Let me just say, I'm amazed by how many reviews/follows/favorites I've gotten. You guys' support is awesome! :)

Thanks, and here's another chapter!

Disclaimer: If I were Rick Riordan, why would I be bothering with this website? I would be getting this thing published! :P

Her hope:

"Katie?" Travis squinted at her, obviously blinded a little. "You're… you're okay? You're okay! Yes! You're safe! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Katie blushed a little, hoping he was too surprised to notice. He'd been looking for her? Then she brushed the thought aside and got down to business. "Well, I'm not exactly safe, Travis. Um, this is going to sound really weird, but the earth goddess – totally unfair because I'm Demeter's daughter, I mean seriously, I love the earth – trapped me in mud and I'm kind of sinking slowly. I think it's supposed to be, like, torture or something, but the only thing that's really bothering me is that I'm really hungry – they only bother feeding me once every two or three days – and suffocation isn't exactly my preferred way to die, if you know what I mean."

He was silent for a while, probably trying to process her news. "Not dying at all would be better…" he said finally.

She raised an eyebrow. "So, that's what you say first? You aren't surprised by the whole Gaea kidnapped me and I'm trapped in mud deal?"

He shrugged. "A lot of weird stuff has happened recently. Percy disappeared too – which sadly means that other people are too busy looking for him to look for you – and a couple of older-than-usual new demigods showed up about a week ago with weirdly strong powers who are probably going to be part of the new Great Prophecy, and the Roman gods are still around and having kids, so apparently there's a whole other group of Roman demigods out there-"

"Whoa, wait, slow down!" Katie said, yanking a hand out of the mud to hold it up at him. "Percy's disappeared? The Great Prophecy is coming true right now? There are Roman demigods?"

"Erm, yes, not right now but soon, and apparently."

"…Gods."

"Oh yeah, and the gods won't talk to us, and there are a bunch of giants around now who are trying to take over Olympus, not the new one but the original one in Greece," Katie tried to interrupt him but he shook his head at her, "but that's not important at the moment, what's important is that I find you soon before you experience firsthand death by suffocation."

She couldn't help smiling. "Giants are trying to take over Olympus, but that's not important?"

"No! Now where are you?"

"In a mud slide in Africa."

"Seriously, Katie!"

Her grin subsided. "Seriously? I don't have a clue. It's not like they just toted me along, saying 'Look at the sights, Katie! Here's Rochester, and now we're crossing the border into New Hampshire, and oh look! We're in Arizona!'"

He scratched his head. "I think you have your geography mixed up, Kathryn Alyssa Gardner."

She refrained from yelling at him for saying her full name out loud. She could hear someone – or something – coming, and she knew she didn't have much time. "Okay, whatever. All I know is that I'm somewhere that's had a huge flood recently, I can't be more than four hours from camp-"

"Using which method of travel?"

"Oh, I don't know, Gaea Transports Incorporated," Katie said sarcastically. "Okay, I can't be more than 200 miles from camp, and I'm out in a rural area because I can't hear any traffic and I don't see any cities in the distance, and there are tons of monsters around so if you see what looks like a cult gathering of Greek terrors, you've found me. Now, I think one of those Greek terrors is coming to check on me, so I've got to go." She raised a hand to swipe through the image.

"Wait! Katie!" Travis's voice sounded so… unlike himself that she did. "I… I promise I'll find you, okay? And we'll kick a lot of monster-"

"Travis…"

"butt together once I get you out. Gaea will wish she never messed with us." He grinned at her. "See you soon, Kathryn Alyssa Gardner."

"Likewise, Travis Conrad Stoll," she smiled back. Then he ended the Iris-message – just in time, because a larger-than-average sized Cyclops came into view seconds later. She obligingly let out a couple screams for mercy and flailed around a little to make him happy, but secretly, she was grinning. She had hope for the first time in two weeks.

Any thoughts?