(When the food coma made you lose track of the date. My bad.)

Harry stared up at ceiling of the car, his hands tucked behind his head. The odd group of five had boarded a train after losing their skeletal followers and ridden its route until the end. He hadn't paid much attention to what happened next, he only remembered Thalia dragging him onto another train and laying him on a bed.

His clash with the Nemean Lion had taken a larger toll on him then he thought. Both physically and mentally. Added that to the dream which had woken him up moments ago and Harry was not a happy camper.

In the dream, Cedric was sleeping. Not much could be gathered from his location, but it was clear he was not in good shape. His uniform was dirty and there was a large gash across his vest. His lower lip had a small cut and the area surrounding his right eyes was purple, as if he had been punched in the face. His right hand clutched his wand tightly and he muttered something in his sleep.

Off to his right, Harry could see a masked man walking up to Cedric. It was all Harry could do to restrain himself from calling out. The hooded man grabbed Cedric by his collar, jolting him awake.

"Get up!" The man slapped Cedric.

Cedric's eyes nearly popped out of his head. By the look on his face, Harry could tell that Cedric knew the man. Clearly the man was not a friend, as Cedric's face turned very pale.

"Why are you here?" Cedric croaked.

The man chuckled, "Just the boy I was looking for. His lordship will be pleased."

"Wait," Cedric pushed the man back, "Where are we going?"

"Petrificus Totalus!" The man pointed his wand at Cedric.

Cedric's body went limp and the man threw him over his shoulder, stalking off into the darkness.

The scene shifted and Harry was now looking at Bellatrix and the hooded man from before.

"My lord," Bellatrix placed her hands on the shoulders of the man, "He draws nearer."

"Yes, I can feel it. Is there a problem?"

"Not at all, my lord," Bellatrix smirked, "There is the matter of what to do with the girl once he arrives."

"Dispose of her," The hooded man waved his hand, "She was only to be used as bait."

Bellatrix bit her lip and the hooded man turned around, "Something troubles you. Speak."

Bellatrix looked down, "It's just that...I haven't had the chance to test out any spells and~"

"Go ahead," The man interrupted her, "But she must remain alive."

Bellatrix smiled like a child, "Thank you my lord!"

He nodded and returned to the book he had been reading. The writing was in some foreign language, as Harry could not understand it.

"Let's see how he fairs against this." The hooded man let out a snake-like laugh and that was when Harry woke up.

He ran his hand through his hair and searched for his glasses. Thalia had taken the time to remove them, so he assumed they must be on the bedside table. They were not.

Sighing, he got out of bed and walked out of the door of his sleeper car. Annabeth was sitting in the regular car, staring out of the window.

"Good afternoon." She smiled at him.

He stopped, "Annabeth? What are you doing here?"

"I may have followed you guys across the country." She twiddled her thumbs.

Harry blinked twice before shaking his head. He was in no position to judge. After all, he had done much crazier things. He thought about asking her how she had managed to follow them, but after a moment of going over it, he decided against it. Somethings were better unsaid.

"Well, have you seen Thalia? I think she may have taken my glasses."

Annabeth chuckled, "You look cute without them."

For some reason, her compliment stirred up butterflies inside his stomach.

He looked to the side, "Thank you."

"Not a problem," She stood up, "I'll head to Thalia's car and ask for them."

"That would help." Harry smiled.

Annabeth disappeared into the next car and Harry stared out of the window. A ray of sunlight engulfed his skin and he felt...empowered. Something told him to touch the seat where the light was shining on. He tapped it with his finger and his skin seemed to absorb the light.

He stepped back, in awe of the occurrence. It had to be his eyes playing tricks on him. He tried it once more and his fingers had the same effect.

"What in the~?" He cut himself short, remembering the god that had merged with him hours ago.

But his powers to transfer to Harry so quickly, that must have meant something. Harry unstrapped his shotgun from his leg and held it up to the sunlight. It turned from matte black to crimson red, but when removed from the light, it went back to black.

He held the shotgun up the way his cursed Uncle had when meeting Hagrid and pulled the trigger. Nothing.

"Of course not," Harry shook his head, "I didn't bring any bullets."

Putting the shotgun back in its holster, Harry sighed, "This thing's useless."

"Here Harry," Annabeth said, holding out his glasses as she came out from another car, "Thalia did have them."

"Thank you," Harry put his glasses on and pushed them back, "Are we getting off anytime soon?"

"Actually~"

The train skidded to a stop and a jubilant voice announced over the intercom, "Hello passengers! We have arrived at our final stop! If you enjoyed the ride, pleas be sure to leave us a 5 star review on our website."

"Time to go." Harry nodded.

"Where the heck are we?" Percy groaned.

"Some town in New Mexico," Thalia answered him, "Didn't we tell you that?"

"Yeah but we've been walking forever. You'd think we entered another state by now."

Zoë sneered, "And here, the male tires. You don't hear the girls complaining, do you?"

"Hey, I'm not complaining." Harry spoke up.

"You stay out of this, wizard." Zoë told him.

Harry shut his mouth quickly and kept walking. The sunlight didn't bother him. He just hoped the others didn't notice that everywhere he stepped, a patch of sunlight faded. A bull-like cry interrupted his thoughts and they all looked around.

"Uh, anyone else hear that?" Bianca craned her head, nervously, from side to side.

"Trust me," Thalia nodded, "You'd have to be deaf to not hear that."

"Even then." Annabeth added.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we've got trouble." Harry pointed at a skeletal warrior walking towards them.

The others came out of nowhere, surrounding the group within seconds. They appeared to have handguns and one aimed for Percy.

"Look out!" Harry warned him.

Percy was able to react in time, deflecting the bullet with his pen-turned-sword. He slashed at the same skeletal warrior and it crumbled into dust, only to come back and reassemble itself.

"Crap." Harry heard Percy mutter.

Bianca pushed past him and stabbed the skeletal warrior with her knife, causing it to burst into flames.

"Any ideas?" Thalia pushed a skeletal warrior back with her spear.

Harry's eyes darted between each warrior. There were too many of them to immobilize. His hand crept towards his shotgun. It was useless without bullets, yet something told he should try it. Another skeletal warrior aimed its gun at Percy and pulled the trigger.

The lion pelt, or rather, the coat Percy was wearing deflected the bullet and bounced off harmlessly.

"Whoa," Percy looked down at his jacket, "Thanks!"

"Not the time!" Annabeth pulled him down as another bullet whizzed past.

Zoë shot one of the warriors, but to no avail. It simply reformed after crumbling to dust.

'I've got to go for it!' Harry took out the shotgun, pointed it at one of the skeletons and pulled the trigger.

A blast of bright red energy hit the warrior in its chest and it melted into a puddle of goo. The recoil sent Harry to the ground, but not before firing at another warrior.

"Whoa!" Thalia exclaimed, "How'd you do that?"

"I don't know." Harry admitted, getting up.

"Whatever you did, do it again!" Annabeth yelled at him.

A light bulb went off in Harry's head and he removed his pistol from its holster, tossing it to Annabeth, "Use this!"

"Are you sure it will work?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not sure," Harry shot another warrior point blank, "But if you stand there you'll die!"

"Good point." Annabeth aimed the pistol at a warrior and the same red energy was released, but in a smaller form.

The crimson light left holes in the skeleton's chest. While Annabeth distracted it, Bianca stabbed it with a knife.

There were five more left. Harry was starting to feel faint, but he wasn't sure why. All he knew was that if they kept going, it wouldn't end well. The ground shook before his feet, causing him to look around wildly. Even the skeletal warriors were uneasy, as they too searched for the source of the trembling. That's when it emerged. A ten-meter-tall bull with horns the size of a school bus.

"Holy Hera..." Percy stared up at the bull, "Any ideas? Zoë? You're the huntress."

Zoë shook her head, "Some things even I can not handle."

"We are so dead." Bianca murmured.

"Wait guys," Thalia walked towards the bull, "I think this thing is trying to help us."

"How would you know?" Percy questioned.

The bull lowered its head to Thalia and Thalia looked back at Percy, "That's how. Climb aboard kids!"

"She's not serious." Harry's mouth dropped open.

Annabeth was already jogging over. She grabbed a patch of its leg and made her way up onto its back.

Percy patted Harry on the back, "Don't want to get left behind."

A bullet bounced of his jacket and they turned around. Of course the skeletons weren't going to let them get away that easily. The bull snorted and once Bianca was on its back and secure, it brought its right leg back and kicked the skeleton into another dimension.

"That's one way to do it." Harry laughed as Annabeth helped him up, "This bull is amazing!"

"You're telling me!" Percy climbed onto its back and the bull started walking, "Thalia, where's this thing taking us?"

"I have no idea, but its helped us so far. Let's ride it and see how it goes." Thalia spread out on the back of the Bull.

Harry couldn't argue with that logic and promptly fell on his back, closing his eyes to rest. The click of metal stopped him from doing so and he sat up, remembering his other weapon.

"Annabeth, could I have my pistol back?" He asked, hold his hand out.

"Yeah, sure," Annabeth gave it to him, "The pistol and the shotgun, are those the weapons you couldn't tell me about?"

Harry looked down, "Yes..."

"There's nothing wrong with them! I mean, sure they're an odd choice, but I wouldn't have judged you." Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows while speaking.

"I know but...never mind. I was being dumb, can you forgive me?" Harry asked her.

"It's fine. Just trust me a little more, alright?" She softened her expression, lightly punching him in the shoulder.

Harry had lost his voice yet again. It always happened with Annabeth. It only happened with Annabeth.

"Alright." He nodded.

Annabeth turned back to Thalia, messing with her hair. Harry laid down on his side, holding his glasses in his left hand. He felt the fatigue, nervousness and anxiety seep out of him as he fell asleep.

It was bright. Too bright to see. Harry held up his hands but they did nothing to help. He walked backwards, hoping to exit the room of absurd light and he did. But now everywhere was dark and cold.

"For Hades' sake," Harry muttered, "Can't I get a break?"

"Everyone would like a break, wouldn't they?" It was the goddess of Chaos's voice.

"It's you again. Do you insist on annoying me?" Harry sighed.

"I have a question for you," The goddess disregarded his statement, "Darkness or light?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Which do you prefer? Darkness or light?"

"Why can't I have both?" Harry crossed his invisible arms.

"There is no such thing as a person who is both pure and evil. You are either one or the other."

"That's what you think. I don't consider myself evil, but I'm not exactly a saint. Whatever you believe belongs to you. I know what I am." Harry said defiantly.

"Your soul...what did you to it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I know I'm not going to let you continue messing with me," Harry closed his eyes and willed away the darkness.

"I t can't be...you're a~" The goddess disappeared, as well as the mixed scenery.

Now Harry was standing in front of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour with Hermione and Ron. Someone was pushing him forward, but he couldn't turn around to see who it was. Finally, the person came out from behind him and smiled.

It was Zoë.