Sup guys! This one should be twice the amount of words the last chapter had so don't be angry! I should be able to update thrice a week so look forward to the chapters!

Chapter 6

The rest of the night was pretty horrible for us.

We camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously used for parties. The ground was littered with fast-food wrappers and garbage.

Percy and his quest members grabbed three blankets and some food from Aunty Em's and laid them down on the forest floor.

We looked at the floor and Annabeth spoke up. "We have to share these blankets. Two per blanket."

We all nodded and everybody grabbed a blanket and started pairing up except me. I walked up to a tree and started climbing up 'till I got up to the top. I sat down and looked out at the scenery.

I heard ruffling down below me and saw Grover trying to climb up with me. I chuckled and stretched my hand towards him. He looked up and took it gratefully.

I pulled him up easily and guided him next to me. As soon as he sat down he started talking.

"It makes me sad Nexus."

"What does? The fact that you signed up for this quest?"

He looked at me surprised that I knew about it. "No. This makes me sad." He pointed to all the garbage on the ground. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."

"Oh yeah. Stayr's are like environmentalists." I said glancing at him.

He glared at me. "Only a human wouldn't be. Your species are clogging up the word so fast... Ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."

"Why are you looking for him?"

"It's the point of my searcher's license. That's why I have to go on these quests."

"Oh." Is all I said.

"Go get some sleep Nexus. I'll keep watch." Grover said taking his reed pipes out of his pocket.

I nodded. "Alright. See you if i wake up." I joked.

He cracked a smile. "Don't worry. It won't be hard. Now on you go."

I nodded and glided down the tree. When I touched the ground, I folded my wings away and laid down next to Hagan who was sleeping sprawled out over the whole entire blanket.

Not wanting to take over his 'beauty sleep', I decided to test out Chaos' blessing and willed tent to appear. As soon as it appeared I walked in and laid down on the bed and fell asleep immediately.

In my dreams, I stood in a dark cavern before a gaping pit. I looked to my left and I saw Percy right beside me. Gray mist creatures churned all around us, whispering rags of smoke that I somehow knew were spirit of the dead.

They tugged on my clothes , trying to pull me back, but I felt compelled to walk forward to the very edge of the chasm.

Looking down made me dizzy until I realized what I was staring at. It was Tartarus. At the sight I smirked as I felt the familiar breeze and smell of the pit. That was until I heard the voice.

The little hero and his brother, an amused voice echoed far down in the darkness. Both too weak, too young, but you'll have to do.

The voice felt ancient-cold and heavy. It wrapped me around like bed sheets of lead.

They have misled you boy, it said. Barter with me. I'll give you what you want. The truth.

A shimmering image of my mother an my father both at the moment of me coming out of the womb and her fading into nothing.

I tried to cry out, but my voice wouldn't work. Cold laughter echoed from the chasm.

An invisible force pulled me forward. It would drag me into the pit unless I stood firm..

Help me rise boy. The voice became hungrier. Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against the treacherous gods!

The spirits of the dead whispered around me, No! Wake!

The image of my birth began to fade. The thing in the pit tightened it's unseen grip around me.

I realized that it wasn't interested in pulling me in. It was using me to pull itself out.

Good, it murmured. Good.

Wake! The dead whispered. Wake!

Someone was shaking me.

My eyes opened and I saw Hagan above me.

"Well." Hagan said. "The zombie lives."

I was slightly trembling from the dream. I could still feel the chasm monster around my chest. "How long was I asleep?"

"Long enough for that Anniebeth girl to cook breakfast." He said throwing a bag of chips at me. "And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."

I walked out my tent and my eyes had trouble focusing.

Grover was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with something fuzzy in a lap, a dirty, unnaturally pink stuffed animal.

No. It wasn't a stuffed animal. It was a pink poodle.

The poodle yapped at me suspiciously. Grover said, "No, he's not."

I blinked. "Are you... talking to that thing?"

The poodle growled. "This thing," Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him.

"You can talk to animals?"

Grover ignored the question. "Nexus, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Nexus."

I stared at Hagan, figuring he'd crack up at this practical joke they were playing on me, but he looked dead serious for once.

"I'm not saying hi to a pink poodle." I said. "Forget it."

"Nexus." Hagan said. "I said hi to the poodle so you have to say hi to the poodle."

The poodle growled.

I said hello to the poodle.

Grover explained that he came across Gladiola in the woods and he found out from Gladiola that had a $200 bounty on her head form her family. He didn't want to go, but he'd go if it meant helping Grover.

"So her can read signs?"

"Duh!" Grover looked at me if I was crazy.

"Of course." I said. "Silly me."

"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth in her best strategy voice. "we get the money and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."

"No shit Sherlock."

She glared at me and pointed downhill, towards the train tracks I didn't bother to look at in the dark. "There's an Amtrack station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the west-bound train leaves at noon."

There you guys go! That's the chapter! I had a change with the pairings, It'll be Nexus/Zoe and Percy/Annabeth. If you didn't know, Nexus is the Original Percy Jackson and Percy Jackson is a duplicate to make the story flow. Please review! It helps me a lot!

Star J