A/N: I do not own PJO.

Chapter Seven- Stryker

My eyes fluttered open and I gasped. I sat up quickly and took in my surroundings. I was on a park bench padded with clothes. A beautiful woman sat beside me.

"Ah, you're awake," she said. She smiled and I was filled with warmth. I looked around again. We were next to the Mississippi River, on the Bluff, and I heard jazz music and smelled barbeque. My friends were sprawled out in the early morning sun. None of the boys were wearing shirts and I realized I was using them as a pillow.

The woman spoke again. "Tell me, are you feeling better?" I studied her carefully. She had long flowing golden hair and bright gold eyes. On her head she wore a radiant gold crown. It was braided across her forehead, hippy style. Her dress looked like it was made from liquid sunlight, and the little particles of light flowed down.

I moved my injured arm and it was sore, but otherwise I felt fine. I nodded and the woman smiled warmly again.

"Who are you?" I asked.

The woman patted my head. "I am what you are in right now," she said. "I am the warmth and light."

I cocked my head and narrowed my eyes. "No, really lady. Look I don't have that much time. I have to get to―"

"The House of Thanatos," the woman finished.

"How did you know?" I asked cautiously.

"Because word has spread that the next Great Prophecy was issued to the daughter of a minor goddess. Iris was practically beaming," the woman said.

I sat gaping at this woman. She was a goddess, and I had definately just fed her my angst ridden teenager routine.

"Care to guess? Or shall I just tell you now who I am?" The woman was so radiantly beautiful that it almost hurt to look at. I almost guessed Aphrodite, but something stopped me.

"I don't know my Greek myths well," I said carefully.

The woman shook her head. "Tsk, tsk. It really is a shame. Did your sister not give you that lovely book? Reading is good for you, child."

I just stared at her, my eyes wide and she sighed. "I am Hemera, goddess of the day."

I gaped again and Hemera rolled her golden eyes. "Are we going to stare at me all day, or are you going to listen to my advice?" she said, hitting my arm lightly.

"I, uh, I mean sorry, Lady Hemera," I stammered.

Channing stirred in his sleep. He murmured my name and rolled over. I blushed bright red as the butterflies returned. Hemera smiled and winked at me. "He was so worried last night," she said. "Wouldn't leave your side. You almost died."

I blushed even deeper and Hemera's smile widened. "However, Hayden and Dakota fluttered around too. Dakota was in tears for hours. I told the poor girl you would be fine, but she refused to believe me. She was convinced you were a goner. Which you would have been, except I showed up just in time. What a lucky girl you are."

I looked over at Dakota's sleeping form and she mumbled something about ice. I laughed weakly and stood up. I expected to fall back down, but I managed to stand. I shivered in the morning mist coming off the river.

Hemera stood with me and gestured to the sun. It got a little brighter and the mist cleared. I stopped shivering and warmth replaced the cold. "You said you had advice," I reminded her.

Hemera nodded and cleared her throat. "Now, since you haven't done your reading, I suppose I must fill you in. My mother is Nyx, goddess of the night, and she resides in the Underworld. Since her son is on this quest, I am sure she will help you. However, just in case, I have requested multiple times that she help you, seeing as though my own daughter is also here." Hemera looked at Hayden and smiled softly. "Anyway, I can get you as far as Utah. But past there, Lord Zeus would be angry. He tends to frown upon gods interfering with demigods. But once you get to Utah, I'd recommend 'borrowing' a car and getting to Los Angeles as fast as you can. This is day one, don't waste time." I nodded and she smiled. "You should also get your sister to meet you there. She might have something to interest you."

Hayden stirred and sat up slowly. "Mother?" she called.

Hemera knelt beside her. "I'm here, darling."

Hayden smiled. "I thought you had left," she said.

Hemera shook her head, and her hair bounced around her in thick ringlets. She and Hayden looked so much alike that it was scary.

Hayden stood and hugged me fiercly. "Don't do that to us again," she said.

I managed a smile. "I won't."

Hayden hugged me again and Hemera cleared her throat. "No offense, darlings, but time is of the essence. Wake the others," she said.

Hayden and I set about shaking the boys and Dakota awake. Chase woke up first and smiled at me. Tanner gave me a worried look and shook his head while Aidan hugged me. Dakota cried a little and practically tackled me. Channing was the last to get up and he just stared at me like this was the first time he'd seen me.

Hemera gave Channing a look, but I couldn't tell if it was good or bad. She turned back to me, putting herself between Channing and me.

"Remember what to do," Hemera said and snapped her fingers.

I heard a pop and suddenly we were in the middle of a pile of snow. Channing looked around and growled, "I hate snow."

I looked up and saw mountains all around us. The air was dry and thin here compared to the thick air of Memphis. It was chilly here and I wrapped my arms around me, trying to hold in my body heat. The mountains were green and there were ski slopes crisscrossing the forests. There was still a little snow on them and Dakota squealed in delight.

Tanner and Chase looked behind us into the woods and Tanner bit his lip. "I know this place," he said slowly.

"It's somewhere in Utah right?" I asked.

Tanner nodded. "I used to come here with my mom before she, er, passed. It's a ski town. It's called Park City."

I was curious as to how his mum died, but I didn't ask. "It's so…" I searched for the right word.

Dakota smiled. "Snowy?" She had been picking up handfuls of snow and tossing it above her head.

I shook my head. "No…"

Aidan snapped his fingers. "Quaint!"

I smiled. "Exactly." We looked down at the sleepy town below us.

"There's a Main Street near here. We could grab some breakfast," Tanner suggested.

I dragged Dakota away from the snow and she whimpered. "Just let me build a snowman!" she begged. I relented to her puppy dog face and she smiled widely. Dakota gathered a pile of snow and molded it into three small circles. She piled them on top of each other and held the snowman up proudly.

Channing knocked it over and Dakota got a devestated look on her usually happy face.

Aidan shoved Channing away from the now deseased snowman. He gathered the piles of snow and fixed them back into a crude snowman. Aidan offered it to Dakota and she smiled again.

She took the pile of snow and hugged Aidan with her other arm. Aidan smiled and stuck his tongue out at Channing.

"Irish people are weird," Channing muttered.

Aidan wacked his arm. "American people are weird!"

We started down the ski slope and Hayden sighed. "This is like a metaphor of life," she said.

We all looked at her like she was crazy. "Care to explain?" Tanner asked.

Chase snorted. "I don't think she can."

Hayden rolled her eyes. "Oh course I can!" She thought for a minute. "We're walking down a slope, and it represnts the struggle in life that―"

Channing held up a hand. "Enough. Save it for someone who cares, Hayden."

"Gods, you are just asking to die aren't you?" she snapped.

Channing stopped walking and stepped closer to her. "Maybe I am," he said in a threatening voice.

Hayden growled and the sun burned brighter. "Then bring it," she said.

Chase was about to step in when the sun became dim. When I say dim, I don't mean like a cloud passed over it. It was more like we were in the middle of an eclipse. The sun blinked out for a split second and Hayden gasped.

"You little!" she screamed and tackled Channing. He just pushed her off and stood up calmly. "Fight me!"

"No. I'm sick of you being a crazy little brat. You push me around and think that just because you're a girl that I won't stand up for myself. Well guess what, Hayden? I'm done taking your crap. So shut up, or get the hell away from me," Channing said calmly.

There was a shocked silence as Channing began to walk away. I glanced at Hayden and then back at Channing. Tanner nodded and I ran after the fuming boy.

"Channing," I said when I reached him. He turned to look at me and his eyes were furious.

"I'm sick of her crap! I'm sick of her thinking she can just waltz around, telling me who I am and what I'm worth," Channing said and I put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't let her get to you," I said. When I glanced over my shoulder, Tanner and Dakota were trying to comfort an angry Hayden. Chase waved to me and started down toward us.

"Seriously, she's insane man. Don't let her craziness make you so mad," Chase said.

Channing rolled his eyes. "I can't stand her. And she hates me too. I really just want to kick her into next Tuesday, but if I did, I'd look like a jerk."

I sighed as I heard Hayden scream in rage behind us. "She's making herself look like a jerk."

Channing smiled a little, and I punched his arm. "What is up with you? You've been acting funny," I said and he blushed for a split second before getting a confident smirk.

"Hmm, have you ever thought that maybe it's you who's acting funny?" he asked and I rolled my eyes. "You're trippy," he added.

Channing turned around and Hayden stalked down the ski slope and past him. "Are we going to get something to eat or not?" she said as she passed us.

I fell in step with Chase and he smiled at me. He had really pretty green eyes and he caught me staring. "Struck by my beauty?" he asked and smiled.

I blushed and shook my head. "You just have pretty eyes," I admitted.

"Thanks. Your eyes are pretty cool too. The whole shifting colors is more awesome than just green."

I shook my head. "I'd rather have normal eyes."

Chase laughed. "We're talking about eye color?"

I shrugged. "Eyes say a lot about people," I said. I tapped my eyelid. "They're the window to the soul."

Chase smiled at me and said, "Your soul must be extra colorful."

We had reached the bottom of the ski slope and Tanner silently led us to a bus stop.

"The bus system is free," Tanner said and he checked his watch then looked at a sign. I don't know how, but he managed to read it. "We have about a minute until the bus is supposed to get here. But just a warning, Park City is kind of snotty sometimes. Lots of rich people, so just please, behave yourselves."

"If that's possible," Aidan whispered behind Tanner's back.

Tanner whirled around. "I'm serious! I know people who live here!"

Dakota rolled her eyes. "What? Don't want us to embarrass you in front of your rich friends?" she asked.

"They are most definitely not my friends," Tanner growled.

"Do I sense bitter memories?" Aidan asked.

"Very," Tanner mumbled. I was about to ask him what happened, but the bus pulled up. We got on and rode in an awkward silence for a while, interupted only by Hayden's annoyed huffs and sighs.

I sat next to Dakota and we were in the middle of a poke war when the bus stopped and Tanner stood up. We followed him onto Main Street and past closed stores. The only thing open were the art galleries. The little place Tanner had in mind was closed for another hour, but Aidan spoke up.

"Why don't we just, you know, walk around the art galleries? Just to see what we can see," he suggested. Hayden agreed and Channing just shrugged. The rest of us were passive.

The first place we went into was boring, all landscape pictures. The second place was pretty cool, it was filled with abstract paintings. The artist was walking around the gallery, talking to the ritzy looking couples who bothered to get up this early. She gave us a nervous glance.

I found Hayden staring at a white canvas with an orange circle in the bottom left-hand corner. Channing walked up behind me and cocked his head. Dakota twirled in and stopped. Chase, Tanner, and Aidan weren't far behind.

Hayden had one hand on her hip and the other holding her chin. She glanced behind her and nodded at us. "I get it," she said, turning her gaze back to the painting.

"What's to get? It's an orange circle," Chase said.

Hayden rolled her eyes. "It's obviously representing the struggle in the Middle East. Can't you tell? The circle is the countries in the Middle East and the white is America. It's so obvious!"

I looked at her like she was crazy. "Hayden, it's a circle," I said slowly.

She shrugged. "You just don't have the artist's eye then."

We moved on to the third gallery and it was filled with paintings of abstract naked women. We stepped in and immediatly walked back out. But Channing managed to point at one of the paintings and say, "Look, Stryker! It's you!" He smiled brightly and I wacked his arm.

I was ready to give up but Aidan wanted to go into one more, so we did. Paintings and photographs of the most random things hung on the walls. Hayden stood in front of a picture of a kitten. Channing was staring at her with a smirk.

"Stryker? Can you explain this to me? I really don't get it," Hayden said. Her expression was confused, so I knew she was serious, but I couldn't help but smile.

"Um," I struggled to find the right words. "It represents the, er, struggle for inner peace?"

Channing laughed so hard he almost cried, but Hayden nodded like she understood. "Thanks Stryker. I get it now." She smiled and I felt a little bad but Channing was laughing too hard. It felt good to see him laugh again, so it was worth messing with Hayden.

Hayden moved on to the next painting and Channing stood next to me in front of one. It was a photo of a bear catching fish. "What does this one mean?" Channing asked.

I smiled and nudged him. "It represents a bear eating a fish," I said and Channing made his best shocked face.

"You have quite the way with poetry, Stryker," he said and bowed.

Aidan walked by us and said, "No she doesn't." He didn't even stop, but it sent me into a fit of laughter.

Tanner sat moping on a bench. I sat next to him and poked him.

He scooted away and I frowned. "What, do I have cooties?" I asked.

Tanner shook his head. "Can we just go? I really hate this place."

"You mean Park City?"

He nodded.

"Does it have something to do with your mum?" I asked.

Tanner closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. "It has everything to do with my mom."

I reached out and touched his hand, but he snatched it away. "I'm sorry, it's not you, really. I just don't want to hurt you," Tanner said.

I felt like there was a lot I didn't know about Tanner. "Walk with me?" I asked. He got up and slowly walked to the door. We sat outside the gallery on a wooden bench.

I was waiting for him to say something, but he didn't. "Tanner," I said.

"Just give me a second," he said.

After about a minute, Tanner finally spoke. "When I was ten, I found out I was a demigod. My mom and I were really close, and she used to take me out here for two weeks every summer, just to get away from things. The summer I was supposed to go to camp, I got scared. I didn't want to go, so I begged my mom to let me stay with her. We came out here, but my powers were just starting to develope. Stryker, if you haven't already guessed, I'm different from other demigods. I'm not completely alive, part of me is dead."

I sat completely still. Tanner glanced over at me. "So my mom and I drove out here from where I lived before, Denver, Colorado. But what I do to living things is bad. Stryker. If I touch something for too long, I literally suck the life out of it. I can't ever have a girlfriend. I can't ever have kids. I can't even have a puppy! Do you have any idea what that can do to a kid?"

I just stared at him. My heart was breaking for him.

"Anyway, my mom and I got out here and she started fading. She couldn't be near me anymore. I was literally killing her. She passed away two days before we were supposed to leave. I was stranded out here and the only people I knew were my cousins. They live up on the mountain," he said, pointing up to a lush mountain with large houses dotting it. "But my mom's brother didn't approve of me. He doesn't know what I am. He just thinks I'm some illegitimate child. My mom's family is extremely rich, but when I was born they kinda kicked her out so to speak. So when she passed away, they saw me as some nuisance that they had to take care of. They shipped me to camp, and I've lived there year-round ever since. I don't have anywhere else to go." Tanner stared at the ground and then looked up at me.

"Tanner, I had no idea," I whispered.

He shook his head. "It's been three years. I'm okay."

I wanted to hug him, but considering his touch was deadly, I opted out. Instead I locked my pinkie around his thumb for a second. Tanner smiled gratefully and was about to say something when Channing and Chase burst out of the gallery followed by an angry Aidan.

"I am not gay!" Aidan shouted.

Channing smiled then saw how serious I looked. "Um, is now not a good time to say I'm hungry?" he asked.

Tanner forced a smile. "Nah, it's fine. Let's go eat."

We all walked to the tiny cafe and ordered a little food. I only had one hundred dollars to get us there and back again, and food here was expensive.

After we ate Dakota pouted. "How are we gonna get to Los Angeles now?" she asked.

"Hemera said we should 'borrow' a car," I said carefully.

Channing got a mischievous smile. "I'm assuming she meant steal. I'm not Hermes camper, but I pride myself on being a close second," Channing said proudly.

"We all know you're a master thief," Hayden said sarcastically.

Channing rolled his head dramatically to face her. "And don't you forget it, babe," he said and she frowned, but didn't say anything more.

Tanner scooped the last bit of cereal from his bowl. "I know where we can get a pretty cool car," he said casually.

Chase leaned forward. "What kind of car are we talking about?" he asked.

Tanner smiled a little. "Only a Porsche," he said, still not looking up.

Aidan choked on his toast. "Don't lie to me," Chase said.

Channing on the other hand was more practical. "We'll never all fit in a Porsche," he said, although he looked pretty miffed about it.

Tanner kept smiling. "I still know how to get a bigger car," he said, finally looking up.

"And how do you plan on getting it?" Aidan asked suspiciously.

Tanner shrugged. "My cousins live up there," he said and pointed to the same mountain. "They're loaded, so I'm fairly sure they wouldn't mind it if we stole just one fancy car."

Channing raised an eyebrow. "How many cars do they have?" he asked.

Tanner shrugged again and said, "Three years ago they had five."

Channing's mouth dropped open. Dakota took the chance to steal his bacon.

We hurridly paid and left, leaving no tip. I felt kind of bad when our waitress looked disapointed, so I ran back and handed her a five. "Sorry, forgot to tip," I said and her smile made my day.

I caught back up with the group and Hayden gave me a look. "We're about to steal a car, and you feel bad about not tipping a waitress?" she said and I felt stupid until Channing stepped in between us.

"Stryker is just a good person, unlike someone," he said, glaring at Hayden.

We kept walking to the bus stop and when we got on Tanner moved us to the very back, away from a family in the front.

"You can't seriously hate him so much just because he's night and you're day," I said to Hayden.

She sighed and glanced over at Channing. He was repeatedly poking Dakota in the sides, causing her to giggle.

"He paid the Hermes cabin to do stuff to me," she said.

"Like what?" I asked as Dakota shrieked.

"Like put all my clothes on the statues in the commons area. Or put my bed at the bottom of the lake. Oh and one time, they put the sun out on my cabin. Took me a week to get it lit again," Hayden said.

"You have a sun on your cabin?"

She nodded. "The Apollo cabin thinks they're the only sun kids, but I'm more sunny than them," Hayden said fiercly.

I scooted away. "Yeah, um, way more sunny."

Hayden smiled. "Thanks, Stryker. I just snapped one day and paid the Hermes cabin double to do the unthinkable. The Stoll brothers took my case personally. They went into Channing's cabin one night and somehow managed to move him into the Aphrodite cabin. By the time he woke up the next day, he looked like a girl. He's tormented me personally ever since."

I couldn't help but laugh. All this time I'd thought Hayden was the bad guy, but Channing had done a lot of crap to her.

Channing plopped down next to me. "Consorting with the enemy?"

I rolled my eyes. "You got what you deserved," I said and nudged him. He scowled. "You face might get stuck that way," I added and he released his frown.

"A few harmless pranks and she overreacts," Channing said.

"You put my underwear on a statue of Artemis!" Hayden cried. "I'm surprised she didn't vaporize you!"

Channing shrugged.

The bus pulled to a stop in front of a huge house. It was made entirely out of glass and sparkled in the morning sun, making little rainbows. I passed my hand through one and it got brighter. I tried grabbing it and it solidified, making a little rainbow stick. I wrapped it around my wrist and tied it off.

All the while, Tanner and Chase had snuck into the house through a window. Why they had windows in an all glass house beats me, but these people were rich, so I guess they can do whatever they want.

When they came back out, we all piled into a black Range Rover. It wasn't flashy, but it was definately pretty nice on the inside.

Chase hopped into the driver's seat. "None of us are old enough to drive," Dakota said.

Chase rolled his eyes. "None of us are old enough to steal either."

Dakota jumped into the passenger seat. "I don't think there's an age limit on stealing," she said.

"Well we're not old enough to travel across America by ourselves. But we're doing it anyway. So toss me the keys," Chase said. Tanner threw the keys from the back and Chase caught them without looking.

I sat next to Channing in the very back and found a road map as Chase pulled out. He was actually a good driver and when I asked, his only reply was that he was good at everything.

Dakota took charge of navigation and soon we were speeding away from the sleepy town.

It was about ten hours from Park City to L.A. and knew I needed to call my sister. None of us had cell phones, and I twisted the rainbow on my wrist. It started to glow and spark. I took it off and stared at the little thing.

"Please say the name of whom you would like to contact," it said.

Channing glanced over at me. "What?"

I held up my tiny little band. "It's talking," I said dumbly.

Channing raised an eyebrow. "Say a name?" he suggested.

"Abby Mensi?" I said. The rainbow expanded into a large flat surface. It shimmered and Abby appeared on the screen. She was sitting in the back of a lecture hall, her head resting in her hands.

"Abby!" I hissed. She jumped and her eyes flew open. She stared wide eyed at me then gathered her hands under her side of the connection. She slung her bag over her shoulder and slipped quietly out of the room. She stood on an empty green lawn and sat down.

"What the bloody hell is this?" Abby asked.

Her orange tan had faded, and she'd changed her bright hair back to its original honey blonde. She actually looked really pretty.

Channing smiled and waved. "It's a toll free Iris message," he said. "I guess you're our little telephone now," he added, poking me.

From the front, Tanner started singing Lady Gaga.

"It's a demigod thing," Channing added.

Abby nodded. "Stryker, are you okay? Are you safe?" she asked.

I sighed. "Yeah I'm fine. Listen, I'm on my way to Los Angeles. Is there anyway you can meet me somewhere?" I asked.

Her eyes got wide, but she nodded again. "Look, I have to get back to class. Call me on this thing again in," she check her watch, "three hours, okay?"

I smiled gratefully. "Will do."

Abby gave me a radiant smile. "Love you," she said and my smile grew.

"Love you too. See you soon," I said. A man walked into the background and Abby looked nervously behind her. Channing waved his hand over the screen and it shrunk back to my bracelet.

"Your sister is hot," Channing said.

"Shut up. Chase, step on it," I said.

Chase floored it and we sped down the highway. We were going at least eighty miles per hour, straight to the pits of hell.

A/N: Okay. I go to Park City, Utah every summer and I couldn't resist putting it in there.

Poor Tanner. I feel like a dirt bag, but hey, life isn't perfect.

Okay. Stryker and Channing? Do you like them? Tell me what you think.

See any other couples? Let me know!

Alright, in case you didn't already know, I'm in marching band. Color guard to be exact. This week is band camp, so I might be a bit slow with this story.

As always, check out my story "From the Foam of the Sea" and let me know what you think of it.

Review please.

Thanks, darlings.

ψcamille elisabethψ