A/N: I was wrong. Sears doesn't open at midnight; that's Wal-Mart. Or maybe both… whatever. Oh yeah, and I ended up getting my own cookies. They're in the oven now :)
PLUS, I'm not sure if I'll include Thalia since she's such a major character with a well-defined personality and I'm awful at writing other people's characters. So, yeah…
Have you ever looked inside a cat's ear? It's really weird.
Also, I'm really annoyed since I made an error about The Lost Hero. You remember how Jason mentioned a girl named Reyna? Well I thought she was named Reina and so I had a freak-out because if she'd been named Reina, I would know who she was…
Random fun fact to wrap up our A/N: I picture Travis Stoll as Nick Jonas and Connor as a younger-looking Draco Malfoy. That is all.
Okay, so, the goddess of the hunt is eleven years old. Okay, I can deal with that. Not… weird… at… all.
Of course, seeing Artemis, I was reminded that I had never seen my own mother. Really, wouldn't you want your mom to be the first goddess you ever saw? Not to mention that the presence of Callie was confusing the crap out of me – she spoke to Bunny as if they knew each other so well, but not only did Callie look thirteen and Bunny thirty-two (I mean, really, I get that the hunters are immortal, but actually having proof is kind of disturbing), but Bunny looked even more confused than I felt. I think she tried to hide it, though.
Maia and even sweet little Myrtle avoided the hunters at all costs. Aiko and Anthony seemed more interested. Myrtle patiently explained (with background noises from Maia that mostly seemed to include retching) that the hunters had to swear off love forever, which, of course, being the daughters of the goddess of love, I would think would peeve the two of them off a bit. Anthony and Aiko, Maia said, were a lost cause.
Oh yeah, by the way, Rose and Freddy managed to slip away while we were distracted by the hunters and the hellhound incident. Jack whined endlessly, and Bellatrix stomped off to her cabin. The rest of the crowd dispersed as well.
"Belltrix's been hopelessly in love with Freddy for as long as I can remember," Myrtle remarked. When I looked surprised, she turned to me and laughed, red curls bouncing. "Oh, Katy, you may have other gifts, but you can't spot love worth a dime."
"It was Camryn and Camille and Freddy who brought Bellatrix to camp. Really quite romantic," Gina put in cheerily.
Maia cocked her head to one side, listening. "Well, speak of the devil…"
"And the devil shall appear," Myrtle finished bitterly.
Camryn was running towards me at top speed, with Camille hot on her heels.
"Maia, Gina, you're needed in the Big House," Camryn said. "Cabin meeting thing. Head counselors. You know the drill."
"I want two representatives from the Aphrodite cabin," Bunny called from behind her. "Katy will do." She shot Myrtle a glare, who had opened her mouth to protest.
Myrtle grumbled darkly while Maia and Bunny led me off to the Big House. When we were there, she waited outside, still muttering. I was surprised at how many of the head counselors I already knew when I took my seat beside Maia. Nick and Ker from dinner were in for Zeus and Hades, respectively. Camille, surprisingly without Camryn, took a seat as the head counselor for Poseidon, and Gina sat beside her as a daughter of Demeter. A boy with brown hair I didn't recognize who was as much a son of Ares as Rose is a daughter of Aphrodite. A willowy, annoyed-looking blond girl with stormy gray eyes sat to his left. Ten or so other kids I didn't recognize. You get the point.
"Bellatrix not here?" Camille started off the meeting.
"Bellatrix, unfortunately, has other matters, most of which include moping in that lonely one-woman cabin of hers," Maia replied, looking bored.
Bunny rolled her eyes and Chiron began, "We have a few announcements as well as some things to discuss."
"Firstly," Bunny said. "The backup team, though I have doubts it will be needed, for Rose Hamilton and Freddy Masen will be Katy Pierce and Jack Chase."
"But, Bunny!" The gray-eyed blonde's face changed from annoyance to astonishment. "But Bunny, you can't send the fish boy on a rescue mission!"
Gina gritted her teeth. "Why not, Sage?"
Sage smiled primly and said, "As a daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom, I will volunteer to go in the fish boy's place."
"What the hell?" Gina muttered.
"Seeing as the fish boy's god blood is too divided to actually give him any strengths-"
"Sage," Gina hissed. "Say that one more time…"
"Fish boy." Sage smirked. "What's wrong, honey? You in love with the fish boy?"
Maia chuckled darkly, like someone watching a movie. And it was, kind of, like a movie. I just hoped Gina didn't turn on me.
The ground started to crack a little, and Sage turned white. I noticed that Gina was on her feet, and a pale green plant crept its way up the legs of Sage's chair, binding at her wrists where her hands gripped the seat.
"Holy Zeus, Gina, if you were evil, this would be like a horror story," Ker remarked. "Like that one we wrote in sixth grade, Nick! Gods, remember that?" She giggled, and Nick cracked a smile.
"Remind me to read that someday," Maia said, with a sly smile. I noticed how all attention had been taken off of Sage. Chiron looked like he wanted to say something but Bunny seemed to be stopping him. She was finding this entirely too amusing. (Conclusion: Sage is not well liked.)
"You came up with the whole plotline." Ker rolled her eyes and smiled slowly. You know, that soft and irresistible slow, borderline flirty smile that I tend to use a lot involuntarily. With this realization, I smiled myself. I guess I did have some love goddess blood in me.
"Okay, kiddies, let's keep this meeting PG-13." Camille grinned.
Bunny looked just about ready to end this. "Alright, kids. Wrap it up. Gina, please ignore that last statement and unwrap Sage." Sage was really nervous now, paper-white and up to her elbows in pale green stems.
Gina looked reluctant, but slowly the plant crept back into the dirt.
Immediately, Sage regained her composure. She coughed and spluttered. "Ugh! What was that vile stuff? It was the most horrid, atrocious, terrible plant I've ever come in contact with. I bet its name is just as vile as the whole damn thing. What's it called?"
Gina, having been on her way out the door, turned around and smirked. "Sage. It's called sage."
Sage immediately turned scarlet and slammed her fist on the table. "Let's just get this over with."
Chiron looked at Bunny, who stayed stonily silent. And so, Chiron began, "We're not exactly sure why certain people were targeted at the hellhound attack." Ker blushed.
"It's not usual for a hellhound to attack a daughter of Hades," Nick commented.
"It's not usual for a hellhound to attack camp at all," the Ares boy put in.
"Well, actually," Chiron continued. "A hellhound attacked camp when Bunny was little. Do you remember that, Bunny?"
Bunny nodded. "Wasn't that when the Jackson kid had just started? I was eight years old, for Hades's sake, Chiron."
"Can we adjourn?" Maia asked, filing her nails with an evidently ever-present nail filer.
"We haven't come to a conclusion yet," Chiron protested.
Bunny's oddly-colored eyes flashed gratefully. "Too bad. Meeting adjourned," she said with a grin.
"Katy! Katy Pierce! KATY!"
I hadn't been in my cabin for five blissful moments before Camryn and Camille came knocking at the door in a panicky whirlwind.
"Katy, Katy, come to our cabin, PLEASE!" Camryn begged.
"We have something to show you!" Camille added.
After much protesting and begging, I gave up and followed the pair to Cabin Three. With Freddy gone, it seemed oddly empty. (Of course, the twins quickly fixed that – nothing is ever truly empty with Camryn and Camille around.)
Camryn played around with their TV until she flicked it to the news channel. On it were pictures of me, Jack, and Gina.
"Students of local middle school disappeared Tuesday. They were last seen in the hallways at approximately 1:25PM on Tuesday and there was a possible sighting on a bus heading to Manhattan." Possible sighting? What am I, the Loch Ness Monster? The perky blond newscaster prattled on, "Missing students are Katherine Pierce, Jack Chase, and Regina Daniels." I turned to Gina, who'd been fetched by Jack.
"Your first name is Regina?" I said, giggling.
"And yours is Katherine." She rolled her eyes. "Can we get to the point?"
"The point is," Jack said slowly, "that the entire city of New York is looking for us."
"We need to know how to keep them off our butts," I said.
"We also need to know," Gina continued, soft and slow, "why Adrianna kept her mouth shut."
A/N: Haha, Gina's first name is Regina. I went onto a name-meaning site to get a lot of these names, and when I looked to see what Gina meant, I realized it wasn't actually given as a full name (according to the website.) I also learned how to spell Camryn correctly, and that's how Aiko got her name. I was browsing the feminine names and the name Aiko caught my eye – so I clicked it. It means "love, affection," and that's perfect for Aiko, am I right?
Also, one last thing: I know that Bunny uses Hades's name in the place of Zeus's occasionally. She is in no way whatsoever some Greek version of some Satanistic cultist lady. I'd love to explain but it would give away secrets.
