ANNABETH

Sky led us a bit further down the road and stopped in front of one of the taller grey buildings. At first I thought she'd take us to the upper storeys but instead she started to descend some steps to one of those small businesses that are usually bars or news agents. This one was neither. The entire wall we were looking at had two large ceiling to floor windows on either side of a swinging glass door that had an open sign hanging from it. A large plastic lime green sign with a word in white cursive that made it impossible for me to read was attached to the wall above the whole establishment. I looked at Percy but he was squinting at the sign too.

"What's olst?" Leo looked at Sky questioningly.

"Lost," she corrected.

"I thought you were dyslexic." Percy said.

"I can't read it but I just know what it says," she shrugged. "Something I should tell you …"

That sentence made me a little worried. "What?"

"I think there might be a demigod living here too," she was giving me a weird look but I didn't understand it.

"How can you know?" Leo asked.

Sky shrugged. "Well, last night I had a dream about him. it was just an old memory – we were walking to school together but it was the conversation some stuff he said about his mom and well, … he sounded like the demigods at camp and he's dyslexic too …" Ironically she didn't seem embarrassed about having a dream about a boy.

It did sound like a half-blood. "Well, point him out and I'll check it out."

Sky gave a little smile like you would when enjoying an inside joke. "Okay, I don't think I'll need to point him out though. He's drawn to blonde girls – I think you'll get along. Shall we?" she spoke like Percy wasn't even there and opened the door to let us in.

I quickly followed Jason with my head down but I had no trouble hearing Leo mutter to Percy "What was that about?"

Once we were all inside, Sky shut the door behind her and flipped the sign so it displayed closed. It wasn't a shop, if I had to guess I'd say it was a real estate agents, it had light brown hard wood floors and a pair of armless olive green chairs against the wall right wall like a waiting room. A potted plant with polished leaves stood in the corner next to a low table covered in magazines. There was a boy of about sixteen or so sitting behind a wooden counter with green panels on its front near the back of the room. The boy had a knitted blue hat resting on shiny, curls that fell to just above his shoulders. He was reading a magazine with his colourful sneakers propped onto the work surface, he didn't even look up when we entered.

Sky stepped forward and said confidently. "Hello, we're looking for Logan,"

The boy peeked up from his magazine and scanned our group. "I think you got the wrong place missy," he sounded amused.

Sky got closer and looked at the boy more carefully. "Moose? Is that you?"

He looked up suspiciously. "Have we met?"

"It's me! Sky!"

My hand shot straight to my dagger in alarm because he leaped over the desk with both hands and put them on either side of her face. "Oh my god Sky, you grew your hair out!"

"So did you! How've you been?" Moose stepped back and twirled sky around before giving her a fist bump.

"I've been good; you know same old, same old. Good job growing up by the way, you were what eleven when you lived here?"

"Yeah, eleven sounds about right, it was just after I met Leo." Sky turned around and seemed to remember we were all here. "Oh right, Moose, this is my friend Leo, my long lost brother Jason, newly found cousin Percy and his girlfriend Annabeth – she's my friend too."

Moose greeted us all with hand shake and paused at Jason. "Long lost brother? You found your mom then?"

Sky shook her head. "Nah, tracked down my dad. Can we see Logan then?"

"Yeah sure, Logan's at work I think but Michael's around. You remember the way." Moose went back to sit behind the desk and Sky led us through the door behind him into a back room.

There were a few steps beyond the door into a little dark room that was completely empty except from a wooden hatch in the ground. The locks looked rusty and cobwebs hung from the ceiling. The only indication this room had been used in the last century was the small path carved into the dust that carpeted the ground. Sky kneeled next to the door and gestured for quiet. It took a few seconds for me to hear it. Muffled music was sounding from below us, it sounded like rock, before I could ask what we were doing Sky knocked onto the door: three sharp taps, pause, a single knock another short tap another knock, then a pause, one more knock, a tap and two more knocks. Like a secret knock.

"Morse code for Sky." Leo whispered. Sky nodded. Silence fell under their feet. A male voice called out, it sounded so close to the wooden trap door it made me jump.

"Sky?" it called.

"Michael?" Sky answered back.

"No way!" Michael gasped. The doors flew open and a set of arms pulled Sky through the opening. Percy looked at me.

"Do we go in?"

"Come on guys!" Sky's voice echoed up.

I shrugged and went first. After another flight of stairs we were in what looked like a huge underground rec room. it was filled with beanbags, three or four plasma screen TVs, a number of table top games like air hockey, snooker, foosball and ping pong, a set of mismatching living room chairs and couches gathered around a coffee table where a card game was being played and a small makeshift stage holding a drum kit, electric guitar and microphone stand. The five white washed doors that led off from the room were closed and roughly eleven boys and four girls were crowding around Sky and calling out greetings. The oldest was a boy who was really more of a man of about nineteen and the youngest looked around nine. The older boy who must have been the leader was tall and lanky with dark auburn hair and a checked shirt. He was standing behind Sky with his hands on her shoulders; he was smiling and telling the other kids to hype down in an orderly way.

Once he got everyone back to their original activities he steered Sky back to us. "So, Sky these don't look like new recruits,"

"No, they're not. Sorry, we're just dropping in, but we were hungry so I was just wondering …" Sky gave him some first class puppy dog eyes.

"Ahhh, you were hoping to reap the benefits of being an ex-Lost Boy?" he smiled benignly.

"Actually I was just wondering if Star was cooking." Sky replied.

"Ex-Lost Boy?" Percy asked. "Like the vampires? Or like the kids from Peter Pan?"

The guy laughed. "Neither, it's just what our code name was in the beginning and it stuck. It used to be just boys but then girls started to pass the initiation too. Sky was actually one of the first. Oh, I'm being rude, I'm Michael." He shook hands with Leo, Percy and Jason and kissed my hand which I wasn't nessarcarily pleased about but didn't want to be rude.

"Michael …?" Percy asked edgily. Was he jealous? Surely not. I think he was still annoyed about what Sky had said. I was scanning the room for possible demigods but with the excitement of Sky's return travelling around them they all looked ADHD.

"Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answers to." Michael winked roguishly. "Come on Star's making tacos."