Hi, F here. I don't own any of the characters or places you may recognize from the PJO or HoO because I would be totally rich if I did. Sorry it's been so long since I've updated, I've been really busy with school and a couple of ideas for my own stories that I've been really into.

~~Casper's POV~~

When my eyes opened, I was laying on the small strip of grass between the road and the corn field. My head pounded, and it took a few seconds for the spots to clear from my eyes. I squinted in the sun and wiped my black hair out of my face. Sitting up, I saw Percy sitting crisscross-applesauce on the grass a few feet away. His face lit up when he saw I was awake.

"Hey, Cas. Feeling any better?" His green eyes wouldn't meet my own. Apparently there was something very interesting about my right shoulder.

"I guess. Where did everybody else go? How long was I out?" I tried to stand up. My vision blurred for a second, and I stumbled. "Ow." Percy leaped to his feet and caught me. I was a whole foot shorter than him, and I was surprised at how strong he was. I sat back down on the grass. "Thanks, man."

"Sure thing, sis. And don't worry, you weren't out long, only a half hour tops. The others went to find us a ride." I nodded, but then realized something odd about what he'd said.

"Did you just call me sis?" I asked, puzzled. He laughed, and the tension melted out of the air. I hadn't even realized we were tense until then, but it was understandable. I had never had a brother before, and he had never had a sister before. It was a weird feeling for both of us. We hadn't grown up together. It was like someone had tied us together with chains and a padlock and said, You're stuck together, have fun with this.

"Well, yeah, I mean you are my sister, right?" He said. "And I need a nickname for you. It's either sis or Fish-Face." I rolled my eyes.

"Let's go with sis." I said. He grinned at me, and this time he looked me in the eyes.

"I've been wanting to ask, sis…." Percy trailed off. He pulled up clumps of grass from the ground nervously. "Where are you really from?" It just came out of the blue.

"I'm from LA. I told you the first time we met."

"Yeah, but then when we said we were going to LA you freaked out, and it occurred to me that if you were from LA you wouldn't have been so worried by going there. I just don't really get it. I don't think your from LA at all, and I don't know why you would have lied." The words spilling out of Percy's mouth made my stomach twist into knots.

"I am from LA, Barnacle-brain. I just-" I bit my cheek, racking my brain for something to tell him other than the truth about Aliah. "I got in a bit of trouble with the law there. I had hoped not to have to go back, but it will probably be fine."

"Oh. That makes sense." But there was something in Percy's voice that I didn't understand, like he didn't buy my lie 100%. "Wait, is that them?" Percy held a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun, staring down the road. I turned to look. A long yellow school bus was driving towards us, throwing up a cloud of dust in its wake. But that wasn't what we were looking at-standing on the roof of the school bus was Ella and Leo, dancing around and cheering and high-fiving. I could see the others through the bus's dusty windows, and they were all laughing.

"HI!" Ella yelled. She ran towards the front of the roof of the bus and waved both of her arms over her head to get our attention. "I GOT A BUS!"

"I can see that!" I called, laughing. Percy doubled over in hysterical laughs, clutching his stomach. "Great bus, Ella!"

The bus stopped in front of us. Ella and Leo slid down the front of the bus and hopped off of the windshield to the ground. The door of the bus swung open with a squeak, and Annabeth called out to us from the drivers seat.

"All aboard!" Even Hazel was grinning. She stood next to Annabeth, waving through the front window. We climbed the stairs into the bus. They had pulled out the front rows of seats and made beds on the floor with blankets and the padding from the missing rows of seats. Frank and Leo were asleep on the floor, and Piper and Jason sat holding hands in the back row. Hazel and Percy sat down as Annabeth turned the bus around and drove it down the road.

"Are you okay, Cas?" Annabeth asked from the drivers seat. "We got the bus so you could lay down, but…."

"I'm fine." I smiled, trying to seem cheery, but my head was throbbing and I was worried about Aliah. "Seriously, I just have a headache." Annabeth nodded.

"You should lay down." She said.

Ella sat down next to me on one of the floor beds as we started to drive. The others started to talk, but we weren't listening. "Are you really okay?" She looked at me pleadingly, her bright green eyes looking wet. She stuck out her lower lip and made it tremble a little. "Please tell me?"

"Don't make that face at me!"

"Please?" Ella's pouting face is a thing of great power. My determination melted.

I told her all about my dream of Aliah and her lieutenants, and their plan to catch me. It wasn't hard to do, because I hated to keep secrets from Ella. She was my best friend. When I finished, she looked troubled.

"Thats not good." Ella sighed. "Those guys will catch us the second we enter the city." At my expression she quickly forced a smile onto her face. "But we'll be fine. We'll be there and back and we'll never get caught and everything will go great and we'll succeed in our quest without breaking a sweat." I raised my eyebrows at her.

"For a child of Hermes, you're a terrible liar."

"I happen to be a great liar. I'm just not good at lying to my friends." She sighed. "I should work on that if I ever want to steal your stuff."

In about an hour, we stopped in a small town I don't remember the name of. Leo and Jason got off the bus on a supply run and brought back fried chicken, french fries, and a salad for Piper. We ate on the road.

The older demigods took turns driving, sleeping, and keeping guard on the bus roof. Hazel, Ella, and I, couldn't drive yet so we helped keep guard. We drove through the night, and stopped for food every few hours. The next morning we stopped for breakfast. Percy and Annabeth conked out in the bus, because they had been doing the driving for the last few hours. The rest of us found a nice little cafe named Teddies. We fought some emposa, got take out pancakes, and returned to the bus. Annabeth and Percy were still conked out, so Piper took the wheel.

We passed into California that evening.

"What's that lake called?" I asked Piper, who had grown up in California.

"Lake Tahoe." She called back. "I think we should stop here tonight. We all need some sleep.

"Theres a motel parking lot over there." We parked over three parking spaces and I went to sleep. Piper woke Leo up for his turn on watch and conked out as well.

The next morning, I woke up just as the sun rose. The others weren't awake yet. I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't. Standing up and slipping on my shoes, I tiptoed over the others and out the door of the bus. I walked a few blocks until I found a donut shop and bought a box of donuts. I brought them back to the bus and flopped down on one of the seats, careful not to wake up my friends.

I was just sitting down and starting to enjoy a donut when the sound of breaking glass from the back of the bus made me whip around. "What the heck?" I set down the donuts and crouched on the floor, searching under the seats for what had broken the glass. I pulled it out. It was a tiny metal orb.

"What the-" I started, but the the tiny orb snapped in half. A cloud of pink gas rose out, and my head started to swim. The orb snapped shut again and I dropped it. I tried to climb to my feet and stagger away, but I was so dizzy I fell to my knees. Knockout gas. It's knockout gas. The thought flew through my brain. Get away. They're here. I pressed the front of my shirt over my mouth, but it was no good. I slipped into unconsciousness, but not before I saw a group of kids I recognized board the bus.

Aliah's lieutenants had arrived.

"We have her m'lady." Lil spoke into her walkie-talkie to Aliah. "And her friends are all unconscious. Should we-"

"Leave them." Aliah's voice sounded gravelly over the walkie-talkie. "It will be fun to see if they can find our base to try to rescue their friend. Now bring her to me."

"Yes, m'lady. We'll be back soon with the deserter." Lil said, and shoved the walkie-talkie in her pocket. "You lot!" She called to the other kids on the team. "Grab the deserter, but leave the others. Lets get back soon as possible." One of the other kids grabbed Caspian's shoulders, and another kid grabbed her legs. They dragged her out of the bus and set her in a chariot. The chariot rolled away, leaving only a broken window, a box of donuts, and an empty bed to show that they had ever been there.

Okay, sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I've been really busy and then I was on a trip with no wifi so I couldn't update. I'll try to speed up a little. Later!