AHH i'm having so much trouble trying to get words out... i just got my report card and must say i'm very happy with my marks. most of them. but my mind is still dying on me which isn't very good becuase i've got a busy week ahead of me...

anyway, i'm going to shamelessly advertise here: i just uploaded a new story yesterday called reunion and i'd really appreciate if u check it out. :) (spoilers from the last hero tho...)

Hi Mommy, I'm in Jail

"Lena?" Cailey asked. That was who I found in the room. No one was interrogating her, but there was a man reading a newspaper, supposedly watching her in case she decided to escape.

"Cailey?" I echoed her same tone.

The police officer lunged at me. I instinctively pushed him away. One foot in the air, he fell back down on the floor and landed with a sickening crack.

I swallowed. He didn't move. The two of us froze, not sure what to do. "Let's go," I said after only ten seconds – though it'd felt much longer. The man didn't wake up. "He'll wake up soon." I practically pushed her out of the door, sickened to the gut. What if he never woke up?

It wasn't a hard shove.

I hadn't expected him to land so hard. He was so much heavier than me.

"Run," I instructed and we broke into a sprint down the hall. I screamed when we nearly crashed into someone around the corner. Nico clamped his hand over my mouth.

"Shut up!" he ordered. "Unless you want to notify the police department where we are." I took a few steadying breaths to calm myself. Adrenaline ran high. "I've got Jess waiting outside."

"Where's the exit?" I asked.

He pointed over his shoulder. "Right down there. Be quick, it's a back entrance… I need to find Diana."

"Cailey," I called. "You're meeting up with Jess. We're going to find Diana."

"We?"

"Of course!" I said. "Now shut up." I pulled his ear around the corner. "Which rooms haven't you checked?"

He held up one shaking arm. "Down the hall, first hallway to the left. Those are the only rooms."

Just as he finished the last word, someone enveloped me in a bear hug. I twisted around and saw another police officer reaching for Nico. "Run!" I shouted for like the millionth time. Nico didn't need my instructions to get the hell away from me. "Find Diana! I'll catch up with you later."

The man missed Nico and swore. He turned back and looked at me, shaking his head sadly. "You won't be doing any catching up any time soon."

Life sucked.

~0~

Though they'd put much energy in chasing me, they didn't seem to want to do anything with me after they put me in another room with no windows and no creepy guy watching over me.

The door was locked from the outside.

I wished I'd learnt how to pick a lock from Connor and Travis Stoll. I wished I had a hairpin with me. Then I could at least try instead of sitting around and doing nothing.

Nothing. At. All.

No one tied me down to the chair so I began pacing the room. ADHD gets to you after a while. I thought about contacting the rest of them but I had no drachmas on me. Smart.

For a while, I entertained myself by playing around with the light switch. On. Off. On. Off. Oh. My god I'm going insane. So I kept the light on and wondered if they knew I had ADHD and had done this on purpose.

Nah, any normal person would be bored after hours locked up in a room of nothing. But a chair and a lightbulb.

I stood on the chair and examined the lightbulb just because I felt like it. I made shadow puppets on the ground. I took my elastic band and tied my hair up. Then let it down. I dug my hands into my pocket and found the address Diana had given me.

It was only after I crumpled the piece of paper up and then slingshot it around with the elastic that the same guy from before entered the room. He ducked to avoid the piece of paper as it hit the door behind him. I got up from the chair and picked it up.

"You took forever," I scowled.

"Sorry, we were busy tightening security around your friend," the man said. "Diana, is it?" In other words, Nico hadn't managed to find Diana. I crossed my arms and sat down.

"So you're here to ask me questions. Ask," I said, slumping in the chair. "I won't answer."

He put a hand up. "We've got all the evidence we need. Your parents are here to pick you up."

That caught me off guard. "What?" I demanded. "Where?"

"Right outside," The man answered.

The door opened. A woman entered, fixing me with her glare specially reserved for when I did something especially bad, oh say, like threaten someone with a weapon, or steal a car. "Hi mom," I said weakly.

She started her speech. "Lena Evans what the hell are you up to these days? I go to sleep on night and find your face on TV the next! You don't call, or leave a message, but just skip out on us right after school!" She jabbed a finger to my face. I flinched. My mom was so much scarier than the Hydra I saw last summer.

"I can explain," I tried. "Um… At home?"

"Yes you are going to explain, explain every single thing that happened since your disappearance." She grabbed my wrist. "We're going home."

"But what about the charges against me…?"

"The one on December 21st have been dropped," the man said. "Mysteriously enough, the security man you threatened forgot all about the incident, claiming he made up the story." He raised an eyebrow. "The evidence suggests otherwise but…" He sighed. Oh, I just so wanted you to be locked up, that sigh seemed to suggest. I stuck out my tongue at him when he wasn't looking.

"Elena, we're going home now."

"Okay Mommy," I said meekly and followed her outside.

She dragged me to the parking lot and punched the buttons to unlock the car doors. I got in. "Wait," I said. "There's another person in there –"

"Look behind you," she said.

I twisted my head around and there Diana was in the back seat, humming a tune under her breath. "Your mom convinced them I'm not a threat to the public," she said to me.

"Thank gods," I said. The car started up. My mom tossed me my backpack. I opened it up and dug around for a drachma. I needed to tell Nico, Cailey, and Jess that I was fine.

But it was eight in the evening. There was no sunlight. I couldn't use the lights inside the car and the rivers on either side of Manhattan were too far away. I dropped the drachma back and searched the sidewalks, hoping they were there.

"I wonder if they're alright," Diana said quietly.

My mother looked at her in the mirror, her mouth pressed in a straight line. For the first time, I realized that when she talked to me today, she was actually mad and showing emotions. Did she finally end her phase? I snuck a look at her. She glared back. Not a robot anymore.

Sure, my mom was pissed at me, but at least she wasn't depressed and a living zombie.

My heart jumped happily. Then I remember our dire situation and my spirits sank again. "Mom," I said.

Her finger tightened. "What, Elena, what?" Her voice sounded tired so I decided not to mention the address in my pocket.

"Thanks," I said.

She didn't answer. We passed through the tunnel. Once we were on the other side, she sighed. "You are such a handful. You're staying at home until I figure out what to do with you."

"But mom," I protested. "I'm on a quest!"

She slammed on the brakes. "What?" The cars behind her honked. She honked back and kept driving. I sank down into my seat. Stupid, stupid impulsive me.

"We're on a quest," Diana spoke up from the back. "Do you know what a quest is?"

"Again?" Mom yelled at me, ignoring Diana completely. "Jesus, one day you're going to get killed!" She noticed the tears on my face. "Okay, that was a little harsh. Listen, you won't die, but I need you to be safe, and running around New York instead of staying in Camp Half-Blood isn't safe."

I recounted the prophecy's last line and turned myself away from her. She put her hand on my shoulder and didn't take it off even when I tried to shrug it off.

"Let's start from the beginning," she said. "What happened? Trey said you just took off."

"Oh," I said. "Percy… he showed up and told me to come to camp immediately." From there, I explained every single stupid deed I did and everything that happened. Her frown got deeper and deeper until I thought it would drop off her face.

"Those gods," she said.

"Mom… I know how you feel, but I advise you not to say it out loud in case they fry you," I squeaked out and checked if all of us were alive.

She sighed. "In the morning, I'll drive you to this address. I'll drive you wherever you need to be. I don't care if it's against some rule, but I'm not letting you get yourself killed." The only thing I hadn't mentioned was the last line of the prophecy.

"Mom… I don't think that's allowed." Since when did demigods' moms chauffeur them around?

"That would be very nice of you, Mrs. Evans," Diana chirped happily.

Mom smiled for the first time at the girl, glancing in the mirror in front of her. Then she stopped. "It's not going to be Mrs. for long," she said.

"Wait, what?" I snapped the elastic band nervously against my wrist. "You and dad aren't…"

"He was never your dad," she reminded me. "We're getting divorced. This marriage counselling isn't working out. It's going to be split custody. You, Justin, and Jordan will spend a week at his house and then a week at mine…" her voice trailed off. "But of course, if you don't want to live with me…" She blinked away the tears. I could see them shining in the streetlights. She pulled up to our house but didn't get out immediately. "You and Diana go on in," she said quietly. "I'll be with you in a second."

We got out. I turned to close the door and saw her cry in her arms.

~0~

"Your mom is nice," Diana said to the ceiling. Since I'd refused to let her sleep on the floor, she got my bed while I got a lumpy inflatable mattress. I shifted several times, landing on my side. The mattress sucked.

"Your mom must suck then," I joked. And then realized what I'd said. Diana had been living in foster homes. Of course her mom sucked. I took it back quickly. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."

"Easy mistake to make," Diana yawned sleepily. "So, I guess we wake up in the morning… Find Nico and Cailey and Jess… find Jake."

"Yeah. And then we can go back home." Was Camp Half-Blood home? Technically, I was already home. I opened my mouth to ask Diana about this, but just then, I heard her snores.

I figured I'd fall asleep any time soon. But I didn't. The watch ticked seconds by continuously. My mind was on overdrive. How could I sleep?

In my pajamas, I pushed the blanket away and went downstairs to make a cup of hot chocolate.

It was in the kitchen that I heard the knock on the door. I stopped dumping chocolate powder into the hot water and paused. The doorbell rang. Several times, and urgently. I ran to the door and peered through the peephole.

Then I opened the door and pulled Trey inside. "What are you doing here?" I hissed. "It's cold, and oh my god, you're wearing your pajamas too."

He grabbed a coat from the closet and put it on. "Better?" he asked. I rolled my eyes and went into the kitchen to fetch my cup of hot chocolate.

"Want some?" I offered the cup to him.

He shook his head. "Okay, I'd love to explain everything to you in this warm and comfy house, but my house is being torn apart by monsters."

I spilled the hot chocolate on my pants. "Crap!" I yelled as the hot liquid burned my skin. I ran upstairs to change quickly. If I was still here tomorrow, I'd need to explain to my mom on why my pajamas suggested I'd wet my pants.

Diana was sitting up in bed. "Who was it?"

"A friend on mine," I muttered and pulled on my pair of wool socks. How did Trey know? How could he see through mist? "I'll be out for a while, so if my mom asks where I am, lie."

"I'm coming."

"Idiot." I grabbed the warmest sweater I could find, and then the warmest coat I could find. Then with the back pack strap over my shoulder, I ran out the door, closing it firmly behind me.

He was waiting, half shivering and making a huge puddle of melted snow on our kitchen floor.

We left the house. "Okay," I said. "Now we're going to your house. You've got a few minutes to explain how you can see monsters and why one's attacking your house."

just a random comment here. my pile of candy is gettng smaller by the second. D: my halloween haul this year suddenly doesnt seem so big...