I never expected to have another half brother. Let alone Percy. But then again, I never expected to see a gleaming holographic green trident, swirling above my head.

I was in a new home, new friends, my first day, just beginning to get to know my surroundings. And then I had to be separated into a small new cabin. The good news, I had a bunk. The bad news, there was only Percy to share the cabin with. I was almost entirely at home, but there was the fact that we didn't get along. And the terrible feeling that I was about to become even more important than I wanted to be.

I moved into one of the silk-sheeted beds in cabin three, the one on the left side of the cabin when you walked in. Percy had the middle one. There was a bedside table beside my head, and a small drawer to keep valuables in. Into the drawer went my toiletries. I put everything else on my new bed before sorting. There were three dressers, a deep blue one, a green one the color of seaweed, and a teal one. Into the teal one went my cloths and reading supplies.

I had only been at camp a day, and I was already claimed and had a nice place to stay. But at night, I felt very mentally uncomfortable. I was happy to know who I was, but it didn't feel quite right. There was always something off. Something important I was failing entirely to get. Something very prominent that it should be obvious what the problem was.

"I still don't get it." I murmured to myself in bed. "I'm missing something, I don't get it."

Percy rolled over in bed. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Did you forget something?" I hadn't realized that I had been getting louder as I whispered.

"I can't tell. I don't get it." I complained. "All I'm getting is a bad feeling. And my dreams haven't been getting any better recently." I couldn't believe that a day ago, I was just regular old Alex; ADHD and dyslexic, yes, but nothing special. Today, I was Alexandria, daughter of Poseidon, god of the sea, and champion of pinochle. I snorted mentally at the title Mr. D gave me, and the silver laurel crown with tiny silver grapes and a small horse charm. I had placed the crown on my dresser. Out of the way, but still in plain sight. I would forever be a 'champion' apparently. Also, I appeared to be the only favorite Mr. D had ever had. This didn't particularly make me feel good about myself, I figured the consequences were as yet unknown.

"Tell me about your dreams." He sounded like they were way too important for me to feel any better. But I told him all about them.

When I was done, he frowned. "Hmmm," he mused. "I wonder . . . have you had similar dreams before?" he was paying too much attention. I shifted uncomfortably.

"Yes and no." he just listened to me, waiting for more. So I continued. "The dream is a reoccurring one, for me. But I always remember watching it from my own point of view. I have never been anyone else before. And I have never visited that cavern." I stated confidently.

"Perhaps we are not done with this war as we once thought. Maybe we are only half done. Or even just beginning. I should have known that idiot would not give up so soon. He only lost Luke. Not his entire army. I should tell Chiron."

"Not yet." I don't know where the words came from, they just did. I did not say them but I did agree with them. I wanted to find out more about the person in the dream first. And then I would tell Chiron.

Percy looked at me like I was nuts. "Why in Tartarus not?" he demanded. "It's important. He should know the important stuff."

"I don't know. I just want to know more first." I told him. It was not a complete lie; I only knew that for some reason, Chiron would not like it. I wanted to know more before he said no. at least I would know something.

Percy looked at me calculatingly again, and then he rolled back over. It seemed everyone was calculating me lately, and it made me self-conscious. "Good night." He mumbled.

"Night." I replied. But for some reason, I stayed awake for a long time, and when I finally fell asleep, I regretted it.

I am running down the beach, my hair blowing out behind me. I can feel the sari around my waist, feel the sense of buoyancy, and smell the faint twinge of salt in the air. I know that I am me, not someone else.

I see Katie and Mitch, sitting by the big rock we like to hang out by. They are always there. Every time I am here, they are there. They are sitting and laughing, eating little sandwiches and olives. When they see me, their faces light up, and they wave to me. There is something about the way they do it. It feels fake.

I walk over to them and sit down. Mitch hands me a sandwich and I take it. I open my mouth to take a bite, when I hear a voice. It sounds familiar, but I cannot place it. It seems to be coming from the ocean, a booming voice that shakes the sandwich out of my hands.

"Do not eat the food." Says the voice." It will harden your heart and make you vulnerable in worse ways than you are." I look toward the ocean and I think I see a face in the surf.

I turn back to Mitch and almost take a bite. I pause, and set it down. I stand up. And turn around. I see a white flash, brilliant and almost blue with the lack of color. I hear a bang, like lightning striking right next to me. I see two things, on the sand fighting.

"Don't you touch her!" the first one yells, in the voice that told me to stop eating. It was a large white horse, with a sea blue mane and tail. Both were tangled with seaweed; and it had large, bright green eyes. They were flashing in hatred and annoyance.

The other thing was a large cloud of darkness, glowering at the horse. It seemed to radiate fear, and death. It floated in the air, hissing and spitting. "You have not only broken your oath once brother, but twice. You are a disgrace to us all. Two children, after an oath to have no more. I was the only one who kept my promise."

"Please brother, I didn't know she existed! Not until she called to me at the brazier. I heard her, and realized only then, who she was. I was never told she existed. I did not know! I swear." The horse seemed to cower when a lightning bolt struck the ground about twenty feet away from him. As the light cleared, a large golden eagle appeared on the sand.

"You forget, Hades, you too had children, and did not tell us. We all broke the oath, but it is no longer binding. I have not decided what we should yet do, but I believe that we should keep her around for a while. Find out what she is capable of. And Apollo is positive she is not to die any time soon. Let's watch her; I'm curious.

Suddenly, the horse stiffened. He turned an eye to face me, and it got wide. In my mind, I clearly heard his voice. "Leave now Alex, you should not stay. Your friends will need you soon. I am busy. Now wake!"

"Wake up Alex!" Percy is shaking me, getting me up. I groan.

"Huh?" I mumble

"Get up. You've been talking about horses and shadows all night. Were you dreaming?"

"Yes. Now, can I get up." I stretched, then rolled my legs over the side of the bed, and stood up. My vision went fuzzy, but it does that. It cleared as I made my way to the dresser. I pulled out a black t-shirt and a pair of skinny jeans. I didn't mind getting dressed in front of a girl, but Percy was another matter altogether. I know he's my brother, but I just met him.

I am not comfortable in front of guys in such situations. Luckily, he was occupied with getting dressed himself. So I pulled down my pants and shimmied into my jeans. I yanked on my shirt and pulled off the blue cotton one from underneath. I put my night clothes on the bed and pulled a brush through my hair. I applied my eyeliner and Chap Stick. I stuffed the second item into my back pocket and stretched my arms and legs; going through a few dance moves.

I have to admit, I'm a terrible dancer, but we take it twice a month at school. The stretches are hard, but they get the blood flowing in the morning. I like to start the day off with a few.

It had been four days since I got here, and I'd learned a lot, but there was still a lot to learn.

I pulled on a baseball cap from my backpack, my hair in a ponytail. The cap is red, and it has a big yellow 'A' on the front. It was supposed to stand for "Alvin" as in "Alvin and the chipmunks," but I had an 'A' name too. So I wore it sometimes. Just for fun.

"Nice," someone commented. I made a face at the doorway. A tall blonde woman was standing there, her hair in a ponytail, and her eyes looked like Tabatha's. She smirked and turned to Percy. He was just zipping up his jeans. "Hurry up, Seaweed brain! We got to go! Chiron wants to talk to us." She looked back to me. "We have to get you a sword. One that works for a sea kid."

"A sword?" I asked in disbelief. "You're kidding right?" she was silent. And, unfortunately, she looked very serious.

I'd never been fond of swords of knives.

"I'm hurrying." Percy mumbled. "What does he want to talk to me about?" she shrugged. "It would be nice if he would just send me a keyword." He muttered. "Tell me just a little before he embarrasses me with something stupid."

"All he said is he wants to talk to you. About something important. You going to keep complaining, or just go talk to him?" he slumped his shoulders and followed her out of the cabin.

The conch horn, meaning breakfast, blew on the hill. I felt bad for the poor shmuck that had to go up there and blow that stupid thing every day. Maybe it was a Hermes or Iris kid. I couldn't tell from the commons area.

We trudged up the hill in the bright morning sun. It was a beautiful morning at six o'clock. I was feeling great about coming here. More campers were arriving over the hill and greeting friends. Some of the kids, the Aphrodite kids I imagine, had so many suitcases that their luggage must have taken up most of the plains' storage. I laughed quietly at the thought.

The night I came here, I hadn't been able to get a good look at any of the kids. So many distractions. I'd made up for it the past few days. There were kids of all ages, sizes, ethnicities, colors, and categories. There were jocks, valley girls, bullies, weirdoes, and flower children. In fact, just about the only stereotype there was none of, was nerds. There were no nerds. I thought this weird.

As we filed into the dining pavilion, I heard snickers from fellow campers. They probably thought me tagging along behind Percy funny. I turned around as we got to our table and glared a murderous glare at the company of campers. No one ever laughed at me again; unless I made it clear, you were allowed to.

I sat down, satisfied. I was pretty sure I would get along fine here.

After breakfast, Percy went to talk to Chiron, and I tagged along just for fun. When we got to the big house, he walked right up and pulled the door open. I felt like we should knock first, but he barged right in.

In the middle of the room, was Chiron, out of the wheelchair. He was talking to two people. One, an upper teen, in a bright yellow t-shirt, khakis, and Greek sandals. He wore a pair of dark tinted shades and a huge grin, as if he were up to no good.

His hair was sandy blond, and he had a nice tan. He looked a lot like Seth. The other in the room, was a girl about my age, with mid-length red-brown hair. Her eyes were green and she was already turned to the door when it opened. She looked calm, but a little off.

"Percy!" her eyes lit up when she saw us. She ran over and hugged him.

He looked completely bewildered for a second, but he hugged her back. "Hey Rachel. Welcome back. How've you been, out in the world?"

She pulled away to look at him. "Fine. You look taller. And cuter. How are you?"

"I'm good." He grinned at her. "Can you guess what I'm about to say next?"

She looked over his shoulder at me, standing in the corner, feeling like an intruder. "Meet my sister, Alex." She quoted him before he even spoke it. She turned to him. "Am I right?"

He laughed. "Yep. You're getting better at controlling it, aren't you?"

She nodded and walked up to me. "Hello, my name is Rachel Elizabeth Dare. The newest host to the spirit of the oracle at Delphi. And Percy's friend." She grinned at me as she held out her hand.

I took it, and looked her over. She was dressed in a sickly green shirt, and ripped, paint-splattered pants. She had a large green armband, and a thin gold circlet. Her face had a faint chalky sheen to it, but she seemed normal; if you didn't look too close.

"The oracle huh?" I was quite impressed. I had heard stories of her. But this was not the kind of girl I expected the oracle to choose as a host. Then again, go with the times, she looked more of less modern.

She nodded. The boy in shades cleared his throat and Rachel looked at him. "Oh, I almost forgot." She gestured to him. "This is Apollo, god of the sun, medicine, and oracles." She smiled at him and he grinned right back.

"Hey," said Apollo. "Alex, right? Nice name. Short for something?"

"Yes. It is. Though a prefer Alex."

"That's cool." He looked like he was having fun, though I didn't see much to have fun about. His grin was almost stretching his face in half. Yep, he was definitely Seth's father. I could the resemblance. It was blinding, pardon the pun.

Apollo studied me skeptically. But there was still a huge grin on his face. He seemed to realize something, and the smile melted. "Where did you find her?" he asked Percy.

"In a park, not far from the empire state building." Percy answered. "At the Greek festival. She's quite powerful."

Apollo thought about this. He muttered to himself for a few second. And then he opened his arms and took a deep breath. Everyone in the room groaned. Except me. He began to recite:

"One more child of Poseidon.

Found days ago nearby here.

This is sooooo not good."

He looked around the room for praise. I snorted, trying to hide my laughter. He beamed at me. I mean beamed. He literally started to glow with satisfaction. "Well now. I see you have a good taste in haikus, you like it?"

"Yes, I actually do. The meaning is not so pleasant, but it was good, none the less." I tried to keep my laughter inside. I couldn't for long. I cracked up.

Everyone else in the room looked like they had serious migraines. I figured I was one of the few who appreciated Apollo's 'talent.'

He did not seem offended. In fact, he seemed encouraged. "Why thank you." His smile was blinding. "Well I got to be on my way. You know, sun duties and all that. See you tomorrow. In the mean time, Rachel, you can stay in my cabin. I won't mind." With that, he walked outside, got into a sweet red Maserati, and took off onto the sky, waving goodbye.

I watched him leave in confusion. I have to admit though, I was sad to see him go. I had only known him like, five minutes, and already I was quite fond of him. I got the feeling that the likable-ness was genetic.

"Seriously? You liked his haiku. They're ridiculous! Are you crazy?" Rachel asked me.

Quite possibly. "Yes, I did." I told her. "And I don't care if they're ridiculous, it was funny. He's into poetry?"

"He's the god of poetry." Percy told me. "Of course he's into poetry."

"Right." I felt like an idiot. "Duh."

"Well Percy, can I speak to you for a second?" Chiron butted in. "We have some important things going on. We need you."

Percy followed him out of the room, into a hall, and into another room down it. Chiron shut the door.

"You have any idea what they are talking about?" I asked Rachel. She just shrugged.

I explored the big house. Looking into a few open doors of the place. When I found the kitchen, I found a stalk load of something caramel colored. I grabbed a little piece and took a bite of it. It was warm and felt good in my body. I suddenly felt stronger and comfortably warmer. It tasted like beef udon.

When I offered some to Rachel, who had followed me around the house, she looked at me like I was crazy again. "Don't you know what that will do to me if I eat any?"

I was thoroughly confused, so I shook my head.

"It will incinerate me. That's god food. And you can only have a little bit or it'll give you a fever. Don't you know this already?"

I shook my head and she put up her hands in exasperation. "You'd think they would tell you this. They are supposed to tell you what will kill you; why don't they include food?"

I stared at her, uncomprehending. I nibbled at my square.

"You're hopeless aren't you?"

"Yep." I grinned hugely at her.

She rolled her eyes and turned around. She rummaged in the refrigerator and said: "Aha!" she held aloft a tuna sandwich triumphantly and smiled. "Yum!" she announced. She checked for signs that claimed it for anyone else. Finding none, she opened the bag and took it out. She took a bite.

I found another and added mustard to it. I ate mine as we walked out of the kitchen and down the hall. By the time we got outside, we were both half done, so we sat on the wraparound porch and ate tuna sandwiches. It was okay, at least it was fun. We talked about random things, discussing what others were doing in the valley, and she told me who each of the cabins were for.

When we were done with our sandwiches, we just sat and watched the campers in the valley. There was a basketball game between the Ares and Apollo kids, according to Rachel.

Some kids were sitting on the sidelines and cheered or booed. Some Aphrodite girls had dressed in pink red and white skimpy outfits and were cheering the Apollo kids on. They caused quite a turn out; being gorgeous girls in tiny outfits. Some of the Ares kids looked at them and sneered at the Apollo's campers. They played viciously, trying to overthrow the enemy. The Apollo kids just played for attention; they were lighter and faster and they played to win. Not to beat their opponents senseless. No, at least I doubt that was the plan.

We both rooted for the Apollo cabin. Cheering when they got a basket, encouraging when they missed. After about an hour, they were all sweating, even the Ares kids. But in the end, Apollo won. We screamed in excitement and rushed down the hill. When we got down, I spotted Seth and ran over to him. "Congratulations!" I called as I ran toward him.

I hugged him tightly and cheered my praise. A bunch of Aphrodite girls in cheerleader outfits was rewarding the Apollo kids with lots of attention and kisses on cheeks. A few of them even had Apollo boyfriends, and they were making out all around us.

There was a lot of yelling behind us, so I looked around. The Ares kids were yelling at each other, and berating each other for loosing.

"It's getting loud here," I said.

"Yeah. It is." He agreed. We walked away from the rest, and I went back to find Rachel.

Rachel and I went back up the hill to the big house. Percy and Chiron were sitting at the pinochle table. Or, Percy was; Chiron was standing beside it in full centaur form. He wore a leather breastplate and a white t-shirt under it. He looked irritated. He held a piece of long paper, rolled into a scroll. As we approached, he slipped the paper into a small tube. It was painted with the symbols of power of the Olympians.

"What's that?" I pointed to the paper in his hand. He held it out to show me, but I didn't touch it.

"It's a list." He said glumly. "Of half-bloods around the world. We finally got it, though it's been years. This is going to take ages to get all the kids on this list. Fortunately, the names are sorted by school and state or country. It will be easier to find them. And, there is more than one name under some schools, so we can kill two birds with one arrow. Figuratively speaking of course." He grinned.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" I asked. "Let's go get some demigods."

"It's not that easy." Percy warned. "Some of these kids will already have monsters on their trails. We might just put them in more danger, going after them."

"You're right," Chiron agreed. "We should try to start out slow. Alex, you should stay here for now."

"But I want to learn! I have been here for a days and I'm already itching to get out!"

"I'll go get a team together." Percy said to Chiron, who nodded.

"You can take four others, and try not to get yourselves killed." He warned.

"Percy, can I please go with you?" I begged him.

"Sure." He answered. "I really don't see why not." Chiron snorted, but didn't protest.

"May I come to?" asks the blonde from earlier, walking in the door.

"Sure, Annabeth." So that was her name. "Now I just need Seth and Grover."

We walked down into the valley, and found A young man with a Rasta cap near the lake, flirting with some girls in the water. Annabeth told me they were naiads. "Yo, Grover! You want to come with me to find some half bloods?" Percy shouted.

"Yeah!" he called back. He waved goodbye to the naiads, which giggled and waved back. He came running and stood in front of us. "So where are we going?" he asked.

Percy looked down at the list Chiron had given him. "Well, it says here, that there are four half bloods in Texas, three of them go to the same school."

"We're going to the lone star state!" I grinned.

As we drove up to the front of the school, we gasped. The school was huge. There was a huge set of four glass doors, and a few fire hydrants. The walls were made of brown and red brick, but the columns and a lot of the architecture was cement. The school was five stories tall, and three city blocks long and deep. Supposedly, there were around two-thousand students in the school building during school hours.

It was one thirty. We had an hour and fifteen minutes until school got out. During which time, we needed to get in, grab our half bloods, and get out. It was Monday, the last day of school for these kids.

"How the heck are we supposed to find three people, in a school this big?" I demanded. Percy shrugged, and turned to Annabeth. She was gazing at the brickwork, like it was a puzzle to be solved. He touched her shoulder, and she blinked.

"I have no idea." She admitted. "Do you see the work on those pillars? They're incredible!" she started muttering to herself."

"I have an idea." Seth announced from the driver's seat. "We get the secretary to call the kids we need." He got out of the van and came around to the door we were all sitting behind, looking out the tinted windows.

A few Hephaestus kids had messed with the vehicle. It was still a giant orange hippie-bus with "Camp half-blood" written in Greek on the outside; but inside was awesome. The seats were all on the floor, and they were like giant fluffy beanbags. Each seat had a working seatbelt, and they would turn up and over into normal seats if you pressed a button on the dashboard. The only problem, you could not sit in the seat while it was turning over, or you would get squashed. There were twelve seats in all. Each one was a different color, depending on who sat in them; they were enchanted to reflect the mood of the one sitting in it. If no one sat in it, it was white. The place even had a refrigerator built into the back of one of the front seats, which was always heavily stocked with loads of food.

I got out and pulled Grover behind me. Seth came too. Percy and Annabeth decided to stay in the limo. To watch it. Seth held my hand as we walked up the stairs.

When we got inside, we got lost almost immediately, trying to find our way to the office. We had a half an hour to find it before passing time, according to the slips of paper near the door.

As we wandered through the halls of the high school, we passed a tall girl in a green and red miniskirt and a green sweater that showed off her midriff. It had the schools initials and a picture of a fox in red. She had a great stomach and long red hair in a ponytail. Her eyes were green like the grass and her face had a light sprinkling of freckles.

She eyed Seth as if she was considering going up to him and asking his name. She completely ignored me.

As it turns out, Seth had more guts than she did. He let go my hand and walked up to her. "Excuse me, but could you tell me where the office is? We seem to be lost." he seemed to look her up and down. This got the desired response.

"Sure!" she agreed, puffing out her chest. She seemed to swell with pride at hooking such a hottie. "It's this way, follow me." She turned and walked towards the way we had just come. She led us down a hall that we had missed, and showed us a long hallway with many doors. "Just down there." She told us. She smiled brilliantly as she turned and walked away.

"Wait." Seth called. She paused, and turned. "Can you show me which one? I can't tell."

"Oh, sure." She beamed as she led us down the hallway. It was a long one, and each door was marked with a number and a sign. She led us to # 25 and dropped us off. "Hey, by the way, what's your name?" she asked him.

"Seth." He answered. "And yours?"

"Katie Sullivan." She told him.

"Alex, give me the list." He said. I did. He scanned it and found the school we were at. He looked down the list of names. "Katie Sullivan. I was right. We need her." He told me. "Hey Katie." He called down the hall. "Meet us in the office after school. We need to talk to you." She smiled and nodded. And then she disappeared down the hall. I could swear she was swinging her hips more than usual. I could see her panties, which was awkward, under her miniskirt. Put some clothes on, girl.

We walked into the office, and the woman behind the desk immediately caught my attention. She was tall and blond, and she wore red glasses and her hair in a bun. She glanced up at us, and turned back to the mountain of papers on the desk. She held up one finger as she put something down and shuffled some papers.

"Can I help you?" she asked in a beautiful alto voice. Her fingers twitched when she tried to still them.

"Um, we need you to call a few students. We need to talk to them after school."

"Reason?" she asked. She grabbed a pen and paper. And wrote something down.

"Actually, we can't tell you about it. Just ask you to call them and tell them to meet us out front after school. We need to talk to them." Seth said.

"I'm sorry, I can't do that without the proper information. I'd need a legitimate reason to call them down." She said.

"Fine. Um, here." Seth reached into him pocket, and pulled out a blank sheet of paper. She looked at it and her eyes grew wide.

"I had no idea! Right away, young man." She handed the paper back to Seth, and then wrote something down on her pad. "May I have the names of these particular kids? First and last, if you do not mind."

I pulled out the list. The names we needed here, I rattled off. "Katie Sullivan and Sierra and Mytreya Luxemburg." I announced.

She repeated the list of names as she wrote them down. She asked to look at the list, but she could not make sense of it. That was when I realized it must have been written in Greek. She looked slightly impressed, but didn't say anything.

When she was done, she typed each name into her computer, found something, and picked up the phone to call the class they were in. She would introduce herself, then ask for the person we needed. She would tell them to meet in the office after school, tell them it was important, And then she would thank the person and hang up.

While she was calling, I asked Seth what the paper was.

"It's enchanted. It's a useful back-up note, if people give us a hard time. It's designed to read a person's mind and tell them just what they need to do what we want." He explained.

"So what did she see?" I asked.

"Don't know, only she does."

She made three calls.

Apparently, two of the kids we needed, were twins. Mytreya and Sierra. By the time she was done, we had forty minutes left. So we went to the nearest Starbucks. It wasn't far, and it wasn't full. We were able to get there, get in, get what we needed, and get out and back; with two minutes to spare.

We went back inside and found the office again. We didn't talk, we just waited for school to get out.

When the bell rang, we could hear hundreds of kids make their way into the halls. After a few minutes, I glimpsed Katie Sullivan, entering the room, looking confused. She was still wearing her green and red cheerleader outfit. She saw us and came right over.

A few seconds later, a set of strawberry blonds in pink, purple and blue outfits came into the room. One was wearing a blue business shirt, very girly, with a pink tie and purple skirt. She wore black Mary-Jane's and pink knee socks. Her long hair was up in two big ponytails.

The other, wore a white puffy shirt, with a wide lavender belt, and bell-bottom jeans. As she got closer, I was able to make out a small pink heart-shaped patch on the lower left leg. Her long hair was down and somewhat messy. She wore turquoise sneakers and pink face paint.

They went to the lady behind the desk, and she pointed us out.

We had the three we needed in front of us. "Sierra and Mytreya?" I turned to look at the twins. They nodded. "Katie." I turned to Seth. "We're all here."

"Yep." He looked at our small audience and began to walk toward the door. "Let's talk in private."

Katie got into the car without hesitation. "What about the 'Don't get into a strangers car' rule?" Asked Mytreya. Sierra stood with her sister outside.

"No one's in the drivers' seat." I told them. "And we don't plan on kidnapping you. We just need to talk in private." They looked at each other, and nodded. They got in.

I sat down in one of the seats on the far end. Seth sat beside me, and Grover beside him. Next to the door, was Percy, followed by Annabeth. Next to her, were two empty spaces.

The new kids sat on the side away from the door, facing us. Their chairs were swirling brightly.

"We come, with news of something important. First, we need a straight answer." This was fun I was only a day old at this, but it already felt normal. "How many of you have never met one or more of their biological parents?"

"Well, I never met my mother." Announced Katie.

"Us too." The twins put in. "We never met our mom."

I turned to Katie Sullivan. "What about your dad? What does he do?"

"He owns a dating service on the border." She told me. "Says he met my mother there. And my stepmother. She's a batch, but he seems to like her. So I don't bother them."

"And you two?" I turned to the twins. "What about you? What does your dad do?"

"Our dad is a famous Olympian athlete. He can run like, superfast and throw a javelin like a maniac." Sierra told me.

"He's got like, fifty medals for "good work" in something or other. And he's so stuck up. He acts as if he just has to babysit us. He never acts like were his real kids. And he reads too many outdated sports illustrated magazines." Mytreya complained. "I've been considering running away for years, but Sierra won't let me. She's too happy with her expensive life. She cannot live without her 'ultra powerful hair dryer' or her 'one-hundred dollar make-up kits.' It's ridiculous. Even I'm not so stuck up." Sierra gave her a dirty look. Mytreya stuck her tongue out at her.

"Are you sure your mother is the same woman?" I asked.

"Yes. Born together and best friends for life." Sierra announced proudly. Mytreya didn't seem too happy at the moment. I could tell she never wanted to leave this stupid bus. I didn't ask about it.

"So why do you want to know about our parents?" Katie asked, drawing all the attention to herself. I could tell she loved it.

I'd only been involved in this for a few days, and I knew a few things for certain about half-bloods: Most or all of them are ADHD, and probably dyslexic too. They all had some sort of powers that helped determine them; and none of them, except the Aphrodite kids, liked attention.

"Have you ever heard about the Olympian gods?" Percy asked them. They all nodded.

"Well to make a long story short," Annabeth put in. "They're real. And sometimes, they have kids with mortals. These kids are half bloods or demigods. And they often are just about as powerful as their Olympian parent is. Sometimes, the kid is not so powerful, so they can get away with normal lives. You won't believe the amount of famous people who are demigods. And even if you did, we're not supposed to talk about it."

As she explained all this, I listened closely as well. I had never heard the situation explained that way before. When she was done, we all sat there, each one of us in a beanbag. The newer kids' bags were swirling in colors. Annabeth's was a reddish gray, and it wasn't changing colors much. Mine was a deep navy as I considered all this.

Suddenly, I felt the hairs on the back of neck stand up. My bag turned a bright shade of orange. I looked out the window, but everything looked normal. The color dulled a little. Everyone was watching the bag I was sitting in in alarm.

I scanned the kids and the stairs, but nothing seemed to jump out at me. Suddenly, a kid who looked surprisingly like Mitch came out of the front doors. I realized he had the same limp before I realized it was Grover. He was running down the steps and yelling. I heard something like "Help! Monster!" through the glass. Percy opened the door, and Grover came running up. He jumped in, lost a shoe, grabbed it, and sat down. His bag turned bright yellow. "Drive." He said. I obliged.

I was sixteen, and I did have a license, but I'd never driven' such a big car before. Even so, it was awesome. As I pulled out, I floored the accelerator. Which may not have been such a brilliant idea, but I'm impulsive. I do stuff. Kids and adults alike screamed and scattered like cockroaches when you turn on the kitchen light. It would have been hilarious in a game or something, if it hadn't been real. Or as terrifying. As we turned the corner, I could just see out the passenger side mirror. A large, leathery bird, with a whip and the ugly wrinkled face of an old hag. She screeched and flew after us, flapping her gigantic wigs.

We drove as fast as we could, which was around a hundred mile an hour, thanks to those geniuses in the Hephaestus cabin. As we drove, I focused solely on getting us south, toward camp half blood. And not getting us turned into scrap metal. We drove halfway across the state, towards the boarder.

The gas tank held a lot of gas. We had refilled it just before we got to the school. We had driven at top speed the whole way, and the needle still wasn't anywhere near the quarter mark. The car must have been enchanted or something. We had some Hecate kids at camp.

As we drove under a tunnel near Houston, it occurred to me that as long as it was in Leather bird form, the monster behind us wouldn't fit. It was too big with wings like that. And it had to be stupid, 'cause you rather have to be if you're that ugly. So I hit the brake. The car screeched as it came to a halt in the middle of a tunnel.

"What are you doing?" Annabeth demanded.

I opened the door. "Get out." I told everyone inside.

"Why?" asked Percy. "You just stopped. She's going to get us if we get out

"Just do it. Now! I'm trying to confuse her. Just get out and follow me."

Turns out, my instincts were right. Everyone got out, and we ran for cover in an old tunnel I had seen on the way in. The hole was small enough, and made of metal, that anyone bigger around than Percy, who was the largest and actually took a bit longer to get through, would be too big around to get in. Plus, the added bonus of a grilled door. Meaning the lawyer/Leather hag, would get stuck trying to get in. If she even got past the gate-thing first. I doubted she could. Luckily, we were all quite skinny.

As soon as we were all inside, I checked to make sure the bus was in view, which it was, and I swung the gate closed. We were safe, for now. I turned to everyone else and regarded the looks I saw. Fear, resentment at being cooped up, hate for the thing that had just attacked us, and confusion as to what my plan was.

I had no idea what to tell them. I suddenly realized that we must have been in some sort of drainpipe, 'cause the place smelled horrible. I prayed for a shower in the near future, and turned to watch the tunnel.

And not a moment too soon. As soon as I turned around, the lawyer walked onto the pavement from outside. It looked around in confusion, and hissed when it saw the limo. We held our breath. It walked over to the parked limo, looked in through the windows, and its eyes narrowed. It sniffed at the air, trying to pick up our sent. I stiffened, and I heard a sharp intake of breath behind me. Fortunately, a car passed across the tunnel, masking the sound.

"Where are you children?" the lawyer asked in a horrible voice. It grated on my nerves and made me want to scream. I bit my tongue. "Why do you hide from me now? When you so graciously left yourselves out in the open at that dreadfully huge school? You called to me with your sent. If you didn't want me, why have so many friends in one place?" he was studying the walls and sniffling.

"Damn it!" Annabeth muttered under her breath as another few cars went by. "How could we have been so stupid? Our sent must have been intoxicating!"

I had no idea what she meant, but I didn't ask. We were trapped in a tunnel, in the middle of Texas, far from New York and camp half blood. How the heck were we going to get out of this? And then fate answered my prayers. Well, kind of.

At that moment, a tall, pale kid with a grateful dead t-shirt and black jeans stepped out of the shadows across the tunnel. He had short silky black hair and dark eyes. I had seen him lurking around camp, but had never given him much thought. Now I did. He literally melted out of the shadows, like he had become them, and then needed to take shape. The lawyer's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. It stopped looking for us and knelt in front of the boy.

"Master Nico, what is it you have come to me for?" the lawyer looked terrified of the kid. I thought it was hilarious, but I kept my mouth shut.

"What are you doing here, Electo? Are you hunting?" the kid looked bored, and slightly awkward talking to this particular Lawyer.

"Electo?" I whispered to Seth beside me.

"Remember the festival?" Percy muttered. "We call them kindly ones. Don't ask me why."

"I was chasing some half bloods, sir." The lawyer told him.

"Why would you chase half bloods?" how many?"

"Eight, sir. One a satyr. They were in that vehicle." He pointed to the orange bus we had ditched in an effort to get rid of the fury.

"That is a camp bus." Nico scolded him. "You should be ashamed of yourself! Scram!" he waved his hand. The lawyer bowed again and disappeared.

"Alright, you can come out now!" Nico called into the tunnel. "She's gone."

I pushed open the grate and stepped out. I guess I smelled terrible, but Nico didn't even wrinkle his nose. What a diplomat.

"Hey guys. How is it going? You get all the kids you need?"

"Yup. We're doing fine, you?"

"I'm well. Thanks. So what are you doing in a drain pipe?"

"Well, the smell isn't too bad and the monsters are down to a minimum. Why are you here?" Percy said casually. I laughed quietly.

"I sensed Electo staying above ground for longer than she usually does. I figured she had to have a reason."

"Well there was a reason. Us." I told him. "And who was your dad?"

"My father?" he mused, looking bored. "Oh, him. Hades."

I considered this. "Cool. So how did you get here?" I asked him.

"Shadow travel. The way most monsters of the dark get around fast. It's pretty efficient, but it's a total drain of energy if you do it too much. May I catch a ride?"

"Sure! Of course, you can. Alex was just driving us back to long island. Get in."

We all got back into the car. I got back in to the driver's seat, and Seth got shotgun. The rest of the kids got into the back. We got settled in, and I started up the engine. As we drove on, there were no more monsters in our path, or following us; as far as we knew. But the car smelled bad.

In Austin, we picked up another boy. His name was Malcolm Schmitz, and he was quite pale with dark hair. He had lived with his mother until he was seventeen, and then she'd died, leaving him on the streets. He was on the list, but we didn't have much on him other than what he told us.

Driving through north Virginia, we stopped at a burger king. We had been traveling for two days and we were hungry. Nico had some cash, but not much. The twins ended up paying for food. They seemed to be incredibly rich and they each had a credit card with tons of money behind them, so that got us fed. All I got was a sprite, I felt a little queasy. Percy took the wheel after that. Everyone else got a meal or something.

We ate on the way, talking about family and things we liked to do for fun. I was a little sick for most of the day, but I was fine as we cruised into the long island area and slowed down.

We all got out of the car and trudged up the hill. When we got to the top, I gave out. I was tired. I hadn't slept in three days and I was out of it. I guess I rolled down the hill a ways, but I wasn't conscious long enough to know for certain.