Luke started to read the writings in Latin,while in awe with the ease he had.

Nam in Mercurii proximo puer Vos can reperio locum ad tectumque et Berkeley, California. Ibi: Et tu esto cum civibus Romanis hereditates semidei. Post tuis instinctum, et invenietis Novae Romae. All of that translated roughly to "For the next child of Mercury You can find shelter and a place at Berkeley,California. There,you will live with your fellow Roman demigods and legacies. Follow your instincts,and you shall find New Rome".

All of that was too much information, so Luke had to keep doing his task of stealing money from the ATM,and without getting caught. So,he took roughly US$2000,and closed the machine in a way that looks like it hasn't been even touched(that's a lesson Luke learned the hard way as a 10 years old,after almost going to juvie). However, the curiosity was still in the back of Luke's head.

Luke decided to buy a burnable cellphone and a few clothes and shoes,besides looking for a place to crash. He couldn't trust any hotel/hostel/whatever because of the monsters. So,the son of Hermes had to be extra careful.

By the night, Luke chose a cozy hotel hotel accepted cash and didn't make many questions. The demigod took a shower and went to sleep. During his years on the run,Luke had learned that having a fresh head was essential in risky situations.

In his waking hours,Luke's conscience didn't bother him,but the remorse came in the shape of nightmares.

The first one was basically a sequence of atrocities committed by Luke himself and/or in his behest. Poisoning Thalia's tree to weaken the camp,all while sending awful monsters to kill the demigods there,having Annabeth hold the sky,the attack to CHB through the Daedalus' Maze,the entire Battle of Manhattan. By that time,Luke was already disillusioned by Kronos and his army,and not only because he had to host said Titan(although Luke wasn't necessarily a brave individual,and didn't like the idea of sacrificing himself for a cause. He only did it to undo his shit and because Annabeth,the little sister he betrayed, urged him to do it). The veil of deception and lies was slowly getting thinner,and Luke had a harder time justifying himself each day.

The second bad dream was specifically about trickery and manipulation,both perpetrated and suffered by Luke. How Kronos used Luke's rage,sorrow and loneliness (the latter was more of a constant in his life than he'd like to admit,even to himself), all while using psychological torture as a punishment, or to keep Luke in line. The son of Hermes also had his fair share of manipulations,and even though he used a friendlier approach,it was just as dangerous. Luke had used some campers' trust on him to lead them to serve Kronos,and some were even sacrifices. If they had an infatuation, Luke would also have them wrapped around his finger with some crafty persuasion. The worst about all that was the fact that it didn't differ much from how Luke acted before Kronos. When he found Annabeth,he made sure to empathize and take care of her,while taking her in. It was basically the same with Luke's recruiting, but it was the promise of a new world,a better one,with company and warmth. How much of that was Kronos' doing, and how much was Luke all along?

A few hours after the nightmare ended,Luke woke up,soaked in sweat. He felt like he was beat the crap out of,despite the lack of physical scars. And as he deserved that and worse.

Luke decided to take a shower,as if it was a way to wash all the shame and self-loathing the was feeling. Luke brushed himself really hard with the sponge,enough to get red in many places of his body. After that,he punched the walls several times. Luke was angry and his hands hurt badly. Better anger and hurting physically than crying and hugging himself,it was his motto. Besides, wrath was easy to disguise behind a nice smile and warm mannerisms, as many passive aggressive people would agree. But sadness and sorrow,not so much.

Luke Castellan didn't want to be Luke Castellan anymore, he wanted a blank slate,especially if he was going to a whole new place. He just had to go to the pharmacy, buy hair dye and a cream to make his scar disappear. Oh,and also something to cover his head,since he entered the place as a blond. Both brands had demigods working for them,what made the products better(children of Greek gods were better at everything than mortals,but rarely thrived because of the monsters hunting them). He thought about contact lenses of any color but blue,but they would be too much of a hassle,therefore, a luxury Luke couldn't afford.

The scar cream package promised the big scars would vanish completely after 5 or 6 applications,but Luke's one was already fading after 30 minutes. "Maybe my magical blood erased it quickly", he thought," and this package speed is for mortals". The (auburn) hair dye reacted with even more intensity. Luke removed the product only 45 seconds after applying it. That was weird,it took roughly two minutes to completely react to children of Hermes(it involved a prank on cabin 10,and the Stoll brothers having to appear like clowns in activities and meals during a week as revenge).

Luke was searching for buses that would go anywhere near Berkeley, California. He was at a small town in Missouri. Thanks to his demigod powers,Luke didn't have to pay for WiFi use,but dyslexia was again a pain in the ass(hard time reading everything written). Due to the fact that Luke barely had an identity,real or fake,he had to go buy his ticket personally with the cash he stole. So,the demigod temporarily left the hotel to buy tickets, as the bus would leave the station the day after,at 9 pm.

The waiting for the time to leave left Luke really bored,and it was a pleasant autumn morning(it was October 4),sunny and chilly, but not too much. Before leaving, Luke decided to put a few alarms on his cellphone,as a way to help him program himself.

During the day,Luke walked through the small town looking for sites,and as a way to exercise himself, but quickly got bored with it. So,he decided to practice his skills with internet and programing,using his powers and crappy smartphone. Said skills were on a above average level. During his time with the titans,Luke didn't have to deal with internet-related stuff much,considering his relatively high position. Besides,he talked to his spy in Camp Half Blood using a magic charm,something untraceable(and there were plenty of Hermes kids in the camp,what made Luke use the internet mostly as bait).

One thing that surprised Luke was the lack of monsters in the small town,especially considering he was an adult demigod. So,he decided to have a nice,quiet lunch at a restaurant with WiFi. He ate two big turkey sandwiches (fast metabolism) and drank a coke,while browsing the internet,and trying to figure out banking sites without getting caught.

Luke called the waitress, paid his tab and left. The waitress looked at Luke,as if examining the son of Hermes, but she didn't say anything. That put Luke on alert mode. Even though his change of looks was motivated by self-loathing,it was very useful on Luke's mission to survive. He had plenty of enemies, not only Olympus and it's allies,but also in Kronos' army,especially considering he was the one who effectively killed the Titan Lord. That New Rome place had to be a good clean slate,a chance to do things right.

Luke left the town,but pondered going back there(or at least on Missouri) as a plan B. Quiet place,no monsters,a possible sense of community. A few hours later, he fell asleep in the bus. Of course, he couldn't get rid of nightmares.

The place seemed like a completely ordinary fast food bar in the surface, but there was something more sinister underneath it. That was a major monster meeting point. Initially the Monster Food Chain only dealt with donuts, but they decided to get more diverse. Hence them selling fast food.

There was a huge argument between a monster and an adult demigoddess. The monster was a dracaena and the half-blood woman was Natalie Lively, daughter of Melinoe. She was a tall,thin 27 yo with pale skin,blond hair and creepy green eyes. Beautiful, but scary. The Titan Army had her in their back pocket, in case Hades was a threat to their army. However, no one trusted her much,considering how much of a wildcard she was.

-Natalie,why did you do that?-The dracaena asked,as if the daughter of Melinoe made something extremely stupid.-Most of our current plans hinge on the surprise factor! But no,you decided to wreak havoc on the Underworld!

-Cynthia, the chaos has it's purpose.-Answered Natalie, feeling totally relaxed,and looking regal. -Besides providing distraction and keeping everyone in the underworld busy,it's also a window of opportunity to us. See,it was pretty easy to manipulate the ghosts,all while letting some people of interest getting out. Besides, if things go awry,we can always use my dear mom as a scapegoat.

-And what about the others,Natalie?-Cynthia said in an impatient,condescending tone. -Many of our enemies and possible enemies could also have used this window of opportunity. Besides, I heard some of the Greek demigods aren't what they appear to be.

Natalie was already bored with the subject, and suddenly started talking about cat stuff on YouTube and Instagram.

-Here we go again.-Complained the dracaena. A few minutes later,Luke woke up.

The bus had stopped at the station,and the driver would be replaced. That's when the son of Hermes decided to have breakfast. This time,the waitress was an ordinary woman,and didn't think much of Luke.

Soon after the breakfast, Luke was approached by a little 8 yo girl. She was in girl scouts uniform,and had blonde pigtails.

-Sir,we are selling cookies and cupcakes. Come to my table,and check out.-She smiled in an innocent and adorable way,so Luke decided to buy whatever they were selling. He went to the table,and there was another girl,a brunette in a ponytail.

-There're traditional and chocolate flavored cookies. Some have chocolate chips,others have peanuts, others have sprinkles. -Said the brunette, looking cute. But the son of Hermes didn't like cookies,it tasted like mold to him. -And for the cupcakes, there're chocolate with fudge, coconut with coconut topping,and the English traditional one,with both toppings.

-I want one of each cupcake flavor, please. -The demigod was already thinking of desert. He paid the girls,got the cupcakes in a small plastic bag, and walked away. When the son of Hermes took a bite in the coconut one,he felt the candy tasted a little too sweet,but not enough to have a bad taste. Even then,Luke decided not to eat the other two cupcakes. He knew too much of poisoning to know some substances could be very insidious. Besides, some monsters poison half-bloods to eat them later. "That was clever", he admitted. "They took the shape of cute little girls. Besides the fact that adorableness attracts people,if I tried to defend myself, all those oblivious mortals would see was an intoxicated big,strong guy beating up little kids".

When the son of Hermes entered the bus,he was starting to feel dizzy. Magical poisons are different from mortal ones,they don't depend much on concentration nor on the physiology of their victims. So,the redhead took a seat,and tried to remember what did the monsters used to lace the cupcakes,despite the growing feeling of Most likely, it wasn't something that affected mortals. Even though they were painfully unaware of their surroundings(the mist wouldn't work as well if mortals weren't so gullible),selling toxic candies would've drawn a lot of unwanted attention even from the stupidiest people. So,that narrowed it down a lot. Besides, the substance had to be relatively abundant and easy to find, in order for it to be put in a lot of stuff. Considering both the cookies and the cupcakes were industrialized,the toxins had to have the flavor and the consistency proper. Something sweet or flavorless that could be transformed into powder.

The demigod started to see sounds and hear smells. The intensity of the colors and the deliciously artificial enthusiasm made him feel calm like he never did on his life. So,he used all his willpower to look on a database of magical toxins,in a website made by children of Demeter,Apollo,Dionysus and Hermes in Camp Half Blood(he saw kids of Hecate and one of Tyche as well,what made him happy),all in Greek(including, somehow,the source code,since it was made by children of Hephaestus and Athena). It was Η αίσθηση μεταβάλλει τη χαρά,or Sense-Altering Joy. That plant was very fun at parties(or during boring mythology/ancient Greek classes,according a duo of mischievous tricksters the demigod remembered with distant fondness),as long as the person had the antidote in hands. Otherwise, it could be a nasty,long death. After the hallucinations, there was something akin to an anaphylactic shock, but worse. And all of that could've passed as a new,synthetic drug to the mortals. The antidote was rare,and obviously couldn't be found on that moving bus. Besides, he'd have to wait a long time until the next stop. So,he was as good as dead. That and nectar/ambrosia, but there was none of it on Midwest USA.

The nice feeling was starting to fade,indicating the fact that the nasty symptoms were about to come. So,the demigod decided to try his luck,and see if he'd find any magical creature selling herbs. He only had mortal money,but was pretty skilled as a negotiator(and it was still a lot of it).

The demigod was about to try escaping the bus,when a group of travelers approached him. They all appeared to be younger than the demigod,but still adults.-Are you okay?-Asked a young woman,probably on her late teens,early twenties. She was nice and warm,while looking like someone who could hand his ass to him without breaking a sweat. Not only her aura,but her short yet muscular body frame indicated it. -I'm Hayley Aizawa. What are you feeling?

Hayley started to feed him nectar and ambrosia,with tiny gold and silver sprinkles. The taste was the most amazing thing in his life.

It was cristal clear Hayley wasn't just a mortal. Perhaps, she was a daughter of Apollo,the healer of the group. So,the redhead explained everything, including the fact that he ate poison-laced cupcakes,and what said poison was.

Hayley cursed in Latin. -They're active again. Listen... Son of Mercury,right? -The patient nodded,and the golden light on the ATM came into his head.-Those girls who sold you candies are monsters. There's plenty of monsters around the country, especially in big towns. However, those ones focus on small ones,and they have the same MO. Poison a half-blood,follow them closely and eat them. These herbs also enhance the smell,especially if they're adults,like you. Besides, they always choose plants that drastically reduce the willpower.

-My name is Adrian Richards. You already know Hayley. Those behind us are Gabrielle and Malcolm. -Said a thin guy,with sandy blond hair and blue eyes. He pointed to a delicate tall black girl with flowers on her hair and to a guy that looked like he was her twin. Adrian seemed energetic and smart as a whip. Despite their individual mannerisms, they all had the same military posture. The ambrosia and nectar were already making effect.-Who are you, and for how long have you been living on the streets?

-Since I was nine. -Luke(no more) said).-I'm Jason Dunne. I've always known I was a demigod,and lived on the streets for most of my life. It was hard to survive until the age of 23. However, I've never known of a demigod shelter until I used my powers to steal the money inside an ATM machine. Some instructions in Latin appeared with my touch, in gold coloring.

-During the missions for New Rome,some of us leave messages behind for anyone with at least a tiny bit of divine roman blood to find the safe city. -Gabrielle said. -It helps a lot of demigods and legacies on the run.

Jason was very surprised with a particular word. -Legacies? What's that?

-Descendants of roman deities. -The girl with the hair flower answered. -Most of them have it very diluted, or of minor deities,considering the odds of survival of half-bloods. But New Rome offers shelter and life opportunities for them. Besides, there's training for whoever decides to live in the mortal world.

Jason Dunne didn't want anything with the mortal world. -What life opportunities?-He asked.

-I think it's better if you see with your own eyes. -Adrian was dismissive. -But I can tell you, there's a lot of stuff in the town.

-Invitation accepted. -Jason smiled in a somewhat formal tone.

-Do you want a weapon,Jason? - The blond asked.

-A sword,please.

Adrian took a huge,golden blade out of his pocket,what surprised Jason. -Bottomless.