Sorry for the loooong time in between updates, my life's been hectic! I put a poll on my profile about what I should do next. It would make me super excited if you went and checked it out... :) (so please do!)

I have decided to make this story into more of a one-shot, so it'll be ending soon. :( If you want me to get something new out ASAP, the best way to get me to do that is 1. Review this story (so I know people enjoy my stuff), and 2. Participate in the poll on my profile!

FYI, I respond to reviews via PM's. And I only respond if there's anything I have to say. I do read (and appreciate) every review though!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rick Riordan's stuff, yata yata yata. Whoopie. Woo hoo. Let's party. (note the sarcasm)

5.
Carter

"You might want to get up, it'll be dinner time soon. You might want to wash up." I heard Jason say along with the cabin door creaking open and then closed again.

I sat up blearily and put my head in my hands trying to clear my head; it was still foggy with sleepiness. I had slept on an extra cot that had been brought to the Zeus' cabin for me.

I had been too tired to care about looking around at where I was before I had fallen asleep earlier, but now I looked around a little more. Except for my cot, and the one that Jason slept on, the wasn't any real furniture in the room. Around the room there were alcoves carved into the wall; each filled with a bronze brazier or a golden eagle statue on a marble pedestal. In the middle of the room was a twenty-foot-tall, full color statue of Zeus, with a shield at his side and a lightening bolt raised, clothed in classic Greek robes.

Real creepy all right. I thought, wondering how I could have slept with that guy towering over me. Earlier I had walked in the door, shoved the cot into the nearest corner and plopped myself down on it. I noticed now though that Jason had shoved one of the braziers out of its alcove in the back or the room to make a little sleeping niche. Smart, I thought, it's one of the few places in the room that isn't being watched by Mr. Big Guy over there.

I looked around, but didn't see Jason. It must have been him leaving when I heard the door.

I reached up and felt the big bruise-slash-cut on my forehead that I had gotten from that night when Jason had found me. My head was throbbing and the headache didn't feel like it was going to be going away any time soon. I groaned and headed towards the bathroom, wishing for my head to stop throbbing like a giant that had just run a marathon.

I stood in front of a sink and looked at my sleepy reflection in the mirror. I turned on the cold water-spout and splashed some on my face. It felt good and it helped wake me up.

I dried off my face and went to go put my shoes on for dinner. I was famished; I must have been asleep for nearly 6 hours, I thought. I had gotten to the cabin a little before lunch, and must've slept through it and the rest of the afternoon.

Right then I heard a conch horn in the distance so I finished tying my shoes and headed out the door.

I met Jason on the way, so we walked together. As we walked he explain that like the cabins, campers sat at certain tables according to who their godly parent was. I would be sitting with Jason, seeing as I was already sleeping in his cabin as well.

"The whole story about how we found you that night is a secret between Chiron and those of us who went, so naturally, the whole camp knows already." Jason said.

The other cabins were already filing in when we got to the dining pavilion. As we sat down I couldn't help but notice that almost everyone was sneaking glances at me when they thought I wasn't looking. Either that or they were just flat-out staring.

Soon afterwards when everyone was there, Chiron banged his hoof against the floor to get everyone's attention. He raised his glass and said, "To the gods!"

"To the gods!" everyone repeated; each while raising their own glasses.

Wood nymphs came forward with platters filled with food. I saw more foods than I could count: fresh bread, all sorts of fruit, cheese, yogurt, vegetables, pizza, barbeque, burgers, practically anything!

I started filling up my plate and as I did so I noticed everyone else going over to a brazier the size of a bathtub and dumping part of their meal into it. "C'mon, follow me." Jason said getting up. "It's an offering to the gods." He said seeing the confused expression on my face. I followed him with my plate in hand. I felt ridiculous dumping my food into a fire, but I figured since everyone else was doing it, I probably didn't look too silly.

I was already half-way through my meal before I realized how thirsty I was. I glanced around, everyone else had drinks in their glasses, but mine was empty. Jason saw me looking at my empty glass and said, "Tell the cup what you want. Nothing alcoholic of course though!" He said with a small chuckle. "Lemonade," I said feeling extremely silly. (I was talking to a cup after all) The glass filled with the familiar yellow drink. "Hm," I said, deciding to have a little fun with this. "Green lemonade." It turned a violent shade of neon green. "Awesome!" I said before taking a sip. Mmmmm... It still tasted like lemonade, and really good lemonade at that.

The rest of dinner went fine until-"Aaaaghhh!" I heard shouts and crashes coming from the other side of the pavilion. I looked over and saw campers scattering away from some of the tables that somehow over turned. As I watched I saw a huge monster come roaring from behind the overturned tables.
There were two of them, and I felt like I'd seen them somewhere before.

The monsters' bodies looked like leopards bodies-lean and sinewy, with golden fur and dark brown spots-but when I looked up at its neck, I knew that these weren't leopards. Their necks were green and scaly and at least as long as the rest of its body. They had cats heads, but no normal cat would have a head like those. They had glowing red eyes, and when they looked towards me the monsters howled, showing forked tongues and fangs dripping with green venom.

"Serpopards," I muttered without thinking. "What'd you say?" Jason said while standing up, not taking his eyes off of the monsters. "They're called serpopards." I repeated, louder this time, also getting to my feet. I wasn't sure how I knew this though. "They're unlike any monster I've ever seen," Jason said. "They aren't Greek, that's for sure."

The serpopards locked eyes with me, and I knew they had come looking for me.

I looked around and saw that only a few campers had weapons. We had all come to diner expecting just that, diner, so hardly anyone had weapons. The oddly curved sword that Jason had found me with was back at the Zeus cabin on my bed.

I'm sure everyone's first question was, "How'd they get past the boundaries?" And then maybe, "What are those things and where did they come from?" But that didn't matter right now, the monsters were in, and we had to deal with them. I bet Chiron was thinking the same thing, because he yelled, "Those of you with weapons, distract the creatures. Everyone else, go get your own and come to help!"

The ten or so demigods with their weapons charged the serpopards, and the rest of us ran like the wind to the cabins and various other places to get our weapons.

I skidded into the cabin with Jason right behind me and grabbed my sword. I couldn't exactly remember how to use it, but I hoped I could at least do some good. I tore back out of the cabin and up the hill to the dining pavilion.

When I got there, both of the monsters, which were surrounded by half bloods, looked at me and time itself seemed to slow down. The shouts and yells faded to a distant roar, and everything around me looked like it had gone into suuuuuuper slow motion. "You won't succeed." the serpopards hissed in unison with a raspy, snake-like voice. "Chaos is too powerful boy," they hissed. "Give up your pathetic quest for Ra!"

"Shut up," I murmured.

"You'll never find her," they taunted. "She sleeps in the Place of Red Sand, but she will die there if you follow your pointless quest."

I had no idea what they were talking about, but I felt like a tarantula was crawling down my back. Zia... I thought, not knowing where the name had come from. I did know one thing though, I knew that I cared about this Zia person whom they were talking about.

"Stop it!" I shouted, and time unfroze. Everyone around me kept on moving like nothing had happened, but I was still frozen in my tracks.

As I was standing there, someone ran into me, hard. I fell and hit the back of my head on a marble column, making me black out.

*menacingly evil laugh* So, another cliff hanger! I'm so mean. Sorry again for the long wait, at least this chapter was the longest one yet! (1,766 words!)

Again, GO TO THE POLL ON MY PROFILE! Unless you don't want me to write anything else that is... :( (that would make me sad...) Don't forget to review, either. Please, please, please tell me if any grammar or spelling or anything is wrong!

I can't make any promises on when the next chapter will be out, but I will say that in it Carter gets his memory back! See ya'll next time!