Hello, dears! The first chapter of 2013! I'm terribly sorry for not posting this last weekend as I should've and not even posting a notice for delay. I was extremely busy. And as you should notice, June and Landyn's povs are both written by me. Since we have only three povs this book, I have to write two chapters in a row each time. It's an exhausting job.

2012 ended in extreme bad luck for me, so I hoped 2013 would be better. Unfortunately, the new year just awarded me with a lot of homework, tests and undone work for the magazine I'm editing. Ah…how can I expect this year to be a good one if I had been working like a lunatic when it started? (Really, I stayed up till almost 2 a.m. that day, not celebrating, but working)

Anyway, I mustn't hold you back from reading my fantastic work. Enjoy! :)

-Amber-

Chapter 4 June

I ran along the Roman streets, scanning the crowds. No familiar faces of my targets jumped out. I couldn't believe it. How did half a dozen of Greek demigods just disappear? After passing the same armor repair shop for the third time I gave up searching the streets and decided to climb the mountain to get a better view. Soon, I found myself standing near Rome's border line, with Terminus a few yards away. Unfortunately, my lack of directions probably came with a lack of sense for distance. I was obviously way too far up to see more than a speck of a person down in the valley. Dejected, I plopped down, resting my chin on my knees. Why can't I just tell them I'm a Greek demigod so they'll let me go, or wait till I get accepted and find an excuse to get out of camp? How I hoped the problem was so simple. But Apollo had said "conflicts and disruptions" would take place soon. He had warned me to keep secret of my identity. And my instincts told me I'd better escape Camp Jupiter before it's too late. While I was gazing at the sparkling lake snuggled in the valley, scenes of the quest in Underworld flashed before me. The twin giants' laughs rang in my ears. My friends' faces, all bathed in the same eerie red light, floated before my eyes. I subconsciously curled up tighter. Suddenly, I felt someone sit down next to me.

"Hi! You're the new girl, right?" Julia, Terminus' little assistant, asked, her adorable big eyes peering into mine.

I started but recovered quickly. I nodded with a smile. She returned with a large toothy grin.

"What are you doing here?" The young girl asked, pulling out a few daisies from nearby clumps.

I shrugged. "Me? Nothing. Just thinking."

Julia's small nose scrunched up. "I don't like thinking. It makes me dizzy."

A laughed escaped my lips. I realized in a jolt that I hadn't had a real laugh ever since the battle by Phlegethon. The thought reminded me of how close I was to death. I wondered if I knew an axe would be hitting July and Nico would be falling into Tartarus at that time, would I still mull over July and my relationship with Nico. It seems so petty to me now. Now, I'd give any boy to July if it can help her avoid getting hit by an axe. "Thinking makes me dizzy now too." I replied and ruffled Jane's soft hair.

"You look sad, y' know." Jane suddenly said, arranging the daisies into a bundle neatly. "Aren't you happy Jason is back?"

I stared at her. That little figure sensed a lot than I expected. "Well, I don't know about Jason. I've never met him, even though I tried to find him. And…I'm not sad, just…anxious."

Julia looked up blankly at me.

I smiled: "Worried, I mean."

Julia studied me with her childish eyes for a while. Then she put a slender arm around me and said: "They're going to be OK."

"What?" I was stunned. There's no way this little girl knew about all my history.

"Mommy says when people are worried, it's usually about people they love. Like when Mommy gets worried when I get home late from assisting Mr. T."

Unexpectedly, warmth spread through my body to the tips of my fingers. I gently wrapped my arms around Julia and gave her a hug. During all this time in Camp Jupiter and New Rome, no one had actually paid attention to my real feelings. Okay, that means my concealment worked, but still, it was nice to have someone comfort me. Especially if it's a young girl that I can't possibly suspect to be plotting against "the Greek spy".

For some time, I just sat at the top of the hill, basking in the warm sunshine and chatting with Julia about her school, family and how she wanted to be "just like Percy" when she grows up. I taught Julia how to braid her daisies into a bracelet, which made her eyes shine like stars. I hoped the time could just stop there, but a voice, accompanied by familiar hard breathing, broke up our conversation. I looked back, though I already knew who it was.

Bobby's red hair looked like it was dripping flames as he swiped away the sweat on his chubby neck. "June, are you trying to kill me? I almost got caught by Reyna! If she knew I let you wandered off, I'll have to scrub at least a month of the toilets!"

"Sorry." I said as I got up and brushed the grass away from my jeans. "I had a…bad time in the bathroom. And when I came out you were all gone."

Bobby shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe it! I told Susan to check on you!"

My heart missed a beat. All I thought was, this would be a bad time to get caught…right in front of Julia.

"I'm so sorry." Bobby smiled apologetically at me. "Susan is always so careless. I hope you're all right now."

I secretly let out a breath and replied a little too cheerfully: "Yeah. Of course. Thanks for your concern."

"Come on, I'll take you to Octavian. He should be free now."

I nodded. Hugging Julia for the last time, I started downhill.

xxx

To be truthful, I didn't want to see Octavian now. Octavian would be deciding whether I was friend or foe, while my friends from Camp Half-blood (They don't know me yet, but yes, I'm sure we'll be friends) might be able to send me to July and Landyn. The choice was obvious. But I didn't dare try any more tricks, in fear of patient Bobby, the son of the goddess of harvest and farm, would finally lose it. To my surprise, Bobby led me back to the forum, straight towards the wickedly cool warship.

"Um. We're going to meet Octavian?" I asked uncertainly.

Bobby made a face. "Yes, and he's in that ship."

Maybe a ship crew aboard could help me reach Percy. But then, Octavian might be nearby to overhear and decide I'm really a spy. I wondered if I hid in the ship long enough for the Greeks to take off, would they send me directly to Camp Half-blood or drop me back to Camp Jupiter.

Bobby led me to the rope ladder the Greek demigods had used to climb down. "So…I guess we'll have to use this. Uh…do you want to go first?"

By the flustered look on his face, I guessed Bobby was not much of a fan of climbing or height. I nodded and said: "Actually, you can stay down here, if you want. I can handle this alone. No need to trouble you."

Bobby sighed in relief. "Thanks. I'd rather not try my luck on a fragile piece of rope."

I gave him a last reassuring grin and started to make my way up the ladder. Even though the closest I'd ever come across with rope ladders were the ones in kid's playgrounds, I managed not to lose my grip and fall to my death. Before I knew it, I was climbing aboard the Greek vessel. When I stood up at last, my breath left me. Bronze plated hull, neatly lined up crossbows fore and aft, a huge metal dragon figurehead, two ballistae amidships and crates of who-knows-what labeled with words of warning…this trireme was by far the coolest transportation I've ever seen. If you can even consider it a transportation. I walked aimlessly along the deck, admiring everything. Anyone who designed this must be a genius. Suddenly I heard people shouting. I quickly shook off my daze and ventured towards the voices. Reaching the stern quarterdeck I saw two guys there. The one with dark curly hair and an impish grin, who I recognized as one of the Greek demigods, was waving his hand over a seriously complicated looking control board. The other, tall and skinny, had his arms crossed, a look of annoyance settled over his face. For some reasons, a stuffed teddy bear hung at his side. He must be Octavian. Bobby told me he was a descendant of Apollo and was 19 years old. I found it hard to believe. For one thing, he looked much younger. And then, I couldn't really wrap my mind around the concept that his great-great-great-great… grandfather was my father.

I took a step closer and cleared my throat. "Hi, guys."

The two boys both fell silent and turned to stare at me.

The Greek demigod scanned me quickly and suddenly he broke into a large smile. "Come to admire ArgoⅡ or me, the Supreme Commander?" He swept out his arm dramatically and bowed deeply. "How may I help you, my lady? Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, at your service."

I chuckled and shook my head. "I'm actually looking for Octavian. You're him, right?" I turned towards the scarecrow guy with straw colored hair. Unfortunately, my relative was quite the opposite of the cheerful Latino elf. As much as I wanted to tell Leo everything and beg him to take me to Camp Half-blood in his super cool ship, I knew it was not exactly plausible.

Octavian narrowed his eyes. "So you're the new girl? What's your name?"

"June. Bobby said I have to be interrogated by you…"

"Yes, yes." Octavian rolled his eyes, "Because our heroic praetors are too busy accompanying our guests."

Immediately, I disliked the augur. Leo watched in interest.

Octavian settled himself comfortably in a porch chair nearby and asked in a bored voice without even looking at me: "So, how did you get here?"

"Don't know. I blacked out when I was being chased by a monster and when I woke up I was already here."

"Mm-hmm. Do you know who your parent is?"

"Apollo."

Octavian finally looked up. The look in his eyes was unreadable. Leo, on the other hand, whooped out of nowhere: "Cool! You're daughter of the Sun god? Can you shoot sunlight?"

I tried not to laugh. "Of course not. I can only shoot arrows."

Octavian scowled. I suddenly realized that he was probably sore because he was a distant relative of Apollo instead of a direct one, like me. I started to feel a little sorry for him, despite his arrogant attitude.

Octavian continued: "Did you know anything of demigod camps before you came?"

"Yes. My mom said dad wanted me to go to camp." I lied.

Octavian looked suspicious. "Well, that's strange. Normally Roman demigods are unaware of camp until they are guided to the Wolf House."

I shrugged. "Maybe Apollo doesn't like to go with the traditions."

Leo's eyes darted between us like he was watching a tennis match. I didn't dare look at him, in case I blurt everything out at the sight of someone from Camp Half-blood.

"May I ask what monster did you fight that made you so…beaten up? Tattered clothes, roughly cut hair, a broken knife and many bruises and scars…those are quite a lot of damage for one monster." Octavian's cold blue eyes glittered. He seemed to be more and more intrigued.

"I'm not a really good fighter, as I never had any training. The minotaur and some dracaena were chasing me." My brain was whirring, trying to make up the best lie with the least faults.

Octavian opened his mouth to say something more, but suddenly, there was a loud boom and the ship shook violently. A white flash temporarily blinded me. I staggered and grabbed hold of a nearby mast to keep my balance. Octavian was shaken right off his royal seat.

"What's going on?" The augur asked in frantic, trying to get up, but unsuccessfully. I whirled around, searching for Leo. I was speechless to find him standing next to one of the ballistae, calming aiming a fiery headed spear down at New Rome.

Octavian finally picked his butt off the floor. He screamed as he backed away towards the rope ladder down: "Attack! Treacherous Greeks! They betrayed us! I knew this was going to happen."

I pushed past him roughly—no time for whining and accusing, something was definitely wrong. I refused to believe Leo Valdez was that kind of person. I reached the son of Hephaestus and grabbed his arm just as he was going to fire. Surprisingly, his arm burned against my cold skin. I withdrew my hand quickly. "Leo! What are you doing? Stop!" I dared to steal a glance down in the city. The explosive had blown a new crate in the forum, sending citizens screaming and running.

Leo turned and stared at me. I knew he was definitely not normal when I saw his eyes glittered in a cold golden light. Leo said in sort of a daze: "Kill them all."

"No. Leo, you're being possessed. Or controlled. I don't know. Just stop!" I said, trying to talk some sense into him. I wanted to pull his nimble fingers off the ballistae, but I suspected that Leo's grip on the weapon was all that was preventing the spear from already flying into some poor Roman's home.

Leo's face betrayed no emotions. He freed one hand and held it out towards me. Just as I was wondering whether he was giving up or asking for money, flames erupted from his palm. Heat immediately seared my face. I yelped and backed away. Never did I imagine someone could self-combust without hurting himself.

"Get back. Destroy them all." Leo mumbled, re-aiming the fiery spear with a single hand while flames licked his other hand, which was aimed at me. I glanced behind me. That coward relative of mine wasn't in sight. He must've already escaped.

I gulped and faced the ball of fire in front of me. I tried weakly: "Leo? Please…"

The ball of fire flying out off Leo's palm and straight at me cut me short. I screamed and dove to one side. The fire burned a hole right in the deck. I had absolutely no weapons to use against Leo or protect myself. Looking up to see another fist of flames forming, I decided to give up being a hero. Trying my best to pretend to be invisible, I backed away quickly, following Octavian's suit—heading straight towards the ladder. By the time I reached the ladder, Leo had already hit the city of Rome several more times. Feeling like a failure, I gripped the ropes and started to descend. With the whole ship shaking with explosives and the angry Romans throwing various foods and other random objects towards the ship, my trip down was a lot harder than the trip up. Several feet down from me, Octavian was clinging desperately to the ladder. Apparently, he was not a fan of rope-ladder-climbing, as was Bobby. He was yelling with a red face down at the mob beneath us, no doubt egging them on. Swallowing my annoyance, I concentrated on climbing.

Half way down, the ship boomed so loudly and shook so violently that the ladder swung me around. My feet slipped. I screamed in horror, but the shrill sound was drowned by the din beneath. As I hung desperately on the ropes, I saw Octavian yelling at the blond girl from Camp Half-blood. He was already on the ground. Nobody really paid attention to the ship—or me on the ladder—anymore. They surrounded the Greek demigods who all appeared suddenly in sight. Obviously, angry Romans were a lot more capable of searching for Greeks than I was. I watched Jason, the praetor, and his girlfriend get attacked by angry bricks. Percy Jackson was suppressing the Romans with douses of water from a fountain.

I know…I should have tried to regain my step, as anybody with sense should know. But I was so shocked to see such a huge crowd of teenagers, also occasionally adults, besieging the Greek demigods, who to some extent were my allies. It was so unfair. Also, the Greeks and the Romans are definitely now in war. I was glad I listened to Dad and concealed my identity…otherwise, I'd be attacked now too. Unfortunately, the moment of distraction cost me greatly. Another explosive boomed suddenly. Totally unprepared, I lost my grip. No sound escaped my lips as I tumbled towards the ground. I was paralyzed with fear. Nobody noticed. I was going to die, for sure.

The hard ground zoomed towards me in a speed that was way too fast for my liking. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for the impact. However, instead of being smashed into a grease spot on the Roman's already ruined forum, I landed on something soft and bouncy. Rolling on the surface that cushioned my fall, I tried to open my eyes. When I opened them, I doubted my eyesight. Everything I saw was green. Thankfully, the green surrounding suddenly released me, dumping me onto the ground. I groaned as a hand helped me up.

"Good Gracious! I thought I was going to be too late!" Bobby exclaimed shakily.

I was too stunned to thank him properly. "Bob? How…what…?" I faltered as he pointed behind me. A huge green leafy plant had sprouted from the ground the moment I was about to hit bottom. Now that I was not trampling it, the plant extended its luscious green leaves, basking in the sunlight, oblivious to the chaos around it.

"You…you did that?" I asked incredulously.

Bobby seemed suddenly interested in his sleeves. "Well, yeah, I guess."

I broke into a grateful smile and punched him playfully: "Dear me, son of Ceres, I never knew you had that in you! I owe my life to you!"

Bobby grinned: "Nah. Don't mention it. You have to be more careful. Romans are not so forgiving when it comes to their home getting damaged." His expression darkened. "We will show those Graecus how we tolerate traitors."

I shuddered. If even Bobby made "tolerate" sound so ominous, I'm betting their way of tolerance concerns a lot of pain and agony. I tried to think of a way to consult the Greeks without being targeted by angry Romans. Nothing came up. Bobby started to pull me away from the ship. Due to respect and gratefulness, I couldn't do anything else but follow. As we pushed past the mob, we drew farther and farther from the people I'd been hunting for a whole day.

I had the impulse to break away and climb straight back to the ship and announce myself a Greek. But I was afraid Leo would just blast me out again. Or the Roman would kill me before I get into the ship. Also, I might get Bobby into trouble. Big trouble. I watched the Greek demigods skimmed up the ladder must faster than I could've ever done. A dragon suddenly popped into being, sending Romans into panic. The ship creaked loudly and started to tilt. Too late to turn back. Helplessly, I followed Bobby through the crowd. Around us, kids screamed and threw things everywhere. Satyrs dodged around with their arms loaded with food. A huge guy and a skinny red harpy riding a hellhound bounded away from the forum…wait. A hellhound? The sight reminded me of Nico and July. It hit me with a pang why the hellhound looked familiar. It was Mrs. O'Leary.

"Wait!" I yelled. Forgetting everything, I struggled free and ran after Mrs. O'Leary. Faces and food flashed past me. The hellhound headed towards a huge patch of shadow under the broken Senate House. I poured on speed.

"Mrs. O'Leary!" I screamed. The dog zipped past a startled demigod and leaped into darkness.

"No! No…" I cried, still running towards the shadow where my last hope vanished. Reaching the cool shadow, I staggered through the rubble, tears welling up my eyes. I was forced to believe now I was truly trapped in Roman grounds, with absolutely no help from the Greeks. I pressed my dirty hands to my eyes, feeling sobs racking my body.

This chapter in fact turned out a lot more dramatic than I intended it to be. With all those excitement and emotions, I hope I didn't wear you out. This week, we'll be staying in school for 8 days straight—for me, 8 whole days away from home. Then comes our final exams, which will last for two weeks for me. Then, after that, finally comes winter vacation. We will have a lot more time for fanfic then. Also, we might be starting a new fanfic about Harry Potter. Or the Kane Chronicles. Not decided yet. (BTW, is there any Kane Chronicles fanfic around here that's not a crossover?)

Well, that's all for this time! Adieus!

-Amber-