!

I feel awful for not posting for so long, I've been really busy with schoolwork and other stupid things. I promise I haven't died! And now, to make it up to you all I have an extra-long chapter. But, just in case you forgot, here's a summary of what's happened so far:

Summary:

Travis and Connor dye Katie's face blue. She needs to kiss Travis in order to make it go away. Aphrodite assigns Connor to the task of getting Travis and Katie together. Connor takes them on a fake quest (retrieve Aphrodite's necklace from the spirit of trickery – Dolos) to try to make them like each other. Meanwhile, in her dreams, Katie is being visited by the minor god himself (Dolos). He keeps telling her to do flirty things to Connor. If she doesn't do them, he punishes her (EX: he set their hotel room on fire and gave Connor a searing headache). The three of them meet the pretty mortal girl Isabel who gets along very well with Travis… A little too well for Katie's liking. Now, Chiron just told the whole group through an IM that Rachel sprouted a real prophecy.

There we go! Now here's the super long chapter!

Connor's POV

I felt my face go red as Chiron turned to look at me, his brown irises full of disapproval. I averted my eyes towards the ground as Katie and Travis both began questioning me. After a couple moments, Chiron cleared his throat.

"Katie, Travis, I'm sure Connor will explain what's going on, but first I'd like to have a chat with him… Privately." he added after a second.

They both reluctantly left the room and I heard a door close. I had a feeling, however, that they'd be straining their ears, trying to listen.

"Chiron, please understand," I said in a harsh whisper, "I had no choice! Aphrodite came to me and Rachel with a plan to get Travis and Katie together and she promised us a reward in the end, which I'd be happy to give to you if it could possibly change your mind…"

"That will not be necessary, Connor." he stated, raising a palm to quiet me. "I am not interested in this 'fake quest' you and Aphrodite have conjured, but more the actual quest that Rachel has presented to us." He recited the poem;

"Trickery and chaos has shelter to hide

Where hundreds of devils, not angels, reside

The smell of betrayal, a hint of chagrin

A last minute switch, and a trick with a pin.

A god with a mission will finish their task,

Revealing a hero proclaimed and unmasked."

"That doesn't sound too terrible." I supposed. "Proclaiming a hero is always a good thing."

Chiron nodded. "It does not sound too dreadful but, then again, we have never had an unproblematic quest." His image seemed to ripple for a second and I knew the IM would begin to fade soon.

"Thank you for the message." I said to him, copying the lines down on a random piece of scratch paper I found on the kitchen counter and shoving the page in my pack.

"Good luck." was all Chiron could get out before the image flickered once and faded into the air like mist.

Katie's POV

I furiously blinked my eyelids, trying not to fall asleep. The purr of the bus engine was making me tired, but I couldn't afford to drift off. We were on a bus making our way to Los Angeles. Why LA? Why else?

Isabel.

Alright, well, it's not as bad I'm making it sound. We couldn't come up with anywhere else to go and for some strange reason (ehem – Travis – ehem) Isabel wanted to tag along. It didn't take us long to realize that she could see through the mist, and she claimed she saw a trail of mysterious light leading towards the city.

When we had been allowed back into the kitchen Connor read us the prophecy and explained to us how the quest had not been real, exactly. Aphrodite had visited Connor in an IM and told him that her necklace was missing. She explained how she didn't think that Rachel would sprout a prophecy about such a seemingly small issue, so she promised both of them a reward if they told Chiron Rachel had given one, when really, she hadn't. We were still after Dolos and the necklace, this time it was just… Official.

But Connor avoided our eyes the whole day and he spoke in such a soft voice, that I had a feeling he was leaving something out. As my mind went through all of the possible secrets he could be keeping, I made the mistake of letting my eyelids flicker shut and soon I was staring into the sour, sweaty face of my favorite god.

"I must compliment you, Katie," Dolos began. He was sitting on the ground against what appeared to be a jail cell, running a knife under his long, grey nails, occasionally flicking a piece of dirt onto the ground. "I never would've thought you to be so clever with the way you grabbed Connor's hand. Really, I applaud your innovation." he rubbed his fingers together, scowling as the brown speck stuck to his nail.

"What do you want this time, Dolos?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"Oh, nothing much. Your mission is this: Put your arm around Connor, sometime today, or else you will face certain punishment. What punishment, you ask? See, I've been thinking it over all day… Tell me which you would prefer; disgorging your eyeballs with an ice cream scoop, or removing each of your teeth using a handy-dandy tool I like to call…"

As Dolos droned on I took a mental picture of the room he was in. The walls were a dull grey and behind the god was a barred room. I felt like I should recognize it, but I just couldn't place it. Suddenly it occurred to me.

Percy had told us stories about somewhere similar – a jail that was being used to hold monsters. He warned us of a demon, a powerful one who came close to killing him. I couldn't remember what the name of the place was, but as soon as I did, I would tell everyone and we'd be on our way to get the necklace. Now, if I could only contact Percy…

I felt a smile slowly creep across my lips and Dolos frowned.

"Does that one actually sound appealing to you? I never thought that having your innards consumed by five thousand and seven white mice would be anything but absolutely repulsive, but if you're an animal person then I suppose…"

"No, no, it sounds awful, don't worry."

"Lovely. Now, off you go, I've got things to tend to." As if on cue, something hissed nearby, and Dolos looked up.

"I'm hungry, Massster…" It spoke cacophonously, causing shivers to ripple up my spine.

"I'll get you something, my dear Ms. K." Dolos replied quickly. He gulped and gave a feeble smile, though I noticed a thin trickle of blood running down his finger from where the knife had nicked his skin.

"Can I go now?" I asked, while mentally taking a picture of the setting to describe to Percy later.

"Yes you may." Dolos said, turning his attention back to me. "But I better see your arm around that boy before the sun goes down unless the mice plan sounds attractive to you."

"Yes, sir." I said with a fake sigh. For some reason I was too happy knowing that I had a lead on him to worry about how I was going to get my arm around Connor.

Dolos smiled. "I think you are beginning to learn of my power, Katie Gardner. I can see it in your eyes."

"It's true, sir," I lied. "I won't fight you anymore."

"Wonderful." With a flourish of a bleeding hand and a jab with a knife, I was back on the bus being shaken awake by Connor.

"We're here." he told me in the same quiet voice he had been using all day.

Looking out at Venice beach with all of the happy people throwing Frisbees, building sandcastles, or jumping over ocean waves, I felt a wave of happiness wash over me. Things weren't going too badly; we had a lead on Dolos even though I wasn't sure how I was going to tell the others, and once we got Aphrodite's stupid necklace Isabel would go home, the Stolls and I would return to camp, I'd kiss Travis and my face would turn back to normal, Travis would realize he loved me and take me into his arms and… Yeah, life would be good.

Or so I assumed.

Who would've known that my entire perception could change so quickly?

Connor's POV

"You think what?" Aphrodite's voice rose an octave after that last sentence, making my ears ring.

I gulped. "I said, I think that Travis likes Isabel and Katie likes… Well, me."

"I heard you!" she shouted. I was staring at her angry figure, pacing back and forth inside, what appeared to be, her bedroom. I was alone in our hotel room – the other three were downstairs playing around in a cool arcade we had discovered earlier – but I was still worried I'd alarm some of our neighbors.

"Shh! Ma'am, please, I can fix this."

She stopped her pacing and stared angrily at me, which was honestly worse than the yelling. "I'm trusting you, Stoll." she spat. I swear the tips of her red hair were on fire. "I'm trusting you to fix this. Travabel? Isavis? What kind of names are those? It's Tratie. Tratie!" she stomped her foot.

"Don't worry, Ms. Aphrodite, I can make things better! I'll talk to Katie today and we'll work something out. Maybe I can strike a deal with her." I thought back to how Katie had acted earlier. I had been staring off into space glumly, thinking about how the heck I was going to break the news to Aphrodite, and Katie had put her arm around me. She had meant to be comforting but it just made me feel worse, knowing how much harder my job was going to be.

I doubted she would make a deal with me.

Apparently Aphrodite thought the same thing. "That won't do." she insisted. "Just tell her you don't have feelings for her. Be mean – the harsher the better. The harder you come down on her, the quicker she'll run to Travis." She nodded, a thin smile beginning to form on her lips. "Yeah… I like that… Do that, Colin."

"It's Connor." I corrected… she should've known that by now.

"Yeah, yeah, same thing." she giggled.

I cleared my throat. "I kinda need to go. If I'm going to 'break up' with Katie, I need to do it sooner rather than later."

"Of course, of course, run on ahead." she smiled. "Mission Tratie for Launch." That set her into a fit of giggles and as the IM faded I was left listening to the echo of her girly little snorts. I didn't find them so cute anymore.

Katie's POV

I dragged my feet along the floor of the arcade, trailing along behind Isabel and Travis. They had barely stopped laughing once since Connor had left, and Isabel's high pitched cackling was beginning to sound like nails on a chalkboard. We were waiting in line for a skeet ball machine, and Travis was telling Isabel a story of the time he got his fist stuck in a peanut butter jar.

"And then my mom almost tried hitting it with a hammer before Connor pointed out – Oh, hey Connor."

Sure enough, his brother had appeared behind me before I'd noticed. I felt a jolt of anger go through me as I thought about what had happened earlier. I had managed to put my arm around Connor fairly inconspicuously while we were in a taxi, driving to our hotel. After we made it to the hotel, Travis suggested we get some rest before dinner. Despite my nap on the bus, I managed to take a little snooze and, during so, got my next assignment from the lovely Dolos.

"Kiss him on the cheek."

"Excuse me?" I choked on my own spit and sent myself into a coughing fit.

He laughed. "You heard me. In fact, I'm going to make it even harder; you have to do it before 12:01 tonight…" I hadn't had time to talk to Percy yet, maybe that was for the better. He was still in the jail-like place and this time I got a slightly better view.

There was at least one, if not more than one, rows of jail cells. They were all dark, but I could see the faint shadows of things moving around in them and, periodically, I'd see a pair of ugly black eyes. When I woke up I felt as if they were still on me.

"Hey guys," Connor greeted. A fake smile was plastered to his face. "Sorry to kick you out of line, but do you think I could talk to Katie for a minute… Privately." He added.

"Of course!" Isabel said jumping out of the way. "Actually, Travis and I are gonna head back a little early so we can get fully rested for our big day tomorrow."

"Alright, see ya."

They strode out of the arcade, still laughing at some awful blonde joke Travis told.

The girl in front of us finished the game and I reached over to drop a quarter in the slot.

"I got it." Connor insisted, pulling a coin out of his pocket. The balls fell from the little compartment and he picked one up tossing it back and forth in his hands."

"I'm sorry." Connor and I suddenly blurted at the same time. We both started laughing.

"It's okay." I told him. "But why are you sorry?"

He stretched out his arm and released the ball allowing it to roll into the ten point slot. "I guess I just feel awful for you because I know how stressful this whole quest has been for you."

I lifted a ball and tried to angle my arm right. "It's not you, or Travis, really," I rolled the ball and was satisfied when it landed in the twenty point slot. "It's mostly-"

"Isabel." he finished for me. "I knew the second I saw you look at each other that we had a problem."

I decided against telling him the real name I had meant to say, and stepped back, allowing him to remove another ball. "Did I really make it that obvious?" I asked after a moment.

"It was obvious to me."

He turned to look at me.

"Katie, you know how much I like you. I love goofing off with you and watching you get mad when we dye your face blue and all, but I miss the way things used to be." He threw the ball and frowned when it also landed in the twenty point slot.

"I really am sorry, Connor – I don't like what I'm doing."

"You don't have to do this, Katie."

"Yes I do.

"I don't think you understand."

"No, I don't think you understand."

Without realizing it I had lifted a ball in the air threateningly. The kids at the machines around us turned to see if I would throw it. My eyes were brimming with tears of anger, not towards Connor, Travis, or even Isabel, but to the bane of my existence ever since the start of the quest:

Dolos.

Taking a deep breath I turned back to the game and sent the ball down the ramp. It landed in the thirty point slot.

"Nice." he muttered under his breath.

"Thanks."

The other kids turned back to their games and Connor turned back to me.

"Katie, I know you don't believe me, but I do understand." he began quietly. "You're jealous of Travis and Isabel, so you're trying to make Travis jealous by flirting with me. It's okay, I'm not angry with you."

"Actually," I began but stopped myself.

I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

Peeping out from behind a corner was a small metallic looking triangle. It glistened in the dim arcade lighting and I felt my stomach drop when I noticed that the tip of the triangle was pointed straight at my chest.

Someone was pointing an arrow at my heart. If I said one wrong thing or gave away one piece of information about Dolos and how he was blackmailing me, I would be dead in a second.

"Actually," I continued after a gulp, "You're exactly right. I'm sorry for raising a skeet ball at you."

He laughed. "Don't worry about it, Kate Pate. But you've still got to beat me."

I looked up just in time to see his ball sail into the one hundred point slot.

"That's one hundred and thirty points." he stated. "You've also got to get it on the hundred point one to beat me." He grinned and I smiled back halfheartedly. The arrow was still notched at my chest.

I slowly made my way over to where the last ball was waiting in its little cubby, conscious that the tip of the arrow was following my every move. I picked up the ball and closed one eye, focusing on the tiny little circle that was the one hundred point slot.

"Hey batter batter…" Connor joked.

I shushed him.

After a couple more moments of careful concentration, I released the ball from my grasp and watched it fly… Right into the ten point slot.

"Oh well." Connor said with a smile. "I guess you'll have to try again, huh?"

I smiled faintly. "I'd love to, but I'm really tired. How about tomorrow instead?"

He looked a little surprised but nodded. "Of course. Goodnight, I'll be up in a few minutes. I'm gonna play one more game."

I said goodbye to Connor before walking back to the elevators. I gave a sigh of relief when I noticed that the person with the arrow had left, and I was free from Dolos until…

"Oh no." I said out loud. I had completely forgotten about Dolos's last assignment.

I had to kiss Connor on the cheek.

I cursed loudly and a mother nearby shot me a glare. I was too distressed to apologize. I stomped into the elevator and shoved my first into my pocket, feeling around for our key card. We were running low on mortal money so we decided it would be the smartest idea to share a room and just take turns on the bed. We had gotten a cot and Isabel brought an air mattress. Tonight, I would be sleeping on the sofa.

The elevator doors opened and I made my way to our room. I slipped the key into the little slit and pulled it out angrily. I turned the doorknob and opened the door. I was surprised to find that the lights were off.

That's weird. I thought. Travis and Isabel must've gone back downstairs.

I swept my hand along the side of the wall until I felt the light switch and flipped it. What I saw made my blood boil.

Isabel and Travis were sitting together on the bed.

And they were kissing.

No, that's an understatement.

Isabel and Travis – my Travis – were making out.

O.O Stupid Isabel! Anyway, schools almost out so I should be posting more regularly. I still have a lot of finals so it'll be slow for the next 2-3 weeks. I hope that chappie made up for the bazillion months I was gone. Sorry again!