A/N: The song is called the Gummy Bear Song. It is not, and I repeat, IS NOT a real song. I made it up with some help from a friend. Lol, enjoy it.

Logan:

The stupidest thing I did that day was singing. Don't ask how it got started, but I was so hot, exhausted and sore that I just started singing a song a made up call the Gummy Bear Song. So as we were walking I just sang whatever came to my mind.

"I like swimming in the lake.

I like swimming in the rain.

I love swimming in the pool of life.

Gummy bears, they make me insane!

Gummy bears are so good they're better described as heaven.

You know what's not enough? Seven!

You know what is enough? Eleven….THOOUUSSAANNDD!

Gummy bears! Gummy bears! It's so much fun to say!

But don't say it! Please, PLEASE spray it!

Cause I could eat gummy bears….ALL DAY!"

Christina stopped and looked at me kind of weird. I kept singing it for a long time and I guess Christina got annoyed by it.

"Really Logan?"

"What? Yeah I guess."

"Come here." I walked over to her. She pulled something out of her backpack. She took off the cap and only too late to realize, splashed me in the face with water.

"BLAAARG!" I yelled. "What did you do that for?" I asked her, kind of mad.

"Jeez you've been singing for almost an hour and a half. Your tired and hot. Maybe-,"

"You think I'm hot?" I grinned stupidly.

She slapped me really hard in the face and I stumbled, nearly toppling over as I woke up out of my dehydrated daze.

"Holy Zeus. That was weird," I said suddenly, looking around.

"Yeah. Maybe I should've just kept watch all night long."

She gave me the water and told me to drink it and finished the bottle. Handing it back, we continued to walk and I began to feel less tired and hot. Christina finally changed her form to a huge tiger and let Acacia and Kyra ride on her back. Alec was trying to claim he wasn't despite the fact he was starting to stumble. Christina growled at him and he finally surrendered and jumped on her back.

"Christina, is it possible to save time by moving faster?" Lillian asked. She stopped and thought about it. Then she growled and motioned her head to get on her back. We hopped on.

"Hold on," said a voice in my head that sounded like Christina's.

"Whose talking to me?" I said out loud.

"What?" the others said in unison, besides Christina.

"Me idiot. Christina? The huge tiger you're on," said the voice. I nearly fell off Christina in shock.

"I understand you?" I asked. Christina growled.

"Whoa. That is so cool." I could imagine her rolling her eyes.

"What?" Lillian asked.

"I can understand Christina through our minds, the twitching and flicking of her ears, tail and her growls and…how do you put it? Meows," I said trying hard not to laugh at the meows, twitching and flicking of the ears and tail part. She growled at me telling me to shut up or else she was going to throw me off and leave me behind.

"Ok Christina!"

"That is cool Logan," Lillian replied.

"I know. Well, she told us to hold on or else we're going to get thrown off," I told everyone. We all grabbed hold of her fur. She growled twice and twitched her ears.

"She said she doesn't mind you holding on really tight it doesn't hurt her." Everyone shrugged.

Everyone shrugged as she began sprinting at the speed of an regular tiger. Then we started to gain speed. She got faster and faster. It felt great. She leaped streams and bushes with hardly a jolt. Finally she slowed down because up ahead was a battle that was raging on. She stopped, let us off and changed into a human. She gasped and another weird thing happened. Her clothes changed into silver pants and a shirt and a silver bow and quiver with a bunch of silver arrows appeared.

"Get your weapons ready," she told all of us. She gave her sword to Alec again, her bronze dagger to Acacia and a silver dagger to Kyra. I activated my shield and Lillian got out her sword and shield. Christina was about to run into battle when a wolf jumped out. It looked like a regular wolf but I could tell this one was a monster. Christina shot it and melted into a pool of liquid gray. Another lunged out and attacked Acacia who stabbed it but it didn't disintegrate. Christina cursed and shot it down.

"Crap! They can only be killed by silver!" She looked at Lillian who got out her silver tip arrows.

"Can I fight since I have a silver dagger?" asked Kyra.

"No. Sorry kiddo. Too dangerous." Kyra nodded like she understood and gave Christina back the silver dagger. Christina and Lillian ran into battle. A couple of times I saw Christina in animal form attacking wolves in mid-air. One time she came out with some girls who were wearing silver clothes like her. They shot into the battle and killed several wolves. Finally, all the wolves were dead. There were thirty girls wearing the exact same clothes and they all had silver bows and arrows. A girl with auburn hair instructed girls to set up tents. Soon camp had been set up in seconds. Christina talked to the auburn hair girl and pointed in our direction. The girl and a few others followed.

"Who are they?" I asked Lillian who had joined us.

"They're the Hunters," Christina answered instead.

"The who?" I said.

"The Hunters of Artemis. They're a band of girls only that travel around the country killing monsters. In order to join the hunt, they have to swear off boys by taking an oath. Then they are immortal unless they fall in battle."

"Oh." I looked at the girl with auburn hair. "But the gods can't act directly. So does that mean there's some kind of lieutenant who like gives the orders because the goddess speaks in her head or something like that?" I answered.

"Actually," she pointed at the auburn haired girl, "Artemis has her own rules." I looked at the girl.

"So you must be the lieutenant of Artemis?" I said.

"Logan-," Christina started to say but the auburn hair girl raised her hand.

"I think I should explain." She looked at me. "Logan, I am Artemis. The goddess of hunt and moon." My mouth hung open.

"No way. And you're only twelve. I seriously don't believe the moon part." One of the girls stepped forward with a dangerous look in her eyes. She looked about ready to hit me. Artemis held up her hand and the girl stopped but she looked dangerous still. I would have to watch I would say because I didn't want to put it past the girls. Artemis looked at me and said, "Really Logan. Twelve is the age average age for girls to become a Hunter. And do you see the moon in the sky at all?"

"No. But the moon doesn't come out in the day?"

"Or does it?" she replied. "Look up." I looked up, away from the sun. Artemis closed her eyes and focused hard. She waved her hand and made some kind of motion. The moon appeared in the sky. It wasn't shining, but it looked like it would during the day if you've ever seen it during the day. Artemis waved her hand and did the motion and the moon disappeared. I looked back at her.

"Okay now, I believe you," I said changing my mind. A faint smile played across her lips. "Follow me," she instructed and we did.

She led us over to the tents. They were set up in a moon crescent and they were all silver. There were wolves with gold eyes and flacons that were surrounding the camp. They were probably keeping guard. We walked into a tent and inside there was a bronze brazier burning. There were animal pelts all over the tent. We sat down on some sleeping bags and Artemis waved her hand and iced tea, lemonade, ice water and cold sodas appeared. Christina popped open a Coca Cola while I popped opened a Root Beer. Acacia had lemonade and so did Kyra. Alec had Mountain Dew.

"So why are you wearing silver clothes," I asked Christina.

"I thought you would have guessed by now," she answered taking a drink from her Coca Cola. I was afraid to say it but I did anyways.

"You're a Hunter?"

"Yes."

"So you're immortal? Then really how old are you because if you are immortal then you could've been born a hundred years ago or a few years before me!"

"Logan, I wasn't born hundred or a few before you. I was born the same year and I am the same age as you. Once Hunters swear their oath, they don't age. They may look the age they did when they became a Hunter but they could actually be like a few years older or a hundred years older. For me, Artemis cut the expectations. I age like a regular human so that rule of not aging when you become a Hunter goes out the door for me and so does the swearing off boys. I don't know why, but all I know is that I'm just immortal and that other rules go out the door for me. It just feels weird."

"That probably does feels weird," I answered honestly. She shrugged and spoke to Artemis.

"First question, where are we exactly?" she asked.

"We're on the border of Missouri and Tennessee," Artemis answered.

"What? But we were near Millville, Kentucky before I turned into a tiger and traveled here. That's way too far for an animal to travel in ten minutes." Artemis eyes gleamed.

"You are gifted with skills of an animal. You're not like other animals. You're different. Be happy for that," Artemis told Christina.

"Hey, wait a second," Alec said. "Are most demigods, animal changers?"

"No. As far as Chiron knows, I'm the only one. The only one who can change into an animal."

"Chiron…," Acacia repeated. "That name sounds familiar." She tapped her chin, thinking.

"He's the-,"

"No, shhh. I wanna figure it out without you butting in, Smartbutt." Alec grinned and shrugged when it finally clicked.

"Oh, he's the centaur who trained Hercules, Jason…all those heroes from Greek mythology," Acacia remembered.

"He's also the son of the Titan Lord. The Lord of Time. Kronos."

Thunder split the sky.

"We do not speak names. They have power, Alec," Artemis said. Alec paled, apologizing.

"You seem to know a lot about Greek mythology, Alec," Christina cut in. Alec nodded. "I, uh, took a Greek mythology class in school," he said nervously. I don't know why he was acting so nervous. Maybe because Christina was powerful, quick and dangerous. But that didn't seem like it. Christina narrowed her eyes. She obviously didn't believe him however she didn't let on. All she said instead was, "I see. Must have been, ah, interesting." She turned to Artemis.

"My lady, I have some bad news that doesn't seem right. Something that this kind of person would do unless his convinced the wrong way."

"Proceed," Artemis said." Christina took a deep breath and quickly told her the news in Greek. Artemis face darkened.

"It cannot be. He would never do such a thing," she said.

"I know but I think it's true," Christina said quietly.

"Have you told the others?" Artemis asked sternly.

"No. I've only told Lillian."

"Tell the others. The sooner they know, the better and maybe you guys can figure something out." Christina looked away. She murmured something in a different language. I had a feeling if she said it in Greek, we would understand.

"Logan, you know your dream right?"

"Yeah. Why? What about it?"

"The throne of human bones fused together is the throne of…Hades. And the that voice that was talking to him is trying to recruit him and turn against the Olympians. When Hades said he wanted to be king of the gods, he's basically saying his planning on how to overthrow Zeus. And obviously the person who is recruiting Hades has also taken Alethia and Lynch. The person is obviously trying to get Alethia and Lynch onto his side. But why they would take them is a mystery. There could be any reason why. But I have a feeling that…that…," Christina's voice trailed off.

"That it's a trick and they're using them as bait to lure you?" I offered. Christina swallowed and closed her eyes. She made a three claw finger over her heart and pushed out, warding off evil. When she opened her eyes, they were full of sadness, anger, and disbelief.

"I just love seeing my closest friends being used as bait to lure me," she said sarcastically, anger in her voice. Her eyes suddenly filled with anger. "However, I don't care. If I have to, I will walk into any trap any time to save my friends even though that means I can be killed. I'm not going to leave them. If they try to take anyone else who is close to me, I'm going to make them pay hard. And I'll make the person who took Lynch and Alethia pay also." I looked her in the eyes and she held it for a long time. Her jaw clenched and I realized something. She was referring to me and Lillian.

"Christina, you do realize what your saying would be really dangerous if you do it," I told her nervously.

"I'm a dangerous girl and a risk taker," she replied solemnly.

"That is something I can definitely believe," I answered. Christian smiled.

"So what do we know now about what's going on?" Christina asked.

"Well let's see. Alethia disappeared around the same time Lynch did," I put in.

"We can't contact them because Iris-messaging connection has been cut off," added Lillian.

"The enemy is trying to recruit Hades so he can turn on the Olympians," Kyra said.

"And that he's also planning on overthrowing Zeus," I finished. "I think that's about it."

"Well it seems to me you guys have enough information you need to understand some parts of the prophecy," Artemis pointed out. I thought about it.

"Four shall travel as far west as they can,

To find the girl taken by hand.

You will lose a needed child of archery, a friend,

Only to find a god in the end.

If thee shall find the girl, war shall wage,

And underground will release terrible rage," Christina recited.

"We're traveling west. We're going to find the girl which is Alethia. You will lose the child of archery, a best friend, which was Liam. Only to find a god in the end. That could be Hades. I guarantee that we will find Alethia and war will happen and the underground releasing rage, I don't know," I guessed.

"I'm uneasy about losing the child of archery a best friend line. I feel like it doesn't mean Liam was killed. I think it means something else," Christina concluded. Everyone sat in awkward silence. Christina finally stood up and quickly said, "I'm going to go check on the Hunters and feed the wolves and falcons." She left the tent as quick as possible. She probably didn't want to sit in here thinking about the prophecy and the death of Liam. She most likely wanted to clear her mind and I could understand why.

"Wait. You don't know what the prophecy means?" asked Kyra.

"No. Our Oracle, she tells the prophecies if we are going on a quest. And the prophecy lines always have double meanings. So we don't know what the prophecy lines mean until the events have happened," I explained. Lillian nodded.

"Oh. So I guess it's difficult?" Acacia asked.

"Yeah. Well, I mean, I guess it is depending on your quest and what you're doing," I answered looking at Lillian, hoping I had said the right thing. Thank the gods she understood.

"If your quest is really hard, then yeah it's going to be difficult to know what might happen and predict what some of the lines mean. If your quest is easy and you have a pretty good idea of the problem, then you might be able to figure out some of the lines and it won't be at all that hard," Lillian finished.

"Makes sense," Alec said. We all took a long drink. That's when things went wrong which just goes to show how much luck we get. Christina burst in.

"He…there…looking for…me and Logan and Lillian…," she gasped trying to catch her breath. I had never seen her act like this.

"Wait…what is happening?" Artemis said standing abruptly.

"It's him…the guy...sided….HADES!" she finished.

Artemis grabbed Christina by the wrist and rushed outside. We were about to follow, but Artemis stopped us.

"Don't follow," she said. They went outside. We waited in silence. I stood up and paced back and forth inside the tent with my hand on my sword. Being ADHD and having to wait anticipating makes me nuts. Lillian was looking anxious and seriously dangerous. Alec had his dagger and Kyra and Acacia were ready if a fight happened. Finally I couldn't stand it. I was about to walk outside but Lillian stopped me.

"Don't go out if Artemis told you to." I didn't listen I was walking out the tent entrance but instead of going out, I bounced off something soft. It was like an invisible wall was blocking the entrance. I looked out instead but what I saw made me stick my head back inside.

"What did you see?" Lillian asked standing.

"N-nothing," I stuttered. Few minutes later, Christina came storming in, eyes wild and Artemis walking in behind her, trying to calm her down. It was no use.

"We're leaving immediately," she said angrily. She grabbed her pack and walked out. We followed her, feeling scared. Before I left, Artemis put her hand on my shoulder.

"Save Christina if something happens when you get to the west coast," she said gravely.

"W-what do you mean?" I asked bewildered. I didn't think saving Christina would ever happen. More like her saving me.

"You will find out soon."

"Great. Another straight answer," I said sarcastically.

"You'd better get going," she said. She looked at me then said, "Did you try to follow us?" I blushed.

"Figures. I knew you would. Go. And remember what I just told you," I left the tent feeling a little nervous. Christian was outside saying bye to the Hunters. She approached me quickly. Everyone watched us, obviously listening.

"We need to get to the west coast as soon as possible."

"Not to get on your nerves, but how? I can't fly because Zeus would blast me out of the sky. And possibly you too. As far as I see, we're in the middle of the country with no train anywhere in sight," I told her. She took a deep breath and dropped her pack, turning into that wolf instead and I understood.

"Come on guys." I was going to put Lillian first but Christina snapped at me.

"Front now Logan," she growled curtly. I got on first, then Lillian. After Lillian was Acacia, Kyra and last Alec. We put each of our packs in front of us to keep them from falling. We held tight to her fur which acted like seats and handles. Artemis came out of the silver tent and raised her bow in farewell. Christina flicked her ears twice, turned around and tore off running. She ran and ran, at the speed she was using earlier. As the day wore on, she would stop when she got tired and let us get a drink. Then she would keep running. By noon, she was losing speed.

"Hey, slow down. You're using all your energy." She growled, flicked her tail and twitched her nose.

"What does that mean?" Alec asked.

"She said she'll stop for half an hour so we can rest but right now, all that matters is getting to the west coast," I announced. She came to a halt and we slid off. She changed into a human. She was breathing heavily. I came up to her and gave her bag back.

"So…what happened?" I questioned. She didn't answer. I left her. After thirty minutes, we were ready to go. We jumped on her back and we left. I didn't talk to her for a while. Finally I couldn't stand it.

"What happened?" I asked again. Her left ear twitched.

"I knew you weren't going to leave the matter untouched," she said in my mind.

"Sorry. Just wondering."

"He came looking for us. He was trying to get us on his side. He told me that we would have power and that I would never have to worry about training at Camp Half-Blood again because I would have the knowledge to fight anytime. He said you would have power over the sea and be able to overthrow our…father. He said Lillian would have more wisdom than Athena. So much that Lillian could get rid of Athena. But what's even worse, was the fact he told me Lynch was behind it. I didn't believe him. He said when we get closer to Alethia, he's going to make the quest harder and a little...interesting. He also told me that if we made it past those surprises had for us, he would be waiting to fight us and convince us to join him or be killed," Christina explained.

"Really? I mean, I wouldn't believe it was Lynch either. He seems laid back and nice. I'm sure Hades is trying to play with our minds. He's trying to make you believe that so you can turn your back on Lynch and kill him. He's also trying to make you believe it so that he can lead you into a trap. I guarantee it's not Lynch behind it," I said trying to assure her.

"I know your trying to make me feel better. I know it's not Lynch. It doesn't seem like a thing Lynch would do. He's the son of someone who's good. Apollo. Although Apollo can be annoying with his poetry," Christina replied. Thunder rolled in a distance even though the sky was clear and not a single cloud was to be seen. Christina barked an apology.

She ran in silence. Fields flew past and towns in a distance did. Evening came and Christina settled down in animal form still, a sad, distant look in her eyes. No doubt she was thinking about Liam. Her best friend, brother, a major part of her life. She told me that we could set up camp around her and use her as a bed and blanket. She sheltered us from the wind blowing that kept putting out our fire at first. Luckily we had found flint stones and sticks and dried grass. Finally, we all laid down against Christina's warm fur, who was already asleep.