Okay guys, I feel like I should apologize again. I'm sorry that I haven't updated or talked to any of you in close to a year now. I cut myself off from human contact via internet and even personal contact as well. I just couldn't bare it, humanity seemed far to cruel for me to alliance myself with them. I'm sorry for that now. I realize just sitting all alone feeling hollow and only crying when no one was looking didn't really help. Sosha slowly helped me out of that depression and now I can finally talk again. Though I have to admit my heart is still aching from the loss of my family and its still very raw, I'm going to try and make myself more social again. And work myself back up to humor. Give me time porfavor? Gratsi. Much love to you all. Oh and thank you to everyone who is being extremely kind and considerate in all of this. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Disclaimer- Nope.

Time passed quickly until finally they had reached a weeks end. Melina's training was complete. They were now ready to go find the goddess of love. Along the way though Chels had been sent on a errand by Chiron so she was no long going with them however Airabella offered to fill in for her until she remembered she was the cabin leader for Hecate and was being forced to participate in the up-coming game of capture the flag. Melina had the idea to check her former home in Washington seeing as that was the last known residence of Victor Crown. They had spent the entire day yesterday mapping it out. There would be no flying due to Ariel's parentage and Zeus grudge against her family so they had to drive. They would get a ride as far as Virginia from a family friend of Percy's but they were on their own from there. Before they left Ariel and Jade ran through all the supplies they were packing, making sure they had everything needed with them. Nectar. Check. Ambrosia. Check. Food. Check. Money. Check. Extra clothes and deadly weapons. Check. They were ready to go.

Melina had her latex gloves hanging from her wrist (they had a small band that allowed for this that way when she needed her swords all she had to do was slide her hands into the gloves) when she walked up to the group. Everyone was there.

"Alright campers," Chiron said then flicked her tail, "And Kiley, the time has come. Get it done quickly and efficiently. Try not to get hurt and contact us as much as possible. Your ride is waiting at the bottom of the hill. Good luck." Everyone but Kiley gave Chiron a hug then said their goodbyes. Kiley had already said her goodbyes earlier to everyone so she just waited. Ariel was giving Oliver a hug goodbye and walked up to Dean to give him a hug but, after an indecisive look on her face, leaned in a planted a kiss on his lips instead. Then she quickly ran off before he could even react. Her sister Jasmin rolled her eyes and kissed Oliver lightly before running after her. Jade just rolled her eyes at all of them and walked off with Melina. Amber nervously gave Trenton a hug (the two of them had developed a close friendship) while being glared at by Izzy the entire time. Izzy had taking quite a liking to Trenton, since they were both silent however Trenton acted as a very large teddy bear to Izzy. She drug him wherever she went and got jealous whenever someone else demanded more attention of him than she was getting. Kiley glanced up at the Big House and saw her parents along with DJ leaned against the railing watching her. She waved to them and blew a kiss before running down the hill to see a luxury SUV parked at the base of the hill, its windows tented like it was an FBI vehicle. Kiley climbed into the back seat and sat between Jasmin and Ariel, both of them looking at the top of the hill to see Oliver and Dean waving goodbye. Kiley sighed sadly, thinking of her own love and glanced down at the bracelet on her wrist.

Before she had left Kiley had sought Brennion out to tell him goodbye. He had been sitting in the woods drawing a still life of a tree until she walked up to him. He became grave and tossed his drawing aside to talk to her.

He had said to her, "Kiley I realize this could be a very dangerous mission and you may get hurt or….not come back at all. That's hard to stomach. So I had some help from a new friend and had this made for you. It's a promise okay? Promise you'll come back alive. I love you Kiley. I can't loose you." Kiley foolishly promised something she could never keep true. Sighing, she touched the cold chain silver bracelet. She was going to miss him.

Before she knew it they were rolling down the road, a large gruff man in a black business suit driving at a fairly illegal speed. Kiley awkwardly listened in on peoples conversation, mostly Ariel and Jasmin's since she was sitting next to them.

Ariel spoke, "Mom called me yesterday."

This peeked Jasmin's interest, "What? Why?"

Ariel sighed wearily, "She told me she was at a film shoot in Sicily but after she finished that movie she wants us to have dinner together. So we can meet her new boyfriend."

Jasmin rolled her eyes, clearly not happy with the idea, "Yay. I just love those stupid dinners with mom."

Ariel patted her older sisters hand, "We have to go Sis. Mom will be hurt if we don't go."

Jasmin snorted, "I'm praying I don't survive this so we don't have to go. You know how Mom gets at those stupid dinners. 'You know I love you girls it's just Mummy's work is very demanding and she has to make money for you all. Oh Jasmin why can't you wear a dress? If the press sees you in those pants, it will be all over the front page news' Sis I don't want to go."

Ariel sighed, "I don't either but we have too. Hey, we can take Dean and Oliver with us to break the tension of having to stay in Alcatraz." Kiley quickly figured out that their mother was a rich movie star and Alcatraz was a pet name for the mansion their mother owned. They obviously had some serious issues with their mother.

Jasmin sunk into the seat and pulled her aviators off the top of her head over her eyes, "Maybe. I'll think about it."

Ariel stared at Jasmin for a bit, "I'm not going if you don't. And Mom will get very pissed if we don't go."

Jasmin dismissed her sister with a wave of her hand, saying, "Yeah I know. Let's talk about it later okay Ariel? Later. I don't want to think about Mom right now." Ariel rolled her eyes at Jasmin but agreed to it and stared out the window. Kiley moved her attention to Melina and Jade's conversation, also taking in the fact that they were now in New York. Close to her home.

Melina spoke in a hushed voice, "I'm a little nervous Jade."

Jade replied, "It's going to be alright. I won't let anything happen to you."

Melina gave Jade a shy smile, "I know but that's not exactly what I mean."

Jade furrowed her eyebrows, "What do you mean then?"

Melina wrung her wrist nervously, "Well I haven't been home in…years."

Jade coaxed Melina with a wave of her hand which prompted her to continue with what she was saying, "I'm not really all that eager to go back to the house my father tried to kill me in."

This caused Jade to look confused, "You mean he never moved?"

Melina shook her head, "No. He seemed to like it there. Believe me, my mother checked in on him from time to time because she wanted to make sure he wasn't doing anything stupid. Or at least that's how she explained it. I dunno."

Jade frowned, "I'm sorry. Don't worry though. It's going to be alright. I promise." Melina nodded sadly and rested her head on Jade's shoulder, falling asleep. Not soon after Jade rested her head on Melina's and fell asleep with her. Kiley wondered at how much sleep the two of them had got last night, obviously not much if they could fall asleep but Kiley could understand. It was getting late, the sun was setting. They had been on the road for many hours already and were nearing the borderline of New York.

Amber glanced at Kiley from the rear view mirror, seeing as she was riding shot gun, and gave her a smile before turning in her seat to engage in conversation.

"Kiles, we need a place to sleep tonight don't you think? Or do you suggest we drive straight on through?" Kiley had been pondering on this herself for quite some time now and since Amber had addressed it, she could now deal with it.

"Driver, pull over." He glanced at her in the mirror as if to say what-the-eff-are-you-crazy but Kiley ignored it and persisted the matter until he did. She then maneuvered her way out of the back seat without waking Melina or Jade or Jasmin and her Sister who had also fallen asleep by the time they had hit 5th Avenue. Once outside she took time to stretch her cramped muscles, reaching high above her head and smiling at the burning in her claves and lower back as the muscles strained. With that done she rolled her neck, thanked the driver after relieving him of the keys, and assumed the steering wheel. They were no longer in need of the gruff man so Kiley left him standing there in the Krispy Kream's parking lot.

"Well okay, what was the point of that?" Amber asked in a hushed tone so as not to wake the car full of sleeping teens once they were back on the road.

"I don't know, I didn't like the looks of him. He gave me the creeps and I needed something to do. Besides, I have a more efficient route planned for us than he did. Just go ahead and sleep there, we'll stop wherever to get breakfast in the morning okay?"

Amber gave Kiley a long, hard look, "Your not going to sleep?" The fact was, Kiley didn't want to sleep and that was the real reason she had relieved the chauffer of his position. She knew if she went to sleep she'd be forced to live in her double life dream wolrd as Kyle J and she didn't want to do that. She just knew bad things would come of it, even if nothing had yet. So out of desperation she just came up with the plan of not sleeping until she was mentally fortified enough to deal with being Kyle J. Simple as that.

"Nope," Kiley mumbled once she had stopped at a red light, "but you can sleep. Don't worry, I'm a good driver. Oh here." Kiley quickly slipped her leather jacket off (compliments of Thalia before leaving, she said it was a life saver. Literally) and handed it to Amber who took it with mock reverence.

"What do I want this grimy old thing for?"

"Roll it up and put it against the window for a pillow smart ass. Or do you not want it?"

"No I do!"

Kiley smiled, "That's what I thought."

Y

Once the sun came up Kiley looked around in the barren place she had drove them to, much less populated compared to New York, for a good place to get breakfast for everyone. She found no such place. The only optimal place she had seen was a Mexican restaurant with shady looking men outside called Los Muertos but, by the Spanish Kiley knew, she knew to avoid that. Thus putting her where she was now, at a gas station convenient store. Everyone else was asleep so she decided to just go in alone. Not until later would she realize this to be a huge mistake.

At the moment however she was particularly happy that she had found not just food but gas as well. Two birds with one stone right? Perfect. Kiley strolled into the convince store, nodded her head to the chiming of bells to alert the clerk a customer had entered the store. Kiley glanced at the clerk upon entering the store. She was a bit heavy (not to be rude, just being blunt) with stringy orange hair and glowing eyes to match…they kind of looked like a cats. She smiled at Kiley though the smile seemed more of a sneer than anything. Still, blind as Kiley was, she smiled back to the woman and went about her business.

She was to busy hunting down bags of Cheetos and 2 liters of Mountain Dew (a wholesome and healthy breakfast if ever there was one) to notice that there was not another life form in that store except herself and the clerk. Nor did she notice as she was grabbing an arm full of junk food that the clerk had briskly walked to the glass double and locked it, flipping the OPEN sign to CLOSED. She was to complaisant with her lot, thinking instead about getting back to the SUV and tearing into a bag of chips like a half starved man. Of course being as daft as she was being she placed her items on the counter with a smile and politely struck up a conversation with the woman.

"Good morning," Kiley went on in a sunshiny voice, "How are you?"

The Clerk nearly purred in response, "Oh quite well actually, I believe I'm about to have a tasty breakfast."

Kiley merely laughed politely in response, adding, "Oh really! Me too!"

"Yes," The clerk went on as she began to bag up the items Kiley had paid for, "Tasty indeed. And I'm very hungry you see. It's not everyday I get such an…eclectic mix for eating." It wasn't until then that a certain buzzing came to life in the back of Kiley's mind. A warning. Eclectic? What was that supposed to mean? And her teeth looked really sharp. It was a weird thing to notice but Kiley always did pick up on the strangest of things, no thanks to her ADHD. The woman's teeth were wicked sharp just like a lions. In fact now that she had noticed that, didn't this woman's eyes look cat like too? And she was furry. Not just like more hair on her arms than an normal woman but thick red fur. On her arms, her body…her body! She was a lion! But she wasn't. She had her head still with those sharp cat teeth in her mouth but the rest of her was a lion and there was something black flickering behind her. What was that? A tail? It looked like a scorpions tale. Kiley found herself backing up slowly.

"Um…what are you exactly?" A stupid question for someone who was related to a Daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom, but hey! She had never encountered something quite like this before so she was allowed to be dumbfounded.

"Oh does it really matter?" The woman purred, her voice sounding more distorted now that it was coming out between those teeth, "I don't like chatty food."

Kiley began to put speed into her steps as she backed away. This wasn't good. Not good at all. She cast a frantic look at the door only to see that the Clerk-Lion-Thing had chained the handles together with a padlock. Her eyes found their way back to the thing just as it was climbing over the counter and walking towards her. Kiley continued to back up until her back hit something, a food stand with foot long braided bubble gum hanging from it. Slowly as the thing approached her, Kiley reached behind her back and gripped a piece of the gum. A weak and pretty much useless weapon but the closest thing available. Then she counted one one thousand…..two one thousand….three one thousand…SMACK! Kiley slapped the monster across the face with her bubble gum rope in an attempt to fight the thing off. No good. It just growled a deep and definitely not human sound.

"You had a fly, don't worry I got it!" Kiley stammered before turning and running down the aisle. It roared in rage and flipped over the candy rack as it chased after Kiley who was scrambling to get away from the thing while also dodging the black projectiles it was somehow shooting at her. One grazed her arm as she slid under a donut rack into another aisle and pain vibrated up her arm in an unpleasant fashion. You know when you hit you funny bone against something really hard and you get the really annoying and really painful-tinglely feeling? That's what it felt like.

"Come back here!" She yelled as she thrashed in the aisle Kiley had previously been in. Kiley crouched low, hiding under the coffee and soda dispenser. She had to collect her wits. For one, she was alone and without a weapon. For two, there was some kind of monster half-lion-half-scorpion clerk lady thing trying to eat her. Now judging by her past experience, this was not was something that was good. So going by that, she needed to find a way to get the hell out of there. Desperate, she looked around the store. Shouldn't their be an employee exit or something? No such luck. There was only a single bathroom at the other end of the store and refrigerators full of soft drinks and beer to her right.

"There you are demi-god!"

"Shit!" Kiley yelped just before rolling out of the way just as the lunatic monster clerk shot more foot long spikes at her. She barreled through the food stands to get to Kiley like they were just simple branches in her way towards the fountain pop dispenser where Kiley had been hiding. Kiley ran to one of the refrigerators and opened it up, grabbing an armful of canned drinks which she threw at the monster. Most of them bounced of the monster without doing any harm but one of them landed directly in the things mouth as it was hoping to get a mouthful of Kiley's calf and it bit down on it. The carbonated drink exploded in it's mouth, spraying in all directions. The monster sputtered and fell back from the annoyance, giving Kiley just enough time to run towards the doors. She wasn't really sure what her plan had been to get through the locked doors however she knew for a fact it didn't involve hurling her body through the glass. That is exactly what ended up happening though. Kiley stumbled when looking back to see how close the Scorpion-Lion was and fell right through one of the glass doors. Glass rained down all around her as she fell and rolled away from the entrance. Slightly dazed Kiley was aware of needle like pain points throbbing in various places all over her body and just assuming she figured it to be cuts from the class.

"Hey! Get back here! I don't like having to chase my food!" It bellowed from the door. Kiley decided, even if it was asking nicely, she had no intention of going back into the store and making herself easy food. Instead she made a break for the SUV. As she was running, she felt a fiery pain explode in the back of her calf crippling her. Her leg gave out underneath her and she fell the ground, her momentum causing her to roll into the door of the SUV. A loud thud came from her head slamming against the fiberglass so hard it dented the door. Spots filled her vision and she slumped against the vehicle, unable to move due to a handicap leg and blurred vision. She heard a cackle from the monster as it drew closer to Kiley.

"That's better, all that running was getting my heart rate up. To much Monster Donuts for me I suppose, not enough half-bloods to kill. I'm getting lazy." She mused to herself. Furry clawed hands closed around Kiley's ankles and began to drag her back into the store, Kiley unable to protest due to what she was sure to be a concussion.

This is where things got very confusing for Kiley. She heard the sound of another window being broken then a hideous scream. She thought for a second that she may have been the one who screamed because the monster had thrown her through the other door but this was not the case. It was in fact the monster that had screamed just before letting go of Kiley's ankles. Then there was the sound of doors being open and slammed shut. Footsteps thudded past her ears and she heard savage growling accompanied with the sounds of weapons being drawn. Kiley's vision cleared just in time for her to see Ariel stab the monster clerk through the heart with her water-bronze sword and the beast explode into ashes.

Almost immediately everyone was kneeled around her to see if she was still alive. Jasmin pulled a water bottle out of a knap sack she had around her shoulders and practically shoved it in her mouth like a baby being fed a bottle.

"A Manticore. Some luck you have Jackson." Jade said in a cranky voice. She obviously didn't like being jolted awake by a monster. Kiley gulped down the heady and strangely warm liquid while Jasmin assessed her wounds. She had Melina helped her pull out bits and pieces of shattered glass from her sternum and rib cage presumably where her body had made contact with the glass when she fell through it. Then Jasmin's hand rested on the back of Kiley's thigh.

"Um this isn't good." On high and feeling a bit intoxicated from whatever this syrupy liquid was she was drinking, Kiley glanced down at her leg where Jasmin had her hands. There was a black thistle looking object about a foot or so in length imbedded deep in the flesh and muscle of Kiley's thigh. Pain radiated from the area like a radio station emitting waves.

"No fair," Kiley protested, "That thing cheated."

"That 'thing' is called a Manticore and your lucky your still alive. These spikes are poisoned you know. Here, suck on this and give me that, you drink anymore of it and you'll burst into flames." Jasmin pulled a lollipop from a pouch hanging from her belt and unwrapped it before pushing it between Kiley's lips. The candy tasted like cherries with a slight numbing affect to her lips and tongue.

"Wha' iv it?" Kiley mouthed around the candy.

"Morphine hardened into a cherry flavored lollipop. Now just enjoy your candy." Jasmin patted Kiley's forehead before turning her attention to everyone else present, "Ariel, you take Amber and Jade and go into the store. See if there are any more monsters in there and get us some food for the road. I'm starving. Melina you can help me with Kiley."

Kiley watched as Ariel led the two other girls into the store, all armed and dangerous. Suddenly Kiley felt great! There was no pain coming from anywhere and everything tasted like cherries. She freaking loved cherries!

"God I freaking love cherries," She giggled as, without her knowledge, the morphine caused a high to take over her brain, "Don't you just freaking love cherries!"

Melina nodded uncomfortably, her task was to preoccupy Kiley while Jasmin pulled the spike out of her leg, "Yup they are, um, they're just great."

"God seriously this thing is freaking delicious! Want some!" Kiley enthusiastically shoved the sucker in Melina's face poking her in the cheek with it.

"Um no, that's okay. Thanks anyway." Melina politely pushed Kiley's arm away and wiped her slobber of her cheek where Kiley had pressed her drug candy. Kiley just laughed like Melina was the craziest person in the world and put her candy back in her mouth. Then she narrowed her eyes at the sky as she saw a bird flying above her.

"Is that Tinker Bell! It's freaking Tinker Bell isn't it! It is huh! Don't lie to me Melina! I already know the truth! You can't hide it!" Kiley spared a chance to glare and point her candy at Melina in an intimidating way then put it back in her mouth and went back to looking at the pigeon above her she thought to be Tinker Bell, "That jerk. She thinks she just fly around here like she owns the freaking place! What a bitch. Yeah that's right, I said it. B-I-T-Z-S-H. Bitch." While Kiley went on to ramble, misspelling the word bitch at least six more times due to her dyslexia, Jasmin had Melina place her hands around the spike. Pressure around the open wound so when the spike was pulled out Melina could quickly cover it before it could gush blood all over the place. Jasmin mouthed the words ready, to which Melina nodded, then quick as lighting pulled it from her leg.

"Hey! That tickled!" Kiley playfully ruffled Jasmin's hair then got a very serious expression and shoved her, "I know how you roll and I'm telling you now I'm not into woman like you Jasmin! So don't try and think you can flirt me over to your side just by tickling my leg! God! Can't you understand! Tinker Bell is trying to freaking steal the car and you're wasting precious time trying to seduce me!"

"She's gone insane." Melina mumbled while Kiley pointed a finger gun at the pigeon that perched itself atop the SUV and made laser gun shooting sounds at it.

"No," Jasmin answered as she picked herself back up and began patching the wound on her leg, "She's just high on morphine. It will wear off in a little while."

Melina helped Jasmin wrap the wound up after Jasmin had smeared a funky smelling green goo over the wound, "Your into chicks?"

Jasmin rolled her eyes, "No. She's shooting a pigeon she thinks is Tinker Bell with her fingers, do you really think anything coming out of her mouth right now is anything but fiction?"

"Good point."

"I know, now help me get her into the passenger seat will ya?" Melina and Jasmin picked Kiley up by the shoulders and put their arms around her waist to support her weight as they drug her to the SUV while she muttered, "Pew Pew Pew! Take that Tinker Bell! Try and steal my car will ya! Ha! Your got another thing coming beach!"

"Gods." Jasmin shook her head at Kiley's insanity. They successfully loaded her into the seat and after humming a few convincing tunes on Jasmin's part, Kiley passed out like a light. You ever wonder why lullabies make you sleepy? It's because children of Apollo are sick of listening to you. Case closed.

Ariel came back with a box of food in her arms and Jade along with Amber trailing her, both of them laden with goodies as well. They loaded the things into the back of the SUV and jumped into the car just before Jasmin peeled out of the parking lot. Better to leave now than to wait for the cops who were surely on their way to show up.

"Well," Jade muttered as she chewed on a Snickers candy bar, "that was eventful. Where are we anyway?"

Jasmin looked in her rear view mirror as if to check for possible followers, "Somewhere in Missouri." Jade nearly choked on the chocolate she was chewing. Melina promptly swatted at Jades back until Jade held her hand up, signing that she was alright.

"Missouri!" Jasmin's sister questioned, "How is that possible! When we fell asleep yesterday we were in New Jersey!"

"Yeah," Jade now fully recovered, "Do you have any idea how many miles that it! Its impossible!"

As if to prove her point they drove past a road-side dinner called "Missouri's Watering Hole" with a bunch of Chevy and Dodge trucks parked in the parking lot.

"I don't really understand it myself," Jasmin said as she turned left at an intersection, "but here we are. Maybe some godly intervention you think?"

"Well Kiley is pretty tight with Hecate or so I hear." Melina stated, " And she is the goddess of magic so a it is possible."

"Yeah it is, Hecate can travel through space like a black hole does using magic," Amber put in from the back seat, "I mean, I only know that because I dated one of her sons once and he took us to Paris for breakfast then to Italy for lunch. No problem."

"Alright well that makes more sense. So Hecate sped us along, beautiful. Thanks." Ariel mumbled while glancing out the window then added more quietly to herself, "Only chlorine filled pools and dirty lakes around here. Why couldn't we be somewhere near the ocean?"

"You seem to know where your going." Melina noted. Jasmin nodded with a grin.

"Sure do. I know some friends around here that we can stay with tonight. I'm sure their let us stay." This demanded Ariel's immediate attention. She whipped her head so quick it was a wonder she didn't have whiplash to give her sister a soul burning glare that Jasmin didn't even blink at.

"Please don't tell me your talking about Catalina and Bunny!" Jasmin grinned in quite an evil way.

"Sure am."

"Oh gods please protect us for the terror we are about to endure. Hades take me now!" Ariel prayed causing fear to grow in everyone except Jasmin who smiled on and Kiley who slumbered with her morphine lollipop still in her mouth.

Okay it's 2:14 in the morning and my left elbow joint hurts really bad. I was sparring with my 15 year old cousin Summer and she sort of twisted my arm when it was in an arm lock way to far. Ouch. Anyway I really enjoyed writing this chapter though I'm not sure why. It's not very good but it made me laugh as I wrote it. And just to clear things up, I had Hecate speed them up because I didn't feel like writing tedious chapter after tedious chapter of them driving. I already have to write a few and those will be dull enough. Therefore they got godly help. Now goodnight everyone, I'm going to rest and recuperate and hope that my elbow hurts less in the morning though I doubt that will be the case. Much love to you all!