We were not the only ones to encounter the strange creatures. Thalia sent an Iris message to tell us of their encounter. Adelphia says it's likely most of the groups have already met them, and that it's likely there are multiple people growing them throughout the country.

Clarisse doesn't say much, but when she does it's to the point. When she says, "We should track them back to where they came from," I jump.

Adelphia nods and I reach for my bag, which I had thrown on the ground at the time of the attack.

We head over to where they first came from, and start to look around. "Whatever they were, they were pretty light on their feet." Adelphia says.

"Now, I have a question. How do you think someone could make these monsters so that they're, like, honest to goodness monsters? With the ichor and the vanishing and all that," I ask, stooping to the ground.

Adelphia responds, "The only thing I could think of is if they have the help of a god, or are a god. Since we don't know anything about them, it's hard to guess."

My eye catches something glint for a moment in the trunk of a tree ahead of me. I walk forward and knock on the tree, which gives off a hollow, metal sound. I feel around and my hand finds a lump. I press it, hoping something happens. The tree loses a few leaves, but not much else occurs. I walk to the next tree and knock on it. Also metal. I test three more before shouting to Adelphia and Clarisse. "Are metal trees a thing now?"

"No. Are they supposed to be?" Clarisse says, examining a leaf.

"These trees are."

"What?" Clarisse says, standing up and coming over. She feels the tree, and then knocks like I did.

Adelphia comes over and puts her hand on my shoulder. "Good work." She starts to climb one of them, and Clarisse searches the base of the trunk.

"There must be some kind of importance. You wouldn't just put up metal trees on a mountain. They've got to hold something, or be the entrance to somewhere, or maybe they're cameras to spy on something," Clarisse mutters as she yanks at the roots. One of them comes loose and a mechanical sound comes from below our feet. Adelphia trips on a branch and it snaps off, causing more noises to come.

"I think we're on to something bigger than we thought," Adelphia says, climbing down.

I got stuck with a quick-tempered huntress named Xenia and some other chick that I can't remember the name of.

"Oh, look how pretty these flowers are!" other chick says, stopping to smell them. Xenia gets mad at her and they start to argue. I look around, and then sit down while I wait for them to finish. The flowers are actually kind of ugly, and I pick one. Or at least try to, because it's stuck in the ground. I pull out some shears (because my tool belt has literally everything) and I cut it out of the ground. Sappy grey ooze comes out the end, and I turn it upside down, peering into the stem. It's insides are made up of metal, and where the ooze fell, more metal flowers grow.

"Xenia, can you Iris message Thalia? I think we found something."

The two automatically stop arguing and Xenia comes over while the other chick (that I have decided to name Cranky) sits down and pouts.

Xenia pulls out a drachma and begins to send out an Iris message. Thalia answers with Jason and Piper behind her, the two talking quietly. Xenia steps back and says, "She's all yours."

"Hi, so, these ugly flowers are metal, and they have this drippy thing inside them that makes more flowers."

"What?" Thalia says, raising an eyebrow. "Show me."

I turn the flower right-side up, but nothing drips out, so I go to cut another flower, and then show her.

"That's odd. Do you know why they do that, or what they are there for?" she asks, motioning Jason and Piper over.

"No clue. Has anyone else told you about similar things?"

"Not yet, but we'll be on the lookout. Is that it?"

"As far as I know, but all these two have been doing is argue, so I've been drowning them out."

Piper grimaces. "Okay, well, thanks."

"Don't forget to message us whenever you find anything else," Jason says, and the Iris message ends.

Right-o. "All we do is argue? You know what, I think I got the two laziest people on the planet!"

"That is so not true. I am not lazy at all." Cranky says, and I roll my eyes.

"Whatever you say. Let's just start figuring out the flowers," I say, messing with my first one and taking it apart.

"It sounded like it came from inside the mountain. If we can find an entrance, then maybe we'll get some answers," Clarisse says, and I nod.

"So do you think we're searching for a cave, or a tree that would open up, because I honestly don't want to mess with every single tree until we found the entrance."

"I would guess they put it in a tree, because a cave would be far too convenient for someone marching in on their business. I'll Iris message Thalia, you guys start looking around, and I'll join in in a minute," Adelphia says. I head to a new tree and start to knock on it, kicking at the metal roots until one comes loose. When nothing happens, I grab hold of the nearest branch and start to climb. Something occurs to me, and I yell to Clarisse.

"Have you noticed the lack of life? Where are the birds? I haven't even seen a bug yet."

"Since it's winter, I doubt they would be out. But I haven't seen any nests yet, which does feel a little odd."

Adelphia comes over and begins to mess with another tree. I sigh and my thoughts wonder, wondering how long this will take us.

"Thalia said Leo found something interesting, too," Adelphia says, tugging at the roots.

"Leo? What did he find?"

"Some flowers were made of metal. And I can't imagine these two things aren't related. We're still relatively close to them, so they could lead to the same place. I think it might be more of a trail. If we just followed the trees to the end of the trail, we might find something else. Of course, nothing is certain, but it's better than staying here all day and searching every tree."

"I think you might be right. We got lucky when we triggered those mechanisms, and there's no way we'll get through all these trees," Clarisse says.

"So which way do we go? If we don't know where the beginning is, I mean. We could be heading away from whatever we're searching for," Adelphia says.

"I think we should go up. We started at the base of the mountain, and nothing unusual was noticeable there. The monsters didn't come out until we got here, where the trees began getting thicker," I say, and Clarisse tilts her head.

"No use wasting any more time here. Let's keep going."

"Why on earth would someone make flowers out of metal? That's so dumb," Cranky said as she messed with the petals.

"Maybe they were bored." I yawn as I put the flower back together, finding a seemingly pointless piece in a petal. I press it and then twist it, and something clicks. All the flowers close and shrink into the ground, except the few I made when I poured out the liquid. "Well, that did something."

So, as far as I know, it's not anyone that's from the actual book series. (But it might be, I'm still deciding.)

I love everyone's responses, they are so sweet!

AND ALSO DID YOU SEE MAGNUS CHASE CAME OUT TUESDAY BECAUSE I HAD IT ON MY CALENDAR ON THE WRONG DAY AND THAT WAS BAD, BECAUSE I NEARLY HAD A HEART ATTACK. And I still haven't seen a physical copy of it, or held it, or read any of it, but I will hopefully get it sooooon!

Oh, and thanks for reading this, by the way. You guys are awesome!