We ended up at exactly 25º 45' north, 80º 08' west, according to Heather. Unfortunately, that spot is in the water south of Miami. It was a relatively short swim to the nearest island, but after our battle wounds and the shock fading away, my muscles felt like they were on fire by the time we reached the beach.

Heather summoned some ambrosia squares and nectar, and after eating a single square, my wounded arm felt good as new. My spear returned as a necklace, and after a few minutes, we started looking for a way to the mainland.

Heather, proving once again how valuable children of Hermes are on a quest, managed to steal a speed boat from a family right next to it. She threw money towards them in the opposite direction to pay for it, and made the boat disappear while they went to collect the gold. We then managed to get away from the island before they even looked back.

"My gods, Heather!" Jordan said. "That was insane!"

"Thank you," she said, and turned towards me while I steered the motorboat. "What time is it?"

"Seven forty-nine," I said before even thinking about it. "We'll be at the mainland in about ten to twenty minutes."

Heather nodded and went to sit down in the back. It'd been an early morning, so she crashed almost as soon as she landed on the bench. Jordan sat next to me, but he didn't say anything. I thought he'd fallen asleep until he started a fire in his hand, trying to keep warm. I felt a rush of warmth too, which was odd seeing as how the three-inch flame was a yard away from me.

After five minutes, I started thinking about how my stepfather and I always went down to Hawaii in the summer. I had learned how to drive a boat there, on my seventh birthday. We would usually invite Heather and Lucian to come with us, and we would go for a boat ride almost every day we were there.

For the first time, I realized just how different my life was now. I doubted that I would ever get a peaceful summer again. After all, we had barely been on this quest for four days, and we'd already fought gods, flown on winged horses, and I'd just defeated a dragon on television.

"Uh, Alex?" Jordan finally said. "What're you doing?"

I realized that I had almost lulled myself to sleep. I had turned the boat left on accident, and we'd started heading south. I quickly turned us back in the right direction, making Heather stir.

"It's okay Heather, go back to sleep," I said, and she did. Then I turned to Jordan. "Nothing, just got a little sleepy, that's all."

"Here," he said, and stood up. "You need to rest. I can drive the boat."

"Really," I said, and he nodded. We traded places and I fell asleep almost immediately.

It was a short rest, so I only saw Kronos's temple for one second before Jordan shook me awake. He had a look of panic on his face, and I instinctively reached for my spear. I stood with the Hecatian Silver weapon in hand, and saw what made Jordan nervous.

It was like some kind of monster parade. There were all kinds of creatures, literally stepping out of the water and walking down the streets of southern Florida. I didn't know what the mortals saw through the Mist, but they were sitting down on the sidewalks, watching the monsters go by.

Evidently, they weren't normal creatures even by Greek mythological standards, because Jordan said, "What are those things?"

I went back to Heather and shook her gently. She looked up at me, and when she saw my face she frowned.

"What's wrong?" she said, and sat up.

"I think you need to come see this." I led her to the front of the boat, and her eyes went wide. She said the exact same as Jordan, and turned towards him.

"Have you ever seen anything like that?" she said, and he shook his head. "No."

I looked back at the creatures, trying to take in everything I saw. There were a few sky blue serpents, but what really caught my eye was the large group of creatures that seemed to be made almost out of seaweed. They had sea green, scaly arms that stretched to the ground. Their hands were olive green with long fingers, and leaves seemed to sprout from the gaps. They were only two feet tall, but I was ready to bet they were vicious in battle.

There were also seven different monsters, who seemed to be leading the others forward. Six of the leaders looked almost identical, and extremely hideous. They were the color of pewter, and had a rocky form like they'd been carved from a mountainside. They had thick outer shells like lobsters, only olive green and covered in starfish and snails. Their hair was mossy and wild, and they had three pure black eyes each. They didn't seem to have a nose or a mouth, but they were calling out orders to the seaweed creatures.

Then there was a woman with luscious blue hair, and a perfect face. She wore a white Greek chiton and held a trident in her hands. However, below her waist sprouted an enormous, olive green serpent tail, complete with spikes. Water was swirling all around her, like she was a drain in a bath tub. I didn't know where the water from, but it kept her reptilian hide nice and wet.

"Fight them?" I said nervously, and my voice shook in fear.

"No way," Jordan said quickly, and didn't even turn his head. "I'm not getting anywhere near those monsters."

"Me either," Heather said, and I felt relieved.

"Then where will we go? We can't just stay here forever," I said, and Heather whimpered. "Jordan, can you make another shadow travel portal?"

"No, I can't," he said, but he turned to face me this time. "It takes too much of my energy to do it, and that last trip exhausted me."

"I may have an idea," Heather said, but she didn't look happy about it.

"What?" I said. I was willing to try anything to get out of here.

"Well, you remember when we were flying to Camp Half-Blood? How I bent the dimensions of the air so it only took about an hour?"

"Yeah."

She sighed. "Well, it does work better when I'm flying, but we were warned not to. We learned that lesson already." She sighed again, but more sadly this time. "However, I can slightly alter the dimensions of travel while we're on land. I might be able to distort this area enough that we can get past the monsters."

"Why didn't you tell us that before?" I said. "We could've gotten here in one day like that!"

"We could've," Heather said. "But I probably would've died in the attempt. Like what Jordan said, it takes a lot out of me. We'd need to take a long rest between each jump, and even then I'd be really loopy."

"Oh," I said, a little disappointed. "Okay."

After a few moments, Jordan said, "So just get us past the monsters for now."

"Well, we don't know exactly how far those monsters have gone," Heather said. "We might land in the army."

"No," I said, realizing something. "We can find out how far they go."

"What?" Jordan said. "How?"

I reluctantly ignored his question and turned to face Heather. "Can you bend the dimensions of the air around people away from you? Make them get here faster?"

Heather nodded. "It's even slightly easier, because there's a defined arrival location, here."

I smiled, and pulled a silver feather from my pocket. Then I turned to Jordan. "We get help from a friend."

If you've never seen an owl materialize right in front of your face, count yourself lucky. Askalaphos, with help from Heather's powers, appeared only a minute after I'd thrown the feather into the sky. The feather seemed to act as some kind of homing device, because it flew straight into the air and released a sort of aura like a god. Once Askalaphos arrived, the feather disappeared.

After he crashed into my face and tumbled to the ground, I was surprised that he didn't warp into his human form. Then I remembered: He could only become human near areas of Athena's power.

"Askalaphos," Heather said, and he turned his head to face her. "We need your help. There are monsters all along the Miami coast. We need to know just how far they stretch."

I'm not sure if owls can nod, but Askalaphos seemed to. He took off immediately and soared over the water to the mainland. After a few seconds, he became to small to locate.

"Wait," I said, realizing a major flaw in the plan. "How can he tell us how far they go? He can't turn into a human."

To my surprise, Jordan smiled. "Yeah he can."

"What?" Heather said. She sounded as confused as I felt, which relieved me. "How?"

"I used to live in Miami," Jordan said happily, like he was reminiscing about his old life. "I lived here even when I knew I was a demigod. Because I knew about that, I wanted to find out everything I could about demigods in the real world."

He turned towards the coast and pointed to a large white building surrounded in palm trees. It looked like a New York apartment building, but much nicer.

"That building over there is the Grand Concourse Apartment building. It was designed by Robert Law Weed, a son of Athena."

Something clicked in my brain.

"He dedicated the building to Athena?" I said, and Jordan nodded.

"Of course he didn't say it was dedicated to her," Jordan went on. "He didn't want people to think he was crazy. But yeah, it's technically a monument to Athena."

"That's great!" Heather said, and balled her fists. "Where's Askalaphos?"

As soon as she said that, the silver bird that was our friend reappeared over the bay waters. He landed lightly on the nose of the motorboat, and Heather told him about the building. Then, he literally melted into his human form. He became watery and wavy, like he was made of steam. His body elongated, and his beak shrunk. His wings became a feathery jacket and his skin became deathly pale. He still had a terrified expression on his face.

"Excellent. I shall add Miami to my list of Athenic locations," he said to himself.

"Athenic locations?" I asked.

He regarded me and smiled. "Locations in the country where the power of Athena is great." He pulled a ragged, yellow paper from his pocket. I'd been to Egypt once, and Askalaphos's leaf looked a lot like Papyrus.

"So far I know of Washington D.C. because of the Washington Monument, New York City because of the Statue of Liberty, Nashville because of the Parthenon, all of California because of the state seal—"

"Okay, I get it," I said, and Askalaphos stopped talking.

"So how far do the monsters go?" Heather said a little impatiently, and Askalaphos's eyes widened like he had just remembered why he'd flown over Miami.

"They stretch about ten blocks inland and three blocks wide. If you're trying to get north of them, manipulate the air at least two and a half blocks. I'd advise that."

"Thank you, Askalaphos," Heather said.

After a moment, the old gardener said, "Is that all?"

I could tell Heather was about to say "yes" without thinking, so I jumped in.

"No, of course not," I said, and Askalaphos relaxed. "We need you to help us. We need adult guidance."

Jordan and Heather were each giving me 'What?' looks, but Askalaphos looked pleased.

"A wise choice, all of you. Now, Daughter of Hermes, let's get moving."

So far, I'd flown across the country in a chariot pulled by a dragon, ran along the Atlantic Coast with a levitating and unconscious teenager and flown on the back of a winged horse. Hands down, traveling through warped air was the most fun.

It wasn't really like stepping through a portal, as I had expected. It was more like I had instantly become two hundred meters long. I placed my foot forward, and I saw particles of my skin shimmering over the water as they spanned the distance over the army. I placed my foot down over what would've been the side of the boat, and felt solid ground a few inches above the water surface.

"This . . . is . . . awesome," I said.

Heather and Jordan both stepped forwards, and I saw the pieces of them snap over the Miami Bay. They were out of sight in a second, leaving me and Askalaphos alone.

"I'll be flying to make sure they make it through safely," Askalaphos said. "If something went wrong, I wouldn't want to be an immortal living in antimatter." He looked down at me, and quickly added, "No offense."

"None taken," I said, but I didn't mean it.

Askalaphos wrapped himself in his feather coat and began to shrink. His face became wrinkled, and his lips cracked and hardened. The light blue color of his eyes transformed into a murky gray, and his nose disappeared into his face. Feathers sprouted all over him, and his legs withered and his bare feet grew talons. In his full owl form, he flew away to find Heather and Jordan.

Then Heather's face appeared out of thin air, but her neck stretched over the water in a stream of peach-colored specks.

"Come on already," she said, and stuck her hand out. I took it, and she pulled me forwards.

It was like watching a video tour of Miami in fast-forward. The buildings fused together all around me, and in a second, Heather and Jordan popped into existence. A large screech owl was perched on the bench to my left.

"We need to get moving," Heather said, and pointed down the right side of the street. I looked at where she was motioning me to look, and gasped when I saw the front line of the monster army cross the intersection. "I'd have us warp around again, but I don't think I have the energy."

She did look unusually pale. I doubted that she'd be able to run far anyway.

"I don't think you're able to run, either," I said, and Jordan nodded.

"We just need a place to hideout, for now," he added.

Askalaphos suddenly materialized into his human form, and gave us a look like we were all idiots.

"Perhaps you haven't noticed where we landed." He pointed a long, bony finger behind me, and I found myself face-to-face with the building Jordan had mentioned before.

"Grand Concourse Apartments," he repeated. "Come on."

Then, right before the monsters noticed us, we ran into the building.

It was unsettlingly easy to get a room. After a short talk with the receptionist, involving a lot of hypnosis magic Heather had learned from Lucian, we ended up in a corner room on the top floor. Across from the entry, there was a large field, beyond which was a stunning beach view, except for the disgusting creatures stepping out of the bay. To the left was the street we had landed on, and I saw about half a dozen snake-like creatures patrolling they alleyways.

"Uh-oh," I said, as they slithered forward to examine the building. They made some sort of bodily communication to each other, and wormed around the apartment building. When they disappeared down a side street, we all sighed in relief.

Meanwhile, the rest of the monster army was headed further into the city. A small group of the small seaweed creatures were scaling the side of an old marble building, and slimy locks of kelp sprouted where their leafy hands crept into cracks. One fell from about half way up the side of the wall, and splattered into a starburst of green slime.

"That's disgusting," Heather said, and once again I noticed how pale she looked.

"Heather," I said, and she half-heartedly looked at me. "You need to lie down. We'll keep watch, but just rest an regain your strength."

For a second she looked reluctant, but after Jordan and Askalaphos supported what I'd said, she walked to the far side of the room and collapsed on a bed.

"So what now?" Jordan asked me. "We just stay here until all of the monsters are gone?"

He sounded like he was in favor of the idea, but Askalaphos cut in. "Definitely not. Once Miss Gray has awoken, we must continue to travel north. The army is likely to travel as far as Orlando in one day; nothing will stop monsters if they have a place to go."

"We can't ask her to use her powers again," I said. "It wouldn't be fair. You've seen how much it drains her, and that was only a few hundred yards."

"Alex is right, Askalaphos," Jordan agreed. "We can't ask her to do that again, at least for a while."

"Then what do you suggest?" Askalaphos said, and though I opened my mouth to speak, no words came. "We've got to at least make use of our time," he added.

"I know, I know," I said, thinking hard. Jordan looked like he had something to say, but didn't want to. "Jordan?" I asked cautiously. "What is it?"

"I . . ." he began, but bit his lip. After a moment, he continued. "I have an idea. You . . . you know that shadow travel thing I showed you?"

"Yeah," I said, though I doubted it was something as simple as that. Jordan looked far too nervous.

"Well, there are other things children of Hades can do. If we can't travel," he froze for a second, "We can at least figure out where to go when we're able to travel. I can find out where the others are without Heather."

It still didn't look like Jordan had said everything he was thinking, but I tried to focus on what he'd said. Unfortunately, I couldn't control myself.

"What is it, Jordan?" I asked. "What else is there?"

He took a deep breath, and finally said, "I . . . I kind of had a dream. I saw your friend, Lucian, and Mitchell. They were somewhere . . . I don't know what to call it. Kind of tropical, I guess. There were palm trees, like here. In fact, it may have been here, but further inland. They were crouched behind a large row of trees, like a small forest. I didn't see any of the others, but I could tell they were in trouble. They were both panting hard, and covered in new cuts that were bleeding, badly. It looked like Mitchell had only a couple of bows to fight with, and Lucian didn't have his wand on him."

Jordan turned to face me, and I saw his eyes filling with tears. "I think they're about to be killed, Alex. I think we need to find them, now."

I was about to say something, but I was at a loss for words. To save me from an awkward silence, Askalaphos said, "I think I should go fly around, and see if there are any other monsters coming." He turned into his owl form and shot out the window, allowing me and Jordan to talk alone.

After a few more seconds of me stuttering and mumbling, Jordan said, "There was more, too. After my vision of Lucian and Mitchell faded, I was in this really smoky, misty room."

"Apollo and Artemis!" I said quickly, and Jordan's eyes popped wide.

"How did you know I saw them?" he said.

"I saw them too."

"Oh," Jordan said, looking a little disappointed, like I had just made what he'd about to say pointless. Then, however, he seemed to think of something else important because he perked up again.

"Well, I'm guessing they didn't tell you what to do with the dead, huh?"

"No," I said, and realized too late it was a joke. Yeah, I was that tired.

"Well, anyway, they told me that I needed to figure out what the prophecy meant—"

"Me too!" I said, and Heather stirred. She slipped back to sleep, though, and I looked at Jordan. He looked annoyed that I'd interrupted again. "Sorry."

"Anyway," he continued. "They said that I could ask some . . . certain people . . . about what the prophecy meant."

Now I got the feeling he wanted me to say something.

"The certain people . . . they're the dead, aren't they? You can speak to dead people."

Jordan nodded. "But it's more than that. They wanted me to talk to a certain dead person."

I felt like I should've known who he was talking about, but my mind drew a blank. I was still trying to process the fact that Jordan could communicate with ghosts. "Who?"

"The only person who knew the secret to this quest," Jordan said. "The one whose destiny it was to provide the answer to the prophecy. In the end, his life was cut short by the only person who knew my destiny. My father."

I finally understood. Jordan's father, Hades, had known Jordan would be a part of this quest. He'd known that Jordan would be able to talk to the ghost of the person who knew the answer. I didn't know how he knew the answer, but everything was connected.

"Hades ordered Cerberus to kill him, and only him, right?"

"Yes," Jordan said, glad I'd figured it out. "Now, we need to summon Kyle."

"Before we do this," I said, standing over the hole that, when covered with steel, had been a bathtub. "I want to try Iris Messaging again. When Heather had shown it to me before, it hadn't worked. I want to know if it'll work now."

"Go ahead," Jordan said, and poured the contents of a jar of nuts into the hole in the elevated bath platform. "Try breaking the sink."

I didn't want to, but I drew my spear and sliced through the back of the basin, making water burst out of the pipes. The light in the window shimmered on the spray, and created a rainbow. Jordan handed me a golden drachma from his pocket, and tossing it into the light spectrum, I said, "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept this offering."

The coin disappeared, but I didn't feel confident it would work, and that the drachma would fall to the ground like before.

"Lucian Wick."

Nothing happened, until the coin clattered to the ground.

"That's weird," Jordan said, shaking out the last of a lemonade drink from the mini-fridge. I didn't know how, but the earthy hole had almost filled to the brim with a frothy brown liquid. I doubted it tasted like a chocolate milkshake.

"Now normally," Jordan said, and threw the rest of his collected snacks, mostly candy bars, into the liquid, "We couldn't just automatically summon one ghost, but . . ."

He fished out a pitch-black disc of obsidian, with a strange symbol on one side. It looked like a golden drachma made of pure darkness.

"This is an Underworld Coin, like I used for the shadow travel portal at Eurus's castle."

I nodded, and with a wave of shock, I realized that we had only been on Hero's Challenge.

Then Jordan lit a fire in his hand, and the Underworld Coin burst into black fire. He threw it into the bath and the water turned to a shiny black color, and gave off a shadowy aura.

"O Hades, lord of the dead, show me the spirit of Kyle Lyons."

The bath water shimmered, and suddenly a dark holographic image appeared over the hole. Then, Kyle's figure appeared, still wearing the T-shirt and jeans he'd worn the night Cerberus had gotten him.

"I've been expecting this, Jordan," Kyle said creepily. His mouth was moving, but I had a bad feeling that the sound was in my head. "Your father told me why I was killed. Fortunately, he has granted me access to Elysium if I provided you with the answers you seek."

"Okay," Jordan said nervously. "Tell me where the others are."

Kyle nodded, and turned to his right, and whispered something to what I assumed was some other creature. After a moment, there was another whisper, and Kyle said, "The other spirits tell me they are approaching Tallahassee, in northern Florida."

"So they were here," Jordan said quietly.

Then, for the first time, Kyle acknowledged me. "And you, Alex Malone. Lord Hades has informed me of your fate as well as mine. I am sorry for you."

I tried not to take that as an insult, and instead said, "Thanks, I suppose. Now, Apollo and Artemis said that you knew the secret to the prophecy."

"Yes, I know. You see, as a son of Zeus, I can sense when something strange is occurring in the sky, if it is powerful enough. Mitchell knew this, of course, and when he heard that the quest members must head to the sky, he called upon my help. I know where exactly the so-called 'sky' is. I know where the gods are."

"Where?" Jordan asked, sounding more confident now that we were on the verge of an answer.

"Think, Jordan West. Where does the sky meet the earth?"

Jordan thought for a moment, then said, "Where Atlas is. Isn't he in San Francisco?"

Kyle laughed. "Yes, but no. Atlas is in San Francisco, but you are thinking too literally. Where, in the physical world, does the earth touch the sky?"

"Everest? The highest point on the world?"

"North America, of course. However, it is in a place beyond the gods." Then he turned to me. "Ask Alex. He knows."

I did. A wave of icy dread washed over me as I recalled the snowy mountain peak, with the mansion and the zodiac archway. I'd been there before, in real life. My mother had died there. My real mother.

"Mt. McKinley, Alaska. The highest point in America, and the location of Kronos's palace."

Jordan stared at me like I was crazy, but Kyle nodded.

"Yes, Mt. McKinley. Long ago, a quest had set out for Alaska, and everyone had almost died. Now, you must return. Good Luck."

With that, Kyle's spirit disappeared, the black liquid soaked into the ground. After a few moments of Jordan staring at me in awe, he said, "You knew where we had to go, and you never said anything?"

"I didn't know where we had to go!" I said. "Or at least . . . I didn't know that where we had to go was where we had to go."

Jordan looked confused, but he snapped out of it when Heather stepped sleepily into the bathroom.

"Uh, guys," she said, looking like Jordan had when Kyle had appeared. "I think you should come see this."

She walked us to the windows, and I immediately saw what she was talking about. Outside of the apartment building, there was an entire fleet of monsters, led by one of the bigger seaweed beasts. The large creature held a leafy cage in one hand, and I saw Askalaphos, as an owl, trapped inside. A serpentine monster head-butted the door, and the entrance burst open.

"What do we do?" Jordan asked, looking at me like I was the leader. Then I saw Heather looking at me too, and a surge of courage spread through me like an electric shock. I gripped my spear and headed to the door, pulling it open.

"We fight," I said, and together, we ran out the door.