AN: This chapter is dedicated to the anonymous reviewer (m) who basically told me that I'd make a good author. Thanx! It's also dedicated to caitlumms and AnnabethXNico-RheaXNickolas, who wanted me to write more. So here it is:

Did you know that a lot of people that I know would, if confronted with a sword at their throat, panic and run forward? Of course, that would cut their own head off, but it's still their instinct reaction. If you're training, that's fine, because you don't die, and can fix your mistake, but if you're out on a quest, it would be very bad. Let's just say I was trying to avoid that kind of bad. "What do you want with me?" I growled.

"Why are you here?" came the snarled reply right next to my ear.

"Well, I was taking a walk in the woods, minding my own business, when I get threatened for my life. Now I'm here because you're holding me here. And I would suggest letting me go right now before my friends find us." I was bluffing, but I hoped they wouldn't know that. While my captor tried to figure out whether or not to trust me, I punched her in the stomach and grabbed the sword. When I whirled around, I found myself facing- Isis Fontana, daughter of Hecate.

She looked shocked that I had the nerve to disarm her in front of her minions. Said minions had already drawn weapons to protect their leader. Wow. Such loyalty. I wondered what the trick was. It would certainly help if the Athena kids helped me like that. "So, are you all answering the Great Prophecy, too?" I asked.

"Why do you want to know?" she shot back.

"Um, 'cause I am, and I wanted to know who my fellow questers are. And as I'm the one who's armed, you'll be listening to me, not the other way around."

"If you hurt me, you'll never make it out alive." She glanced around at her minions as she spoke. Maria certainly looked ready to act, with a three-pointed spear, like a trident, and a sword. Abigail and Scott were flanking Julian like bodyguards with Celestial bronze knives. Julian himself looked about ready to pass out and gripped the sword as if his life depended on it.

I dropped the sword. "Okay," I said. "I won't hurt anyone here if you let me travel with you."

Isis picked up and sheathed the sword. "Deal." But neither of us trusted the other enough to shake on it. She pointed to a spot at the edge of the clearing. "You sleep there."

I gratefully accepted the spot, not because I needed the help and security of traveling in numbers, but because I wanted to keep an eye on Isis and Maria. There was no telling what they'd do. "Hey," I looked up to see Julian standing over me.

"Hey, what?"

"I just wanted to talk," he said, hurt.

"About what?" I was confused. Why would he want to talk to me?

"About this quest thing. Isis is the only one who received either a copy of the Great Prophecy or a prophecy of our own. The Oracle didn't have anything to say to us. She couldn't answer our questions." That was odd. But it still didn't explain why he was talking to me. Boys like him didn't talk to girls like me. I would never be good enough for him. "I'm not really saying this right. I just wanted to explain why Isis was acting so touchy. I didn't want you to hate her for it." Ah, so he wasn't talking to me, he was excusing her. She was good enough for him.

I fell asleep thinking about his dark blue eyes and almost-black hair, but my dream was not all fluffy love-crap. Isis was arguing with Abigail, green eyes flashing in frustration. "We have to go. We're not safe if we stay."

Abigail shook her head. "No. I can't leave Mom."

"She'll survive without you. Everything is happening to you. With you gone, she'll be safe."

"What about all of her 'friends'?"

"My dad can live with her. He'll protect her. It'll work; I promise."

"All right. We'll come. But Mom'd better be safe."

"Don't worry. I won't let you down."

The scene changed to a dark alley in a city. Maria was there, carrying a beach bag that read, Resident of Hawaii, Not a Tourist. Julian yelled, "Where are we going?"

Isis replied, "Somewhere we'll be safe. Are you sure you want to come?"

"I have to. My mom's boyfriend kicked me out. I don't have anywhere to go back to," he insisted shakily.

"Fine, but we need to keep movin-" Abigail's words were cut off by a loud growling. "Run!" she screamed. A huge hellhound leaped from a boarded-up door. It bowled right over Scott and made for Julian. "Stop," Abigail commanded. It paused for a moment, looked her over, and ran straight past her.

Maria lunged at it with a spear that she'd acquired who knows where, but missed the head, snapping it against the beast's massive shoulder. Isis yelled something unintelligible and the hellhound stumbled. She moved in for the kill but it was back on its feet, teeth a foot from Julian's throat. He put a hand out as it swiped at him with claws the size of butcher knives. When they connected, the hellhound drew back, as if it had received a shock. It recovered quickly, and lunged at Julian, who stepped back and tripped over something. The dog jumped on top of him, paw on either side of his chest. Isis grabbed a stone and threw it, "Dumb dog," she screamed, trying to distract it. It worked, if only momentarily. Julian scrambled to his feet, clutching a piece of Maria's spear. When the hound surged forward, he met it, stabbing the spear into its heart. It flickered with light for a second, then collapsed.

Isis, Maria and Scott started lifting the body off of Julian, but stopped. "It shocked me. That's odd. What did you do?" asked Maria suspiciously.

"One's never attacked us before. It's always been something slightly easier to fight," added Scott. "And it was Maria's spear. So what did you do to it, Maria?"

She narrowed her eyes. "I'd watch myself when I go swimming from now on. Drowning isn't pleasant to do." As I drifted back to consciousness, the last thing I heard was an ominous rumble of thunder.

We decided to follow a tiny river, stream, whatever, out of the woods. As I passed a little waterfall behind the others, a female voice said, "Deposit one drachma to hear your Iris-Message." I fished one out of my pocket and dropped it into the spray of water. Nico's face looked out at me.

"Hermione. It's urgent. I need to tell you something."

"About Dad?" I had hardly dared hope, but every so often, I'd ask Nico if he was dead. I wanted to talk to him again.

"No. But it's more important. You remember Luke Castellan, from the war against Kronos, and how he wanted to be reborn three times?" Of course. What else did Annabeth talk about, besides architecture? I nodded. "And you know those new heroes you were showing around?" I nodded again. "Well, one of them is Luke reborn."

That got my attention. "Which one? I'm with them now."

"The boy, Julian, that you can't seem to get enough of." Great. Now I had a spy on my nonexistent love life. But even more importantly, Luke was reborn as Julian, most likely a son of Zeus.

AN: Thanx for reading this far. I would really really appreciate if you reviewed. It boosts the low self-esteem of poor fanfiction writers like myself. REVIEWS to FANFICTION are like CHEESE and SAUCE to PASTA; not essential, but pretty damn close.