AN 6/28/15: Hey so I hope you guys had an awesome week. Sorry I haven't had time to post this sooner, I didn't get back until like 1am last night. Anyway, enjoy!

Later on Percy came in and told me about his prophecy, all of it. He talked about their plan for the quest and its reasoning. I was not happy they blamed my father for the theft, but of course people would always assume him in any bad situation. The idea of a spy in camp though was one to think on. Percy told me about how Annabeth had been there, waiting to volunteer. I cursed myself in my head for my stupidity. She would have been there the whole time, that sound had been her, and she had heard my outburst. I had to be more careful, she was a daughter of Athena, I didn't want her to have any chance to piece together any information. As it was she probably already had ideas.

Percy then placed a small drawstring bag on my bedside table, saying it was from Chiron. Rain had started pouring down from the sky, lightning flashing. Percy then left to go pack, hugging me goodbye and wishing me well. I didn't want to let him go, I wanted to keep him by me forever, safe. He was like my little brother, he just had to stay safe.

I opened the bag after he left to see that it was my bracelet and necklace. I didn't see the point in having them anymore though. They were dead giveaways to the past. I would never be able to use them, if I did I would just become the target of so many gods. I put them back on anyways despite that, a plan forming.

Between check-ins from the Apollo kids I managed to sneak out back to my spot in the Hermes cabin and I got a hold of my backpack and gear. I packed my bag, taking only what I would need and hid the rest under my bedside table, stashing the bag under my cot. I managed to sneak some nectar, ambrosia, and medical supplies from the infirmary's stocks too, not enough to be noticeable though. I waited until it was starting to get dark to make my move. I was confident enough to know I would be able to manage well enough, even after the hellhound attack and that Ares kid, to not be a liability to the quest group. I grabbed the sword I used for capture the flag and its sheathe, leaving a note for Chiron. I just couldn't stay here and do nothing while they were out there risking their lives, inexperienced. I also made sure to stash my steel knife away with me, you never know when it might come in handy.

I focused in my energy, trying to figure out where the quest would be. I took a few steps toward the wall and sucked myself into the shadows. I felt like I was racing at a million miles per hour in the Alps, it was that cold, the world completely dark. I heard the usual strange sounds that accompanied shadow travel as I forged onward, knowing they came from the creatures that always lurked in the shadows themselves. I was trying to focus in on someplace in New Jersey, just an instinct. I tried to trace the path they may have taken, attempting to zero in on Percy.

I could feel my energy rapidly draining. Just a little bit more, I had to get this right. There! I felt a familiar presence and honed in on it. It had been a while since I shadow traveled like this, to focus in on a person and general location instead of a specific place. I stumbled out of the shadows and fell a few feet down to the ground. I lay there for a moment, catching my breath and moaned slightly from the fall disturbing my cuts, the world spinning. After a few minutes I managed to stand up and realized I was in some sort of forest. The air still had that slight city like hint to it, so I wasn't too far away from civilization.

"Well, time to get moving I guess." I muttered to myself, setting off in my best guess in direction.

It felt like I had been traveling for hours when in reality it couldn't have been more than half-an-hour. I was just so drained from that jump. Avoiding trees and bushes was fairly easy, luckily. I had never had much trouble seeing in the dark. Soon I heard voices and I hurried to where the noise was coming from, hoping it to be the quest group but readied my sword just in case, ready to grab my knife if it was a dangerous group of mortals. I came closer to a marshy clearing and the voices grew in volume. I found myself stepping around different types of party food and cans, probably from some local high school kids partying judging from the type of litter.

I smiled in relief when I saw three familiar faces in the low light. There were Percy and Grover talking with Annabeth already asleep a little ways off. Percy and Grover looked to be pretty in depth into their conversation so I lingered. I felt bad eavesdropping but I wanted to know what they were talking about so I didn't interrupt something important. They were talking about Grover's dream to find the lost god Pan. I remembered the older satyrs talking about him my first time at camp.

Then they started talking about the quest. Medusa? Dang, they don't waste any time, that's for sure. Grover asked Percy to ease off Annabeth a bit too, how she had a rough life before camp. Then he mentioned something about her forgiving him. For what? He went into talking about his last job as keeper briefly. I found myself wondering what could he mean by that. How he had talked about it made it seem like he was Annabeth's keeper. Percy even picked up on it. They were now talking about Alecto though and how they had fought her and the two other Furies on their bus ride over. Holy crud, all three of them, and Medusa already? This quest is already more dangerous that I thought.

Grover insisted on taking first watch, putting Percy to sleep with some music from his reed pipes and I found myself fighting to stay awake. I decided to come out of the trees and reveal myself now that Percy was asleep. Hopefully I wouldn't be questioned too much with just Grover awake, I didn't want them getting all worked up about me being here this soon if I could prevent it.

"Hey, Grover." I called out, stepping out of the dark tree line. Grover's head snapped in my direction and his mouth dropped.

"Allison! What are you doing here? Chiron said you were supposed to stay in the infirmary. How did you even get here, or let alone know where we were?" He jumped down from his branch and came over to me, checking me over for any additional damage I may have gotten in transit.

"Yeah.. about that. I just couldn't let you guys go at it alone. Plus, I need to help Percy. He is like my brother. Aside from him and Sally, I don't really have anyone else. With Sally gone.. well, I can't lose Percy too. I can't imagine it if he were gone as well, let alone a war between the gods. I can deal with Chiron when we get back."

"But, you're as new to this as Percy is. Then sneaking out with those cuts still not healed yet from the game!" He bleated nervously as he scolded me. He was freaking out, and I could see why. Here comes along another "new" demigod to take care of and keep safe on top of this death mission he was already on.

"Look, Grover. Just trust me, please. As to how I got here, let's just say I hitched a ride." I said, I obviously couldn't tell him about shadow travel. "I just know that I needed to be here, I can't let you all get yourselves killed."

"Um.. Allison, no offence, but you are a newbie too. Even though you seem to be a decent fighter, and I don't know what all that at the Big House was earlier, but you would be more of a liability." He said nervously.

I looked at him, if only he knew... "Look, Grover. You have to trust me on this. I know how to help. Look, I'm really tired, can we please just talk about this in the morning? I'm like dead on my feet here."

"Oh, uh, yeah. Of course. Here, let me grab you a blanket." He trotted off to where some blankets were piled up, I assumed for him. He picked one up and came back over to me, handing it over.

"Thanks, man. I'll talk to you in the morning." I slung off my backpack and unlatched my sword from its belt, placing them on the ground by Percy. I tried to fluff up my backpack a little to make it a better pillow and laid down. I caught Grover murmuring to himself, shaking his head slightly. I pulled the blanket up over me and fell asleep almost instantly, sword hidden next to me under the fabric.

In my dream I was at the edge of a vast pit in a dark cavern. The Underworld. Grey mist appeared, floating around the pit, spirits of the dead. They were tugging at my clothes, trying to pull me away from the pit. Tartarus, I gasped. Then that chilling, ancient voice filled my head again, the same one from my previous dreams.

"The little heroine." It said in an amused voice from deep down in the pit. "Very weak, very young, but you will be of use." That heavy voice wrapped around me, weighing me down.

"They have mislead you, girl. Barter with me. I will give you what you want if you work with me." An image appeared, hovering over the void. They were faces that I knew very, very well. The first one, all the way to the left was Sally. She was frozen at the last moment I saw her, still being choked to death. To the far right was my mother. Actually seeing her made my heart break. I couldn't imagine all of the terrible things she had gone through after hearing about my fate. My eyes stung. Her hair was fanned out around her and she was wearing one of her favorite house dresses, but her face was twisted, pained. It hurt me to see her like that, what I did to her all those years ago by leaving her alone..

In the center is what really made me cry, it was Nick. He looked worse than he did than in my last moments. He looked gaunt and had a haunted look in his eyes, but it felt like this was new. Like he had only recently started looking like this, or it was a representation from my worst fears for him. He was looking directly at me, into my eyes, the lightning in his eyes that I had always claimed he had was gone.

"Nick," I choked out.

"Ahh, yes. The child of Zeus. An odd friendship you had there, A child of the hated brother of the Big Three, being friends with a child of the King of Olympus." The voice spat out with hate.

"The gods have never done anything to aid you. You were born to them into a world of hate and pain. You died at such a young age, yes? Don't you feel resentful of the gods? Making you live that life? Help me rise." The voice became hungrier. "Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against those treacherous gods!"

The spirits of the dead around me were pulling at me harder, trying to get me away from the pit, urging me to wake up. The images of my family faded and the hold that the voice had on my conscious tightened. It was trying to pull itself out of Tartarus while simultaneously pulling me in.

Who are you? I managed to ask, but there was just a haunting laugh in response. The pull magnified and I felt myself slipping. I frantically tried to reach out and grab a hold of something but I was pulled over the edge. I screamed as I started falling, the darkness of the pit pulsing around me and growing stronger, making me see things I had hoped to never see again. It was almost like the nothingness that encompassed me after I had died, but more malevolent. Images of the missions I had been on flashed before me, the battles and the things I had seen and done.

I was being shaken and my eyes snapped open. I reached for my sword, sliding it partly out of its sheathe, jerking upright to be prepared for an attack. My stomach hurt and my eyes stung.

"Whoa there, calm down. It's just me." Annabeth said, putting a hand on my shoulder to stead my. I looked around to see Percy awake a little ways off, packing up his bag. He hadn't notice me wake up. I lowered my sword, letting out a deep breath.

"Are you okay? You were crying and shaking in your sleep, you looked like you were having a pretty bad nightmare.." Her voice was lowered, concern in her eyes, but they also held a slight glimmer of the chance for more knowledge. I knew she wanted to ask more but was stopping herself.

"It was nothing.. just bad memories, that's all." I said, barely audibly, my voice hoarse and I wiped my eyes slightly. "Did Percy notice?"

She looked back to Percy. "He noticed that you were here, but he wanted to let you sleep. You looked exhausted. Then I heard you starting to say some stuff and you were shaking, but no, he didn't notice. Just me." She reassured. "Here, let me check your cuts, they got a bit aggravated while you were sleeping by the looks of it." I sat up and let Annabeth check me over. She redid some of the bandages as I dipped into some of my ambrosia stocks. I was glad she wasn't asking me a million questions about why I was here, she probably figured out why based off of my little outburst at the Big House.

"Thanks, Annabeth, you didn't have to."

"Nonsense, you're a good person. I can't just let you bleed either, even if you're not supposed to be here." I hid a wince. "Here, have some breakfast." She passed me a bag of nacho-flavored corn chips from Medusa's place. "Hey, where did you get that from?" She asked suddenly, pointing to the scar Chester had left on my arm so long ago.

"That? Oh, I don't remember. I was really young when I got it." I lied, awkwardly starting on my chips. She sat there for a moment, thinking as she packed up the healing supplies I had gathered. "And Allison? Um, if you ever need to talk or something, I'm here. We are the only two girls on the quest now too, we need to stick together." She added, a bit of a concerned look on her face, but I could tell she was being genuine, not just seeking knowledge. I nodded, offering her a small smile. Then we suddenly heard some twigs snapping, someone was approaching the clearing. I slowly reached for my sword but stopped when Grover came out of the underbrush. He wasn't alone though, he was carrying a small., dirty, pink ball of fluff.

"Hey, guys! Look who I found! He's our ticket west, so be nice." Percy looked up from his bag and his eyes bugged out when he saw Grover. The poodle yipped and Grover replied.

"Are you.. talking to that thing?" The poodle growled.

"Percy, satyrs can talk to animals." I informed him. He looked back to see me awake and rushed over.

"Allison, you're awake! What are you doing here? I woke up to find you here with us, are you crazy? You should be back at camp, you need to-" He started rambling after giving me a hug.

"Percy, I'm all right. See?" I held out my hands and feet to show him that they were all there. "Look, I just know I needed to be here with you guys. I might be crazy, but let's face it, we all are. I mean, you guys going on this suicide quest?"

"The one you snuck out to join." Annabeth pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah, well same difference." Annabeth just rolled her eyes at my childish comment.

"I wake up this morning to see you next to me looking half dead, Allison. You need to be back at camp." Percy insisted.

"Look, Percy. I'm here now, aren't I? You can't just get rid of me that easily and I doubt you would want to leave me somewhere. I am going on this quest with you three. You only have Annabeth's knife between the three of you for a weapon anyway. You need help."

"Actually," Percy said, reaching into his pocket and producing a pen. He held it out and uncapped it. It grew into a familiar three-foot-long bronze sword. "Mr. Br-Chiron gave this to me before we left. He said it was a gift from my dad."

I reached out and took the sword, examining it. I hadn't had the chance to the day of the museum trip. Written in Ancient Greek were the words Anaklusmos, Riptide. The name suited the weapon and its owner. It was nicely balanced too.

"We also have Annabeth's invisibility cap, and the pair of flying shoes Luke gave me before we left." Percy informed.

"You do know you can't go into the sky, right?" I wanted to make sure he didn't do anything to get himself killed, especially by going into Zeus's domain.

"Yeah, I gave the shoes to Grover to use. He's the Red Baron. You should have seen him flying around earlier, he was great."

"Okay, just making sure."

"Guys, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, guys." Grover introduced after a few awkward moments of looking at our new buddy. We then turned our gaze onto him. Was he expecting us to say hello to it? Well, it could understand us..

"Hello Gladiola." I greeted. Gladiola wagged his tail a bit, then Annabeth said hello also.

"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," Percy protested. "Forget it."

"Percy," Annabeth chastised. "We said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle." Gladiola growled. Percy said hello to the poodle. Grover then went into explaining how he had come across Gladiola and the reward.

"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Percy asked.

"He read the signs," Grover said as if the answer was obvious. "Duh."

"Oh, of course. Silly me." Percy said and I smiled.

"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best 'daughter of Athena' voice. "We get the money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."

"Not another bus," Percy said warily.

"No," she agreed. She then pointed downhill, toward some train tracks I had stumbled across last night.

"There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way, and according to Gladiola, the west bound train leaves at noon."

Feel free to leave a comment to tell me what you think of the story so far or even just this chapter :)