...heeeyyyy. It's me. Daughter of the Earthshaker.

...I've been gone a (long) while, I know. And I'm not updating what I said I would. That's because I'm still studying away from home, and forgot to retrieve what I needed in order to write when I went back in December.

Will I ever update my other stories? Yes. It's only a matter of when. I really want to do finish my Jason series, and then rewrite the Heroes of Olympus, but with Annabeth and Reyna switched instead.

I have no idea when all of this will be completed, but I hope there might be a few people still who have an interest in this story.

This chapter lacks a lot of action, but it's to foreshadow where they're heading and stuff.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I ever owned HoO or PJO, it would still be in the process of being published since I attract writer's block all the time. So it's a good thing Rick Riordan owns them.

5. I Feel a Connection to a Daycare

It seemed that no one really cared why three kids looked like they were running away at nine fifteen in the morning.

People just zipped past us, talking into their phones and earpieces, murmuring about a runaway.

"Man, it's been a while since we've left Camp Jupiter!" Bobby exclaimed, grinning as he threw his hands in the air. "The air smells different here. I mean, it still smells kinda smoky, but that's because of the pollution, not the smell of burning skin from a fire arrow."

I chuckled slightly at Bobby's observation. It's true; Camp Jupiter had a sort of smoky smell to it most of the time, especially after the War Games.

"C'mon, Bobby. Focus," Gwen said, looking back at the tunnel. "This feels kinda strange," she admitted, looking at me. "Our first quest, and I'm still twelve, Bobby's twelve, and you're still eleven. Is this crazy or what?"

I scrunched my nose up. "The only crazy part is that we're on a quest because someone pretending to be me stole Mars' spear!"

"I wonder what's really going on," Gwen mused quietly. She took out a map and readjusted the straps on her backpack. "Jay-Jay, can you repeat the prophecy again?"

"Um…" I blinked for a while before it floated into my head.

Heading east, you shall seek the one who has switched roles,

There, you shall discover the start of time's deadliest goals,

The friend of your foe shall wait for you beneath heaven's dome,

Your victories shall be in vain for in the end, all roads lead to Rome.

"Y'know, east is pretty vague as a direction," Gwen grumbled, flipping the map open. "It would of been useful if the auguries told us how east we should go. Like Nevada east, or New York east."

As Gwen was straightening the map, she accidently flapped the edge of the map onto a man's face. "Hey, watch it, kid!" he snapped, glaring at her. He popped the collar of his white jacket. "I have an important interview today, and I have to look my best!"

"I apologize," Gwen replied politely, but I could see the fire in her eyes. It was times like this that I fully acknowledged the fact she was a daughter of Apollo. If looks could kill, the man would have been covered in sunburns with a peeling red nose by now.

He narrowed his eyes before continuing his way. As he walked past us, I saw Bobby approach him from the corner of my eye.

Aw, man, the quest barely started and he was already playing pranks!

"Bobby," I hissed quietly, jerking my thumb in the other direction. "We need to go."

He ignored me, pulling a red marker from his pocket. The man was answering a phone and was clueless as to what was happening behind him. Bobby gently drew a pair of red lips on the back of his jacket.

Or at least, I thought they were lips. They kinda also looked like a heart with a line in the middle.

Bobby walked towards us giddily, stuffing the marker back into his pocket. "Now we can go," he chirped happily, striking a Superman pose. "Lead the way, Gweny!"

She pursed her lips together, concentrating. "Do you think we're supposed to leave the state?" she asked, looking at me.

I furrowed my brow, studying the map. "I'm not sure, but maybe we should look around California first." I pointed to a star. "Sacramento? It's the capital…"

She nodded slowly. "Can't hurt since we don't really have a specific destination in mind; just east."

"Then Sacramento it is!" Bobby exclaimed, pointing to a sign ahead of us. "And I think that's the way to the bus station, judging from the picture."

Another thing about demigods. We have dyslexia, so we suck at reading. Unless it's Latin. Other languages hate us and refuse to cooperate.

"Let's hope for the best," I said as I walked towards the sign, Gwen and Bobby following right behind me.

"Am I awesome or what?" Bobby said, grinning up at the building. "I think we're doing pretty well for our first quest."

Gwen ignored him, taking out a few crumpled twenties she shoved into her small side bag. We had divided the five hundred dollars right before we exited Caldecott Tunnel. Gwen and Bobby carried a hundred and fifty while I carried the remaining two hundred.

"I'll buy the tickets," Gwen said, walking towards the booths. "You guys look at the brochures and figure out where a spear could be hanging out at, or where a thief of a spear might go to as a hideout."

"It can't be that easy," Bobby mumbled under his breath, but walked over to the tourist pamphlets nevertheless.

I followed him. "It's a start," I answered, feeling slightly frustrated with myself. Here I was, supposedly leading a quest, but I barely knew where we were going and what we were doing exactly.

"Jupiter, there's so many brochures about Sacramento!" Bobby said, carrying as many brochures as possible. His hand slipped slightly, and with quick reflexes, I grabbed the pamphlet before it hit the floor.

"Hmm…" I murmured, flipping through it. It was a brochure advertising daycares where parents can send their kids to, whether because of work, a day of adult sightseeing, or for other reasons.

One daycare caught my eye. "Hey, doesn't that sound familiar?" I asked Bobby, showing him the brochure.

"Lemnos Daycare," he read out loud, peering at the short description. "Whether you're a busy parent on-the-go or a parents that need a few hours alone in the city, Lemnos Daycare has got you covered! We take good care of your children until you feel refreshed and relaxed enough to! For hourly or daily rates, please give us a call!" He looked over at me, an eyebrow raised. "I don't remember any of us having a baby. Do you?"

"Not the daycare itself, Bobby!" I said, pointing at the name. "I mean the name of it. Lemnos….where have I heard that before?"

Bobby shrugged. "If it was mentioned during any kind of history class, I was probably either sleeping or cutting off the hair of the person sitting in front of me."

"Ooookkaaay, here are our tickets." Gwen appeared beside us, waving three tickets in the air. "I had to pay extra for my ticket because they thought I was a teenager," she told us, pouting. "Do I really look that old?!"

"Well, sometimes you're too polite to be a twelve-year-old kid, Gweny," Bobby pointed out, taking his ticket from her hand.

"Jason, am I?" she asked me, staring at me intently.

I blinked. Sunny Gwen or Sunburning Gwen? "Maybe the booth person didn't have their glasses on," I said vaguely. I held out the pamphlet. "Look at the name of this daycare. Does Lemnos ring a bell to you?"

Gwen studied the name. "I think I heard in one of my classes," she responded slowly. "Must have been a while ago though, because I can't really recall where exactly I heard it from." She tilted her head, confused. "But why are we going to a daycare?"

I put the pamphlet in my backpack and grabbed my ticket. "We're not; it just stood out to me," I answered. "Bobby got a lot of brochures, so we can look through them during the ride. Now, where are supposed to go?"

"To where the big 7 is," she replied, pointing to an empty door on the other side of the building. "Guess no one wants to go to Sacramento right now."

Bobby only smiled widely, marching rapidly towards the door. "Guess that means more souvenirs for us," he said gleefully. "For Jupiter's sake, walk faster, you guys!" he called over his shoulders, earning a few strange looks from people.

I smiled apologetically at them before breaking into a light jog.

"It's not our fault we're not children of Mercury," Gwen grumbled beside me, blowing stray strands of hair from her face. "Besides, the bus doesn't leave for another twenty minutes."

I chuckled, staring out the window. The bright blue skies from this morning were slowly disappearing, and I could hear the faint rumbling of thunder, indicating that a storm was coming soon.

"Looks like it's gonna rain, huh?" Gwen commented, staring out the window too.

Most of the excitement of going on my first quest disappeared, and I frowned at the skies. It was going to be a long ten days.

So if anyone's still here, any guesses on why the daycare stood out? And how the prophecy is going to play out?

I'll try to update as soon as I can, but most likely, the next update will be in May...

Please read and review!

-DOTE