Author Note: Hello everyone! How are you all doing today feel free to scream how you feel right now and it doesn't matter where you are. But have any of you guys noticed that each time I write my writing abilities get a little less crappy, that my friends is called progression I mean ya its not improving by much but at least its improving. So I actually research things for my story, which is a lot of effort when it comes to me and I was looking for some nickname for a certain Triton to call Liz and I typed in adorable little sea creatures and half way through typing it in one of the first search guesses for it was adorable little serial killers and I just paused and stared at it for a while. And yes that is where I get some of my nicknames from, sad isn't it.

Oh yeah and Liz's kind of does have a British accent but it is only noticeable when ever she's angry.

So anyway thanks so far for Wednesday101 , Padfootette, ptl4ever419, Engineer4Ever, percyjacksonfan135, roos1414, Guest, Sanbeegoldiewhitey, DragonPhoenix1026 , laurenroxbrough, Raven'sSecretShadowAngel, AmandaSingh0, The Lady Geek, Night-Chan-DragonEyes, bunnynanagirl , Marion, Hanna, Guest, Extended Experience, Vangran, and power214063 for reviewing so far and thanks to everyone else who has read and reiviewed so far as well.

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Power214063- I'm going to reveal the traitor the same time as the book would.

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AmandaSing0- I'll try to

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Guest with the whole Ouran High School comment- I love that show and yes.

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Disclaimer: I own nothing… haha pies

Warning: Swearing, well not to much this… never mind

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Ahh, now where were we? Oh yeah, me falling hundreds of feet up in the air into a river. Completely slipped my mind.

Now I'd like to be able to tell you that my life flashed before my eyes as I fell or that I suddenly had some amazing self-revelation about myself or my life and therefore became one with the universe and all that crap.

But...well…

I was a little too busy screaming as I flailed wildly about. Did I mention that I'm not the biggest fan of heights?

The river sped towards me at the speed of a train. Wind whipped my clothing and hair around as it ripped the breath from my lungs after one good scream of pure terror. I wasn't even able to scream to death as I fell to my… well death.

Buildings tumbled in and out of my vision as I twisted in the air.

And then: Flaaa-boooooooooom!

A whiteout of bubbles was all I could see as I sank through the murk. The chill of the water surrounded me and I was sure I would end up embedded in a hundred feet of mud lost forever. A sad fate really.

But I didn't feel any pain after I preformed the mother of all belly-flops. The water had caught me, and now I was falling slowly. The bubbles disappeared around me as they floated up past me. I settled gently on the rivers bottom making a small cloud of mud floating up from the impact. A catfish the size of my darling Uncle lurched away into the gloom. The water flowed past me carrying clouds of silt and disgusting garbage- beer bottles, old shoes, plastic bags, candy wrappers- are just some of the things that floated past me.

It was nice to know that I hadn't been flatten by the impact… if that was possible, but the point was that I didn't figure out if it was and hopefully I never would. And I didn't even become a little crispy from the Taco dog, aka: the Chimera and that was another high point in my day… which was sad by the way.

The high points in my life right now where not being fried to a crisp or managing to survive three psycho grannies. Other NORMAL people's high points in a day involved finding a random dollar or getting their favorite food for some meal, ya know something along those lines. And here I was getting stalked by my mythical eavesdropping Uncle, who had a habit of thundering whenever he heard something he didn't like even though he shouldn't have been listening in the first place, while also getting attacked by other mythical strangers who seemed to think I would either make a nice snack or a great punching bag.

…Clearly I don't know how to live my life since I would very much like my high points to be a pizza or a random $20 bill right now.

Anyway enough day dreaming while I sat at the bottom of a river after falling hundreds of feet into that said river.

I was dry I noticed, I mean I could feel the coldness of the water on my skin, like when you have plastic glove on your hand and stuck it into water, but I knew the rest of me was dry. It could be that I was unknowingly making me and whatever I touched dry.

I grabbed a passing piece of trash and an old cigarette lighter to test out my theory.

Holding the suddenly dry hamburger wrapper that crinkled in my hand, I held up the lighter and flicked it. A small flame appeared catching the wrapper on fire, making flames spread slowly across it as it was consumed, turning it black, with the burnt paper curling as pieces of it crumbling of into the flowing water.

Sweet! A new way to scam, I um… mean liberate people out of their money when I do my next street show.

I quickly pocket the lighter and let the wrapper go, making it go swirling past in the current.

I didn't think much about the whole breathing underwater thing I mean it was awesome but come on I was a daughter of Poseidon and if I was killed by water, well that would have been a little sad.

I stood up in the muddy river bed, my feet sinking in slightly, and breathed deep calming breathes soothing my nerves. At this point if the monsters didn't kill me then the stress surely would.

Then, through the gloomy water I saw her- a woman that was see-through, floating up the current like she was out taking a casual stroll. She had long flowing hair that streamed behind her in the current along with her dress.

. .

I mean come on; I just dealt with It and The Thing only to run into a ghost at the bottom of the river of all places. And I knew as sure as hell that Ghost Busters wasn't about to go scuba diving and rescue my ass. So in other words I was screwed.

Hello child, I am a messenger sent from your father. Go to the beach of Santa Monica.

"Wait what?"

It is your father's will. Before you descend into the Underworld, you must go to Santa Monica. Please, Azalea I cannot stay long. The river here is to foul for my presence.

"I'm just so lost here." I groaned grabbing my head.

I must be going now brave one, the woman said ignoring me. You must go to Santa Monica! Hurry!

"I…I just give up on figuring this out. Fine, whatever, my godly parent wants me to go to Santa Monica. Because traveling across a whole fricken nation is just a cake walk, and telling me to go places randomly won't inconvenience me or anything. I better find the god dam holly grale over there because there was no reason to be so cryptic about a message when it's something suppose to help me. Why! Why does everything have to be explained in some top secret riddle or involve a quest? Has no one heard of being strait forward?"

So maybe I was a little fed up with all the secrets.

The lady didn't say anything; she only mouthed the words Santa Monica as she melted away from view.

Great…just great.

"Well that was interesting." A male voice said from my left.

I just can't catch a break can I?

Floating about 10 feet from me was a merman, well I think it was a merman.

The upper part of his body was completely human with long black hair and sea green eyes, like mine. The bottom half of him though was much fishier, you know in the sense that he had two fish tails where legs should be. I mean it's not Little mermaid style but they already fucked up Greek legends when it came to the movie Hercules so why not the Little Mermaid too?

"So this is the secret father has been hiding," he muttered looking me over from head to toe. "I suppose it's not that bad, if you where male then I would have never bothered revealing myself to you and would have ignored your existence completely. But since you are not a threat to my rights to the throne I see no reason on why I should ignore you or even try to kill you."

He frowned rubbing his chin, "I've never had a sister before. Sure I've had many siblings but all were male or in most cases not considered a sibling due to being a monster. Father seems to have no luck when it comes to producing female offspring. When I first saw you I almost couldn't believe you were his, on account of your gender."

"That is all nice to know," I said. "But who are you, why are you here, and why are you telling me all this?"

"I am Triton Son of Poseidon, Prince of the Sea, your half-brother."

"I… whatever, it's nice to meet you Triton, I'm Azalea Potter. Though I go by Liz or Lizzy, and I suppose that having a random half-sibling showing up shouldn't be a surprise. Dad is an immoral god, and after all the stuff that has been happening I wouldn't even be surprised if Barney came dancing by."

"Who is this Barney you speak of?"

"Ehh, it's just this big purple dinosaur character in this kids show. But I swear that Barney's an evil creature bent on spreading spontaneous singing around the world, he just wants to turn the whole world into one big musical… despicable. But umm, ya, you shouldn't worry about him so never mind about that."

"Spreading spontaneous singing?"

"Yeah, some men just want to watch the world burn… with musical numbers."

"So he is a great evil and must therefore be taken care of?" ejernjer asked.

"Haha," I laughed nervously. "No really it's fine; there is no need to go attacking Barney. But anyway why are you here?"

"I was interested… sister. Father has been acting odd lately, for the past eleven or ten years, for no seeable reason. Though I've know found that reason it seems." He hummed under his breath inspecting me.

"To be truthful I'm not sure what to do now. If you were my half-brother I would of, in the best case scenario ignored your existence since I have had hundreds of demigod half-brothers making you completely uninteresting to me. The most you could have done as my half-brother to get my interest is try and claim the throne as the next heir, which would have only ended in me hunting you down and killing you. But here I am in a situation I've never been in before, you are female, making you my demigod half-sister something I've never had before. That also makes you a non-threat to my title since you could only claim to be a princess of the sea and the title of heir goes to the son, though it's not like father will be going anywhere."

He tilted his head to the side and crossed his arms, "Mother would be furious if she found out about you I think though… I doubt she would try to kill you she might actually want to meet you really. I cannot stress enough how odd it is for you to be a girl, we all assumed father must have been cursed when it came to offspring. Even the monster's came out male. And I have always wanted a sister I suppose I'll have to settle for you since if it took this long for him to finally have you I doubt it will happen again."

I wasn't sure if I should be happy or insulted that he 'settled' for me, but hey at least he wasn't trying to kill me.

"Sooo… say perchance that, oh I don't know, Poseidon didn't cheat on his wife, your mother, in that way. Would your mum be a teensy less likely to kill me then?" Hey I was just trying to cover all my bases. Having an angry step-mother out to get you never ended well I mean look at snow white or sleeping beauty there step-mothers where human. Imagine what a pissed of goddess step-mom can do… yeah let's cover all my bases.

He raised one eyebrow at me, "Oh? And what do you mean by that?"

"Well, from what I've been told Poseidon had me the same way Athena has her kids only he took the good traits from two people instead of one."

"Well I do suppose that's better. Mother only ever gets angry about the children because their proof he's been unfaithful to her. Though Athena will probably pitch a fit over him stealing her way of having children," he chuckled.

"You're just interesting and unique in so many ways aren't you?" he said.

"Haha," I laughed nervously while rubbing the back of my head. "I guess so."

"We'll meet again little sister, till then goodbye." With a nod of his head to me he swam away slowly fading from view.

…Well…that was awkward.

My-Mind-Is-Completely-Open-…But-By-Appointment-Only

I finally surfaced near a McDonalds and I wasn't lovin it. Did I ever mention how much this river smelled?

Further down the stream from me was the Arch. It was surrounded by every emergency vehicle in the city. Police and news helicopters circled the air and the streets where crowded by onlookers, all of them staring and pointing at the giant smoking hole in the side of the Arch.

A girl about my age said. "Mama! That girl walked out of the river."

"That's nice dear," her mom said not even pretending to pay attention as she craned her neck to watch the ambulances.

"But Mama," she wined, tugging at her mom's hand urgently while pointing at me. "She's not even wet and she ca-,"

She was interrupted though by a mysterious stream of water shooting out of the river and spraying her face… mysteriously.

I walked away humming happily, with Riptide humming along with me in my head, as I went on my way to find Anna and Grover.

A news lady was talking for the camera: "Probably not a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation. The damage, as you can see, is very serious. Thankfully everyone has seemed to survive and we are trying to get some of them in for question them about eye witness reports on someone falling from the Arch.

I pushed my way through the crowd searching for mi compradreys.

I was just about to start kicking shins when a familiar voice bleated, "Liz!"

I turned and got swept up in a Grover bear hug-or goat up whichever. He said, "We thought we lost you, don't you ever do that again! You're going to make my whiskers turn grey!"

Anna stood behind him with her arms crossed, trying to look angry, but instead looking relieved to see me. "We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?!"

"…I…umm…sort of fell."

"Six hundred and thirty feet!?"

"Huh, you know the height of the Arch to what did you do? Read a book about it religiously?"

Anna hit the back of my head rather violently which was something that was completely uncalled for if you asked me.

Behind us, a cop shouted, "Get out of the way!" The crowd parted and a couple of paramedics hustled out, rolling a woman on a stretcher. I recognized her immediately as the mother of the little boy who'd been on the observation deck. She was saying, "And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua-"

"Okay ma'am," a paramedic said. "Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in."

"I'm not crazy! This girl jumped out of the hole and a scythe went through the monster making it disappear into golden dust." Then she saw me. "There she is! That's the girl!"

I spun around quickly pulling up my hood. I then grabbed Grover and Anna's hands and pulled them through the crowd.

"What's going on?' Anna demanded. "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?"

So I told them the story… and then I immediately got yelled at.

"What were you thinking, Liz! Fighting the Chimera and the Mother of Monster's! Do you have a death wish or are you just crazy?" Grover yelled pulling at his hair. His hat was in my hands since I had taken it away after he had gotten a few bites in it, eating it in his worry.

"Oh come on Grover," I said waving my hand at him. "It's a situation that anyone can find themselves in."

Anna and Grover stared at me blankly.

"I highly doubt that," Anna said.

"Well I suppose we have to head to Santa Monica now. You can't ignore a summons from your dad." Grover muttered,

"You should feel lucky about your half-brother not trying to kill you. Most immortal children despise their demigod siblings." Anna scolded me as we walked down an empty street.

We finally made it back to the Amtrak station, getting on the train just before it pulled out for Denver. The train sped west as the sun set on behind us. The St. Louis skyline was outline by the sunset with only the police lights crowded around the smoking Arch showing through.

Anna stood in front of the window staring at it with a horror struck face, looking like she was about to cry from the damage inflicted upon her beautiful Arch.

Grover and I were lying across the seats eating some snacks we had bought off a cart. Grover's hat was set hazardously back on his head with random bite holes covering it letting his curly hair poke through.

"Liz…," Anna said quietly.

I choked on the Mountain Dew I was drinking in surprise. Coughing, I sat up and faced her nervously saying, "Yes, Anna?"

Anna turned to face me slowly her face completely blank with her arms crossed behind her back. "You just blew up a national monument." She said softly as hair fell into her face hiding her eyes.

"Ahahaha… yeah," I rubbed the back of my head, looking away from her and over to Grover.

Grover, the traitor, wasn't jumping up to defend me, instead he had gathered up all the snacks and now was protectively holding them to his chest as he stared at Anna like she was a monster about to strike.

"Well you see Anna it was a complete accident and it was more the Taco dog, erm I mean Chimera's fault then mine. He was the one throwing around fire like it was candy."

"There is a giant smoking hole in the side of the Arch, Liz. This only happened after your first visit to the monument."

"Now come on Anna see reason here it's not like I meant to. And blowing up a national monument can happen to anyone" I said before I let out a surprise yelp went Anna jumped forward to grab me.

"Get back here right now Azalea E Potter!" Anna yelled as she chased my fleeing form out of our compartment doors.

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-View Change Too 3rd Person-

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Grover watched as Annabeth and Liz raced up and down the train, loud crashing and screaming marking their paths.

"Honestly Anna I think you might be over reacting a bit." Liz yelled back as she ran past the door.

"I'll show you over react-"Annabeth responded as she chased after Liz, her voice fading as she ran further away.

"It was just a silly old building anyway; I think the smoking hole in it adds character." Liz said as she ran by again.

Annabeth followed an infuriated scream coming from her lips telling everyone around her that she didn't agree with those words.

"She's crazy, help! A mad woman I'm telling all of you! She's going to eat my soul!" Liz yelled as she went by again.

""Oh I'll do more than that when I get my hands on you Liz!" Annabeth said as she ran after Liz.

There then was a loud crash followed by several people yelling, the loudest person being Annabeth who was saying," Don't you dare do it Liz! Put down that pie!"

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-Liz's Pov-

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I held my only defense in my hand as I stared into the blood thirsty eyes of the beast that could smell my very fear.

Well, I was actually staring into Anna's blood thirsty eyes as I held a banana pie in my hand that I had liberate from a desert cart, but well it's the same thing.

Anna glared as she took a step forward, "Don't you dare do it Liz! Put the pie down!" she snarled.

I stared at her slowly approaching form and then down at the pie in my hands. I glanced back and forth between the two.

…ah fuck it…

I threw the pie straight at her face, and with a splat it hit dead center.

She froze, standing completely still, as the pie slid of her face leaving the yellow filling behind.

Anna's eyes slowly opened and locked on me.

I bolted back down in the direction of our cart just as she screamed and lunged at me.

Racing through the aisle, I made just in time into the cart, slamming the door behind me with my magic and holding it there.

Grover was in the same spot he had been in before though now he was sitting up as he ate a small snack bag of popcorn, angled so he's have the best view of the door.

My own best friend gaining amusement from my suffering, I mean I'd do the same thing to him but it's the principles, the principles.

"Alright," I said as I began to pace the compartment, as the door shook from Anna trying to beat her way in.

"This is where I make my final stand, the fight to end all fights! I shall face the beast and I will prevail!" I shouted as I made a fist with my hand and raised it above my head.

"Grover!" I said spinning to face him while I pointed at his face.

Grover yelped flinching backwards and spilling popcorn everywhere. "W-w-what?"

"How many weapons do we have?"

"W-what weapons? What are you talking about Liz?"

"Ahh our weapons are gone, damn spy's they infiltrated our headquarters! Okay then what about the weapon conditions are they up to date?"

"B-but," Grover spluttered. "You just said they were all stolen! How can there be a condition, but much more important what in the Hades are you talking about?!"

"So treachery is afoot not only were there spy's but also they sabitouched the weaponry we must be resourceful and only attack when we see the split ends in her hair."

"I do not have split ends!" Anna yelled from the other side of the door.

"Grover," I said. "What about the troops moral?"

"What troops Liz," Grover groaned. "There's only me and you."

"That's great I'm feeling just chipper and yo-"

"I'm feeling confused and lost!" Grover said but was drowned out by me ignoring him and saying even louder over his voice.

"-u are feeling just fine."

"No, are you even hearing anything that is coming out of my mou-"

"Yes I'm sure that was a great tasting can, very processed with uncooked carrots just a deloucse. But we must prepare for battle now."

With those words I placed an old army helmet on my head while doing a heroic pose.

"What!? Where did you get that helmet?"

"It matters not soldier for the beast approaches."

"Wait a minute," Grover cried recognizing the helmet. "Is that from one of the Arch's exhibits? Did you steal it?"

"You say steal I say borrowing for the foreseeable future."

"With intents to return?" Grover questioned hesitantly.

"Have you ever been in a situation where someone borrows something from you for so long that you have to borrow it back from them just to get it back?" I asked Grover.

"Ummm… yeah I guess."

"Well that may be the situation here." I said giving him a winning smile while he threw up his hands in disbelief.

"Liz I think you may have a problem when it comes to-" Grover started to say.

"Shh," I hissed at him holding a finger over my mouth, "It approaches."

The door shuttered as it started to slide open slowly; Anna's arm came reaching through the slowly opening gap.

"Remember Grover, go for the brain, it's so abnormally large that you can't miss."

"Liz!" Anna screamed.

I laughed as I got ready to execute my super-mega-awesome-master plan.

With a loud banging noise the compartment door slammed open, hitting the wall. Anna lurched through the opening arms outreached to grab me.

"Liz!" Anna yelled.

And it was time to execute my great plan.

"Sacrifice!" I shouted as I threw Grover at Anna.

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It's-A-Pity-You-Were-Absent-When-The-Rest-Of-The-World-Was-Evolving

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An hour later I basked in the calm silence that surrounded me. Grover laid across one of the seats eating his way through a whole kitchen set of forks and spoons I had found, abandoned, on a table in the train's kitchen.

Hey if they wanted the forks and spoons then they should have better protected them. I would have defended my forks and spoons to the death, because no one takes my spoon without an asskicking.

I was laying on the seat across from him with my arms crossed behind my head and my feet resting comfortably on my foot rest. "Ah my plan went perfect Grover."

Grover sat up looking at me, "And how was throwing me at Annabeth a good plan?" he demanded taking a chomp out of a fork and looking moodily away with a pout.

"Come on Grover, my man!" I said giving him a goofy grin. "You know you love me!"

Grover only huffed looking off to the side as he aggressively bit his silverware.

I rolled off my seat, landing on my hands and knees. I then lunged at Grover who let out a yelp as I tackled him. Wrapping my arms around his neck I said, "Come on Grover, my brother from another mother! Where BFF's forever you can't be angry at me still! I got you forks and spoons as a peace offering."

Grover sighed, smiling a little as he wrapped one of his arms around me using the other to ruffle my hair.

"Yeah, yeah you crazy little demon child, love you too."

"Then come on sing it with me Grover." I said with a smile.

Grover groaned looking away, "Oh, come on Liz, really? Do we need to sing that song?"

"This song is the holly song our friendship is founded upon! It is a symbol of our combined awesomeness and will forever be our theme song!"

"OH! Sdflndsknlsdklnsd!" I sung cheerfully while swaying Grover and me back and forth.

Grover tried hard next to me not to burst out laughing or to smile his lips twitching.

"rjkjsdfkjdshhbsdfkbsdf!" I sung even louder. "Go Grover sing the song of our people!"

Laughing Grover rolled his eyes at me and sung, "rbhfbhfsadfjhsd."

At that moment my foot rest decided to join in with some muffled screams.

"You know she's going to kill you when she gets out right Liz?" Grover asked looking down at my foot rest.

"My foot rest would never do something so violent. Its only purpose, no its goal in life is to let feet rest upon it and I'm fulfilling this quest of self-accomplishment, it feels complete right now."

"Hehe," Grover laughed nervously. "I don't think you know your foot rest that well then because right now it appears to be trying to bite you."

"No bad foot rest, eating humans is frowned upon by today's society." I scolded.

"Yeah you're not helping yourself here." Grover sighed.

"Why don't we then just ask my foot rest what they think about this? Because I feel that right now it's at peace with itself." I reached down and pulled the gag off of my foot rest's mouth.

"I'm going to kill you when I get out of here Liz." Anna growled at me.

"I can assure you Anna that I'll be waiting comfortably for you in the Underworld." I said happily.

Anna growled in frustration, thrashing around.

"I wonder if you're allowed to make friends in the afterlife or is it kind of like reading in a library were you can't talk, but with more fire." I said.

"What? What are you talking about?" Anna asked.

"Can't we all just be friends?" Grover sighed.

"Why can't we be friends, why can't we be friends," I sung loudly.

" .Are. .Burger." Anna said slowly.

I paused for a second, "Is that a real insult?"

"I don't know! Leave me alone I'm tied up like pig up for slauter so please excuse me if I'm a little too upset to think my words through!" Anna yelled in frustration.

Getting up I walked over to the window and looked out. "Shh my foot rest it is okay."

Behind me it was completely silent.

"Ahh, Liz," Grover said slowly.

"Yes Grover?"

"You might have forgotten to take away Annabeth's dagger; also she might have just escaped…"

I spun around looking at the slowly approaching Anna who was holding the cut rope in her hands.

"Hahaha…" I laughed nervously holding up both of my hands. "Now let's talk about this Anna."

0o0o0o

I-Refuse-To-Engage-In-A-Battle-Of-Wits-With-An-Unarmed-Man

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I was on the floor balancing on my hands and knees with my wrist tied together.

"Ah, this is a great chair." Anna said, sitting on my back.

"Umm," Grover said slowly. "Are you okay Liz."

"Grover we do not talk to the furniture." Anna told him.

"But she's not even gagged and she hasn't made one noise since you tied her up."

"Quiet Grover," I finally said. "I am Anna's chair now and I will be the greatest chair in the world!"

"Y-You're not supposed to agree to being Annabeth's chair Liz."

"Chair mode activate." I said freezing as much as I could.

"I-I," Grover sighed. "I give up, whatever." With that he turned and started to eat the last of his forks and spoons.

0o0o0o

How-About-A-Nice-Big-Cup-Of-Shut-The-Fuck-Up

0o0o0o

The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver.

Anna and I had made peace after I gave her some of the really old books I had borrowed with the helmet at the Arch; they really needed to get better security.

Anna was excited because some of those books held copied of the original blue prints to the Arch which apparently was suppose to be three feet taller than it was… so fascinating.

"Let's try to contact Chiron," Anna said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit and your half-brother."

"You said we can't use phones though?"

"I'm not talking about phones."

We wondered through downtown for an hour or so, though I had no idea what we were looking for. The air was dry and hot, which was a relief after the hot and humid air of St. Louis.

Finally we found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. We went to the farthest stall that was away from the street.

"What are we doing guys?" I asked, as Grover took out the spray gun.

"Its seventy-five cents," he grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth, Liz?"

I fished out four stray quarters in my pocket along with six drachma I had found at Medusa's place.

"Excellent," Grover said. "We could use a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't good, and my arm gets tired of pumping."

"What are you talking about Grover?"

He fed in the quarters and set the knob to FINE MIST. "I-M'ing"

"Instant Messaging?"

"Iris-messaging," Anna corrected. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and if she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."

"And why did no one feel the need to tell me this?"

"Yeah that would end well, you being able to instantly message people around the world." Grover sarcastically said.

Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water came hissing out in a thick white mist.

Light coming through the entrance shined through the mist breaking into colors.

Anna held out her hand to me. "Drachma please."

I handed it over.

She raised the coin over her head. "O goddess, accept our offering."

"You should say please Anna, it's polite." I said.

Just as I finished talking Grover covered my mouth with his hand.

Her shoulders stiffened for a second before she threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer.

"Half-Blood Hill…please," Anna requested.

Instantly I was looking through the mist at strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound in the distance. We seemed to be on the porch of the Big House. Standing with his back to us at the railing was Luke.

"Luke!" I called.

He turned eyes wide. I could swear that he was only standing three feet in front of me. Except I could only see the part of him that appeared in the rainbow.

"Shrimp!" His scared face broke into a grin as he rushed forward to hug me. He only barely managed to stop himself just right before he would have hit the mist. "Is that Annabeth to? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"

"We're…uh…fine," Anna stammered. She was madly straightening her dirty T-shirt, trying to comb the loose hair out of her face. "We thought-Chiron- I mean-"

"He's down at the cabins." Luke's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover all right?"

"I'm right here," Grover called. He held the nozzle out to one side and stepped into Luke's line of vision. "What kind of issues?"

Just then a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its stereo turned to maximum hip-hop. As the car slid into the next stall, the base from the speakers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement.

"Chiron had to- what's that noise?" Luke yelled.

"I'll take care of it!" Anna yelled back, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out of sight. "Grover, come on!"

"What?" Grover said. "But-"

"Give Liz the nozzle and come on!" she ordered.

Grover muttered something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle at Delphi, then he handed me the spray gun and followed Anna.

I readjusted the hose so I could keep the rainbow going and still see Luke.

"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke shouted to me over the music. "Things are pretty tense here, Shrimp. Word leaked out about the Zeus-Poseidon standoff. We're still not sure how-probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound. Now the campers are starting to take up sides. It's shaping up like the Trojan War all over again. Aphrodites, Ares, Hermes, and Apollo are backing up Poseidon, more or less. Athena is backing up Zeus.

In the next stall over I could hear Anna and some guy fighting, and then the music's volume decreased drastically.

"So how have you been Shrimp, everything been okay?" Luke asked me.

So I told him pretty much everything, including my dreams. In the short time I had known Luke I trusted him and it felt nice to tell someone everything without needing to hide stuff. I had been talking for a while though, much longer than I had realized, and I only had a few more minutes before the water shut off.

"You've been in so much danger already," Luke fretted. "I wish I could be there to help you and to protect you, I don't want anything to happen to my little Shrimp you're like my sister."

I blushed," Aww Surfer Boy you're like my bro too."

Out of nowhere he frowned. "Shrimp look at you!" He said, despair and panic on his face.

"You're covered in DIRT!"

"Oh gods," I said. "Here we go"

"I knew this would happen you've been in so much danger and now look at you. I just knew the world was way too dirty and dangerous for you. Have you been brushing your teeth? Cleaning behind your ears? Practicing your impaling technique?" he fretted.

"Oh Luke, calm down." I said waving my hand at him. "You worry too much. I'm just fine. Look! I even managed to steal some things from the Arch I got you this badass dagger from one of the exhibits and also this really old fashion pistol, you'll love it."

"Ahh, that's my Shrimp." Luke said grinning proudly at me.

"I even threw a pie at Anna's face."

"Wait, what did you just sa-"

Luke was interrupted by the music in the stall next to us shutting of completely. A cry of terror followed soon after with the sound of car doors slamming shut, and the Lincoln peeling out of the car wash.

"I better go see what that was," I told Luke. "So bye, I'll see you later!" I said just as the timer for the mist went out.

"Bye Shrimp, but wait what was that last thing about the pie? Wait Shrimp! Shrimp! Where are you-"

"Sorry Luke can't hear you, mist is fading away, must be going now."

"That's not how IM'ing works Shrimp we can hear each other perfectly in till the connection is completely broken."

The mist was nearly evaporated now, only Luke's face was visible.

"Uhhh," and with that my hand waved through the mist. There problem solved.

Anna and Grover came around the corner, laughing. "Hey where's Luke?" Anna asked.

I walked in between them, linking arms with both of them as I walked away.

"The timer went out, why? Did you want to see your man Anna?" I asked wiggling my eyebrows at her.

Anna blushed looking away. "He's not my man." She mumbled quietly.

I unlinked arms with her, keeping Grover with me as I skipped ahead. We both turned so we were walking backwards on the street in front of Anna.

"You know what I think Grover?"

"What do you think Liz?"

"I think our darling Anna has I crush."

"You don't say our little girl is growing up so fast." Grover said with a mischievous smile that mirrored mine.

"I remember when she was just a wee little lass, oh back then were the days, right Grover?"

"Yes they were. But now she's all grown up chasing after boys or should I say one boy in particular."

"You guys." Anna growled.

"I think there is only one way to express how I feel about this Grover."

"I know I feel the same way to Liz."

"Then shall we express it together?"

"Let's,"

With that Grover and I expressed how we felt about Anna's crush at the same time.

"Anna and Luke sitting in a tree,"

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G,"

"First comes love then comes marriage"

"Then comes a baby in a baby carriage,"

We both bowed at the end of our song to Anna.

Anna's face was completely blank as we stared at it.

Then her lips twitch and a small giggle escaped. "You guys are ridiculous."

She bopped us both on the head softy saying, "Idiots."

Grover and I burst out laughing as Anna shook her head at us with a smile on her face.

"Let's go eat guys." I said cheerfully re-linking my arm with Anna's as we started to walk again.

I-Would-Ask-For-Your-IQ-But-I'm-Afraid-A-Fraction-Wouldn't-Count

A few minutes later, we were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner. All around us, families were eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas.

Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well?"

I said, "We would like to order, please."

"Okay sweetie hold on and let me get you guys some menus."

I was watching the waitress walk away when a rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb.

All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlights glared red. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holsters on either side, complete with shotguns.

The guy on the bike would've made the Hulk scream for his mommy. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans with a black leather duster, a hunting knife was strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades with his black hair in a crew cut. All the exposed skin, including his face, was scarred from many, many fights. But his face looked familiar to me, like I had seen it before.

As he walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place. All the people rose, as if they were hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again. Everybody went back to their conversations.

The biker slid into our booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Anna against the window.

He looked at me giving me a wicked grin. "So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?"

This guy… was awesome, sure he seemed to be a little of a jerk, but he looked badass and well I loved things that looked badass. He also looked kind of familiar.

That's when it clicked for me on who he was.

"Oh you're Ares! You have that awesome cabin back at camp! I love the boar head and the flag design, but my favorite part is the barb wire. You think they'll let me put some barb wire on my cabin?"

He froze looking like he was unsure what to do next, like he had never had that reaction before.

"Liz," Grover whimpered. "Now is not the time to share your love of sharp and dangerous objects with someone."

"Quiet goat boy," Ares growled.

He then looked at me raising one of his eyebrows. "You like my cabin?"

"Ya, its badass just like your motorcycle which I love. My favorite part is the shotgun holsters, shotguns are always my weapon choice when it comes to games."

"Are you fangirling Liz?" Grover whispered to me.

Not quiet enough it seemed since Anna snorted and Ares looked even more surprised.

"Ouf," Grover grunted as pushed him out of the seat knocking all of the air out of him when he hit the floor.

I then grabbed a bun from the bread basket the waitress had put on our table and threw it into Anna's mouth while it was wide open. Her laughter was cut off as she tried to chew the bun to hungry to spit it out and waste it.

I smiled sweetly at Ares as Grover was sprawled across the floor groaning and Anna chewed angrily on a bread bun glaring at me.

"Oh, I like you." Ares said grinning back at me. He took off his shades, where his eyes should have been was only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions.

"Has anyone ever told you that you have beautiful eyes?" I asked.

He threw his head back letting out a loud laugh scaring the surrounding people including Grover who curled up into a ball and whimpered.

Anna slipped out of her seat crawling out from under the table and next to Grover. "This is bad isn't it? These two… getting along." She said.

"Oh gods," Grover squeaked. "Where all going to die and knowing those two it will be long and painful."

"Oh come on Grover!" I exclaimed, making him jump in surprise as I leaned down from my seat so I was level to them.

"I wouldn't kill you!"

"Oh, is it because where best friends and you love me?" he asked slowly.

"Oh, umm, sure," I said.

"That didn't even cross your mind did it?" he accused me.

"Well it was more along the lines of you being my minion and why would I kill my minion? That's the good guy's job."

"The minions are always the first to go." Ares said thoughtfully.

"Yeah Grover, have you never played a video game?" I asked.

"You play video games?" Ares asked me.

Sitting back up in my seat I turned to look at him saying, "Yeah, of course I do where else would I kill things without a care?"

"I always liked playing online shooting games myself, like Call of Duty or Gears of War." Ares idly said.

I grinned at Ares, "Their angry screams as you kick their butts."

Ares grinned back at me. "The sweetest sound I've ever heard."

"What about when you guys lose to them?" Grover hesitantly asked.

"Well Grover," I said.

Ares then said, "We hunt them down."

"Because," I continued.

"No matter how far they run," he said.

"No matter where they hide," I finished.

"We will find them," Ares leaned closer to Grover as he said that making Grover and Anna shrink back.

"And show them that why'll they may be great at games we can always-"I started to say.

"Kick their ass." Ares and I finished together.

"Oh gods their finishing each others sentences," Grover quietly whispered to Anna with despair.

"We're doomed." Anna sighed shaking her head.

The waitress came back with heaping trays of food- cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and chocolate shakes.

"It's on the house honey," she told me smiling sweetly at me. She then looked distrustfully at Ares, looking back at us in worry as she walked away.

Ares pulled out a knives using it to clean his finger nails as he stared at Grover.

Grover about died from a heart attack looking like he was having a mini panic attack just from Ares looking at him.

"So goat boy you going to eat that hamburger?" Ares asked him.

Grover about threw the hamburger at Ares face in his haste to give it to him. "No! Of course not… you know its fine, I'm a vegetarian!"

"You can't do that," I told Ares. "You can't threaten people with a knife."

Ares sighed, "And here I thought you were actually cool ki-"

At the same time Anna and Grover looked surprise.

"She actually is going against violence?" Grover wondered. "Maybe all my lectures finally got through to her-"

Both where cut off though when I lifted up my hand as Riptide transformed into a huge battle axe. "You need imply there is danger with something really big like and axe or a shotgun!" I said happily as I imbedded the axe into the table.

Ares laughed delighted, while Anna and Grover sighed.

"I should have known," Grover muttered.

"I love this country. Best place since Sparta. But anyway back to business Tiny I need you to do me a favor."

"What favor could I do for you?" I asked him.

"Nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little… date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."

"Eh okay, I guess that's fine." I responded. Hey what do you want me to do tell the God of War no? Because I don't think I'd have the upper hand in a situation like that.

"I thought you wouldn't mind," he chuckled. "You seem like the fighting type, what with all the monsters you've killed so far and so young to. I think we'll get along just fine. And hey if you do this for me I'll even arrange you a ride west."

"Okay so the water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride; I'll meet you back here when you get it."

After that it seemed like I had woken up from a day dream. Ares was gone and so was his bike. The only trace of him was the crumb from Grover's hamburger.

"Okay then it's time to do a side mission on our wonderful quest!" I exclaimed getting up from my seat and running out the door.

Anna and Grover jumped up chasing after me.

"Wait Liz!" Anna yelled do you even know where you're going?"

"…no…," I said happily. "Anna?" I asked.

"Yes Liz."

"Where are we right now and how do we get to… oops forgot the name of the place, now what was it again."

"Oh gods," Anna groaned. "Just follow me."

Grover and Anna walked away with their heads hung while I skipped happily after them.

Note: And that's all for now folks! See you next time!