"The truth is never pretty. But the sooner you know, the better. We can live with the lies and fight for what we want." ~ Annabeth Chase

"Excuse me, is this the bathroom?" Somebody tapped Piper's shoulder. She was in a nearby McDonalds ordering lunch for her and Jason. Jason was probably still in Percy's dad's apartment watching the Big Bang Theory or something. He was really annoyed that he missed out a lot of episodes when he was in coma.

Piper turned around and saw a girl around her age gesturing towards the door she's in front of. "Yeah, but it's really dirty inside. I don't think you would want to go inside that one. Try the one in Starbucks instead. It's cleaner."

"Thanks." She said stiffly. Her accent was rich and exotic. Piper recognized it but she didn't know where she heard it before? A TV show? The girl was gorgeous herself. She reminded Piper of somebody she couldn't recall either. She had long, dark hair tumbling down her shoulders. Her eyes were a pretty shade of hazel and she had rosy lips. She had a Mediterranean complexion similar to Piper but her skin tone was olive.

"I'm Piper." Piper introduced herself. The girl is just so damn familiar. Piper was sure she saw her before. Maybe if they chatted a bit, she might realize who she is.

"Lana." The girl said. (AN: Okay, I know none of the Hesperides names are Lana but it's a bit odd for like people nowadays to be called Erytheia or something. I mean, I know Poseidon and the parents are like ancient greek god/goddess names but yeah, they're probably more common.)

Piper suddenly realize who Lana is. It hit her like a meteor. At the same time, Piper remembered something. It happened a week before the Shooting happened. She was exchanging books at her locker during break time when she noticed Ethan Nakamura in the principal's office.

"Close this school immediately!" Ethan told the principal inside, loud enough for people outside like Piper to hear. "I told you, it's not safe!"

"Calm down, Nakamura. You have no evidence and do you suppose I take you seriously?" The principal asked crisply.

"You're lucky I warned you." Ethan said. "Don't say I didn't tell you. You have to suffer the consequences. I'll be dead by the time it happened. They're after me other people in Goode High, including a teacher."

"Who?"

"I'm not telling you that. It's classified." Ethan said firmly.

The Principal wasn't pleased with that answer. "I'm your principal. Nothing is classified from me."

"This is, though." Ethan insisted. "In fact, you should open your eyes. A lot of things are happening and you're seeing nothing. That would lead to the doom of this school. I'm telling you, a tragedy would happen within this year."

"I'm afraid I would have to write it off as a lie for now until you provide sufficient evidence." The principal said.

"Fuck you!" Ethan cried. Students don't normally swear in front of the principal, let alone swear at him. People who heard him turned towards the door and grinned at it. Sure, the principal was alright but sometimes he can be a dick. It's about time somebody swore at him. "You're such a bastard sometimes. Screw that, you're a fucking bastard all the time. Why can't you listen to me for once? It's fucking serious! I'm not trying to hurt you, it's actually helping you."

"Calm down." The principal said raising his voice slightly. "And please drop that vulgar language. Those words are not welcomed in my office."

"Wash my mouth with soap." Ethan taunted. "You're mad for not listening to me. What kind of principal doesn't want the best for his school?"

"What's this huge racket?" Zoe frowned as she joined Piper into eavesdropping Ethan's conversation.

Piper shrugged. "Ethan is totally convinced that this school isn't safe and wants to close it down. The principal isn't budging though."

Zoe sighed. "Boys. They're so immature. Why on earth wouldn't the school be safe?"

"Not all boys are like that." Piper said defensing the other gender. "Some of them are actually pretty cool."

Zoe tutted as she shook her head. "Nasty creatures. I wanted to be enrolled into an all girls school but then I won a scholarship here so my mother made me come here. If I had my way, I'd be joining Artemis' hunt."

Artemis' Hunt is another high school in New York. It's not exactly the rivals of Goode High but they do have a few 'friendly' competitions that lead to severe injuries. Actually, they are considered to be sister schools but both schools think they're better than one another.

Piper laughed. "You said that like a bajillion times before. Besides, you get on pretty well with Percy."

Zoe smiled wryly. "He used to be like every other guys but then he did something for me which might have made him a teensy bit better than the rest of the guys. He proved himself worthy. Don't get me wrong, he still is a jerk.

"How about your dad?" Piper pointed out. She had a really close relationship with her father.

Zoe sniffed. "Loathe him. He betrayed me. I still have no idea why my sisters like him though. I guess they saw sticking around him as an advantage."

"What happened?" Piper asked softly. She was always friends with Zoe but never actually got to talk about their families. Zoe liked to steer away from talking about hers and Piper didn't usually press on. However, she felt more fascinated about Zoe's family than before. Everybody knew she didn't have a great relationship with them but nobody actually knew what happened.

"I don't like to talk about it." Zoe's face turned crimson as she shifted her foot nervously. "Sorry, it's touchy."

"Oh, it's alright." Piper nodded hating herself for not being as persistent as she wanted to be. "I understand."

Zoe beamed at her as she said coldly, as usual. "Good. So, how did you do on your science project?"

There got to be something between Zoe and ..Lana. Lana is her family and Zoe never talked about her. Piper never seen Lana before but they looked so alike they got to be sisters. However, the memory of Ethan yelling at the principal bugged her. Did Ethan knew? Ethan did die in the Shooting but how would he knew? Why would he go to school if he knew he's going to die?

"You're Zoe Nightshade's sister, aren't you?" Piper smiled. "She was my friend."

"Zoe? Zoe is not my sister. I don't know her." Lana replied icily, just as Zoe would have.

"But you guys look so alike!" Piper protested. "If you're not twins, you got to be sisters."

"False." Lana denied. "We may have the same blood but I don't know her. She's gone."

Piper frowned. What was that suppose to mean? Are they related or what? "Zoe Nightshade." She tried again. "New York, Goode High. She died in the Shooting. I'm sorry about that. You got to know her. She's that kid who absolutely hates guys."

"Whereas I'm not so sorry that she died." Lana said harshly. "She can do whatever she want and she chose to go down to the Underworld. Her fault. She can't blame me or anybody, especially not our father." Then she laughed stiffly. "Hates boys? Well, that's funny despite what she did with one. Pesky little traitor."

"Sorry, but what? So do you know Zoe or not?"

Lana sighed. "Of course I do, Piper. I just have nothing to do with her, got it? We're different. Look, I have to go now. See you around and don't ever mention that bitch's name again."

"You look like you've been abducted by aliens and managed to escape Pluto, sneaked onto some UFO and made it back to Earth. I'm guessing I should congratulate you on your arrival back here but I have a feeling that is not what happened." Frank said to Cat and Nico as both of them were reasonably wrapped up.

"We're a target now." Cat explained. "The Shooter's target. We don't know why but he or she is going to send minions to attack us until we give up something the Shooter wants."

"What does the Shooter want?" Frank asked.

Nico laughed. "We don't know. Nobody does. If we did, we can just give the item and nobody would get hurt. I wish I know what the Shooter wanted. That would have made everything so easy."

Frank nodded. "I suppose that made sense. So what are you guys going to do? Look, I thought this whole Shooting investigation was just a leisure activity. Like a mystery that's good to know the truth. However, everything that have been happening since Jason woke up made me question that. The Shooting is not the past. It's going to happen until the Shooter gets whatever he wants. He evidentially don't have the thing he started the Shooting for and he's going to keep going."

"Or she." Cat added. "You know, but yeah, we can use 'he' since saying he and she is pretty confusing."

Frank and Nico exchanged glances. Girls. Ever since the whole movement in 1960 about woman, they tried making everything - even the name of the Shooter - as unisex as possible.

Cat shrugged. "What! It might be a girl."

Nico shook his head. "Okay, whatever. Anyway, Frank, you're right. What is the Shooter trying to do? And what are we going to do?"

Cat smiled wryly. "I don't know what the Shooter is going to do but we'll have to be desperate."

"Desperate?" Frank repeated. "What good would that do? Desperation is messy."

"No." Cat disagreed. "Desperation is what we need. People would do all sorts of crazy things when desperate. If they're put into extreme conditions they won't dream of even being in, they would go ballistic and that's gold. People would show who they really are when in desperation. We can tell which side they're on. Ours or the Shooter's. People are not what they seem and we must trick whoever they really are to come out. When people are desperate, they do the most amazing things that can be considered miracles at some points. They can do the wildest things they never thought they can do. Desperate people shock the world with their actions and that's what we need. A surprise installed for the Shooter."

Nico narrowed his melancholic eyes. "Hmm..that would actually work. I see you're not just an airhead."

"I never was, biatch." Cat's eyes flashed dangerously.

"Woah, calm down guys." Frank held his hands up. "Are you guys actually getting mad at each other or something? Do you normally argue or fight like this?"

Nico laughed. "It's normal, I guess. We quarrel like that all the time. It's nothing really. That barbie does know a few things."

"And that emo needs to learn that he's not the smartest around here. He's got competition." Cat scoffed.

"I'm not emo!" Nico protested. "Why does everybody think I'm emo?"

Frank gestured towards his friend. "Uh, the way you dress, your music taste, your appearance, basically everything about you screams emo. That's cool man, just tell us you're emo. It's not like we're against people like that. We embrace them like how we embrace different races." Frank has always been touchy with racism since his nickname was 'Chinese Canadian Baby Man' at his old school and even though it's not particularly races, Frank viewed it as an insult to his mixed heritage.

"Okay." Nico grumbled. "I would argue that but I'm not going to spend years listing out why I'm not emo. Anyway, I think the Shooter is moving pretty slowly with his progress. Usually, he just runs into somewhere and shoot everybody in his way cuz he's badass. Since Jason woke up, it seems like he's been taking everything slowly and more carefully - not saying he wasn't careful in the first time, we still don't know who the Shooter is so he did a pretty good job - I think he is hinting something to us and laughing at us while we're not getting it. On a planned date, he'll let hell loose and basically bring us something that is a lot worse that the Shooting."

"Fair point for a person with straw in his brain." Cat mused. "Good enough for us anyway."

"So what are we going to do? Should I call Hazel?" Frank asked eager to call his crush.

"Just ask her out already!" Cat said frustrated. "Do you know how annoying it is when you ship a couple and been already thinking of like things you guys would do when you're married and you're just I don't know.. taking things slower than a snail would? It's so darn obvious that you guys like each other. Fucking ask her out already, she'd say yes and you guys can have cute couples which I think if it's a boy, he'd have black hair with Hazel's golden eyes. Don't you think it's a good match? Don't worry, I have an image of it on my laptop, I drew a really good one. If it's a girl, I think it should have-"

"What the…Damn you!" Frank swore probably thinking it's some really bad profanity. Cat and Nico fell into laughters. That's Frank. For some reason, he never said words like 'shit', 'fucking', 'bitch', well, sometimes he did but whenever he wanted to show he's really angry and when people normally use those words, he goes back to saying 'damn', 'drats', 'darn', 'rats' and those kind of things instead. "Us getting married? Shut up! And seriously, you already drew our babies? What are you doing with your life? I'm not asking her out and I don't like her."

"Lies!" Cat taunted him. "Okay, I'll ask her out for you. Hey Hazel, Frank likes you so tonight 7, he'll pick you up in front of your house for your first date."

"You didn't even give her a chance to say no or anything." Frank pointed out.

"She doesn't have to. It's a yes."

"Don't forget to kiss her on your first date!" Nico added chuckling.

Frank made a face at Nico. What is he? One second, he totally hated Cat but in the next, they're teaming up against him. Frank said loudly trying to change the topic. "Okay, so what are we going to do?"

"Well, we're going to make people desperate and I think we would have to pay a visit to Miranda Gardiner, Gwendolyn Barker, anybody who was a victim or was in the Shooting - preferably victim since they probably saw who the Shooter was or have some kind of clue anyway - and try to get as much out of them as soon as possible. We don't know when the Shooter's big attack is and we want to be prepared for it just in case it's really soon."

"Got it." Frank nodded.

"Oh, and don't tell anybody this, not even Hazel." Cat warned. "This is a secret between us. Nobody should know this."

"I don't know if Cat is really who she says she is." Annabeth explained.

"Why wouldn't she be?" Hazel frowned. "You don't really know her that well, neither do I. I don't think we should be making judgements."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Okay, Cat and Piper had this fight like ages ago and never spoke to each other. They drifted apart and totally hated each other. Suddenly, Cat pops out from nowhere and offers to be friends again. That's cool but isn't that abrupt? Just the other day, they still hate each other but then they're best friends again. Don't you think that's a bit fishy? First of all, I don't really understand why Piper would agree to become friends with her again. It just doesn't make sense but that's Piper. I trust her more than Cat. Besides, it was Cat who wanted to be Piper's friend again and the one who broke their friendship. Cat came out when the whole Shooter thing started coming back into the image. She could have came back when everything's peaceful but no, she has to come when all the secrets are coming unravelled. Does she want something from us?"

Hazel shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, Annabeth? Are you sure you're just not jealous that Cat is probably closer to Piper now?"

"No!" Annabeth cried. "Jealous? No! I don't care if Piper has a billion of friends and like a perfect family. It's Cat. I know something is up. I can tell."

"Sure." Hazel nodded still unconvinced. "Whatever you say."

"It's true!" Annabeth insisted. "I don't know about you but I'm definitely going to find out what's Cat's true intentions."

Hazel bit her lips. "What if she only wants to be friends with Piper."

"Oh so you're taking her side now?"

Hazel felt her friend's forehead. "Are you feeling alright? You don't seem yourself."

Annabeth gave her friend a look. "Oh come on. You got to admit there's something funny about Cat. We have to protect Piper. She's our friend."

"She's all the way in California." Hazel reminded her. "What is Cat going to do to her? Cat's in New York! Maybe she'll send a threatening text saying that she got an embarrassing picture of Piper eating a ham and cheese bagel messily that the press would love to have."

Annabeth stared at Hazel intently with her gray eyes. "No, not like that. Actually, yes. That could be possible. Cat can send a text or something to blackmail Piper. Oh my gods, Hazel, you're a genius!"

Hazel looked around her. "I don't mean that! That wasn't suppose to be like that!"

Annabeth laughed. "Well, I can see it happening. Cat isn't so mysterious that everybody makes her out to be. Maybe she's just somebody like us, finding ways which could help her gain whatever she wants to gain."

Hazel thought of that for a while. "That might actually be true. I'm not sure, though. I don't like where you're going with this."

"The truth is never pretty." Annabeth told her. "But the sooner you know, the better. We can live with the lies and fight for what we want."

"I don't know about you but I think Cat is who she says she is." Hazel shrugged.

Annabeth shook her head. "That might just be your fatal flaw, Hazel. Trusting in people too much but then I did think your fatal flaw would be holding grudges like Nico's and Bianca's."

"Fatal flaw?" Hazel repeated puzzled.

"Every hero has a fatal flaw. Mines is hubris, having too much pride and believe me, I don't like it at all but that's who I am. Thalia's is ambition. Nico and Bianca - both being from the same family has the same flaw, holding grudges. I think Bianca is dealing with it pretty well though. Leo's is probably feeling least important out of other people. That kid hides it with his humor. Jason's…I'm thinking it's probably something along the lines of being too powerful or something. I'm still figuring his flaw and Pipers..ah, maybe it's insecurity? That's one I'm still figuring out too. I still don't know Frank's one yet but maybe it's being underestimating himself if that's possible. Reyna's might be her pride, just like mines but I don't think that's the case."

"So everybody has a fatal flaw and if you're from the same family, it's the same? Like you got to have a different one from other people from different families?"

"No, not always." Annabeth confessed. "Learning other people's fatal flaws can be very powerful. You know what can defeat themselves and you know what's your biggest weakness that can be the ultimate reason of your fall. I'm struggling with hubris and Hazel-"

"What Percy's fatal flaw?" Hazel asked interrupting Annabeth as she blushed, she doesn't usually like interrupting other people but she just realized Annabeth had told her what everybody in their group's fatal flaw is but didn't mention her own ex-boyfriend. Annabeth got to know Percy's, they knew each other as well as they know themselves, if not better.

The question caught Annabeth off-guard. Sure, her relationship with Percy had improved from total strangers but they're still not on the right track. Even now, hearing Percy's name or seeing him pisses Annabeth off. Why is this world is hard anyway? Why can't Annabeth keep a teensy secret with Percy knowing or finding out for heaven's sake? Ugh, she knew it's kind of her fault but really, Percy didn't have to know about that. Fancy confronting her on Valentine Day. "Uh..well, um.. it's loyalty." She said quietly. "I don't think he knows it yet though. He's way too loyal to his friends. Hazel, what's yours?"

"I don't know." Hazel admitted. "I never actually thought about these things."

Mitchell crept around the corner. "Rachel, why are you back?" He hissed as he saw a red-headed girl in disguise. "I thought you were suppose to stay in Switzerland!"

Rachel glanced at Mitchell and looked away. "Don't look at me like that." She ordered. "People would realize we know each other. Pretend we don't know each other. Stand beside me and don't do anything that would associate us together."

"Um, okay." Mitchell stood beside Rachel and looked up at the blue sky. "Gorgeous weather, isn't it?" He said casually.

"I'm not here to small talk." Rachel scolded.

Mitchell protested. "Hey! You told me to act like we're strangers and strangers don't talk about personal stuff. They start with the weather, tv shows, anything they might have in common. So, have you seen Game of Thrones lately? Man, that new episode-"

"I don't care what happens in Game of Thrones!" Rachel snapped. "Okay, update me on what's happening around New York."

"Didn't your boss already tell you everything?" Mitchell said, his tone turning into a sneer but wasn't exactly as mean-spirited as he hoped it would be.

Rachel sighed. "You're pathetic, Tanaka. Almost as useless as your step sister. Goddamned it, why would my boss tell me these things! You know what it's like. You get the instructions and you have absolutely no guidance at all. You have to find a way to achieve the fricken goal. I'm enlisting you to help me and you better do."

"What if I don't?" Mitchell asked. "I'm getting sick of you, you know. You begged me to help you and I agree. I didn't agree to be treated like shit."

"I'm not treating you like shit!" Rachel argued indigently. "God, I'm just asking you to update me. That's all. It's not hard. A baby can do it."

"So why don't you enlist a baby to help you?" Mitchell asked boldly. He's quite shock of his braveness. Usually, he just does what he's told and that's exactly how Drew was able to manipulate him for years. His newfound boldness seem to come out of nowhere and Mitchell knew he only gets this angry if he's really pissed.

"Fuck off." Rachel frowned. "I don't even know why people keep you alive. You're a prick."

"Says the bitch! You're probably the next victim so watch out, Dare." Mitchell huffed and walked away.

"Wait!" Rachel cried as Mitchell turned back and looked at her expectantly. "Okay okay, I need your help. I'll be sugar sweet to you, is that okay? God, boys these days are so hard to please.

"Well, I'm not telling you anything." Mitchell told her quietly. "I'm not on your side. I'm not obliged to helping you or the Shooter or anybody. I'm neutral."

"Does that explain why you're being so cosy with Reyna?" Rachel smirked. "I do know that. I'm not completely clueless."

"We're both after the same thing and we're helping each other. Got a problem with that? It's called teamwork and it's actually efficient. We found some dirt on Drew you don't know about."

"Or do I?" Rachel cocked her eyebrows.

"Stop! I'm not falling into a traps you have set for me to let any information out." Mitchell said firmly. "Please don't make me wear ugly shoes." He added in a soft whimper barely heard.

"What?" Rachel frowned.

"Nevermind."

"I see you're still under Drew's influence." Rachel nodded. "She still scares you, doesn't she? Even dead, she haunts you. She made you wear those fugly orthodontist Shoes of Shame when you crossed her and you hated that. So fragile, Mitchell. Still loathing your step-sister behind her back even when she's gone. You'll be easy."

"I won't." Mitchell gulped biting his lips. "I swear," He stammered. "I'm not that simple to get to."

AN: Sorry if this seems to drag on forever, I'm hoping to finish this story in the same day as I started it for like a year sort of thing :P Don't worry, there'll be more action and it'll be more fast-paced soon! xx hehe, so Annabeth doesn't trust Cat, hmm..that should be interesting!

Ooh, what are your favourite names from around 1890-1910? For english, we have to write a story set around that time and I'm still stuck on names haha. I'm thinking of some pretty but unique (like not too common or anything) names... :3

~Kisses, Emily