Ok guys, I'm telling you now, this chapter is REALLY REALLY SHORT and im sorry ;( I was seriously hoping to make it longer, better, and basically not so bad. But I have bruised/cracked a rib and my writing schedule is out the window, which means I'll update whenever I can, hoping it's still on Wednesdays.

I'm super super super super sorry DDDD:

Apollo: how did you bruise/crack your rib?

Me: I drove Lukas's ATV off a cliff and he fell on me.

Apollo: now why did you do that?

Me: it wasn't on PURPOSE!

Apollo: sure it wasn't…

Me: shut up or I'll cut you from the chapter.

Apollo: ok ok… she doesn't own Percy Jackson

ENJOY!

CHAPTER EIGHT: TO STAY ALIVE BY THE TUNE OF C

I was woken up the next morning by Chrysanthe shaking me furiously. I bolted up, my eyes flying open. They were puffy and they stung, like I had been crying. I turned around and saw my pillow with a huge wet spot.

So, I had either been drooling in my sleep, or I had been crying all to Hades. Annabeth looked at me, extremely worried. I rubbed my eyes, and they were wet. I had been crying.

"What… what happened?" I asked softly.

"You were screaming and crying in your sleep. We were worried, so I woke you up," said Chrysanthe gently. I looked down. My towel was kicked down to the end of the bed. I frowned and got up.

"Anything we can get you?" Annabeth asked. I shook my head. I grabbed the towel and some clothes from my bag and went into the bathroom. A shower would be good; help calm my nerves. I let the water run over my head, just standing still for a while. It was like all my worries were being washed out with the shampoo.

After about another 10 minutes, I shut off the water, making sure no traces of shampoo were left in my hair. I wrapped my towel around my shoulders, and went back into the other room. From my backpack I grabbed some Bermuda shorts and a yellow t-shirt, then went back into the bathroom. I dried my hair with the towel, causing it to stick out in every possible direction.

As I got dressed, I wondered how Gods spent their days. Did they have to shower? Did their powers comb their hair for them? Did they go clothes shopping?

I sighed, forcing a brush through my hair. It really hurt, but I ignored the pain. I noticed I was pulling out clumps of tangled hair. Wow, fighting off monsters and having awful dreams can really be Hades for your hair. When I was finally done, I didn't care that the end were still a little drippy.

I flicked them back behind my shoulders, and folded up my towel. Usually, I wouldn't put a wet towel in my bag, but since we didn't have time to let it dry, I didn't have much choice. When I came out I saw Annabeth combing her hair, and Chrysanthe putting on some mascara. Huh, I never noticed she wore make-up. Well, she was a goddess…

I packed my stuff, and we met the guys in the hallway. Chrysanthos ran over to his twin immediately. In fact, if they didn't look so much alike and I was an absolute idiot, I might think they were dating. Then a random thought occurred to me.

"Hey Chrysanthe and Chrysanthos, can I ask you something?" I asked. They nodded.

"Uh, why are your eyes all… rainbow-ey?" I continued sheepishly. They chuckled.

"Well, our parents are Iris and Apollo," they said. I nodded slowly. Wow, Vadetta. Even you could have figured that one out! I shunned myself mentally. Then something occurred to me again: Apollo fell in love so much, with all these kids he had? Even with Iris, for the God's sake! Yeah, I might as well give up all hope now. I sighed heavily, and we went to go have some one the hotel's continental breakfast.

They had bagels, toast, waffles, all that stuff. I picked up a little box of Lucky Charms cereal and picked out the marshmallows. Yeah, yeah, I don't eat very healthy… so after I ate all the marshmallows I picked up an orange. As I struggled with the peel, I saw Chrysanthe eating little orange squares of yellow-looking stuff, and drinking something weird-looking from a foam cup. I knew what it was: Nectar and Ambrosia, food of the Gods. I saw her brother eating and drinking the same thing.

Annabeth was munching at a bagel. I bit into the peel, a little sour juice squirting in my mouth. After I had the orange completely peeled, I began to chew on it. My mind wandered away from the orange to Apollo. His soft blonde hair…. His bright blue eyes… his stunning white teeth… No, snap out of it, Vadetta! I commanded myself.

I sighed, eating my last piece of orange. I considered what we could do next. I thought about a line of the Prophecy. To stay alive by the tune of C… what could that mean? Well, the tune of C is usually a music thing… but to stay alive… will music keep us alive or something?

I considered this good and hard. I thought of all the songs I knew where the singers hit somewhere close to a High C. All the songs were sung by female singers, but none of them involved dying or living or anything of the sort… there was one song called Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees, but… Vadetta, open your eyes! That's it! I realized. In that song, the guys singing hit high C once or twice if not more. (A/N: AAAAH UNNATURALLY HIGH SINGERS! XD) So, now I just had to tell the others my findings. When I got up, I found the lobby empty of my friends.

They hadn't ditched me… had they? I went back to our room, and looked up and down the halls. They were nowhere to be found. I sighed, and went outside. I knew they wouldn't leave me behind. They were either somewhere around and I couldn't fine them, or a monster had them. But Chrysanthe and Chrysanthos were gods… a monster couldn't get them. I shook it off, and sat down on a bench right outside the door. It was probably around 10 o'clock, partially cloudy. Wow I sounded like Annabeth.

When I walked back into the hotel lobby, there they all were. That is so weird…. Where did they go? I walked up to them. They were all at the counter with their bags, checking out. Oh, they were up getting our bags. But… I looked up there. I shook it off, and joined them. They smiled, and Chrysanthe thanked the man at the counter.

"Uh, guys, I think I found out what the third line of the prophecy means," I whispered. They all turned to me immediately.

"To stay alive by the tune of C… it's the song Stayin' Alive. The prophecy has something to do with that song," I explained. Annabeth's eyes widened.

"Why didn't I see it before…? Vadetta, you're totally right!" she exclaimed. Then her face drooped. "Aw, I can't believe I didn't figure it out… some daughter of Athena I am…"

I shrugged, and they handed me my backpack. I did a quick check to make sure I had everything, and smiled when I did. (A/N: ok so get this… I either bruised or cracked 1 or more rib(s), so that makes writing difficult _… I'm really sorry but I will keep updating ASAP, but it might not be every Wednesday… luckily I have friends helping me out with ideas and such so ya…)

"So, if we hear that song, we have to see where it's coming from," Chrysanthos assumed. I nodded.

"That song is SO cheesy…" Percy muttered. I rolled my eyes.

"I think it's catchy. And it pretty much describes a half-blood's life," I pointed out. Annabeth nodded it agreement. Percy snorted. With that, we set out into Washington D.C.. I saw huge malls, chain stores, fast-food places, sky-scrapers, all the city stuff. Normally, I would have been super-duper excited because I had always wanted to go to D.C., but this was an important mission.

As we walked down the sidewalk, Annabeth was holding my hand so I wouldn't accidentally wander off, even though she was going insane over the amazing architecture. Percy had to hold her hand so she wouldn't wander off with me, and she was hardly even blushing, she was so absorbed. So it looked something like this; 19-looking twins who were actually 14 (well if you want to get technical about when they were actually BORN… they're a lot older than 14), a dude with black hair and green eyes dragging a girl with curly blonde hair and grey eyes full of wonder, dragging a little 8-year-old with light brown hair and mahogany eyes who was eyeing every huge building they passed. Yeah, it was pretty odd. I could definitely see some stares, but I was so fascinated with the huge structures. I wondered what it would be like to look down from the top of one. I quickly snapped back to Earth when I smacked into a pole. I have a tendency to do that a lot… whenever I'm spacing out or not paying attention, poles sneak up on me and smack me.

Or, as my old friend said, "high-fived my face". Anyway, so then I notice that Annabeth is still being dragged by Percy and she's so absorbed by the buildings she didn't notice I had hit a pole and was about to pass out.

"Wait!" I moaned. Chrysanthe turned around, and tugged on her brother's sleeve. Percy and turned around and dragged Annabeth to me. As soon as she snapped out of her trance she ran over to me worriedly. My nose has a trickle of blood coming out of it, and my forehead had a small welt. Other than that I was fine. I was about to smack Annabeth and tell her to watch where she was dragging me when a certain catchy tune caught my ear.

"Guys… we need to go down that alley," I said, pointing to an alleyway not a block from us. They stared at me.

"Why would we go down an alley?" Percy asked. I got an idea.

"Because I said so… and because I hear Stayin' Alive," I replied smugly, pulling a Percy. His eyes widened along with Chrysanthos'.

"Stayin' Alive? WE HAVE TO GO THERE!" they yelled in unison. I smirked.

"Then it's decided! Annabeth? TO THE ALLEY!" I called as Annabeth dragged me and Percy dragged her, with Chrysanthos leading the pack. Chrysanthe dragged behind. Whoa, de-ja-vu.… (A/N: idk how to spell it sorry L) Anyways, so I could hear the song getting louder, the chorus becoming recognizable. I started mentally tapping my foot to the beat. I scratched my neck, and felt Apollo's amulet there. I had just noticed that I was still wearing it. I clutched it, feeling the shape of the sun poking my palm.

I began humming to the tune, spacing out. I was about to smack into another one of those demon poles, but I slipped instead, on the now slippery floor. It was like the floor in a bowling alley down the lanes. I sat up, looking around. It was a roller disco. You know, those places where people roller blade around to cheesy disco music? Yeah, one of those. They were all wearing 70's clothes and doing Disco Fever. I wanted to crack up laughing so hard by gut burst.

But there was a huge crowd of most of the people in the place in the middle, all huddled around something, chanting. I was too short to see over the crowd, while my friends on the other hand, were in total shock.

"What? What is it?" I demanded, trying to jump up to see above the people. No one responded. I continued jumping frantically, still failing to see over everyone.

"What are you looking at?" I yelled, trying to push some people away. I was too small. I slipped and fall again, this time landing on my face. I crawled over to a table in the corner and sat down in a chair, forgetting the stupid crowd.

It can't be THAT important, can it? I thought. No, it couldn't be. But, as usual, it seemed I was wrong. It caught my attention when whoever was in the middle of the crowd stood up, a large afro wig on top of his head. I could see some blonde hair falling out from underneath, and he had dark aviator sunglasses. His slinky silk top matched his bellbottom pants and disco skates. He turned my way and smiled, his teeth brilliantly white.

"Well, look who we have! Come join the party, Vadetta!" he said, taking off his glasses to reveal bright blue eyes. Annabeth and Percy looked astounded, while Chrysanthe and Chrysanthos were cracking up over who was standing in front of me. I slowly stood up, cocking my head to the side, my brain processing faster than normal. It was…. Apollo? Oh my gods, he was not serious. What was a god doing in an old roller disco, disco-dancing to an old cheesy song in totally 70's clothes?

"Oh my gods… Apollo?" I almost whispered in shock. He put a finger to my lips.

"Fred," he corrected with a wink. My jaw dropped. Holy. Freaking. Hades. I wanted to scream and yell and wonder why he was here.

"No offense, but…. WHAT THE HADES ARE YOU DOING HERE?" I yelled. The eyes in the roller disco landed on my exasperated expression. He laughed.

"Well, a god needs some time off, you know? And this is my place! After all, music is kinda my thing, and disco is my favorite," he explained. It made sense, really. A god did need some down time, and apparently, this was how Apollo spent his. But I couldn't help but wonder what this had to do with the prophecy.

"Ok, so… the Prophecy said something about staying alive by the tune of C… what does that have to do with anything?" I asked, annoyed.

"Oh, well, I'm really only here to warn you. The next time you hear this song, you have to do anything to turn it off. Singing High C is a monster magnet," he explained, pulling his afro wig down.

"But… when Chrysanthe saved us, she sang High C and the monsters fled!" Percy recalled. Apollo sighed.

"They fled because she is a goddess, and no reason more. In fact, the only reason this place isn't burned to the ground is because I have a charm on it… but you cannot play anything with a High C sound at any time, or monsters will most likely find you."I gulped. The others echoed me.

"Well, good luck to you all! I hope none of you die!" Apollo said cheerily, looking at me for the last part. My ears turned pink, though they were luckily hidden behind my hair.

"Uh, thanks…" Percy said awkwardly. We all nodded.

"Bye Lo- Fred," I waved as I walked out the door.

Ok, so, it should be pretty obvious who it is… if you don't know I suggest reading carefully :P

Anyway please review and maybe my rib will heal faster ;) ok not really but it will help ease the pain!