A/N: Oh. My. Gosh. I was reading over my stories earlier and was wandering why I didn't get to many reviews for the last chapter for Epic Fail, then I realized- I must have uploaded an old chapter's document, so the same chapter was posted twice. But no worries, I fixed it. I don't know how it happened, but if you haven't read it yet, go ahead and go back and read it. As for this chapter: Guess who's going to camp? ;) Oh and I got, like, 5 PMs asking for some romance-y stuff. I'm not really good at that, but I'll give it a shot.
P.S. If you get the title's name, I 3 U!

I don't own PJO.

Lilah's P.O.V.

The world was cold and ark. Screams of pain and hate filled the air. But I was in a little slice filled with life and love. It was like a small garden in the corner of a haunted house.

I was sitting on my butt in the shade of a giant shrub almost 17 feet tall, covered in pomegranates. Blood dripped down from the side of my head, but I didn't feel woozy or in pain. I felt fine.

"Hello?" I called into the spooky atmosphere. Nothing but screams in the distance. By now, I was pretty freaked out.

Suddenly, a fragrant scent of flowers filled the air around me. My fear dissolved almost instantaneously, and was replaced with a warm feeling.

"Geia sas." A voice floated down around me. Somehow, even though the words didn't sound English, I knew they meant "Hello."

"Where are you?" I called out, looking around.

"I am behind you, daughter."

I spun around to find a tall woman with my hair and skin tone standing above me. "Daughter?" I sputtered.

Her hair hung loose down her back and she had a metal bracelet-like thing around her upper right arm. Her plain, pale pink floor-length dress moved ever-so-slightly in the humid air.

She looked down at me, and something flitted across her face, but disappeared to quick for me to decipher it. "Yes. You are my daughter. I am your mother. Please keep up with me, child." She said.

I was filled with awe at her voice. My face split into a grin, then fell back down into a straight line when I realized this was the woman who abandoned me and my father.

"No, you're not. My mother would never willingly leave me or my dad. She would fight with everything she had to stay with us. She has long black hair and green eyes. She loves me and my dad very much, and wishes she could be married to my dad and live with us forever." I spat.

My gut told me this was my mother, but I refused to believe it. I realized everything I had just told her was from my imagination, what I always pictured my mom as, even when I was a little girl. When I was younger, I made up stories about my absent mother and pretended they were true. I dreamed that my mother tucked me in each night, tickled me to make me happy when I was sad, and held me when I cried.

How dare this woman pretend to be my mother? The last piece of the puzzle that was my life, which had been missing for years, since I was born?

I stared at her, water pooling in my eyes. "You are not my mother! I don't even know you!" I shouted at her.

I wasn't exactly sure why I was a mess of emotions suddenly.

"No, Lilah. I am your mother. You are my child. Your father's name is Benjamin Reed. His stable hand's name was Randy. You have a silver locket with a Tiger Lily on it, the only thing besides stories that you have that even proves my existence." She said sternly.

I refused to let this woman-possibly my mother- see me cry. I wiped my eyes and made myself get angry.

"I don't know you." I repeated.

"My name is Persephone. I am the Greek goddess of Springtime and all thing associated. My husband tried to kill you. He despises you with every fiber of his being." She said, her green eyes meeting my blue ones.

Now, out of all of that, I only got one thing. And it had nothing to do with her being a goddess. I only heard the words: My husband.

"Your husband?" I shrieked. "You left my dad and got married, not even bothering to check in on me or hi, leaving us to defend ourselves from the dangers of life? You forgot all about us? Just like that?" I snapped my fingers and stood up.

"Woah woah woah, calm down." My mother said, holding out her hands and stepping back. "I barely even began to talk to you and you freaked out almost instantly. Let's try this again. And to answer your question, I did not leave you and your dad for my husband. I left my husband for you and your dad."

After I calmed down and Persephone explained everything, I was sitting on a giant red mushroom and the tree branches bent down and made a seat for the lady who turned out to actually be my mom.

"Wow…so…you're a goddess?" I asked. Earlier, I had accused her of being crazy and delusional. She then showed off a bit of her powers to convince me she was the real deal.

"Yes. And, for the record, if I had to chose between your dad and Hades, I would go to your dad immediately. But, I can't disobey a direct order from Zeus." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "My dad….he's so full of himself."

I looked at the sky alongside Persephone. I assumed that Zeus would probably have heard that, but nothing happened. I guess he really couldn't invade his brother's territory.

She continued to look at the sky. "My powers…should be with you. You should have one of the greenest thumbs."

I snorted. "Ha. Good one."

"It concerns me."

She looked back at me. "You should go. I have broken even more rules by bringing you here. But I needed to tell you the truth. I am biologically your mother, and also a goddess. That makes you half-god, of a demigod." She said, looking at me.

I sighed and resisted the urge to roll my eyes. We'd gone over this, like, a million times. "Yes, and there is a 'special place' for 'kids like me'." I said, using ari quotes around the parts where my mom stressed about.

It was weird, calling a lady I meet earlier today my mom, especially after going years with out anyone even resembling one.

"Yes." She said sternly. "You have to go as soon as possible. In fact, you'll wake up in a few moments. Your friends are good to you. They're worried."

"Oh my God!" I said, standing up quickly. "I've been gone for hours!"

Persephone laughed. "Actually, no, you've been here for only a few minutes." She said. "Now, goodbye, daughter. I shall see you soon, in your dreams. However, I fear, we will not meet in person for quite some time."

"No! Wait!" I cried out, reaching towards her. But a bright, white light enveloped me and once again I found myself lost to the world.

I woke up (yet again) on a hard, wooden, dusty, dirty floor, with hay scattered loosely about. I blinked open my eyes and sucked in a breath. A pang in my lungs told me that my sucking in mass amounts of air was not okay right now. I winced. Every part of me ached. Around my head was a giant pool of scarlet blood, not really dry, but a little hard on the top.

An image of Ray-Ray flooded my vision. "Lilah? Lilah? Oh my god, oh my god, are you awake? Are you okay?" She trembled with worry and fright.

I opened my mouth to speak, to tell her that yes, I was perfectly fine, I just liked to have near-death experiences in my free time, but no words came out. My throat was dry and burning, as if someone had sucked every drop of air and moisture out of it.

I tried to lift my head, but a pounding filled it and I dropped back down. Unfortunately, when I ever-so-slightly lifted my head, the blood around it cracked and became more liquid than solid again, and so when I fell down, it flooded my nose.

I coughed hard, wanting the blood out, but it hurt so bad I had to stop and just breath through my mouth and endure.

I watched silently as Ray-Ray thanked God that I was alive and Adam paced behind her, worriedly wringing his hands and muttering about what would happen if he ever got his hands on the creep that was Randy.

"Guys," I managed to croak. They both looked at me, and Adam came over and knelt next to Ray-Ray. "Hurt." I croaked again.

"Yeah, I know, babe, I know." Ray-Ray said, running her hand through my sticky, dark hair.

I whimpered. Adam gave a small smile at me. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. We shouldn't have let you go alone with that creep." He murmur.

"No. Fine. Okay." I wheezed, trying to tell him he had nothing to be sorry about in as minimal words as possible.

"No. It most definitely is not okay." Adam said forcefully, standing up. He glared at the window above my crumpled form. "I'll kill him." He spat on the ground next to a rather large mass of hay. I glance curiously at it, memories coming back: Baby Cakes. Hades, the little baby. Randy, the freak.

Ray-Ray caught my expression. "It's alright. We tried to call for help, but there's no reception. We don't know where your dad is, either."

I made another small noise in the back of my throat. I hoped he wasn't hurt…or worse.

That was the problem with living in the middle of freaking nowhere: you were far away from help and usually the reception sucked.

I felt like crap. If I could've pulled myself into a tight fetal position, I would have. I was in pain, had probably lost way too much blood, my dad was M.I.A., my childhood 'friend' tried to kill me, I hadn't gotten a chance to really talk to my mother, and the worst part: My mom was still gone, still the last, lost piece of the puzzle, still unknown. I'd only dreamed her.

I made yet another pathetic sound in the back of my throat and watched my friends scrabble around, frantically searching for help.

It seemed like days later (even though it was about an hour) when Ray-Ray finally managed to get help. When Adam convinced her that he would take care of me, she went on the long trek back to the house to call someone.

But that's not the interesting part. The interesting part is what happened when she was gone.

I was still in the same position I was in when I woke up and Adam was absent-mindedly patting Baby Cakes while sitting next to her.

I was super tied and all I really wanted was just to go to bed, just close my eyes and drift to sleep. But Adam and I both knew that if I did that, there was a high chance I wouldn't wake up.

So, Adam was trying to keep me awake. He'd tried knock-knock jokes, gossip, questions with long answers, and threats. He was running out of options.

"Well…think of what might happen next week! Aren't you excited that your dad's taking the three of us to a water park?" He asked. He looked over at the door and muttered about how he wished Ray-Ray would hurry up.

"Yeah…" I murmured. My eyes drooped. He saw and got panicky. He looked around frantically and thought. His eyes settled on my face. He crawled over to me so that his face was even with mine.

"You can't go to sleep." He said softly.

Then, out of the blue, he leaned in…and kissed me.

If that didn't shock me awake, I don't know what did. Suddenly, the pain ebbed away and all I knew was Adam, his lips, him in front of me. So I did what came naturally: I kissed him back.

I'm not sure how long we sat there, just sat there, kissing, before Ray-Ray came back. Adam broke away and vaulted across the room as the door swung open and Ray-Ray stood there, her face full of surprise.

She looked back in forth between me and Adam.

"Adam. Out. Now." She demanded. He hurriedly got up and shot past her, out the door. "Don't go far!" She called, then closed the door.

She rushed over and sat down in front of me. "Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

"Yes." I croaked back.

"Then why was he over here?" She asked.

So she didn't see what happened.

"Don't know." I rasped. I'd tell her eventually.

"Well, then, I'll go get him. I sent him out in case this was a girl problem." She stood up and dusted off her legs. She spun around and exited the little stall-room.

I was completely and utterly frazzled, for lack of better word. What seemed like a million events had overcome me in just a few hours.

I blinked and tried to lift my head off the ground. This time, my head pounded, but didn't feel like it would explode. I managed to get myself propped up in an awkward, half-sitting, half-laying down before Ray-Ray came back with Adam and another tall, pretty girl, who looked about our age.

"Lilah, this is Diana." Ray-Ray introduced her. I tried to catch Adam's eyes, but he wouldn't look at me.

"Hello, Lilah. Pleased to meet you much." The new girl, Diana, said. She had a New Yorker accent and long, black, straight hair, accompanied by light green eyes.

I stared blankly at her.

"Why?" I said, trying t sum my question up into one word. I directed my question to Ray-Ray, wondering why she'd brought Diana here.

Ray-Ray got it. "Well, when I got to your house, I ran to the phone. Only, there was a sheet of paper with all these flowers on it. It had this phone number written really big on it and it was circled a few times, and it looked important. So, I called it. Some guy answered, and I explained everything. I thought he'd think I was crazy or ask who I was, but he didn't. He just said someone would be right over to help. Then a few minuets later, Diana showed up and said she was here to help." Ray-Ray explained in a rush.

"Yes, I'm here to help. I should be able to fix you up." Diana said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a plastic baggie filled with what looked like a golden chocolate bar in a few pieces. She walked up and knelt down in front of me. She reached a hand into the bag and broke a small piece off.

"Here." She said. "Eat this." She shoved it in between my lips and held her hand over my mouth, forcing me to eat. It tasted like the homemade honey buns Mrs. Kiskos gave out every year on the last day of the market. It was delicious. But that wasn't it. Slowly, warmth spread through my body, sealing cuts and dissolving bruises right before my eyes.

"Woah." Adam breathed, watching as I slowly healed. Ray-Ray gasped, but all I could do was stare.

"It'll only heal the small things. The big things, only me, my dad, and time can help." Diana explained nonchalantly.

"What was that?" Ray-Ray questioned.

"Ambrosia. Food of the Gods…how did you see that?" She asked Ray-Ray.

"I used my looking-holes." Ra-Ray said. "Duh."

"Looking-holes?" Diana asked. "I don't want to know." She decided.

"Food of the Gods? What are you talking about?" Adam asked. He turned to Ray-Ray. "She must be crazy. Great, a crazy person just feed a mystery food to Lilah. We don't even know anything about her, except her name. How could you be so stupid? Lilah's dying, you get a chance to call someone, and instead of calling 911 like a normal person, you called a random number because you saw it on a sticky note!" Adam was really worked up. He practically exploded on the spot. "Great! Just great!" He said. He threw his hands in the air. "Hell, I didn't even see anything! What's so amazing? I still see the same, broken, dying girl lying in a drying pool of her own blood in front of me. What's changed?" He asked.

Nobody moved.

"Fine. Ya know what? I'll go call 911 myself, right now." He said. He kicked a small wooden bucket by the door, then stalked out.

Diana, Ray-Ray, and I stared after him. Diana turned towards me.

"Here, drink this." She said, taking a plastic bottle full of a yellowish liquid. She unscrewed the cap, tilted it to my lips, and poured a bit in.

It tasted like ice cold iced tea. I managed a weak smile as I felt myself heal more.

"Now, no more of that. You'll little burn up if you ingest too much. It's made for gods, not really demigods." Diana instructed. "You're still going to be in much pain, but that should help. You're lucky, you know. If I'd gotten here a minute later, it would be to late to do anything but watch you die."

A lump formed in my throat. Gods. Demigods. Die. The words echoed in my head. They sounded like what my dream-mother had said.

"Real?" I croaked, my throat still burning, and hoping Diana would understand my question.

"Real."

Diana had explained everything, or at least as much as she could, to both me and Ray-Ray.

"You must be one. A demigod, I mean. So I guess I'll have to take you with us." Diana said to Ray-Ray.

"No, I have both of my parents." Ray-Ray countered.

"What do you mean, take you with us? Where are we going?" I asked a second later.

Diana sighed and rubbed her temples. "Well, then, Ray, you must just be a mortal who sees through the Mist- a magical veil that protects the mortal world from ours. And, yes, Lilah, you are coming back with me to the only safe place for kids like us- Camp Half-Blood. You'll love it there. I promise. Plus, depending on who your mom is, you might be able to come back and visit until next Summer." Diana explained. She had taken to calling Ray-Ray just Ray.

I held my tongue. I hadn't told either of them about my dream involving my mom. For some reason, every time I almost did, alarm bells went off in my head, just like they do when I have Word Vomit. So I didn't say anything.

Plus, going away to a summer camp didn't sound to bad. I could use a break. Plus, I had a feeling that my dad knew my mom was a goddess, so he might know where I was- I could write a letter to him or something. That is, if he's alive.

I exchanged a look with Ray-Ray. "I can cover for you, if you want." She said softly. "Just keep in touch with me. You're my best friend, so you're stuck with me forever, no matter how messed up your family is." She said with a small smile.

I found myself smiling back.

"Please, we need to hurry. We have to get going before the monster comes back." Diana said hurriedly.

"My dad…" I said, trailing off.

"You'll get in touch with him later. I swear on the River Styx." Diana said. Thunder rumbled overhead.

Somehow, when she said that, I truly believed her.

"I'm ready." I said softly.

"Okay, we need to hurry. Adam obviously can't see through the Mist, so he isn't allowed to know an inkling of this- understand?" Diana said with a sharp look at Ray-Ray. "And he's going to try and call the police- who can't know anything either. This is a secret we take to the grave- unless absolutely necessary. I managed to cut the phone cords, earlier." She said with a grin. "With the help of Milliken, of course. He's another demigod, a friend of mine, a son of Hermes. He's good at that stuff. So he can't use the landline, but if he manages to find reception in this Gods-forsaken place, then…" She trailed off.

"Okay." Ray-Ray said. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "Now, I love ya, but if you die, you are sooo not my go-to gal anymore. So no dying allowed, 'cause if you die, you're fired." She said with her old, Ray-Ray charm.

I laughed weakly, still in immense pain as Diana scooped me off the ground and gathered me in her arms. She was pretty strong for a 12-to-14 year-old.

"Let's move." She said, serious. "Milliken is on the side dirt road, a few yards right." She said.

Ray-Ray opened the door and Diana rushed out, carrying me. She began to sprint as fast as she could with me in her arms to the road.

My head was in a position where I could see Ray-Ray, standing in the door to the barn, staring after me. She lifted her hand in a small, pitiful wave.

It felt like the first year we meet, all over again.

I had to keep reminding myself, This is not goodbye.

But that's not easy to do when you're on Death's door, in some girl you just met's arms, leaving everything you've ever know, to an uncertain fate.

A/N: Done! This chapter was fun to write! Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to FallingStar17, who is the face behind Diana, the new character, who will make many more appearances, and have a fairly-important role. Thanks for being the 17th reviewer!

Anyway, if you think Persephone is a bit OOC, it's because I imagined her as, you know, a young-like god, like Apollo. Whom she hangs out with. So there's your explanation.

Anyway, please tell me what you think! Reviews make me write faster (and better!)

MY PLAYLIST FOR THIS CHAPTER:

And this time, they all have to do with the chapter, even if it is just the title.

1. I'm Still Breathing- Katy Perry

2. Who's That Chick- David Guetta feat. Rhianna (Though it should be vice-versa.)

3. Stronger- Kanye West (Hate what he did to Taylor, but this song is still good.)

4. Monster- Lady GaGa

5. Dirty Little Secret- All American Rejects ( 3 Love, love, love! =))

Anyway, review, because otherwise, without you, this story is an EPIC FAIL! XD Haha, bad joke…terrible pun….you…yeah…heh….never mind.

Peace!

Read on and Rock out,

NinjaNakkiOfCabin11