DISCLAIMER: Still not Rick Riordan.

I spend the rest of my time reading in hieroglyphics as much as I can. I astonish myself because I can read it all so easily. When Sadie opens the door and announces, "Skye! We're all back!" I don't even glance up from my notes and papers.

But I do hear her, and I can tell she's very exasperated. "Well, have you decided your Path?"

"Yes." I finally look up from my study notes. "I'm following the Path of Thoth."

"Well, you can stop your research and start getting ready for the dance, if you want."

I leap out of the chair and say, "Yup! I'm going!" I climb the stairs and head for my room. By accident, I bump into Nolan. "You coming to the dance?"

"I am," I reply, and squeeze past him into my room. I lock the door and stride over to the wardrobe. Nolan is not going to distract me, I tell myself. The wardrobe somehow knows I'm going for a dance, as all the clothes are either summer dresses or prom dresses. All of them are white, blue or green.

I spend at least 20 minutes just looking at the dresses, and finally, I decide which one to wear. Perhaps one hour later, I finish getting ready, and stare at myself in the mirror.

My eyes widen as I turn around in a full circle. I am wearing a spaghetti strap blue dress the colour of my eyes and as I twirl, it flares out almost all of the way, like a tutu. It's not extremely short, but it's not too long, either. I wear an even darker blue cardigan on top. I've put on a touch of sparkly eye shadow and a hint of lip gloss. My long brown hair is twisted in a loose bun at the nape of my neck.

I unlock my door and step out into the hallway, where quite a few initiates are already mingling in the hallways.

Sadie looks lovely in a dress of red that contradicts her blue highlights. Zia is stunning in a flowing dress of gold.

"Hey, Skye! You look marvelous!" Sadie waves me over. I say in reply, "You do, too! I love your dress!" The dress' bodice is covered with crystals that shimmer in the light when she moves.

"I hope Carter doesn't dress for a funeral again," she mutters dryly. I'm not sure if she's serious or not.

Zia nudges me. "Everyone's staring at you," she whispers. When I look around, I can tell she's not lying. They're all staring at me, probably because I'm the new initiate. I avoid their gazes and ignore whispers.

My breath is taken away when Nolan steps out. He's wearing navy blue jeans and a plain white collared t-shirt, but the sight of him my heart hurts. Stop it, I scold myself, but it doesn't work, as per usual. He looks quite amused at my expression. I turn away quickly. Skye Ellison, stop thinking about Nolan in that way, I try another attempt to scold myself. He doesn't care how smart you are. He doesn't think about you in that way. My heart begins to settle down a bit, but the initial excitement stays.

"Is everyone ready?" Sadie shouts over the buzzing excitement of the ever-growing crowd.

Zia pokes her. "Carter isn't."

"Oh, my brother is absolutely hopeless when it comes to dressing for a dance," Sadie waves off Zia's finger. "I don't think he'll be ready for another 10 minutes."

To Sadie's surprise, Carter comes out of his room and grumbles, "Yeah, yeah I've heard it all before. Go on, laugh at me."

But no one does. Carter is not going to a funeral at all. He's wearing jeans and a tuxedo jacket and shirt, but no tie.

"I still can't believe I'm coming again. This time Sadie, I'm outright refusing to dance with Lacy, okay?"

Sadie smiles sweetly and says, "Okay, brother dear. Off we go!"

The campus is as beautiful as it looked from the sleigh-boat. Green grass, trees and even a pond of ducks and swans.

The dance is taking place in a courtyard littered with broken and worn cobblestones. It is a dangerous place for a dance.

"Go on," Sadie says to everyone, and they all disperse into the crowd of students. I look around for Nolan, but he's nowhere to be spotted.

Zia smiles at Carter. "Come on! Let's dance!"

Carter gulps, "Nah, I don't think…" Zia laughs and drags Carter onto the centre of the courtyard.

The piece playing is a waltz, and some while people slow-dance, others attempt to waltz along to the music. It doesn't work that well.

Sadie, Walt and I watch the dance, and so we don't see a young girl walk up to Sadie and ask, "Hello, Sadie! Where's your brother?"

The girl startles us out of watching, and Sadie replied, "He's there, on the dance floor." She points to Carter and Zia, slow-dancing and laughing.

"Oh," The girl is quite a bit put-out. That's when I realize I've seen her before at Camp Half-Blood. I gasp, but it's too late to cover it up.

The girl-who I recognize as Lacy of the Aphrodite Cabin- turns toward me and narrows her eyes. "Skye Ellison? Is that you?"

"Um, maybe?" I say awkwardly.

"First, Skye, I love your entire outfit! It really works for you! It brings out your eyes even more! Second of all, where have you been? The last people to have seen you were Percy, Annabeth and Chiron. They aren't speaking anything of what happened after you got claimed."

"Um, that's actually confidential information," I bite my lip.

"Why?" Lacy demands.

"Because I don't feel ready to let anyone know, yet."

"And why are you with Sadie and Walt, anyways?"

"That's also confidential," I stammer. I am embarrassed. Lacy is quite capable of putting two and two together, but she doesn't say anything else.

"Very well, I'll respect your wishes," Lacy sighs. "Oh, there's one more thing. Drew's here, too."

"Drew!? Here? That's horrible!" I say, dismayed. Drew is the bane of every girl's existence. Former Aphrodite cabin counsellor and bested by Piper, Drew is like a
shark, waiting in the shadows for her next victim.

"Yeah, she is. Watch out for her, she's got her eye on Nolan, too. I can tell you like him a lot."

Typical child of Aphrodite. "Thank you, Lacy. That will be all."

"Bye then, Skye. See you back at camp soon?" Lacy wanders off in search of Sadie and Walt who are mysteriously missing. They must be dancing.

I wander through the masses of students, trying to find Nolan. Where could he be? I lean against an old tree, and sigh. If Drew wants something, she'll not take no for an answer.

I feel a disturbance in the air nearby, and turn to look. A hand grabs my arm and I scream, but I discover another is covering my mouth. I hear a "Shh!" and Nolan appears behind me, arm around my waist and hand clamped to my mouth. I struggle to get out of his grasp, but his grip is like iron.

I start sputtering as best as I can under his iron grip on my mouth. "Nolan, quit messing with me! I don't care if you're being tested on is later this week, but you can cut it out! I don't appreciate you doing it!"

"Please don't shout, Skye!" Nolan begs me. "Drew is looking for me, and I don't want her to know I'm here. That girl is a menace!"

"Fine. Now let me go now!"

Nolan loosens his grip immediately and apologizes, "I'm sorry I shocked you, Skye."

My heart melts. He appears so miserable. Is Drew really that desperate? I brush off his hand and say, "I understand, but please don't do it anymore."

Nolan brightens quite a bit and winks. "Thanks. Want to dance?"

I freeze and my heartbeat quickens again. I force myself not to panic and reply, "Sure, why not?"

He takes my arm like a gentleman and leads me to the dance floor. My heart flutters even faster when he smiles shyly and puts his arms around my waist. I rest my arms lightly on his shoulders and gaze into his darker than the night blue eyes. We start dancing to the music.

Of course, on the inside I am hyperventilating, and every part of me is forcing myself not to run away.

"Is Drew really that bad at school?" I ask quietly.

"Yes," Nolan sighed. "She keeps trying to get me to like her, but I've always turned her down. She's too much of a drama queen, and nowhere near smart or nice enough."

"I know her from Camp-Half Blood. She's a daughter of Aphrodite. She used to be the cabin counsellor, but was bested by Piper McLean for her spot."

"You know her?" Nolan's eyes widen. "She's horrible there, too?"

"Yes, a total tyrant-" I am cut off as I trip over one of the cobblestones. I fall forward, and Nolan catches me. I glance up at him, mortally embarrassed, but he
doesn't seem to want to let go. He lowers his eyelids and murmurs something I don't catch. Nolan moves his head towards mine, and suddenly all the lights go out in the courtyard.

There are many screams and gasps of horror and dismay. Nolan helps me stand up, and asks, "What's happening?"

I don't reply because I hear a voice that hisses, "Do you remember my promise 7 years ago, Skye Ellison? Because it's about to come true. Watch out for the shadow across Egypt."

"Did you hear that?" I whisper-choke out.

"Hear what?"

Only I had heard the rasping voice. What did it mean by a promise 7 years ago? I hardly remember!

The cloaked figure turned to an extremely ugly demon with 2 extra pairs of arms and legs and said, "Grab that girl, and bring her to me. She's mine!"

The demon began lumbering towards her. Skye screamed for Wendy, but Wendy was too preoccupied to hear. I'll have to kill the demon myself, she thought.

Skye quickly crawled over to her khopesh, and grasped it in two hands. She bravely turned to face off against the demon. "I am Skye Ellison, descendant of
Cleopatra, and you will not take me prisoner!"

A kaleidoscopic swirl of colours surrounded her and her khopesh as she charged the advancing demon. With one vicious slice, she chopped his head off. It rolled back the way it came, and came to rest to a stop at the cloaked figure's feet.

The cloaked figure merely laughed at the defeat of a minion. "Soon girl, the world will be in my hands, and you my puppet. I'll be back for you in 7 years, when the eclipse shadows all of Egypt." The figure swept its cloak around his body, and disappeared, along with the demons.

I've been having a lot of flashbacks lately. All were parts of my life a long time ago. But I didn't remember anything until I had a flashback about it. Why would that be?

"Skye? Are you okay?" Nolan looks at me, concern plain on his face, which is getting harder to make out.

"Yes, I'm fine." My senses snap awake and I say, "We have to leave, now. It's too dangerous here."

"Whatever you say, Skye," He wraps an arm around my shoulder and leads me to a piece of limestone, hardly visible in the dark.

"What on earth is this?"

"This is for the portal. Where do you want to go?"

I shrug off his arm and place my hand on the old stone. "Take me to Thoth, please."

"Um, Skye? That's not the safest way to do it…"

A vortex of sand swirls on the stone, and I feel the tug of magic. I ignore his protests and step through. Before I can, Nolan grabs my head and said, "Together."

I nod in agreement and we walk through the portal.