Warning: Contains abuse, self-harm, swearing, monsters, secret societies, death, memory loss, Hecate, twins, and a whole lot of stuff that PJO forgot to mention.

Gillian

13 Years Old

I knelt the moment we were out of the cave. I knew who was waiting.

Well, that's kind of true.

Mostly, I knelt because I was tired out of my mind. I would've talked to the new demigod if I weren't A) angry at her for running away. B) concentrating on not thinking at all, fearing the worst. Of course Freak would've contacted Chiron (even though he's not even the director of our branch). I was stupid to think he wouldn't. He was my friend and he thought we were in danger. He thought we needed help. If I were him, I'd have done the same. Still, I wasn't too happy with him.

I was surprised I was able to find the new demigod. She was far enough into the cave for the labyrinth to have shifted and/or taken over her sanity, but somehow... Somehow, she stayed hidden from it. I suddenly understood why Chiron thought she was a necessary piece in his games. She was powerful, I could feel it. I just didn't know in what way yet.

I looked over at girl-demigod and I was kinda surprised to see she wasn't shocked in the slightest to see Chiron, the half-horse. Half-horse. She didn't even blink. He was looking tired, probably because he was up late mourning all the heroes he failed. Hah.

Look, I'm sorry. I get that most of you loooove Chiron. He's the hero trainer, the kind-hearted adult. Someone you can confide in. A Dumbledore of some sorts. But may I remind you? Dumbledore ended up being kind of a selfish douche who hid things from Harry, who was kind of a jerk sometimes, too. Wow… I'm sorry, that was too far. No one can diss Dumbledore.

Everyone, there is an example of my ADHD. And this is on a good day, too. So, I get distracted really easily, and while this keeps me alive sometimes, in most cases, it's just irritating.

Anyway, we were got out of the cave. I knelt/collapsed in front of our little horse "friend" and Freak.

"Chiron. What are you doing here?" I tried not to sound bitter, but I think he could sense my discontent.

He eyed me carefully and said, "I was notified by-"

"FREAK!" Freak pounced in front of Chiron, yelling his name at the top of his lungs.

"-uh-"

"Freak. My name is Freak."

Chiron gave him an amused look, and there was a little twinkle in his eyes. With a pang, I realized that twinkle was never directed towards me. I was unwanted. Eh, the usual, I told myself. Still, it hurt.

"Ah, yes. Fine, then. Freak, here," Freak nodded in approval as Chiron continued. It never occurred to me that Chiron might know Freak's actual name. "Notified me saying that you needed help."

I dragged myself into standing position, and leaned against the cold wall of stone right outside the cave - no, labyrinth- entrance.

"Well," I began,"We're fine, now, thanks. As you can see, we had a minor setback, but we're good, now."

"Minor setbacks can be the death of you," said Chiron in that wise old voice of his. Don't mistake his words for worry. He didn't care about me. He cared about the quest, he cared about the power within Sam.

I snapped, "There are always minor setbacks in any quest, isn't that the point?! Throwing challenges at demigods that they wouldn't have suspected otherwise and seeing how they react, how they survive?"

Silence. I rolled my eyes.

Freak stood behind Chiron, frantically shaking his head. It was funny. Most Hades kids were wildly unpopular, but everybody seemed to love Freak. He was quirky. I used to think he was gay, for the first three seconds I knew him. But after more than that, you can just tell by his body language he's into women. Oh, man. What a perv.

For the first time, the demigod spoke. I expected her to say what they all say:

What's going on?

Where am I?

Who are you guys?

I wasn't ready to explain. This was my first time dealing with these annoyingly ignorant pricks, but I'd still have to pay attention and make sure I knew what to do when they asked questions and stuff, in case I had to do this by myself one day.

But she said something that actually made more sense than anything the rest of us were thinking.

Demigod, "So, do you think we could leave now? Because I don't know about you guys, but that-" she pointed to the cave, "-is creeping me out, and, well... I don't get scared for nothing."

Chiron smiled warmly. Ugh. He only did that to me once, when I first arrived at Camp Half-Blood. After he found out who I was, he kind of... Well, now is not the time to explain.

"Yes, Sam, let us go."

So we left. Sam and I squeezed onto Chiron's back while Freak disappeared into the shadows. And then, he began to gallop. At first, the speed was of any great race horse, but then everything became a blur and I shut my eyes to avoid having my face peeled off by the wind.

All I wanted was for the ride to be over. I looked over my shoulder to see if Sam was okay and she gave me look, like "Wow, this day has been pretty intense. Let it be over please."

I decided she wasn't so bad.

It was funny, though. In the light... she looked just like this girl I've seen around camp occasionally, when I go above ground. Annabeth Chase.