OVER 200 REVIEWS! WOOTWOOT! AMAZINGNESS!

And 40th Chapter (although it's really short)! And I'm NO WHERE NEAR the climax!

I think. I make most of this up as I go.

That being said, anyone got a plan or idea for them getting west? I WOULD LOVE SUGGESTIONS BECAUSE I'M KINDA STUMPED.

So, I've gotten several reviews from people pretty much asking me to shut up (AKA make shorter A/N) so I'll try to comply. If, for some ODD reason, you like my RANDOM babbles, tell me and I can, like, PM you my babbles, but I doubt that interests any of you. I'm kinda weird.

VIRTUAL HUGS TO: Meepmeep123, mrpuppy, Pandastyle, Shaylie-Daughter-of-Poseidon, thuyngan.2111, Lycans, storm35-50, Pokemonchen

REPLIES:

Meepmeep123: YAY! It has to in order to keep your interest! AGH! YOUR RIGHT! I'll go fix that. Thank you.

mrpuppy: Thank you! :) I'm glad, this characters are like my children! (Even though I'm a freshman.) I'm proud of them! :) Thank you.

Pandastyle: Hey, no judgements. I feel ya with the exhaustion. Hero...Lena...MWUAHAHAHA! You'll just have to see. ;) Psh. If you had killed Zeke, she would have helped or stood to the side with popcorn, laughing. ;) Ha, nah, they wouldn't make Elysium, but Percy and Annabeth would seek out anyone who touched with Lena and, um, metaphorically kill them.

Shaylie-the-daughter-of-Poseidon: I have updated, though it's short. And Avengers is epic, right? I love Iron Man, he's such a smart ass!

thuyngan.2111: It is a very Lena speech. Grace is not her specially. If she doesn't like you, you will be fully aware. And no! Al I know is that they're dropping small hints on Facebook and thats DRIVING ME INSANE!

Storm35-50: Yeah, no one really gives the full truth except Lena. Wow...that's kinda a sad statement... ;)

Pokemonchen: :)

SO, yeah.

Remember, be prepared for no updates Monday or Tuesday, due to getting up early to read Mark of Athena...AND READING MARK OF ATHENA! But I'll most definitely finish it in one day (perhaps, twice) so I'll be ready to update on the third, most likely, unless other dilemmas arise. (Homework...and such.) I'll try REALLY HARD not to give anything away (cuz not everyone is as oddly fast as I). AH! So excited.

This 'shorter A/N' thing is gonna be hard.

Disclaimer: ...

READ ON!

The silence deafened me. It consumed me and devoured me. It spit me out and left me shivering.

Alexa was my salvation. She stood, after a brief glance at the rest of her cabin. "Athena will fight."

"Don't do this because of my parent's, Alexa. Don't do this because of my mom." I asked of her.

She smiled. "I'm not. I stand with you, Lena, the non-hero," she said with a sly smile, "and I stand with the gods. I believe Olympus is worth saving, and I believe you deserve the chance to realize this."

Before I had a chance to respond, though I had no clue what I was going to stay, Max stood. "I follow Lena, the non-hero, as well, and I'm sure my cabin does too! For Percy, Annabeth, and every forced hero who has ever, or will ever, lived!"

Lexi stood. "My cabin isn't typically filled with fighters, but I'll fight for you, Lena, the non-hero. And the gods, of course."

The head counselor of Apollo stood with a wide, amused smile. "I, too, fight with you, Lena, the non-hero."

The Hermes head counselor stood, a smile on his face as well. "Hey, Hermes is filled with the odd-kids and the rejects. Gods rejected you? We'll fight for you!"

There was a pause. Oddly, Zeke was the first to speak, but he did not stand. "I fight for my father and Olympus, but I do not fight for or follow you, Silena, the non-hero." Unlike the other's, he made that term sound cruel.

"As does Ares." Kara spoke up.

Dionysus, Demeter, Hades, and Hephaestus declared their allegiance to their godly parent and Olympus, while also stating their obvious distrust of yours truly.

It was something, I guess.

Note to self: learn to sleep with eyes open to assist in the prevention of being stabbed while sleeping.

Or maybe I could be like a giraffe. Sleep in 6 minute increments for, like, 45 minutes. Although, I'm sure there's an awful lot Zeke could do in six minutes.

I turned to Alexa. "You think Athena's cabin could work on a way to get us west? Uh, avoiding air travel would, uh, be appreciated." I stuttered. I saw Zeke sneer.

Alexa nodded as she crossed her arms, a confident smile showing itself. "You have the brainpower of Athena at your command."

I nodded, thankful. I noticed I had every eye on me. Even those who were reluctant to follow me were listening, seeing what I'd come up with.

I had nothing.

Zack walked up. "Everyone gather your supplies. You'll need as many weapons as you can have, but you don't want to be weighed down. We need to be leaving BEFORE the sun sets. Do you understand? Let's aim for two hours, no more than three." A pause. "What the Hades are you staring me for? Monster in the west! Ring a bell? Go! Go, GO!"

The way everyone stood and looked around frantically before running off in various directions, almost looked choreographed. A graceful flood of confusion.

Slowly the arena cleared, some more eager to leave than others. Those more reluctant were one of two kinds of people. The type that wanted to stare at me as long as possible, and the type that wanted to glare at me as long as possible. I wasn't sure which group I detested more.

Zack came up to me while I had my arms crossed, genuinely curious if it was possible to be wound any tighter than I was at that moment.

"Thanks for saving my ass." I told him.

He shrugged. "You've saved my ass enough times and will most likely continue to do so. It was no big deal."

Somehow, I felt like it was I who was far more in debt. I severely doubted that that debt to him would ever be repaid, as hard as I might try.

"So..." he continued, as he looked over at me, a quirky smile on his lips. "'Got any plans worthy of Athena?'" He asked. I knew that was a joke between my parents, I guess it was a famous line of theirs.

I gave a feeble smile in return. "More like plans worthy of Poseidon, as in, minimal forethought. Go to camp, get camp to go west, find a way to get west, fight monster, don't die, win. That was basically my plan."

"How's it going so far?"

"Steps one and two are completed. I'll get back to you on the rest."

"I'd appreciate that."

Silence erupted once again. An erratic volcano. Sometimes louder than my eardrums could handle, and sometimes amazingly quiet, though equally painful.

"How do I do this?" I asked.

"Do what?"

"Lead. It's...it's a foreign concept to me. As otherworldly as the concept of 'safety'. I...I'm not sure how to do it and I can't afford to be. There's too much at stake. Everything..." I had to swallow a lump in my throat. "Everything my parents fought for, it's at risk. I may not be all for Olympus, but my parents were, and that's enough for me. At least, it should be, shouldn't it?"

"You're not your parents, Lena. You gotta make your own decisions."

"What if they're...wrong?" I asked.

Zack looked at me peculiarly. "By whose definition of right?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just not sure I can afford to be incorrect."