Okay here we go, this one is on time. I am actually sick so I don't have much else to do. Still now Wi-fi but Starbucks has Wi-fi.

This one I dedicate to really no one, merely to my imagination. :)

Chapter 3

Secret of the Silver Bow Fun Fact 3: The Idea for the third Secret of the Silver Bow changed six times before settling with TimeRiders, as a result there are six alternate drafts, all only partially finished.

Key – The Wild

The Conscious

The Instinct

Shamrock

We Find a Zebra and Weasel Cookie.

Shamrock

Orion's belt was my clue, a little obvious, but at least it didn't leave me hanging, I hate it when that happens. I tied it around my waist and saw that it was made to hold a hunting dagger and that it already had one in it.

"Why would mom give it to me?" I marveled running my fingers over the stones.

"It's like the pennywhistle." Grace said.

I frowned. "What does this have to do with a pennywhistle?"

"Well it doesn't but , it's the same concept, passing it on, in your case father to son." Grace explained.

"Oh." I said, I was too stunned to say more. Honestly I was a little angry at my mom too, why hadn't she told me? Orion certainly didn't come off as a bad guy; he had loved my mother, and had come off as easy going, nice, and tall. If he was my dad how come I have only reached four foot eleven? Lilly's at least six inches taller than me and Grace is two inches taller. How was that possible?

Recessive genes.

I was being rhetorical.

Sure you were…

"Shamrock." Grace whispered. I saw the other two had gone on a head. "When this is all over, I really need to talk to you, but it's not something I can say here and now."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because Sham, this is important, really important and is has to be said in private." Her voice wavered and I was afraid she would start to cry, but she looked more scared then upset. It was as though she had something very frightening running through her mind.

"Grace, you trust me don't you?" I Asked.,

"Sham, this, this is something that could kill me." She whispered.

"Hey you two! Come on!" Lilly called. "There's a town in two miles!" I sighed and we moved to catch up to the,

By town she really meant, itty bitty neighborhood, with a grocery store/gas station and that was about it. It was very pathetic, but it was a place to stop. Just not one where we could steal a car. We went into the gas station and found that were just six miles from Topeka. WE got some water and began the long walk into the city.

Grace was the only one who didn't seem to mind the walking we left her alone after the glare she sent Annabeth that was a clear enough signal. She walked slightly behind us deep in thought.

Lilly came over to me, I must have been pretty quiet because she said; "Thinking about Grace?"

"No," I muttered.

"Thinking about what Hades needs?" She asked.

"Surprisingly no, but you're not great at this are you?" I looked at her, and she made me hold her gaze.

"Then you're thinking about dad." Here was where she had me, I was thinking about dad but I wasn't going to let her or anyone know that.

"Let's go catch up with Annabeth." I said, leaving Lilly

I jogged to catch up with Annabeth who was reading and walking, she looked up when she heard me but went back to her book when she saw me scowl. The ground was flat and there was an unnatural amount of grass. Why didn't I go around Kansas?

Maybe because, the other states you could have gone through were exactly like Kansas, or they were called Texas?

What did Texas ever do to you?

Nothing, but the last thing you need is to be seen ANYWHERE near San Antonio.

Why?

Nothing I'm allowed to tell you.

By the time we got to Topeka it was dark and there was a drizzle of rain. We went into a diner and sat down in a booth, it resembled one of those kinds of diners in movies, with the wooden booths, and red tables. Our waiter came and looked at us.

"So Sham," It was a voice I recognized. "What's it going to be?"

"Lord Poseidon?" I asked.

"Sh, no the cute waitress over there thinks my name is William." He whispered.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Well I was here to date that waitress but it seems we have bigger issues on hand." Be muttered.

"Bigger issues?" I echoed.

"Yes, look I'll bring you some burgers, and I get off at six we'll talk then." HE siad, Annabeth opened her mouth. "Yes I know well done, something about mad cow disease… gods you're so much like your mother, Sham you and Lilly probably want rare." I nodded. "Grace is the only one whose mom I don't know personally so how do you take your meat?"

"Medium." She muttered. HE nodded and left. .

"Anyone else think the gods like this state way too much?" I looked around.

"Yeah, it's weird, three in one day, they either all like Kansas or there is something weirder then we thought going on here." Grace muttered, laying her head on the table. She was tired, we all were. She was soon asleep and I had to move her head for her food. I nudged her awake.

"Grace, food." I muttered.

"Fine, I'm up." She grumbled. We ate quickly and then Poseidon led us away, he took us to the pent house of a hotel and told us we could shower and change. Grace took this to heart and showered quickly.

The bathroom alone was almost too grand to use, there were a dozen different kinds of soap and the toilet had like a dozen colorful buttons which tempted me and I found out that it sprayed water if you pressed the blinking blue one. I also found out that the Jacuzzi would spray water even if the bath wasn't full. The towels had the hotels name embroidered on them, but they made my hair way too poofy for my liking, but they were soft. I dried my hair and then used one of the six dozen different size combs to brush my hair. I scowled; my hair never went the way I wanted it to.

We didn't have anything but the camp clothes. I sighed and resided to put those on. With my auburn hair, the orange shirt and blue jeans, I looked way too much like candy for my liking. Lilly was sitting on the couch and she stifled a laugh.

"You look like a lollipop you know?" She siad. I rolled my eyes.

The room was white and gold, the bed though was blue, the couch Lilly sat on was at the foot of it and looked so expensive that I was afraid to sit down on it. The TV was flat screen with like nine different buttons, and mounted on the wall, and the dresser lined the wall below it. There was a walk in closet on the wall opposite the door. The windows were locked but would open. This hotel was an ADHD nightmare.

Grace came out of the shower in her camp clothes and wrinkled her freckled nose. "Orange is not my color."

"It's the red hair." I said. "You probably also shouldn't wear pink, or red. I think blue or green would look nice though."

Grace raised her eyebrows. "Do you care to explain why you care about what my color is?"

"Apollo, I had to spend hours at his photo shoots, for various fashion industries and I learned surprisingly a lot about what certain people can wear." I explained.

"Oh Shamrock, you might want to refrain from telling people what they can wear and what they can't?" She sighed and lay down on the bed, her red hair spread out on the pillow. Before she could sleep however Poseidon came in.

"Okay we need to talk." He said. Annabeth raised her eyebrows at him. "Annabeth could you not do that? You remind me way too much of your mother when you do that, and honestly it's a little creepy."

"Why do we need to talk?" I asked.

"Okay at this point you know about both your parents and I can tell you're both a bit angry with your mom, because she didn't tell you. That anger is all focused in the wrong place. You can't blame your mother, Orion is still a difficult topic, and she would have told you in her own time." He said. Jumping into it and getting straight to the point.

"I never wanted to know anything about my family before though I was completely content not know but then this came up and now I need to know." I said.

"Did you ever ask your mother about him?" Poseidon asked.

"Only once, and then it made her so upset I thought she would cry if I asked again." I said.

"Shamrock, you are more like your mother then you know, and she would have let it all out in her own time, it's hard I know, but she has had a hard time coming to terms with… uh recent events." He rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Yeah like having a Son." I scowled I knew it was true, there was no denying it, I was the imperfection in her life. The one thing she'd always wanted but never really wanted, she wanted a child yes, but not a boy. I

"Shamrock, she loves you." Poseidon said, it was obvious that he was trying to make me stop thinking like that. As if, I knew the truth.

"Maybe, but she wanted a girl." I said.

He shifted uncomfortably. "Look why don't you all fallow Grace's example and get some sleep." I looked at Grace who and fallen asleep wither head on my shoulder. "Look, Annabeth, you go shower, Lilly you and Sham can sleep across the hall if you want." He left and Annabeth went to shower.

"Sham, I'm going to go across the hall okay?" Lilly siad.

"Yeah sure, you do that; I'll be over in a bit." She nodded and left. I gently removed Grace's head from my shoulder and lay her down. She muttered something in her sleep and wrinkled her nose; she rolled over and seemed more comfortable. I sighed and left the room.

Lilly was already asleep on the bed so I took the couch and settled in for a good night's rest, which was interrupted (Of course) by a dream

Apollo rolled himself out of bed and went over to the crib in the corner the infant in side was crying feebly. He picked up a bottle from the table and fed the baby.

"You are so much like your brother, but at least you sleep." Apollo said. The infant was small and obviously sick, Apollo picked up a syringe and shot the green glowing liquid into the baby, it seemed to grow healthier in front of my eyes. The baby fell asleep and Apollo looked at her sadly. "But how long do you have Aikatrina? Weeks? Months? Years?"

Apollo looked so upset that I couldn't help but feel bad for him. Who was this kid? Why was she dying? One question nagged at the back of my brain more than the others; why did Apollo care? Apollo looked at the photos on his nightstand, one of Artemis, one of me when I was maybe, five and then one of Lilly. Then the dream faded.

I woke up and Grace was curled on the floor next to the couch. I looked at her and nudged her awake. "What are you doing?"

"Oh sorry I came to wake you but you wouldn't wake up so I lay down and fell asleep again." She yawned.

"Are you sick or something?" I Asked.

"No but I am really tired, it's like five am and if we don't get going soon we won't make Albuquerque by nightfall." She muttered I sighed and rolled off the couch. She handed me a fresh tunic and I pulled off my clothes while Grace covered her eyes. I put on the new tunic and buckled Orion's belt around the waist, Grace opened her eyes and we left the room.

Lilly and Annabeth were already dressed, they handed me a waffle and some orange juice, which I drank down in two gulps. Lilly's curls were brushed and pulled back into a braid, and Annabeth had pulled her hair up into a Pony tail. Grace though had left her hair down, but her clothes remained the same. Poseidon lent us a van and we started the long, twelve hour drive to New Mexico.

About three hours in we stopped at a rest area to go to the bathroom and get some food. Grace and I were standing around waiting for our coffee (Well her tea) when Annabeth ran up to us, panting. It took her a few seconds to catch her breath.

"There are hellhounds and cobras on the toilets." She panted.

I was puzzled. "What?"

"Hellhounds, toilets, girls room." She said. "I killed three but there is one in every stall, oh yeah there's also a flying cobra."

"Run!" I heard a girl with a British accent say, then I saw her, long blonde hair flying, two people, an Arab girl and African American boy, the blonde plowed into me and the other two tripped over her.

"Ouch." I groaned.

"Sorry." She said, Grace's nose twitched like she was aggravated. The girl rolled off of me. "I'm Sadie Kane."

"Shamrock, now what were you running from?" I asked.

"A flying cobra." Sadie said.

"Sadie," The boy said. "Where's Ra?"

"Ra?" I said.

I was answered by a cry of "Zebra!" as a very old man hobbled over to where the Arab girl was, and he grinned a toothless grin at me.

"See Sham!" Annabeth said. "There was a fly cobra in the bathroom!"

"You saw that?" The girl asked, drawing a knife.

"Zia." The boy warned, the girl seemed to get it, we were being stared at. The one called Zia grabbed me and Grace's arms and drug us off, the other two trailing somewhat behind us.

"Look you are either Magicians of the House of life or something else but if you have a car we need to get to Las Vegas." She said.

"I'm actually a Demi-god. You know son of a Greek god?" I asked.

"Oh um, Zia they're not from out world." The boy whispered.

"Shut up Carter!" Zia was clearly stressed out.

"If you want," Grace perked up. "You can catch a ride with us."

"Right see Zia, we have a way to get to Las Vegas and friends." Sadie said. We lead them back to the car and they explained about them being Egyptian magicians and the House of Life. In turn we had to explain about the Greeks, and our camp.

"Um is your grandfather going to be okay Zia? He seems a bit… senile." I commented, looking in the rearview mirror as the old guy sucked on the end of a blue and yellow stripped candy cane thing.

"Oh, he's not my grandfather; he's Ra the sun god. The fate of our world kind of depends on him." Zia explained, taking the candy cane out of his mouth and handing him a teething ring.

"So basically you're saying we're doomed?" I asked.

"Um no, but if he doesn't snap out of it very soon then yes, yes we are." She said, turning around and buckling Ra in.

I looked at Grace and she loo ked at me. She mouthed 'I'm worried about them.' I nodded.

"Actually," Zia said. "Just get us to Albuquerque; I can handle things from there." I nodded.

About five minutes later Zia was asleep. "She doesn't get to sleep much while watching Ra." Carter whispered. I nodded.

We drove, and drove and drove. Then it happened again the engine stuttered and stopped. Zia sat up and yawned. "We're out of Gas, again." I muttered.

"Okay everyone out." Grace ordered, we climbed out, my instincts told me we were about half way to where we needed to be.

"Then this is where we leave you, we are sorry that we cannot do more to help." Zia said, Carter whistled and a large bird like creature appeared out of nowhere. "That's our ride, goodbye." They climbed onto the animal, which flew straight up and disappeared.

"They have a griffin?" I siad skeptically."

"Why not? We have a hellhound." Annabeth shrugged. She made a valid point there; still I wondered why they would possibly need one.

I was about to suggest we move on when I noticed Grace was nowhere to be found. I looked around then I heard a shrill scream from the trees. I drew my bow and ran into the trees. Grace was lying on the ground with a hellhound on her chest, he arms were pinned and she couldn't draw her dagger or bow. Then the monster noticed me, I swear it smiled demonically and me.

Then it lunged, I kicked in in the chest which didn't seem to do anything but aggravate it more. I decided and long range weapon, like my bow, wouldn't be much help here. Instead I drew the knife from the belt. I flipped over the hellhound and landed next to Grace. It turned on me and before it realized what I was doing I drove the knife into its heart, it crumbled to dust leaving only a tooth behind. I picked the tooth up.

"Grace what on earth were you thinking?" I asked.

"Well you were talking to Zia and I heard growling so I decided to check it out." She shrugged.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" I asked

"Yeah because the stuff you do is so safe. I didn't fall of a cliff, I didn't pick a fight with vampires, I didn't burn Ellis Island, and I didn't nearly drive the people who love me to the point of suicide!" She shouted.

"Oh, well at least I didn't cause a factory to burn and the deaths of my family." I shouted, that was too far, the anger drained out of her eyes, and her face lost color and she sat down on the forest floor. Lilly and Annabeth were standing next to me and Annabeth moved to put an arm around Grace, but Grace pushed her away.

"Leave me alone." She snarled her breathing was heavy; she pulled her knees up to her chest, buried her face in her hands and started to shake, she wrapped her arms around herself as though she was trying to hold herself together. I felt horrible, what kind of person was I?

I was also a bit scared, because I saw now that I had the power to hurt Grace, just the thought that I could destroy Grace, if I wanted to. I wouldn't, or at least I like to think I wouldn't.

"Grace, I-I'm sorry." I knelt down next to her.

"Leave me alone." She snarled.

"Okay, guys let's set up camp, we'll stay here, Lilly you and I can go hunt." I said. Lilly nodded we drew our bows and moved away silently.

After about ten minutes with nothing Lilly grabbed my hand and pulled me over to a log, we sat and I sighed.

"Sham," Lilly whispered. "You need to be more careful."

"I know, I feel terrible." I said.

"Shamrock, please I want you to be completely honest with me how does this whole thing make you feel?" She asked.

"I'm scared." I confessed. " It scares me that I can hurt her this easily, I don't want to be able to. I just want to be her friend, someone she can count on, someone she can trust, someone she can talk to, someone she can come to if she feels lonely."

Lilly sighed. "Shamrock, please. Say something to her, apologize."

"Lilly." I said. "She won't listen to me. Why would she?"

"Yes she will because words can sting but it's silence that breaks the heart." Lilly said.

"Yeah you're right, but could I wait until she cools off a bit, she seemed a bit mad at me, before I kind of destroyed her sanity that is." I rubbed the back of my head.

Lilly laughed. "Shamrock you're an idiot, she was jealous of Zia and just so you know that's another social thing we have to work on!"

"Why?" I frowned.

She heaved a sigh. "Sham, because when guys get jealous it's actually kind of cute, but when girls get jealous World War Three is about to begin."

"Oh, but why would she be jealous?" I asked.

"Because you were spending more time talking to Zia to realize that she had been trying to get a word in for like an hour." Lilly said.

"Had I been talking to her for that long?" I asked.

"No." She said. "Well not outside the care inside the car yes."

"Look I need to talk to Grace; can you get Annabeth out of camp?" I begged.

"Um Shamrock, just wait until we're asleep." She put a hand on my shoulder, looked at a rabbit sitting near the log and raised her bow. With is two seconds the animal was dead and we went back to camp.

Annabeth and Grace had a fire going and had been deep in conversation, a conversation that stopped as soon as I entered the clearing. Grace looked up at me her eyes red, Lilly held up the rabbit but it would be a long time before I was hungry again.

After dinner we rolled out the sleeping bags that Ares had packed for us. They were dark red and had a bit of an odd smell but they were better than nothing. Annabeth and Lilly fell asleep quickly but I knew Grace lay awake like I did.

"Grace can we go on a walk?" I whispered, reaching for her hand.

"Okay." She stood up and offered me her hand. I took it and we walked into the forest. "What do you need?"

"Grace, I'm sorry about what I said earlier, it's not your fault your family's dead. I shouldn't have said that, it wasn't right." I Apologized.

"Shamrock, that's where your wrong, it i-is my f-fault. I-I should b-be dead." Her voice wavered. Even though I couldn't see her very well I knew she was close to tears.

"Grace O'Donally, don't ever say that." I said, brushing her hair out of her face.

"I-it's true though." She whispered.

I shook my head and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her into a hug. "No, no it's not." Her breathing was heavy now.

After a few minutes we went back to camp, Grace climbed in her sleeping bag and I climbed in mine, I fell asleep quickly this time but only to be haunted by dreams.

I was in some sort of cavern stalactites hanging from the ceiling, water dripping from them in a steady drip, drip, drip pattern. The cavern was lit only by a ball of fire in a basin to the side and the air was damp, like I was standing in a cold sauna.

I didn't know where but there was a person in with a cloak pulled up over his head, he looked a bit imposing, the kind of guy you didn't mess with. In the corner of a cabin was a small loom weaving very slowly, two cloths at once. A red haired boy ran in and knelt before the figure.

"My lord, she has arrived at the palace of Hades." The boy had a light Irish accent and reminded me of someone, but I couldn't put my finger on who it was.

"Good, good. Now we just need Hades to grant her wish and we can put the final step of my plan into place. You've served me well Sean." The figures voice was ancient, but smooth, he sounded like a god but not one I'd ever met.

"When shall we take her?" The boy, Sean, asked. Where had I heard that name before?

"Soon, soon, let them have a few weeks peace, but it will be before the solstice." The figure said. I wished I could see his face, it would give me some idea of who it was.

The boy stood, and I realized he looked like Grace. The same intense green eyes, the same nose that twitched when he was annoyed (As it was doing now) the same fiery hair, like someone had dropped a match on him and it has colored his hair. The same splash of freckles across his nose, he was even the same size.

"Yes my lord, I will return when I have more information." The boy ran out of the cavern and the dream closed.

I woke with the feeling that I had seen something very bad and something was very wrong. I looked around, Camp had been packed up, the fire put out and some left overs on a paper plate next to my head with a note written on it.

"Dear Sham, we found a stream, and went to take a bath be back soon – Grace." I read. I ate quickly and packed up my sleeping bag and walked into the woods. I heard Grace before I saw her, she was saying something about getting dressed and going to find me so I sat down and waited.

She came out of the trees and jumped when she saw me just sitting there with my legs crossed. She put her hand on her heart.

"Gods Shamrock, don't do that!" She said. "I take it you found my note?"

"Yeah I did." I said.

"Oh well we can wait here for the others. Are you going to bathe?" She wondered, sitting down next to me.

"No." I shrugged; I didn't really see the point of bathing if I wasn't that dirty. Grace nodded, her damp wet hair smelled like Lilac. "Did Ares pack shampoo in there?" I gestured to her bag.

"Yeah, my normal kind to." She perked.

"I can tell." I said. She blushed a bit and Annabeth came running up to us.

"You two ready to go?" She asked. I nodded and stood up, pulling Grace up too. I dusted myself off and fallowed Annabeth, Lilly was waiting by the stream, we crossed it and started south. We walked for a few hours before coming to another small town.

"What is it with small towns and where ever it is we've been? They're everywhere!" I shouted.

"Are Small towns a new pet peeve?" Grace asked.

"Maybe."

"What number are we up to?" Lilly asked.

"Three hundred and four, which means that the one that we cured, the 'Dislike of any blue foods' had been counted out." Grace nodded.

"You're counting?" I said skeptically.

"Yes we are, because my goal is to cure you of at least half of the stupid little things you hat in my lifetime, which because I'm immortal could go on forever, literally, so please stop adding new ones to my list." Grace begged.

"Well it's not my fault if you have impossible goals, which you might as well add to the list, a 'Dislike of People Who Have Impossible Goals.'" I said.

"That makes three hundred and five." Grace moaned.

We sat down on the curb to rest for a few minutes. A little girl with her mother passed us and her mother pushed her along the road faster. Grace sighed.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"We're still a state away from Las Vegas." She said.

"You mean Utah?" I asked.

"Yeah that." She muttered.

"Well actually we need to get to Los Angeles. "I informed them. "That's where the entrance to the underworld is."

"Oh good, I don't like Las Vegas." Grace said.

"Why not?" Annabeth asked.

"Too many drunks, drug addicts, and other things I don't see fit to mention. There is no way I am gracing that place with my presence!" I insisted.

"Shamrock, your presence tends to bring mass destruction. Besides it will take a good hour longer if we don't go through Las Vegas." Annabeth said.

Lilly looked at me. "Sham as, much as I hate it she's right we have to go. I'm sorry; we can steal a car and drive through if you want."

I nodded; Grace laid her head on my shoulder and sighed.

"Are you Shamrock?" A voice from behind us said. I turned and grabbed my bow. "I'm going to take that as a definite yes."

"Who are you?"

"A friend of your mothers."

"What is your name?"

"Hippolytus."

"Why are you here?"

"I have been sent to escort you to the underworld." He smiled like an idiot.

"What do you mean to my mother?"

"Your interrogative, but if you must know I am a temple hand, or I was a temple hand, we both hated love, so you can see we have some in common. I helped her after the tragedy that was your father." The guy said.

"Why should I believe you?" I snarled.

Grace put a hand on my shoulder, breaking my concentration and causing the bow to disappear. "Sham listen to him, I've met him before."

"Ah Grace is that you it's been how long six years?" He smiled at her.

"Seven, sir, your allowed to walk the earth once every seven years." Grace said carefully.

"I know!" He snapped "that cursed Aphrodite! She did this to me!" He shook his fists at the sky. "Well it is more generous than what your father got." He said suddenly happy again.

"What's his problem?" I whispered to Grace, Hippolytus was now conversing happily with Lilly and Annabeth like nothing was wrong.

"Oh he's bipolar. Really bipolar, we used to think that it was something psychological. He can go days without sleep when he's in Maniac mode but in the depression mode he can be driven to the point of suicide if you say the wrong thing. Just be careful overall he's a pretty nice guy." She explained.

"Come, come, I have a car for us!" He led us to a small car, Lilly hopped in the front and I got squished between Annabeth and Grace. "How about some music!" It wasn't really a question, he just smiled at us, then pressed the play button and a Miley Cyrus CD came on.

Perfect I was stuck in a small car, between two girls, a moody maniac, with a Miley Cyrus CD blasting in the background. I should have had my mom kill me in the first place.