"What? No, he - he would have told me..." It felt my head was about to explode. Rowan gave me a sad look.

"I don't know much else, I swear. Just that Chase is a powerful son of Hephaestus. He became so rich because of his building skills. He invented a bunch of stuff, and the mortals ate it up. He made millions. Your backpack can turn into a golden bow and arrow. Chase found it in his shed one day with a note saying to give it to you. He experimented with it a little to make sure it wasn't cursed and gave it to you. That's all Chiron told me, I swear!" He flinched as if he were a criminal we were interrogating. I gave him a small smile and decided to change the subject. I didn't think my brain could take any more of this nonsense.

"So, er, how are we going to get to camp?"

"Hey," Mark noticed, "The keys are still in the ignition!"

Rowan smiled. "I guess we're taking the bus!"

*

Uh, hi, Mark Moretti here. Lizz got tired of narrating, so I guess we'll alternate or something? Uh, back to the story I guess. Rowan climbed into the driver's seat. He turned the bus on and put the bus driver's hat on.

"Buckle up!" he said cheerily.

"Um, this is a school bus," Lizz said, "There are no seatbelts."

"WHAT?! No seatbelts!?!" Rowan yelped. "Don't worry, I brought some rope." I opened my mouth to protest, but Lizz nudged me and whispered,

"There's no getting out of this." I sighed. We sat down in the front and Rowan spent about fifteen minutes making sure we were tied down sufficiently. I reached to take out my phone, but Rowan snatched it out of my hand.

"Hey!" I protested. I watched in horror as he chucked it out the window.

"No phones!" Rowan yelled, "That's probably how the monster found you in the first place! Demigods and technology don't mix!" It took all of my self-control, along with the ropes holding me down not to get up and punch him in the face. Happily oblivious, he took his place in the driver's seat. The bus lurched into motion.

"Sorry about your phone," Lizz said. I could tell she was trying hard not to smile. I felt my cheeks grow hot and hoped she couldn't see me blushing. Rowan had tied us super close to each other.

"I'm just wondering what'll happen when my mom tries to text me again. She's gonna think I'm dead!" Lizz gave a small smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I ask.

"I'm just thinking about my dad. Why wouldn't he tell me about this? What reason did he have to keep this from me? He's the one who made me such a mythology nerd, but why wouldn't he tell me it was all real?"

I slipped my hand into her's and squeezed it. "Hey, we'll figure this all out once we get to camp. Rowan made it sound like this Chiron guy is all-knowing." We both laughed a little.

"I think I'm going to try to get some sleep. I'm exhausted." She said. She closed her eyes, and I could tell she was asleep in a few seconds. I smiled and blushed as her head fell onto my shoulder. I had just met this girl a few hours ago, and she was already the best friend I'd ever had. Maybe this whole demigod thing wouldn't be so bad after all.

A few hours into the trip, Rowan pulled over at a gas station. He cut us free (finally) and we went inside to get some snacks. He had about fifty dollars on him and told us to buy whatever we wanted.

"Score," Lizz said once inside, "Do you have any idea how many Cheddar-Jalapeno Cheetos I could buy with this?" We both laughed. A few minutes later, we walked out of the store with two Pepsis, a bottle of pink lemonade, a giant bag of Cheddar-Jalapeno Cheetos, and about twelve bags of Sweedish Fish. We climbed back on the bus. Lizz smiled sinisterly and walked over to the pile of rope by our seat. She picked it up, then pushed down the window on the other side and tossed it out.

"Rowans' gonna be pissed," I said. Lizz shrugged.

"Hows' he supposed to know it was me? All we have to do is tell him we walked in, and the rope was gone. He'll think someone stole it." We laughed and sat back down. Rowan came back and walked over to us, meaning to tie us down again, but couldn't find the rope.

"Oh no!" He yelled, "What if we get in an accident!? Who builds a vehicle without seatbelts!?"

"Rowan, relax," Lizz told him, "Kids ride around in these things all the time. We'll be fine!"

Rowan reluctantly sat back down and started the bus.

"Fine. But if you die, just know that I tried to help!" He backed the bus out of the parking lot.

"We should be at camp in about an hour," Rowan said after we'd turned onto the highway. "Nothing could happen in that amount of time, right?"

How wrong he was.