Setting Off

"Oh, come on Crystal, seriously! You don't need to bring your drum set!" Katie rolled her eyes.

"But how else will I get to practice?" Crystal whined, "I'm just starting to learn how to drum 'What I've Done'. It's one of the first actual songs I'm doing! How will I get better if I don't practice? Um, could you help me carry the bass drum?"

Katie planted her hands on her hips. "Leave. That. Here."

"Fine," Crystal grumbled and set the bass drum back down on the floor of her room. She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "Come on, let's get going."

As the two girls walked down the hall another camper ran up to them.

"Hey, you're Katie and Crystal right?" she asked. "I'm Megan, daughter of Hades. Just thought I'd introduce myself since we're going to be traveling together."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Megan, I'm Crystal, oh wait, you already knew that, sorry I'm not good at introductions."

"No prob," Megan gave a slight smile. "Let's just skip to the part where we tell each other our interests."

"I enjoy stealing from people, sneaking around, and playing pranks on stuck up jerks," Katie said, her lip twitching as she tried to keep from grinning. "You?"

"Boys, Fall Out Boy—" Megan began

"You mean that band that broke up?" Katie asked, smirking a little.

"Bah, shut up, don't remind me," Megan grumbled. "Anyways as I was saying, Harry Potter, boys, Nightwish, boys . . . Did I mention boys?"

"Well it's not hard to figure out what your main focus is!" Crystal observed, laughing a little. "Me, I like running, acting, singing, drumming, and as Katie said, playing pranks on people."

"Interesting hobbies. You're a daughter of Apollo, aren't you?"

"How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess." Megan smiled.

"Oh, and she forgot to mention that she's obsessed with everything that is related to the Lord of the Rings," Katie added.

Megan grinned. "I think this is the start of a great friendship."

The three campers met the rest of their companions by Thalia's tree and waited for Chiron.

"We're definitely going to need a car." Micaela had a list of things she was checking off. "That would triple our speed. Does anyone have a driver's license?"

"Who needs a driver's license when you can summon a skeletal horse?" Alec asked, his voice deadpan.

"Who's that?" Crystal whispered to Megan.

"My half-brother, Alec," Megan whispered back. "He's always pessimistic and annoyed."

"Well, not everyone can ride a skeletal horse," Micaela pointed out to Alec.

"Only the best of us, I'm afraid," Alec answered coldly. Micaela ignored him.

"I've got a license," Katie said, "but just to warn you, my driving is not the best."

"That's it, I'm walking," said Dilhan.

"Chill, Dilhan," Isaac, the Hephaestus camper, said. "I'm sure she's not that bad a driver."

"Yes, but I'd rather not take any chances, Isaac," Dilhan replied.

"Guys, please," Micaela interrupted, she checked off another thing on her list. "Alright, that takes care of our transportation."

"Not exactly," Sarah pointed out. "We might have someone who can drive the car, but we don't have any car to drive."

Micaela grimaced. She obviously didn't want to admit that she hadn't planned that far ahead.

"No problem," Katie said, "I can hot-wire any vehicle."

"We are not stealing a car," Micaela stated firmly.

"Only from someone who deserves it," Megan said. "Like a used cars salesman. They always have enough cars to spare. Besides, if we bought one he'd probably be ripping us off."

"We are not stealing," Micaela said again. "We'll ask Chiron for some money to rent a car."

"What a waste of money," Katie grumbled.

"Look, here comes Chiron now."

Chiron trotted towards the eight campers and handed each of them a duffle bag. "These are filled with every thing you might need. Food, sleeping bags, cash, drachmas, everything."

"Thanks," everyone said in unison.

"And this is for you. You'll need it." He handed Sarah a whip. "Its name is Tuphon."

"Typhoon," Micaela translated. "Interesting name."

"Why a whip?" Sarah asked.

"The whip is the weapon of a peacemaker. It doesn't kill people, it only injures them. I have a feeling that you'll be the peacemaker of this group." Chiron winked. "And this is just in case." He handed Micaela a zip-lock back containing a large sum of money. "Now good luck to all of you and may the favor of the gods shine upon you."

The eight campers all said their good-byes and then turned and walked down the hill.

Megan ducked under the fence and looked around. She couldn't remember when the last time she had been outside Camp Half-Blood's magical borders was. Living at the camp meant being blocked from the outside world. She had always wanted to be one of the campers who only came during the summer, but she had nowhere else to live. It felt good to finally be out. Freeing almost. She looked back over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of the Hephaestus camper, Isaac, helping Crystal over the fence. Megan grinned. This is going to be interesting. She walked over to the daughter of Apollo.

"Hey, that guy that helped you over the fence, he's that Isaac person, right?" She asked, nodding her head towards him. "What a gentleman."

"Yeah, what about him?" Crystal tugged on her brown hair, flushing ever so slightly.

"Oh, nothing," Megan gave a sly smile. "He's kinda cute, huh?"

"Well if you think that, maybe you should go talk to him," Crystal said.

"Talk to him? Oh," Megan gave a laugh. "I didn't mean he was cute for me, I meant cute for you. Seriously, you would make such a great couple!" She made a strange squealing noise.

"Megan!" Crystal's face went bright red. "I don't even like him! I mean, not as a boyfriend, he seems fine as a friend-friend! I mean, I don't hate him, but I don't like him! I barely even know him!"

Megan smirked impishly. "Oooooh, you're blushing and tripping over your own words! That's the first sign!"

"Sign of what?" Crystal's voice was getting a bit high-pitched.

"That you like him, of course!"

"No I don't! Like I said, I barely even know him!"

"Hey, relax, I'm just teasing you! But I do know when someone has a crush on someone else." With a grin Megan turned and began bouncing away.

"Wait, Megan, I don't have a crush on him!" Crystal shrieked.

Megan chuckled to herself. That girl is way too easy to annoy.

"So, what's the plan, boss?" Megan asked Micaela as she walked beside her.

"Please, don't call me boss. I'm not in charge of this quest."

"Perhaps not, but you have seemed to take matters into your own hands . . . And, Chiron seems to think you're the leader. He gave you the extra cash!" Megan said.

"Well, I'm not the leader," Micaela countered.

"You are, too," Megan responded as she snatched the notepad Micaela was writing on out of her hands and looked it over. "Just as I suspected! Look you don't need to have a to-do list. We're perfectly capable of doing things without one."

"I know that," Micaela answered as she grabbed the note-pad back, "I just don't want to forget anything. It doesn't hurt to be prepared. Aesop once said . . ."

"Ugh," Megan covered her ears. "Thanks for reminding me why I don't like talking to Athena campers. I don't need a history lesson." She hurried away from Micaela and walked next to Dilhan, who was scribbling furiously on a pad of paper.

"Hey, how's—"

"Don't talk to me," he cut in. "I'm busy."

"Oh, busy doing what?" Megan pried.

"A counter plan for whatever that smart-aleck daughter of Athena is coming up with," he responded. "Now, please, go away."

"Oooh, so you're trying to take charge of this group, aren't you?"

"Well, yes!" Dilhan replied, getting flustered. "I'm a son of Zeus! I'm a born leader, and this Athena camper is taking charge. I won't stand for that! Now leave me alone . . . please!"

"Meh, fine." Megan moved on next to Isaac. "Hey, what's up?"

Isaac grunted.

"Um, okay, so how's life treating you?"

He glared at her and didn't answer.

"Alright then, glad we had this talk. A very . . . stimulating conversation." She turned and walked forward. "Obviously he doesn't like talking. Hmm . . . Hey, Katie!" She jogged up to the daughter of Hermes.

"Shh! Shut up!" Katie hissed. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"No, I can't see that."

Katie turned and rolled her eyes. "Just watch." She was walking closely behind Sarah, who had her bag slung over her shoulder. Katie timed each of her moves carefully, and as the bag swung back she unzipped it. She waited for it to swing back again and then quickly glanced into it and rummaged around. Another swing backwards and she had something in her hands. Then when the bag swung backwards a fourth time she zipped it back up, all this without Sarah noticing.

"Ta-da!" Katie bowed slightly as she handed the object to Megan. It was a large silver ring.

"Whoa, impressive! But aren't you going to give this back?"

"Give it back?" Katie snorted. "She needs to learn to take better care of her stuff, especially when there's a kid of Hermes around."

Megan decided then and there to always keep an eye on her valuables.

"A-hem!" Katie cleared her throat, "I'd like the ring back! Or are you going to make me steal it again?"

"Oh, right. Here." Megan handed the ring back to Katie.

Katie examined it, slid it into her pocket and then turned to face Megan. "So, what's up? You obviously wanted to talk to someone for a reason."

"Not really," Megan shuffled her feet. "I just want to talk."

"Alright, about what?"

"I'd like to warn you that my sister has the habit of talking for hours and not really saying anything," Alec cut in as he came up beside them.

"Shut up, Alec," Megan elbowed her half-brother.

"How long are we going to walk before we actually get somewhere?" Crystal complained to Micaela from the back of the group.

"Yeah, there's nothing here! We're in the middle of nowhere and we're just going to walk to civilization?" Dilhan put in.

Micaela turned to face him in a very annoyed fashion. "Well, you tell me, do you have any suggestions on what we should do?"

"Well, anything I suggest is bound to be better than what you're doing," he shot back. "Do you actually expect us to walk all the way? And do you even know where this tree is?"

"As a matter of fact . . ." Micaela stopped.

"Aha! You don't! I knew it! You could be leading us in the wrong direction!"

"Wait, you mean Chiron didn't tell us where Daphne's tree is?" Crystal had a strange look pasted on her face.

"Well . . . No . . . Not really."

"Wait, did he tell us what it looks like?" Katie put in.

"Uh . . ." Micaela raised a finger and then put it back down. "No . . . Not entirely. But we know it's a laurel tree!"

Everyone gave each other a strange look.

"Does he even know what Daphne's tree is?" Megan asked.

"Well of course he knows that," Micaela replied, flustered.

"Just checking," Megan said.

"Oh, well isn't everything just hunky-dory!" Alec cried in an almost exasperated way. "We're heading to who-knows-where, without a car I might add, to find some tree that we don't even know what it looks like, to help out Apollo. We don't even know why he asked us in the first place, and now we're having control issues between Little Miss Athena and Young Master Zeus. Am I missing anything?"

"Wow," Megan gave a low whistle, "that was more energy than I've seen you display in five months combined! Nice work."

"Maybe he didn't actually know where it was," Sarah suggested, "maybe he figured that one of us would know." Suddenly all eyes turned to Crystal.