Well, a little longer this time.

There's something about waking up at dawn that really gets me down. It's so cold, and there's no bacon and everyone else is either asleep, in a zombie-comatose state or so amazingly happy that it makes you want to grab a machine-gun and start mowing people down. This morning, however, I had no choice. I was dragged from my bed, thrown into the back seat of a car, and I continued to snore my way through most of California.

I woke up to the familiar and pleasant sound of August screaming in my ear to 'get the hell up'.

"What? Where? Cupcake!" I screamed intelligently as I shot out of my seat and landed on the car floor.

"We're at the airport." Said Julius, dragging me behind him "And we're late!"

So, let's see how my trip at the airport went shall we? The airline forgot my reservation. My mother called me up to scream at me to be careful on my quest (August was going to pay for telling her about this). My carry-on bag was too big so it was forcefully ripped from my hands and sent cargo. I set off the security alarms so many times that I had to be frisked by a security person (I refuse to believe that was a woman, it had a beard for Jupiter's sake). The duty free shop refused to sell me any hard liquor (honestly, saying I'm not twenty-one, the nerve of those people!) And, of course, the flight was delayed, and when I finally managed to get on I was sat next to an airhead bimbo carrying a screaming child. As I said before, Fortuna must hate me.

Leaning over towards my bastard of a friend, Marcus, who had sneakily snagged the window seat, I asked "So, where are we going?"

"Detroit." He replied, doodling on his air-sickness bag.

"Ooh, what's that, it sounds fun." I asked excitedly (I honestly had no idea what Detroit was)

"It's a city…in Michigan." He replied slowly.

"Um yeah, right. I know Michigan." Is that a country or something?

"Michigan is a state." He said, looking at me like I was insane.

"Hey, I haven't been to school in about five years, and I never paid attention even then, so don't judge me." I snapped back quickly. "Why are we going there anyway?" I asked, thankful that my cousins were too busy arguing to have heard the display of my geography skills (or rather, the lack thereof).

"There was a major demigodly disturbance in a car factory over there. Basically, Reyna's clutching at straws." He said dejectedly. I suddenly realised that this was probably because he knew that he would fail his very first quest, and probably be branded an incompetent fool because of it. Of course, he richly deserved the title, but only I am allowed to call him that, so back off.

"Don't worry, we'll succeed." I said brightly, patting his back comfortingly.

He was just so cute when he was sad, it wasn't a side of him I often got to see. He was usually either gruff and violent or nice and funny when I got him alone, but he was hardly ever vulnerable. I guess it was the whole 'Son of Mars' thing.

However, he was slightly less cute when he was snoring and drooling all over my shoulder. I swear nothing could have woken that boy up, not even the massive air turbulence combined with the vomit-inducing stench of the airline food. And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, the baby vomited on me.

Quests are so fun! (take note of the sarcasm in this sentence)

We managed to rent a car quite quickly (and illegally). Marcus had to use a forged driver's license and wore a fake moustache and a trench coat to make himself look older. Blackmail book, here I come! What, did you expect me to be sentimental for long? Oh please.

Of course, once we found the car I offered my driving services, seeing as I had had the most sleep out of the four of us, and simply because my driving skills are epic, thank you very much. Alas, I was never given a chance to prove myself because immediately after the three hardened warriors had stopped quaking in their huge boots at the thought, they tied the poor helpless me up and threw me in the backseat of the car. I think we were starting to follow a pattern here.

The car ride was fairly average; Marcus was driving while screeching out Iron Maiden songs, Julius was doing his son of Minerva thing with a huge book about Quantum Mechanics, August was nerding it up with a high-tech GPS, while I, the only normal person, was attempting to chew through my bonds while singing Set fire to the rain by Adele.

We arrived at our destination at about sunset, and I've got to say, it was a dump. An old, abandoned car factory with some crushed porta-potties, fun!

Julius, who suddenly decided to be a nice person, and cut me free from my bonds. Growling at him, I got out of my car and stretched, and followed the others, all of whom had their weapons drawn. Hmm, sword, so that's what I forgot!

"That's weird." Muttered Julius, almost to himself.

"What is?" asked Marcus, a little annoyed that his subordinate had noticed something he hadn't.

"Maybe it's nothing." Murmured August and Julius in perfect sync.

I looked towards where they were looking. It was a sloppy sign drawn in ancient, peeling paint of one big eye, reading underneath it, MONOCLE MOTORS.

Fingering my glasses thoughtfully I said, "I think I should get a monocle."

Yup, I started a sentence with 'however', my English teacher would have killed me!