(Three weeks later on a weekend)

"Hey Danny, watcha doin'?" said Gerald, his head popping unexpectedly into his younger brother's room. Danny was on his iPod touch 9.0 listening and downloading music at the same time.

"Nothin', why?" said Danny.

"Just wonderin' if you wanted to go out somewhere," said Gerald. Danny thought about it for a moment. Gerald really never asked him to go anywhere, but then again he thought it would be okay for just this once.

"Okay," he said. "Where're we going?"

"Harlem," said Gerald.

"What for?" said Danny.

"They're having some kind of even there," said Gerald.

"Why would you go to a random event when...Oh, she's gonna be there," said Danny.

"What? No, maybe" said Gerald.

"G man, you're blushing," said Danny. It was true. His older brother had a slight red tinge around his cheeks.

"So what man?" he said.

"She got you hooked," said Danny.

"No she doesn't!"

"Weren't you saying last week "I don't need her?" said Danny.

"This is different."

"How?"

"It just is."

"Since when?"

"Are you coming or not?"

"Yes daddy."

"Shut up!"

(2:00)

Danny and Gerald made it into Harlem just in time for the festival. Any other day they would have earth traveled, even though they knew it was against the rules, but the gods saw all and they really didn't want their grandfather to chew them out about it. They drove, and it was easy since Gerald had a license and could drive the family's three cars wherever he needed. The car they were driving was an older series, a black BMW M-Zero Concept.

Parking between two cars they both got out and made their way to the festival. Gerald was on his cell phone while Danny looked around, making sure nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Gerald, do you know how risky that is?" said Danny.

"Danny, quit worrying. Me and you are more than a match for any monster that comes this way," said Gerald.

"Depends on the monster," said Danny. He knew that he and Gerald's scent, coupled with Gerald's cellphone meant that they were practically sending up a flare for any monsters in the area to come and kill them. With the blood of Zeus and Gaia in there veins, the monsters probably thought they were two walking filet mignons with big signs that said, "Please, kill us!"

Gerald and him walked down the crowded streets, looking for Maria. At long last they found her right when the first music from the soundtrack showed up.

"Hi Gerald," she said.

"Hi Maria. This is my little brother Danny," said Gerald.

"Wow, you took look just alike, except for the eyes," she said.

"They're my grandmas," said Danny.

"They still make you look really cute," she said.

"Thanks," said Danny.

"Do you go out with Alicia Johnson?" she said.

"No," said Danny, hurriedly.

"Relax chico, I just thought you guys do since you're around each other so much," she said.

"Well we are really good friends," said Danny.

"But do you like her more than that?" she asked. Danny kind of blushed, telling her all she needed to know.

"It's okay, we're all shy once in awhile," she said. Danny gave a half-smile. At least someone understood he and Alicia's complex relationship.

"So Gerald, where's your sister at?" she asked.

"I don't know, she went off somewhere," said Gerald. Danny knew exactly where she went off to.

"Ah, I really wanted to talk to her," she said. As the festival went on and floats of every country in the world went by, Danny felt himself becoming the third wheel. Gerald was spending all his time on Maria. Why did his brother want him to go with him?

Gerald noticed that Danny was seeming a bit out of it and excused himself from Maria for awhile.

"What's wrong bro?" said Gerald.

"Why did you bring me here when you were going to just hang out and flirt with her?" said Danny.

"You still don't know do ya?" said Gerald. "Someone else was coming here too."

"Who?" said Danny.

"Right behind you," said Gerald. Danny turned to see his best friend behind him. She was wearing jean shorts that came to just above her knee, sandals and a blue blouse that showed off the straps of her bra, which was pink. She looked amazing. Danny found himself looking at her in a new, whole different way.

"Hey Danny," she said.

"Hey Ali," he said, coming out of his trance. Soon they started talking and Danny was happy. That's how they continued until the parade was over and everyone headed to the little fair thing that was going on. Gerald found time to talk to Maria by himself while Danny and Alicia took off somewhere.

"So what's your family like?" said Gerald.

"They're really nice. Besides my mom and dad I have a grandmother, two brothers, and a sister," she said.

"Big family," he said.

"What's your mom and dad like?" she asked.

"Well, my mom's white and she's awesome. She always makes everyone feel good, no matter what they do. My dad's black, sort of, and he's really fun to be around. Everything he does is an adventure. I think that's how he got someone like my mom," he said.

"They sound like very nice parents," she said.

"They are. They were so unique. They actually hated each other before they got use to each other," said Gerald.

"Really? How did they end up together?"

"Dad says it was because of his charm, but Mom says it's because she saw he was everything she loved about a person," he said.

"Wow, that's amazing," she said.

"So one question?" he asked.

"What?"

"How come you still haven't agreed to go out with me yet?" he said.

"I'm still waiting for you to make your move," she said.

"Didn't I already do that?" he asked.

"No. When I guy makes a move he makes sure everybody knows he wants to be with me," she said.

"Come on, what do I need to do?" he said.

"Better figure something out. You're a smart guy," she said.

Danny and Alicia were walking around, looking at all the stands that offered people food or games.

"Gerald didn't tell me you were coming," said Danny.

"I didn't know until he sent a text to me about a few minutes before I found it," she said. "You must have been really glad to see me."

"I was. Gerald would have bored me to tears since he's flirting with her and trying to get her on a date with him, which she keeps refusing," he said.

"It's about time one girl finally puts him on a leash for once," she said.

"Exactly. I knew it would happen eventually, but I didn't know it would be now," he said.

"You seem a bit thrilled about it," she said.

"She keeps him occupied, who wouldn't want that?" said Danny. They toured all the stands and other things people had brought to the festival. They played a few games, ate some food, etc. As they were hanging out and having fun, Alicia couldn't but look at Danny in a whole new, complete way. It was like all the things she liked about him, but amplified ten times till she thought that she really liked him. Truth betold she had a crush on him when they were ten years old, but a lot of girls have crushes on guys at that age. This time the feeling was more intense than before. As he was talking she zoned out, thinking back to when he and her were younger.

(Six years ago)

Alicia was doing some homework near the school's playground, specifically by the monkey bars. Always putting her work first was her specialty. As she was labeling the state capitols of the U.S. a boy flipped next to her, hanging upside down from the monkey bars.

"Danny?" she said, scared at how quick and unseen his appearance was.

"Sorry Ali, did I scare you?" he said.

"Yes," she said.

"Sorry, I'll be slower next time," he said.

"You're a weird person," she said.

"Thanks. My Dad said that to be weird is to be unique," he said, hopping off and landing on his feet. She was surprised at how agile he was for his age. She also couldn't stop blushing to save her life.

"Are you too hot Ali?" he asked, thinking that the reason why she seemed to be hyperventilating was because of the hot temperature outside.

"Yes, I'm fine," she said, hurriedly running away.

"Okay, bye Ali," he said as he went back to climbing the monkey bars like they were an exercise course back at camp.

"Ali, you're doing it again," he said.

"What?"

"You're daydreaming again," said Danny.

"Oh, sorry," she said.

"I swear, you pick the weirdest times to do that. What was it about?" he asked.

"Nothing really," she said.

"Ali?"

"Okay, it was when me and you were ten. I was doing my homework and you swung down from the monkey bars," she said.

"Oh yeah, I remember that day," he said. "You were blushing really hard for some reason." She blushed again, embarrassed that he remembered the exact details. At that moment Gerald came back.

"Hey bro, can I talk to you for a minute?" said Gerald. Danny looked to Alicia to see if it was alright. She nodded.

Okay, what is it?" he asked.

"I'm getting nowhere with her man. It seems that when I make one step forward she blocks me," said Gerald.

"Well she obviously likes you, but because of your little track record she's afraid that if she goes out with you you'll end up breaking her heart after, let me think, less than a month," said Danny.

"I know that man, but this little game of "Catch Me If You Can" is driving me insane. I really, really, really want to go out with her," he said.

"Well you need to show her that. Do something random that will make her see you're serious," said Danny.

"You know you're really smart for your age," said Gerald.

"I try to," said Danny.

"Well I leave you to your girlfriend," said Gerald.

"Thanks. Wait, she's not my...gah!" said Danny. Glowering in Gerald's direction, Danny went back over to Alicia.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" she said.

"Sibling problems, nothing really," he said.

"Well anyway Danny, about to leave," she said.

"Seriously. Now who am I gonna hang out with?" he asked.

"It's okay. You can walk with me to the bus if you want to," she said. He agreed and they began talking again as they headed to the bus stop four blocks away. The streets of Harlem seemed deserted since many of it's residents were at the festival. Yet, deserted streets doesn't mean all the bad people are away, as Danny and Alicia were about to find out.

They passed by an alley in which three men lurked in the shadows. They were unsavory characters. One was smoking and another was drinking from a bottle holding a dark kind of liquor that was probably hennessy. They followed Danny and Alicia, who were so busy talking to each other that they didn't even realize they were being followed.

"Now that's a nice lookin' bitch right there," said one of him. Danny and her turned around to see the sinister-looking men behind them, taking out knives as they looked at the couple.

"Man the things I'd do to that tight pussy," said the other one.

"Hey, back off," said Danny.

"Or what? You can't do nothin'," said the first one. Danny had half a mind to take out his sword, but he knew the celestial bronze wouldn't do anything, and he had to keep his heritage secret from Alicia. The only thing he could do was get her out of here safely. There was only one thing he could do.

"Is that a cop?" he yelled. The three guys weren't very sharp and they turned around. Danny and Alicia ran the other way. Thankfully they were very fast when it came to running. By the time the thugs figured out they'd been had, Danny and Alicia were already turning the corner.

"Get 'im!" yelled the ringleader. They all took after them, but Danny and Alicia already had a severe headstart. They reached the end of the corner and turned in the same direction Danny and Alicia had went. To their astonishment, the couple had vanished, as if into thin air. The ringleader, and the thugs in general, didn't believe that and thought that Danny and Alicia were still on the run.

"This way," he said. They followed him down the block, turning into other blocks on the hunt for the two teenagers. However, if they had stopped to look in an alley immediately to their left, and looking very hard, they would have seen them. Alicia was on the wall as Danny hugged her to him. Shielding him and her from view. Once they heard the thugs pass by they relaxed.

"That was a close one," she said.

"Yeah, it was," he said. He made sure everything was clear.

"I think maybe I should stay with you for a little while more," said Danny.

"I would love that," she said. Luckily the bus stop wasn't even far from where they were, and double luckily it was there so that they didn't have to deal with the thugs anymore.

"Thanks Danny, today was nice," she said.

"You're welcome Ali," he said. Then she did something really unexpected. She kissed him full on the cheek and got onto the bus, leaving him looking like "What-the-hell-just-happened?" Once the bus was gone he came back to his senses and started the walk back to the festival.

"What was that for?" he said to himself. Her kiss had shocked him, and right now his mind was blank. He couldn't comprehend anything at the moment. That's how he came back to Gerald and Maria, as if in a daze.

"Yo, what happened to you?" said Gerald.

"I have no idea," said Danny.

"Hey Gerald, it's getting late. I'll talk to you later," she said, extending her hand for him to shake. He looked like it was killing him, but he shook her hand.

"Nice seeing you Danny," said Maria as she walked away.

"Nice to meet you too senorita," said Danny. She smiled at him and kept walking to the bus stop.

"Wow, it took me awhile for her to be that responsive to me. Anyway, what happened?" said Gerald.

"Nothing that needs your attention," said Danny. "Let's just get home." Gerald decided not to breach the subject and he and Danny walked back to the car. To their utter shock, they saw that the car was missing from their spot.

"Dude, where's the car?" said Gerald.

"Where's the car dude?" said Danny.

"Don't do that bullshit move line with me Danny, this is serious," said Gerald. He went around the empty spot, looking left and right, and occasionally aat the ground.

"I swear to the gods I parked right here," he said.

"I know. How could this have happened?" said Danny. But then he remembered that Gerald had given the keys to him.

"Danny, where's the keys?" said Gerald.

"I left them in the car," said Danny. Gerald looked like he was a few seconds away from yelling at him so loud the Chinese could hear him, or kill him so badly he wouldn't have a body in the Underworld. Instead, he rubbed his temples in circular motions to calm his anger.

"Okay, this isn't your first mistake, it's fine. Let's just try to find it," said Gerald, still rubbing his temples and glaring angrily at his little brother. Gerald looked to the ground and saw the skid marks of tires going off in a certain direction. To his astonishment they went down the street.

"I think I know," said Gerald.

"How?"

"Follow me, besides I can track it down remember?"

It took them two hours to walk to wherever Gerald was going. Apparently his tracking skills put them in the right location, but going by foot was torture, especially in New York, one of the largest most populated areas in the world. Gerald was always better at Danny at tracking, probably because he had more tune with the Earth than either Danny or June, and the strongest.

Gerald tracked the car down to a shady part of Brooklyn. It was in the noisy, secluded, dangerous part of town, where everything possible, illegal wise, was rampant.

"Let's not stay here long," said Gerald. He led Danny to a bar of some sorts, where they found what they were looking for.

"The car," they said together. They immediately ran to it and checked the windows.

"The keys are gone," said Gerald.

"Where could they be?" said Danny. At that moment one of the windows to the bar burst open as a centaur was thrown through it and landed on the ground next to Danny's feet. He sighed painfully before he disappeared into dust. Gerald and Danny gulped and looked at the bar. They came up to the window and slowly peered in. Loud rock music, like the kind about killing someone as painfully as possible, and other sinful things, was blaring as mightily as possible. (To hear the beat to it, watch the scene in the Spongebob Squarepantsmovie when Patrick and Spongebob peer into the bar)

Inside they saw a wide arrangement of monsters: dracaenae, hellhounds, telkhines, empousai, Laistrygonians, and others of a more sinister kind. Many were drinking some kind of green liquid, fighting each other, playing darts, and just acting noisily. A Cyclops shrunken down to a six foot tall size was wiping glasses. On the wall was a purple banner with a scythe on it. Danny and Gerald both knew what that sign meant. They sat down on the ground, thinking of a plan.

"I say we go in there, swords flashing, and get all of 'em," said Danny.

"That's a suicide mission. This is the remnants of Kronos's army. These are veteran fighters. I thought they got the message before, but this is ridiculous. They've got about fifty in there. Besides, all we need is the keys," said Gerald.

"And how are we gonna do that?" said Danny.

"Remember, I always have something sneaky up my sleeve," said Gerald, seeing a trash can full of old discarded clothes.

"This has got to be the most retarded thing you've ever thought of," said Danny as they headed to the entrance of the bar.

"Just act natural," said Gerald.

"Man, these clothes stink!" said Danny.

"I know. Just keep them on until we find the keys, which you just had to leave in the car," said Gerald.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Could you have at least picked some clothes that were, I don't know, fresher?" said Danny.

"The smell will mask our scent. They could have already smelled us a mile away. Do you want to just waltz in there and yell "I'm a demigod," ?"

"I guess not," said Danny. Their clothes were hideous to look at from the front. They were grey and black strips of robes wrapped around their legs as if to protect them from sand. In fact they looked like they were desert nomads, or assassins. Their faces were covered, a thin little slit allowing them to see. It was enough to cover them up so that they looked like a darker, more malicious, and ancient monsters.

"Ready?" said Gerald.

"I guess so bro," said Danny. On that note they headed into the bar.

The minute they entered, all the monsters in the bar gave them a look. They could see nostrils flaring as they smelled their new guests. The two demigods felt fear travel up their spines as they thought of what would happen if their cover was blown. Eventually, the monsters decided that the two just smelled like garbage and went back to their first activities, thinking they were monsters as well and didn't need to be attacked.

Gerald nodded to Danny and they both took seats at the bar. The barman came up to them, wiping a glass.

"What can I get ya?" he said. Gerald instinctively pointed to the green liquid. The bartender nodded and brought two tankards of the mysterious green liquid. Danny looked at Gerald like "Are you serious?" Gerald nodded and together they both lifted their drinks and slowly sipped. They both needed a massive amounts of self-control to stop themselves from spewing out their drinks. They were completely nasty. They tasted like raw meat, blood, grime, and other stuff they didn't want to think about. Once the stuff was forcefully down their throats they set the tankards and didn't touch them again.

"Split up, don't draw attention to yourself," said Gerald, quiet enough for only Danny to hear him.

"Got it. I got that half," said Danny. They both went to different ends of the bar. They walked around casually, looking here and there. None of the monsters they saw so far had any signs of keys on them. They did see that some of them were armed. Looking over everywhere, without seeming suspicious, Gerald saw what appeared to be the keys. Getting a closer he saw with his peripheral vision that they were the keys, the BMW logo on them. Unfortunately, the person who had them was a very large, burly telkhine. How it drove the car at all Gerald didn't want to know. Herald signalled Danny to show him he had found them. Danny nodded and stood off to the side.

Gerald reached down, as slowly as possible. Just as his hands grasped the key the telkhine growled.

"What are you doing?" he snarled at Gerald.

"Sorry, dropped my...contacts," said Gerald, making his voice sound as gruff as possible.

"You got the Clearasil?" he said.

"Yes."

"I hated that series. The worst," said the telkhine.

"Tell me about it," said Gerald. He looked at Danny as the telkhine told his life story. Danny was having trouble deciphering what his brother was trying to tell him. Gerald was doing some kind of hand motion that made it look like he was telling Danny to hit someone with a hammer. Gerald saw this and made a motion for Danny to pick up a tankard. Danny knew then what he needed to do.

He carefull grabbed a tankard, picked a target, and threw it at the monster. The tankard crashed over the head of a empousa. Her hair flamed up and she looked around with blood-red eyes.

"Who threw that?" she shrieked. Danny pointed to a Laistrygonian playing cards with more of his own kind. She snarled and ran for him, landing on his back and scraping his face with her dagger-like nails. The Laistrygonian howled in pain and fell down onto the table, sending poker chips and tankards flying everywhere. All the monsters looked around at each other, rage in their eyes.

"Fight!" said Danny. The minute the words left his mouth all the monsters began fighting. Danny and Gerald dived out the way as monsters launched themselves at each other this way and that. Some disappeared in dust as they were killed by celestial bronze items, or were beaten up so badly that they simply died. Danny and Gerald carefully maneuvered around the carnage. Their eyes were carefully on the telkhine who stole their car. He was fighting, but the keys were being slid across the floor as the brawl ensued. Flailing legs and arms knocked them around, obscuring them from view for a time until something else hit them.

"I'm goin' in," said Gerald. He dived into the brawl. Avoiding the fists, kicks, slashes, thrusts, and other miscellaneous hits, except a good punch to the jaw, Gerald navigated through the entangled limbs of the monsters and found the keys. Grasping them in his fist he got up and jumped over the monsters. Danny was near the exit, ready to rush to him if he got in trouble. Navigating successfully through the numerous bodies thrown all over the place, Gerald met Danny at the door.

"Piece of cake," said Gerald.

"That's what I'm talking about G man; let's get out of here," said Danny. Just as they were about to leave a telkhine grabbed part of Gerald's disguise and tore half of it off. The telkhine looked in disbelief at Gerald and Danny before it realized that they weren't monsters.

"Half-bloods!" it yelled. Every monster in the bar stopped what they were doing and stared at Danny and Gerald.

"Run for it?" said Gerald.

"Run for it." They both ran out of the bar as all the monsters in the bar chased after them. Stripping themselves of the disgusting rags, Gerald and Danny poured on speed to the car. Once they got there Danny jumped over the hood Dukes of Hazard style to get to the passenger side as Gerald got in the front seat and started the car. The engine turned to life and the car sped backwards, running over a few monsters as it did. Gerald shifted the gear into drive and the car sped forward.

A Laistrygonian loomed in front. Danny pulled out a bow from the backseat compartment and fletched an arrow to the bow. Gerald opened the passenger side window so that Danny had a clear shot. Danny aimed and shot the arrow, sending it into the giant's head. The giant instantly turned into dust, raining down on the car so that the window was partially obscured. Gerald swept it off with the windshield wipers so he could and they drove on towards the home.

"That was too close," said Danny.

"Diddo on that. Want some music?" said Gerald.

"Sure," said Danny. Danny switched onto the FM radio, trying to find a station. Somehow he picked up a Swedish radio station, and they were playing a song that Danny and Gerald knew all too well.

"No! Not Caramelldansen!" yelled Danny.

"Change it fast," said Gerald, his ears listening to the music and beginning to feel his passion for the song increase.

"Must...turn...station...can't...resist...Scandinavian...anime...music," said Danny. His fingers tried to turn, but he found he couldn't. He had fallen under the spell of the song. Gerald had too. The two brothers hated, and loved the song.

"Damnit!" they both yelled as Gerald drove on, bobbing their heads bobble-head style to the song's beats.

They got home around 9:00.

"I'm never taking you with me again," said Gerald.

"That's fine man," said Danny. They had spent the last forty minutes listening to that song since the station decided to do a nonstop, 24 hour playing of the song. Now they were stuck to it permanently. When they opened the door they saw their Mom, Dad, and June watching TV.

"What took you guys so long?" said June.

"Long story," said Gerald. As they headed into the living room, the other three Stones put their hands over their noses.

"You boys reek! What did you do, roll around in raw sewage?" said Katie. Danny and Gerald spent ten minutes telling them the stroy of their events that day.

"Wow, I think I should Iris-message Zeus about that," said Danny Sr. "Oh and guys, one more thing."

"Yes?

"Take a bath!"

I hope you're liking the characters so far. Don't forget to please review and vote on your favorite character on my homepage. Also, I'm addicted to Caramelldansen. I can't get the beat out of my head. I just fricken love it. Tune in next week for the next chapter, I think I might be able to do three.