Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO

James POV

I took a deep breath as I thought.

"I'm getting sick of these damned clues!" Leo growled. "Haven't we suffered enough? They're probably going to hate us when we find them. So why do we need all of this?"

"Leo," Percy said gently. "We need to find them."

Leo sighed. "I know that, I'm just frustrated. I don't know where to look!"

"We have to look by a pier," Frank said slowly. "I don't know if I've had a memorable moment on one with Hazel…"

"Guys," I announced. "I know where we've gotta go."

"How so?" Connor asked, looking over at me.

"I'll explain on the way," I took a step forward. "A train might be a good idea."

Half an hour later, we were all sitting down on a train heading south. I was tapping my foot idly on the floor as the people around me settled in.

"Tempest," Percy said impatiently, "you mind explaining why in the name of Hades' gym shorts we're going to Florida?"

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, as thunder sounded. "Nice choice of words," I commented, before starting. "We're going to Neptune Beach."

"Why?" Jason asked.

"My first quest," I explained patiently.

"You mean when we got out of the house?" Will demanded. "You were injured and then we split up looking for a place to stay. And when we found Seph, you were unconscious."

"My head wasn't working right," I admitted, "we were at the beach and I convinced her to go up on this rickety old pier. We were okay for a few minutes, she was just looking into the ocean... it kinda went like this..."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

I raised an eyebrow, confused. "About what?"

She looked over at me and said, "You heard my voice. And maybe if I was more competent you wouldn't have been so worried about me. Maybe you wouldn't be hurt."

"You saved my ass!" I protested, my head still pounding.

"I created an earthquake accidentally!" she snapped back.

"Hey," I said gently, "you still helped. Isn't that enough?"

She was quiet for a moment, looking me dead in the eyes. "They're amazing, you know," she whispered."

"What?" I questioned, confused.

"Your eyes," she replied before her face started reddening. "Oh god, I cannot believe I just said that!"

I have no idea what happened next, I blame it on the head injury I sustained, which probably messed up my reasoning skills. I leaned over and kissed her gently, cutting off her babbling.

She stiffened up and I pulled away a few seconds later. "Something wrong, Seph?"

She blinked, "James your head isn't right, I can't do that to you, please just-"

A loud cracking noise came from under my feet, and I didn't have time to move before I fell in. A piece of wood came down from the deck and smashed onto my head.

Will blinked, "You kissed Seph while the rest of us were out hunting down a place to sleep?"

"I think I paid for it," I snapped.

Silence consumed us. Percy shooting glares at me every now and then, probably thinking that I broke his sister's heart when I kissed her.

Yawning, I leaned back in my seat beside Travis and drifted off, thinking about Seph.

I was in a large room, sea green all around. Two severe looking men were looking down at me. One was blonde with my eyes and another had black hair with Seph's eyes. Both of them were glaring at me. As Roman as I was, I was still afraid of being fried and drowned as Jupiter and Poseidon glared down at me.

Immediately I kneeled, "Father," I said toward Jupiter, "Lord Poseidon," I said paying respect to the Greek god.

"You may rise, son," Jupiter said, his voice harsh, and slightly annoyed.

"Alright," Poseidon said, "I don't approve at all about what you did, but I fear it was not your fault. Aphrodite and Ares got into a bad argument a week or so back. We believe that Ares played with your emotions, causing you and your girlfriends to fall into conflict with each other."

"Aphrodite insists otherwise," Jupiter sighed, "Venus, her Roman side, as you should know, agrees. She says that he might have had something to do with it, but the thoughts that you had were still there, even if you wouldn't have said anything."

"So like when you're drunk," I said, "you say and do things that you want to do but aren't brave enough to do sober."

Both gods looked at me strangely for a moment. "Yes, boy," Jupiter said, "you could say it like that, I suppose."

Poseidon continued, "So she insists that you need some reconnecting time."

"You know," I said irritably, "most couples don't find reconnecting time when they're away from each other!"

Poseidon glared down at me for a moment and I thought I was going to go to a watery grave before my time, when he just sighed. "I know. She is sure that this is the best medicine."

"Down to the point of why we're here," Jupiter said briskly. "You're going to face many more dangers before you're finished."

"This is a test, meant to show your dedication to my daughter." Poseidon said, "I cannot say I disapprove of this part of her scheme."

"It is time for you to wake up, son," Jupiter said in his grave voice, "make me proud."

Well... doesn't that add some pressure onto the situation. My eyes snapped open to Travis shaking my shoulder. "What?" I demanded groggily.

"We need to change transportations," he said quietly. "We can drive the rest of the way. There's a couple of people here who've been looking at us funnily since we've got on. It's setting everyone on edge."

I cringed as I felt their eyes trained on the back of my neck. "Okay..." I trailed off as I heard Travis' stomach growl loudly.

Everyone looked at him strangely.

"It's been at least a day and a half since we've eaten something," he protested defensively.

"Alright," Jason sighed, looking tired and worn down. "We'll stop for some food."

"With what money?" I demanded as we walked out.

A rich-looking woman, with an authentic looking fur jacket and diamond rings littering her fingers, walked past us, her nose high in the air. "Can't believe I used to go for people like that," I sighed, as I saw Connor brush past her.

"That takes care of our money problem," Leo said as we strolled down the street.

"Guys," Percy said as they continued to walk. "We aren't going to be able to eat."

Travis looked at him like he'd just killed his puppy. "Why not?" he demanded.

"Well," Percy said, "we could eat and have to deal with the people behind us that have been stalking us since New York. We're in South Carolina right now, that's a long way to still be following. We need to leave. Now."

"Come on," I sighed, looking around at the streets around me. It was so green, unlike New York. "I don't care about eating. I want to be close enough to Seph for her to be able to backslap me like I deserve."

That was when I remembered the dream. "Guys, remind me after the Stolls steal the car that I have something to tell you."

They all looked at me questioningly for a moment but didn't say a word about it. Percy spoke up, "Alright, Travis, Connor, go and find something for us to use..." he trailed off as the same RV that we had back at Mount Saint Helens came rolling up.

"Its official," Leo murmured, "aside from Hephaestus, Hermes is my favorite god."

The Stolls grinned at Leo and all of us piled into the vehicle. Travis walked over to the wheel. "I'll drive!" He called, starting the vehicle.

We all sat down and Frank was the first person to speak up this time, "What was it that you wanted to tell us."

Taking a deep breath, I told them what I knew, leaving out that Jupiter told me to make him proud, it was the first time that I'd talked to my father and he'd betrayed any emotion. Even though it put pressure on the situation, I was still happy about it and it felt good to know that he believed in me.

"How does it not surprise me that this is a result of a fight between two gods?" Zach asked angrily.

"Trust me," Percy muttered, "we don't mean much to them. It's almost as if we're pawns. We're definitely expendable."

I sighed, "This is still epic bullshit."

The next day, we pulled into Neptune Beach, and it was every bit as beautiful as I remembered. The sandy shore and the waters edged forward invitingly. Well it would have been inviting if it wasn't twenty degrees outside.

"Where's the pier?" Will asked. "Wasn't it a hundred yards or so left of here?"

I nodded, "I think so." Without thinking, I took off running, the clue was so close I could practically feel it right now. No one was at the beach, with it being so cold, so there was no one looking at us like we we're psychopaths, not that I cared.

I heard the others calling my name in confusion and then the sound of footsteps padding the sand behind me, letting me know that they were following. Slowly the pier came into view. My breath caught in my throat, I convinced Seph to go onto that? It looked ready to fall apart! The wood itself looked ready to just crack in half due to the weight of air.

Mentally berating myself, I ran onto the wood, hearing the creaks and groans and praying to Jupiter that it would stay together long enough for me to retrieve the note.

When I got to the end, I wanted to fall to the bottom of the ocean and never come back up... there was no note.

'Wait,' I thought to myself, as I heard the guys catch up with me, 'bottom... I fell in!' Not even stopping to consider the danger of hypothermia, I dived into the icy water.

"JAMES!" was all I heard before I was completely submerged. I managed to get my screaming muscles to work as I kicked down toward the bottom, my teeth chattering so hard, I was afraid that I was accidentally going to cut my tongue off.

I saw something glowing deeper down in the water. I heard a splash and I figured that Percy was coming after me. I didn't care though, I swam as fast as I could through the depths, the salt burning my eyes as I fought to keep them open. Finally, I snagged the paper, dead tired.

I figured I had around ten seconds before I passed out, when an arm grabbed my wrist and started hauling me back to the surface. After what felt like forever I was able to breathe again. I kept a firm grip on the paper as I was pulled back up onto the dock. I laid there limply, trying desperately to conserve my dangerously low body heat. Painful tremors were wracking my body.

Percy was beside me, trying his damnedest to get me dry. Percy was scolding me, saying, "Gods Tempest, you're such a dumbass! Seph's gonna kill both of us when she hears about this."

I didn't have the energy to respond.

"What does the note say?" Percy demanded as he worked on soaking the water from my body.

Zach reached down and snagged the still dry paper from my hands. He was about to read when we heard an almighty roar. If I hadn't been in such a bad situation, I might have laughed, it was the first time I'd ever heard Frank swear. Considering that there was a huge, green, ugly sea monster above us, I found humor kind of hard to come by.

It was as if I was looking through a tunnel as Percy looked at the monster boredly. "Freddy," he snapped, "get back into deep sea! What did my dad tell you about being so close to shore?"

Freddy the sea monster roared and I noticed the water beneath him swirling around like a whirlpool. Next thing I know we're alone again. Percy seemed a bit exhausted but the angry light probably would have made me scared if I wasn't so drained.

I half way walked and was half way dragged back to the RV. "Zach," Frank said as he helped me down onto the couch, "what does the note say?"

Although they thought you'd amount to nothing,

You shocked them with powers worthy of a king.

Now go back to where you were first rescued,

To find the key and end your heartbreaking feud.

Seph POV

"Neighbors?" I questioned aloud, looking at all of them. There was only one word that would describe them: hot.

We all stood there for a second the rain still falling down lightly until a cold wind ripped through us. I wrapped up tighter in the Breaking Benjamin hoody that I'd found on my bed. It was the one that James had, it even smelled like him. I didn't know how Aphrodite managed to get it, but I was grateful that she did.

'We should probably go in," one of the guys said from the front, "this girl, here," he gestured to me and smiled, "with the excellent taste in music, is cold." He had neat blonde hair, brown eyes and a full blown smile that was cute.

I blushed before smiling back, "You like Breaking Benjamin?"

"Are you kidding?" he questioned, "Between them and Lifehouse, I don't know who's better!"

It was official, I could fire Leo from the best guy friend position, this guy was cool and I didn't even know his name!

"You want to come into our house?" Hazel asked, standing beside a really buff guy with a nice tan, close cropped, dirty blonde hair, and bright green eyes.

"Sure," the guys chorused. The boy who liked Breaking Benjamin came up to me and said, "I'm Blake by the way."

I grinned at him and said, "I'm Seph."

"That's a strange name," he commented as we all walked back in, trying to get dry by the conveniently roaring fireplace.

"You know, I didn't say anything about yours, which happens to have a Scooby Doo reference to it," I informed him.

He held his hands up in mock surrender, "Well played."

"It's a nickname," I explained not wanting to keep him confused, "my real name is a bit of a mouthful. No one really uses it."

"Really," he said, his elbows on his knees as we sat on the rug of the front room, the fire lighting up his face. He seemed so absorbed into what I was saying that it was kind of strange at first. "And what's your real name?"

"Persephone," I answered, "tell any of your friends and die."

He smirked, "I can't see anyone as nice and as pretty as you holding a weapon let alone kill anyone."

I smiled at him. Oh, if he only knew… I leaned forward and said, "Flattery will get you nowhere."

It didn't feel right when he called me pretty. It wasn't the same as when James did it. James as soon as his name came to my mind, I immediately saddened. Blake seemed to notice the change in my mood. He looked at me concerned and said, "Seph, is something wrong?"

"No," I said, "I'm just a bit distracted."

"You wanna talk about it?" He questioned.

I opened my mouth to tell him no. I knew James probably would be jealous, but I wasn't interested in anyone else, besides, I really didn't care about what James thought at that particular moment. "You sure you wanna listen?"

"Why not," he said, smiling, "you seem like a pretty interesting person so far."

I found myself grinning back. This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

AN: Can anyone guess where they're going next?

~Skylar, Seph, McKenna