Thanks to ekatia217, Xylia Ren, and an anonymous review submitted by Bookluvver for reviewing Chapter 20. (: And thanks to TheForgetMeNot for sending a review to the first chapter in general. You guys are AWESOME. c:

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, sorry to those believers.

KPOV

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I felt his body move as he exhaled, taking slow deep breaths as we walked down the street. "Okay," he tightened his grip around me and lowered his lips to my ear. "I'll just hold on to you, that way it won't happen again."

I nodded as my cheeks grow red. "S-s-sure."

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"How'd you know I love that movie?" I laughed as we were walking arm in arm through the city on our way to get dinner.

"Because I know you so well," Hayden sighed as he pulled his arm away from mine and placed it on my shoulder.

I smiled at him suspiciously. "You barely met me,"

"But I feel like I've known you for years." He whispered by my ear, sending chills through my body.

My cheeks flared up as I tried to change the subject. "Earlier, you said we were going to a cafe. Which one are we going to?"

Hayden shrugged. "Cafes are only fun during the day, but it's getting dark out,"

I raised an eyebrow. "So, where are we going to eat?"

"Is food all you can think about, Katie Gardner?" he joked as we stopped when the crossing light went red.

"Food is more important to me than some people."

"So food is more important to you than me?" Hayden gasped. I laughed as I nodded. "Fine, you get your own ride home," He frowned, pushing me away playfully.

My mouth formed into the shape of an o while I tumbled over. "Hey!"

I shoved him aside as we started to enter a park. His eyes widened and he scoffed. "You wanna go?" I nodded since I couldn't stop laughing at his reaction. He shrugged. "Let's go!"

I started to shriek as I ran away from him. He wasn't holding back on his running and soon enough, he tackled me and we rolled around the grass. Out of nowhere, Hayden began tickling me, making me laugh more than I already was.

"Hey!" I shouted between laughs. "Quit it!"

"I'll stop when you get me off you!" He insisted as he continued to tickle me. I slyly pulled my knee up and when he didn't expect it, I extended my leg, causing me to kick him off me.

I got off the grass and brushed myself off. I tried to stop myself from laughing when I saw Hayden's shocked reaction.

That's what he gets for tickling a demigod.

"Wow, you got a lot of strength for such a pretty little thing," Hayden complimented, as he propped himself on his elbows, his eyes twinkling from the street lights.

I flipped my hair and sighed. "Ohh stop it, I try."

I offered him my hand to help him up, but instead he pulled me down with him. "You don't even need to try," he whispered softly.

I looked at him in astonishment, as I noticed Hayden leaning in closer to my face.

In that split moment, guilt crashed into my heart. What do I do, kiss him? Travis is out of the picture now, so there's nothing stopping me. There was a small piece of me, holding on tight to the picture that once had Travis in it.

Yet, with his face closing in on mine, I wanted to get rid of the distance between us.

And that was when a homeless man tripped over us.

"You'll never catch me alive, po-po!" The man shouted. He must've been deranged. But thanks to that man, Hayden snapped out of his trance. He gently placed me on the ground as he sat up.

"Well," he pushed my hair out of my face and grinned. "That was quite strange."

"Mhm," I said while I sat up, with my cheeks being the color of tomatoes. "It was."

Hayden and I stood up and dusted ourselves off."Let's go eat." He sighed.

We finally made our way to dinner. Which was in an empty diner.

"Uh, is there a reason why there's no one here?" I whispered when we entered.

Hayden grinned. "This is one of the greatest places in town."

I raised an eyebrow. "Then why is it so empty?"

"That's why it's one of the greatest places in town," he replied while knocking on the wooden podium where a server usually waited for customers. Except there were customers, but no servers. "Hey, we're starving!"

I pursed my lips. "This is exactly why I like small towns better."

He turned to face me, with a curious face. "Why?"

"Because everyone's nice at a small town, and it's never creepily empty like this." I whisper-shouted.

I'd never have to whisper-shout to anyone but Travis before.

Hayden's smile faltered. "We can leave if you want,"

My eyes widened and I shook my head immediately. "No, it's fine. I can survive one dinner at this empty joint." He looked unsure, so I gave him a smile and squeezed his hand.

"Hello young'uns!" We turned and found a server smiling at us suspiciously. "How can I help you?"

She looked familiar and I looked up to my friend's face and noticed that he had a questioning look on his face too.

"You work here?" he asked suspiciously.

"Of course deary," She laughed as she held out her name tag. "This is my official name tag,"

Hi, I'm Stheno, how may I help you?

I felt my stomach drop. I knew she was familiar. My fingers danced to the chain that held on to my wallet.

Oh she'll never see my flipping awesome chain sword thing coming, I thought as she led as to our tables.

Hayden's hand grew tighter around mine as we slid into a booth. I slid in first, when I realized that I was going to be trapped between him and the glass, but it was too late.

I can't let him get hurt, I grabbed the menu and pretended to look through it as Stheno was waiting for our order. I will never forgive myself if a mortal got hurt. As the gorgon was waiting, I gasped in revelation.

"What's up?" Hayden asked, putting his menu aside.

I smiled excitedly. "My dyslexia didn't kick in when I was reading her name tag."

"So?" Stheno questioned as she put her pad and pencil down. "Do you think any of us care, daughter of Demeter?"

"Well," I said, putting my menu aside myself, "it's a big deal to ME, so shut up and be nice because I'M the customer."

She frowned. "Don't tell me what to do,"

"Excuse me," Hayden interrupted. "Aren't you a waitress? This place pays you to do what we tell you."

"No one needs your sass, son of-"

"Where is the manager in this place? This is awful service," Hayden demanded, turning his head to find an authority figure.

I frowned, unbuckling the wallet from the chain. This is going too far and we really needed to get out of here. I leaned into Hayden's ear and whispered, "Hayden, let's just eat somewhere else."

"Sorry, as manager, I can't let you leave without killing you first."

I leaned my head over to see the speaker and saw that not only was Stheno in her gorgon form, but another gorgon was standing next to her.

My eyes widened and as if we were thinking as one, Hayden slid out of the booth at the same time I pushed myself up and leaped on the table. I spun my unattached chain and it turned into a sword. I kept my attention on Stheno, my concentration set.

"You both have very nice toys." Stheno laughed nervously, trying to back away but the other gorgon held her back. "Euryale, you told me that neither of them were armed!"

The other gorgon, Euryale, slapped her sister in the face. "Snap out of it! We've killed better demigods than them!"

"Hey!" I scowled. "I wouldn't be saying that about the girl with the pointy thing that can kill you!"

Euryale sighed while Stheno sniffled and rubbed her cheek. "It was your fault for trusting me."

Stheno gasped dramatically. "You're the only one I could trust! Who am I supposed to rely on?"

Her sister shook her head in shame. "You forget all the times I've gotten you on 'Punked!'."

"I am paranoid of the possible appearance of Ashton Kutcher at all times." Stheno shivered.

I exhaled, for the entertainment level of this conversation decreased. I lifted my sword to smash the window, when Hayden caught their attention by throwing plates on the floor.

"Can we please kill you so I can get back on this date?" He questioned exasperatedly.

I raised an eyebrow. He considered this a date? I wasn't alone! "This is a date?"

Hayden frowned as Euryale and Stheno snickered. "Ohh, she didn't even know that she was on a date."

"It's a misunderstanding of both parties!" He defended pathetically.

I rolled my eyes. "Before someone kills another, can we call a time out? We all obviously have something to discuss with our allies."

Stheno nodded. "Can you sort this problem in 5 minutes?"

"Stheno!"

I shrugged. "Probably,"

"Euryale, you have to admit, we have many psychological and trust issues."

"Oh my, you sound just like Mother," she scowled. "Fine, just FIVE minutes, that starts now."

I walked over to the edge of the table and knelt while Hayden stood in front of me. "We're on a date?"

He looked at the ground. "Is that a bad thing?"

"No, but I thought it was an outing?"

"Honey, if this was an outing, we wouldn't even be here."

I pursed my lips. "Well in my opinion, this date isn't going well."

He grinned. "In my defense, everything was fine up to now." I bit my lip, avoiding his comment. "Get ready, we're going to ambush them."

We dispersed from our huddle and I knelt, with a pile of plates sitting on my knee.

"I would never go out with Ashton!" Stheno yelled in outrage. She turned and right when she faced me, with the flick of my wrist, I threw a plate in her face. Her face was full of disbelief. "You ruined the treaty!"

I shrugged. "Girl, you're too trusting." With that being said, I threw more plates at her face.

"Idiot, get out of the way if you don't want plates hitting your face!" Euryale shouted. Hayden advanced towards her, a long sword in his hands. "Get away from me, son of-"

"Nancy, I know who my mom is!" He shouted, cutting her off.

My reflexes turned on, my legs pushing me off the table and propelling towards Stheno. I pushed her down, letting my sword go in the process. I threw a punch, using my other hand to choke her. She pushed me off her and climbed on me. "Prepare to die, demigod."

I wriggled and fought as she moved her hands to my throat. I looked desperately at Hayden, who was caught up in fighting Euryale. I closed my eyes, anticipating her hands, and once she wrapped her fingers around my neck, she shrieked and pulled away.

"Oww, my hands!" she cried. Within that split second, I shoved her off me, desperately got up, and ran to my sword. Stheno chased after me when she realized that I escaped from her grasp.

With my sword, I ran to the kitchen and grabbed all the knives. I went to the closet to hid, only to find the actual employees of this place tied up and unconscious. I closed the door slowly and sat behind the counter.

"Come out Katie!" yelled Stheno, as her footsteps grew closer.

I stood up and threw knife after knife at her, some small and sharp and some huge and bulky. Some missed entirely and due to this, she became distracted. I took advantage of this opportunity and stabbed her in the middle of her stomach.

She looked down at the sword in shock. "Uh oh."

After a moment, she disintegrated. I sighed with relief, falling to my knees ungracefully. I caught my breath and changed my sword back to a chain. I walked over to the sink and washed the monster grime off me and the chain, then made my way to the closet to untie the employees.

By the time I stepped out of the kitchen, I found Hayden sitting in our booth with his head down.

"Hi," I said, announcing my presence.

He looked up, disappointment enveloping his face. "I'm sorry that I brought you into this. I thought they wouldn't follow me."

I raised an eyebrow. "What, the gorgons?" I sat down next to him in the booth. "Don't worry about them, they're a joke."

"The monsters in general," he corrected, rubbing his face with a napkin.

I frowned. "It's my fault too, our scents put together were probably too strong."

Shame blanketed his face. "Mine is more powerful than you think."

"Then you can be like every other normal teenage guy who uses Axe like water, all will be chill." I smirked. He didn't find my attempt of reassurance funny. "I don't think you should worry that much. I've been told by many that I stink with godly power.

"I don't like my godly power." Hayden said bitterly.

"My mom is obsessive with cereal." I informed. He looked confused and I sighed. "My mom is Demeter."

"Ahh,"

"Yep..."

The moment absolutely went awkward.

"Cool mom."

"She can be cool when she occasionally saves the world and such."

". . . Want to go get some tacos?"

"Tacos sound good."

Um. This is awkward. To explain my broken promise that I made last chapter, one word. SCHOOL.

But I'm done~ So there's more time for me to post. And the story will be coming to a close soon but not yet. We're just halfway, baby. XD

And during the summer, I will be posting new stories. Feel free to read about them on my profile!

Are you looking forward to any of them?

Well, I am actually almost done with the next chapter, thanks to my iPod. So that will be posted soon...

REVIEW PLEASE. (: