A dog went flying at Thomas' head. It knocked him over. yipping happily, it scampered towards Thomas and licked his face.

"Hey- Stop you idiot dog. Stop!" He swatted it away, and the dog ran off as a group of people walked down the hall.

"Alors, vous parlez français? Êtes-vous un pays de langue française?" A voice floated down the hall and Thomas straightened as a bunch of people came towards them.

"Moi? Non, je parle français parce que je pense que c'est une langue intéressante." Anna's voice said. Did she take french in middle school? He couldn't remember.

"Vous êtes accent est vraiment bon."

"Merci beaucoup!"

Leo was trailing behind, look a little bit lost as Anna and the French people chattered away. Zoe immediately walked up.

"Salut, je m'appelle Zoé. Qu'en pensez-vous les gars?" Zoe had taken French in middle school, he was sure.

"Mon nom est Pierre, et c'est Ludovic, et Thoma. Ces't un ami. Ravie de vous rencontrer." One boy said. He was Ana's height, with dirty blonde hair and glasses, with the kind of look that made sure you knew- you were talking to a popular kid.

"C'est Thomas, Cara, Krysta, et Victoria. Vous ne vont pas à l'école ici?" She said, and Thomas was momentarily confused, until Victoria sidled up to him.

"All daughters of Aphrodite speak French." She whispered.

"Does that mean Aphrodite is Anna's mom?" he whispered back.

"I don't know." She shrugged, then watched as Piper joined the conversation.

"Je m'appelle Piper. Enchanté."

Thomas, Victoria, Cara, Krysta, and Leo all slowly moved towards each other, having given up on understanding French.

"What's the matter with Anna?" Cara asked, turning to look at Krysta. "She's acting weird."

"I have no idea." Krysta shook her head. "Amnesia?"

"No, amnesia is when you forget everything." Victoria said. "I think she's scared of something. At the very least, she's pretending in order to hide her personality, or to hide something from us."

"Anna? She's not scared of anything."

Victoria rolled her eyes.

"She's scared of flying, and of the ocean, and of swimming."

"I had no idea."

"You guys..." Anna's voice said and everyone turned. A teacher was coming down the hall.

"Everyone. RUN!" Cara said, and the six kids skedaddled.

Anna got caught anyway.

"Young lady, who are you?"

"Me?" Anna tried to look surprised. "I'm... a translator?"

"Oh, really?" The teacher brightened. "Can you tell them it's time for them to go to lunch?"

"Il est temps pour le déjeuner." Her voice seemed to gain a richer quality. "Si quelqu'un demande où je suis allé, ou demande où le traducteur, disons que j'ai dû quitter pour une urgence. Oui?"

"Ok," they all said, and headed off to lunch.

"What did you say?" Victoria emerged from an empty classroom.

"I told them to go to lunch and if anyone asked where we were they had to say we had to leave urgently." Anna said quickly. No, I want to ask a question." She turned to Piper. "Where did you learn French?"

"Uh... nowhere, I guess, I just... knew it...?"

They all looked at each other.

"And Leo. Were you always so good at mechanics?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Do you have a dad?"

"Nooo..."

"And Piper, do you have a mom?"

"No."

"Well, come with us."

"What? No!" Piper suddenly looked defensive and hostile. "Why?"

"I know who your parents are. At least, Your mom and Leo's dad."

The idea hung tantalizingly in the air, and both considered.

"Do I get free food?"

"Depends on whether or not you make yourself useful." Victoria caught on and smiled.

"Oh, I can do that." Leo said airily. "And it can't get worse than this..."

"Leo!"

"Come on, Pipes, think about it." He wheedled.

"Don't call me that." Piper said automatically.

"Fine. But think about it. You've run away before! You might figure out who your mom is. I might figure out who my dad is! What's the worse that could happen? They're our age!"

"Mmmhmm..."

"Come on!"

"Fine." Piper caved in just as a bang resounded down the hall and the floor shook. A crazed cackle made the windows rattle in their panes.

"Oh gods." Victoria said. "Cara, Krysta, Zoe, bring them outside. Thomas and Anna, come with me. We'll see what happened."

"But-!"

"Go!"

Apparently, three cheerleaders were not cheerleaders, but extremely pretty and savage girls who seemed to want to kill the three demigods.

"Demigod!" One shrieked.

"Weird lady with fangs!" Thomas shouted back. "Wait- are you a vampire?"

"Arrrrghhhh!" Look, one vampire lady per person. Perfect.

Victoria was slashing at the monster before her with a fierceness that scared Thomas

Anna was the first one to kill her empousa. She exploded in a shower of dust and Anna immediately leapt onto the one clawing at Thomas' face and trying to make his eardrums burst at the same time.

"Die- you- stupid- vampire- lady-" each word brought a double hit of blades down on the now screaming louder- if that was possible- and trying to reach Anna's throat.

"I'm not a vampire!" the empousa wailed, just before she burst into dust.