A/N: Okay, so forget about what I said about not updating as much...I tried working on Locked (that's the book I'm writing) for a while this morning, and it pretty much failed. So I figured I might as well write this instead. :D

Disclaimer: Did you seriously think I owned these characters? Cause I don't. (Well, actually, I own Helena, Ethan, Collin, Sammy, Emily Marie, Jessica, and Russell. But that's it.)

Jason POV

"Geez, Perce. There's no way that actually happened."

Percy grinned. "Of course it did! One minute I was sitting there, and the next I had three dragons on me, all ready to pounce . . ."

Annabeth shoved him. "Just stop with your tall tales. We hardly get any monsters attacks these days, thank the gods."

"Yeah," agreed Frank, "Percy's 'three dragons' was probably an angry Chihuahua."

We all laughed. It was so good to be back with these guys again. It felt just like the old days, back when we would joke and talk around the dinner table on the Argo II.

"Wow, Frank, that joke was almost worthy of Leo," laughed Piper.

"Speaking of Leo, where is he? Did anyone even invite him?" asked Percy with a frown.

At the son of Poseidon's words, my heart dropped. A wave of guilt washed over me. I had totally forgotten about Valdez. That's not all my fault, though. The guy acted like he never wanted to associate himself with us again.

Still, how could we forget? Leo would hate that.

"Well, I told him to come," said Hazel. "But I don't think he really wanted to."

"Someone needs to contact him and tell him to get down here," said Piper. She looked at me. "Jason?"

I sighed. It was the least I could do to make up for me forgetting about my former best friend. "Yeah, okay. I'll Iris Message him."

I got from the table and exited the house, passing Percy's kids as I did so. They were having a full-blown argument about something stupid.

I strolled down the street in New Rome, looking for a source of water. Several familiar faces passed me, such as Dakota and Gwen. I waved to them, but we didn't stop to talk. They could see I was in a hurry. The sun was going down and soon I wouldn't be able to make a rainbow.

I finally found what I was looking for: a huge fountain on the corner of a cobblestone road. I never was a huge fan of water, mostly because my dad was Jupiter and I was more comfortable in the air. Still, I had to admit the fountain was impressive. Thick streams of water gushed into the air and golden denarii sparkled at the bottom of the pool.

Suddenly I realized that I wasn't alone. A woman was standing near the water, looking at her reflection. Her back was to me, but I knew who she was just by the way she was standing.

"Reyna!"

She turned as fast as a snake, her dark braid whipping around her head. "Jason?"

"Hey."

She scowled. "What are you doing here? I thought you lived up in New York, next to the other camp."

"The seven are meeting up here, at Frank and Hazel's house. I'm staying here for the summer," I told her.

She didn't look too happy about that. Her obsidian eyes narrowed and she took a step towards me. "I see you're still keeping up that cheesy 'seven of the prophecy' thing. How's darling Piper?"

Okay, that hurt. "Reyna, can't you just - "

"No."

And with that, she stalked off.

I took a deep breath and turned to the rainbow that was forming in the mist of the fountain. Tossing my drachma in, I called, "O Iris, show me Leo Valdez at . . . uh, his house."

The image changed. Leo had his back turned to me. He was pounding something with a giant hammer, muttering as he did so. "Stupid Hazel . . . stupid me . . . why . . ."

"Um, Leo?"

He turned, and I resisted the urge to yelp in surprise. The Leo Valdez that stood before me now in no way resembled the Leo that was my best friend twenty years ago. His eyes were no longer that warm shade of brown. They were alive with fire and anger. His hands were curled into flaming fists, and fire danced in his hair. The look on his face was so pained, so scary-looking, that I started to wonder if I knew the man before me at all.

"What do you want, Grace?" he snarled.

"Leo, what . . . what happened to you?"

His scowl deepened. "I've always been this way, Grace. You just never took the time to notice."

What was it, National Hate-on-Jason Day? I started to regret wanting to invite Leo to New Rome with us. If he was going to act like this . . . Emily Marie was only eight. She would be scared out of her mind.

"Um, Hazel said she asked you . . . the rest of us are at the Zhang house, if you want to come," I told him nervously.

He shook his head. "I already told Hazel, I'm not coming. Now scram."

Surprisingly, I found myself trying to muster up the bravery to reply. That shocked me - since when has Leo ever scared me? I was Jason Grace, son of the king of the gods. Leo was easily a head shorter than me; he was scrawny and unimpressive to most people. So why did I suddenly feel like I was inferior to him?

"Look, Valdez, if you don't get over here soon, I'm going to fly to your house myself and drag you all the way to California."

He raised an eyebrow, then turned around. After a few minutes of us both doing nothing, he said, without looking at me, "Fine. See you tomorrow."

I swiped my hand through the mist, feeling triumphant and worried. As much as I missed Leo, I definitely didn't miss bitter, creepy Leo.

I could only pray to every god I knew that I wouldn't have to deal with the monster version of the son of Hephaestus tomorrow.

Jessica POV

"Little hero, you are weak and unprepared."

The voice echoed and chilled my blood. I was standing in a dark and somewhat slimy cave. A deep voice was trying to talk to me. My whole body was shaking from fear and my hands were whiter than a ghost.

"Who - who are you?" I stammered.

"That is something I will not reveal. When the time is right I will come out and take everything you know. But for now, I'll just continue to torment you in your sleep."

I took a closer look at what I thought was slime and realized it was a dark red color.

Blood. There was blood on the walls.

"Now, little hero, what if I told you that I plan to take your parents captive in the near future and the only way to get them back is to do what I say?"

I screamed. "Don't say that!"

I heard thundering footsteps growing nearer. "Beware, little hero, for I am coming."

I sat bolt upright in bed and checked the time. Six o'clock in the morning.

I'd had that nightmare for the past three days now. Every night it was the same: a deep and terrifying voice threatening to take my parents. I hadn't told Mom and Dad about it. I didn't want to give them more to handle than they already did. Besides, this was supposed to be their summer of relaxing and hanging out with their friends.

I figured I probably wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, so I got dressed and brushed my hair as quick as I could. I strolled down to the kitchen, where I found Helena Jackson.

I hadn't even met her yet. She just got here yesterday, after all. She was tall and beautiful - everything I longed to be.

Yes, I was related to the goddess of beauty, but that doesn't make me anywhere near as pretty as my mom. You'd think that being the daughter of Jason and Piper made me automatically good looking, right? Not so much. Somewhere along the family line, I became plain and average.

Helena looked at me a bit strangely. "What's your name again?"

"Jessica. Jessica Grace."

She nodded. "I'm Helena."

"I know."

She raised an eyebrow and said, "So why are you up so early?"

I chose to be vague. "Bad dream. What about you?"

"Oh, just couldn't sleep," she replied. "Say, don't we start - "

She stopped. I was about to ask why, but then I heard it too. The front door had creaked open and someone was entering the house.

"Hello?" called a hoarse voice. "Is there anybody in this wretched house?"

Helena looked at me, her gray eyes wide.

A man stomped into the kitchen and dropped his bag on the floor. He had curly black hair hanging in his face and tan skin. His ears were pointed slightly, making him look like an elf. His eyes seemed empty, as if they once were alive with laughter but couldn't find anything to laugh at anymore.

"Are . . . are you an intruder?" I asked stupidly.

"No." He appeared to be holding in his frustration, though it wasn't working very well. "I'm Leo Valdez, and I'm the last of the seven. I am totally not an intruder."

A/N: Hola! Yup, I got bored today, and honestly, I'm pretty proud of myself for this chapter. It's my longest one yet!

To Bookworm19980115, kat callan, guest, Girlwithdarkhair, I am that Writer, and Chameleon-pond: Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you! I still can't believe you guys thought this story was worth reading . . .

And to Sam: Yes, I was teasing you. And looks like I updated anyways . . . see ya tomorrow! Mwahahaha

So yeah . . . I'd say that I'm not going to update as often anymore, but knowing me, I'll end up posting another chapter tomorrow again. I really need to do something else with my life . . .