Okay, so friendly reminder of what Hera told Annabeth about The Seventh Prophecy Child:

"So who's number seven?" Annabeth asked. Hera pursed her lips.

"She will come when it's her time. That's the only occasion where you can expect anything from her. She'll seem unlikely, but it's her. Don't doubt what she can do, even if it's unobvious." Hera warned.

If uncooperative and unlikely sounds like Josie to you, there goes that.

Also: a reminder to the Anonymous reviewers that if the review wasn't on the last chapter, I'll most likely not respond. Not to be mean or anything, but I'm human and flawed and messed up.

Also: I'm sorry I mispelled some Spanish word. I'm relying on various translating sources on the Internet for Josie's Spanish, so if anybody can help me out I'd apprecite it. And the lack of accents comes from the fact that my computer is stubbornly and incurably anglophone. When I write in French the keyboard'll switch and I'll have to do the command two-three times before the keyboard switches back to the accents/punctuations that I need. Sometimes it just takes it out and switches words to English, like 'banane' to 'banana'. I know what it's like to have people screw up the accents in your language, I'm French Canadian. So to the reader who pointed that mistake: I'm sorry, and I did have the accents in the original draft. I'll fight with my computer harder next time.


XXVI

Frank

July 14th

Josie stayed silent for ten seconds or so and Leo thought they might need to start taking notes or something, because that seemed to be a record.

"What the hell do you mean you never told me any of that?"

"We never told you about any of our family; much less the mortal half." Annabeth said examining Josie.

"But… But…" Josie cocked her head. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, we're sure."

"I don't believe you." Josie said.

"Chica, you're about seven witnesses to one," Leo said. "Besides, I don't talk about my mom to people."

"You speak Spanish?" Josie said.

"Sí, es mi lengua de nacimiento." He said. Josie replied in quick Spanish and Leo launched himself into an explanation of some kind, using his hand a lot- during which it actually started to rain, which chased everyone but Tyson and Ella who wanted to drive under deck.

At the end of Leo's explanation, she nodded and looked over them.

"I still think you're crazy, but he tells me the flying boat has a sound system." Josie said. "So I'm in for the time being."

"And w-what do you think the-the time being is, exactly?" Quinn asked. Her stutter had kicked back in when faced with this new person. Josie was kind-of scary, Frank admitted. And she talked way too fast for Quinn to match-up to anyways.

"Until we land and I can test my theory that demigods are like policemen, and can be outran," Josie said.

"You try that. Follow me, I'll find you a spare set of clothes." Annabeth said. "You're about Piper's size."

"Who's Piper?"

"The unconscient one," Annabeth said taking another look over her shoulder.

"I'm just going to call her Pocahontas. Or Nosebleed. I haven't decided yet." Josie said.

"She's going to hurt you," Jason warned. "Plus it's more of an under-the-eye-near-the-nose injury, if you want to be specific." Josie didn't look like that made a difference in her judgement, and she followed Annabeth to the bottom engine room where they also kept storage of extra supplies.

"Yeah, speaking of that," Percy spoke up (now that Annabeth was gone, Frank noticed). "What the heck was that about? The monsters?"

"Monopods," Quinn said, absent mindedly tugging on the bandage at her wrist. "It's Latin for one-foots, but they were part of mythology. More of Medieval books and stories and all that, but they were from legends in the Roman Empire. I imagine it's why they didn't like to be referred to as 'men' and they got so insulted when I was the only one to know them."

Frank suddenly probably turned really red. "Yeah, about that, I'm sorry I laughed at them. But I mean they're feet with heads. That sort-of got me by surprise."

"Plus the soprano." Percy said. Frank nodded but didn't laugh this time.

"That doesn't matter," Jason said. He was looking at Quinn. "How did you attract them into the bakery?"

Quinn suddenly blushed really red and played with her hands like she was about to say something important. Swear words coursed through Frank's mind because usually when Quinn had something important to say, it didn't mean anything good for the rest of them.

"I… Well, I've b-been working on an i- and idea." She said, twisting her hands.

"Okay," Jason said. "What is it?"

"Well…" Quinn ran her tongue across her lips. "You know how Gaia's been plaguing everyone on board with dreams?"

Save her because she never slept.

"Yes," everyone said at once probably thinking about their own dreams. Quinn took a deep breath.

"Well, I… I think she's been p-plaguing me too, just not with the same thing."

There was a shocked silence and Hazel broke it. "The voices."

Quinn balanced herself from one foot to another.

"I know a lot of things are up to chance, but I really can't determine why I'm the one who hears the voices, and nobody else. They're in my head, after all, and that would take more godly power than dreams, so to send them every night, and I'm not at a close distant to any god's known residence, except for maybe Poseidon but I doubt it's any sea god… It would take someone as strong as Gaia. I- I'm still not sure, but… Well, I took the chance. I dropped some blood in the chimney to see if it would lure them, and it did."

"And then the Monopods freaked out and called you pawn of Gaia." Percy remembered. Quinn nodded, looking troubled. "Welcome to the club."

"I don't know what they meant. I'm a legionnaire, not a rogue half-blood. And what's more I'm loyal to the legion like it was before the seize- to Jason and Reyna's legion or Percy and Reyna, I don't quite know. I'm not going to run away and join Gaia. The voices will not wear me down." She said. Frank wasn't so sure. Physically, they did. And mentally… Quinn's mentality was the strongest thing about her, but eventually she'd crack. Everyone cracked.

"No, they won't." Hazel said putting an arm around Quinn. "If they're trying to wear you down, they picked the wrong demigoddess." Quinn nodded obviously reassured a bit and cocked her head so it fell on Hazel's shoulder, probably thinking. When had they become so close?

"Quinn, how's Piper?" Frank asked, since she was as close to a doctor as they had considering Annabeth was busy with her and Jason's legionnaire medic skills didn't match the kind of knowledge Quinn had.

"Breathing, with a good pulse, and clear airways," Quinn said. "I don't know exactly how strong Monopod venom is; but I do know that it won't kill her. The biggest problem for now is infection in the injured eye."

"Did it actually get her eye?" Frank asked suddenly double worried. Man, if Piper went blind, not only would she take that super badly…

"I'm not sure," Quinn said. "Her eyelid was only a bit scarred, and not deeply enough. But there'll be a mark."

"Mars Almighty, she should've let me take the damn hit," Jason said.

"It's not your fault, man." Leo said. "Piper just happens to be really protective for people she cares about."

"You guys better be talking nice about me," came a mumble. Frank knelt next to Piper and offered a hand for her to turn onto her back,

"Oh thanks, that feels better. Gods, what happened?" Piper said.

"You were scarred by feet," Frank said seriously. And everyone started laughing again.

Piper

She only half understood the whole feet story, partially because of the pain in the back of her head, partially because the thinking corner of her brain was thinking about something else. A dream she'd had that's really stuck with her.

It was him again. Yeah; the tall soccer player with the intense eyes. She kept seeing him. Over and over, and over, and over… It wasn't the least pleasant dream Piper had ever had –then again, dreams about teeth extraction would be okay after nearly a month of seeing her dad tied to a burning stake. But it was definitely a frustrating one. Why did it keep coming to her, who was this guy, was he a demigod?

She saw him a lot, but usually he wasn't doing anything that extraordinary. She saw him playing soccer a lot, sometimes he was just walking alone in a forest and looking at the trees and birds around him with those concentrated brown eyes, as if he was looking for something. The best she'd figured out was that he never spoke English, Latin, or Greek. What she'd mistaken for English was actually another language, with more and different-sounding vowels.

Today he was lying on a sleeping bag, surrounded by tent walls. Piper was sitting at the other end of the tent cross-legged, on somebody else's sleeping bag. He was fidgeting with something, twirling it around his fingers. Piper squinted and saw a ring. She could make out a complex ring made like four thin interlocked gold bands.

He sighed and put it down in a bag at the foot of his bed, looking at the spot where it'd disappeared into some more. Then he said something out loud, and the words engraved themselves in Piper's mind, and she made sure to never forget them.

Suddenly there was the sound of a zipper and the flap of the tent opened. A head peaked in, and Piper recognised the girl; the only person other than him she seemed to see. Dani was her name.

She called something out to him in a melodious language a bit like French. Piper didn't know the language, but it was clearly a taunt. He made a face and swung his pillow at her. She swerved and laughed, before calling him out. He cast one last look at the bag where he'd cast the ring, and he followed her out.

Frank was looking at her crooked again, like he was about to guess that she had something on her mind, so she dragged herself back to the present and her reality.

"So, your name's Josie?" Piper asked. The new girl was chilling under deck with she, Frank and Annabeth, since she'd been carried down to her sleeping bag where she was more than happy to slump.

Annabeth had given her some food since apparently she'd been homeless. Piper could believe it; just how skin-and-bones and dirty she was.

"The one and only, thank god for you." She said. She had a rich Spanish accent that sounded musical and fun to the ear.

"I get that a lot," Piper said. "I'm Piper."

"So I was told," Josie said, eating sandwich crusts. "So what's your freak sob story?"

"No sob story," Piper promised. "I've actually lived nice and cozy for most of my life. After my dad became famous and all that, I was even a bit too out of there to figure it out."

"Your dad's famous? Ten bucks I never heard of him." Josie said, downing a glass. Annabeth bit her lip and Frank snickered.

"Tristan McLean," Piper said. Josie blinked.

"Never heard of him," she said.

"That makes one," Piper smiled. Secretly, she was glad Josie had never heard of Dad, because if she had to deal with a thirteen year old freaking Tristan McLean fan girl on this ship…

"Never was one for movies, I can't seem to sit down long enough, and they bore me. Or people always tell me to shut up with the colour commentating, but really I don't see why my rights of free speech are denied to satisfy those of a fictional character."

"That's the ADHD," Annabeth explained.

"Let me guess, that's caused by magic unicorns and the gas they release in the air when they've eaten too many gummy bears." Josie said. Frank snickered again.

"Battle field reflexes." Piper said.

"How very useful." Josie said. "Demigods seem to be awfully flawed; there aren't that many mythological battlefields in the twenty first century. What the diablò do these instincts help you with?"

"We're heading to one," Frank said.

"And we don't have to fight on battlefields," Annabeth said. "You saw Percy; we get attacked on the streets and in buildings."

"You like Percy don't you?" Josie blurted. Annabeth's eyebrows narrowed.

"No, I don't." She said sharply.

"Sure you do," Josie said. "Josie sees right through you, you transparent little demigod with battlefield reflexes."

"Josie, I don't." Annabeth said, getting up. "I'm going to go check on Quinn."

"Why the heckdoes Quinn need checking up on? She was playing cards with Hazel ten seconds ago, surrounded by mucho experienced demigod warriors and laughing at one of the mini-Leo-man's jokes." Josie said. "You're being a little evasive here, just a smidge obvious."

Annabeth scowled and left anyways. Josie turned to them.

"She likes him, doesn't she?"

"They had a thing before…" Frank said. "Then it just… Talk to Piper, she's the daughter of Aphrodite."

"Aphro-who now?"

"Aphrodite," Piper said. "Goddess of love and beauty."

"Well that opens horizons other than Nosebleed and Pocahontas." Josie said.

"Do you ever shut up?" Piper, who'd been called 'Pocahontas' in previous times and hadn't enjoyed it, said.

"No Bella," Josie said. "I have a strict policy against it. And I don't need to know anything about Percy and Annabeth. They still like each other."

"Josie, how do you know that?"

"It's simple, it's like written on their foreheads." Josie said.

"Not really when it comes to Annabeth," Frank said.

"Well it's not my fault you don't know and I can tell." She said sliding off the chair. "Hey, does anybody know where a girl gets music around here?"

"Music?" Piper asked.

"Forget it," Josie said. She stretched and Piper saw how flexible she was for a second that she thought of cheerleaders and gymnastics and hip-hop troops at school. "So what now?"

"You start going back and forth on deck and try to amuse yourself." Piper said. She blinked in shock. That'd nearly been as blunt as Josie was.

"Well that's fantastic," Josie said. "Don't you save the world or something?"

"Not yet."

"So what do you do in between?"

"Well that depends, Percy and Jason like to fight, and Ella, Quinn and Annabeth read a lot…"

"Well you are all charming people," Josie said.

"Just go hang out above deck and try not to tick off anybody." Piper said. "I'm tired."

"I can do at least half of those things," Josie said before wandering off.

"She's a piece of work," Piper said once Josie disappeared.

"I have a feeling she's going to make things interesting." Frank said. "Did you hear her above deck?"

"No, funny thing being unconscient is." Frank made a face at her.

"She just seemed to know about all our mortal parents." He said. "It was the weirdest things. And Annabeth asked how she knew and she had no idea, like it was just programmed in her head, or written on our foreheads…"

"Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve…" Piper said.

"And ten seconds ago she knew about Percy and Annabeth…" Frank said. "I don't know, but there's something about her."

"Pretty sure that there's something about all of us, Frank." Piper said.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Duh."

"I thought I was Captain Duh," Piper said.

"Percy dethroned you this morning while he, Hazel and I were playing Uno." Frank said. "Like, he became Emperor of Duh."

"Percy was running across freaking Spain, picked one girl up and out of all of them it was a demigod. I'm pretty sure that can't be a coincidence." Piper said, not even wanting to know what'd happened. So many things could happen during a game of Uno. "Who's her godly parent?"

"She's unclaimed."

"Greek or Roman?" Piper asked.

"No idea," Frank said. "Usually it's just assumed by which camp you pop up at."

Piper just melted deeper into her sleeping bag, half thinking about Josie, half thinking about the mystery boy. The thoughts jumbled up her head and Frank's outline became a big spot of fuzz.

"Piper, are you getting drowsy again?" He asked.

"No," she lied.

"Yes you are," he said. "Do you want me to find someone who has a clue about First Aid or..?"

"Nope, it's all good." Piper said as her vision blurred at random. And then it blurred up so bad a black splotch seemed to eat up the rest of the world and she passed out.