"Who?"

"Jason! Tell me where he is NOW!"

I hesitated, then frowned, thinking as hard as I could.

"Hey! Hey! Easy there, Reyna!" A guy ran up to us. Reyna let go of my shirt collar. It probably would have been smart for me to take a step back by then, but something about me was just telling me to stand my ground and not look like a wimp.

"Jason's probably just not here." The guy was tall and very thin and bony. He had all black on and a couple streaks of blue in his hair. His eyes were the deepest brown you could imagine and seemed to sparkle like they were trying hard not to tell how a magician does his tricks.

Hecate, duh. Something in my head said.

Am I schizophrenic? I thought to myself, then thought better of it.

"What?" the guy asked. He looked at me.

"Did I say something?" I asked.

"No, I-"

"Jordan's able to read thoughts every now and then." She looked at me, piercingly. "Especially when he's in the presence of...well, power."

"You said 'Hecate'," Jordan continued.

"Yeah. I thought it, at least..."

Now things were getting awkward.

Gods, what a crazy day.

Jordan snickered. I gave him a look. He shut up.

"I could have sworn, though! She clearly stated To the north you shall go, where the stronger winds blow, and there you'll find your first clue! Does Proserpina lie any? Oh, probably. Anyway, what clue am I supposed to find here other than wind?" Reyna was obviously bugged by something, but everything was still settling in my mind. The winds around me may have stopped by then, but, I'll tell you, I still had a typhoon in my head.

"Reyna, calm down. We still have three half-bloods to take care of. We can discuss this with the rest of the head councilors and Lupa later, okay?" Jordan was trying desperately to be the voice of reason in chaos.

She sighed, "Fine."

"Jeffrey?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Be right there."

Mr. Jeffrey pulled a cell phone out of his pocket, dialed a number, then dropped it and ran up to us.

"What was all that?" Sally asked.

"Theatrics," he explained, "it'll do everyone a favor. The press'll have something to say, the kids'll get home all right, and we'll be off without further delay!"

We stared at him for a second.

"Well done, my man." Theo gave Mr. Jeffrey a high-five.

"There's no time to delay! We gotta go!" Jordan explained. We all hurried after him.

"What's going on, then?" I asked Reyna.

"You guys just need to come with us."

"Why should we?"

She looked right into my eyes and said, "If you don't want to die, I suggest you follow us."

I arched my eyebrows and nodded in agreement.

"Dude," Theo called from ahead of me. "What was all that-"

"Just...keep running!"

We made it to a big flying-machine looking thing; everyone, save for Sally, was wiped out. We climbed in and immediately gears started whirring. We lifted off the ground helicopter-style, and soared at top speed through the air.

"I feel like a complete idiot, but this is cool!" I yelled over the engine.

"Why?" Jordan called back to me.

"Because I just got in a weird flying device with two people I don't know, I don't understand anything that's going on, and I can't remember anything still!"

Jordan laughed, fully understanding what I was saying, but not willing to admit how serious it was.

"Just hang tight! We're coming to a stop soon!"

"All ready?" Sally asked.

"Yep," Jordan said, "this thing was designed by the head of Vulcan cabin! We'll be there within a minute!"

I looked over at Theo, who immediately gave me a Spock hand and laughed. "Live ling and prosper!" I yelled back at him. Reyna raised a confused eyebrow in my direction. I kept up my smile and tried to have as good of a time as I could.

Something told me that I should enjoy myself while I still could.

[Reyna's POV]

This black-haired kid was confusing me a bit. It wasn't so much the fact that he had just quoted Star Trek as loudly as possible, but it was more the fact that...well, something just told me he didn't belong here.

I first noticed this when I heard his voice through the woods.

"Get everyone behind the bus!"

That voice...reminded me of Jason too much. He was throwing himself into the midst of everything, whether it killed him or not, and relied mainly on instinct, seeing how he didn't remember squat. His voice pierced through me, though, with the same feeling you get after hearing a monster roar and scream bloody murder right before finding you. Percy was obviously NOT a monster, but I still had my guard up.

It seemed like we shouldn't meet at all.

It felt like there was something big and thick trying to separate all of us from him.

What was it, though?

I looked back at him again. He was laughing and smiling like a little kid. He couldn't have been younger than 15, though. His eyes were a brilliant shade of green with a hint of blue. When he laughed...it sounded like he had just been waiting for a moment to laugh like this for a while: like he was carrying a heavy weight on his back.

I knew this laugh. It was just like Jason's during and after the battle at Mount Tam. Jason had been trying hard to make me cheer up and think about what kind of rest we all could have after the Titan Krios was gone. He smiled and laughed like winds whistling through chimes and then...

What happened then?

Things went back to normal. Jason and I held hands and walked around camp together. We sat together any chance we could, we did swordplay with each other, and always got in the same canoe for racing.

Then, one night, he just disappeared.

That had been about three nights ago.

Aye, and three's a charm! I thought.

No, there was something strange going on. I wasn't sure what it was, but it was...unusual. I needed to keep one eye open and trained on this Percy kid.

We went in for a landing, just as I thought that.

"First thing's first," I said. "We have to go see Lupa."

[Percy's POV]

We all unloaded from the machine. Theo and I were talking and laughing the whole time.

"Follow me," Jordan said, gesturing toward an all-stone-and-wood house in the middle of the clearing we'd landed in.

All around us, there were large cabins that either looked full of kids or completely empty. In the middle, there was a fire burning. I frowned slightly, trying to think of why this seemed so familiar to me. Shouldn't someone be tending to the hearth?

"What do you mean?" Jordan asked, stopping in his tracks and making me almost run into him.

"Hmm?"

Theo and Sally looked between the two of us.

"You guys have really got to stop doing that," Sally said.

"Yeah," Theo put on a false frown, "I feel left out!"

"Mmhm," I replied. "One conversation you can't eavesdrop on! How do you like that?"

Theo snickered. I guess I got the point he was trying to make.

"You said-thought, sorry-that there should be someone tending to the hearth. Why?" Jordan stood in front of me.

I hesitated.

"I'm...not sure, really. It just sort of seems like I've seen something like this before...and there was a girl. She was tending to the fire. I know who she is, but I can't place my finger on it."

Jordan nodded and continued walking, mulling it over in his own mind for a bit. We reached the big wooden doors. Jordan knocked.

"Come in." The voice came from the inside of the house.

We entered. As I stepped over the threshold, I shivered. It felt like there was a fire-like tingling repelling me-keeping me away from whoever might be inside. I continued, though. I didn't want to weird out my friends (or myself) any more than necessary.

We entered a room with furnishing (which didn't seem to belong with the rest of the house). It had couches, chairs, rugs, paintings, lights, and light-wood paneled walls and floor. In the center of this room was a wolf. I stopped in my tracks when I entered the room. I don't know what made me do it, but it seemed like there was a strong force of some sort subtly and subconsciously trying to hold me back and send me back out of the camp.

Don't get me wrong, the wolf made me nervous too.

Jordan, Sally, and Theo filed into the room, not noticing that I was still standing in the threshold. The wolf still had it's eyes locked on me, however.

Then, it did something unexpected.

"What is the problem, demigod? Do you not wish to join us?" She smiled, as only a wolf can smile, I suppose.

I tried, once more to take a step forward, but my legs just didn't want to move.

"I...I can't."

The wolf cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean, can't?"

"I just..." I tried again, straining my mind and muscles to their limits before staggering backwards, out of breath.

"Hmm," she mumbled, "interesting. How about this: tell me your name."

"Percy."

"Whole name."

"Percy Jackson."

"Then, Percy Jackson, I, Lupa, mother of Rome, allow thee to enter our midst at Legion Camp safely."

Nothing happened.

"Now try..."

I stepped forward, then attempted to get past the threshold again. Nothing. It still made me work too hard.

"Boy," Lupa asked, "did you tell me your whole name?"

I struggled against the invisible barrier.

"I don't know! That's all I can remember!"

She stared at me in silence, taking everything in. Watching me struggle, but not entirely focused on the concept.

"Percy's had a bout of amnesia," Sally pointed out.

"That's right," Theo added, "This morning he couldn't even remember any part of his name."

"Think hard, boy!" Lupa demanded. "Try to remember!"

"Is it necessary?" I asked, hearing the strain in my own voice. "I could just talk from out here."

"Nonsense!" Lupa said, with amusement. "I want you to actually be in my company, not be standing, isolated from the rest of us!"

I stopped struggling and thought as hard as I could to remember what the rest of my name was. Nothing was happening.

Lupa suddenly walked forward. I stumbled and fell backwards, landing on my back. I couldn't find it in me to get up. Lupa stood over me, looking very closely, deep into my eyes, sniffing my head. I had a massive headache from trying to ignore the silent warnings that only I seemed to be receiving.

She stood up straight and tipped her head out of curiously.

"Greek."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Not Roman. Greek. That's why...strange..."

I was thinking, Wow, that much from one sniff?

Jordan snickered from the other room. I lifted my head up to give him a look, then flopped back down.

"What?" Theo asked, breaking the silence that had fallen for more than ten seconds.

"It seems...you really..."She looked down at where I was, peering right into my eyes. "You are quite unusual, not being able to cross into the room. That only happens to monsters and intruders. Why would that happen to you?"

I looked at her and shrugged while on the ground.

"Lie still." I did as she said. The wolf circled me, sniffing my hands, feet, and head occasionally. She eventually stopped at my head once more.

"Who are you?"

I looked up, into her dark eyes.

"I'd like to know the same thing."