tired and ready to fall asleep. so i dunno if its good. cuz i have another 1667 words to type up and my music project due. ahh i just love report card season.

so read. and review. and then i'll love you.

We are Arrested. Again.

So far, this quest has been nothing but trouble. I was seriously regretting my decision to come – like I had a choice… I was pissed at Rachel for giving me the damn prophecy, at the gods for forcing me to go on this stupid quest, at me for not letting the idea of a new camp rest.

Tired.

So I sat down on the chair across the table from Jess and waited for her to stop crying. That's what she did. Cry her heart out. And since I was no therapist, and I wasn't about to go oh honey, it's okay and rub her back, I just waited.

Cailey was the one who did the entire feel better stuff. Why was she so calm? I needed someone to go into hysterics or something so I didn't feel like a complete ass. Because I felt like doing that myself.

Nico swore, a little late. "Are you serious? That means we're done with this quest. If we can't find him then who knows where we can find another demititan?"

Jess's head shot up. "What do you want with demititans?" she asked suspiciously.

"Why would you care?" I shot back, pissed. "You can't even tell us where Alec is and suddenly you're interested in what we have to say?"

"It's just…" she slumped. "I'm tired of being here. I can help you if you want. Are you looking for demititans?"

"Do you know where others are?" I asked eagerly.

She hesitated. "No. But why do you need them?"

Cailey began the explanation. "We're looking for demititans so we can prove to the gods you guys deserve a safe place to live. You know, a camp for demititans like Camp Half-Blood."

"The gods actually agreed to a camp of our – their own?" she tripped over her words and groaned. "I'm a mess. I can't even speak properly."

"Not exactly agree. There's like a trial. If the demititans prove safe enough to us, then they can get their own camp," I explained. She deflated, slightly. "If you're so tired of being here, then come back to Camp Half-Blood. We have cabins for children of minor gods and goddesses."

She looked down at her cup of hot tea Cailey had poured for her. "Yeah. I'm a daughter of a minor goddess…" her voice trailed off as she picked up the cup. "Eris."

"Wonderful. Let's go back to Camp Half-Blood. Seeing there are no other demititans and our quest is a complete failure…" I watched her carefully. She had to know something. But when she offered nothing, I sighed and pushed myself up from the table.

Diana leaned against the wall. "This Alec guy. How old is he?"

"Um…" I shrugged. "Don't know exactly. Probably a year old than me. Around Cailey's age." She shot me a look, which I pretended not to notice.

"Tall?"

I raised my hand to half a foot above my head, and then lowered it, unsure. "I don't know. He was taller than me last time I met him." Why was I answering these questions? Jess and Cailey knew him way better than I did. I turned them for clarification but Jess was rubbing her temples with her fingers like she had a headache and Cailey was stubbornly not meeting my gaze. She probably hated him or something. "Do you know him?" I asked excitedly.

"If it's the same guy, he gave me a different name," she said. "But we all lie nowadays, don't we. Does he have blond hair?"

Nico made a buzzer sound. I dropped my grin. "Blond? He had dark hair. Like black but tinted blue." Diana shrugged. "Maybe he dyed his hair?" I suggested hopefully. "Like me. Do you have a picture of him?"

"No."

"Diana, this guy you're talking about. He's a demititan?"

"Yeah. That's what he told me," she said. "We were at a foster home together. The last foster home before I came to Camp Half-Blood. After there was some monster attack at a park, he told me. And, well, I never told him I was one but I think he knew anyway."

"Where is he now? Still at the foster home?"

"No," she said. "He got into a fight at school. You don't want to hear the details… but there was one guy who ended up with fifty two stitches. It was awful. They were ready to transfer him but he ran away."

"But you know where he is." Otherwise she wouldn't be telling us this. Right? "Please tell me…"

She gave me a sheet of paper. It had deep creases in it as if it had been folded and unfolded many times. She'd been carrying around that for a while. "I don't know who he's living with right now. He gave me that and said if I wanted to find him it's there. But he also told me about Camp Half-Blood and said that they'd help me as long as I kept my identity secret."

"But you told us," I said. "You told us anyway."

She shrugged. "I was tired of hiding. That's what makes us all give in no matter what. We're tired of the circumstances. This was back in November. First I tried to stay with the foster family. But it was so lonely I…"

"Yeah," I said quickly. "Fast forward."

"I came. End of story."

I opened the sheet of paper. "This is in New York City," I said excitedly. "Come on, let's go."

Nico leaned over and took the sheet of paper from me. "Convenient," he said. "What's this guy's name?"

Diana answered. "Jake. I guess short for Jacob. But I doubt it's his real name."

Jess stood up and put the empty cup down. "I'm coming with you to find this guy."

"No you aren't," I said. "Once we get to New York City, we're sending you to Camp Half-Blood."

"Why?" she demanded.

"One." I held up my index finger. "It's too dangerous. Duh. Two. The prophecy said four the sum, and that four obviously means me, Cailey, Nico, and Diana."

"You don't know about that," Nico interrupted. "It could mean four the sum of other people you take along besides yourself. So Jess would fit –"

"Nico!" I yelled. "Now you're on her side? There is no way she's coming along. No. Way. At. All."

"Who made you my mom?" she challenged.

"I'm the quest leader, and this what I say." I sounded like a complete brat. I swallowed and tried again. "Jess, I can't take you along."

"Let me go. Please. I really want to help."

"Why?" I asked simply.

I got her there. She bit her lip and tried to force words out. Trying and testing out each lie. Anything but the truth. But in the end, she scowled and simply said, "I'm coming."

"I'm not going to allow that."

"Right. Cause you're the leader of this quest," she mocked. "And so far, it's going great."

"She has a point," Nico muttered.

My cheeks heated up. "I didn't plan for all this to happen! You think I want someone to die in the end of this quest? No, I don't. And that is exactly why you're not coming."

"I'm coming," she said.

"Your death."

"No problem."

We glared at each other. Her fingers were still wrapped around the hilt of the dagger tightly.

I hated it when I lost an argument. Why couldn't everyone see that I was right…? Awfully egotistical of you, I told myself.

"Are you done arguing? Because I'd like to eat now," Nico said.

"Go," I sighed. "Fill up your stomach." The tension eased. Somewhat.

~0~

We drove back. Cailey driving of course.

Unfortunately, we ran into some trouble right outside of New York City. We were waiting in line to pay so we could drive through the Lincoln tunnel. The snow heaping up on the roads were turning into slush, and accidents were occurring throughout the area. That and the line was long despite the fact it was not rush hour. While waiting, Diana and Jess started a game of tic tac toe on the window, smudging Xs or Os on the condensation that had formed. Nico was listening to his music again. Of course, it was loud. I didn't dare turn on the radio in case he got pissed at me for interrupting his music, though I doubted he could hear anything but his music. Sitting in the front seat, I rummaged through the compartments, searching for anything interesting to do.

The car inched forward and my head crashed into the front of the car. I winced but kept searching. This guy kept nothing interesting. Maps. The car manual. I brightened when I saw a bag of chips and then dropped it quickly after discovering the chips inside reeked of a funky smell. I didn't want to see them, let along taste the mold growing on them.

The car slowly inched forward again. I looked at the clock. It was two. Hopefully we'd get to the address by three or four and hopefully the Jacob guy hadn't left yet and hopefully we could get back to Camp Half-Blood with no other complications and hopefully the death the oracle was talking about really was about a fly and a heart attack…

How many 'hopefully's were there in that thought?

Someone rapped at the window with their knuckles. Cailey rolled down the window. I passed her the fare but she wasn't talking to the guy at the toll booth. A police officer.

And that was when the trouble started.

"Sir, is there something wrong?" Cailey asked innocently. "We're in a hurry."

"Ma'am," the police officer said to us, wearing sunglasses although it was freaking winter. "There is a problem. The licence plate on the vehicle matches the one someone reported stolen this morning."

Crap. I thought and pretended I hadn't heard. Nico of course, actually hadn't heard. I looked at the mirror in front of us and saw Jess give Diana a questioning look. She, in return, motioned at her to be quiet. "Really?" Cailey asked, bemused. Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel but her expression stayed confused. There was a reason I'd stayed quiet. Cailey was a great actor when she needed to be one. "We borrowed a car from our friend two hours ago for a road trip."

The police officer ignored her and scribbled down a few notes on his notepad. "How old are you? You look to young to be driving without a licensed driver in the car.

"Sixteen," she lied.

"You look thirteen." He was exaggerating. "How about you pull off to the side and have a little chat at the station about your friend?" He didn't believe her.

"Sure thing, sir," she said and rolled up the window. "What do we do?" she asked once it was up. Quietly. "Look calm. He can't hear us properly but he can still see through the window."

"I don't know," I said. "Run him over?"

Nico took off his headphones. He must've been listening all along, because he said, "How about you make a U turn to the opposite lane and I don't know, pretend it's a highway?"

"It's not a game," Cailey snapped. "Whatever you play on a game station, if a police chase starts, people could get hurt. My driving isn't great."

I pretended to examine my reflection in the mirror above me. "Just go along with them. We'll break out of jail – or wherever they take us – later."

The police officer motioned angrily.

"Better hurry."

Cailey pulled to the side. She unlocked the door and got out. We followed her actions. The sense of unease grew in my stomach. The man examined all of us. I kept my head down and remembered I looked like a guy, so I tried to spit out a glob.

Ew.

Didn't work either.

He frowned at me and told us to get into the car.

So we did.

~0~

They kept us in separate rooms so we couldn't formulate an escape plan or whatever, which stumped me. How do you escape from a police station with your friends if you have no idea where your friends are? I picked up a loose thread in my sleeve. Another police officer was watching me closely, making me uncomfortable.

I'm not Elena Evans, I chanted to myself.

He yawned and went back to his newspaper. His fingers carefully selected a jelly donut from a box.

Wonderful. I was stuck here. Bored. Did I mention ADHD can drive you insane if you're locked up in a room?

They'd taken my backpack away from me. They'd discover a thermos full of warm liquid and rice krispies bars. They'd find a baseball bat. No doubt they'd twist the 'evidence' into some weird story. At least I had my dagger with me.

Then the guy who's supposed to be interrogating me came in. I continued looking at my scuffed shoes.

"Hello," he said, as if he expected me to say hello back.

I looked anywhere but at him.

"Elena, we don't have all the time in the world," he said impatiently. "I don't care if you've dyed and cut your hair, I still know it's you."

I looked up then. "So what?" My words didn't reflect the fact my mind was panicking and running around in circles.

He pursed his lips. "Let's begin with when you stole the car."

"I didn't steal the car." I maintained his steady gaze. "I don't know why everyone is running after me, I'm innocent –"

"But you somehow end up looking guilty with the company you keep and where you are." He shifted in his seat.

He thought he'd won. God, everyone was so proud these days. I inspected my fingernails. He waited.

I yawned.

He leaned forward, and then sat forward so his butt has hanging off the front of the chair. I flinched when he took my wrist. "Juvenile delinquents like you deserve to be locked up," he hissed.

"Sir, if you're trying to make me confess, you're not scaring me much."

He bristled.

I smiled and kicked the chair leg. He unbalanced and crashed to the ground, his fingers letting go of my wrist. I avoided his hands and ran for the door.

The other police officer got my arm but I kicked blindly. The blow landed on a very precise area. Fortunate for me, unfortunate for him. By now, the man interrogating me had gotten up but I wasn't going to hang around and stay. I opened the door and ran down the hallway.

"Stop!" he shouted.

Why did they always yell that?

There was someone in front of me. "Boy," he yelled. That wasn't a gun in his hands, right? They weren't allowed to do that.

Were they?

"You're not going to shoot," I said, stopping in front of him.

"Get back in the room."

Regretting what I'd have to do, I took out my dagger strapped to my leg and slashed blindly. It didn't hit him, but he got out of the way just the same.

"You're a girl!" he shouted after me.

"No shit Sherlock." I looked for some place to hide and turned another corner.

There. The hiding place was so obvious I prayed for it to work. I grabbed the open door and hid behind it just as footsteps raced down the hall.

the name jacob wasn't my idea. it came from an anonymous reviewer. i was having troubule thinking of a name so i just decided, what the heck.

yup, thats it. :P next update is next sunday.

Past me.

I let out a suspended breath and slipped into the room once they were gone.