I noticed that only two reviewed the last chapter…drats…what did I do, or type, wrong? Or did you guys just plain hated it? I don't really know...

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I cannot believe that we're finally going back to England! Well, maybe not permanently, but you get the idea.

As Argus drove the van to the docks, something came up in my mind. "Wait!"

The others looked at me skeptically. "Is something wrong, Sadie?" Carter asked.

"Why don't we just take a portal to London?" I suggested. The others gave approving nods. I mean, it would be faster, and would cost us a lot less of money." It was rather a very amazing idea, and coming from me, I'm pretty sure it is.

"I think she may be right." Nico agreed.

It was a fast ride to the Washington monument, especially with Argus driving. The moment the van stopped, Nico threw the doors open, leaped out, and practically kissed the ground. "Oh land! I am never going to leave you again!" The Stolls cracked up. Percy chuckled, and even Carter had to smile.

I rolled my eyes. Nico could be such a child sometimes. But thank the gods that he's cute and adorable, so that balances things out a bit. In front of us, the Washington Monument stood in all its glory. The largest collection of Egyptian power anywhere on the US, disguised as a normal tower.

I started working on the portal. It was rather annoying having to guess when the next auspicious moment was. Although Zia had taught it to us, it was mainly Carter who memorized all those dates and times. Me? I just stared off into space, or dozed off. Contrary to belief, I'm not a human Wikipedia.

"Finally. Just about time." I muttered under my breath as soon as a portal opened. I wasn't sure what the consequences were for opening a portal at inauspicious moments, but since nothing has happened to me yet, I really didn't care.

Carter stood up from where he was sitting. "Took you long enough." he taunted. "You know that the last auspicious moment was just a few minutes ago, right? You could've opened the portal then."

"Well, I'm not a human Wikipedia, unlike you, so shove off." I huffed, and noticed my boyfriend. I walked over and pulled Nico up, who was still hugging the ground like a moron. "Get up, death breath. You're making me look bad."

"I'm never going into that van again!" Nico protested. I looked at Argus, and saw that a few of his eyes were red. A tear leaked out on the eye on his forearm.

"Look at what you did. You've hurt Argus's feelings." I said. Nico muttered a quick sorry to Argus. Truthfully, I agreed with him. Argus drove like a maniac, even worse than Bast.

"Come on." I hissed, and dragged Nico all the way to the portal.

When we got to the other side, we were not expecting Walt and Zia to be there.

"Hey!" I hugged Zia. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Amos sent us here. He thought you guys might need some backup." Walt explained. He was smiling smugly at the image of me dragging Nico by the collar of his black leather jacket. I quickly released Nico, who straightened his jacket and ran a hand through his messy black hair. Walt glowered at him. Carter, Percy, and the others came through, and were just as mystified like us at the sight of the two magicians.

"Zia, why are you here?" Carter asked.

"It was Amos' orders. We are to provide you with assistance wherever possible." Zia answered. She adjusted the backpack on her right shoulder. After she finished explaining, Carter frowned.

"Go back." Carter ordered. The other looked at him skeptically, but I knew what he was feeling. The prophecy said that five will survive. Right now, there were ten of us, so five were to surely die. And as much as I hated to say it, Carter was right. It was never specified in the prophecy who are the five that would survive, nor was it specified how many will die, so it could just as easily apply to me. The only way we're going to get out of this alive is if only five go, so that only five survive.

"No." said Zia firmly. "I want to help." I had to smile at Zia's answer. Who knew that she could be rebellious too?

"Go back to Brooklyn House. That is an order by your Pharaoh!" Carter demanded. Zia cringed at his voice. I was just as equally shocked. Carter had never screamed at her for once in his life. And he never ever used the "Pharaoh" title before, even when I grabbed the remote from him when he was watching the telly. This was like a whole new Carter in front of our eyes.

"I 'm sorry my lord, but the Chief Lector's orders-"

"-does not overrule mine." Carter cut her off. "Look Zia, I appreciate you coming for us and all that, but it's just too dangerous."

Zia scoffed. "Dangerous? Carter, how many times have you dragged me into dangerous situations before? And how many times have we made it alive?"

"Barely!" Carter said.

"But we lived." Zia argued.

"Yeah, and how many nightmares have you had about that?" Carter asked. It was not a normal thing to find them both arguing over something so trivial. Don't tell Carter I said this, but they make a perfect couple. Seeing them mad at each other…well I just couldn't take it.

I broke the two apart. "Let her come." I said. It was the most obvious choice, and Carter will just have to see it.

"No. She will return to Brooklyn House, and that is final." Carter ordered. Then he glowered at me. "And if you argue, I will order you to return with her!"

"You wouldn't." I dared him. Annabeth tried to calm us down, but Carter was really pushing me over the edge with his stubbornness. I can get why he wanted to get Zia to go back, but why me? I pursed my lips.

"Try me." He said smugly. My hand was drifting closer and closer to my wand. I already had half a mind to just ha-di him to get him to think straight.

"Guys, enough." Walt said. He had his arms crossed. "Carter, just let Zia come. If things start to get dangerous, I'll bring her back to Brooklyn House."

Carter scoffed. "Nice plan Walt, only there's one little thing you missed: you're going back too. Now."

"What?" Walt said. "Oh come on Carter. Stop treating us like trainees. We've survived the end of the world once. I think we can do it again."

"Actually, that's pretty good argument." I said, glancing to Walt.

"That and you're both too stubborn to give in." Nico muttered. Carter bit his lower lip, and took deep breaths, like he was going to regret what he was going to say next.

"Fine." Carter said, looking up at the sky. "But if there's any trouble, I want both of you on the next portal to Brooklyn ASAP, got it?" he stabbed a finger at Walt's chest.

"Got it." Walt nodded.

"Ah, London." I said, changing the topic. "I missed this place." I twirled around on the pavement, spreading my arms wide.

"Well I didn't." Carter huffed.

"That's because you don't have a life, brother dear." I joked.

"Hey!"

"Come one, let's go to Gran's!" I started walking away, but noticed that nobody was following me. I turned around. "Well, are you guys coming or not?"

"I told you before, we're not on vacation." Carter said. I stomped back towards him. "But you promised!"

"I said we will go. I didn't say that all of us will go together." He said.

"But at least let me bring Nico." I pulled Nico closer. The poor boy stared at me curiously, before looking at Carter like he was saying, help me.

"Alright. So Zia, Nico, and Sadie will go to our grandparents." He spat out the word grandparents with loathing. "Me, Travis, Connor, and Diana will go look for Rachel. Percy, you go with Walt and Annabeth, and search for any signs of Hyperion or Atlas."

"A plan worthy of Athena." Annabeth commented. Carter smiled at her and muttered, "Thanks."

"Wait, aren't you coming with us?" I asked Carter. He shook his head firmly.

"No. your grandparents hate me, and the feeling's mutual." I noticed that he said your instead of our. So okay, Gran and Gramps may have been harsh on him, but they are still his grandparents!

But Carter was really determined to avoid Gramps. He grabbed Diana's hand, and walked off. He probably didn't even notice Diana blushing as he pulled her through the streets. Annabeth gave me a confused look, before following them.

"Okay…" this was getting too uncomfortable. Before anybody could ask, I grabbed Nico's hand, and pulled her to Gran and Gramp's flat. Zia ran after us.

D
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Okay, I lied.

I didn't really have a dreamless sleep last night, but more like a vision that was so mentally scarring that I didn't want to talk about it.

I was on top of a hill, overlooking some sort of temple. Monsters were gathered around it, forming ranks like what people in those Roman movies would do. I made my way over to the door. Strangely, the monsters didn't seem to notice me, so it was fine by me. A large statue of a man holding a scythe was in front of the temple, like a guard. As I looked closer, I noticed some recognizable features: the chiseled face, like Artison's, and the solid facial features, like mine. There was an inscription at the base. I kneeled down, and noticed that it was not written in English, but more like some alien language or something. When I concentrated on the letters, they flew around like a couple of flies, and suddenly, I could understand them: Kronos, Lord of Time.

This was my dad? I looked up, and stared in awe at the figure. My father…

"Is it done yet, Khaemwaset?"

I peered around the statue, and saw four shadows moving along the wall. I crept towards them, keeping in mind that somehow, they couldn't see me. I ducked behind a large, wide pillar, and peaked at them.

The two people who led the attack at my school were standing around a large stone table, where the man that Sadie called uncle Vinnie was hunched back over, like was reading something. I peered closer, and saw that he was actually listing off something from a very old scroll. I wondered how someone so transparent could hold a pencil?

"Done." He announced. The man in the golden armor, William, no…what did Percy call him, Hyperion, or something? That's probably right. Hyperion, grinned evilly.

The other man, who I was assuming was Atlas, simple nodded in approval.

The uncle Vinnie spectre kept shifting uncomfortably in his position. "But my lords, the ingredients…"

"Is something wrong, Setne?" atlas asked innocently.

Setne cleared his throat. "Well, this is a little hiccup, but surely it won't affect the outcome…much."

"What?" Hyperion bellowed. "There is no room for error, Khaemwaset!"

"Of course my lord, but" – Setne glanced at what the list again – "one of the ingredients calls for the Sheut of the earth, since the scythe that you seek is hidden in it. And frankly, I have absolutely no idea how to get it." If ghosts could sweat, I swear Setne would be filling buckets by now under Hyperion's glare.

"Is that all?" Atlas asked. I was amazed at how this guy was so calm about this.

Setne turned to him. His whole form flickered, like he was shaking in fear. "No, my lord. There is one more ingredient that is nearly impossible to get hold off." He pointed a finger at the last item on the list.

Hyperion looked at it, then he was back to glowering at Setne. "The feather of truth?"

Setne nodded. "To make sure that the spell's accuracy is a hundred percent. But that is always guarded by Anubis, and he never lets it out of his sight. Well, except for that time with the Kane girl."

"Please tell us what are all the ingredients that you need." Atlas said.

Setne cleared his throat. "Uh, yes. Well, there's the sphinx's nose, anything with the same essence as the item you seek, the earth's shadow, a worthy sacrifice, and the feather of truth."

"The sphinx's nose we can get easily. The essence, our dear nephew will be more than happy to oblige. The earth's shadow" – Atlas looked at Hyperion – "I doubt mother Gaea will be very happy if we take her shadow, even if she is sleeping."

"If I may, my lord." Setne interrupted. "There is an Egyptian earth deity named Geb. His shadow could compensate for the Earth's shadow, but he is extremely hard to capture."

"Leave the impossible things to us. We have done more seemingly impossible things than capture someone who is supposedly hard to capture. Right, brother? " Hyperion said.

"Hmmm…earth…maybe we could do that, but it would take a lot of power…" Atlas mused, ignoring Hyperion. Finally, he looked up. "The last item. I have an idea."

"What?" Hyperion asked. Atlas turned to Setne.

"You did say that Anubis gave it once to the Kane girl, am I right?"

"Yes, my lord." Setne answered.

Atlas smirked. "Then maybe he'll be willing to give it again, in exchange for her."

"Should I send someone to capture her, my lord?" Setne asked.

Atlas waved him off. "No need. I already have two someones stationed there. Two monsters with a grudge on Perseus Jackson, and willing to kill anyone standing in their way."

"If we get all the ingredients, will you be able to do the spell?" asked Atlas.

"Setne bowed. "Of course, my lord. But there is still a "worthy sacrifice". I have no idea what that was, even though I'm the one who wrote it."

"It could mean a virgin." Hyperion suggested. "Remember Ancient Greece?"

Atlas nodded thoughtfully. "Ah yes. They used to sacrifice virgins to us. Good times, good times."

"Er, if I may, where will we get a virgin?" Setne asked.

Atlas snapped his fingers. Two Cyclopes marched in, carrying a red-haired girl between them. Her clothes were torn and tattered, and her skin was cut deeply in places. Her skin was ghostly pale, and I doubt that she could be a daughter of Hades.

"The Oracle?" Setne asked with glee. "Where on earth-"

"England, as weird as it seems." Atlas answered. "I thought that we needed to have our share of prophecies too. Now come, brother, we must plan."

Then, I was whisked away into another room. Ariston was lying in one corner, bleeding in places. He had definitely looked better when I last saw him. His head was hung low, and his skin was pale. He was still in his prom dress, but one of his shoes were missing. The white long-sleeved shirt was now covered in red splotches.

Blood.

I started hyperventilating at the sight. Seeing blood always does that to me. The doctor said that it was permanent trauma from what I saw when our mother died. A dracaena came into the room, carrying some sloppy food-like thing. He tosses it to my brother, who didn't even look up at her.

"Eat." She ordered, and left without another word. Ariston just pushed the food away, and for the first time, I noticed the stack of food lying there.

Before I could even check on him, or go close, something tugged at me from behind, and I was whisked away, again.

I never told them that dream. I figured that this quest would only be in vain, since the enemy had there Oracle at their base.

"So, here we are-what in Horus?" Carter said.

We looked at the house in front of us. A large white Colonial was burning to the ground, with no one even there to stop it. I could make out the words DARE in the front gate, but that was it, since half the gates were smashed in.

"Rachel!" Carter called. He charged straight for the mansion. Connor and I looked at each other, before following him to the mansion. Behind us, Travis was yelling logical things like "Stop!" and "We'll die in there!', but I was too preoccupied to care.

Carter pulled out the candy cane stick, and yelled, "Was!"

A jet of water surged out of the stick, and hit the door of the mansion. It put out the surrounding fires, but it wasn't enough. The flames kept creeping on us like bugs.

"This isn't working." Cater muttered. He turned towards us. "Guys, I need you to stay behind me."

I was about to ask why, when he suddenly grew twenty feet high. A shell of something like Jell-O surrounded him, glowing gold. He smashed the doors apart, and we followed him directly from behind.

I quickly searched every room, even though I already knew that we wouldn't find this Rachel anywhere. Then, as I passed a room, I noticed a human form lying on the ground. I skidded to a stop, and looked again.

A forty-year old man was trapped under a chunk of the roof. He was bleeding from a cut on his forehead. I rushed over.

I tried lifting it by myself, but it was too heavy. "Carter!" I called out. "There's someone here!"

He came into the room, his golden glowing shell still surrounding him. When he saw the man, he immediately checked to see if he was still breathing. When he saw that he was, he relaxed. "Okay, I'll lift this up, and you get him from underneath." he said. I nodded my head.

With a grunt, carter managed to life the concrete slab a couple of inches, just enough for me to drag the man out. Carter returned to normal, sweating.

"We need to get out of here." He said. "The place might collapse any second."

As soon as he said that, a marble column cracked. The room started shaking.

"Nico going, Sherlock. You just had to jinx us." I huffed.

He rolled his eyes. "Just help me get him out."

Funny how we're here, almost about to die, and we still tend to act like it's normal, right?

Of course, our luck just had to be that bad. Just as we reached the door, the front supports just had to collapse. Behind us, the entire building started to fall in on itself.

"Stand back." Carter ordered. He took out the candy cane stick again. "Ha-di!"

The concrete chunks blocking the door exploded. I threw the doors open, and ran outside. But when I looked behind me, Carter was nowhere to be found.

Okay, that's it.

I was thinking of new enemies for them, one that aren't found in the books.

Choose which ones:

- Mormo, a vampiric creature who bit bad children

- Lamia, a vampiric demon which preyed on children

- Amphisbaena, a snake with two heads, one at each end of the body

- Alops, a Sicilian giant, slain by Dionysus

- Anax, a Lydian giant

- Ethiopian Cetus, a sea monster sent by Poseidon to ravage Ethiopia, which was slain by Perseus

Next chapter: Percy trashes London, and Hyperion and Atlas start their plans.