A/N: And here's chapter 8!

Nothing especially interesting happened for a t least 4 hours until Luke contacted me.

"Mary?"

"Yes, Luke?"

"Report."

"Fine. Annabeth hates my guts. Grover's completely worthless. Bernard's completely injured. Percy's alright, just a few small wounds. I've got a wound across my chest but it's healing. We got attacked by all three of the Kindly Ones. We're currently in a forest clearing."

"Something bothering you Mary? You don't sound right."

"Yea. I mean, I want to destroy Olympus but I don't want to harm anyone. Ok, maybe I want to harm Annabeth. But I don't want to hurt Percy or Bernard. I just want to destroy Ares and Nike."

"Mary, do I need to remind you of what the Gods did to you? They took away your shield when you needed it the most. And then they left you to deal with the burn wounds because they wouldn't let Apollo heal them."

"I know. I don't need a verbal reminder when the wounds still cover my body."

"And when the time comes you will have to fight. Percy and Bernard will fight against you. To get what you desire you must fight and you will have to hurt them. And let me remind you that you owe your allegiance to Kronos. Not to the Gods. Not to Percy. Not to Bernard. To Kronos. And once that allegiance is made there is no backing out. We may not have the golden fleece but with every half-blood that joins us, he grows stronger. When you joined he grew ten times stronger. "

I sat there thinking things over before I replied again.

"You're right. I do owe my allegiance to Kronos. Percy and Bernard have done nothing for me. Is there anything I need to do to hinder everyone else?"

"Yes. You do have orders. Keep me updated on where you are and whats going on at all times. Don't show any signs of allegiance to our cause. And when you get attacked pretend like you're helping but instead use herbs and things that will hinder them. It will slow them down so that I can complete the plans over here. "

"Right. I understand, Luke."

"I need to go Mary. Keep your secret safe. And don't die!"

Luke's voice faded away and I was left alone to my thoughts again.

Why did he tell me not to die? I'm not really a giant part of this plan. Does he actually care? I remember when I first talked with him. He was sympathetic and caring. He offered me hope. He's completely different from Percy.

When I first met Percy he was friendly and kind. He reassured me that Blackjack wouldn't let me fall off. He even made me laugh a little. Asking if it was enchilada day when Grover went missing. He's my friend whereas Luke just seems to be my ally.

Luke's smile seems kind of evil. Every time I see it I recoil. Percy's smile reassures me that everything going to be alright. And his smile is kind and caring. Completely different from Luke.

I'm bound to Luke by my allegiance. Nothing binds me to Percy. Besides he has Annabeth.

Luke's eyes always show some kind of deep sadness that I want to heal. He had a bad past that much I can tell. I want to bring him back to the light, but I don't know if that's possible. He may be too far gone to be saved.

As for Percy, his eyes are kind. He has friends and family whereas Luke doesn't seem to have anyone. They also show that determination that he has. The determination to protect his friends, family, and comrades from Luke's wrath.

These thoughts were starting to make my brain hurt. Or maybe I'd just been staring at the fire for too long. Either way, I was extremely confused. On one hand I wanted to disobey Luke and warn everyone. But on the other I wanted to watch them fall.

I'd been thinking so long that the sun was starting to spread its glow around. Oh wait, that's just Apollo and his sports car…. The birds were chirping merrily as though they didn't have a care in the world. I envy those birds.

I suppose I should wait for everyone to wake up. Their wounds need the extra time to heal. Putting my hand into my pocket, I felt the urge to just throw the scythe away and never look at it again. And yet, I wanted to keep it close to me. It was the only tie I had to Luke. Without it I wouldn't be able to hear his voice.

Percy was the first to awaken. I was staring off deeper into the forest so I didn't notice when he came and sat next to me.

"Whats wrong Mary? You seem sad."

His voice made me feel a bit better, until I remembered that I would one day betray him. Just like Luke did. I wanted to tell him everything, trust me I did. But if I did, I'd betray Luke.

"I'm just thinking a little. About what kind of truth I'm supposed to be finding, I don't know if it's going to be terrible. Along with the fact that the prophecy said that I might change Olympus. It sounded like doing that would be very very bad. I guess I'm just nervous."

He laughed a little. "When I had to go and retrieve Zeus mater blot, I ended up fighting your dad. When I stabbed him in the foot he cursed me. I'm still worried about when that curse is going to happen."

Well that did make me feel a little better. Knowing that my quest wasn't going to make me fight any Gods.

I didn't notice when Annabeth awoke but she made her presence known quite easily.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?"

Great, she probably thinks I'm trying to steal Percy or something.

"Just talking."

'OH SURE! THE KIDS OF ARES ARE COMPLETE RUTHLESS PEOPLE! YOU'RE TRYING TO STEAL PERCY SO THAT WHEN YOU GET HIM YOU CAN WATCH ME GET ALL MAD. AND THEN YOU CAN FIGHT ME! WELL, I'VE GOT A NEWS FLALSH FOR YOU! THAT'S NOT HAPPENING!" She screeched, pulling Percy up by the arm.

There's no way I'm getting into a shouting match with this crazy bimbo who seems to have eternal PMS. Standing, I turned on my heal and went back into the forest to gather more herbs incase we were attacked again, which was very likely.

Walking to the place I had gotten the white flowers before, I remembered Luke's order to use herbs that would harm them. But he also told me not to reveal my secret. If I just used bad herbs they would notice quite quickly. I needed to combine the good and the bad so that they wouldn't notice.

I'd have to use more bad than good, of course. Coming to this conclusion, I bent down and plucked a handful of the white flowers from the ground.

Moving even deeper into the forest, I came a upon a black three leafed weed. The stem was blood red, I knew that this particular weed was called infectiones nocendi viriditas. Translated as infectious harming weed.

I didn't want to but I pulled up two whole bunches and placed them in my bag. I knew this would hinder them completely because the infection it causes spreads fast. But I also needed the antidote plant. That way I could still maintain my cover. Good thing that the antidote was the white flowers I already had.

Moving through tree cover, I found a deadly type of poisonous root. The antidote was rare and in the part of the US that we were in the antidote would not appear. The root would slowly cause them to become very sick. In the beginning it would look a little like the flu, but as it progressed it would begin to kill them.

I couldn't use this type of plant! If I couldn't find the antidote in time, they would die! And then my cover would be completely blown! I couldn't harm them, they were my friends who came on this quest to help me. Theres no way I could harm them.

Passing over this root, I found another type of flower. It would confuse the signals sent by the brain. If someone wanted to move their arm instead it would move their leg. It was relatively easy to combat. You just had to know which signal moved which part. Then you could move your arm buy sending a signal that you wanted to move your leg.

This was a type of plant that I was grateful to find. It wouldn't harm them at all, but it would hinder them in battle.

There was about two handfuls of flowers there so I gabbed them and stuck them with the others. There wasn't anything else to find in this forest so I began the walk back to camp.

When I arrived, Annabeth had already cleaned everything up. That included what ever she had made as food. Not like I would trust her not to try and poison me.

"We need to get moving. We need answers and we need them fast. And where have you been, Mary. You've been absolutely no help at all!"

"I'm sorry. I was getting more of the herbs and bark I used yesterday to heal and wrap wounds. We do need those, as we are likely to be attacked again. I'm sure you don't want your precious Percy to end up unable to battle because something got infected or reopened." I sarcastically retaliated.

"Well then. We need to decide how we're going to get to Tennessee from here."

"We could take another bus."

"We could take the Pegasi."

Oh Gods not the Pegasi. Last time I rode one I felt like I was about to thrown off at any second because the wings beat so fast. And when it dived I thought we were going to crash.

"That would get us there faster. Great idea Bernard Something wrong, Mary?" Annabeth said, smirking, knowing that I was deathly afraid of heights.

I gulped, "No nothing at all. I'm fine, thanks."

"Actually we can't. We're to far away for the Pegasi to be called. Plus, it's rude and it makes them tire faster if they have to fly a long distance to get here. And then they have to fly a long distance to get to Memphis. And we can't take a plane. Zeus would kill me."

Thank the Gods I wouldn't have to ride one of those flying rats with wings again!

Walking out of the forest and onto the main road Bernard disappeared.

Looking behind me, I noticed he wasn't there. I looked around but I still couldn't find him! Just when I was about to stop and go look for a him, a white minivan came zooming around the corner.

"Sorry guys. This minivan just looked so nice I had to take it! And don't worry I replaced the license plate so people won't know its stolen." Bernard said, climbing out of the drivers seat.

"Bernard. It's not good to steal. You should take that back!" Cried Annabeth.

"Why? We did need transportation and he got it for us. So what if he had to steal a minivan? He's a son of Hermes. Stealing in his blood. He can't deny natural urges."

"Fine."

We all climbed into the minivan. It was a nice car. It had a TV on the inside to. Now we could get to Memphis in style. Sadly, that wasn't true. It wasn't long before we ran out of gas.

"Woops…"

"Did you forget to check the gas gage before you stole it?" I asked.

"Nope… I can always go steal another car though." Bernard said, climbing out of the drivers seat.

"Be right back!"

He turned the corner and couldn't be seen anymore.

In just a few minutes he was back. This time with a shiny red convertible. Now this was style! The hood was down and he had the radio turned up.

"Hey, I checked the gas this time. We're good to go. And as always I replaced the plates again. Get in!"

Taking a seat in the back I starred at all of the wonderful passing scenery. The trees were a lush green and the wind was soothing. There were birds everywhere, chirping happily to one another. The fields were smooth and the cows grazed happily. That was the kind of life I wanted, if I ever got married. Living in the country, tending to cows and chickens and the like. No one of this OMG MONSTERS AND GODS crap.

The ride was smooth and quiet. There was nothing interesting to talk about and we barely knew each other. We were just on this quest together because of the prophecy. We weren't actually friends or anything. Although, I did feel myself becoming closer to Percy. It was a nice feeling, like something warm and fuzzy was filling me up. I liked having a friend.

"Oh dang. We're out of gas again!" Cried Bernard, sad because this was his favorite type of car.

He jumped out of the drivers seat, no doubt going to steal another car. Leaning back in the seat, I sighed. I didn't like this quest at all, it didn't make any sense. And since Annabeth hates me I don't think Athena is going to give us any help with this. And the strain of being Luke's ally in the middle of a bunch of people who wanted to kill him wasn't helping either.

A zooming sound came from around the corner, Bernard was back. This time with a silver sports car. I couldn't tell the make of the car but it looked like on of those cars made for rich people .

Climbing into the back I got stuck between Percy and Grover. Annabeth was up front with Bernard. We had been traveling for at least five hours already and we were only halfway to Memphis. Tired out from being on watch all night, my head feel on Percy's shoulder and my eyes closed.

Thats when I fell into a nightmare.

New York City was burning. There were gigantic waves from the Long Island sound that were covering the city. No doubt a product of Typhoon. The city was being demolished by the Titans making their way to Olympus. The demigods were retreating, back to the one place that needed protection the most. There were few of them left and the ones that were left were badly injured. Upon entering the throne room they banded together, desperate to keep the Titans from winning everything. Kronos just looked at them and laughed, ordering Atlas to attack. With one movement he demolished one side of the small force that was left to fight.

Percy, who was at the front, was thrown back into the wall behind him. Hitting it with a loud smack, he fell. Luke laughed and walked over to him, sword drawn.

"You thought you could stand agains the Titans, Jackson? The only way the Gods defeated them was because they had to defeat them all together. They couldn't do it one on one. The Titians are much strong. I gave you a choice Percy, and you chose death."

He brought his sword down, stabbing it into Percy's stomach. I wanted to run and kill Luke but I was frozen in place. Percy looked at me, face bloodied and pale.

"is this what you wanted, Mary?" His eyes, they were so cold. It hurt, he was glaring at me.

"No...No….I never wanted for you to be hurt…."

"HA! When you joined the Titians you should have known that I would fight back! And by doing so that I would be hurt! You were foolish Mary. Thinking that you could defeat Olympus and save people from being hurt. You can't have both."

Blood was seeping out the hole in his abdomen and his face was growing steadily paler.

"You've got what you wanted, Mary. Happy now?" He said, his voice weak. His head turned away from me and fell to the side his eyes glassy and unmoving.

"No...NO...I'm not...Percy, please don't die...Come back...I don't want this at all…" I cried, knowing that I had killed one of my only friends.

It was then that I felt Luke's hand on my shoulder.

"Mary. We've won. Ares and Nike are gone. And now you need to take your seat on your throne. You're a Queen, Mary." Luke said, his eyes shining as he lead me to a seat that was dark red.

The throne was covered in Greek, which I understood to mean: Battle! Fight! Win! A pointed black spear stood behind it, ready to be grabbed at any second. Sitting down, I felt a great surge of power rush though my body.

"This is everything you've ever wanted. Now you've got it all." Luke said, already seated.

His throne was dark blue with steaks of white. Instead of a spear standing behind him, his sword stood. The one that could harm mortals and immortals both. His symbol of power. Nothing that represented Hermes was anywhere on that throne.

I liked this. I loved the surge of power that I had. Knowing that I was an important being, a ruler of this new government. The half-bloods were mine. I had my own army which was ready and willing to do my bidding at any moment.

Olympus was demolished and in its place the Titans, Luke and I built the new throne of the west. This one would stand forever.

But then an aspiration appeared in front of me. It was Percy.

"No matter how much you try you will never truly rule. There will be ones who will stand against you and one day you will fall. And you and everyone else will be locked in Tartarus for all of eternity." He looked at me with that look of determination on his face. The one that was always there when his friends were in danger.

The ghost disappeared leaving me shaken. He was right. But he also was wrong. How could I fall. I'm battle, war, and victory all rolled into one. I control the outcomes of battles. It's impossible for me to lose.

Anyways, it would take eons before the Gods would even begin to reform and when they started to, we had someone down there to hack them to pieces again. And with most of the half-bloods dead, the only half-bloods would be half-titans who would answer to us and us alone. We would never make the mistakes the Gods did. I would never forget or favor my children. I would help them with everything I had.

I felt something shaking me. My eyes snapped open and I gasped.

"Mary are you alright? You were shaking so much."

"I'm alright, Percy. It was just a nightmare."

Yeah, thats right a nightmare. It was not a vision of what might happen. Just a nightmare, I reminded myself.

"How far away are we?"

"Just a couple minutes. You were asleep for about five hours."

"Good. We might actually get some help with this quest that makes no sense. BERNARD LOOK OUT!" I screamed as a car came zooming out of nowhere.

Bernard slammed on the brakes, throwing us all forward.

"Don't worry, guys! I got this!" He yelled, smiling.

"I hope so! We could have died! Why are you driving anyway? You don't even have a license yet!"

"Uh…."

"Don't answer that. Just get us there without dying or getting injured." I sighed, sitting back against the seat again.

"Right!"

Bernard stepped on the gas pedal again, speeding the car along. We were in the city now and the lush green fields of the countryside had disappeared.

Suddenly the car sopped.

"Why are we stopping?"

"I'm hungry."

"So we're stopping all because you were hungry, Bernard?" Annabeth asked.

"Well, Mary's probably hungry too. I mean, she didn't get any breakfast.. And it's 1:30 now! We haven't eaten anything since this morning."

That was odd. Bernard never liked me before, why would he be starting to care now? Ah, it's probably just that thing he does when he wants people to think he's really nice.

We pilled out of the car and looked at were we were. Olive Garden. Well at least it wasn't a McDonald's. They did have really good pasta.

"And how are we supposed to pay for this?" Annabeth questioned.

Bernard reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wallet.

"I'm sorry. I can't help it. I see something and my fingers start itching and I start getting this urges. Before I know it, the items in my hands!" He cried defending himself.

"Who cares how he got the wallet. We need to eat. We've got money. Lets eat already!" I cried, throwing my hands up in the air. No breakfast, plus having to be on guard duty all night made me really testy.

After we had been seated and our orders had been taken, we discussed the quest.

"What kind of information do you think Athena might give us?" Bernard asked.

"Well...She wont tell you anything directly. Thats not how you learn and if she does that you're not using your brain. She's most likely to give it in the form of a riddle or a puzzle."

Sipping at my smoothie, I said "I hope we get something good. This quest doesn't make any sense. We have no idea were we need to be going. And the prophecy didn't give us much either. I just hope it deals with some destination or place that we need to get to. We can't just wander around."

"That would be a place to start. We might get more clues if we find a certain place,"

Percy agreed.

The chatter stopped there as the food had come and I suddenly found myself ravenous. The pasta smelled like heaven. Much better than anything we might get for a while, since Annabeth can't cook to save her ass. I'd cook but without a proper stove or oven I can't do anything.

Annabeth had done what most girls do when the guy the like is around. She had just ordered a salad and was taking tiny bites. Eh, she can starve if she wants. Makes everything easier for me to reach my goal.

Grover had already devoured what he had ordered and was now looking around for more.

"Grover, if you're still hungry we could get desert or something."

"Really?"

"Yea, I mean, we do have a credit card and everything."

"Thank you, Mary!"

Well, at least that would stop him from trying to eat other peoples enchiladas. When we had all finished the waitress came back.

"Dessert?"

"Yea, um… I have the strawberry cheesecake."

"I'll have the chocolate cake."

"Vanilla and strawberry parfait."

" Lime ice cream."

"Nothing, thank you," said Annabeth, putting on a horribly nauseating fake smile. She of course was trying to make herself not seem fat. Sad, when you can't just have what you want because the guy you like just happens to be there. I doubt that any guy cares what a girl eats.

The cheesecake was delicious. It melted in my mouth and was light, creamy, and fluffy. Just the way I liked my cheesecake.

Of course, Grover was the first one finished. No surprises there.

Bernard handed the waitress the stolen credit card and paid. Climbing back into the sports car.

Driving for about five more minutes we came to the place we had been searching for.

Tourists and their children wandered about. Not to mention all the school tours that were going on.

Climbing out of the car once again, we walked towards the front doors.