The closer we got to home, the more I began to notice missing porters with my face plastered on the walls and poles all over. It was like seeing yourself on the back of a milk carton. I didn't consider myself missing, I knew exactly where I was. I wasn't missing, I was gone. But now I was back, or at least I almost was; most of me.

Not for long.

"What's the date?" I asked, peeling one of the posters off of a nearby fence.

The hunter I was talking to pulled out a cell phone and told me it was, "March twenty-second. Over nine months since you and Valdez popped down the pit."

We'd been gone for the better part of a year. I tried not to imagine all the holidays we'd missed, all the birthdays and all the summer barbeques. How long has everybody thought I was dead? I tried not to think about it.

Too long.

It wasn't much longer until we were on my block. My neighborhood looked exactly the same. The McPloy family still had Easter decorations up from nearly eight years ago. Ms. Markson's dog was pooping in Mr. Kelly's yard while he yelled and waved his newspaper at her. A few stubborn leaves dangled from the tree in our front yard. The fort Casey and I made when we were young looked like it hadn't been touched. Adora's plastic tea-set was still on the small table in the corner of the fort.

There was still a hole in the side yard where Mrs. O'Leary had tried to dig a tunnel to Camp (under Casey's instruction) last summer.

There was a splash of pink on the upstairs window in virtue of the paint-ball fight we'd all had on Max's birthday just before school ended last year.

There were twinkle lights shining from the window of Casey's room, surrounding her bookshelves. She made me help her set them after Christmas one year, and had her friend in the Hecate cabin enchant them to never run out of batteries.

There was a dent in the mailbox as a consequence of when I tried teaching Adora how to play baseball.

The sidewalk was cracked from the house all the way to the driveway from when I discovered I had the ability to cause earthquakes.

Holes spotted the archway above the door as a result of the one year Dad and I tried to decorate for Christmas while Mom was out of town.

This was my home. It hadn't changed. I had.

I knew my posters of Broadway shows still hung from the walls in my room and my laundry hamper was probably still full and stuffed in the closet where Mom couldn't see. My summer assignment probably sat untouched on my desk.

I didn't notice that I had stopped walking until Luke ran into me. We were across the street now, so close to home. Something was off. I reached out with my powers, allowing them to sense the heartbeat of every creature in the area.

That was all I would allow myself to use of those powers. But when I reached out and tried to find a heartbeat, I found none. The house was empty. My house was empty. It barely felt like my home anymore; I'd been gone for too long.

"It's a Friday and like six o'clock. Why is nobody home?" I asked aloud, although I doubted anybody knew the answer.

"I don't know but we should probably check it out," Luke advised.

I nodded in agreement and stepped into the street. I must have looked like a lost puppy because Charlie grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. The front door was unlocked. It was never supposed to be left unlocked. I pushed the door open.

There was a small pile of that morning's mail. A letter addressed to me from the library, telling me the fee of my overdue books I'd checked out ten months ago.

"That's the biggest library fee I've ever seen," Charlie said, laughing a little to ease the tension.

I rolled my eyes and walked further into the house. I couldn't help but stare. Everything from the pictures on the wall to the snag on the rug under the stairs nearly brought me to my knees. The feeling of coming home after so long; how to explain it? I don't think I could.

"Take a look at this. I think they went out to find the fight for the worthy," Thalia called. "Damn, that can't be good."

When I threw her a confused look, she explained, "There's a god, probably in ranks with Ares or something, sent a challenge to Camp Jupiter and Camp Half Blood. He said that he was capable of anything, and could bring back whatever past you'd left behind, whatever you'd lost. All we had to do was challenge him and win. He said there are very few worthy of his power."

I ran towards her and snatched the paper from her hands. It was a wrinkled piece of notebook paper with bullet points:

Sunken Meadow Park

Noon

A deal for the "worthy"

Most dangerous fight

A chance to have anything (anyone… what happened to J+C. Can bring back?)

Why am I taking notes

This is stupid

I want lunch

It was in Casey's smudged handwriting. There was no date, so no way to tell if the note had been made today. But if they weren't at Sunken Meadow, then where were they? Only one way to find out.

"Let's go to Sunken Meadow Park," I decided.

"What about the fight? If your calculations were right, if should have started by now," Luke pointed out. He was right. Everybody looked to me for instruction, though I wasn't sure why. I took a deep breath and made a plan.

You can't be two places at once.

"You're right. We need to protect Camp. Hunters, take Grover and Luke with you to Camp. Bob and Damsen should be there soon if not already. It says here they're going to find some big fight for the worthy, and something about JC? Who's JC?"
Charlie nudged me. "We're JC," he said. "It says get anything or anyone back. What do you think they wanted back?"
I folded the note and put it in my pocket. "Charlie and I will go to find my family. If you see Chiron, tell him what we're doing. I'm sure he'd want to know," I ordered, glancing at Charlie.

Luke was shaking his head. "I don't like the idea of you two alone. Last time, no, every time that happens, you nearly die."

"Or actually die…" Charlie muttered with a sly eye towards me.

"Let it go; I told you I wouldn't do it again." I glared at him. "Besides, it's the only way. Camp needs fighters, and I need to find my family. We'll join you soon enough. Don't worry, we'll be fine," I promised. "If we want to win this war, we need my parents and Casey. We'll be fine."

"You don't know that."

"I don't. But I've got Charlie with me, and if I'm right then I'll also have Percy and Annabeth Jackson. My sister is a good fighter too. We'll be ok," I said.

Luke still looked like he hated the idea but he nodded. "Fine. Don't get yourselves killed." He pulled us in for a quick hug before making the I'm watching you gesture with his fingers and ushering his group out the door.

"Don't die. Seriously, don't die," he said threateningly.

I got a quick goodbye from Grover and Thalia but we all felt the urgency of the situation.

You'll never see them again.

The house was too quiet once they were gone. "Ready?" Charlie broke the silence. It was nice to be alone with him again.

I shook my head. "Not at all. But when have we really been ready for anything that's happened to us?" I joked.

Charlie scoffed and pulled me out the door.