A/N: I feel like last Friday was years ago . . . I have no idea why . . . but I got my marks, and I didn't fail anything! Which is very good, obviously! So here's the chapter – and I know you'll probably be irritated at the ending so please don't freak out . . . yet. Right. Anyways. Go ahead and read your chapter!

Cora: The Intelligence Report

I had to agree with Percy. I wasn't quite ready to trust our stepfamily either, but if it gave us a free ride and some help – I was ready to try anything. Besides, maybe they were trying to help. They had given Percy a hard time; maybe they were trying to make up for that by helping me. Whatever the reason, I welcomed any help.

We did go with my idea of the six hour shifts. I was glad it was approved. Especially by Annabeth, after all she was the daughter of Athena. Percy didn't even complain that much because he got plenty of sleep.

As we travelled it slowly got colder. Even though it was the middle of the summer we were still far up north. We passed only a few boats. If it was my shift I would get either Percy or Annabeth to take the tiller; that way it didn't look so weird.

The farther north we travelled, the edger I got. I felt as though something vital in me was weakening, was going dead. Percy had explained how this far up north was wild, beyond the control of the gods. Maybe that was it; all I knew was the further away from the gods we got, the more worried and edgy and tired I got. Something within me desperately needed the gods, both emotionally and physically.

It took a week of going at top speed to get past Baffin Island. We were now in water choked with half frozen ice and islands. We were almost to our destination. It was nice to know this would soon be over. Or, I thought this would soon be over. It certainly seemed that way.

The night before we arrived at Alert I stood shivering on the deck. It was the middle of the night, during the few hours of darkness, with a half moon hanging high in the sky. It was rather cold and I had nothing to warm myself with. Being north with a good deal of skin exposed and nothing to keep your face or neck warm wasn't a nice experience.

As I stood at the prow, I saw Up ahead a scaly fin broke through the surface. With a light tug in the pit of my gut I pushed a strong current towards it. A moment later it sunk back beneath the waves. This had happened only once before, a sea monster of some sort coming for us. The others didn't know it had happened, it had been on my shift so I never bothered to tell them.

After a couple more minutes of shivering I heard footsteps behind me. I didn't turn around because who could appear that wasn't a friend? Then again, it was the middle of the night in the middle of the ocean in the land beyond the gods . . . but still.

I felt a warm hand on my shoulder and I looked over. It was Hunter. What he was doing up, I didn't know. He offered me a thick blanket which I took gratefully and wrapped around my shoulders; pulling it tight around me.

"Thanks," I murmured with a smile. "But what are you doing up?"

He shrugged. "I couldn't sleep and figured you were lonely." I gave him another smile.

"I was," I admitted. "Thanks again for the blanket. I was pretty cold." I shivered again, still a little chilled, but getting slowly warmer.

"No problem. So, how much longer?" he asked.

"Shouldn't be more than a day if we keep up this speed," I told him. "Nautical sense is very helpful in this situation."

"Do you think you'll remember when we get there?" he looked concerned when he asked that. I stared straight ahead, a tear forming in my eye.

"I don't know. I hope so," I said quietly. "It's hard not knowing your own past."

"You're not even scared about knowing?"

"I might be . . ." I muttered not wanting to admit I was actually terrified. I could be an enemy for all I knew. I pushed those thoughts out of my mind. "Can I ask you something?" I said suddenly as the thought popped into my mind. Hunter shrugged a bit confused. "How did you follow us from New York?" Even in the night time moonlight I could see him grow pale then flush. Wow, never thought it would be that big of a deal.

Hunter mumbled something and looked away. I just stared at him. Eventually he turned back around realizing I hadn't heard him.

"I . . . I said I asked your dad," he mumbled. I stared at him in complete surprise.

"You did what?" I hissed.

"I - er - I prayed to your dad for help following you," he repeated. "He sent a horse-fish-thing." I glared at him then sat down with my back against the railing so I could wrap the blanket around my legs.

"Be glad it's too cold for me to bother slapping you," I told him. He sat down beside me.

"You are violent," he replied. I gave a small laugh.

"I am not, I'm just saying what you did was incredibly stupid to some extent. You were asking a god after all," I said.

"I had a good feeling about it."

For the rest of my shift (which was the rest of the night) we talked and my spirits were lifted for the first time since leaving camp; which was surprising because the whole time they've been as low and tortured as Tartarus . . . but it was still nice to relax, even for a little while.

When Percy came up for his shift, we were only about half an hour away from Alert and the sun was blinding on the ice and snow. I took the small opportunity to warm up even more and get a little bit of sleep. Thankfully I didn't get a dream.

I woke up a couple minutes before we landed. The others were already on top. After reliving myself I joined them. Alert looked like nothing more than a tall stone wall caked with snow and ice. Inside was probably a low building. A Canadian Navy ship and an icebreaker ship were moored on the other side of the point at the large dock.

After securing our boat to the ice – actually we made Percy do that - we climbed over the side. The first thing I noticed was how much colder it was here. Clearly the area surrounding our boat had been tampered with so we didn't freeze. I immediately started to shiver nonstop. A few minutes out there and I'd be nothing more than a Corasicle.

We slowly began trudging through the snowdrifts. The sun reflected off the snow brightly; making it hard to see. The snow was up to my knees. Even though I didn't get wet, I sure felt the freezing snow melt as it contacted my body. My shivering got worse, I was literally shaking in cold. My finger tips were turning blue. I stuck my hands in my armpits.

The others must have noticed, because we were barely halfway there when they surrounded me closely. They were all covered up more properly, and their extra warmth managed to warm me a little bit. Not too much, sadly, but I wasn't in immediate danger of frostbite. Aside from on my feet; they might still have frozen.

We marched onwards, the cold wind tossing up tiny ice shards, threatening to freeze our eyelids shut. In a minute we came to the gate of the stone wall. It was open, a giant metal gate, and it was wide open. Not the best plan for a military outlook. Stamping inside the compound, the wind died down and the ground was leveled. We didn't have to plow through snowdrifts anymore. But it made me notice all the more how frozen my toes were becoming.

Tramping across the small enclosure, we noticed another scroll attached to the door. What was it with all these scrolls? I almost preferred the creepy voice to them . . . oh no, I definitely preferred the scrolls to the voice. The voice was just plain scary (like, freak-you-out scary. Not scared-to-death scary). Despite my annoyance of the multiple scrolls, I shuffled up and pulled it down. Unrolling it, I scanned over the now-becoming-familiar lettering. I felt mild disgust rising inside me as I read it.

"To the young questing demigods, this leg of your journey is near a close. Inside this outpost you will find many different reports. You will know the ones that apply to you. They will guide you as you carry on. Amphitrite and Triton," I read out loud. It was followed by shocked silence. I was probably only a few seconds away from ripping it in two. We had completely been duped. We had been told to come up here by them, and now they tell us it was all about a stupid report? What had the purpose of this been? Entertainment or something? They couldn't even have watched us up here!

The only one who wasn't looking angry was Hunter, oops; I talked with the guy so easily I easy forgot he spoke French only. I quickly mumbled what the letter said in French to him. Then he looked shocked and also slightly angry.

"Why am I not surprised they decided to pull a stunt like this," muttered Percy. I barely cast a glance at him; surprisingly I agreed. But I didn't even know our stepfamily . . . right? I felt like I did; but with how things were going I might never have known.

"Excuse me as I go inside to fume. I really don't want to freeze," I said quietly. Yeah, they totally forgot I was in danger of freezing to death. I grabbed the icy door handle and pushed the door as it swung inward.

Large monitors covered the walls; complex keyboards were built into desks around the entire room. Multiple seats were facing various monitors, but all were empty, and the screens were all blank. There were several filing cabinets lined against the back wall. The entire building was made of stainless steel. A door was leading into a back room but by the looks of it, it was locked. The entire building was utterly deserted.

I walked into the building, relishing the warmth that seemed to slap my body. My flesh started to sting slightly, a clear sign I had been on the path to being frozen. The others followed me, shutting the door behind them. I turned to face them, and then I noticed my skin was a red-pinkish colour. Okay, I was seriously not going back out there.

We looked around the building. It was odd that the place was empty. You would think a military outpost would have been manned. We were supposed to find a report. A good place to start would be finding where they're stored. Probably in the filing cabinets.

Unfortunally, when I tried to open it, we discovered it was locked. And it had an alarm. As soon as I tried to pull it open a loud high pitched beeping noise rang through the empty building. I probably looked really stupid right then.

Looking around for the actual alarm to destroy it, I heard a faint hiss. The others didn't, but I did. That probably saved us. The door at the back wall suddenly burst open and a Dracaena burst into the room - I was right next to the door. Since I had heard something, my hand was already near my dagger. As soon as the Dracaena came through, I had it out and stabbed it in the side. It crumbled away into dust. A second one quickly followed; running straight into Annabeth's knife.

We all stood frozen for a couple of minutes. When nothing else came running out at us, I cautiously looked inside the room. I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw it was empty. No more monsters would charge us. Sadly I knew we had been completely set-up. Okay, if I ever met my stepfamily – I was going to mess up as much as Percy. I was hoping I wouldn't turn out like that.

"It's clear," I told them turning around. Percy went ahead and walked into the room. It was bare except for a single table on the far wall. There was fat file folder sitting on it. He picked it up and walked back out.

It was separated into two halves. The label on the folder was 'ALIEN SIGHTINGS AND ACTIVITIES'. Wow, mortals had some really weird ideas. Whoever heard of aliens? Well, they might have mistaken air spirits or something . . . but it was still really weird. One the one side a sticky note had been placed.

The note was written in Greek (I think . . .) and it was the same hand writing as all the other messages were. It read 'This should help you'. Percy pulled out the overview pages of the two reports. I glanced at both of them. My heart nearly stopped as I inhaled sharply; I couldn't help but gape in utter shock and annoyance at what they said.

A/N: Oh no! What does it say? I have no id – oh wait, yes I do have an idea of what it says. If you want a hint: look back at what's happened in the quest very carefully. And Hunter's explanation of how he followed gives you a very strong hint about Cora's past! Or, at least something about her. So let me know what you thought through either review or fav or alert! See ya next week!