So many reviews! My goodness! Thank you! I'm so very pleased and excited that I've become bubbly and giddy. I hope I can tone it down enough to remain in character, but please, by all means, let me know if I fail to do so. I don't like flames, but if you're mean about giving advice, my feelings won't be hurt. Bluntness is fine.

Also, just to ensure that there is as little confusion as possible: Yume is half-Japanese immigrant (on her mother's side) and Kyle doesn't know how to pronounce her name, and so instead of saying "Yoo-meh," she simply says "Yoom."

I think I'll actually have a quote for this one, as I seem to have forgotten it in the previous chapter…

"There remains a considerable number of deities who never achieved anything more than local importance, some being narrowly circumscribed by their very nature and therefore barely capable of any development." - Greek Religion, Gods - part 3: The Lesser Gods by Walter Burkert

I never found Fitfh Avenue. So, I decided to make camp with the girl on my back and wait for her to wake up. When I found our spot behind some trash cans in an alley, I tried to make her comfortable before I went into another alley to change clothes and pad. Thank You, God, for such light bleeding this month. I prayed. I thought about that right after I did, though. Should I really be praying to Him when I'd done the unforgivable? I had prayed to the devil, my father, and had asked him for help. How could God forgive me for such a thing? I knew He couldn't. No one could. It was unforgivable. I ignored God's word fully knowing that I was. I only prayed for forgiveness after that, and prayed things would work out well, though who that was sent up to, I don't know.

I returned to our small camp, and found an intruder stoking a small fire in a trash can. I felt for my pocket knife, wary of human-looking monsters, now. Who was this boy?

He looked up from the fire, spotting me and smiling wickedly. He was sent from my father. Monster or no, this boy was trouble.

"Who are you?" I asked, slinking towards him very carefully. I glanced at the girl. Still safely asleep. His grin widened.

"I'm Darian Champion, son of Eris." I didn't know who Eris was, but I felt the need to do something similar.

"I'm Kyle, daughter of-" I paused, trying to remember her name, "Laurelee." He snickered.

"Do you have difficulty remembering your own mother's name? Or is she so ugly that she is seldom called upon?" I threw my knife at him and grabbed my bow and quiver, notching an arrow and taking aim. I fired, and the arrow burrowed itself into his shoulder. He cried out, and fell back. I ran around the trash can, intent on finishing him, but he was up and running faster than I could be. He broke the shaft, throwing it back at me and cursing as he left. Insult my mom, and then run away when the consequences come back at you? Coward. Then again, I supposed I couldn't count myself separate from that. I ran from my sick mom, didn't I?

The girl stirred in her sleep, and I noticed there was something laying on her arm. It was a letter, it seemed, but as I reached for it, my stomach growled. I would need to go find food. But, first, to at least read the outside. After all, I wanted to know her name. It read, "Aegnt Yume." No, "Agent Yume." Yoom. So that was her name.

With that in mind, I left the sleeping girl, foraging for food.

I had gotten the girl a sandwich from the shop I'd found, but it had been three hours since then, and I was still hungry, so I ate hers, deciding to buy one for her when she woke up, if she was hungry. Content that the fire was well-fuelled, and that she was comfortable and we were safe, I slept, bow in hand.

It was bright in my dream, full of color and light. But nothing was clear. I heard a voice shouting my name in the distance. It sounded like a man. But that wasn't important. What was important was where I was. It was on top of a hill looking down at the blurry image of houses. Very small houses. And one big blue mass off to my left. I was in the shade, but I didn't know where I was. I stepped forward, walking down the hill, and looked for people. I couldn't see them very well, but there seemed to be some kind of game going on at the table.

"Ridiculous! You managed to beat me again!"

"Mr. D, your restrictions-" Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Sorry, sorry!" It was a strange conversation to hear, and it didn't make sense, so I wandered over to the group of small houses.

"Kyle...!" A distant call reached my ears as I got closer to the gold house in the group. There were people walking out of the cabins, but again, I could not see them clearly. Blond hair, orange shirt, blue pants, white ones. All passed by me in an unhurried blur.

"Come on, Clarisse. Let's get the new kid."

"But that would be an illogical tactic! On Capture the Flag, I tell you we should-"

"Thanks for getting those sodas for me. Honestly, how do you guys do it?"

"So how's your new piece coming? You worked in a counter-melody yet?"

All were things I heard from the crowd, but still nothing made sense. I felt a strange urge to go into the gold house, and I stepped forward, only to find my shoulders being shaken.

"Wake up, kid." a voice spoke in my ear. My eyes flew open, and I grabbed the arms of the person shaking me. It was a man in black with a strange hat on. Another was shaking the girl beside me. I leaned over to grab him and stop him.

"No. She needs to sleep. She hasn't slept in a month." I said, shaking my head to clear the fog of sleep. I yawned, and looked around. It was morning, and people were running on the paths through the park. The men in front of me had weapons on their belts. The one who had been shaking her let go, and both looked at me like I was the strange one.

"Okay, then. What's your name, kid?" the one who had been shaking me asked, looking me over as if I could be dangerous. I wasn't wearing a gun at my belt, and he thought I was dangerous?

"My name is Kyle Marie Baker." I introduced. "What's your name?" His lips quirked into a smile, and he looked at his partner, who was watching me with too-interested eyes.

"You can call me Fred." the first one said with a mischievous glint in his eye. He had black hair peppered with gray, and a grin that said he was up to no good. The second rolled his eyes at that, and leaned down to pick the girl up.

"Okay, what's the problem, Mr. Fred?" I asked, sensing that something was not quite right with these two. I found myself looking at the second man, noticing his light-colored hair and green eyes. He watched me closely, but didn't say anything.

"Well, you see, it's not safe for kids like you to sleep on the streets," he started, putting a hand on my shoulder and guiding me out of the alley. The other followed closely behind with a sleeping Yoom. "So, we thought we could help you by taking you to a safer place."

"A place like where?" I was wary. The last person who offered to take care of me in any way turned out to be evil. Who were these men, and why were they wearing all black?

"A place like a summer camp for those who need help making it in the world. Do you think you need help making it?" He was watching me out of the corner of his eye, and I had a feeling there was a right and wrong answer to this question.

"I think I need help finding my father, at least. He lives in New York, I know, but he's the only one who can save my mom. She's sick, and he can heal." The other one stiffened for a moment, but said nothing and kept up with us. The first smiled, and looked into the street, holding his hand up. A car appeared, almost as if out of nothingness, and he opened the door for me.

"I think this place can help with that."

The second one drove while the first one talked to me. What was my mom like, did I know who my father was, how far away from home was I, and so on. I answered all of them, reserved and nervous at first, but then more and more relaxed at the conversation went on. Eventually, we started talking about archery, and the driving one seemed to relax a bit, like he wasn't completely disappointed. This made me feel better, for some reason.

It felt like I talked for hours, telling him about how to make shafts and arrow heads and bows. I told him how to feather an arrow and notch it and how the weather factors into the direction of the arrow, and he seemed politely interested, but really just happy that I was talking. When I finally stopped, embarrassed, the driver spoke for the first time.

"Don't forget that rain also makes the arrow heavier, so you have to string the bow more tightly." he said. His voice was very nice, and I like listening to it. It made me feel like he was saying something important.

"Yeah, but you normally wouldn't go hunting in the rain because it's hard to see." I answered. "At least, I've never had to go out at that time." He pulled over to the side of the road, and looked straight ahead.

"You might have to soon." Then the other man turned back to look at me and the girl.

"Well, girls, this is your stop. Take care of each other, will you?" I looked out the window, and saw a hill with a tree at the top. Something was familiar about it.

"But this is just a hill," I objected.

"Go up the hill, and you'll see it." he said. I looked at him, unsure, and then prayed to God that he was telling the truth as I stepped out of the car, pulling the girl with me.

I hoisted her onto my back, and trekked up the hill, turning to wave goodbye at them only to find that they were gone. I looked down past the tree, and saw a scene that tugged at my memory.

It was a big blue house on the left, a field of plants toward the sea, and a bunch of small houses in a 'U' shape to my right. Something was familiar, but I didn't know why, so I stood there, trying to figure it out. The girl got to be pretty heavy, so I put her down and propped her against the tree, only to find a huge gold lizard looking at me. There was a golden piece of what looked almost like fur behind it, but the lizard paid it no mind, sniffing me and the girl over before nodding and turning away. I was so shocked and scared at that moment, that I didn't know what to do.

"Hey!" came a voice from over my shoulder. I whirled around, reaching for an arrow and notching it as I located the potential danger to me and the girl. The boy who had called held up his hands in surrender, his blue eyes watching me.

"Who are you?" I asked, suddenly feeling brave.

"That's what I came here to ask. Usually, people don't hover on the hill, but come in to Camp Half-Blood, so I was wondering if something was wrong." I looked him over. About fourteen years old, brown sandals and khaki shorts. Orange shirt that had some riddling text on it that I didn't go to the trouble of puzzling out. Tanned from the sun. Light-colored hair. Bow slung over his shoulder. He was armed.

"We're here because someone told us this was a safe place." I said, watching him.

"And it is, so long as you don't point weapons at people." He smiled. "I'm Elijah. What are your names?"

"I'm Kyle. She can tell you her name if she wants to when she wakes." I didn't trust this boy. He looked far too mischievous, but he nodded, picking Yoom up as if she were delicate like glass. I prayed to God she was safe in his arms.

"Come on. I'll show you around, newbies." Newbies? Was that even a word? What did it mean?

But he was already off, walking down the hill with an easy air, and I had to follow him or be left behind, so I scurried after him.