"You saw Sarah?" Nikki was gripping me so hard her nails were cutting into my arm. "Is she alright?"

"She was alive but unconscious." I had explained my dream to her and Michelle the minute we stepped off the train.

"What about you?" Nikki turned to Michelle. "Have you been having dreams too?"

"Not of Sarah" Michelle replied, "But I have been dreaming about a cyclops on a beach somewhere. I got a really bad vibe from it. That's why I volunteered for this" Now that hurt a bit. I had kind of hoped she only came to help me.

"Must be the same one I saw." I said.

"So why are you dreaming about my sister and I'm not?" Nikki demanded, turning back to me.

"I think it's because I'm the one to go get her out..." I said. I pulled out my mom's gift. It didn't look like anything special. Just a mask, the sort of thing you would wear to a masquerade ball. "With this."

"She said it was a gift from her and Melpomene. Who's that?" I asked.

"She's the other theatre muse, the one for tragedy." Michelle said. "So obviously it has to do with acting." I just shrugged, and put the mask on. Maybe that would activate it.

"Anything happening?" The girls shook their heads. Great, I thought, now I'm just a weirdo wearing a mask. If it's supposed to help me sneak past monsters, it should at least have a fake eye in the middle or something. Suddenly, Nikki and Michelle stepped back in shock. "What?" I feared I was about to meet yet another monster. Nikki got over her shock and held up her compact mirror. Looking at my reflection, I saw that the mask was gone. Also, I had a third eye in the middle of my forehead. Disgusted, I reached up and ripped off the mask. I half expected that I wouldn't find it, and was going to be stuck this way. But my fingers found the mask's edges. "What the HELL was that?"

"Of course" Michelle said, "your mom said it would let you hide like monsters do." "So?"

"So…How do monsters hide?" I was about to say I had no idea, but then I thought about Mr. Roots, the Laistrygonian, and the crocotta.

"Mist" I said, astonished. "The mask lets me control the mist so it can fool monsters as well as humans."

"That would certainly help you sneak into a lair." Nikki said. "But why you?" I thought for a moment.

"Because they're expecting you" I explained, remembering what the dream woman had said about 'that half-blood'. "Also, I think they have Laelaps."

"What?"

"The dog Artemis was looking for. She said it will always find its prey. And you said your scent was probably on Sarah's clothes. The thing in my vision said something about a beast finding you. It would probably grab you as soon as you got close."

"Of course!" Michelle blurted out, "Remember that part of the prophecy? It said we would go where you can't yet reach. It must of meant how you couldn't get near the place Sarah is."

"At least not right away" I added, "The 'yet' would suggest you may join us later."

"Well that won't matter if we don't find a way to get there." Nikki was getting impatient.

"I'm thinking we should get some wheels." I suggested. "Either of you have any driving experience?"

"My dad's given me some lessons." Nikki replied. "He figured it's never to early to start. But how are we going to get a car?"

"Yeah, do you know how to hotwire one?" Michelle added.

"Um I was kind of hoping you, being the tech wiz, would know that." I said, sheepishly.

"oh…well I don't" Michelle looked a little embarrassed to admit that.

"Well, that may not be an issue. Now considering that time is of the essence, we should probably get something with a siren to cut through traffic" I said, cautiously. "Either of you have a problem swiping a cop car?" Nikki was fine with the idea, but it took a little convincing to get Michelle on board.

"Alright," she eventually relented. "But how are we going to do that without getting into a high speed chase?"

"I've got an idea." I smirked, "Think you have the supplies in that bag to whip up a few smoke bombs?"

After an hour of preparation we put my plan into action. It turns out that cops really do hang out at donut shops. We found one nearby and Michelle tossed one of her freshly made smoke bombs under the hood. Then we took our places.

"Ah no! What happened?" one of the cops ran out. He was your typical state trooper. Fat, with a big mustache and thick southern drawl.

"Need some help, officer?" I asked stepping out from behind a conveniently placed tow truck. I was now a six foot tall middle-aged man with a five o'clock shadow. I was wearing the stereotypical mechanic's outfit, a denim jumpsuit with an oily rag sticking the back pocket. Man, my new mask was cool! "I can take a look if you like." the cop stepped aside, nodding. I popped up the hood and pretended to look around inside. "Yep here's your problem." I said after a few moments. "you see your oil was low so that made your flux capacitor overheat" Okay I'll admit, I don't know cars. Thankfully, neither did the cop. He bought it hook, line and sinker. "I'll have to drive it back to the shop. I'll call you in a few days when its fixed." I finished.

"Um...Okay sure" the cop handed me the keys. I then handed them to Nikki who had snuck in when the cop wasn't looking.

"And I'll tell you what." I said leading the cop back towards the donut shop. "To show my support for the boys in blue, no charge. In fact-" I pulled out a twenty. "Have a baker's dozen on me!" The cop got a big smile on his face and went back inside. Once I was sure he couldn't see me anymore, I took off the mask and the glamour just melted away. Then I dashed back to the car. "Shotgun!" I called. Much to my disappointment, Michelle was already there.

"Hey, my smoke bombs are what made this possible." She reasoned with a smirk. "Now get in."