Author's Notes: Chapter 20 is out and this one's full of drama. The story is almost over but don't be sad, I plan on having a sequel.

My hands were shaking, "What are you doing here? You should be dead or decrepit."

She laughed, "I'm obviously not dead honey. I'm here looking for you. Isn't that obvious?" She reached over, "Are you ready to pick up where we left off?"

I shook my head, "No, this isn't happening. This is just a bad dream." I pinched myself to try and wake up, but when I opened my eyes, she was still there.

Annabeth came running down the hall, "Ryan, did you find…" She looked at Tammy, "Oh, hello."

Tammy stuck up her nose, "Ryan, who's this whore. She better not be my replacement."

Annabeth looked at her, "Whore? Who the hell are you calling a whore?" She looked at me, "Ryan, what is she talking about? You're with Landon."

I heard Tammy laugh from behind me, "Please, he's with another boy. I had this problem before with him, thinking he's gay. He doesn't know what he wants, that's why he needs me. I'm the only one who knows best for him. Cathleen and Jacob corrupted him and now I have to fix him."

My anger was starting to peek. Since when is being gay considered corrupt.

"And honestly, look at him. Does he really look like a faggot?"

I lost it. "Who the fuck do you think you are? You don't know a damn thing that's good for me! And for the record, I do know what I want and I don't need you telling me that I don't. I thank Jacob everyday for showing me who I really am. It's because of him that I'm not with you anymore."

She just continued laughing, "Oh Ryan, you say the most irrelevant things sometimes. Just be quiet and let me talk for you."

Percy, Landon, and Nico came walking down the hall. "Is everything alright? We heard yelling."

Landon looked past us and saw Tammy. "I see you found another person down here. Hello, I'm Landon Blaner."

She looked him over, "So, you're my replacement. At least he chose a good-ish looking one." She walked over to him and shook his hand, "I'm Tammy Finnegan, Ryan's girlfriend."

Landon stopped shaking her hand, "You're what?"

"I'm Ryan's girlfriend. Got a problem with that?"

Landon looked over at me, slight anger and confusion in his eyes. "Yeah, I do have a problem with that. I'm Ryan's boyfriend. I've been dating him for a few months now."

"Awe, isn't that cute, they've been dating for a few months. I dated him for over a year."

I stepped between them, "Key word, DATED." I turned to Landon, "Once I found out I was gay, I broke up with her. She never took rejection well when she wasn't the one breaking people's hearts."

Tammy rolled her eyes, "Cut the act Ryan, you know we're still dating. Like I said, you don't know what you want and that's what I'm here for."

"I already told you, we aren't together anymore! How many times to I have to tell you this until you finally get the picture?"

We continued yelling at each other. I would constantly tell her that we were through, but she would just say that I didn't know what was best for me.

"Alright! Everybody shut up!" Percy pulled Tammy away from me. "We get that this little love triangle is confusing, but can we get back to the problem. Brent and David are gone, and now we have this girl to deal with."

"I say we just leave her in the desert and let her die of thirst." I glared back at her.

Landon pulled me into a hug, "Calm down Ryan. Death is never the answer," He stared at her, "No matter how tempting the outcome may be. Remember the prophecy: One shall be lost unto the land. And how when we meet a friend, one will be an unwanted surprise. The prophecy's coming true."

I shook my head. Somehow, I knew we'd meet someone like her along this journey. Gods, why couldn't she have gone with Brent and left us David. "Alright." I turned to Tammy reluctantly. "As much as I'd love to just leave you here, we can't. You're part of a prophecy now and we're going to have to return to camp now that we've basically completed the quest. All we can do is pray that David prevents Brent from reviving Kronus."

She smiled, "I'll go anywhere you go honey." Her smile had a maniacal look to it, but I ignored it. "So how are we getting back to camp?"

I was still mad that she was coming along, "We're going to fly back to New York. It's the quickest way to get back and warn Chiron of what's happened." I saw Landon and Nico shiver. Neither one of them liked flying, but they were going to suck it up and deal.

"Alright then, let's get out of here and head home. We've only been away from camp for about a week, but I'll be glad once we get back." Annabeth grabbed Percy's hand and walked him away from us with Nico right behind them.

Tammy tried to grab my hand, but I pulled it away and held onto Landon's hand. "I see, you're playing hard to get. No matter, I'll get you back sooner or later." She walked ahead of us as we left the underground workshop of Daedalus.

Nico looked a little depressed when we got back upstairs. "I miss Brent. He might have been an annoying jerk, but when he wasn't complaining, he was a decent friend."

Landon walked over and rested his hand on his shoulder. "It's ok Nico, we'll get him back soon enough."

I saw Nico smile slightly, "Thanks."

Landon walked back over to me right as the sun began to set.

"Look at the horizon. It's beautiful."

He kissed my cheek, "Just like whenever we're together. Our own horizons beat anything mother nature could create."

We sat down on the desert floor and watched the sunset, marveling all the colors. I set my head on Landon's shoulder and closed my eyes. Just being in his presence calmed me down.

When the sun finally set and it was dark out, I opened my eyes and stood up. "Ok, time to find an airport. We have to make it back to camp by tomorrow."

Nico stood up as well, "I have another solution instead of flying. We could shadow travel. It's much faster than flying."

I looked at him, "What's shadow travel?"

He laughed, "It's something only a child of Hades can do. We all walk into a shadow and travel to where ever we need to go. The only problem is, it takes a lot of energy for me to have this many children shadow travel. So once we get to camp, don't be surprised if I pass out."

We all nodded and Percy shuttered. "I remember shadow traveling. I didn't like it the first time I did it and I probably won't like it now, but I do admit, it is much faster than flying."

"Alright then, let's walk behind the building, it should create a large enough shadow for us to pass through." I grabbed Landon's hand and we all walked around to the back of the building.

Nico stood in front of us all and raised his hands up to the wall. "Alright everyone, think of where you want to go and run at the wall. It might take couple of minutes to reach our destination, but we'll get there in less than ten minutes." He gestured for Percy to go first. "I must go last or the portal will close."

Percy took a deep breath and held onto Annabeth's hand, "Let's go." They ran at the wall and disappeared into the shadows.

Tammy was next. She ran at the wall, turning her head and blowing me a kiss goodbye as she vanished into the shadows.

I closed my eyes and turned away.

Landon held my hand tightly, "I guess it's our turn. You ready?"

I nodded and we ran at the shadows.

The darkness was eerie. I felt like I was in a dark, dank cave. My bones ached and I was chilled to the bone. The only thing that kept me from going insane was Landon's hand. Just his presence next to me kept me from losing my mind.

We walked for seven minutes or so before we started to see a light. I looked at Landon and smiled. We darted for the light and gazed upon the amphitheater. It must have been Friday, because the Apollo cabin was doing a song medley of new age music mixed with old age music.

I saw Cathleen sitting in the front, watching Cameron sing a medley of the Beatles and someone called Lady Gaga. I snuck up behind her and rested my arm on her shoulder. "Man, he is a good singer."

She screamed at the top of her lungs and jumped into the air. "What the Hades are you doing back here Ryan?"

"We technically completed the quest. We found two new friends and lost someone." I nodded my head.

She smiled, "So who'd you find and who'd you lose?"

"Obviously we lost Brent. He was the only person we were questioning the entire way. We met a boy named David who ended up leaving with Brent when he betrayed us."

Her smiled faded, "That's awful. Who was the other person you found?"

"Ryyaaannnn. Where aaaarrrrrrrrre youuuuuuuu?" Tammy was yelling through the camp, interrupting the song.

I saw Cathleen cringe when she heard her voice. "Please don't tell me the other person was Tammy. You know I hate her more than anything or anyone else in the world."

I looked down, "Yeah, it's Tammy. How do you think I feel about this? As soon as we found her, she tried to get back together with me and she insulted Annabeth and Landon."

She slammed her hand to her forehead, "That girl needs to get a life. She can't just obsess over you until she dies."

"I know that. Hopefully she'll figure that out and move on."

Landon walked over and gave his sister a hug, "How've you been sis? Did you do anything that we've already done?" He smiled mockingly.

She hit his arm, "Not yet. We've only been going out for a day."

He kissed my lips, "That didn't stop us."

She just glared at him, "Shut up. I'm not a whore like you two."

"Hey, I'm not a whore. I've just become corrupt by your brother." I hit Landon's chest, but he just laughed and pinned me down on the table.

He leaned down and kissed my cheek. "How about we go back to your cabin for the night?"

I nodded and kissed his lips, "But how about we just relax tonight? I'm way to tired to do anything tonight."

He smiled his perfect smile, "That's fine. I just want to spend some quality time with you." His hands were still pinning my wrists to the table, and now people we starting to stare. "Why don't we go back to your cabin now?"

I nodded and wiggled my wrists out from under his hands. He helped me up and we walked back towards the ring of cabins. "Wait, we have to go see Chiron and let him know that we're back."

Landon continued to hold my hand as we walked over to the Big House.

Knock, knock. We waited for someone to answer the door. I heard wheels against wood and I knew that Chiron was on his way.

He opened the door and was startled to see us standing there. "Oh my gods, what are you doing back here? Have you completed the quest?"

I nodded, "We've technically completed the mission because we've found both friends and we've also lost people."

He was nodding until I finished, "Wait, people? More than one person left your group?"

Landon nodded, "Yes. We lost Brent Edwards as expected and we also lost David Pollince, the first person we found along the way."

Chiron shook his head, "This is not good. We must inform the gods that Kronus may be revived soon."

"I agree, but there is another problem."

He stared at me, "Who was the second person to join the group Ryan?"

I looked down, "It was Tammy sir. Tammy Finnegan."

He rest his head in his hands, "Oh gods, she's back. When she didn't return the next year after you and Cathleen left, I assumed she died. I never assumed she tried to follow you."

I looked over and saw Tammy running over to the house. She grabbed my hand and tried to give me a kiss right in front of Landon. "There you are silly. I want to have a talk with you tonight. Without him there." She gave Landon a death glare, which he took with a hate filled smile.

I leaned into his ear, "Let me talk to her. Maybe I can finally convince her that I'm not into her."

He nodded, "Just be careful. And don't do anything." He smiled, a hint a fear in his tone.

I gave him a hug, "I will be and I wont do anything, I promise. Come over in a ten minutes, we should be done talking by then." I turned towards Tammy, "Let's talk right now. Come to my cabin with me."

She smiled jubilantly, "Of course I will." She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards my cabin.

We got back to my cabin and found Percy sitting on his bed, relaxing and listening to music.

I walked over to him, "Hey, can you do me a favor?"

He took the headphones out of his ears and looked over at Tammy. "Sure, but what is she doing here?"

I leaned in, "She wanted to talk with me. I'm hoping I can finally convince her that it's never going to happen. She wants it to be just the two of us, so I need you to leave for a few minutes. But please," I paused, "Please wait outside the cabin. I don't trust her and I need someone to be waiting in case something happens."

He nodded and gave me a hug, "Of course. I'll be waiting right outside the window and watch the conversation. If she tries anything, I'll jump in and stop her."

"Thank you." I patted his back and smiled, "Now, please let us talk."

He nodded and walked outside the cabin, leave me alone with her.

She sat down on an empty bunk and gestured for me to sit next to her.

I didn't listen to her and I sat down on the bed across from her. "So…what did you want to talk about?"

She leaned in, "I want to know why you think your gay."

That question shocked me. I've never been asked why I thought I was gay. I just knew. "I was learning more about myself once I started coming to camp. I used to be kept at home with my mother to protect me from the monsters. I never had any interaction with humans other than my mother and my family."

She nodded, "I don't see how that has anything to do with us."

"Once I came to camp, I was very nervous and then I met you. I was always told that I'd be happy once I found a girl and when I met you, I thought that I was supposed to start dating you. Then I met Jacob and I had a feeling that I never had with you. It felt like butterflies were fluttering in my stomach. My heart raced and my palms sweat. I asked around and that's when I met Cathleen. She told me that feeling like that around someone meant that you liked the person."

Tammy kept nodding, "I see. So what happened after that?"

"You know the rest. Then Jacob was attacked by those Ares campers and I saved him. He kissed me and I knew what I was after that. Then, one day at camp, Jacob was killed. I never found out who killed him, but it's always bothered me."

Her fists balled up, "I see, so it really was Jacob's fault after all."

I looked over at her, "What're you talking about?"

She stood up, "I'm glad we had this talk. It makes me feel better."

"What're talking about? What makes you feel better? What did you do?"

She shook her head, "That's none of your business. Now, can I at least get a hug goodbye? I promise to leave you alone from now on."

I rolled my eyes, "As long as you promise to leave me alone from now on." I extended my arms and looked over at the window. Percy was standing there, watching us. He asked if he should intervene, but I shook my head and he nodded.

She walked over and wrapped her arms around my torso.

I reluctantly hugged her back. It felt weird to hug her. I didn't feel anything that I felt when I hugged Landon. All I felt was shame and disgust.

I felt her start to tighten her grip. "Tammy, what're you doing?"

She giggled, "I'm just treasuring the last hug you'll ever give me." She kept tightening.

After a minute, I let my arms fall limp. "Ok, there's your hug. Now please leave."

She just laughed and continued to tighten. "You really don't know what a child of Aphrodite can do. Once we hug someone, we can't let go until we get a kiss."

"You tricked me!" I tried to push her away, but her arms just kept tightening around my torso.

"It's no use honey. You'll have to kiss me, just like old times." She nuzzled her head into my chest.

I started to groan as I continued to try and push her off, but I still couldn't get her off of me. "Fine. I'll give you your damn kiss." I closed my eyes and puckered my lips.

I waited there for a few minutes before I felt her lips press against mine. I couldn't feel anything for the first few seconds. I had shut off all my emotions or else I would have started crying. I guess this was what it felt like to be raped in a sense. Being forced participate in something sensual against your will.

Her arms started to loosen and once they were loose enough, I separated myself from her. "There, you got your damn kiss, now leave me alone."

She just smiled and looked at the door. Landon was standing there, tearing up. "How could you?"

I looked at him and then at her, "You bitch, you planned this from the beginning."

She kept smiling, "Not at all. This was all your fault. You told him to come over in a few minutes." She ran outside, leaving me alone with Landon.

I turned to him, "It wasn't what you think it was."

A tear ran down his face, "Oh really, then what was it? It looked like you were hugging and kissing your ex girlfriend."

"Let me explain. She trapped me in a hug. The only way to escape the hug was to give her a kiss."

He started to cry more heavily, "Like I'm gonna believe that. Do I look stupid to you? I can't believe you'd do this to me after all we've been through." He turned around and started to walk outside."

"Where are you going?"

He turned around, "I'm done. Ryan, we're through!"