Dick had been busy the next few days, between looking for half bloods every half hour and classes at Berkeley, which he took seriously for once. He even did extra work in researching the monsters that attacked him.

His search for half-bloods proved fruitful, despite the several interuptions. He was able to locate several kids that had both ADHD and dislexea throughout America. He ran a watcher system on the subjects, so if any questionable activity took place near their vincinity he would get a notification.

Classes were a whole different matter. He had never found Greek Mythology or the history of Rome very interesting, but now, that he knew that they existed, he dove into the classes, never missing one, something he hadn't done since he graduated from high school.

Batman thought moving to San Francisco was a bad idea. Dick wouldn't be surprised if he had taken to spying on his classes to see if he could find any reason for him to return back to Gotham University. He was in the middle of a complicated search through the Justice League's system, when Batman came up on the screen.

"You look busy." Even though it was Batman on the screen, it was Bruce's voice.

For a moment, he thought he had been caught. "You know how it is with school." He tried to sound nonchalant.

"Right. Berkeley." He said it with distaste.

"You know, Berkeley is considered a prestigious school. What do you want?"

"Why are you doing this?" Dickwondered if he was talking about going to Berkeley or sneaking around the Justice League computer. "What was wrong with Gotham U?"

"Nothing was wrong. I just needed a change of pace."

"San Francisco, really?"

"It's nice here."

"Hmm." He made a noise in his throat that showed his displeasure. "Do you really think it will help you get over Wally's death?"

Dick pulled a facee. He just had to bring that up. "This has nothing to do with Wally. Leave him out of it. I've got homework to do." And he cut off the connection.

Heknew he was shutting him out and a part of him felt guilty about it, but another part needed to get away from Batman. Not to mention he had no idea if he could explain the world he just fell into, of if he even wanted to.

Two days after he had started monitoring half-bloods, he got a notification at one of the schools in Bakersville. There was a stalker at the school. What caught his eye was that the stalker was considered strange looking. He figured if he had seen a stalker that was actually a monster and he couldn't see through the mist, he would probably think it was strange-looking, too.

Calling Reyna to notify her was more difficult than he thought, on account he kept getting a busy signal. When he finally did get through, a bored voice said over the phone, "Camp Jupiter messaging service."

"Praetor Reyna, please."

"Who's calling?" She asked.

"Uh, Nightwing."

"Does she have your number?"

"Yes."

"She'll call you back within the next 24 hours."

"No, wait, I need to speak to her immediately, it's urgent."

"There's a line to use the phone. She'll call you back as soon as possible."

"But . . ." The phone hung up.

Not one to be dissuaded, Dick tried again. The phone rang again, and the same bored voice said over the phone, "Camp Jupiter messaging service."

"This is Nightwing of the Justice League, and I have a Half-Blood being kidnapped. I suggest you get Praetor Reyna on the phone right now, unless you want another half blood missing! Now!"

"I'll have her call you right back." The voice seemed much more alert now.

Fifteen minutes later his phone rang. "Hello."

"There's a Half-Blood being kidnapped?" Her voice was protective and worried.

"Not yet, but a twenty-four hour wait is not going to cut it."

"Sorry about that. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again. So what's going on?"

"Do you have a ride to Bakersville?"

"I think I can get one."

"Great. Meet me at the elementary playground."

"What's going on there?"

"I'll explain it when you get there. Remember you're not supposed to be on the phone too long."

"Right. Okay, I'll see you there as soon as I can."

"See you soon." He hung up the phone, gathered the information he needed for their meeting. He felt a thrill that he hadn't felt before a mission in a long time.

Bakersville was a quiet town that was mostly farms. He pulled up to a small elementary school, with a well used playground that had seen better days. It was still early evening., But there was no sign of Reyna. He ran a hand nervously through his hair. A black SUV pulled up and Dick felt himself tense. Reyna stepped out and was dressed in her full Praetor uniform, complete with a purple cape.

She walked quickly up to him. "Now will you tell me what's going on?" She demanded.

"There hasn't been a kidnapping, yet. But there was a stalking here with a strange looking person, so the report says."

"A monster found one. Good catch. So what do you think our next move should be?"

"I was hoping you could tell me. You're the Half-Blood expert. How do these things go down?"

"Depends. Every story has been different. And with mortals involved, it makes it something new."

"I have the kid's address.". He held up the kids file. "Do you want to go stake it out?"

"Sounds like a plan." Reyna smirked.

The kid didn't live far from the school. The first thing they noticed when they approached the home was an eerily similar looking van. Reyna drew her sword the moment she got out of her vehicle. Dick motioned for her to stay put. He snuck up to the van, it looked around the side at the small house. It was one of those houses that looked like it had been built in the 1930s. Everything looked quiet, until he heard an ear-splitting scream.

Reyna and he reacted at the same time, both rushing into the house. A guy was holding a woman down, he was screaming over and over again, "My baby, my baby."

Dick did a couple of swift kicks, hitting him in the stomach and head, effectively knocking him out. Reyna had already run up the narrow stairs.

"Are you all right?" He asked the woman.

"My baby! They're going to kill my baby!" the woman exclaimed as she got up and started running up the stairs. Dick followed close behind. he watched the woman run into a room while Reyna came out of another room. He followed close behind the woman. The room was a nursery. It was dark, the only light coming from the hallway. He didn't see anything at first, but then noticed a woman carrying a sleeping child in her arms. His head rested against her shoulder. Her features were soft and beautiful, and she looked like she was just putting the child to sleep.

"Such a handsome little boy." She cooed.

"Please, please." The mother bagged.

"I'm just trying to help him." The woman looked at Dick, and he could feel himself beginning to agree with her. He felt that familiar wave that he had felt not so long ago the farmhouse. Then her appearance suddenly changed. Her hair lit on fire, her teeth grew fangs, and her fingernails grew into claws. Dick looked behind him and saw Reyna had just entered the room, her sword pointed toward the woman.

The empousa screeched at Reyna and jumped out the window.

"Nooo!" The mother screamed.

Reyna didn't hesitate and followed her out the window. "Will get him back." Dick tried to comfort the mother has he followed Reyna right out the window.

He landed in a roll, popped up, and followed after Reyna in the chase. The Empousa jumped into the van that had been waiting, and it took off.

Reyna ran for her vehicle. Dick hollered out, "We'll take my bike. It's quicker." he pulled out an extra helmet, handed it to her and hopped on, putting his own helmet on. She climbed on behind him her sword still out and ready. He revved the engine and took off. She tightened her grip around him has he sped after the van. He couldn't help but notice that her thighs were pressed against his.

He raced down the streets trying to figure out where the van could have gone to. He had a good idea they would try to get to a major highway, and headed in that direction. It wasn't until they were almost to the highway that they saw the van getting on the on-ramp. Dick wove in and out of traffic as raced to catch up to the van. Reyna clung to him tighter. It wasn't long before they caught up to the van. Reyna held her sword up, ready to attack. They were just pulling up next to it when the van door slid open. A man's head poked outwith a gun pointed right at them.

Dick pushed a button on his bike, which instantly created a shield in the front of the bike. At the same time, Reyna slashed out with her sword and destroyed the back tire, causing the van to start swerving all over the road. Dick instantly backed off has he watched the van struggle to stay on the road. The man only got a couple of shots off that hit his shield, before the van was forced to stop.

Jake brought the motorcycle to a stop. Rana got off began slowly approaching the van. Dick pushed out the kickstand quickly, and ran fot cover to get a better idea of where the attack would come from. The man got out of the van and pointed his gun at Reyna. She hesitated at the sight of the gun pointed at her. Dick reacted instantly and swung out his grappling, which wrapped around the man's gun so he could pull it out of his hands. He then preceded to tackle him to the ground, knocking him out. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Reyna give him a small smile.

"Aren't you the handsome one." the same soft voice that he had heard earlier said. He turned to face her. The beauty of the woman had returned to her. She looked just as gorgeous as before. He could feel his body react to her. He remembered what Reyna had said about being able to fight it. He forced himself to look away from her and saw another gun pointed toward him and Reyna.

"Look out!" Reyna shouted.

He leaned back just in time to see a claw barely miss his face. He backed up a few steps as he watched Reyna impale her sword through a dracnea's body.

Dick shook his head to snap himself out of the trance he had been in. He looked around and saw that they were surrounded by women with tails that slithered around ground like snakes. The top part of their body was covered in green scales, long claws and a head full of snakes. Reyna expertly dodged and swung her sword. Dick did what he could to dodge the claws and hissing snakes as he managed to make his way to the one mortal, who seemed to be waiting for an opening. Dick didn't give him a chance when he hit him around the head. He watched as Reyna took out one after another.

A dracnea lunged at him, screaming, "You see too much." He thought he was dead for sure, until something barreled into it out of nowhere. It was a giant wolf, the biggest he had ever seen. Its head was level with his, and its teeth where as large as fingers. It tore into the dracnea with its teeth and claws until it disolved into dust. The wolf then turned its gaze toward him. He felt his heart stop as he readied himself for a fight.

Reyna calmly stepped up beside him and knelt on one knee with her head bowed, her neck completely exposed. The wolf growled at him. Reyna hit his leg with her hand and said under her breath, "Kneel."

Kneeling was the last thing he wanted to do, but he did as she asked and knelt. The wolf stopped growling and approach them as tame as a pet dog.. It placed a paw on Reyna's knee and licked her face.

She smiled and let out of chuckle. "Thank you. It's good to see you too." He realized she was talking to the wolf. The wolf then walked over to the van, hopped in, began lickng the little boy that lay asleep in the van.

"Mind telling me what's going on?" Dick asked in a low voice.

"It's one of Lupus' pack. She's come to take him to the wolf house."

"Wolf house?"

"Do your research." She snapped. "before you can enter Camp Jupiter you must be trained by Lupa and her pack at the wolf house."

"But the mother?"

"If we do our job right, she'll be one of the lucky ones to see her son again." Hewatched as the wolf cradled the boy in her giant mouth without piercing his skin. The wolf gave them one last regard and then ran into the night. "Hecouldn't return home. The wolf house is the safest place for him during these dark times. The pack will protect him."

"You want to tell the mother or shall I?" Dick wasn't just going to let it go.

Reyna turned to look at him. "How about we both go? I've got to pick up my car anyway."

He smiled back at her. "Together then." He got on the bike and put on his helmet. Just as she started to get on he asked, "So what happened to that empousa lady?"

"She disappeared."

"What do you mean disappeared? Can she do that?"

"Yeah, she can do that." Reyna said riley. "She ran when she saw a member of Lupa's pack." Reyna put her helmet on, ending the conversation.

Dick started his bike, revved it, and took off, feeling her arms wrap around him one more time.