Michelle rushed over to me.

"Andrew! Can you hear me? Andrew!"

"Bag" I moaned. "Nectar." Michelle tore open my pack and pulled out a vial. She lifted my head and put the vial to my lips. I instantly started to feel better. But it wasn't happening fast enough. Before I could warn Michelle, Lamia was upon her, once again wrapping around her.

"you killed my husband!" She cried. I wanted to shout out "Hey I helped!" But decided i had best take advantage of the fact she still hadn't noticed me. This fool's gift was really coming in handy. I crawled over and grabbed Punchline. Then, with great effort, I limped up behind Lamia. I was about to deal the killing blow when my legs gave out. Instead of stabbing her in the back I only managed to graze Lamia's arm. Needless to say this got her attention. She gave a startled cry then slapped me aside with one hand. I hit the wall of the cave, hard.

"Where did you come from?" she asked, clearly confused by this new player. "Never mind, it doesn't matter. Now you'll both meet your end." Been there, done that, I thought. I started chuckling. "And just what is so funny?" The hag asked, beginning to constrict around Michelle. In the distance I could hear a dog barking.

"I just remembered a joke." I wheezed, "And you're the punch line" A loud bark startled Lamia., making her drop Michelle. Suddenly, Laelaps came bursting into the cave. I guess that dip in the ocean snapped him back to his senses, because he was growling at Lamia. At the end of his leash was not Artemis, but Nikki. He still recognized her scent after the spell broke. He must have figured the enemy of his enemy was dog's best friend, and led her here.

Then I remembered the prophecy. She can't yet reach until the lost friend has escaped the secluded beach. The lost friend was Laelaps! Now that he was out of Lamia's control it was safe for Nikki to come.

"Give me back my sister!" Nikki screamed, dropping the leash. Laelaps then lunged at Lamia. He snapped at her again and again, trying to reach her throat. She in turn was writhing her tail, trying to get a grip on him. She reached her goal first and threw Laelaps off her. Nikki then released a barrage of knives at her. She was throwing them like she was dealing cards in a poker game. Lamia, having a snake's reflexes, dodged them all with ease.

"Snares!" Michelle shouted. Instantly a number of turrets at the mouth of the cave turned toward Lamia and fired little grappling hooks. One of the traps Michelle had managed to set up before the cyclops blindsided her. In no time Lamia was thoroughly pinned down. Then she began to take a deep breath. Oh no, I thought through my concussed stupor, she's going to sing Laelaps back into submission. If she got him back on her side we were all toast. I was about to try and relay this to Nikki, when she threw her last knife. Lamia was too tangled up to dodge it. The knife buried itself in her throat. She clutched at it, making gross gurgling noises. She was so surprised that her eyes popped right out of her head. Then I assume she disintegrated just like her hubby. I couldn't say for sure because before that happened I passed out.

"You did well Andrew." Thalia said. We were back in the Cadillac Theater.

"Am I dead?" stupid question, but I still had to ask.

"Of course not" My mom laughed. "You were just overwhelmed by all the excitement. You'll wake momentarily."

"Awesome. But before I do, there's something I gotta ask."

"What?" "How could you, the Goddess of comedy, be attracted to dad, the duke of dull?" This got another laugh out of her.

"We're not complete opposites. As a literature professor he naturally shared my love of good stories. Besides that odd couple formula has always worked so well for my genre." That's my mom, ever the artist.

I awoke to Michelle and Nikki standing over me. By then the nectar had done its job so I was able to sit up.

"Wha-" I was interrupted by Michelle's lips meeting mine. Gods, how I had been waiting for this! When she pulled away I said, "Do I have to nearly die every time I want a kiss from you?" Once more I got that beautiful laugh out of her.

"So much for that gruesome end." Nikki said. She was holding Sarah, who looked like she might soon wake up.

"Actually" I pointed out, grabbing Laelaps' leash, "I did meet a gruesome end. While the face wasn't much better, the end that did land on me was most certainly awful." We all laughed as we walked out of the cave. The laughter stopped abruptly when a strange woman appeared before us.

"Well done children," she said. "I've wanted to take care of that particular problem for ages."

"So why didn't you, majesty?" I asked, figuring this must be Hera, who had originally cursed Lamia.

"Wouldn't you say I did enough already?" She replied with a sly smile. "Zeus did, he forbade me to have any more to do with his former lover. Her father, Poseidon, wasn't too pleased with me either. Lucky for me that hag made the mistake of taking a half-blood's sister"

"You knew" Nikki was fuming. "You knew where she was and did nothing?"

"We are not supposed to interfere with the lives of mortals." Hera calmly said. "Especially not the lives of another god's children."

"Did you ever consider that all this petty squabbling might be why western society abandoned you guys for single-god religions" I teased. Hera glared at me just like Nikki used to. Then she smiled thoughtfully.

"Spoken like a true fool" With that she vanished.

"What did she mean by that fool remark?" Michelle asked as we walked out of the record store.

"In some stories as well as being funny, the fool was often the only one to say the hard truths about society." I explained. "I think she was actually complimenting me."

"Sure didn't sound that way." Michelle sulked. At the time I agreed. Although I would later learn that my words did have some effect on the queen of the gods.