Mina

How they managed to get a bus to the camp overnight, Mina wasn't sure. It was better than a school bus, but not so nice as a greyhound. It was also a double decker, which she had never seen in her life. She climbed aboard, and then took the seat farthest in back on the first level. At least, she reasoned, she'd be alone. She had spent too much time the day before repeating that, yes, she could control lightning, and yes, she was Zeus's daughter.

Granted, controlling lightning wasn't quite the right word. It came to her... when she needed it. However, zapping herself the night before had not been her plan.

She was perfectly fine that all the others were climbing up to the second deck to watch the views from above. She rolled her eyes at how silly they were all being.

And then Ace was sitting next to her, and Arianna next to him.

"May I help you?" Mina asked.

"Can't I sit next to you?" Ace asked. "Aren't we friends?"

"Friends don't try to sell one another's secrets at a not-so-secret auction," Mina said. "Nor do they try to snap photos of them while they are changing, or Charmspeak my parents into forcing me to go to a camp where I nearly got killed on my first night."

"Honestly, they would have found you eventually and would have definitely killed you," Arianna said. Mina just shot her a glare.

Ace just smiled at her. "Aw, come on, you know you love me," Ace said.

"No, all I know is that your goal in life is to destroy me," Mina said.

Ace furrowed his brow. "I would never try to destroy you, Mina," he said. "Or do anything to hurt you."

"Maybe not physically," Mina said. "But the fact that several of your lacrosse teammates knew what the password to my facebook account was tells me that you don't respect me or my privacy."

Ace smiled while Arianna snickered. "You made it too easy," he said. "They didn't do much."

"They put me in a relationship with Marvin," Mina said. "That was nawt acceptable."

Mina huffed, and stood up walking up a few rows. She took a seat across the aisle from Theo, who was laying down with his arm over his eyes. It seemed he was finally trying to get some sleep.

"You know, I really do think he cares about you more than you give him credit," Theo said, not moving.

"Excuse me?" Mina asked, looking over at him.

He lifted his arm for a moment to look at her. "I know you're both an only child... or at least you've been raised that way," Theo said.

"I am an only child," Mina corrected Theo.

"On your mortal side," Theo agreed. "But, to him, you're like a little sister, or something to that effect. It's fun to tease you, but he'll never do anything that would ever cause you real harm. And he'll protect you from danger."

"As if," Mina huffed.

"Isn't that exactly what he did last night?" Theo asked. "Run straight into danger to try to protect you?"

Mina glanced at Theo, but had no argument. So, instead, she looked away and before she knew it, Theo had closed his eyes. Mina leaned against the window and looked at Theo as the ride continued, trying to understand him a little better.

He was handsome, she realized, but tense. She had been too annoyed to really look at him when they first met, and he had been tense and worried since they had arrived to camp. But, as he fell asleep, she noticed a softness to his face that she hadn't noticed before, and it occurred to her, he wasn't much older than she was. Just a teenager, and already had so many younger kids, a whole camp of kids, looking to him for guidance. Even those a bit older than he was, like Jaime and Ingrid kept turning to him.

It looked as if he hadn't touched his dark brown hair since they first met, and with all the excitement and danger, it had become unruly, but perfectly so at the same time. And, for someone his age, she noticed he was a lot more well-sculpted than most, his frame containing muscles that most boys didn't get until they were men.

So, she sat and watched him, because it was more intriguing to her than hearing Ace talk and Arianna giggle.

They pulled to a stop before Mina realized, and the bus turned off. Mina was a little shocked and straightened. She looked out her window to see the familiar neighborhood she had grown up in. She heard the kids on the upper part of the bus gasping and murmuring in awe.

Mina stood up and lightly shook Theo. "We're here," she said. Theo didn't groan, didn't try to go back to sleep, but he did roll his shoulders and stretch his arms, displaying that his orange shirt was probably a little bit too small, though she wasn't complaining. She caught a momentary glimpse at his flat stomach and appreciated that his shirt framed his strong shoulders.

It took Mina a moment to step out of the crowd exiting the bus, but they all stood back from the gate. As Ace was still stuck on the bus, she stepped forward and entered the code on the keypad which clicked the gate to unlock. She pushed it open and walked in, leading the way. She also figured that she should make sure the alarm system didn't go off when kids began entering the house.

"Welcome to Hotel de Menefer," Ace said, encouraging people to enter. "Come on, everyone."

"Is this really a hotel?" One kid asked, gazing up at the mansion.

"No," Mina said. She turned to Ace. "You might want to mark some of the rooms as off limits."

"Why would I do that?" He stepped out of the way so that more could enter.

"Oh, I don't know, unless you want people sleeping in your parent's bedroom," Mina said. "Or your bedroom."

Ace nodded. "You make a good point," he said.

"Do you have any air mattresses?" Jaime asked, walking up beside the two.

"I believe so," Ace said. "Camping gear is probably in the cellar."

"I'm hungry," one little girl said.

"Are you sure we're going to be safe?" Another boy asked.

Ace sighed. Apparently, this would be harder than he had thought.

"Okay, everyone, slow down," Ingrid called. "We're safer here than at Camp for the meantime. We will get food, and then make sure there are enough beds for everyone to sleep in."

"Kitchen is this way," Mina said, and people began to follow her. Walking in, however, she wondered if there would be enough food for everyone. Ingrid was among those that came in behind her. The two began going through cabinets looking for something aside from cookies. Ingrid began to distribute plastic cups to the younger kids that had followed them in. They'd have to deal with water for the mean time.

"Spaghetti," Mina said, walking out of the large pantry with three boxes of spaghetti.

Ingrid sighed. "Nothing more nutritious?"

"You're welcome to look, but unless everyone wants to cook their own different meal..."

Ingrid frowned a bit. "Cruz will go shopping today," Mina said. "After we know everything we need."

Inrid looked Mina over while she was waiting for the water to boil for the spaghetti. "You've known Ace for a long time, right?"

"As long as I can remember," Mina said, picking at some baby carrots she found in the fridge to nibble on instead of waiting for the spaghetti. She put some into a bowl for the little kids to nibble on as well. "Why?"

"Just wondering," Ingrid said. She smiled. "Anyway, you'll be leaving today for your quest. The Hephaestus boys brought some extra gear and I think you should find a weapon and try to train at least once before you leave."

Mina rolled her dark blue eyes. "I have lightning," she said. "Why do I need any other weapon?"

"Can you actually control the lightning?" Ingrid asked. "Did you mean to be struck by it last night?"

"Okay, so I'm not perfect with it yet," Mina said. "I'll get better. I always do."

"Still, using your powers so much isn't necessarily a good thing," Ingrid said. "It wears someone down and we don't have any Ambrosia to send with you." She looked at Mina. "The line that you heard when Rachel gave the prophecy, it has to do with you. And I suspect Ace as well. I just don't want you to cost him his life, Mina."

"I'm not going to kill him," Mina said.

"I understand that," Ingrid said. "But, you need to be able to protect yourself because he can't always be there for the both of you." She looked down at the water. "There are four of them. I doubt you'll complete your quest without running into them. Theo can't fight all of them. You and Ace will need to fight as well." She was quiet for a moment. "Ace is my brother. I don't want him to die."

"Neither do I," Mina said. "But, let me assure you, Ace is a resilient one."