IM SO SORRY! *cries* I've had lots of homework so I haven't had time to write! BUT I WROTE A BIG CHAPTER (in comparison to my old ones at least)! YAY! :D Don't hate me for being late! I SAID I WAS SORRY!

GLN3, I'll be SURE to include some Tratie later on. Still, as you can see on my profile, I'm not a HUGE Tratie fan although I have nothing against them! This just means that they won't be HUGE but they will be there... :) Be sure to look out for it! (: :)

Cockapoo, I'm so SORRY for not updating! :'( (: :)

NowayLrdOfShdows, I guess I'm a bro-ette? xD That sounds cool! Roman demigods? (although it could be Egyptian or Hindu too... I hear they have a LOT of demigods... Then again, so do the Norse and the Asian cultures...) (: :)

Disclaimer: Hello, this is Isa Daughter of Athena reporting to you live from Olympus where Ares and Clarisse are in a heated battle over the legal rights to this character! All I know is that I sure as hell don't own ANY of the PJO characters. I'll be right back after these short messages! ;)

The fight begins simply, nothing actually happening around us. We sit, bored out of our minds, until I feel a small soul, a young child probably, enter my area. I turn to Malcolm, putting a finger to my lips, and stepping up. I stand on tip toe, slipping through the trees. I spot the girl, a small, frail looking girl with creamy blonde, curled hair that falls down her back. She seems to be about five which seems a bit young to be a Huntress. Although she looks frail, I'm not fooled by her looks. I know that as a Huntress she could probably kick my ass, something not many people would ever have the courage to do.

I walk back over to Malcolm. I walk so silently that he doesn't see me coming and jumps as I tap his shoulder.

"Shh!" I whisper angrily to him. "Do you want to get caught?"

"You walk like some sort of freaking cat! Don't sneak up on me like that!" he hisses back.

"They've sent a spy," I whisper to him.

"Who?"

"I don't know. Some little kid."

"How old?"

"Maybe five?"

He swears under his breath before turning back to me. "We've got to follow her. Is she still around?"

I nod. He jumps up suddenly, walking silently towards the tree line. He turns, motioning for me to follow him.

"What's wrong?" I ask as I tip toe behind him, ducking slightly as not to get hit in the face by any low branches.

"Whisper, please," he says and I roll my eyes at the command. "If you really want to know, she's killer with knives."

"And...?" I say, trying to push him into explaining why she's so important.

"She's rumoured to have defeated a hydra by herself which is a huge feat for anyone, especially someone her age."

"And...?"

"And she's a daughter of Aphrodite."

"And...?"

"She can charmspeak! Happy? Now shush!"

I still have no idea what "charmspeaking" is but I don't think Malcolm is in the mood for explaining so I let it slide. Still, something about the girl was strange. From what I can tell she didn't look like a fighter or at least not a very strong one. I can't imagine her defeating something like a hydra especially considering that she's about five.

Then a thought hits me. How does Malcolm know her?

I can't imagine how he'd met a girl who's probably a third of his age. Also, I can't imagine that the huntresses visit often, let alone hang out with the regular campers. But I guess that if she's all high and mighty, as he put it, then I suppose she'd be famous, like Thalia.

He turns to me, a finger to his lips, as he follows the girl.

"I'm going to create a distraction," he whispers to me. "But I need your cooperation. Got it?"

"What do I do, captain?" I whisper back, mocking him slightly. But he doesn't notice my tone, too distracted by the plans forming themselves in his mind.

"As a daughter of Hades you should be able to have some sort of control over his domain. Crap, I wish we had longer to train you. We don't even know what powers you have yet!" he whispers, mostly to himself, his eyebrows knitting themselves together in concentration. "But I suppose your powers are similar to those of Nico. Try something."

"How? What am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know. Something, anything."

I try, thinking as hard as I can, even coming to the point of praying to my father for help.

Please, Hades, if you can, PLEASE tell me what to do!

Yet I get nothing. No tingling feeling down my neck, no strange ghouls or poltergeists jump out from behind the trees. Not a single member of the un-dead or a single strange, otherworldly creature some to my aid.

"I've got nothin'," I admit to Malcolm, sighing in frustration.

"And Athena hasn't given me any great and mighty powers either," he chuckles. "What now?"

"You're the strategist."

"This strategist is out of strategies."

We continue to tail the girl silently, Malcolm leading me through the trees. At some point, I feel a small pull in my gut but it seems to fade quickly.

"She's leading us to the strawberry feilds―" he says, after about five minutes of silence, but he cuts himself off, his eyes widening as he looks me up and down. "Whoa."

"What?" I ask, staring right back at him.

"You... Layla, you're..." he trails off, shaking his head as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Yes...?"

"You're almost completely transparent. I've never seen anything like this! It's not even logical. It's just... impossible! All I can see is a slight outline which means you should still be physically there, am I right?"

"Yes, I'm still here."

"I'm not kidding, Layla!" he says, taking my hand and shoving it in my face.

Then I saw it, my hand was a smoky-transparent color, almost invisible. I turn my hand; still not completely sure of what was happening.

"This isn't... possible," I say incredulously, watching as the little color in my hand fades and the tugging returns in my stomach.

"Well, Hades can turn to shadow but he needs his helm for that. You seem to just... fade into shadows. It's quite peculiar," he says, taking my hand and studying it curiously. "I've never seen anything like this before."

"Nico's never done this before?"

"Not from what I know. I think everyone would flip if they saw him do this," he chuckles turning around again to run through the trees. But then he turns back to me suddenly, a huge grin crossing his face and his eyes seeming to calculate a million things a minute. "I've got a plan!"

"Spill the plan then, genius," I laugh.

"We could get you to sneak up on her and attack her. It seems that what you touch becomes invisible too," he explains, pointing at where my sheath should be. I notice then that it too seems to have completely faded into a sort of shadow along with my body. "So she won't see you or your sword. Sound like a plan?"

"Not too detailed. I like it." I smirk.

"Then get on with it," he says, pushing me forward. "She's heading towards the strawberry fields so you can just keep running forward, got it?"

"Sure."