What do you do when you're carrying someone for so long that your arms feel numb?

You keep holding onto them, of course!

Well, I don't have the pleasure of putting Ally down because I'm, you know, thousands of feet in the air, flying across the country.

We've been up here for maybe two hours. I've been dealing with the pain by means of singing – no one can hear me, right?

You see, although I'm Apollo's daughter, I wasn't given the greatest voice in the cabin.

"Working too hard can give you a heart attack-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak!" I sing loudly, passing the time. I go from Billy Joel to Spice Girls to Maroon 5. I sing anything that's worth the oxygen – just not as well as you think I would.

In maybe an hour, I can see substantially less light than any other area I've flown over. It's practically pitch black.

Home, sweet home.

I'm still on my singing frenzy, so I decide to make my final choice the best choice: the Final Countdown.

I'm getting close to the area of the song where I don't remember the words, and I'm luckily extremely close to the ground now. My shoes stop for me just like they did at Ally's house, landing softly on the grass of Camp Half-Blood's forest. I say Maia and the wings disappear.

I contemplate putting Ally down but decide against it, since I'm probably really close to the Big House and I can just drop her off there. I start walking, struggling to hold her up in my arms.

What will Chiron say when he finds out Katie and Will are still in the unknown? I ask myself.

I start thinking of approving Chiron answers and disapproving Chiron answers when I hear a rustle in the bushes. I turn my head, thinking of what it could be.

Aren't there monsters out here?

What day is it?

Oh, Gods.

It's Friday.

Someone jumps out of the dark growth holding a bow and arrow. They are clothed with bronze armor and a helmet with a red plume. I get one look at them before they shoot me in the arm with an arrow.

I shout out in pain, and they run over to me. "I'm so sorry!" they say. "I thought you were a monster or from the other team!"

"For all you know, I could be a monster from the other team," I try to joke, but now I'm on the ground, Ally – who is much heavier than expected – on top of me.

And, you know, there's an arrow in my arm.

The person quickly pulls out the arrow and I brace for pain. "Some of my team is coming this way. I'll get Chiron after they get here."

I nod. "Good plan."

As predicted, several people in matching sets of armor and helmets come along, and the person leaves. The first to recognize me in the darkness is none other than Annabeth Chase.

"Gods," she says. "I am so sorry. We told him to go ahead and-"

"It's alright," I interrupt. "Really, I'm fine. Just a little pain."

"Are you sure? We could get you some Ambrosia or-"

"Really. I'm fine for now," I persist. "I'll live with a little wound."

She slumps a bit but stops pestering me.

Chiron arrives a minute or two later, parting the gathering crowd of red and blue plumes. With the help of a few other campers, we peel Ally off of me and place her on Chiron's stallion-backside. We don't speak except for customary things, like how I'm feeling and greetings and whatnot.

We enter the Big House, which hasn't changed in the days that I haven't been here. We go to the recreation room, and I take a seat in Will's spot at the ping-pong table. Chiron puts Ally on a chair in the corner, and all the other counselors file in, taking their seats.

"Where's Will?" someone asks. I don't respond.

Chiron repeats the question. "And where is Katie?"

"There was a Sphinx," I say, taking in a shaky breath. I had this all worked out in my mind, but now the pressure is on and it doesn't look as heroic as I thought it would. "She gave us a riddle and it was either get it right or die. We didn't know, so the three got into this whole full-on battle. I was keeping Ally safe, and they told me to get her out of there. So I used Hermes's shoes and got the Hades out of there!"

Chiron stares at me. "So you don't know where they are."

I shake my head. "I'm afraid not."

There is a moment of silence before Travis Stoll speaks up. "Hermes's shoes?"

Connor joins in. "You have to let me borrow those!"

I give them a wry smile. "I'm afraid not, boys," I say. "Hermes wants these back." Their faces fall.

"How long has Ally been out?" Annabeth asks.

"She's been waking up every two hours or so. I've had to use this to keep her asleep," I say, pulling my flute out of my back pocket.

Chiron gives me a questioning look. "Why would you need to keep her asleep? She's been training for battle most of her life."

Uh, oh.

This is the part I was also worried about telling.

"She…doesn't remember," I quietly say. "She had Aphrodite wipe her memory of camp."

Drew looks a little more shocked than the rest of the group. "Did she agree to come back?" she asks.

"How could she? She doesn't remember it," I say. "We found her and brought her back here for her safety."

Chiron seems to be the only person getting my idea – well, from the look of it, since he's nodding. She's safer here and more miserable than out in the world, where she can get mauled to death by several different types of monsters.

"We'll deal with Katie and Will tomorrow," Chiron decides. "Go to your cabins. It's late."

Everyone gets up and heads out of the recreation room, including myself. I find myself next to Annabeth, all the way in the back.

"So, that's the quest?" I ask. "The prophecy doesn't even seem complete."

She smiles knowingly. "It may not make sense now, but the prophecy will be fulfilled when the quest is actually done. And, Aria, quests aren't over until everyone comes back, dead or alive."

Oh, how I love FanFiction.

So, it seems like this story is getting more popular [since usually my Hunger Games stories are more than this one], so thanks for that!

Kaleidoscopic Skies: The answer to the riddle was day and night… the two were feminine in Greek so they called them sisters. My expert research told me that in mythology, those Sphinx ladies like to ask that or the man riddle in the Battle of the Labyrinth, so…. And, yes, I'm getting to the unclaimed demigods part soon. Don't you worry!

Puppetmaster1711: I'm American, but I've been to England a few times. So, I guess that might be you're unable to tell. xD