out if I tried. Christchan is over in the forest hurt, my best friend Calya is at the demigod camp, Sophia is missing, I saved a girl-no, tree nymph-Wisp, I met a goddess, I fought one of the monsters... Way to much has happened since the gunshot was first fired, since I ran to my mom last week...

Oh my gosh, my mom! I haven't been back to the house since the fight! She's probably wondering where the heck I am! She's probably worried sick! I need to get to the house, I need to tell my parents I'm alright!

I leapt from the computer chair, with out logging off, and started out the door. But I went the wrong way and charged into a living room. The room was dusty and crappy, but I didn't pay it any mind. I turned back to where I entered and was about to leave when I slipped, falling to the ground. I caught myself with my hands and lowered myself to my knees. I got ready to stand back up when I noticed the floor was covered with blood. My green tights' knees were soaked with it and it was on my hands, outlining every crease on them. I slowly turned my head, following the blood trail that the floor left, until it stopped at a lump in the corner.

Standing up, I walked over there, terrified of what I'd see. Soon I was next to the blob, nudging it with my feet and flipping it over.

Suddenly I realized what it was. It was the body of a girl, probably only a few years older that me. But she had bite marks all over her arms and legs along with chucks ripped out of them. Her shirt was torn to pieces, large chunks ripped out of her stomach and neck. Her eyes were still open, dull eyes void of emotion. My shaking hands checked her pulse. She didn't have one.

The horses came. That's the only thing that makes sense. The horses came, and they ate her. They murdered her.

I don't remember going into the kitchen and washing my hands. I don't remember walking out of the house and starting down the street. But I do remember walking to my house, marveling how much this seemed like a ghost town, and hoping that my mom didn't become a victim.

I stared up at my house. It didn't look like an angry psychopathic horse killer came in and murdered my parents, but looks could be deceiving. I had went back to the school and got the knife before I got to my house, just in case. It was really surprising that there were no policemen or firemen there. There were just ruins. While I was there I looked all over the place for Sophia, or Drew, or anyone. But no one was there.

This place was like a ghost town now. It seems that everyone was murdered, or evacuated, when the horses came. But I didn't want to take any chances. Quietly as I was able I walked up to the door, and unlocked it using our hidden spare key.

Pretend it's just and ordinary day... my dad's sitting inside typing on the computer, my mom's cooking dinner, waiting for me... it's just and ordinary day... it's just an ordinary day.

I repeated that mantra in my head as I pushed the door open and looked inside. The sight made me gasp. My dad was sitting on the couch typing on the computer and my mom was bustling about around the stove.

"How was your day at school?" mom asked me.

"Um- it-it was good." I stuttered out. There was no way my parents would still be here. They would be gone by now!

"Go get your homework done while I make supper." mom said. "How does chicken sound?"

"Great." I replied. I sat down at the kitchen table and just stared at my mom, unable to believe that she was functioning normally. She should know about all the disaster that's happened these past few days!

I was just watching her cook when I realized that if I looked at her for to long she would just blink out of existence. At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but each time I stared at her she disappeared for longer, and longer, until she just vanished and never came back. I swiveled around just in time to see my dad just puff out of existence also, leaving the computer on and running.

I was in shock. I just sat there and didn't move for a while.

Why would my parents just disappear on me? What happened? I watched them, or where they used to be, for a while before I remembered.

..."All we do is pull the Mist around these mortal's minds, then we're out of here."...

Is it possible? Could it have been the Mist?

Go over the facts. You came home after disappearing for a day, and your parents acted completely normal. Then, if I looked at them to long, they would blink out of existence. If this was the Mist, it could have replaced my parents for the longest time. Some one could have kidnapped them, someone could have killed them, or, worst of all... they could have always been like this.

I could feel my face pale at the realization. I could have never had parents.

I was shocked out of my thoughts when I heard a window shattering. I jumped up, gripped my knife and did the only think I could think of. I walk, slowly, toward the noise. I tracked it to the guest room, which wasn't encouraging, since it was on the second floor. Listening so carefully I had to hold my breath, I could hear dialogue from inside the room.

"...you kidding me! This place is a ghost town! There is no way that Sophia and Christchan wouldn't have IM'ed if they were ok when this happened!"

"They could have been just being lazy."

"Listen Nico, I don't like being on this job any more that you do, but..."

I didn't get to hear the rest of what was said, because I gasped as soon as I heard the name Nico.

And... I probably shouldn't have gasped. Because immediately after that I was slammed into a wall so hard that my knife fell out of my hand. I could feel as bitter cold steel on my neck just as clearly as I could see the slightly emo, slightly goth person holding me to the wall. Nico.

The three of us looked at each other, two against one, and simultaneously said,

"It's you."

A/N: Hi! I'm alive!

I know I promised that there would be action, but this was a close as I could get. I swear, this thing is writing its self now. Well, at least I got to make that connection to chapter three...

Anyone still there? *crickets chirp* I seriously need some help. I don't know where I want this to go. These are the options:

A) Harriet goes to Camp-Half Blood. (That would make the story end pretty fast, since I still haven't decided if she's a mortal or not and I don't like the 'Welcome-to-Camp-Half-Blood' stage.)

B) Harriet goes to get the people that the horses captured.

C) A mix of the two.

D) Harriet finds another mystery to solve, or I suddenly get and idea from a viewer or think of a new one.

Please help me! Just give me a review with an answer, and I'll do the rest.

Merry Belated Christmas (Advent Season, Hanukah, Kwanza...),

-fanficfantasies