Argh i was pulling out my hair writing this chapter mainly cuz:

1. i had nanowrimo, meaning i ahd to write at least 1666 words for that

2. i have a presentation and a test tomorrow and i felt guilty in not studying/practicing (but hey, writing these chapters is a way to like... loosen stress. but this time it didnt work.)

3. my little brother's friends won't shut up.

i seriously needa consider those bubble baths... :P not my thing but report cards are coming out next week and my teachers seem intent on causing nervous breakdowns to the entire grade.

here's the chapter!

Oh It's You

We set off in the early dawn after Cailey shook me up and said she thought she heard someone in the woods. "I don't care who it is," she said, scooping up the ashes from our sad attempts to get a fire going last night. "A monster will want to eat us and it's risky that a mortal will recognize your face."

I nodded and put on my coat, scarcely warm enough to move.

"There are police searching the woods too," she said. "I heard search dogs not long after I heard that person. It's not good. They're probably looking for whoever caused the bus crash. And with your record and the wanted status over your head, I bet they'll be eager to arrest you."

"Then I'll change my appearance," I said and picked up the dagger. Clarisse walked around with a horrible haircut twenty four seven and once I'd swore I wouldn't ever be desperate enough to want to cut my hair with a dagger. Well, here I was right now. I raised the dagger to shoulder length, and then higher, so I looked like a guy with a bowl cut.

"That's… a little short," Cailey suggested.

"Perfect. I'm a guy now," I replied and caught the falling strands in my bag. I couldn't leave evidence here for the police to discover I'd been in the region. After I finished, I examined my reflection through the skinny blade of the dagger. "I actually look like one," I mused. With my flat chest and neutral clothes, I could easily pass as one. I took out the baseball cap and pulled it down to my eyebrows.

"What's taking you guys so long?" Nico asked impatiently. "I'm hungry. And desperate for breakfast. Did I mention I'm hungry?"

"Then cook yourself breakfast," I said.

"I'm not eating those mushrooms. They look suspicious." I heard the crunch of his footsteps behind me. "What in Hades," he commented. "You won't curl your hair or give it polka-dots, but you'll cut it like a guy's."

"Let's go," I snapped. "You're not the only hungry one."

"Joy."

When we'd walked into the forest last night, we'd made sure to keep enough distance from the road, but we couldn't lose it either. We didn't have a GPS with us or anything. I could see the road from where I was standing, and I was surprised the police hadn't seen us in the first place.

Yet.

Because the tour bus had been following a scenic route, we arrived at a lookout place where many cars were parked so whoever driving them could snap a few photos.

"I have an idea," I suddenly announced.

"Should I be scared?"

"Do you guys know how to drive?" I looked between the two of them. They stared at me, shocked.

"Lena, I will not steal a car," Cailey said.

"But you'll blow up a bus and kill a bunch of mortals," I said flatly. "We need a way to West Point, and it sure won't be walking. Tons of people leave their keys in the car for a simple snap of the photo. It's the perfect opportunity."

"They do?" Nico asked.

"Maybe they don't. Whatever. I'll hotwire it. Do you know how to drive?" I re-asked impatiently.

"I'm not sixteen, Lena," Cailey said. "But it can't be hard. Step on pedal. Step on other pedal. Steer. I think I have the basics down." It was the first time in a long while I'd heard her use sarcasm.

"Perfect," I replied, just as sarcastically. "Let's go steal a car."

~0~

It took a pleasant punch to the victim's face and another punch to shut him up so we could get a car. Luckily, no police cars were around to hear of this incident. Feeling sorry for the man, I took out a fistful of cash and drachmas, and put it in his pocket.

"Come on," I said. We seated ourselves in the vehicle and Cailey stabbed the keys in. The engine roared to life and we hit the road.

I glanced at my reflection in the side mirror. Because of the way I'd dyed my hair, all the blue dye had ended up on the top and faded out by the bottom of my hair. Since I cut my hair, most of the hair was covered with blue streaks. I looked like a rebel.

Cailey pressed a few buttons on the GPS in the car and a robotic voice announced that the closest fast food restaurant was five minutes away.

"Five minutes?" Nico groaned. "Are you serious? Another minute without food and dead boy will become dead boy."

"Nico," I said. "Don't. What happened yesterday –"

"The trunk isn't properly closed," Cailey interrupted. "Can someone close it?" She tried to pull over to the side, but decided against it because pulling to the side meant stopped the car inches away from falling off the cliff. Instead, she swerved and parked by the forest on the opposite lane.

I gave Nico an evil look and opened the door. A gust of wind blew, and I hugged my arms around my body, totally chilled. Navigating through slush in the boots, my feet and fingertips were about to fall off. The temperature seemed to have dropped several degrees since when I was last outside.

I reached the back of the car and crouched down to see why the trunk was open. A piece of metal was jammed. It looked warped. I lifted the trunk a bit and the piece of metal slid out, landing at my feet.

Once I'd picked it up, I noticed it had the shape of something suspiciously like a dagger. I flipped it over in my fingers, looking for something.

"Lena! What's taking you so long?"

I ignored Nico and rubbed my finger over the inscription of one letter near the hilt. A letter D for…

"You idiot!" I exclaimed and reopened the trunk. With one hand, I held the trunk open. With the other, I reached for the bandaged wrist and pulled.

I didn't know how she managed to fall asleep in such a cramped position. But I didn't ponder much on that because I was wondering how the hell Diana managed to follow us all the way to this point without us noticing.

~0~

"Spill," I said. "What made you think you could survive a quest with us? What made you follow us in the first place? Why?" After I'd gotten over my initial shock that Ohmygods it's not Brenton and my curiosity in How could someone with ADHD stay still for that long? I'd hauled her out of the car and tapped on the back window. Cailey and Nico thought they were seeing an Iris message for a quite a while before they realized you couldn't yank someone's hair in an Iris message.

I was furious.

"I dunno," she murmured, picking at her bandages. "After I heard the first line of the prophecy, I just thought the prophecy meant me."

"Why?"

"I thought I could help," she squeaked out.

I stared at the twelve year old girl, snapping the rubber band against the inside of my wrist. "I'm contacting Chiron," I announced and grabbed the backpack where all the drachmas were.

"Don't!" she shouted.

I paused. "Tell me why."

"Because… he's going to furious at me! And, I don't deserve that."

I raised a brow. "Why? You snuck out of camp and you –"

"It was in the prophecy!" she yelled. "I'm supposed to be the one who's coming along! Take two others but four the sum."

"Okay, so what if Rachel predicted it?" I rolled my eyes. "You're going back."

She bit her nails and then shook her head. "I don't want to upset him," she muttered very quietly.

"Upset who?"

Diana was suddenly very interested in the car mat. Her cheeks were red from being in the warmth after being stuck in the cold trunk for quite a while. "Nothing."

"I hate it when people say that," I said. "When they say nothing, it's definitely something."

"Wise words."

"Shut up dead boy."

"Yes ma'am."

Nico and I waited expectantly. "Well?" I asked. "We're still waiting."

"Don't wait," Dionysus yawned.

Now you're probably going like Holy mother of Zeus or something, but no, I didn't get a mind spasm. Dionysus was actually there. He'd just appeared in all his grapey bulk in the middle backseat. Nico and Diana squirmed to the side in surprise. "Children," he commented with a roll of his eyes.

"What's happening?" Cailey asked, and looked into the mirror. "I'm trying to drive… Mr. D?" she was the one with the calmest reaction, no surprise.

"I didn't want to upset him," Diana answered simply and twisted her head so she could glare at the glass window.

"It's me, boy," Mr. D snapped. "Not some creature to ogle at the zoo." Nico flicked his olive green eyes somewhere else.

"Why are you here?" I stammered. First Diana and then Mr. D, I seriously was going to die of a heart attack if Grover appeared and chewed on Diana's broken dagger. "Did you send Diana to follow us?"

"She figures it out," Dionysus rolled his eyes again. "Yes I did, and don't ask me why because I'm not too sure myself. And don't think about contacting Chiron and telling him because I said so. Bring the girl along. Who knows, maybe she's the one who'll die."

Diana stiffened in her seat. I wanted to slap the god across his face so badly. But the fact that he could drive me insane stopped me. "That's awfully blunt," I said.

"Come on," he said. "Heroes do die on quests, you know. You're one of the lucky ones if you don't."

I'd actually never thought of it that way. Were we the lucky ones last summer? I bit my lip.

"Now go off and do your hero stuff," Dionysus said in his signature bored tone. "And Iris will tell me if you do tell Chiron. Look away."

I closed my eyes and a flash lit up the car. When I opened my eyes again, the middle seat was singed and smelling of grapey smoke, if that was a possible combination.

"Guess you're stuck with me." Diana was the first to speak. She was studying her fingers. She looked shaken, possibly from Dionysus's indifference at the death that was going to happen.

I seated myself comfortably in my chair. "Guess so." Why did Dionysus want her to come along? She was going to ruin everything with her inexperience. I didn't want to think about it.

It was cold. I turned up the heater and closed my eyes, extremely weary.

It wasn't even ten thirty.

~0~

When I saw the West Point Museum ahead of us, I allowed myself one sigh of relief. "Finally." I brought up Alec's face and hoped he was still around.

Cailey stopped by a Chinese buffet restaurant. "Let's eat first. I think Nico's dying on the backseat."

"I'll be sure to put in an application for Elysium for you," he replied. "Brunch is the evilest thing in the world."

We found a space to park and went in.

Since it wasn't really a rush hour for restaurants, only two tables were filled. A man was counting cash on one. The other held a girl with pale blond hair. She looked tired because her hands were rubbing her eyes.

"Which table?" I asked.

Cailey nearly bumped into me at the door. She squinted although she had perfect vision. "Wait, isn't that…"

"Who?" I looked back to the girl.

"That's Jess."

"Who?" Hazy memories swirled to the surface. When I met Alec and we had this whole fight-till-you-die thing, there'd been two other girls. One of them was Atalanta. The other was –

Jess. "The daughter of Eris, right?" I asked.

"That's what she told us," Cailey said.

Nico lost interest in Jess and focused on the buffet table. He was about to wander over when I caught him and dragged him over to Jess's table. Diana – looking completely clueless – and Cailey – looking completely unsure – followed us.

"Jess," I said, hovering over her.

She took out her dagger and glared. "Who are you?"

I sat down on the chair opposite to hers. "Last summer, I tried to kill Alec. Ring a bell?" Cailey stood back. "She was there." I pointed to her.

Her eyes narrowed. "What do you want?" she tried to sound tough, but her voice was shaking.

"Where's Alec?" I asked. "We're looking for him. Is he waiting outside or something?"

"No." She sniffled. "I can't tell you."

My patience was wearing off. "Why not?" I demanded. "We're not going to slit your throat or anything."

"I can't."

Ugh. One thing I hate about interrogating demigods, they could be one hell of a stubborn pig. "How come?"

"I just can't. I don't know where he is."

My heart dropped. "As in, he might be back in an hour but for now you don't know where he is, or as in –"

"He's been gone for months," she said flatly. I listened because she was taking on that sincere tone people used when they were telling you nothing but the truth. "So I have no idea where in Hades he went. I've been by myself here since August."

end comments: read and ... remember? recite? release? review!

that didnt make sense. :P nothing i write make sense when i'm tired.

WHO'S TIRED?