Hello Romans. If any of you still bother to read this after the very long wait for the last Roman chapter, I hope you like this chapter. This chapter mostly focuses on the Mike, Emblem, and Lila because I was having writers block for the already started Roman quest. WARNING: There are implied time-skips where Adrian, Mimi, and James come in. I don't want to follow them across the country to their destination. SO, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO! THE DISCLAIMER!

If I were a poet, I'd write out my heart. I'm not a poet, or a writer. So, if I'm not a writer, how on Earth could I be Rick Riordan? No, I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

On with the chapter.

Lila decided that something was up within the first 15 second. While it was in Emblem's nature to be happy, no one goes around singing the minuet in G at the top of his or her lungs while skipping on a whim. As soon as Emblem walked into the room, Lila covered her ears and wished that she herself could hide in hammerspace with her sword, her mace, and her giant teddy bear (shhhhhh…). If Emblem had been singing it remotely well, Lila would not have been able to tell that something was different. Emblem only sang badly when she wasn't paying attention.

Adrian was very annoyed. After spending about three days wandering through the Rocky mountains, which reminded him to much of home, all at the same time, the three demigods on the quest had all had dreams telling them that the "land of the snow" in the prophecy was actually the Appalachian mountains. So now, they had to travel halfway across the country to a location hardly know to them. Why? In addition, Adrian's dream had foreshadowed something not quite pleasant…

Adrian was tending a fire in a cave. It wasn't for his sake; he was fine with the cold. But he was fairly certain that James and Mimi would freeze to death if the fire went out. Both were pretty tough, but both had lived in California for some time, and James was used to the heat of the forges. Mimi had caught a old earlier, so she was curled up in her sleeping bag. James had tried to guard the mouth of the cave, but Adrian had made him stop when James started shivering. It had been several hours since then, and now both of his comrades were asleep. No one had heard the footsteps outside except for him. "Wait! You don't know what is in there!" Someone came running towards the cave. Adrian started to draw his sword, but stopped upon seeing the person, "Why are you here?" "WHO ARE YOU? ARE YOU ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE MONSTERS?" The last thing he saw before blacking out was a bullet and blood.

He woke up hazily. He could vaguely hear, "Just hang in there a little bit longer, Frosty. There's a hospital at the base of Mt. Washington."

Lila's second observation was at lunch. In addition to her being able to eat her cookies in peace, Emblem kept creeping over to whisper things to Mike. Mike wouldn't blush after she spoke to him, so that basically destroyed the idea that she had originally thought at training. However, something was making Mike happy: Mike wasn't the type of person to smile. If Lila concentrated hard enough, she was sure she could piece together the nonexistent clues to come up with an answer. Sometimes Lila wished answers would fall from the sky.

Mimi couldn't help but stare as the girl fell off the cliff. It was like a train wreck: you don't want to see it, but you don't want to look away. As she fell of the road Mimi recognized as the Mt. Washington Auto Road and tumbled off the cliff, Mimi could see her surprise and fear. Mimi could see a girl with long auburn hair reaching out to try grabbing her hand, but it was too late. As the falling girl hit the ground, Mimi winced. She ran over to see what the fate of the girl was. The girl was bloody and covered in dirt, but she was still breathing. Despite not knowing her, Mimi suddenly had the urge to help her. But where was the hospital?

The third observation Lila made had been at the end of the day. Lila had found some child of Mercury's weapon lying on the battlefield, and out of the kindness of her heart (otherwise known as Octavian's orders) she "decided" to bring it to them. The owner was in the 2nd cohort, so after she returned the weapon, she started snooping around to see what Emblem was doing. Lila was in her "lair" after all. As Lila crept in the shadows, she heard Emblem's voice. Emblem sounded like she was checking things off a list, "… check, canteen of nectar: check, sleeping bags: check…" Lila dashed away when she heard Emblem walking towards her. With the newly found information, Lila streaked back to her cabin.

'Why am I doing this?' James was creeping up on an unidentifiable figure. Whoever it was, they were lying on a hospital bed. James could see that the room was empty except for him, the other person, and a neon sign saying Mt. Washington Hospital. James pulled out his sword, not quite sure why, but he heard a voice in the back of his head telling him that that is what he was supposed to be doing. James was confused why he was raising his sword, so instead he put it back in its sheath and walked away. He could hear the voice yelling at him in his head, but he didn't care. He was walking away when he heard a voice, "Who are you? What are you doing here? What am I doing here?" He didn't reply, but he did collapse onto the floor as he felt himself faint.

The information literally fell from the sky. Lila had been hacking away at an innocent dummy. She had been annoyed at the fact that she couldn't find Emblem or Mike anywhere, and neither could anyone else. As she was about the stab the dummy through its straw heart, and paper blew into her face. She grabbed it and was about to tear it into pieces for disturbing her when she read the title.

PACKING LIST FOR EMBLEM AND MIKE'S QUEST

In case you didn't understand, the first section in italics is Arian's dream, the second is Mimi's, and the third is James's. So, how was this chapter? I hope it wasn't cheesy, but it was very fore shadowy. Cookies to those who read this chapter. (::) (::)

Does anyone have theories?