My turn, finally! It seemed like ages since I last wrote. I am supposed to be preparing for the final exams, which will take place in about three days. (I know, it seems like we have a LOT of exams. It's the truth. The exams we have to take is twice as many as normal students do.) But yeah, I am sitting here typing chapter 5. I just can't keep myself from it. Haha. So, hope you enjoy!

-H-

Chapter 5 July

Landyn stepped aside and allowed me to stand closer to the fountain, still looking wistfully into the rainbow. I gripped the large gold coin in my hand and bit my lip. The truth was, after I saw how Landyn's parents reacted to his Iris message, I wondered if my mom would be so cheerful too. Unlike Landyn's dad, Mom never remarried. And Landyn still had a little brother back home whereas June and I were the only ones that she got and now we were both gone. Most probably, Mom would be pissed and start yelling. I know she would be more worried than angry but it's still pretty scary. Still, I missed her so bad.

"What are you waiting for?" Landyn prodded me. I glanced at him nervously and got a reassuring nod in return. Bracing myself as best as I could, I threw the drachma into the multi-colored mist. It shimmered and disappeared. I cleared my throat and said loudly: "O goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Adelaide Loras." Then I gave the address of my home.

A messy and cramped art studio that looked more like a room came into sight. My mom was sitting in front of a blank canvas with a brush in her hand. Her hair was tied in a low messy ponytail. There were dirty color streaks on her hands, arms and face. Her face was as blank as the canvas. I heard Landyn say "wow" under his breath.

"Mom." I managed through a tight throat. Normally, I was never allowed to interrupt her when she was working with paint brushes. But I knew she couldn't really paint now. Her heart was somewhere else.

She took no notice that she saw me. But apparently she had heard me.

"Oh dear. Now hallucinating? Aren't bad dreams enough?" My mom threw down her brush and rubbed her eyes tiredly. She's been having nightmares?! I thought, struck with guilt.

"Mom!" I called a little louder. "Look over here!"

She tensed instantly and turned around slowly, just like what June did when Nico had Iris messaged her last time. After a second, she finally caught sight of me.

"Oh god. I must have fallen asleep when I was painting!" She muttered, staring at me with wide eyes.

I laughed and assured her: "No, Mom. It's really me."

"But how could you…" She shook her head and murmured in disbelief.

"This is an Iris message. We're not really there…here, whatever. We're at Camp Half-blood." I tried to explain.

"Iris…yes." Mom nodded slowly as if waking up from a dream. Suddenly her tired and weary face changed in to an angry one, brows furrowing so close together that they nearly formed a line.

"So it is you at last! For all this time, why on earth didn't you call home once?" She shouted in fury. "Anything could've happened! Reporting missing children is annoying business, don't you know? And why isn't your sister showing her face? Ashamed, I hope? YOU SHOULD BE!"

I winced and glanced at Landyn to make sure he hadn't been scared into running away. He grimaced and then mouthed "ouch".

"Sorry Mom! I wanted to call, I really did. But I couldn't. We were somewhere …that can't receive signal." I couldn't just say "We've just been to Hell", could I?

"Typical excuse." Mom huffed, crossing her arms. "I…I had expected it, though." She said suddenly. I noticed a little quaver in her voice. "When your sister told me about your quest after you went running off with that up-to-no-good kid, I knew it would be dangerous. I was so worried."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mom." I apologized again. I didn't know what else to say.

"Well, at least I see you're in one piece." Mom sighed. "I'm not going to ask about that task though, it'll give me nightmares."

I let out a breath. No more shouting, thank goodness.

"Where's your sister? And that Nico boy?" Mom asked again.

"Um." I stuttered. I had known she would ask and I had thought of a million ways of answering. But now that she really did, I found myself tongue-tied.

"They, uh, they are..." I said feebly.

Landyn suddenly popped up beside me. "They're having Ancient Greek class, Mrs. Loras." Then added after a second's consideration: "We had them in the morning." I threw him a grateful look.

Mom jumped at the sight of him. "So they are…who is he, July? Is he a new friend?" She questioned, eyes narrowing on me.

"Mom, this is Landyn Green. We met him on the task." I explained hastily. "He's been great help, uh, got us out of tight corners a couple of times."

"Why, thank you Landyn." Mom beamed at him. I didn't know how she does it, being so stern with June and me while being so kind and gentle to other kids. Like how she reacted when I brought Nico to her. She must have double personalities.

Landyn flashed her a dazzling smile and replied: "Not at all. I'm really pleased to be able to call myself your daughters' friend."

Just at that time, I realized that the image was getting blurry.

"Hurry up, July. Time's almost up. I leave you to talk with your mom." Landyn said urgently and swiftly walked away.

"I'm sorry, Mom." I said for the third time.

"It's okay, honey. Just try to be safe, ok?" Mom smiled at me, trying to hide her sadness.

"We will, I promise." I assured her. "This kind of message needs money, and we don't have a lot of those, so we won't be messaging you much, ok?"

Mom nodded. "Come home for your birthday, will you?" She said, with a hint of pleading in her voice, which I could barely hear then. I bit my lips and nodded.

"Bye, honey. Love you!" She cried, her image almost disappearing completely.

"Bye." I called. And the image dissolved into mist.

"Love you too." I whispered to the rainbow, feeling emptier than ever. The fountain gurgled happily in the background.

xxx

Landyn was leaning on the wall outside the cabin when I came out.

"Hey, are you alright?" He asked in concern, catching up with me.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I tried my best to sound cheerful. "I hope you weren't scared by my mom."

"Nah. She does have a temper, doesn't she? I can see the resemblance." He teased.

"Ha ha. Thank you." I said rolling my eyes.

"Why don't you go to your cabin, clean up and get a nap?" Landyn said. "You've just recovered and I don't want you to tire yourself."

I nodded. Now that he mentioned it, I did feel pretty tired, even though as far as I remember, I hadn't done much except walking and talking. My shoulder was aching a little again.

"What are you going to do then?" I asked.

"I think I'll go find myself a new weapon." Landyn said casually.

"What?" I said blankly. "What about your gun?"

"Oh right, you don't know yet." He said, sounding heavy all of the sudden. "Well, your sister took it just before we left for camp."

I stared at him, trying to make something out of what he just told me. Why did June take Landyn's gun? Horrible scenes of the shore of Phlegethon bathed in red flashed across my mind. Landyn had told me briefly about what happened after I passed out, but I recall no information about June taking his revolver.

To my surprise, Landyn suddenly stopped in his track and kicked a clump of dirt violently.

He growled in frustration. "It's all my fault! My stupid, unbelievably bad aim! I'm useless-"

"Stop it, Landyn!" I cried in alarm. Some campers on the basketball court turned and looked in our way. Landyn stood with his head hung low and hands balled tightly.

"I couldn't help her. I let her face the giants all by herself." He said in a hollow voice. I stared at him, not knowing what to do. This was the first time I had seen Landyn in such a pained expression. Nico may be the most fearless of us four, but it was Landyn that was the one who was always confident and cheerful.

After a pause, I put my hand tentatively on his arm. "How could it be your fault?" I said softly. "You saved my life. And only you could've done it… Now, you're not regretting saving me, are you? I'm not that worthless." I added, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

"No, that wasn't what I meant." Landyn said lowly. But his fist unclenched. "I wouldn't forgive myself if I let you die either."

"And I didn't die, neither did June. So stop blaming yourself. I think you should get some rest too." I said sternly. He allowed me to lead him back to the Aphrodite cabin.

"Ok, I'm leaving you here. Try not to kill yourself when I'm gone, will you?" I said as we stood in front of the "doll house".

"Sorry." Landyn murmured. "I was being stupid. I was supposed to be cheering you up, not the other way around."

"Come on, we're friends! Of course it can the other way around. Now just get some sleep, ok? I'll see you later." I shoved him into his cabin. He turned around and managed a smile.

"Thanks." He said.

"No prob." I grinned. Then I watched him disappear in pink and laces.

I turned on my heels and headed back to the Apollo cabin, feeling worn than ever. I sure hoped Will had my bed prepared.

As I entered the cabin, I scanned the place. It had huge windows to let in plenty of sunshine. The floor was cool smooth marble which I really liked. Aside from a dozen of bunk beds, every kind of musical instrument were scattered here and there. In a corner, there was a long desk with vials and glass jars of all shapes and sizes on it. Above the desk there were shelves on the wall that had bottles, jars, baskets of herbs and other medicine ingredients. Bows, quivers of different fashion hung on other walls along with numerous dart boards, most of which had photos of people as bull's eye. Other than those, it looked just like a place where a dozen of teenagers live.

I was glad that there weren't much people in the cabin at the moment. I didn't feel like introducing myself or meeting any new half-siblings. All I wanted was a nap.

"Hey, July, back from your camp tour?" Someone said suddenly. I spun around and realized it was a dark haired girl who was reading in one of the bunk beds.

I nodded and asked, wondering how she knew my name: "Yeah. Do you happen to know which bed is mine?"

The girl answered: "As a matter of fact, I do. Your bed is just the one next to mine. I'm Rebecca, by the way."

"Thanks Rebecca." I grinned at her and made my way to the bed.

"I guess you're tired?" Rebecca asked as I slipped into bed. I nodded.

"You should be. That was a nasty scar down your shoulder blade."

"What?" I said in surprise, reaching down my back to feel the scar. It was almost a foot long, starting from my shoulder. I winced. "I didn't know there was a scar. How did you know anyway?"

"I was the one who helped clean you up after you ended up here unconscious." She said.

"Well, thanks." I said awkwardly. But Rebecca was already absorbed in her book again. I sighed and closed my eyes.

xxx

I found myself sitting on a little grass slope in Sunset Park. Nico di Angelo was sitting next to me.

Nico said nothing. I waited, staring at his face. Under his wind swept black hair, there was a slight crease between his eyebrows. Beneath, his eyes were looking out at the setting sun. They didn't seem black anymore, but dark golden.

The scene shifted and we were suddenly standing in a balcony that looked over Elysium.

He turned his face up and my eyes meet a pair of mid-night eyes so deep I felt like I fell through it and lost myself. After staring at him idiotically for several seconds, I managed to pull myself out of his gaze and said, trying to act casual: "You're such a baby. Do you still need to hold on to your sister's finger when you cross a road?"

Nico gaped at me, apparently wondering why the atmosphere changed suddenly. Then, recovering from surprise, he taunted back: "If I'm a baby, you totally are too! Why, can't sleep because your sister didn't sing you a lullaby?"

The image dissolved once more and June was suddenly staring at me with cold eyes.

"I've decided that there is no reason that I have to give him up for you. You don't deserve him." She said calmly.

My face heated up immediately. I did not like how this was going. "What does that mean? I thought…didn't you say…what do you mean, I don't deserve him?" I was so angry that I didn't know what to say. "I knew you would regret your decision!"

"Well, you and I aren't that much different. I like Nico as much as you do. But you only make him worry, always so careless and troublesome. He will get tired some day, tired of looking after you. Unlike you, I'm so much more helpful in the quest. He needs someone like me, not you." She said in a matter-of-fact tone, lips curling into a cold smile.

I woke up with a start, the unfamiliar indifferent face of my twin still swimming in my head. How did such a good dream turn into a nightmare? I lay in bed motionlessly with June's voice filling my head. I knew it wasn't really her, but the scary thing was, the more I think about it, the more truth I sense in "her" venomous words. It wasn't fair for June. We both liked the son of Hades. And I didn't even know what Nico thought. There was no sign that he liked me. We just had a few private talks. That didn't mean anything. The more I thought about it, the heavier my heart got. It's hardly the time to think about such things. I scolded myself. The only thing you should be concerned about is their safety at the moment. As long as I can have them back with all limbs and right minds, Nico can choose June and I will feel happy for them. I choke backed a sob and took a deep breath.

I pushed myself up from the bed and looked around. No one was in the cabin. Probably all the other campers were doing afternoon activities. The orange Camp Half-blood T-shirt that I had slept in was all crumpled. Luckily I found my old clothes at the end of my bed, all cleaned and mended. Rebecca probably had done it-I have to thank her later. I took them to the bathroom and started to change. As I pulled the camp T-shirt off, I revealed the scar on my shoulder. It was pretty nasty. It wasn't too jagged or lumpy, but the long, dark red line was still ugly. Great, permanently marked to remind myself of my stupidity. Disgusted by the sight, I put my old T-shirt back on quickly.

When I got out of the house, I realized that the sun was a lot lower in the sky than I had last seen it. How long have I slept? I thought and started towards the Aphrodite cabin. When I arrived at the door, I stretched my neck and peered inside. I managed to spot Landyn sleeping by a window with laced curtains.

"Still sleeping?" I muttered under my breath. Just then, I heard a girl's voice behind me.

"You bet he is."

I turned around sharply and found myself staring at curly hair as red as fire. It was Rachel.

"Hi, July. I hope I didn't startle you." She grinned.

"Oh, you sure didn't." I replied, smiling back. "Nice to see you again too, Rachel."

She looked into the Aphrodite cabin too and said: "Your boyfriend barely slept a wink when you were at the infirmary."

"I told you, we are just friends-Buddies, mates, pals, just not boyfriend and girlfriend." I said indignantly. But another part of me was thinking: He didn't sleep for a whole night because of me?

"Oh sorry." Rachel laughed. "I forgot. I won't say it again. Don't be mad."

I sighed, regretting a little that I lost temper. "I'm sorry too."

"It's ok." Rachel smiled good-naturedly. Then we decided that it was best to leave Landyn asleep so we turned and walked away from the "doll house".

"You know what?" Rachel said after a second. "I think I know a place that you would like visit. Care to go?"

"What place?" I asked curiously. There was still some time before supper and I had nothing to do. Rachel's proposal sounded interesting.

"Just follow me." She said mysteriously. So I did.

We walked past the 12 cabins of the Olympian gods and into another collection of strange buildings. More cabins, I assumed. I observed a building made of large blocks of stone that had glowing symbols etched on them. Another cabin looked more like an old-fashioned prairie house with mud walls and a rush roof. Rachel kept walking until we were standing in front of a building that was almost entirely black, with walls made of obsidian. A skull hung over the door and the torches on either side burned with emerald flames.

It was the cabin of Hades - the cabin of Nico di Angelo.

I looked at Rachel with wide eyes. She merely nodded.

"He didn't used to come here often when the cabin was just built. A loner, he claims he is. I bet he has a bedroom in Underworld anyway." Rachel said thoughtfully. "But recently he was here more frequently, that is, before he went on that quest with you. Collecting information of the Roman Camp for us, you know. I still don't understand why he didn't tell us that Percy was there. It could have sped things up."

I nodded absent-mindedly.

I walked closer to the building and put a hand on the cold solid wall. The cabin reminded me so much of Nico himself that it hurt.

"He's special to you?" Rachel asked, appearing beside me. I shook my head. But after a second, I nodded. We stood there mutely for a couple of minutes before I drew back my hand and turned to walk away from the building. Rachel followed suit.

We walked in silence on the out skirts of the forest for a few seconds and I decided it was rude if I didn't pick up a conversation with Rachel. She was trying to be nice to me, after all. If I wanted to mourn over the life or death of some certain people, I could visit the cabin again alone some time later.

"So, uh, why don't you tell me something about the Roman camp, Rachel?" I forced myself to ask.

Rachel seemed glad to have something to talk about.

"Well, we knew nothing about the Roman camp until Jason, a son of Jupiter, came here several months ago. Boy, it was a shock." She said. "We, I mean the campers here, had always thought Camp Half-blood was the only camp for demigods. It never occurred to us that would be two camps existed at the same time, respectively worshiping the Greek and Roman aspects of the gods…"

I was silent when I listened to her explain. Then suddenly, a phrase stood out in my mind-two camps. Landyn had got me and himself transferred to Camp Half-blood when it was clear we were going to fail the battle on the shore of Phlegethon. June was supposed to be transferred to Camp too right after we did. Maybe June did smash her pearl…An idea hit me like a tsunami.

Oh Hades curse me. Why hadn't I thought of it before! I swore under my breath.

"What?" Rachel asked, apparently confused.

"Oh nothing." I said in a hurry. "Thanks for telling me about the Roman camp. Uh, something urgent camp up. See you later!"

I didn't wait for Rachel to respond before I turned and ran towards the Aphrodite cabin.

"Landyn! LANDYN!" I shouted. I was bursting to tell him: What if June had transferred to camp, but the wrong one?

Sorry to let you down, those who had expected to hear some news about Grover! I promise, no, I swear on River Styx, you'll hear about him in the next chapter. Actually, I have been thinking about his disappearance for quite a long period of time. And with the help of 'Crystal di Angelo', we finally settled it today.

So, not much action in this chap. I hope I didn't bore you. Please R&R!

-Hazel-