A/N: Hello everybody! I know I'm horrible at updating stuff, but the truth is, I feel like I've been losing interest in Heroes of Olympus recently. I'll keep writing this story, though, for the awesome readers of mine that deserve it. And besides, Faded (my book) has been keeping me on my toes lately and I have been pouring all my energy into that. Not to mention finals week and a whole lot of cleaning to prepare for Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, it's Christmas Eve where I am, so Merry Christmas to everyone! Thank you to each and every one of you for reading my story!

Also, a quick shout out to UniqueLightxLove for being my 100th reviewer and to girlwiththedarkhair for just being awesome!

Sorry for the long A/N. Without further ado, on with the story!

Jessica POV

My stomach was churning. I felt as though I was being thrown around in a washing machine, tossing and turning and tumbling every which way. I couldn't see anything; just blackness everywhere. It was truly a horrifying experience.

"Jess!"

The voice was faint. It came from far off in the distance, like someone was yelling to me but their voice was lost in the wind.

"Jess!"

I wanted to answer them. Really, I did. But I had no sense of anything. I didn't know where my mouth was. I couldn't quite recall the words needed to answer that despairing voice. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I started to wonder if my head was even attached to my shoulders.

"JESSICA!"

What? I answered in my mind. They could hear what was going through my head, right? Surely my thoughts were loud enough. I could definitely hear them loud and clear.

"What's the matter with her?" asked a new voice. "She's breathing, and she looks fine, but why won't she open her eyes?"

Someone else was worried about me. I'm fine! I shouted in my head. See? Perfectly okay!

"Everyone else got out of that tank just fine. I don't understand why she's so out of it."

I recalled something the second voice had said. They were wondering why my eyes were closed...were my eyes shut? That would possibly explain the washing-machine stimulation I was going through. I racked my brain, trying to find the correct way to open my eyes. Maybe then they would believe that I was okay.

"Jessica, please," pleaded yet another voice. Jeez, how many people were there out there? "We're begging you. Please wake up."

I stretched my eyelids until, at long last, they flexed open. The motion stopped, thank goodness, and I was lying on a park bench. It was dark outside, and something bright and yellow shone down from the sky.

An odd looking boy with short trimmed hair and dark eyes was peering down at me, his face full of concern. Behind him stood a large array of teenagers not unlike myself.

"What happened, Sammy?" asked someone. "Is she okay?"

Your name is Sammy? I said with a slight mind giggle. What a ridiculous name.

The boy didn't answer. He simply turned around and said to the boy with the yellow hair standing next to him, "You never told us who you met. Who did this to all of us?"

The small boy laughed nervously. His vibrant green eyes seemed to pop out of his head as he said, "I don't think I should tell you that."

The boy named Sammy turned to me again. "Jess, are you okay?"

Well, of course I'm okay. Don't I look okay?

That boy's green eyes really were bright. Brighter than the streetlamp above him, actually. It hurt to look at him for more than a few seconds.

"Jess? Jessica? Why isn't she answering?"

Can't you hear me? Maybe the whole mind-speaking thing wasn't working after all.

"Your eyes are really, really bright," I told the yellow-haired boy. My voice sounded loud and echoing, and it hurt my ears. "Like little balls of light."

The boy looked stricken. "Oh, my gods..." he moaned.

"What?" asked Sammy, panicking. "What's the matter?"

The boy shook his head and cleared his throat, glancing around and smiling uncomfortably. "What's the matter?" he laughed. "Well, nothing's the matter. Nothing's wrong. Everything is completely normal. We have no problems! None at all."

He turned away, which I was thankful for. I wasn't sure if I could look at those green orbs any longer. He tried to walk away, but a girl with thick black hair caught him by the shirt sleeve and pulled him close.

"Ethan." She shook him slightly. "What. Is. The. Matter. With. Jessica."

He shrugged.

"Look," I said. "Nothing's wrong with me, just like the crazy boy with the green stars for eyes said. What's really wrong is how all of you are staring at me creepily in the dead of night under that beautiful round thing in the sky. Why are you even out here? And why are all of you suddenly looking like cats to me?"

It was true. A fat yellow cat had taken the place of the boy named Ethan. I was beginning to think that something might indeed be very, very wrong.

The Ethan cat meowed in a panicked sort of tone and said very quickly under his breath in a human voice, "I think the goddess of insanity has taken her sanity."

A hushed silence fell over all the cats. I blinked, and they were people again.

"Oh my gods," moaned Sammy. "What do we do?"

"Excuse me." A girl with brown hair raised her hand and stepped to the front of the pack. "I realize you all hate me, and it has come to my attention that Collin very much wishes I wasn't here, but I know someone who can help Jessica."

Everyone stared at her, not daring to say a word.

She grinned rather evilly. "It's time to pay a visit to the jerk of a god who runs Camp Half-Blood."