Disclaimer: I do not own the works of Rick Riordan or those of Greek Mythology.

I do own a Stetson.

I'm fine with that state of affairs.

Though unusual, the idea of a goat on a finishing school's lawn is more funny than ominous, or so you might think at first.

Then this might be a good time for me to mention that the goat in question was roughly thirty feet tall. The thing seemed to take up most of the front lawn, but its massive head was only a few feet away from us, its yellow eyes glowing unnaturally as it chewed up vast chunks of the shrubbery.

And I'd hate to leave out the fact that it happened to be half sea monster, as well. The goat part ended somewhere around the creature's bloated stomach, turning abruptly into a tail bristling with spiky green serpentine fins, a tail longer than an eighteen-wheeler.

That was what we saw the moment we stepped out of Clarion's doors, so you can see how "goat" doesn't convey quite the correct image.

All of my nerves were tingling with panic, but I forced myself, against every instinct, not to move. All of our weapons were in the van with Argus, and this mer-goat monstrosity was blocking our route back to the van. Maybe we could duck back into the school before it spotted us, I thought wildly, but that felt like a long shot.

I have no idea even now of what I could've possibly done, but as it turned out, the decision was taken out of my hands. Mumbling something Italian that probably translated to "Oh my gods a giant goat," Biagio nervously backed up a few steps, crashing right into Ashley, who fell onto me, sending the three of us tumbling awkwardly onto the cement steps with a noise that I was sure would catch the monster's attention.

Unfortunately, my assumption was correct. With a bizarre sort of gurgling, rumbling noise, the mer-goat raised its head quickly, looking for the source of the sound. I scrambled back to my feet, getting ready to run if I could, and around me my companions did the same.

But apparently, the giant goat didn't want to make an attack at all. To my immense surprise it turned sharply away from the school building and began to half trot, half slither towards a river that cut through the campus.

I hadn't even noticed the river before – when you're right in front of something very tall like a finishing school or a goat, it usually commands your whole attention – but I was certainly grateful for its presence now. With an almighty splash that sent freezing water fountaining up to Clarion's second-story windows, the mer-goat jumped into the murky waterway. In seconds, it had vanished altogether, leaving only the destroyed hedges as a reminder of its presence.

Biagio explosively let out the breath he'd apparently been holding. "Okay. Let me be the first to ask … what the heck was THAT?"

Yet again, I frantically ransacked my knowledge of Greek mythology in search of the answer, but it wasn't long before I gave up. I was pretty sure that if I'd read about and enormous, half-serpentine goat before, I would've remembered it.

All I could do was shrug in puzzled, helpless defeat. "Well, I have no idea either," said Ashley, who seemed to be forcing herself to sound calm, "but let's get out of here before it comes back, okay?"

Biagio and I quickly took her advice, and the three of us walked back down the brick path that led to the gates. We all started moving more and more quickly with every step, clearly still pretty freaked out, until finally we were racing each other to the van.

By the time we'd thrown ourselves back into our seats, our subconscious minds still trying to convince us that we were being pursued, we were all red-faced and gasping for breath. Argus raised his eyebrows at that – all of them; his whole body seemed to sort of scrunch upward a few inches – but, as usual, said nothing and threw the van into gear.

The gates swung open with an extremely eerie screech, and the van rumbled through unimpeded. In seconds, we were back on the open road – leaving Chiron, the oracle, a few slices of pizza, and a giant goat behind.

On that May morning, I reminded myself several hours later, I'd seen the curse of Demeter cause winter in the middle of spring. I'd witnessed foggy ghosts of the past delivering a mysterious prophecy. And of course, there was our utterly inexplicable friend the giant goat.

So WHY, I demanded of life in general, after all of that, did the car rental place feel so weird?

It's because it's such a contrast with Camp Half-Blood and all of the mythology stuff, I reasoned. You've been living in one world for a month, so now the other one takes some getting used to.

Even if I could explain it, the adjustment was still knocking me for a loop. Looking at my surroundings – a small, gray room with fluorescent lighting, a counter with several uniformed representatives behind it, and a row of mildly comfortable chairs – it seemed downright impossible that the Greek gods could exist in the same world.

Zeus … car rentals … Zeus … car rentals … I still felt like only one of them at a time could be "reality", as amusing as it might be to imagine the Lord of the Skies striding in, clad in a toga and sandals, to borrow a Hummer.

We'd been officially on our own for just under half an hour. Argus had dropped us off here – a car rental at the outskirts of Hartford – and driven off again, presumably to retrieve Chiron from Clarion Ladies' Academy and return to camp.

Biagio stood at the counter, talking to one of the representatives about getting us a vehicle. Ashley was packing the tiny room restlessly, a troubled expression on her face. And as I've already mentioned, I was seated in one of the chairs in the center, struggling with our sudden return to the mortal world.

At first we'd been the only customers in the place, but after a few minutes, the bell on the door chimed and another man strode in. I glanced up at the new arrival with interest. He was definitely the kind of guy that caught your attention. He was powerfully built and immensely tall – I was guessing he even had a few inches on Biagio, and his bulkiness suggested the musculature of a bodybuilder. His skin was so tanned, weathered and scarred that he looked like he'd been carved out of driftwood. He was bald, but possessed a bristly three-day beard.

On the whole, the newcomer looked pretty threatening. I sort of hoped he wouldn't notice us in particular, that he would just order a car and go on his way, but my bad luck held out. Ignoring the counter and representatives altogether, he collapsed onto a chair right next to mine.

An awkward silence filled the cramped room, broken only by Biagio's continuing discussion with the woman behind the counter. Whoever this guy was, he was even scarier up close. There was a strange intensity in his eyes, and he exuded a salty smell I didn't recognize.

Ashley stopped pacing and glanced over in our direction, looking concerned. As for the salty giant, he stared through the shop windows for a few moments, not moving at all, then spoke suddenly.

"If I was guessing," he muttered in a deep, rough voice, "I would way that the three of you are setting out on a quest. Am I right?"

A jolt of surprise shot through me, and I did a slight double take. I'd assumed that this guy was a regular mortal, but apparently I could never take that for granted again. I was so startled that I nodded before it even occurred to me that maybe I shouldn't be giving out that kind of information so freely.

The giant nodded extremely slowly, and I somehow sensed that he'd already known the answer. "Dangerous times to be a demigod out there in the world," he muttered. "Things are changing, see. The world is a different place now than it was not so long ago. New friends … new enemies."

He grinned suddenly, and it was one of the creepiest facial expressions I've ever seen. "You'll have choices to make, Jason, oh yes," the giant wheezed. "Make sure you choose wisely … or you might find the ground falling right out from under your feet."

Before I had a chance to respond to what he'd just said – and while I was still wondering how on earth he know my name – the giant stood up abruptly and strode out of the building. The door gave another cheerful little ding as he left, and silence fell again.

Ashley darted over from the corner of the store and took the seat that the stranger had left. "What was that about?" she asked me, sounding about as unnerved as I felt.

All I had was my now-trademark helpless shrug. "Don't ask me! He just walked in, acted all mysterious and threatening, then disappeared like one minute later. All I know is that he knew we were on a quest."

Ashley shook her head. "It's all kind of scary, isn't it? We don't even have any real idea of what's going on, and there are gods and Titans and everything out there. How can we even do anything?"

I kind of agreed with her, unfortunately, but I knew that this was the part where I was supposed to say something reassuring. "It's going to be okay. You know, we're half god ourselves, and we have magical weapons, and nectar and ambrosia, and…stuff like that. I think we can do this."

I didn't exactly sound too inspiring, but Ashley laughed, looking a lot more cheerful than she had a second ago. "Thanks, Jason. And don't worry, even though we're both totally freaked out about it, Biagio and I are still with you all the way."

That happened to be the moment when Biagio left the counter and came strutting back to us. He was twirling a car key around and looked way too pleased with himself (as usual).

"All right, I got us one pretty sweet ride!" he announced. "We're gonna be doing this quest in style …" he paused, finally taking in our expressions. "Okay, what's up with you two?"

I shot him a look, but as far as I could tell, he was serious. "You mean … you didn't notice any of that?" demanded Ashley, narrowly beating me to saying the exact same thing.

Cue "Bewildered Biagio™" expression. "Any of what?" he asked innocently.

I sighed, "Never mind. Let's hit the road."

As we made our final preparations – retrieving our weapons from where we'd stashed them behind the car rental place, having a brief swordfight over who got to choose the radio station and loading all of our supplies into the car – I couldn't ignore the tingly feeling of anticipation that was growing on me. I'd spent so much time before this quest planning, thinking, and mostly worrying about it all, and now here we were. Riding bravely off into the unknown hadn't exactly been my style before, but I could tell that if I wanted to be a hero, I'd have to step way outside my comfort zone pretty often.

Biagio's choice of car was pretty helpful, though. I was once again grateful for his father's huge amounts of money – the pocket change he'd given his son for the quest had snagged us a sleek, modern-looking black Corvette. Everyone's favorite son of Aphrodite was already behind the wheel, wearing sunglasses and an insane bad-boy grin that I was sure was going to make even Krios think twice about messing with him.

I settled into the shotgun seat, appreciating the cool, finely molded leather of the interior, and Ashley squeezed into the back (we'd agreed to switch placed every other day).

Biagio produced the keys and dramatically held them in place by the ignition. "All right, heroes … ARE WE READY?"

"Ready," said Ashley and I simultaneously. My heart was pounding, but instead of my usual fear, I felt almost excited. I had to admit, it was pretty nice to think of myself as a hero – the next generation of a tradition that included Perseus, Odysseus and Heracles. Who could tell what adventures might await us, out there in the world?

Biagio raised his eyebrows. "Oooh, finishing each other's sentences already, you two? This will be an interesting trip, indeed!"

While we were both going red in the face, Biagio slammed the key into the ignition and turned on the radio. His strange European rock-'n-roll suddenly blasted from the speakers as we cruised out of the car-rental parking lot and hit the road.

Guitar chords filled the air with promises of adventure as the Corvette roared down the highway, headed due south. Looking back, I'm glad I didn't realize just how soon trouble was going to find us.

AND WE HAVE LIFTOFF! I'm happy to say that after truly massive amounts of exposition and preparation, Jason Williams is now on his quest. Next weekend's update will be a return to Poketopia, but after that, expect the adventures to kick into high gear! I don't think anyone expects what I have in store…but as Jason has hinted, trouble is on the horizon.

Sorry if the chapter was a little bit shorter than normal, but this one was sort of a transition from the Oracle to hitting the road. Hopefully it was fast-paced and exciting, and I gave you enough mysteries to mull over. The giant goat, and the mysterious salty giant…all will be revealed in time…

I think some people might be able to guess the goat's identity (which is tied to a MAJOR component of this book's plot) with the aid of a little Google Fu. I let the challenge stand! As for the giant, well, that might be a little less easy to divine, but all will be revealed in time (sound familiar)?

Also, please note that I have a new and improved profile page! Check it out and enjoy the virtual equivalent of that new car smell.

Thank you all for reading thus far! See you soon…

Maecenas out.

(P.S. for those who don't know, the Stetson is a particularly awesome style of Western hat.)