Sayers didn't feel all that special, he's been at this camp for two years, and now he's getting claimed. He wasn't angry that his father wasn't there for him; he had his step-father, Austin Sayers, his mom, Danielle Sayers and his half-sister, Lily. He simply didn't care at all what Hephaestus did, and he really wasn't all that fond of staying in his new cabin anyway. He turns to see Michael and Sage; they both give him the hesitant thumbs up. Sage walks over and gives him a playful punch at the shoulder.
"You alright, bro", she asks with sympathy.
"Yeah, I'm alright. Speaking of alright, is Karl okay, matter of fact, where is Karl", he asks.
At that moment, Karl comes out of the forest; he is covered in pink feather scarves, and is wearing fake pearl beads. His ginger hair is in an attempt of pig tails, but his face is the worse. Bright white foundation covers his face, along with bright pink blush, light blue eye shadow, fake eye lashes and purple lipstick with gloss. He shook violently and extended his hands to three demigods.
"Help me", he squeaks out.
"What the hell, man", Sayers shouts in anger. "We told you run like hell, and don't stop".
Michael shakes his head and tries to cover his mouth to hide his laughter.
"Ariadne, you're a girl, help me get this- - off my face! Get whatever you need", Karl cries out as he grabs Sage's shoulders.
Sage is laughing so hard she begins to cry, and Karl ran away in terror to gods know where. Michael thinks Sage sounds like villain off of Star Trek, and starts to clap dramatically. Sayers shakes his head in denial, and watches Karl scream out for someone to help him.
Sage is still laughing uncontrollably, "I'll take care of this, Karl. We just need some of that makeup remover stuff", she shouts breathlessly as she grabs his hand and takes him towards his cabin.
Michael and Sayers watch as Sage takes Karl towards her cabin. The two finally turn to head to their cabins. The sky is dark, the stars, and the crescent moon shines in the sky. The rest of the campers are getting ready for bed, but the two demigods were getting their supplies for their quest. While the two were carrying the food, clothing, and weapons, Michael stared at his friend who was silent for at least an hour.
"Hey, Sayers, are you sure you're okay", Michael asks with concern.
"Yeah, I guess", Sayers replies slowly, but changes his mind immediately. "Actually, no, I'm not. My mom hates his guts, he left supposedly, right after the "dessert", and she found out she was pregnant with me. I just don't understand why he would claim me now, what good will that do. The gods swore on the river of sticks that they would claim us by the time we reach thirteen. Mike, I'm fifteen years old, and I was perfectly find where I was. It's like…I feel…I feel sick to my stomach".
"I understand, mortals are the gods' toys and—never mind I understand", Michael replies.
"Michael, have you ever thought that we are here for a greater purpose or are we just the aftermath of a one night stand", Sayers asks.
"I don't know, Sayers. I never really thought about it as much", he replies.
"I did, and now I see that everything's just...gone", Sayers states.
The two start to load the items into the Coach's forest green Ford traveler, and the food was put into the cooler. Sayers got into the front of the car and put in the Google maps system into the laptop. After they closed the car doors, they head back to their cabins to change and get ready.
After cleaning up Karl, Sage is busy putting on her clothing; she had borrowed Amber's stylistic cargo pants, and her tan shirt with red stripes with a cream sweater. She grabs her bag for the quest and checked for her explosives, weapons, armory, and personal hygienic. They finally step out the bathroom to find Karl, rocking back forth, eating his red skittles.
"Don't worry, Karl, the feathers are all gone, you go and get changed. I'll get your stuff from your cabin", she insists.
"Yeah-Yeah, uh get the skittles, b-boots, and the red Eddie Bauer bag. Everything is in there", Karl stuttered.
"Sure thing, Karl", Sage replies as she steps out the room to leave.
Sage walks over the next cabin, and opened the door to find it empty. She didn't realize that Karl is by himself every Friday night. She walks over to his room and she immediately stumbles over what she felt to be a pair of shoes. She turns on the light to reveal a whole model of a city, San Antonio to be exact. She realizes she tripped over one of the sky scrapers. She steps over some buildings and gets to his closet. She struggles to open it. CLANK, she falls on the ground covered in clothing. She crawls out of the bundle of clothes and climbs over to the closet. She pulls out the red bag, and grabs his boots. She then steps over some more buildings, and finds her way to his drawer. She pulls it open, grabs the box of skittles, and places it in the bag. She lifts the bundle of clothes, puts them back in the closet, and finally exits the room.
While Sage shuts the cabin door, she hears a rustle of wind, and turns to see Bourdain standing with his arms folded.
"Ah! Don't do that! What are you, Jack the Ripper in another life", she shouts in surprise.
"Humph, Jack the Ripper was Apollo's kid", Bourdain insists. "He had a thing for surgery and he tested it on those poor mortals in White Chapel".
"Okay…I guess I better get going", she replies fluently.
"HA! That's a good one, Looking glass", Bourdain scoffs with sarcasm. "I already know what you five are planning to do, but I'm asking about you".
"Well for a man who has a lot of hatred for demigods, I'm shocked you figured out our scheme. How'd you know? Did a little bird tell you", she asks with wit.
He looks pretty creepy in the moonlight. Sage knows that the smart thing was to surrender, apologize, and honor his wishes, but her main problem was constant wit along with cunning, pride, humor and possible sarcasm.
"It's times like these when I really hate dealing with you half-breed violations of nature", he mutters in annoyance. "Listen, looking glass, that glorious mouth of yours will get you trouble, here".
"Pssh, you mean like "Here's Johnny" trouble or "Squeal like a pig trouble" trouble", Sage replies with a sly smile.
Bourdain's eyes begin to twitch. He was about to say something; probably a historic fact about demigods being evil or maybe a crazy incantation like a priest. Sage looks down at her feet, determined not to start trouble.
"Oh fine. I'm a girl that used to be in a school for Juveniles and after a monster attack I escaped", she replies with a grin.
"You aren't a girl. You are a mirror of a real girl living somewhere in the world. You think you are an individual, but you aren't. Speaking of that; what about that name of yours, Ariadne Moon? It is a code name. Someone created you and is using you for revenge against the gods" he explains harshly.
Sage looks at him in confusion and covers her mouth, "he must be crazy", she thought to herself.
"Hey, I don't know what you're talking about. My name is Ariadne Moon, and I am an individual. I'm not a robot or a mirror or whatever it is. I'm not a genetic creation. I am a human being", she explains rather quickly.
"That's what your creator wants you to think", he replies slowly.
Sage immediately turns and walks away, but Bourdain grabs his arm, "The woman you're working for wants you dead, you know that right", he states.
"Ow, let go", Sage shouts as Bourdain's grip tightens.
"Look, I don't know whether you're being too smart or too stupid, but working with her is a bad idea", Bourdain insists.
"What? LET GO, DUDE", Sage shouts. YOU'RE HURTING ME! WHY WOULD YOU CARE ANYWAY"
"If you quit now you'll merge with the real you, your other half, and this nightmare you are in will cease", he explains slowly.
Sage's eyes begin to water, "SCREW YOU, YOU DON'T KNOW MY-", she stops as if her worst fears are realized.
She thought about her earliest memory and it was arriving in that school. She thinks of her real name, and she realizes that she never really had a last name. She tries to remember the death of her mother, and she can't even explain what had happened to her. She tries to think of why she was angry at her father and who he was, but nothing. No childhood memories, just thoughts in feelings of…her real self.
Bourdain stares at her with an emotionless face, "Don't you cry now, artificial intelligence. When you embrace yourself and forgive then everything will go back to normal", he explains.
She feels tears streaming down her face and looks at ground in terror. She then looks up to see Bourdain walking away.
"SAGE", Karl shouts
"I'm coming", she shouts back trying to hide her squeal.
Michael sits in his bedroom wearing his old sweater and pants as he stares at the alarm clock. He really didn't know what else to do, and he wasn't going to Iris message Percy, because he didn't want to be a peeping tom. He hears a knock on his door and gets up to answer it. He quickly pulls the lever to see Aaralynn with a box in her hands, wearing a white night gown and a red cardigan. Michael feels his cheeks turn red and his heart beat in an irregular speed. She cocks her head to side with a small sigh.
"Hey, Aaralynn, um come on—er come inside", he stumbles out.
She gives him her perfect smile and walks by him into his cabin. She sits on his bed and hands him a box.
"Here, I thought you might need it for the quest", she states with a smile.
Michael takes it and opens it to find her watch. It was silver with a delicate white gold vine wrapped around it with the clock's moonstone face.
"It's a tracker. If you get separated from your friends it'll help you find them", she explains.
"Thank you, Aaralynn", Michael whispers as he stares into her amethyst eyes.
She smiles as she touches the side of his face, "You're cute when you blush", she whispers back. "I—just want you to be safe, because we don't really know how bad you feel without the experience and I'm here as a friend".
Michael slowly nods and places his hand on her hand. He sees her eyes flash with desire. He leans in as Aaralynn begins to lean in too. This is going to be his first kiss with the girl he's had a crush on for so long. Thank you, Aphrodite, he thinks to himself. Michael's heart is pulsing, and that beautiful moment when his lips graze her pink ones. Aphrodite on the other hand has other plans. BANG!
"Michael, let's go!" Amber shouts. "Operation has started".
Michael, Sayers, Karl, Amber and Sage "creep" into the camp garage. Amber breaks the jars filled with screws all over the floor. She finally finds the keys, and tosses them over to Sayers. The five get in the car swiftly, they drive slowly out the garage and make a right over to the entrance. As they drive closer to the entrance, they hear an awful shriek.
"What, my car, what the…Get back here you whippersnappers or I'll throw you to the harpies", the Coach screams.
The Coach is wearing blue pajamas imprinted with clouds, and stockings were wrapped around his head. Till then Michael had no idea that the coach had a perm. He begins to run towards them with a baseball bat, already swinging.
"Uh, I think we should go a little faster, he's half goat remember", Michael yells out.
Sayers pushes the gas pedal and speeds through the entrance. Karl wines down the window and waves goodbye to the coach.
"Bye, Coach, we'll see you soon", he shouts.
Amber gives the middle finger and they drive away to New York City. Everyone was laughing, but Sage is the only one who looks morbid. Michael had to consult an old friend, Glaucus.