Jason and Piper were sitting next to each other, talking in hushed tones, while Leo broke out with some cooking supplies. We sat there in silence, before he said,

"Hey, Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"Wanna play Truth or Truth?" he asked. I raised my eyebrow.

"Isn't it Truth or Dare?"

"Yeah, but I'm bored, but I can't be bothered to get up and do dares, so we're playing this now." I had to stifle a laugh.

"You're bored? What with the impending gloom and doom of the end of the world? How?"

Leo shrugged. "I'm a special boy. My turn first. How old are you, and when's your birthday?"

"What the heck?" I asked confused. He shrugged at me, with a simple eye roll, like 'answer the question already!'. I agreed,

"I'm fifteen. My birthday's 30th June." Leo slammed a fist on the iron skillet, making me jump. Jason and Piper gave us some weird looks. I did my best 'I-aM-cOnfUsEd' face. Leo broke out into a bout of rapid Spanish.

"Oh Vamos! Como puede ser siete dias mayor que yo? Esto es solo el colmo! (Oh come on! How can she be seven days older than me? This is just the height of it!)". I laughed, and then said,

"So I'm seven days older than you, huh?"

"CURSES!" Leo yelled, drawing yet more strange stared in out direction.

"What?" I gave him a quizzical look.

"You speak Spanish." He said sulkily. His hand set on fire, and the cooking pit shot up the ceiling, sparks flying. I looked up with an alarmed look on my face.

"Woah, watch it!" I said, voice high. Leo looked shocked, and then reduced the flames, drawing his hand out of the pit.

"Latino?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Hispanic," I confirmed. He frowned at me.

"But you were in California when I met you!"

I nodded. "I've never actually been to Spain. I'm actually Hispanic-Australian. I was born and grew up...well mostly...in Sydney. When I was six, we moved to California. My mom...she died two days before my birthday. I was on the run for three days, and well...you know the story from there." I nodded at him, and he stared back, gesturing for me to continue.

"My mom grew up in Spain," I carried on. "We always used to speak Spanish at home." We sat there in silence, and then I grinned.

"My turn-" My grin was cut short when Leo held up four plates of beef tacos. Or was that...tofu?

"Food's ready!" He smirked, waving the platters infront of my face.

"Well done, Sherlock," I grumbled. We got up, and started to walk over to the other two.

"And bingo!" Leo yelled over. Jason and Piper looked up and marveled. I couldn't blame them. The food looked really good.

"Leo," Piper said in amazement. "How did you-"

"Chef Leo's taco garage is fixing you up!" Leo said proudly. I snorted at the name. "And it's tofu, not beef, so don't freak, Beauty Queen. Just dig in!"

I wasn't too sure about the tofu, but the tacos tasted just as good as they smelled. While we ate, me and Leo tried too goof around lightening the heavy air around us. But something had passed between the two opposite us, that wasn't exactly...great news. Jason looked at me and Leo gratefully. I guess us being around made it a little less awkward with Piper. But I spent my life reading people, and was that...he wanted to be alone with Piper. At once I knew just how much this whole 'amnesia' thing was affecting him. He was split between this old life he couldn't remember, and a new life he wanted to live. I turned away, because both Piper and Leo noticed I was studying Jason with a worried look in my eyes. After we finished, Jason told Piper to get some sleep. Without saying anything, she curled up in his lap, and closed her eyes. In two seconds, she was snoring gently. Jason looked up at us, and then went red in the face, because we were trying(and failing) not to laugh.

We sat in silence, drinking lemonade Leo had made from canteen water and powdered mix.

"Good huh?" Leo grinned. I nodded, in the middle of a gulp. I swallowed, and then opened my mouth.

"You should start a stand, you know. Make some serious coin." Jason looked at the fire. He swallowed, and said,

"Leo, the fire stuff you can do, is it true?" The mood in the air instantly darkened. Leo's smile faltered.

"Yeah...well..." He opened his clenched hand, and rolls of fire danced along his palm.

"That's so cool," Jason commented. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Leo closed his hand and the fire went out. "Didn't want to look like a freak." I put a hand on his shoulder. He didn't look up, or even make a sign to acknowledge I was there.

"I have lightning and wind powers," Jason reminded him. "Piper can talk people into doing everything, and Alex can shoot with deadly accuracy, heal people and...sorry I don't know what else you can do." I grinned at him.

"Oh wouldn't you like to know?" Jason gulped and shook his head with energy.

"See, Leo. You're no more a freak than the rest of us." Jason said. "And hey, maybe you can fly too! Like, you could jump off a building, and yell 'FLAME ON!'." Leo snorted.

"All you would see is a flaming boy falling to his death. And trust me, I would be yelling something a little stronger than FLAME ON!" I grinned maliciously.

"Maybe we could get a few cuss words in there..." Leo shook his head.

"Trust me, the Hephaestus cabin doesn't see fire powers as cool. Nyssa told me they're super rare. When a demigod like that comes around, bad things happen. Really bad."

"Well, maybe it's the other way round," Jason suggested. I nodded in agreement, and continued,

"Yeah. What if people like you turn up when something bad would happen, like when thy're needed most?"

Leo cleared away the plates. "Yeah, well...maybe. But I'm telling you, It's not always a gift." I knew he was talking about his mom. My heartstrings tugged. It was there, the dangers of fire, but I tried to push it down. We had to live life in the present. It did no good to dwell in the past. But now it was surfacing. Now I couldn't get it down My mom had died in a fire.


I was asleep. I could hear Leo and Jason talking in hushed whispers, but even they were fading away. Sleep had claimed me, drawing me into the world of dreams.

A boy with sea green eyes. My heart thudded to a stop. Percy. He was standing next to a girl with Amber eyes, and chocolate skin. He hair was frizzy, and she looked about thirteen. The girl led Percy to a black crypt built into the side of the hill. A teenage boy in black jeans and an aviator jacket was...Nico di Angelo. My heart tightened. That sneaky, two faced little traitor!

"Hey!" the girl called. "I've brought a friend." The boy turned. Percy did a slight stumble back, as if he had forgot about him, but was getting it back. A gamble...an exchange...I knew what this meant, but I didn't want to accept it.

Nico didn't look well. Part of me wanted to hang him, quarter him and burn out his organs, but the doctor side of me wanted to go up to him, and see what was wrong. Nico was the son of Hades, and he was playing the part. He wore a silver skull ring, with a chain as a belt, and a black t-shirt with skull designs. At his side hung his Stygian Iron sword. After he saw Percy, he seemed shocked, for a microsecond, it seemed like he would run away.

"This is Percy Jackson," the girl said. "He's a good guy. Percy, this is my brother. He's the son of Pluto." Pluto...as the Roman version of Hades. Brother...that means this girl was a daughter of Hades too. But...Pluto. Nico regained his composure, and held out his hand.

"Pleased to meet you," he said. I wanted to walk right up to him, and rip out his lungs, but as in demigod dreams, I was stuck in a pool of glue. "I'm Nico di Angelo."

The dream zoomed back out, and I was left in a void of black. Hera...exchange. Anger boiled up in me. She wiped Jason and Percy's memories, and sent them to each other's camps. To get us to trust one another. All this time, I'd thought Jason was a lone wolf (NB:Pun intended) , but it turns out there were other's like him. A whole camp like him. A roman camp. We got Jason, and Percy was at the other Camp. Nico di Angelo was a spy.


Okay, sorry I haven't uploaded in a long time, I have just been really busy, I haven't forgotten! Also, thankyou ever so much for so many likes and followers. It means a lot.

ShadowHeart175-Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I know it's was a little fast paced, but I'm trying to work on it, by using the book. Glad to hear you think you like it!

Yours,

MilkandCheez