As we ate our breakfast, we tried to figure out where the evil maiden could be hiding.

"Okay, whoever this maiden is, she's very hidden. She hardly reveals herself to anyone. If we want to find her, we should go somewhere no person would ever want to be found." I suggested. "Perhaps the desert."

"Which one? There are several deserts in the world." Jason remarked.

"Let's see, there's the Sahara, Sonoran, Mojave, Kalahari, Atacama, Arabian, Namib and several others I could name." I said.

"She could be anywhere." Piper said, drinking some orange juice.

"Maybe she's in the U.S." Percy suggested, eating his blue waffles.

"The only place on Earth we know she's been would be Mount Tamalpais. So maybe she's set up her headquarters in this country." Hazel said.

"That still leaves a lot of land to cover." Frank said.

Suddenly a camper came running up to our table. "Praetor Percy, I hate to disturb you, but we got big trouble." he said.

Percy stood up. "What's the issue?"

"Marcus has gone completely insane! He's trying to kill everyone and release some guy trapped in bones?"

"Oi vey. I better deal with this before this gets out of hand."

He took the bacon from his plate and left the table.

"Do you think he's being controlled?" Leo asked, referring to Marcus.

"Possibly. Anyway, moving on..." Frank stated.

"We have to find her. I suggest that we start with Death Valley." I said.

"Death Valley? Sounds like a massive graveyard." Hazel commented.

I answered, "No, Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California. It's one of the hottest places in the world in the summertime, although right now in the wintertime, it actually isn't so unbearable."

"Isn't it also a national park?" Piper asked.

"I was just about to mention that, but you beat me to it." I said.

Jason looked at me like I was crazy. "They get several tourists each year. How could an evil maiden and her friend hide there?"

Hazel pondered to herself. "Hecate did tell us that she can manipulate the Mist. Maybe she's using it to hide herself in plain slight."

"So why exactly is it called Death Valley?" Leo asked.

"To be honest, I don't really know." I said. "I never bothered to question the meaning of its name."

Later on, the six of us went to Death Valley. We got our gear and went out. We stood at the lobby of the Furnace Creek Airport, discussing our plans.

"Let's split up. Death Valley is a pretty big place. Frank, Jason, Leo, go northwest, following Furnace Creek. Me, Piper and Hazel will go southeast after passing Hell's Gate. Good luck to you both. Call us if you encounter trouble." I said.

We went our separate ways. Even in the wintertime, it was still very warm. The three of us roamed through the desert for at least two hours, but we still hadn't found the evil maiden. We stopped at Badwater Basin, which was the lowest point in Death Valley.

"This is hopeless. I'm convinced that she's not here." Hazel complained.

"Maybe I was wrong." I said. "Why am I so very wrong these days?"

Piper pulled out her dagger, which started to glow. "I'm seeing another vision."

"Yes! Maybe it'll show where the maiden's liar is." Hazel said.

The dagger showed the same girl who killed Castor with Luke/Kronos and Ethan Nakamura on the Princess Andromeda.

"She's a powerful one, my lord." Ethan said.

Through the eyes of Luke, Kronos looked at her. "You seem familiar. Have I seen you before?"

"I do not believe so." she answered.

"Do you know who your godly parent is?" Kronos asked.

"No, I don't." she said, remaining calm.

"She has great magic powers. Maybe she is a child of Hecate?" Ethan suggested.

"She is no daughter of mine, but I'll take her in." Hecate said, appearing on the ship. "Tell me, metaphorical daughter of mine, what is your name?"

"I'm Tiana." she answered.

Hecate smiled. "Well, Tiana. You're part of the Titan Army now. Together, we will overthrow the Olympians."

"They will fall and they will regret underestimating the minor gods and their descendants!" Tiana exclaimed.

Later on, Tiana leaned against the railing of the ship. She looked at the pocketwatch she had in her hand.

I know who you really are, Tiana. Keep quiet about your true powers until I claim victory.

Yes, my lord.

The vision ended, leaving us in disappointment.

"Well, that told us absolutely nothing." Piper said.

Hazel frowned. "I agree." She sighed. "Come on, we better get going."

We continued through the desert. As we walked, I couldn't but think that vision, plus the previous one about Tiana killing Castor, was somehow important. Everything felt like an enormous jigsaw puzzle. It was up to us to solve it.

"Oh dear, are you lost?" a woman asked.

We looked towards the toward of the voice. It belonged to an overweight woman in a blue dress. Her eyes were blue yet looked somewhat snake-like for a second. Or was that just an illusion? She had a chihuahua on a blue leash in her right hand.

"No, we're looking for something. We fear we may not find it." Piper answered.

"What exactly are you looking for?" she asked.

Hazel touched her fingers to her chin. "How do we explain this in the best way?" She paused for a second. "We're looking a for deserted place, like an abandoned fortress or hideout."

"You're trying to find a place to hide?" she asked.

"No, we're trying to find someone who is hiding." I answered. "Just who are you anyway?"

"Why are you asking me that? The question is, will you survive this trial?"

Her form changed. She was now a woman with a snake tail on the bottom, her tongue was forked and she bared her fangs towards us. Her dog's form also changed. The dog now had the head of a lion, the body of a goat and a snake-headed tail from its behind.

"Echidna." I answered. "And her daughter the Chimera."

"You're a smart one, Annabeth Chase. But brains can only get you so far." Echidna commented. She turned towards the Chimera. "Attack!"

The Chimera breathed fire in my direction.

"Watch out!" Piper exclaimed, pushing me out of the way. Her hair was partially burned, but she stood up, got out her dagger and charged towards the fire-breathing monster. I got out my dagger, ducking my head to avoid the flames.

"Ok, I admit, maybe splitting up was a bad idea! I wish Leo was here!" I exclaimed.

Piper tried to strike the monster with her dagger, but it backflipped. "Yeah, no kidding!"

"Important safety tip; avoid the head!" Hazel added.

I battled Echidna, believing she would be the lesser of the two evils, but much to my surprise, she was armed and dangerous. She carried two swords; one made from steel and one of silver. I held my dagger against the two swords and tried to shove them away, but she swung the silver sword towards me, which I barely dodged. I quickly got out my second weapon, the drakon bone sword. Using the sword to keep Echidna's weapons at bay, I stabbed her in the arm (although I was aiming for her heart). She stepped back, writhed in agony then smirked.

"You're good, but are you good enough?" she asked.

"AHH!"

"Piper! What did your pet do to her?" Hazel asked, glaring at her.

"Oh relax, she's only been poisoned." Echidna answered. "Which will kill her shortly!"

"You monster!" I screamed.

I fought against the Mother of Monsters, seething with rage. Everything happened so fast that it was a big blur. I clearly remembered stabbing Echidna in the neck, killing her while Hazel somehow finished off the Chimera. Then, either from the increased heat in the area (because of the fire-breath) or exhaustion, I fainted yet again. My dreamscape was getting even stranger (like stranger than the usual strange). I thought I'd be seeing more current or recent events, but instead I saw something completely different.

A woman with blue eyes and blond hair stood in a white nightgown in a dark room, lit only by a single gold colored candle. She slowly paced about the room.

"Where is he?"

Suddenly a man with black curly hair and blue eyes entered the room. He was dressed a white tunic and stood nine feet tall.

"Phineas, is that you?" the woman asked. "Phineas?"

"I'm afraid you're mistaken, Daphne."

Suddenly there was a golden flash, then everything faded to black. The next thing I know, I see the evil maiden, Atlas and numerous other people with her. The evil maiden sat on a throne with a young man bowing down to her.

"Mistress, I have tried to recruit Achelous to our case, but he refused." he said.

"Really?" she asked.

"What do we do now?"

"Leave him. I'll wipe his mind of your memory later. He's not very useful anyway." She turned to Atlas. "Who do we have in our faction?

Atlas looked at the list. "Let's see, so far we have myself, Hercules, Phobos, Deimos, Enyo, Phorcys, Keto, Janus and Eris."

"My options are limited, but I can make do with what I have and what I can get. What about Khione?" the maiden asked.

"She refused. In fact, she actually told me that she saw the seven heroes, along with Calypso, in her suite in Russia." Keto answered.

"Khione's living in the mortal realm?" Phobos asked.

Janus's right side looked at Phobos like he was dumb. "Yes. And Zethes has been made mortal." He sighed. "What about Calais?" Janus's left side asked.

"He's dead." Enyo answered. "He was killed during his time as a mortal."

"Most of the Gigantes are dead or imprisoned in Tartarus." Eris stated.

"But there's one that we can recruit." the maiden said. "Not counting Damasen, he was the only giant who didn't join Gaea in the final battle."

The goddess of strife looked at her curiously. "Who might that be?"

"Clytius." she answered.

Some the immortal deities gasped at her answer. "But won't he take away your magic powers? He's the bane of Hecate." Hercules stated.

"Not necessarily." she answered. "He didn't try to steal Hazel's powers."

"She manipulated the Mist, not magic." Enyo stated.

"Besides, since I don't oppose him, why would he target me?" the maiden asked. "He has no reason to hate me."

"But he doesn't have a reason to join us." Deimos said.

"Well then, I'll give him a reason to join us. Eris, Enyo, come with me. We have a giant to find!"

The two disappeared and I woke up, gasping for air. I found myself in a shaded area. I soon realized that I was lying on the ground.

"Oh... My head..."

"Annabeth, are you okay?" Jason asked.

"I'm fine." I answered. Suddenly I remembered what happened. "Where's Piper?!"

Leo looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. "Uh, how do we explain this?"

I looked over and saw Piper, literally frozen in time. I gasped. "She's dead?"

"She's not dead, but she's very close to it." a familiar voice answered. Khione appeared in front of me. She wore a long white sleeveless dress with blue heels. The tiara on her head was gone, but otherwise she was pretty much the same. "I didn't want to, but, to save her life, I froze her temporarily to prevent the poison from killing her."

"I'm guessing the snow cloud is to prevent Piper from melting?"

"If she melts or breaks in her current form, it would be disastrous. That's why Leo is very far away from the ice statue."

Leo waved. I turned back to Khione. "So what happened, how did we end up here?"

Frank sighed. "Very long story."