a.n. Hooray! 30 reviews! You all rock! Sorry it took me so long (what's it been, like two months?!)...but I just don't have the motivation *wink wink* You know what helps with motivational stuff? Reviews! Not that I'm implying anything.

The next day at noon, it was pretty easy to figure out who was a morning bird and who was...not.

Early Bird #1) Oliver. I know. I was surprised too. He would still be asleep by noon before his disappearing act. I guess when you're training to fight monsters people don't look kindly on oversleeping.

Non-Early Bird #1) Joshua Blake. Actually, he looked like he had pulled an all-nighter. Probably making a plan. Athena must have dark circles under hers eyes or something if she never sleeps, always making plans, like her children. Or, at least, the one child of hers that I've actually met.

Early Bird #2) Kylie. She looked as cute as a button. She had her hair in little pigtails, and her curls were just about everywhere, but she was excited, no doubt about it. And she was undeniably awake.

Non-Early Bird #2) Avery. She's going to kill me when she reads this description. Her hair was absolutely everywhere, but it usually is. She looked like she hadn't slept either; although her skin was so white it glowed in the sun. Her navy eyes were dull, which was a little disconcerting, like she was looking at you, but she wasn't seeing anything.

And, just to make it up to my dear friend Avery, I will now describe myself very well. If this were on television, it would be in high definition. Maybe...

Anyway, in a few words, I looked like crap. My hair was frizzy and bushy and my blue eyes looked plain. I wore a sweatshirt and jean shorts. So, please give a warm round of applause for...*insert drum roll* Non-Early Bird #3! Thank you, thank you!

"Tori!" Kylie yelped. She squirmed a little. 3...2...1...BAM!

"Hi Kylie," I said from the ground, brushing dirt off of my butt. I'll admit, I wasn't very enthusiastic. Actually, I'm usually up and ready by 12, but I was about to go on a search and rescue mission. How could you sleep with something like that hanging over your head? I was afraid my worry was going to eat me or something...

"You don't look so good," commented Josh after we had starred walking to who knows where.

"Thanks..." I muttered. He noticed me at least! That was a plus, right? Maybe?

"Where are we going?" I asked, trying to keep our meager conversation rolling. I also tied my hair into messy bun. A girl has got to look her best, and unfortunately, that was the best I could look at the moment. "Do you guys even know?"

"The airport," he answered. "We have to get from here to Houston."

"You mean, like, Texas?" asked Avery, making her way over to us, Kylie holding onto her hand.

Josh nodded.

"How are we going to buy five tickets to Texas from here?" she inquired. "That's going to cost a lot."

"Good thing you're along, right?" he asked mysteriously. Avery turned red.

"You can't just assume that I'm going to pay for something like this!" she shrieked, her voice getting higher pitched. "I don't even know if I can—"

"You can," Josh insisted. "I checked last night, and you're all set to go."

Avery sighed heavily, and she looked like she was about to punch him in the face, but she hung her head and walked over to Oliver, who was leading the party. "Hey, so, about the tickets..." The rest of their conversation they exchanged in whispers. And even my finely tuned ears couldn't catch most of what they were saying. And I had practice!

"How do you know it's Texas?" I inquired, desperate for conversation.

Josh looked at me, and I shivered a little bit. He was seriously gorgeous, in my opinion. Messy blonde hair, pure silver eyes, a light tan. He looked like he should be on a magazine, or in a movie. Not going out to fight monsters that have been plaguing the earth since Ancient Greece, or maybe even before that. And he definitely shouldn't be talking to me.

He threw me a folded up piece of paper. It was a map of the United States, only much more clearly defined, with shaded areas all different colors. The key said a bunch of junk in another language (probably Ancient Greek: go figure) that I had absolutely no hope of ever translating. A big circle was scrawled over Huston. "A little birdie told me."

I turned it over. In small, curving, ornate letters was more of the language. I had caught on that Oliver wasn't the only demi-god with dyslexia, that it was actually something that labeled you as one, so I figured the handwriting must be murder on his eyes, but I asked anyway. "What does this mean?"

Josh didn't even glance over at me. "'Do not fail.'"

"That's encouraging."

"It was a gift from my mother," he added after a moment of silence. Something about the way he said it made me fidget.

"Something about that is bothering you?" I guessed.

Josh nodded shortly. "The gods don't usually associate with any of us half-bloods at all, and there are certain rules that they have to follow. Athena wouldn't have done this if something very wrong wasn't about to happen."

"Not even for her own son?" I was astounded (which, by the way, is a vocabulary word. Thanks Ms. Cooper!).

"No," he answered. "The gods have tons of sons, and tons of daughters, for tons of years. If they just swooped down to save us any time we "needed" help, the world would basically be in absolute chaos. Not to mention we would all be very fat and lazy and incredibly useless." Josh pulled out the golden drachma from his pocket and flipped it through his fingers. "We're here to destroy monsters, and mommy and daddy can't help us with that."