"!" I bolted upright in my bed, "Whaa?" Zoey Luna, the girl I met in the woods, came running up to my bed, "We're going on the quest today." I picked up one of my pillows and hummed it at her. "I know you-" "Watch the language." She caught the pillow and whacked me on the head with it. "Ow." I rubbed my head and made my hair even more tangled and ungodly. "Let's go. We'll be late for breakfast." I groaned in annoyance.

She does have eyes, I'm just wondering if they work very well because my hair rivals Medusa's in the morning. "What? Just throw some shoes on and go." Zoey urged. I kicked my blankets off and got out of bed. I stumbled a little because the pressure on my ankle wasn't the best feeling in the world. "I can't just throw shoes on and go! My mother would murder me with a curling iron! And I'm not going to be killed by a curling iron!" Zoey folded her arms and narrowed her eyes, "You're kidding, right?"

I turned around and headed towards my closet. I slipped on my short, black Uggs and tucked my pajama pants into them. I slipped on a plain black sweatshirt before heading back to Zoey. It wasn't that cold out but I don't wear a bra to bed and I wasn't going to breakfast all freelance.

"You don't own a straightener?" Melissa asked Zoey beyond surprised. "For the tenth time, Melissa, no." The girl answered aggravated. "But your hair is so curly and even girls with straight hair own a straightener." Zoey snorted at my air headed sister. "If I gave a damn what my hair looks like I would carry a mirror around 24/7 like you and your idiot sisters but I don't. Why? Because I don't care. I carry a bow around to get rid of annoying people who say I need a straightener, like you." Melissa's complexion was ghost white. "Uh, Zoey, why don't we head over to the chow hall?" Zoey went from being pissed off to happy. I think it had to do with my mentioning of food. "Let's go, Stiletto." I scrunched my nose, "Stiletto?" She patted me on the shoulder, "It's your new nickname."

We started walking out of the cabin and towards , what I like to call, the chow hall. "It's better than Barbie, so I can't complain too much." Zoey side glanced at me, "Not complaining at all would be nice." I smacked her arm, "Watch it shorty." Zoey sighed. "Fine." She said sarcastically. We spent the rest of the walk in silence. Which isn't saying much since my cabin is like two seconds away from the chow hall. Zoey headed towards the Artemis table without a word. I did a double take. That table was only used by the Hunt. Why was Zoey sitting there? Oh my gods! Artemis finally got some!

Okay, back to breakfast. I was, like so many times before, the only one at the Aphrodite table. I really wish my sisters cared less about there looks. That way they'd be at breakfast on time. I picked up my plate and made my way towards the hearth. I threw in some sausage for my dad and a little cheese omelet for my mom. To my disappointment, Hestia was talking to Nico, which meant I wouldn't get to talk to her before I left for the quest. I took my seat at the table and wished for a hot caramel latte with skim milk to fill my chalice. In mere seconds the cup was filled to the brim with my steaming beverage. I thanked the gods then took a sip. It burned my throat but I knew I wasn't going to be able to enjoy a latte for awhile. I took another sip that scathed my throat. I was really going to miss this.

I almost finished my hash browns when she sat down. The only sister I truly hated, Demetria. She wasn't an annoying airhead like most of my sisters. She was an evil, conniving whore. Melissa lost her first serious boyfriend to Demetria. Ashley caught one of her boyfriends with Demetria last year. She got kicked out of our cabin two summers ago. Now she lives in the infirmary under Chiron's watch. She's kind of on lockdown for being a slut.

"Hey, Deadly." Demetria greeted. "Hi." I responded curtly. "So…..I was wondering….whose gonna be in charge while you're on the quest? I mean, I'd be more than happy to take-" "Ashley's in charge, Demetria." The devil wearing Prada glared at me. "Why is she in charge?" I took a deep breath and counted to ten in my head. I didn't want this conversation to end with me punching Demetria's face in. Well, not yet. "Ashley won't let it go to her head. That's why." The girl scoffed, "She will, too. I on the other hand won't. I don't see why you don't leave me in charge, Deadly." I folded my hands and placed them on the table and said in fake sweet voice, "Quick question for you, would you give a criminal the keys to his cell? A suicidal person a gun? Or a clown a whoopee cushion?" Her face looked utterly confused, "No?" I cocked my head to the side, "Then why would I give someone as greedy as you a position of power?" Let's just say she left with steam coming out of her ears.

I finished up the rest of my breakfast in mere seconds and headed back to my cabin to pack. Since I didn't have a backpack, I went digging through my sisters' closets. Guess what I found? Not one freaking backpack that's for sure. And no one was around to help me. The whole Aphrodite cabin was at the arena ogling the guys practicing sword fighting.

I decided to ask Nico if he had a spare backpack I could borrow. He wasn't my first choice though. I was originally going to ask Becca or Trevor but then I remembered we're kind of not talking so Nico won in the long run. I quickly made my way to the Hades cabin. With one knock the door was opened by a smiley Tyler. "What's up, Deadly?" He said in an extremely happy voice. Someone had coffee this morning. Well, so did I but I can obviously handle my caffeine. "Hey, is Nico in there?" Tyler smirked a little, "Nah. He's at the beach. Why?" I smacked him on the shoulder, "I just wanted to know if he had a backpack I could borrow." Tyler chuckled a bit, "I think he has a spare one, come in and help me check."

I closed the door behind me and followed Tyler to Nico's bunk. "You check under his bed and I'll check his closet." I arched my eyebrows, "Under his bed?" Tyler nodded, "Trust me, his closet is way worse." I pushed up my sleeves, "Okay." I got down on my knees and started digging through the crap that occupied the space between Nico's bed and the floor.

Ten minutes later I had an old Jansport in my hands (Obviously it was black). "Tyler, I found one!" Tyler walked over with a sweatshirt thrown over his shoulder, "Good, now get out." I slung the backpack over my shoulder, "Excuse me?" He smiled, revealing his pearly whites, "You're driving my brother insane. He's probably still at the beach. Maybe you two can talk things out." Before this boy started talking I thought he was a hands down son of Hades but since he's opened his pie hole I'm having second thoughts. "Since when are you interested in your brother's love life?" "Since he hasn't stopped sulking about how you give 'mixed signals'." We both burst out laughing and we didn't stop for a good five minutes.

Once I sobered up from my laugh attack I decided to go find Nico. "Do you think he's still at the beach?" Tyler nodded his head, "Yeah, he usually spends hours there." I did a double take, "Really?" The son of Hades sighed, "Yeah, now go." I put my hands up in surrender, "I'm going, I'm going." And after that I was gone.

On my way to the beach I didn't have much on my mind. I was cutting through the woods and loving fact that no one was around. I noticed Nico right away once the beach came into view. He was the only thing dark and deadly on the whole shore. I snuck up behind him and covered his eyes, "Guess who?" He laughed lightly, "Demetria?" I whacked him in the neck, "Guess again, dip wad." Nico removed my hands from his face, "I'm just messing with you, Deadly." I sat down besides him, "You better be. I hate that-" "Watch the language." I rolled my eyes, "Oh, please."

We sat in silence for a few minutes. It was nice because it gave us both a little time to think. Okay, it gave Nico time to think and me time to watch the waves crash into each other. "Do you want to go on the quest?" The Prince of Darkness asked randomly. "Not at all." I looked out towards the ocean to avoid his eyes. "Why not?" He asked intently. "Because….because I don't want to be responsible for someone's death or have my screw up cause another person pain. I'm just scared I'm going to mess up and that if I do, something bad will happen." Nico wrapped his arm around my shoulders and I rested my head in the crook of his neck. "You'll do fine. Messing up makes you human." That's thing, I wanted to tell him, I'm not human.

"Nico?" I was aiming to change the subject. "Yeah?" He whispered in my ear. "What's up with the whole P.D.A. thing going on between us. Last year we were down each other's throats and now…..okay that wasn't the best choice of words but you know what I mean." Nico moved his arm from my shoulders to my waist and pulled me closer. "My brothers and I were, uh, talking one day about….stuff and that's when I realized I liked you." I looked up into his big brown eyes, "You do know that you so didn't answer my question, right?" He smirked, "Hell yeah." And he pecked my lips.

If you haven't noticed we tend to be extremely bipolar. Like we'll argue then we'll make out. Actually, a lot of people are like that these days, go figure. "Why do you have my backpack?" Nico asked with fake skepticism. "Because I don't have one and I need it for the quest." He rolled his eyes, "Thanks for asking." "Technically, I did ask. I got permission from Tyler." Nico shook his hair out of his eyes, "That shouldn't count." I patted his arm, "Well, it does."

We hung out on the beach for another twenty minutes before heading back towards camp. I retrieved my jewelry box from my cabin and stuffed it in Nico's backpack. It was the one thing in my cabin that I actually needed. Everything else was dead weight. I jogged over to the Hades cabin and let myself in. Nico was all packed and ready to go. "Hey." I walked over to him, "Hey." He handed me a first aid kit, a flashlight, and fifty bucks. "You're gonna need these." I slide the backpack off my shoulder and unzipped it. Nico put the stuff in without a word.

"Thank you. Now we just need to get Zoey and-" "I need to talk to you first." I plopped down on someone's bottom bunk. "Okay, about what?" Nico took a deep breath and we locked eyes. "As soon as we get back from the quest," He took another deep breath, "I want you to officially be my girlfriend." A small smile graced my lips. I could feel my cheeks burning. How freaking embarrassing. "Uh, o-okay," I cleared my throat, "Is that what you wanted to talk about last night?" He scratched the back of his head, "Mostly." I ran a hand through my unruly locks, "Well, we're gonna have to talk about it later because we don't exactly have time." "Right…"

We weaved our way to the Artemis cabin in record time. Nico didn't believe that Zoey was Artemis's daughter. I spent the whole walk here telling him it was true and that I wasn't messing with him. "Are you sure?" He asked, once again. "Yes!" I exclaimed aggravated. "I was just asking…." "For the hundredth time." I mumbled under my breath. I knocked on the cabin door and Zoey opened it with an annoyed expression, "Took you two long enough." I pointed to Nico with my thumb, "Blame him, not me." Zoey shrugged, "I was going to anyway." She slung a navy blue backpack over her shoulder and joined us outside her cabin. "Let's get outta here." The three of us headed towards the Big House and from there we would begin our quest.