Here is an early chapter. I have Latin convention until Saturday, so I will not have access to a computer for a while. I managed to find the alert that tells me when people are subscribing to my story, so now I now that at least eight people are reading the story. It really is nice when y'all review, so PLEASE do so. I don't even care if it is a hate letter, because it is nice to know what you think of the story. I have a long way to go before they even reach camp, so moral support is greatly apprecieated.

Hope you enjoy!

I do not own Percy Jackson or any of the characters present in those books.

Superconductors

'Girls talk way to much'

'Why do girls relate on everything?'

'Are all girls as boring as my sisters? Because if they are I am never dating any ever again.'

Out of the many hundred thoughts that ran through Gabe's head, these three were the most prevalent.

He was sitting around the bed of the little runt with his two sisters. The runt was still asleep (lucky him Gabe thought) and his sisters were ignoring him and talking to each other. Gabe was playing on his iPod and was vaguely listening to Rose and Thalia. At the moment they were talking about proper bow care, or something close to that. The only thing they had been talking about for the last half hour was the hunters of Artemis, and it way boring Gabe to Hades. Finally he threw up his hands and huffed. "Can we please talk about something that the tree of us can all talk about? That is why we are here and not out there battling monsters."

Rose glared at him and opened her mouth to tell him to stop being so insolent, but it was Thalia who saved him from a tongue lashing. "I think that Gabe is right. we should stop talking about the hunters and talk to each other instead.'

The twin's mouths both fell open in surprise. Neither of them had expected the lieutenant of Artemis to side with the boy. But Gabe pounced on the opportunity to talk to his new sister.

"Why do you not hate boys?" He blurted out as fast as he could. Thalia laughed.

"Unlike many of my sisters, I have been able to see the good side of many boys. So while I do think that they are good for nothing more than reproduction in principle, I have been able to see how helpful they can be to society."

Gabe stared at her sceptically. "Do you really think that we are good for nothing more than reproduction?"

Thalia held up a hand. "In principle. Women need men to do some things for them, but they are important in only one area. If we could self reproduce, women would be alone in the world without the hassles of men."

Rose practically squealed. "I thought it might have been just me! I am so glad that other girls think the same way about the male gender."

Gabe sighed. If this was how camp would be like, he wanted to crawl under a rock instead. Then he remembered that Thalia was the leader of a group of girls who hated boys. A thought popped into his head that could make camp much better. "Are there children of Aphrodite at camp?"

Thalia rolled her eyes in sync with Rose. "Yes, there are. they may look nice, BUT" she interjected when a dreamy look came across his face, "They are a bunch of mindless barbie dolls. You will never have a meaningful relationship with any of them. Look to the other cabins for the girls with brains."

Gabe was still thrilled by the prospect of eye candy at summer camp. He could not wait until swimming lessons. Especial if it was with Aphrodite cabin.

"I can tell you are like our sire." Thalia sighed. Then she got an idea. "I will give you a new weapon and twenty Drachmas if you don't date anyone the first month you are at camp. And if I get word that you have reached first base with anyone, I will hang you by you're boxers on the Big House."

Gabe knew that it would be increasingly hard, on the verge of impossible, but he could use a cool weapon. He did not have one currently, only Rose did. When it was their tenth birthday, their mom had given Rose a set of celestial bronze javelins. She just gave him a RC plane. He had enjoyed it for a while, but it was nothing compared to the lethal power of Rose's weapons.

Gabe stuck out his hand. "Deal. No girls for a month, not even kissing on the side." Both of his sisters looked baffled at his cooperation, but Thalia took his hand and shook it twice. With that over, the atmosphere was less hostile towards Gabe.

"So, how many girlfriends have you been with?" Thalia asked Gabe.

"Seven so far." He replied, already cringing from the verbal attack he was bound to get from his older sister.

But it was not as bad as he thought it would be. Thalia just tut-ed and shook her head in motherly disappointment. "Only seven? I suppose that is good for a child of Zeus, but I was expecting you to have dated at least five times that number."

A record number of jaw drops were witnessed that night. "What do you mean 'five times more'? That is like," Gabe paused to count in his head, "Forty! Forty girlfriends in two years! That is way to many women to be with at the age of twelve."

Rose looked grudgingly at her brother. "I guess you have not been that bad, compared to where you could have been." she said in slight admiration. No matter how separate they were, she still was proud of him.

"But you have nothing on either of our older cousins when it comes to failed quotas in the girlfriend department. Percy waited four years before he got together with his girlfriend, and Nico is still speechless in the presence of a girl his age or older. This generation is nothing compared to our fore bearers." Thalia said. "I heard from Artemis that there was once a boy who was in a relationship with every girl at camp over the age of fourteen in one summer. It was somewhat of a coincidence when he was killed by a group of maenads that he was trying to woo."

"What fearsome beast is a maenad?" Gabe said, slightly shuddering.

Rose laughed at his terrified expression. "They are women worshipers of Dionysus who go into crazed frenzied that often result in the disembowelment of anyone within a hundred yard radius." The look of pure horror on their brother's face sent both girls into laughing fits that lasted several minutes. After rose had regained her composure, she gasped out "Don't worry, dear terrified brother, they do not exist any more. You need not worry about female campers suddenly mauling you for no good reason."

Gabe wiped the invisible sweat off of his brow. "Good to know that. I can sleep a bit better knowing that they are not after me."

Thalia was still laughing to herself as she managed to gasp out "This is SO much more entertaining than my cousins."

They continued to sit and laugh to themselves when they heard a frantic knock on the door of the bus. Gabe leisurely got up and sauntered over to open the door. He was running back to get Thalia soon after as Percy, Max and Lucas stumbled in. Percy was supporting Lucas with Max's help. Lucas himself was almost passed out, his eyes rolling back into his head from the pain in his broken leg. Percy set him down on the floor and eased Max down into the chair Gabe had been occupying moments before. All three were covered in a layer of ash and grime, so much that they all looked as if they had been through a coal mine. Lucas's leg was splinted with ice and sticks, but was still bent at an unnatural angle. "What the HADES happened out there Percy!" Thalia whispered loudly.

Percy was about to answer when the door burst in and Mari, Nico and a mystery child stumbled in to collapse on the ground. Mari was untouched, and Nico had a few cuts on his body, but this was nothing compared to the child that they were supporting between them. He was about ten with beet red skin and black hair. But the skin was twisted and morphed from fire, which gave him a sinister look. Sweat beaded his brow, and his breaths were labored.

"We need to get going, now." Percy said as he hopped into the drivers seat and started the bus up.

Thalia rushed up to the front and glared at him. "What happened out there? Lucas looks like he broke his leg while it was going into the grave, and Max looks like he went through Hell as well."

"We encountered a giant creature and Lucas got trounced." Percy said through gritted teeth. Mari was near by and heard what Percy said. She whipped around and, seeing Lucas lying on the ground with his busted leg, rushed over to him.

"Max did not get hurt. He just is exhausted from trying to support Lucas while we were fighting and carrying Lucas back." Percy continued. He glanced back at Nico and the mystery boy on the ground and motioned to them with his head. "Can you find out who the new kid is for me?" He asked Thalia.

She nodded back and rushed to where her cousin was. Gabe went with her, curious about who the new kid was and why he look like he did.

Nico was tending to the burns on the boy when they rushed over to him. He glanced up and nodded a brief greeting, returning to his task immediately. "What happened Nico?" Thalia asked in a slight hush.

Nico sighed. "This boy, Malcolm, was being possessed by a spirit of a child of Hades. Malcolm himself is a child of Hades, and this created a serous situation. The spirits powers were magnified through Malcolm's own powers. The spirit was able to kill twelve people who where trying to remove him from the boy's body. Then it summoned a creature from the depths of Tartarus that has no name, a creature I have only heard rumors about. (Ten points to the person who can tell me what the creature is.) The spirit had trapped itself in the boy's body through a series of tattoos, so to release the spirit we had to brand the tattoos off. And that is what has happened."

Thalia looked grimly at the boy in front of her. "So we have another cousin, huh? AND, like all the others, he has some kind of injury. Just wonderful."

"I am taking us to the nearest hospital." Percy yelled from the front of the bus. "We need some kind of medical attention, and that is the best place to get it."

"But then we will have to stay for to long. Remember, we have a crazy hound after us that is making us sick slowly." Nico yelled back.

"We need to only stay as long as possible to get immediate treatment. Then we can sneak out and continue on our way." Percy hollered.

Thalia though about it. "Sounds like a good plan of action Perce. We do need medical attention. Looks like it is off to the hospital."