Okay, okay. I know it's been forever since I updated and I'm so sorry for that. But believe it or not now that summers over I'll actually have more time to work on my story. So I'm back baby!

Also, thanks to krystle123, my Beta, for correcting my horrible grammar. She's the best!

Disclaimer: Okay fine! I do not own PJO. You happy now?

And why would I want to own Twilight?

…...

With lies you may get ahead in the world - but you can never go back. ~Russian proverb…...

I turned around slowly and half-heartedly threw my hands up in surrender. Jace did the same. "How do you know my name? Are you like those other people?" Jeanne interrogated, her brown eyes piercing through me. "Pretend to be nice and friendly than transform into some monster?" Jace waved his hands frantically in front of him. "No, no! It's not like that at all. We're fro-" The sentence died in his through and he glanced over at me pleadingly. This girl already looked like she would run us through without a second thought, and this was definitely not the right time to tell someone about their godly heritage. It was something that needed to be done slowly and gently - or she might call the nearest mental institution on casually twirled a pocket knife in her left hand, observing us. Judging by the multiple nicks and scratches on the blade, it had probably seen action before. Great, we got the crazy half-blood. I gulped audibly and returned Jace's glance. And he expected me to calm her down? I reached down and felt the cold metal of my I.D. bracelet, just reassuring myself that it was there. I wasn't real keen about attacking her, not exactly a great first impression, but if that knife got any closer, I wouldn't mind whacking her a couple of times across the head. "I'll ask you one more time. How. Do. You. Know. My. Name?" she demanded. Jace looked over at me again, his eyes asking for an answer, for anything."Just a lucky guess!" I blurted out. The knife in her hand stopped moving as she looked at me, confused. My partner-in crime bobbed his head up and down, agreeing with my horrible lie. "Yeah! I mean, we're in France right? So that means there are a lot of people named Jeanne, because, y'know, that's a french name..." he trailed off when Jeanne and I both stared at glanced back to me again before clicking her knife shut and sliding it in a pocket of her camo cargo pants. Now I was of the corner of my eye I saw Jace shrug. Apparently he didn't know what was going on either. Jeanne sighed and leaned against the brick wall of the alley we were in. "Judging by that blatant lie, the fact you know my name, and because stupid over here," she gestured towards Jace, "is wearing a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you're from camp." My jaw dropped as I stared at her. All this time, and she knew!Jace jumped up from the ground, his face flushed with anger. "Then what was the bloody knife for?" he yelled."I needed to see if I could trust you," Jeanne replied smoothly. "I've been having a problem with monsters; it was merely a precaution."I stood up from the grimy ground and brushed myself off, not letting her out of my sight. Jace looked like he was about to start shouting again so I pushed him aside. I stuck my hand out at her. "Hello, my name is Aleksandr, I'm a half-blood, like you. And this is Jace, he's a tree." Jeanne smiled at me, grabbing my hand and giving it a hard shake. "Aleksandr, that's a cool name. How's it spelled? Like Alexander the Great, or judging by your accent, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn?" she asked, excited."Who?" I asked. She waved her hands, brushing it off. "Never mind, I'll tell you some other time." "Hey!" Jace exclaimed as my words struck him, "What do you mean 'I'm a tree'?" He punched my shoulder. Quite hard, I might add.I rolled my eyes. "Fine. This is Jace, he's a tree-spirit. Big difference."

Jace nodded, satisfied, and held out his hand to Jeanne. "I'm from Camp Half-Blood. How exactly do you know about camp again?"

She shook his hand and glanced at the setting sun. "I'll tell you inside." She gestured to the building we had been stalki- I mean, observing, earlier. She shrugged

past us, leading the way. But then she stopped abruptly and turned to face us. "Oh, and by the way, my name is Jeanne Rieu, daughter of Hermes."…...The first thing I noticed when I walked into the old building were the books. Not a couple lying around or a few of bookcases worth. There was hundreds all over the place, stacked on top of each other, everywhere. Jeanne could basically run a library. Jace let out a whistle as he took it in. The second thing I noticed was how big the building was. It looked like an old, small building from the outside, but on the inside, it had arches and columns, like a church. Jeanne went over and flopped down on the couch we had seen her on earlier. It was the only piece of furniture that wasn't covered in books. She grabbed a stack of books off another couch and placed them on the floor.

"Please, sit," she said, gesturing towards it.

I let my backpack fall to the ground while Jace helped himself and laid on the couch."So… what's with the books?" he asked, eyeing the piles of novels.

Jeanne smiled. "Welcome to St. Paul's," she declared, "before the World War II, it was a simple church. But during Germany's occupation of France, it was used as a place to hide books for fear that Germany would burn them. Then the books were eventually forgotten and left in the basement, and then the church closed down. I found this building one day and thought it was beautiful to begin with, then I found the hundreds of books in the basement. All of the books are written by the best authors. And some of the books here are one of a kind. From time to time, I add to the collection."

I frowned and picked up a black paperback book off the ground. "So Twilight is a great piece of literature now?" I said while waving it.

She laughed, the sound echoing around the church. "It makes a great doorstop."

Jace cleared his throat. "Not that this little history lesson isn't interesting or anything, but could we get back to the main question?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, about camp and all that," Jeanne started. "My maman, or mom like you Americans say, told me about my father about two years ago, before she…" She paused; you could see the pain all over her face. I reached over and put my hand on her shoulder, feeling the need to comfort her. She looked up at me, her eyes showing her thanks.

Jeanne cleared her throat and turned to look at Jace. "She told me about my father and about the camp when I was twelve. That I would need to go there soon for my own protection. But the accident happened before we could make arrangements or anything. I didn't even know where the camp was, and I still don't. My maman told me that someone from camp would come and find me eventually, so I decided to wait.

Then about half a year ago the monsters started attacking. They would disguise themselves as humans, which was why I was so hostile earlier. Because of them, my father showed up in my dreams and gave me this." She reached down into her pocket and pulled out the knife. Jace stared at it intently. "May I see it?" he asked as he held his hand out. Jeanne shrugged and dropped it in his palm.

He turned it around, examining it. "I didn't really get a good look at it earlier with it being waved around in my face," he murmured, "but this is definitely celestial bronze." I frowned. "Isn't that some kind of tanning lotion or something?" I questioned.

Jeanne snickered. "Oh Monsieur… celestial bronze is the only metal that can kill monsters," she told me. "But it can also harm half-bloods. It can't touch humans." Oh. That explained a lot. "Plus this knife is magic," she added. "It never misses its mark."

"What do you mean it nev-" I was cut off by a loud thunk. My heart skipped a bit and I slowly turned around. The knife was perfectly embedded in the wall behind me, and I swear that there was some blond hair on it. I shakily reached up to my head and found my hair and my head intact.

"What was that?" I growled at Jace.

He shrugged. "Just showing you what it does."

Jeanne walked over and yanked it out of the wall. "Basically where you want it to go, it goes," she said.

Realization dawned on me and I glanced down at my I.D bracelet "Wait… So that means this…" I activated my shield, "is magic and celestial bronze too?"

A golden glimmer filled the room as what little light there was reflected off the shield. Jeanne's eyes were as wide as saucers as she took it in. She hesitantly reached out to touch it.

"Go ahead," I offered, "It won't zap you… I think."

Jeanne ran her hands over the cold metal, feeling the different groves on it. Her hands stopped and she looked up at me.

"Do you know what this is?" she asked. I slid the shield off my arm so I could look at it better.

I squinted at it. "It kinda looks like a bow and arrow…"

Jeanne looked over at Jace like she was asking if she could continue. He thought for a moment and nodded. Jeanne turned back toward me, her brown eyes staring.

"There are twelve main Greek gods," she began. "Only two of them are known for their archery. And only one of them are allowed to have children."

My eyes widened as a stared down on my shield. The bracelet I had worn all my life held the secret on who my father was. It was kinda ironic. I looked back up at Jeanne, not able to speak. She hesitated before speaking. "That would be the sun god, Apollo."

…...

I laid out on the small couch staring at the ceiling, not able to sleep. After what Jeanne told me, I had just sat there numbly until it was time to get some rest. J

Jeanne and Jace had decided that we would leave for camp tomorrow, probably by airplane. I hadn't helped at all with the decision making, I didn't contribute any input at all.

I growled and put my face in my pillow. Fifteen years… no contact, no anything. The bow and arrow on the shield was no coincidence. It all added up. What I did that day at school, when I nearly fried that bully, made perfect sense. The kid of the sun god would be able to do something like that. I turned to the other side of the couch and fluffed my pillow. No way was I going to get any sleep tonight.

"Alek," a small voice whispered. "Are you awake?" I glanced over to the small mattress on the other side of the room to see Jeanne looking at me with concern.

"Yeah, can't sleep," I muttered through my pillow.

"You know, I know how you feel," she said.

I sat straight up. "No, no you don't," I hissed with unusual venom. "I've never had a family. I've had one really good friend that I would like to imagine as my sister but I've never had a real family; people that I can sit down and eat dinner with and they would ask me how school was, teach me how to ride a bike, or just be there! You had your mom at least, someone there to take care of you and all that, while I was all alone."

Then I find out I have a father. One that supposedly cares for me but doesn't show up for fifteen years. Yeah, I knew this was going to happen when Jace told me I was a demigod, but for me to actually know who he is - It's just another kick to the gut." I was out of breath from my rant and just lay there for a second, panting.

Silence came from the corner. Guilt washed over me as I realized what I just said.

"Jeanne, I'm so sorry," I said quickly, " I just needed to let it all out. I didn't mean to take it out on you. It was uncalled for." It was still silent in the room and I thought she wasn't going to talk to me anymore.

She finally spoke. "It's alright, I understand. You've had a lot to take in over the past two days. Besides you - " she stopped mid-sentence.

I peered over at the dark corner. "Jeanne, you there?" She threw her blanket to the ground and jumped off the mattress in one swift motion, landing in a crouch.

"Do you hear that?" she demanded.

I held my breath for a moment and listened to my surroundings. Beneath the sounds of the busy city, almost like it was hiding, was a deep growl coming from outside.

"Monster!" Jace yelled as he jerked up out of his sleep. I jumped in surprise and fell off the couch, flat on my face.

Jeanne snickered from across the room. "Nice boxers Alek."

My face reddened and I grabbed my pants, shoving them on as fast a possible. "Shut it. That's how I sleep," I muttered.

Jace ran across the room, putting as much of our stuff in our backpacks as fast as he could. He slung both of them over his shoulder and turned to Jeanne. "Please tell me there's some sort of back door or secret exit or something."

"Yeah, the bookcase." She pointed.

He looked over at me and gestured towards it. I nodded and ran over to it while trying not to trip over the library on the floor. I could hear Jeanne in the background stuffing clothes and books into a backpack.

The old bookcase looked like it was a ton but when I pushed, it slid across the floor easily, revealing a dark tunnel.

Jace glanced over at Jeanne. "We need to go now," he commanded. "Alek, get your shield out and Jean, get your knife ready. If that monster's what I think it is, we're in for one heck of a fight. Do you have a weapon or anything I could use, Jean?"

Jeanne nodded and grabbed something off the ground. "Here," she said and tossed it to Jace.

He caught it with ease and twirled it around in his hand. "Great. You get the magic knife, he gets the magic shield, and I get the baseball bat. Really feeling the love."

'

Jeanne shrugged. "It's all I have, take it or leave it."

Jace grimaced but kept the bat and made his way down the tunnel.

I muttered the word under my breath and my bracelet grew, transforming into my golden shield.

Jeanne was twirling her knife in her hand and wistfully staring at her books.

I spoke up. "Ladies first." She turned and smiled at me before making her way down the tunnel. I stepped in and froze. The growling noise was now coming from outside the building and a large shadow filtered through the window. I shuddered and quickly moved the bookcase back in place.

…...

"Gods it smells down here," Jace murmured. Unfortunately what Jean had failed to tell us was that the tunnel led straight to the sewage system.

"Would you rather stay back with our monster friend?" I asked. He rolled his eyes but kept on sloshing through the ankle-high water. Jeanne was leading us through the almost pitch-black tunnels, Jace and I were pretty much following her blindly. I was border-line hyperventilating with how dark the tunnel is, but I wasn't about to admit that.

I nervously glanced back at the dark tunnel behind me and quickened my pace. No way was I getting left behind. Jeanne stopped for a second and made a sharp right turn down another tunnel. The tunnels couldn't take us exactly right to the airport, but it was close enough.

"Hey Jeanne," I spoke up, "how exactly are we paying for plane tickets?"

"Life insurance," she murmured without turning.

I only heard part of it so I leaned in closer. "Huh, what did you s-mmmmm - " She threw her hand over my mouth and signaled for me to be quiet. "Mmmmhhh?" I mumbled. Her grip on my mouth tightened till I couldn't breathe. I took that as a hint that I should be quiet. Then I heard it. The sound of splashing faintly echoed behind us.

"It thought you said it was a secret tunnel!" Jace hissed. Jeanne let go of my face and shrugged as I gasped for air.

"We need to go now!" Jace whispered. Jeanne didn't need any persuasion as she took off down the tunnel.

"Wait… Won't it just follow us to the airport? The one filled with people?" I asked.

Jeanne stopped in mid-stride and huffed. "We have to fight that thing then. Do we?" She sounded as if she hoped I'd say no. I didn't respond, but tightened the straps of my shield. She sighed. "That's what I thought."

She flicked open her knife and walked to my side. Jace tied our backpacks to a pipe hanging on the wall and joined us, bat swinging in his hand. An eerie silence fell over the tunnel as the echo came closer. It came closer and closer then finally stopped. My heart was beating so hard I thought it would burst out of my chest. All my muscles tensed and I could hardly keep myself still. One glance out of the corner of my eye told me that Jeanne was having the same problem, her arms and legs twitching and the knife moving from hand to hand.

A low growl pierced the silence. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stick up as a large silhouette came towards us. Because of the lack of light I couldn't see much, but what I could see, I didn't like. This thing made a SUV seem like a clown car and could be a little sibling to a school bus. It was a grizzly bear on steroids. Black eyes sized me up as it moved in closer, drool dripping of fangs that made my arms seem like toothpicks. I gulped and pushed down the lever on the backside of my shield. My wrist tingled as the shield's edge turned sharp.

The Bear-osaurus Rex let out a roar and charged towards us. Jeanne tucked and rolled out of the way as I instinctively held my shield in front of me, holding my ground. It raised one of its claw tipped paws and smashed it against me. I gasped and fell to one knee as it pressed down on me. It was as strong as it looked.

Jeanne swiped at it's back, trying to distract it, but it swatted her away, keeping it's attention on me. A loud crack filled my ears as Jace smacked the thing across its head, skull meeting Louisville Slugger. It turned around and pawed at the empty air where Jace had been, its frustrated roaring filling the sewer.

I jumped at the opening and sliced at the bear. Paws went after me as I ducked and moved. The thing wasn't very fast, or smart. I ducked around a meaty, furry arm and tried to slice it again. A large paw met me and slammed me into the brick wall. There was a large crack as my skull banged against the wall and I slid down into the water, completely limp and seeing stars.

"Alek!" Jace yelled. The bear turned at the sound of his voice and let out a roar. It got cut off by a baseball bat to the face. It staggered backwards, its eyes glassy, and Jace moved in for another homerun. Suddenly its eyes focused and it reached up and grabbed Jace, pinning him by his neck against the wall.

I saw the bat fall uselessly to the ground as Jace struggled to breathe. I gritted my teeth and tried to stand, only to fall uselessly to the ground. My vision blurred, but I could still see Jace struggling. One of the only friends I had was going to die in front of me, because I couldn't protect him.

Then I heard whistling as something flew past me, and hit with a loud thunk as it met flesh. The monster dropped Jace to the ground and began frantically pawing at its face, trying to dislodge the knife sticking out between its eyes. Then it turned into dust with a one final roar.

I slowly turned my head and saw Jeanne standing where the knife had come from, arm extended from when she had thrown it. My head slowly rotated around to see Jace gasping for breath on the ground, but still alive. I leaned my head against the wall as my eyes grew heavier. My head was pounding and I could feel the blood slowly dripping down my neck. Some hero I was, I couldn't protect anyone. The last thing I remember was Jeanne shaking me and telling me not to go to sleep before everything went black.