I'm not going to write another disclaimer.

I OWN ALL THE MAIN CHARACTERS HERE. ALL THE REST ARE RICK RIORDAN. HE'S AMAZING.

Oh and, another thing. If any of you guys know The Friday Night Boys, then yeah. This chapter is named after one of their songs: Molly Makeout.

Haha. I just realized how much I talk about music in my fanfics. I love it.

Author Notes:

OKAY. Sorry I haven't updated in a while.

It hasn't been that long right?

Anyway, here's a new chapter.

I made it longer than usual so I hope you guys enjoy!

PS: I have another Percy + Annabeth story coming up! Sorry, I don't like using the name of the pairing. OKAY. ENJOY!

5

I know I should have been shocked by what I learned last night. I shouldn't have been able to take anything that I was finding out. I shouldn't have been able to process anything that I was being told.

But I did.

I believed every word that Chiron had told me.

I had no choice.

I needed a family. Chiron had told me that he was planning on just making me an all-year camper since I couldn't stay with him forever. I wouldn't have to go to school, study, and deal with homework. I wouldn't fail anything because my dyslexia didn't really affect anything at camp. Chiron said that it would even help me be able to read. But—though he didn't mention it—I knew that there was a downside too. I wouldn't have friends, I'd be lonely, stuck at camp my whole life waiting for the campers with families to come back. I knew I needed a family, at least one person. If this camp could help me find my dad, I wasn't going to turn it down.

I also learned the weirdest thing. He said that Mount Olympus was actually in the Empire State Building. Yeah, right. I mean I was always good at Greek mythology. The whole concept of the gods and humans and monsters always fascinated me; the way they were all connected, and how one's actions affected the world today. But even I was smart enough to know that the gods were in Greece. Duh. They were up in Athens. Plus, wasn't the Empire State Building the building that was crashed into by two planes at 9/11? Or wait; was it the World Trade Center? I wasn't actually sure since I had never been to the west coast. Whenever I traveled, it was always out of the country or inside California. Chiron just frowned and explained that the gods couldn't stay at Greece since it had been taken over by the Romans, thus being forced to change names.

Zeus = Jupiter

Aphrodite = Venus

Poseidon = Neptune

Hermes = Mercury

Ares = Mars

Hera = Juno

Dionysus = Bacchus

Demeter = Ceres

Athena = Minerva

Hades = Pluto

Kronos = Saturn

And so on…

So now, they were in America. I wasn't surprised since everything was in America. First, we were the only country that had ever spotted a UFO. Next, we are the only country that actually had a total ass like George Bush as president. We had that hurricane Katrina. And now, we have gods on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building.

I also should have been surprised that Chiron wasn't human either. At first, I was startled and backed away from him as he clopped around the house. He was half-horse and half-human. I knew him from somewhere. There were hundreds of them in the Greek stories. What did they call them? Satyrs? No, no wait. Those were the goat boys. Then I remembered. He was a centaur. His legs were long and knobby and white, bumpy at some edges just like a regular horse. I would have screamed and ran if it wasn't so cool.

I went to bed at two forty-seven A.M. I usually had dreams about what I don't know or what I should find out about. That night, I didn't. I guessed it was probably because I knew everything I should.

I fell out of bed hours later. It was four in the morning. I shouldn't be awake or falling out of bed at this time. Chiron said we were leaving for camp at seven. I had three more hours. The sky was still dark and showed no signs of the sun. I rolled out of bed lazily, realizing that I had went to bed in my party outfit; a blue tank top and a black skirt that was hiked up higher than it was supposed to be, with a thick white jacket over it. I shrugged off the jacket and hung it over my bed stand. I was hungry and my feet hurt like hell. Maybe it was because I had forgotten to take my heels off too.

I walked outside my room and stepped out. The house was huge, by the way. Marissa was one of those girls from snotty rich families. She had inherited this house after getting knocked up twice and marrying Chiron. It was big and white with marble floors and long ceiling lights. There were only two floors but they were long and vast, stretching out on both sides. The house was lit up, the lights still on. I leaned against the railing that overlooked the first floor. I felt empty and before I knew it, I was thwacking down in my shoes towards the kitchen. I opened the fridge, feeling the familiar blast of cool air that made me want to just stick my face inside for a few minutes. I pulled out an apple and went towards the dining table. I sat down in silence, all alone. There were four empty chairs around me and I didn't really like it. I was halfway finished with the apple before I had fallen asleep again.

The next time I woke up, the sun was slightly out, still peeking through the clouds. By instinct, I just knew that it was 6:30. I sat up, dropping the core of the apple accidentally. I didn't bother picking it up. I just ran up the stairs, tripping over my heels with every step. I had to pack. I forgot. I had to pack and I was leaving in thirty minutes. Oh God. I was never going to make it. I got into my room and slammed the door behind me. I pulled out a big red bag and quickly unzipped it from my closet. I brought out random clothes out and stuffed them inside. I didn't bother putting in jeans or sweatpants because it was summer. I was just throwing all my clothes inside, creating piles of them everywhere.

*BEEP*BEEP*

My eyes widened. I ran over to the other side of my room and opened my windows. There was a small, yellow taxicab. Chiron opened my door.

"Nicole?" he said. "The car's…what in Hades' name is this?"

I wasn't sure if he was talking about the mess I was in or the poor excuse of a packed luggage.

"You…" he furrowed his eyebrows. "You forgot to pack last night?"

"I…I fell asleep…" I stammered. "Seriously."

"Well, that's pretty obvious considering your outfit. And your hair."

I ran a hand through my hair. It was around my face, my bangs intact, with everything else curling at weird edges. I groaned.

"Never mind that." I said, crouching beside my luggage. "I have to fix this."

"Alright." Chiron said. "I'll be downstairs, waiting."

I sighed, taking my clothes out again. I refolded them neatly and in ten minutes tops, I was finished folding. I placed them inside carefully, trying to fit everything inside. After another five minutes, I was done packing.

I grabbed a purple jacket off my dresser and zipped it up. Thankfully, it was long and reached above my knees, long enough for it to hide my outfit from last night. I slipped my laptop inside the bag and tucked in my iPod. I grabbed my camera off my shelf and headed downstairs with my luggage in hand.

Outside, Chiron was struggling to get into the front seat. I made my way towards the car and opened up the hatch. I heaved my bag up, pushed it towards the back, away from two others and made my way inside the car.

"Wow, you look nice." A boy said to me.

I looked at him.

"Who are you?" I asked. His electric blue eyes shifted around my face, scanning me. Then they examined my clothes. I didn't like it.

"You look like you just woke up." He said.

"Thanks." I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Not in a bad way, of course." He said.

I wasn't sure how looking like I just woke up wasn't a bad thing. I was pretty sure there was no good side to that comment either.

He had brown hair and blue eyes with something about them seemed unreal. Like, it wasn't possible that they could be that blue. He wore dark jeans and an orange t-shirt under a blue jacket.

"Hey Chiron," I asked after fifteen minutes of driving. "Where are we going?"

"New York." He replied, as the taxi took a left to the airport.

"What?"

No way. I didn't think we were really going there. I thought there was some local branch here in California. We weren't seriously going there. I mean, we'd have to fly and judging by the info that Chiron had given me last night; we would get blasted right out of the sky if we were children of the wrong god.

As if reading my mind, the boy said,

"Don't worry. Dad wouldn't kill me."

"Huh?"

"So who's yours? You kinda look like Lord Apollo."

"What?"

"Your dad."

"What about my dad?"

"Who is he?"

"Stop fighting." Chiron said.

"We're not fighting." I said.

"Of course we're not. I don't even know your name," the boy told me.

"What?"

"What?"

"What."

"I don't want to talk to you anymore." I said curtly.

"Fine. Gods," he muttered.

"Ugh."

I turned around and refused to talk to him. God, boys are all the same. The car parked and Chiron paid the cabbie. We got out of the cab and watched the driver unload our stuff. I stretched my arms out, yawning as Chiron moved around in his wheelchair. I took the handle of my bag and lugged it off the pavement and into the airport.

I unzipped my jacket and my hand-carry bag and put it inside a red basin. The boy took off his backpack and did the same. I waited on the other side of the scanner and took my bag and slung my jacket over my shoulder as we headed for the check-in counter.

As Chiron spoke to the woman behind the desk, I sat down on the trolley that we had taken inside to help us bring the bags around.

"Hey," the boy said. "Look, I'm Logan."

I sighed. At least he knew that he should be the one to speak first. I smiled, waving at him though we were only two feet apart.

"Nikki."

"So, what are you listening to?" he asked me, pointing at the headphones placed around my neck.

"Oh…uh…nothing."

"What?"

"It'snothingIjustfeltlikelisteningtoJustinBieber…" I said the words in a rush, hoping he wouldn't be able to decipher anything I was saying.

"I heard Justin Bieber." He said, smiling.

"I felt like it, okay." I rolled my eyes. "I'm not one of those girls that are so totally in love with him. I'm not. Trust me."

"Oh yeah, 'cause I totally expected you to be so in love with him." He said sarcastically.

"You know what?" I said. "I'm changing the song."

I clicked next and a familiar plucking of guitar strings.

"I love that song." Logan said.

"You can hear it?" I asked. I was about to offer him an earphone when I realized that I had broken them a few months back. Now I was stuck using these Skullcandy headphones. I didn't really mind though. I was just annoyed that I had broken my other ones and now I couldn't offer anyone to listen.

A steady strumming of a louder guitar overlapped the plucking.

"Yeah, it's pretty loud." He said. "Are you always like that?"

"Well I wasn't born quiet." I replied. It was true. I mean, what was the point of listening to music quietly? Music was used to bring you somewhere else, to help you think about something completely unthinkable. It was supposed to distract you, to change you, to drown out all your thoughts and get you concentrated on the song.

Then he started singing softly. "Let me tell you about this girl I know. Molly Makeout whoa uh oh…" He was slightly messy and a little bit out of tune, but I couldn't blame him. I probably couldn't do any better anyway.

"It's rising action. Molly Makeout satisfaction." I didn't know why I was singing along with Logan. Before I knew it, it was the chorus and we were singing,

"Molly, Molly Makeout! Any time, any guy. Just watch your back. You won't know what to do. Molly might make out with you…"

Chiron was done checking in our baggage.

"Alright. Let's go." He said looking content. I glanced at his eyes one more time. They looked oddly bright, almost yellow. I didn't know if I was seeing things but his eyes had a weird effect in them. I wondered if it was just a matter of perspective or maybe just your point of view but they really never stayed the same.

Logan helped Chiron heave the bags up on the side of the counter, and I just stood there watching all three bags slide away on the belt.

"That's a pretty messed up song." Logan said, adjusting the straps of his backpack on one arm.

"I know," I replied. "Molly sounds retarded."

"Like some person from rehab or something." Logan said.

"Stop fighting." Chiron said.

"We're not fighting." Logan told him.

I took out my passport from my pocket. We lined up for the immigration lines. I took my headphones and pulled it over my ears. The song had changed. Now it was Banana Pancakes. I wondered if Logan knew this song too.

I reached the front of the line where I handed the passport the man. I quickly pushed my headphones back down on my neck. The man was chubby with curly hair and wheezed every time he inhaled. He had red glasses that were slipping down his eyes and rested on his nose and a frown on his mouth. He stamped my passport a few times, glancing at my face from time to time. At last, he gave it back to me and said, "Next." I stepped over the yellow line and slipped past him and the box he was in.

"Alright." Chiron said once we were all done with the immigration. "Well, we're running late so we have to hurry. Plane leaves in seven minutes so…"

The next thing I knew, we were sprinting off, reaching the gate just in time, still trying to catch our breaths.

"That was close." Logan said.

"I know."

We were the last passengers here in the waiting area. I gave my ticket and watched the man scan it, rip a part, and hand it back to me. I boarded the plane and found my seat.

"I call the window seat!" Logan said.

"No way. You can't call the window seat. I always get the windows seat."

"No," Logan said slowly. "I get the windows seat."

"No, I do." Chiron said, making his way to the end beside the window.

I shrugged.

"Fine." I said, sitting down in between both of them.

So many things have happened to me already. I wished I were that girl in my dreams again. I wanted that family she had. I wanted the love she had. I wanted everything that I didn't have. When I stopped to think about it, there was nothing in my life right now that I really did love. I didn't have something I could treasure. I couldn't even tell myself that my dad loved me one bit. I had no proof whatsoever. He didn't leave me with anything at all. It wasn't like in the movies. I wasn't left with a special locket shaped as a heart with a picture of my parents neatly inserted inside. I didn't have something to hold onto that reminded me of him. I didn't even know him, at all. I had no memory of him. I didn't remember anything about him. It was like he never existed. It was like I only had a mom, and when she was gone I had Tom and Marissa. Those three people were the only one's I remembered. But here I was, strapped in an airplane seat, on my way to a life that never should have existed if I my life was right. I would never have been forced to go. I would never have been one of those special children. I was supposed to be normal. I was supposed to be just a girl. I was supposed to have parents, and a house, and everything.

I had nothing.

I shoved my hand-carry bag under the seat of the person in front of me and put on my headphones again. By now, two songs had passed since Banana Pancakes. Now it was The Bends by Radiohead.

"I wish…I wish that something would happen."

The voice would sing. It was ironic, actually.

That was the last thing I wanted right now.