Simon's POV

The light sun hadn't even touched the horizon when we made it back to camp. Summer meant longer days, which meant short nights. Charlie was already scribbling furiously on her diagram paper.

"Honestly this should just be a simple snatch and go," she sighed.

Eric looked up from sharpening his sword. "Yeah, but I got a weird feeling from that Stilson guy."

I nodded in agreement. Stilson must have given Charlie the creeps too. My side was still a little sore from where she hung onto me so tightly.

I passed out sandwiches, which Eric and I instantly devoured while Charlie didn't even look at hers. "Not hungry," was all she said when I tried to get her to eat. I gave Eric a look and he shrugged. He was used to this, I was not.

"Hey," Eric started. "What did you get that armor for? Are you really going to give it to your little brother?"

I shook my head grinning. "I actually have a little sister. She's a regular mortal and her dad, my step dad is pretty cool. He doesn't know about all this," I waved my hand around. "But he gets that I really enjoy this summer camp and that it somehow connects to my dad. So, he makes sure I get there and get home all in one piece."

Charlie mumble something, but I didn't catch what she said. When I looked up she was still drawing as if she wasn't paying attention.

I pulled out the breast plate. "Actually, I was thinking we might be able to use this as a distraction. Perhaps a decoy if necessary."

Charlie's head popped up. "That's not a bad idea. Except what if they link it back to you. You did buy it today."

Charlie had a point. I cocked my head to one side and took a deep breath. Well, I had tried to come up with a good plan. I could say I tried. I looked at Eric and then back to Charlie. She had been waiting for me to look, because she smiled and added, "It was a really good idea though. We might still be able to use it for something."

I felt a lot better suddenly. I decided to ready my things and then sleep until tonight. Charlie already told us she would stay up until it was time to go. I guess she couldn't sleep. Me? I could drop like a rock right now. Into the chariot I crawled, not wasting another moment.

Eric's POV

I shook my head at Simon. He was already softly snoring away. I knew I wouldn't get but an hour or so before tonight. Then who knew when the next time we slept would be.

Watching Charlie work I realized she no longer was working on the diagram of the building. "Wait, what's that?" I scooted closer, peering into her notebook. She pulled her hand away, letting me see the entire thing.

"It's a collapsible bow."

I raised an eyebrow at her.

She went back to sketching as she spoke. "Simon made the comment that daggers are like 'miniature back up swords'. I got the idea to make a smaller collapsible bow with smaller collapsible arrows. It's just an idea. I don't know if would actually function properly." I just smiled at her. She glanced up. "What's with that smile?"

I cocked my head to the side. "Well, if you are going out of your way to design something for him, that must mean you now consider him a close friend."

She nodded, "I do." Then she squinted at me. Maybe not realizing this herself until now.

I laughed, "He's a good guy."

"You should sleep," she breathed out in a sigh. Charlie was flipping to a new page, starting yet another sketch. I swear her brain never stopped working.

"You need to sleep, Charlie," I argued.

She didn't even look at me. "You know I don't sleep well when my brain is in over drive."

I rolled my eyes. Yes, I knew all too well.

I stretched back. "Are you ok?" I didn't want to meet her eyes quite yet.

Charlie dropped her pencil and cracked her knuckles. "I mean, I'm a little worried about tomorrow-"

"No, I mean earlier when Eric was talking about his family. You sounded kind of hostile." Charlie squeezed her eyes shut. I could hear the anger in her voice. 'Must be nice.'

"I didn't mean it. I don't think he heard me anyways. It just slipped and I'm stressed and-" she took a deep breath. "Maybe I'm a little jealous. You know I don't have any family. But I didn't mean it. I'm happy that he has parents that he gets along with and all that stuff."

I nodded. I just wanted to make sure Charlie was ok. She looked up and smiled at me. "I'm happy with my little family. Sam, Corey, and you. It's good." Charlie went back to sketching as her words in my head.

I waited, watching the sun sink lower and lower. Once it was behind the horizon we would start our move. I shook Simon awake. Charlie was already packed. She had her sword attached to her belt. Her shield on her fore arm and a grim frown on her face. Simon stretched and for once no smile graced his face. It was a sobering moment and I realized I wasn't the only one with a bad feeling. But what were we supposed to do. The museum was moving soon and whatever was wrong would happen no matter how long we waited.

We took the chariot in a roundabout path. Charlie found the most secluded and wooded spot to hide the horses. It was close enough for a quick get away, but far enough away to hopefully not be found.

"I'll make the first round. If I'm not back, I've probably been caught. We will then resort to plan B." Charlie was about to exit the shrubbery before I Simon grabbed her pant leg.

"Wait, what's plan B?"

Charlie grinned at him. "Destroy everything and run."

Charlie's POV

"Two guards walking the perimeter, most likely one at the desk watching the video feed. It should now be looping yesterday night's video."

Eric had one hand on my shoulder as we crouched low. I was shaking, but no one said anything. Maybe I was the only one who could notice. Probably. Everything always seems way more noticeable to a person than it actually is. Look out everyone, I could become a ground-breaking physiologist.

"We sneak in through the back entrance, where the back room is and find our way through one of the doors in the wall. Just in case someone else is still inside the main room. I have oil for the hinges, because for some reason all creepy buildings have squeaky hinges."

Simon was rolling his wrist, as if readying it to grab arrows. "It wasn't creepy earlier." He had his eyebrow raised.

I looked straight into his eyes. His wrist immediately stilled. "Stilson's vibe? It's now emanating out of that building."

I thought I noticed both boys visibly shudder. So much for an easy snatch and grab.

"Monsters?" Eric asked.

I closed my eyes, "Perhaps. Or maybe he is just one creepy guy. I didn't like the way he noticed your camp shirts. I mean, most people just glance at them, but-" I paused trying to explain what I saw.

"It's as if he recognized them." Eric finished for me. It was my turn to shudder. Someone who recognized our shirts? Only a few people could do that. Humans who had demigod children. Demigods themselves. And any deity or creature from Greek myths. Including monsters.

"Human. He has to be."

I didn't know where those words came from, but when I said them I knew it had to be true. "Maybe another angry demigod from the past who was just late for the battle of Manhattan." Simon smiled at me. I hadn't really meant it as a joke, but seeing his smile for the first time this evening was sort of calming.

Eric scratched the back of his neck. "Or maybe it's another guy come back to life?"

Whichever he was, it was going to be a lot harder to sneak in. He must know we would want to get the armor.

"Eric move. Simon, you're up."

Eric darted out of the bush.

Now was Simon's turn. Bow drawn, arrow notched, his arm straight and firm, the other bent back.

"Now."

There was a whistling sound.

Red flames where licking an old tree just across the clearing. Once the fire was noticed, a guard was on his radio. Another guard joined him, and then a third burst out the doors. They were surrounding the flames, assessing the situation. Just about to take action.

I felt bad for having Eric hit them in the head. They should only have minor headaches when they woke up. Eric was already dragging the first guy away by the time Simon and I had sprinted over. We pulled them far enough into the woods that no danger should come to them. Laying them down, pouring a little sleeping medicine down their throughts, and then placing my well thought out letter in one of their pockets.

"What's that say?" Simon asked referring to my note. He had just taken care of the fire.

I glanced at him. "'Sorry'."

With that I took the guards keys who had been inside and headed for the back door.

Eric's POV

If you haven't been told already, being a hero doesn't mean anything goes as you plan. Ever. If you have ever been in the military or a military school you know to always have back up plans. As in multiple. If you are a hero you know that none of these backup plans will work, so you need to improvise.

Get used to it.

We had made it into the building fine with the guards keys. There was low light in the back room. I was surprised, expecting total darkness. I pocketed the flashlight I was carrying and followed Charlie.

Simon came in behind us, his head swinging back and forth, walking as he turned in slow circles.

There were crates everywhere, but someone had cleared a path straight to one of the doors in the wall. That was helpful. Charlie oiled the hinges and checked the door. It wasn't locked. She looked back, as if contemplating whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

She shook her head and we continued in. We stood frozen in the doorway, but no one was around. There wasn't as many lights on as during the day, but enough to find your way around.

Charlie waved her hand horizontally. This was Simon's cue. He needed to check around, and keep an eye out for anything weird. Charlie looked at me, tapping her wrist and then putting her fingers up in a five. I had five minute to get the armor. I watched her as she left for the monitoring desk. She had explained to us that she would check the monitors to make sure they were still looping. If not she would have to ruin the hard drive. With hot sauce.

I guess the acid from the chilly ate at the memory cards or something? Charlie had this handled. Simon for sure acted quite proud of himself for insisting we get the hot sauce.

All I had to do was grab the armor, hurry and put it on, and get out. Charlie insisted that it would be smarter to wear the armor than just try to carry it out. Plus, if we ran into trouble it would serve as protection. I knew she was concerned about my curse. She wasn't the only one. If I didn't get this thing taken care of, it was going to get me killed. I just needed Charlie to forgive me. Maybe I shouldn't have been so stupid in the first place.

Whatever. I could figure this out later, when we weren't looting a museum.

Simon's POV

I could see the entire everything from my perch. I had noticed these few crates stacked up when we had come into the museum the first time. I would have liked to be much higher, like the rafters, but we only had a few minutes to get in and out.

Eric was pulling on the last piece, the helmet. Charlie insisted that Eric wear it out to make it easier to carry. We all knew there was a secondary reason for that.

I glanced at Charlie who was now chicken pecking at the keyboard. I glanced back at Eric. The armor looked as if it had been made for him. Eric was as tall as me, but defiantly more built. He must have been Achilles twin to fit that armor. I was more on the lean side and it would have made it a challenge to move.

I glanced back at Charlie. I expected her to be working on the computer. Instead she was staring at me. There was a look of horror on her face.

I glanced behind in time to see another large create flying towards my face. I had only a split-second decision and that was to jump. I knew I had made another mistake, my first not noticing the danger in the room. The second, jumping straight into a large glass case.