I'm so sorry that I postponed this chapter again. But not many of you are really waiting for it anyway, right? (Oh it kills me to say that, but it's sort of the truth as we have so few followers.) I had a terrible time with my final exams last week. I was ruined, practically. I couldn't believe I had done so bad. I had the WORST grades I have ever got in my whole life.

Anyway, we're on our winter break now. It will last till February 17th. I know I said we'd write more frequently now, but I guess that won't work anymore. We're actually at our grandparents' now, and the house has no Internet signal. We have to go on some sort of "Internet pub" to go on the .

Ah, I've blabbed long enough. Enjoy the chapter.

-Amber-

Disclaimer: The concept and anything familiar belongs to Rick.

Chapter 6 Landyn

The Iris message to my Dad and Emily boosted my spirits. More than that, my long, blissfully dreamless afternoon nap brought me back to who I was. I had almost forgotten how a nice sleep without watching over a sick person could do to me. After I woke up in my cabin, the pink in my eyes sent me into hyper mode immediately. I leapt out of bed and ran out of the cabin as fast as I can. As I burst into the fading sunlight, I let out my breath. Nowhere can make this guy so eager to run out that he'd forget to brush his hair than a Barbie doll house.

Looking around, I saw campers finishing up the last bit of their afternoon activities. Dinner must be around the corner, but there's still time for one last thing. I decided to go look for Juniper. Before heading into the woods, I peeked into Apollo's cabin. Empty. July must've already got up. Having no time to look for her, I got the whereabouts of Juniper's tree from a nearby camper and left.

The woods were a breathtaking place. Though I had a vague memory of Drew telling me how dangerous it was when she was forced to give me a tour, I didn't feel uneasy at all. The trees were thick and leafy, casting great cool shades over the ground. Instead of the usual laughter or talking of humans, all I could hear was rustles of the wind and occasionally some animal howling. It wasn't easy to find the dryad's juniper tree in the woods, but the camper's instructions were very clear. I followed the landmarks he pointed out and finally I came to a clearing with a large pile of stone rubble with broken swords sticking out in the middle. Drew told me about this place—Zeus' Fist. The battle field of the battle of the Labyrinth, which took place about two years ago and cost a great deal of death. I shuddered. No wonder not many campers came by nowadays. I could imagine the blood of fallen demigods staining the ground. I shook away the creepy thoughts and scanned the edge of the clearing quickly. I realized I didn't know what a juniper tree was supposed to look like, even though the camper said it was around here.

Tentatively, I called out: "Juniper? Are you there?" Trees rustled. I held my breath and waited but nothing came. I resisted the urge to call out "Here, little tree. Good, little tree."

I tried again: "Miss Juniper? May have the honor of your presence?"

The wind slipped through the woods like a soft laughter. Finally the dryad melted out of a tree (so that was what a juniper tree looked like, I made a mental memo). She didn't look very well. Whereas she looked energetic (or hysterical) earlier today when we met, she now looked defeated. Rubbing her green tinted eyes tiredly, she said: "Mm, the new Love Goddess' son, right? Thanks for what you did at the meeting."

"No, no. I just did what was right. We can't let the Lord of the Wild be overlooked, right?" I said, somehow involuntarily softening my voice. Juniper looked like a brittle twig in winter—one snap would finish her.

"Of course! Grover is very powerful! You should have seen him at the battle of the Labyrinth! He has the real blessing of the great god Pan!" Juniper's eyes sparked.

Before Juniper could rattle off every single good thing of her boyfriend, I cut in gently: "No doubt. That's why we must search for him, and why I'm here now."

Juniper blushed green. "I'm sorry I got carried away. Is there anything I can do for you?"

I asked formally: "I heard you have some kind of clue of where to start our search."

Juniper nodded: "I got a message this morning." Taking out a sheet of leaf out of her pocket, she continued: "One of my friends told me she saw Grover some time ago at Central Park."

"Central Park? And when was that?"

Juniper shook her head in an ashamed kind of way: "Oak doesn't know. She…we, we're not that sensitive to time. She thinks it could have been a few days ago or…a few months…"

"What!" I couldn't help crying out. If the dryad Oak's clue was from months ago, it would most likely lead to nowhere.

Juniper replied hurriedly: "That was exaggerating! We lost contact of him a few weeks ago, so Oak's witness can't be more than longer that."

"Oh thank gods." I let out a breath. "So we should be paying Oak a visit to collect facts?"

Juniper nodded. "Yes. She couldn't tell me much because our leaf message is quite limited."

"All right then. We'll go to Central Park first thing."

Juniper smiled gratefully and said: "Good luck on the search. I can't say how much I thank you."

I flashed her my trademark grin and reassured: "I must thank you too, for such a valuable clue."

"Please…please try your best to bring him back, will you?" Clear green tears welled up Juniper's pretty eyes.

"No worries, Juniper. I'll personally make sure of that." I said confidently. In the inside I felt like someone sucker-punched me. I was going to go on search for someone's boyfriend while I had no idea where my friend was.

xxx

By the time I climbed the hill where the mess hall (if you can call a pavilion without walls or a roof a hall) was, the sun was already half sunken into the sea, like a drop of blood in the water. The campers were already sitting around the stone picnic tables. I found my way to the Aphrodite table. Our table was considerably nicely crowded compared to some others. Poseidon's table, the one at the edge, with the best view of the ocean, was empty. So was Zeus', Hades' and Artemis'. There was nothing so sad about Zeus' and Artemis' but the other two reminded me of campers away. Nico's table was made of those black stone we saw in the Underworld, reminding me painfully how he was now literally in the deepest level of hell, according to Chiron.

I noticed somehow everybody seemed more restless and excited than usual. Lacy, one of my nicer half siblings, moved and made space for me.

"Where were you? We aren't supposed to be late for dinner." Lacy whispered, "Or Drew would make you do cleaning patrol. Oh, and something has ha…"

Right on cue, the Asian girl materialized next to me. "Green, you missed the offer burning! Care to make up an excuse of why you were late?"

I sighed. I had enough things in my hands to worry about. Drew was nothing to me. "Back off, Drew. Contempt makes your face so unbearable to look at."

Drew's face then did looked unbearable to look at. "Wha…How, how dare…"

"He state the truth?" Someone suddenly finished her sentence for her. I looked up in surprise and saw July standing over me. Her eyes were unnaturally bright, her face flushed.

I could feel the stare of other campers on us. "Hey, we're not supposed to change tables, you know?"

July waved me off impatiently and pushed Drew, who was angrily starting to retort, away. "But this is really, really urgent."

I looked in her eyes and it dawned on me. My throat tightened so much that I could barely get the words out. I beckoned her closer and asked quietly: "You found out where June is?" I hoped the din of campers having dinner could prevent any eavesdroppers.

"Ever so good at reading people, Lanydn. Yes!" July squealed excitedly.

"Where?" I asked immediately. I realized I was gripping my spoon way too tightly. I released it quickly and flexed my fingers.

July's excitement faded a little. "You know, when you were not here, something happened."

I glanced at Lacy. She nodded solemnly. She was going to tell me about it before Drew butted in.

"A hellhound with a Cyclops and a harpy on its back shadow traveled here." July told me seriously.

I blinked. It may sound like a dangerous but hilarious group of attackers to one demigod, but this was Camp Half-blood. We could handle this. "So? Is that the attack we're expecting?" I asked uncertainly.

"No. It was Mrs. O'Leary."

"What? Mrs. O' Leary? You mean Nico's, I mean, Percy Jackson's hellhound? The one you…"

July smiled sadly, "Yes, the one I was with in Sunset Park with Nico. The Cyclops seemed to be Percy's half-brother."

"What did that mean? Did Mrs. O'Leary bring any news?"

"They're in meeting with Chiron now."

"And what about June?" My fist tightened again.

July gulped. "I think...I think my sister's at Camp Jupiter."

Words failed me. I didn't realize that I had stood up until I looked around and saw everyone gapping at me.

I plopped down immediately and lowered my voice: "How did you know?"

"The only way June could've escaped river Phlegethon without…without Nico was using the pearl." July said. I knew she had trouble admitting Nico hadn't manage to escape himself. I also knew she deliberately left out the possibility that June hadn't either.

She continued: "Maybe when she transferred, she didn't state the location clearly enough. So she did get sent to a camp. But just not this one."

I stared at her, drinking in her words.

"Simple, isn't it? I think Camp Jupiter would be specific enough for an Iris message." July's eyes glittered in hope.

I couldn't say anything but grin and nod. Now, that's what I call a real clue.

xxx

After dinner was dissembled, we borrowed another drachma from July's cabin counselor and headed straight for Percy's fountain. Within the matter of seconds, we were both standing in the dimly lit cabin, in front of the fountain. The crystal clear moonlight shining through the window was definitely not as efficient in creating rainbows as sunlight, but still, a light brush of colors floated in the mist.

"Ready?" July asked, rubbing the drachma nervously. Her eyes looked more of a indigo color than their usual light blue.

I nodded encouragingly. July drew a shaky breath and tossed the drachma into the rainbow: "O goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me June Loras, Camp Jupiter."

July's hand suddenly closed around my wrist. I jumped. Her hand was cold and firm, almost exactly like June's when she trusted her sister's safety to me. I looked at her and saw all the worry, anticipation and fear in her eyes. Together, we held our breath and waited for the image to form.

In the silvery mist, the rainbow slowly took image of a sort of arena, like the kind of Roman amphitheater, with hundreds of seats surrounding so everybody can see you get beaten up. The building had a weathered and ancient look, as if it was transported straight from the original Rome, only bright glaring lights shone from above. We were bewildered, silently waiting the picture to become clearer. Finally, the image zoomed in on a familiar slight figure with her back towards us. Even though she was wearing a new purple shirt and strange-looking armor; even though her once beautiful long hair was now jaggedly cut shoulder-length, I still knew the instant she came into focus that she was our June Loras.

"J-June?" July choked. She let go of my wrist and reached towards the image uncertainly.

June stiffened visibly. She looked back. Then everything happened so fast we had absolutely no time to react. June's sky blues eyes widened in surprise which turned into horror immediately. Before we could say anything, she ended the Iris message with one quick swipe of her hand, leaving us in the darkness of Percy Jackson's cabin.

For several minutes, we just stood there, shellshocked. Every detail of the fleeting sight of the girl I'd been thinking of ever since we'd met came to me as clearly as photographs. She was no longer the girl I lead into Sunset Park. There were dark circles under her pretty eyes. Then add in her chopped hair and various bruises and scars, she'd become a rough survivor who had seen too much for her good. My heart felt like it was being teared into a million pieces as the short Iris message kept replaying in my mind's eye.

Finally, July broke the spell. "She...she...We shouldn't have made that message."

I knew what she meant. The only reasonable explanation for June's immediate ending of the message was that she had company that she didn't trust to see us. "Yeah, it was thoughtless.

We might have got her into trouble."

"But...but," July's voice dropped into a mere whisper, tears spilling out at last. "I wanted to see her so bad. I had to confirm my presumption."

I put my arm around her shoulders and gave her a little squeeze. "I know, I know. So did I."

"Hope we didn't really get her into trouble." July said thickly.

I smiled: "Of course not. Even if we did, your sis would make up a ridiculous cover-up story for the incident within seconds! She can take care of herself. Don't worry. Now, let's get out of here. I don't think we should trespass Percy's private territory any longer."

July agreed miserably and followed me out. Once we got out, I realized we must have missed out something important. Campers were gathering in the opening in the middle of the cabins. People were talking and chatting in groups, occasionally calling out to other groups, as if passing on information. I exchanged a look with July and we parted and ran towards our cabin mates quickly.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked as soon as I reached where most of my half brothers were standing.

Josh, the guy whose bunk bed was next to mine, replied seriously: "You haven't heard? Whoa, could you miss anything more important, man?"

"Just tell me what happened!" I urged impatiently.

"There's saying that Romans are going to war on us!"

"What?" I thought I heard wrong.

"Someone heard Tyson, you know, the Cyclops, Percy's half brother, tell Chiron that Leo and the others messed up. Something about they started attacking New Rome and now are escaping on Argo II . The Romans were pissed and declared war on us."

I felt the ground spin beneath me. Greeks and Romans at war? I could only note the point that June was now in Camp Jupiter. A single Greek in the midst of hostile Romans. Now I understand her look of horror.

xxx

The next morning at breakfast, Chiron announced the news of the Roman's declaration of war. He ordered that we now prepare negotiation and war on both hands. The grave look on the old horse-man's face was enough to make even the noisiest Hermes' kid shut up.

"But we still have to look for Grover, right? He is meant to be found! We need him if we want to stand against the Romans!" Juniper materialized behind Chiron, rambling off, even though I suspect she knew nothing about Romans.

Chiron sighed in surrender and said: "Yes, yes, my dear Juniper. We won't let Grover be lost to the world."

He trotted over to us after breakfast broke up and handed us each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag of ambrosia to add to our backpack of questing useful trinkets. I bet while I was having quite a hard time getting all I needed from the pile of makeup in the doll house of a demigod cabin last night, July's responsible cabin mates was showering her with all kinds of cool Apollo weapons and tools. Chiron patted us in a blessing sort of way and said: "Take care, demigods. Never let your guard down and don't do reckless things. Also, return to camp the instant I call you to. We never know what might happen."

Just as we were about to leave, Rachel came running over. "Wait!" She called breathlessly. We stopped our tracks. Rachel's bright green eyes flashed worriedly as she told us: "I had a vision about your journey. I think you'd better avoid underground parking lots and abandoned building sites."

"Why? What did you see exactly?" July asked in confusion. "It doesn't seem like Grover would be kidnapped into a parking lot. That sounds too like a cheap action movie."

Rachel shook her head. "I don't know. The vision wasn't really clear. Just be more careful near those places, Okay?"

We promised her we wouldn't and she ran off as quickly as she came after hugging July one last good-bye.

On that happy note, we boarded Argus the secure-guard-with-a-hundred-eyes' van and set off.

How do you think? I know this chapter is a little short and I must admit it isn't one of my better chapters. We've stated a couple of times before that we may be starting a Harry Potter or Kane Chronicles fanfic soon, but I regret to tell you, that might not be happening. I figure out we can't spare anymore time to write two fanfics at the same time, plus, an idea of a totally original story is forming in our minds. Compare to fanfic, which is not that original and requires punctuality once we post the first chapter on , a original story has more appeal to us. Sorry for the false hope we gave you, if any of you really did hope to see more of our works.

I find myself quite voluble today. Enough for my useless ramblings. Please remember to REVIEW!

-A-