Friday's here, kiddies. Be happy. Now be super happy, 'cause as a winter break present, I'm giving you an extra chapter.

Go on.

Send me presents. (Jk, jk.)

5/

Olympus POV

Zeus, king of the gods, frowned as his family filed into the room. Hera, lovely as ever, sat beside him. Poseidon, his ever-rival, nodded curtly. Artemis and Apollo bickered as they seated themselves. Demeter whipped Dionysus with a honeysuckle vine after he spilled his glass of chardonnay on her throne. Hephaestus and Ares had another glare-war over Aphrodite's lap. Hermes was arguing on the phone, only hanging up after Aphrodite threw a tube of lipstick at him in impatience.

"The Council is called to order," Hermes called. "Oh-hundred hours, June 1st, 2013." [A/N: Remember that it's been two years since the Lost Hero—my version—which itself was a year or so after Poseidon's Daughter, so it's 2013.]

"Father, what is this about?" Artemis called instantly. "Is it because I tried to bury Apollo's chariot?"

"It isn't about the whole 2012-we're-all-going-to-die thing, is it?" Ares shouted out. "Because you know I would've been happy to make that happen!" All the gods except Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon threw things at Ares. "OW!" he yelled after Aphrodite clanged a golden mirror over his head. "Okay, okay, sorry!"

Zeus smiled in amusement. "No and no. Iris!" The rainbow goddess stepped out of the shadows, in the shape of a human. She drew a large rectangle in the air with her finger. The shape rippled like oil on water, then changed to show…

Poseidon leaned forward.

The son of Dionysus was jumping up and down wildly, jerking his thumb back and forth so fast he seemed to be having a seizure. The daughter of Athena, Annabeth Chase, and the son of Poseidon, Perseus Jackson, watched him with mixed expressions of worry and amusement. "Do you think he'll accidently kill himself?" Annabeth murmured to Perseus.

"No," he told her. "He does stuff like this on a daily basis." They turned back to watching Phäethon go crazy, until finally a large truck stopped for them.

"Thanks for picking us up, man," Phäethon grinned as he jumped inside.

The trucker frowned at them. "Ain't ya kids a lil young to be travelin' by yerselves?"

"No," the three of them said together.

The man shrugged. "Wha'ever. Where're you off to?"

"D.C.," Annabeth said.

"Good," he said roughly. "S'on the way to my des'ination." Poseidon leaned back. Good. That meant Perseus was safe. For now. Suddenly the image changed once more. Artemis stiffened, her gaze becoming more attentive.

The girl was sitting on the porch, one knee up, the other dangling off the edge. She rested one hand on her raised knee. She was lost in thought. Athena wanted to smirk. Children of Poseidon weren't much for thinking, as her daughter had proven for seven or so years in a row. The girl turned at the sound of the voice: "Alice, do you think everything is okay?"

Apollo shifted as his son came into view. "It's fine, Peter," Alice replied. Her accent was faint, but discernable, unmistakable. Greek, or perhaps—but not likely—English. Many of the gods in the room listened intensively. They had never met the girl before. She and her brother Perseus were the new subject of talk on Olympus, and even though they would never admit it, they were interested. Aphrodite especially. She did like to have Artemis's Hunters fall in love now and then… Perhaps this boy Peter was a good candidate… Her now-brown-eyed gaze slid over to Artemis. But she would never let that happen.

Apollo's son sat next to Alice. "Are you sure?"

The Iris-message zoomed in on her face, like a movie. Her eyes betrayed her words as she spoke. "Yes," she told him. "Percy left yesterday with Annabeth Chase and Tony Staphili. They're on their way to Washington now." Her gaze was empty. "They should be able to stop this."

He looked at her with suspicion. "You don't sound so sure."

She turned to glare at him. "Of course I'm sure. I believe in Percy." Poseidon couldn't help but smile. His daughter supported his son.

"Sounds like a bad Hallmark card," Peter mumbled, but she pretended she didn't hear him. He spoke louder. "Good thing he's invulnerable."

Alice frowned. "I suppose."

Peter bumped her shoulder. "You're just jealous. You wanna be invulnerable too, don't you?"

She glared at him. "No. Percy was stupid to accept the curse of Achilles." Her frown deepened, as if remembering Achilles' myth.

"He is stupid." A swirl of shadows revealed the boy in black, hiding from view up until then. Hades, seated at the open end of the U-shape of thrones, straightened. Nico di Angelo.

"What are you talking about?" Peter exclaimed. "It was your idea." Alice looked at Nico, eyebrows raised like she agreed somewhat.

"It was," Nico admitted. "But I kind of regret it. Percy now bears the curse of Achilles. He's a walking tragedy ready to explode."

"He's lucky no one knows his Achilles spot, then," Peter remarked, but Nico shook his head. Alice looked grim.

"There are exactly three other people who know Percy's Achilles spot," Nico said. "Ethan Nakamura—"

"Deceased," Alice interrupted.

"—Kronos—"

"Asleep."

"—and Annabeth Chase," Nico finished.

"She wouldn't spill, though," Peter said.

"No," the other two said together.

"But, what's the point of all that?" Peter pressed. "His prophecy's over now, right?"

Nico and Alice exchanged glances. "Not exactly," Nico said.

Alice's face was grim. "Summer has issued a new prophecy." Every immortal in the throne room frowned. They knew nothing of a new prophecy.

Peter looked confused, then annoyed. "What? Why didn't either of you say anything?"

Alice's expression changed to frustration. "I wanted to keep it a secret for a while, but Nico—" she shot Hades's son a dark look "—had to creep up on me and hear the whole thing."

"Didn't mean to," Nico muttered, but none of them heard him.

"What's the prophecy?" Peter asked.

Alice was silent for a minute, glancing at Nico, who nodded. She recited Summer's words. After she finished, the three of them sat in silence for a moment, but at the snap of Iris's fingers, the image dissipated. The gods straightened. All of them looked at Apollo.

He nodded solemnly. "She speaks the truth. My Oracle did issue a new prophecy."

Artemis eyed him. "Thank you for telling us." The gods murmured in agreement.

Apollo glared at his twin. "Whatever."

"Shut up, both of you," Athena snapped. "You know what a new prophecy means. We have to analyze it."

"Three shall go south, to face the gates of death," Hermes repeated.

"Perseus, Annabeth, and Phäethon have already left on their double quest," Demeter supplied. "To plug up that hole in the Underworld." She left out the first part of the quest.

"Hole," Hades scoffed.

"Where the spirits drawn to life await with bated breath," Hera spoke suddenly, surprising everyone. She raised a perfect eyebrow, as if to say, Don't forget Mother's presence. She can and will incinerate you.

"Yes, well, that's obvious," Athena spoke too, restarting the conversation. "The spirits want out. Then there's 'The subjects ready to bar their path,/Steady with a fiery wrath'."

"The mortals," Aphrodite said out of nowhere. "They're confused. They don't know which way is up and which way is down. All they know is something has rocked their worlds drastically."

Athena raised her eyebrows at Aphrodite's choice of words, but she nodded. "Aphrodite is right," the goddess ignored Artemis's snort of derision, "the mortals aren't happy."

"Just the way I like it," Ares muttered. Aphrodite and Hera flicked him in the ears at the same time. "Ow!"

"Anyway," Athena glared at her brother, "about the next line."

"The chosen three shall soothe the hate of our creation," Dionysus said lazily in an obvious attempt to seem a participant.

"Yes," Artemis said. "We discussed this. Perseus, Annabeth, and Phäethon are the ones who will keep the mortals at bay."

"While the home of the hybrids defends against assault," Poseidon said helpfully.

"They're going to attack Camp Half-Blood," Apollo realized.

Artemis swatted at him. "Duh!"

"Not exactly," Athena agreed, grimacing.

Ares seemed to catch on quick. "Hecate's badass army." There was a moment of silence.

"The habitants on only one place the fault," Hephaestus joins in the conversation too.

"Tatiana Taylor," Artemis said. Her face was grim. Many believed Hecate (a.k.a Tatiana's mother) was an alias of Artemis when she went to the Underworld. Of course this was not true; Artemis never went to the Underworld. Hecate was her own being.

"Yes," Athena said. "I believe they will blame her."

"Not that we care," Ares added, and this time no one glared his way.

Hera cleared her throat. "The next line?" she prodded.

"The enemy watches with canine skill,/Preparing to pounce for the ordered kill," Demeter recited.

"Definitely Hecate's army," Aphrodite said. The gods agreed.

"In all, our foes shall retreat into black," Hera began.

"But none can prevent the dead coming back," Zeus finished grimly.

Percy's POV

I took Annabeth's hand in the dark of the truck, making sure Tony wasn't looking; he would just tease us. Her fingers warmed up in my hand. Without looking at her I knew she was smiling. Gods, she was pretty. Whoops, starting to sound like the Aphrodite cabin there. Um, anyway, we'd been dating for over a year now. I was pretty pumped about that. Thanks, Aphrodite, I thought for the millionth time since Annabeth's and my first date.

A warm, perfume-like breeze fanned through the window, as if the goddess had heard me. The trucker's phone rang suddenly, making us jump. Our driver (whose name turned out to be Tucker) apologized. He answered it. We—or, I—didn't bother to listen. It's not cool to eavesdrop, right?

"What? Accident off the 2-20? Aright, then—what? …Thems are fighitn' words, kiddo— Sounds like a challenge. Yer on!" Tucker hit the gas suddenly.

"Tucker, where are you going?" Annabeth exclaimed.

He focused on her, like he just realized she was there. "Oh, well, er I just bet my buddy Jumbo I could beat 'im to the 2-20 accident—"

"Drop us off there," I said for absolutely no reason. They all stared at me. Annabeth elbowed me.

Tucker shrugged. "Sure, kid." He revved the engine. In about three minutes Tucker dropped us off near the 'accident'.

Honestly, I wasn't surprised to hear roaring and screaming. I looked at Annabeth. "Demigod?"

She nodded. "That's what I was thinking."

"You know, this is just what we needed," Tony said sarcastically. "Now we gotta save them."

"Duh," Annabeth said. She pulled her knife, sighing. "Come on. I think it's a hydra this time." Tony and I unsheathed (or, in my case, uncapped) our swords. But when we got to whoever the poor new demigod was and the hydra, we found someone else already there.

"Shawn, godsdammit, put down your F***ING lyre and HELP ME!"

"Phoebe?" Annabeth yelled.

The girl, dressed in a tight, electric-blue, thigh-length party outfit complete with two-inch heels, blinked and turned to Annabeth. "Chase?" She was distracted long enough for the hydra's middle head to spit fire at her.

You would expect her to catch on fire and run around screaming, right? Nope. Her skin flickered into what looked like tiny diamonds, the fire sparking around her instead of scalding her. Not even her dress got singed. She didn't pause. She tackled the hydra's face, stabbing it wildly in the eye.

A boy who was obviously a son of Apollo followed her, slashing at the left head of the beast. Annabeth didn't waste time. She sucked in clean air, then ducked into the fight. Tony and me shrugged at each other.

"What are you doing here?" Phoebe shouted to Annabeth as they both dived past the fire-spitting head.

"On a quest!" she answered, chucking her knife into the hydra's eye.

"Oh, yeah, I heard about that!" Phoebe went to retrieve Annabeth's knife.

"What are you doing here?" Annabeth asked her, shooting me a look of gratitude as I shield-slammed a hydra head from eating her.

"Seeker mission!" Phoebe answered, giving Tony a mock salute when he tackled another hydra head out of her way. "Elle Young!"

"Phoebe!" the other boy, Shawn, yelled. "Less talk, more kill hydra!"

"Shut up!" Phoebe shouted, clawing her way up the hydra's back and stabbing it in the face. "Get Elle out of here!"

"I'm on it!" Tony told her. He ran to the white-faced girl and dragged her out of sight.

"Percy LOOK OUT!" I turned—and got tackled by Phoebe.

"What—" I started, trying to get up from under her, but she shook her head. She pressed a finger to her lips. Her hair was coming out of her hairdo, but she didn't seem to care. Her diamond necklace, which I just noticed, was glowing. I realized it must be a magical item or something, like my pen or Annabeth's hat. Speaking of Annabeth—

I looked around. She was gone. Probably used her hat. The hydra was stomping around, trying to find us. I was confused, but then I realized Phoebe and Annabeth blinded it. Tony was huddled in a corner, the girl Elle hidden from view.

"Now!" Invisible Annabeth yelled.

Shawn popped out of nowhere, shooting a million blurred arrows. Annabeth's knife flashed into one of the hydra's necks. Phoebe rolled off me and slid baseball-style under the hydra's stomach, stabbing her sword straight up. The monster roared, then exploded into yellow monster dust, coating all of us form head to toe.

Phoebe spat. "Ugh."

Annabeth stuffed her hat in her pocket. She and Phoebe hugged. I offered my hand to Shawn, who took it. I pulled him up. "I haven't seen you in months!" Annabeth exclaimed, doing that OMG girl thing.

Phoebe smiled. "Yeah, well, can't stay in one place when you're a grifter like me."

"What's a grifter?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Phoebe's a con artist," Annabeth said, like it was nothing.

"Percy," Phoebe said, shaking my hand. "Son of Poseidon, right?"

"Yeah," I told her. "You?"

"Hermes," she said.

"Phoebe tried to con the president once," Shawn said, examining his instrument.

Phoebe grinned while I stared at her. "Yeah, there was no try about that." She shook out her hair; a cloud of monster dust fell to the ground. "He was only a senator then, anyway."

"How'd you do it?" Tony said curiously, dragging Elle Young up to us.

Phoebe smirked. "A magician never reveals her secrets. But, I convinced him I was his long-lost daughter," she admitted. She grinned. "I got a lot of money out of that one. Normally its eighteen a pop."

"Eighteen…bucks?"

"I never said that."

"Phoebe, we should get going," Shawn said. He grabbed Elle's elbow.

Phoebe looked at him. "Right." She smiled at us. "See you around." She grabbed Elle's other elbow and the two of them dragged her off, disappearing into sight.

Annabeth sighed. "I worry about her sometimes."

"Yeah," Tony agreed. "She seems kind of…unstable."

"You've met Parker, right?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow. Tony shuddered.

"What now?" I said after a minute.

They both looked at me. "I don't know," Annabeth sighed again.

Nico's POV

I was never stoked when the Hunters of Artemis came around camp. They were snotty, mean, and…cold. They would slit your throat if you got in their "comfort zone". Honestly (excuse my French), they were pretty much bitches. But now I was kind of glad they were here. They helped a lot with border patrol, even if they got into fights with Cabin Ten all the time.

I rubbed my eyes. Of course I had the night shift for patrol. I didn't really care, but it was kind of Hades kid-racist, right? Oh well. At least one of the Hunters shared my pain. What was her name? Bethany? I glanced over at her. She was pretty, well, hot, with long, blonde hair and round blue eyes (not to mention the rocking bod), but she wasn't my type.

The super-healthy glow thing, the playful attitude, the fact she was a Hunter, she's just not Nico material. But I think I saw Victor du Benech staring at her like an hour ago. She's way out of his league. Poor kid.

A snore next to me told me Bethany just fell asleep. I shoved her arm. Her eyes flashed open, first in attack-mode, then she just glared at me. She actually wiped her arm on the grass, like I had cooties or something.

"Hunters," I muttered.

"Boys," she grumbled.

Our eyes picked apart the dark, searching in boredom for any type of movement. A coyote or a dog or something sniffed past us, only bothering to glance at us once. I guess we weren't that interesting. But I was used to people thinking that.

"You're Bethany, right?" I said, making a millionth stab at conversation.

She looked at me in the corner of her blue eyes. "Yes," she said coldly.

Gods. Hunters. "I'm Nico," I offered.

"I know."

I sighed, leaning back. I stabbed my Stygian sword into the ground. There was no point trying to—

"Bianca's little brother."

I scowled, hiding the fact that my heart throbbed a little at the mention of my sister's name. "Yeah," I shot at Bethany. "So?"

Her mouth curled. "Back off, kid. I didn't do anything." I thought I heard a "Yet" after she turned away, but I decided I didn't.

"So…how old are you?" Whoops. Landmines! I mentally slapped myself. Never, ever ask a girl how old she is.

Bethany pulled out her hunting knife, and for a second I thought she was going to gut me, but she just studied her reflection hard. She didn't seem offended. I guess she got asked about her age a lot, because she said, "Maybe seven hundred years old. I stopped counting a long, long time ago." She eyed me. "How old are you?"

"Fifteen." I started pulling up grass again.

My iPhone buzzed in my pocket suddenly. What? Oh, I know, I know, we're not supposed to have phones, sending up a flare to evil monsters, blah, blah, blah. But that's only for calling. And besides, Travis and Connor were selling them for fifty drachmas a pop—complete with Stoll Wireless, which barely costs five drachmas a month.

Anyway, I squinted down at the touch screen—

New Text Message

Tony Staphili

I was a little confused. Tony Staphili didn't usually talk to me; he didn't even look at me unless he absolutely had to. I pressed View Now: Dude, u up?

I typed back quickly. Cours. Nite's my time of the day... or, watevr. Wat up? Sumthin on ur mind?

His message came back almost immediately. 2 much.

Gunna spill?

Guess so. I waited. Got a ghost buggin me, nico. Ur the only 1 i cud talk 2.

Ghost? Tony? I frowned. Ok, I texted back. Tell me evrything. And did he tell me everything. It took me a full five minutes to ponder over the whole thing, until Bethany finally punched me in the shoulder.

"Nico, you're melting. Stop thinking so hard; your brain will explode," she snapped. I felt that was uncalled for, but I said nothing.

I realized I was starting to melt into the shadows. I pulled myself out. I took out my phone, hiding it from Bethany as best as I could, and texted Tony back. Percy's already talked to me about it. Ddnt he tell u?

WAT?

I frowned. Whoops. Ya, I typed. Thats the whole reason u guys even went on a quest; cuz percy saw it long b4 u did.

He didn't answer for a while, but when he did, I could tell he was pretty upset. Thanx, nico. Appreciate it.

Sure, man, I texted. Just, dnt do anything stupid, ok? His 'Watevr' didn't assure me, but before I could make him promise or anything, one of my alarms buzzed. It read: SHIFT OVER.

I got up. "Shift's over," I told Bethany. "You go get Parker Larcener, I'll go get Alice." Bethany didn't seem happy to do anything I said, but she got up and turned for the cabins. I didn't bother. I shadow-traveled to Cabin Three.

It was quiet in Alice's cabin when I opened my eyes. In the past, when I had to come in here in the middle of the night to wake up Percy (don't ask questions, that's a completely different story), it was filled with snoring. I guess Percy was the one who made all the noise. Like always, it smelled like saltwater inside, with the trickling of the fountain in the middle of the cabin.

I went over to the only occupied bed. She was barely moving. I was reaching for her arm when something dripped onto my shoe. I frowned as I looked down. I froze. Alice's hand was slowly turning clear, transparent. Water. Her fingers were melting away—her pinkie was the thing that dripped on my shoe. I shook her shoulder hard, and somehow caught the wrist of the hand trying to kill me.

She sat up fast. "Oh. Nico." Her expression softened from destroy-intruder to tell-me-why-you-woke-me-up-or-I-will-kill-Goth-Boy. "What?"

"Your hand."

She blinked, looking down. "Godsdammit." Her nose wrinkled in concentration as she glared hard at her own hand. The water on the floor flew up to join with her fingers. Her hand started reshaping itself.

I stared. "What was that?"

She ignored that. "It's my shift, right?" She slid out of bed and started lacing up her boots.

"Alice, what's up with you?" I pressed.

"Nothing," she said sharply. "Go back to your cabin."

I blocked the doorway when she went for it. "If something's going on, you have to tell me. You almost died 'cause you didn't say anything, remember?"

I knew I hit a nerve. She glared at me heatedly. "It keeps happening," she said finally. "I don't have control over it." She hesitated, but she went on, "I think I'm getting new powers." She stormed past me and out the door on the last word, only to pause with her hand on the doorframe. "Don't mention this to the others, Nico. No good will come of it."

I stared at the door long after she was gone. I looked slowly down at my own hand. My fingers tingled as I extended them, like I was using them for the first time in forever. My hand glowed with new black energy. Energy that quickly started going out of control. I forced my hand closed, staring at my glowing fist. If Alice was getting new powers…

Hm...Nico AND Alice getting new powers to mess with? What about Thalia and Percy? And what's gonna happen once Tony confronts Percy about Jasie's ghost? Drama!

Well, since you love reading my material so much, why don't you click on that "Next" button next to the chapter name and read on?

Good kids.

~ Alice ~