Continuing from the last chapter... Please rate and review!

I looked up in alarm for the owner of the voice, brandishing my shard of bronze.

"Who are you?" I yelled, looking wildly around.

"Benny, I'm Benny." A figure appeared on the bridge, leaning against the railing. "Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Forgive me if I don't believe you- I have had a really bad day and judging by my luck- this isn't going to end well."

"I can see that." The figure jumped the railing and dropped to the muddy ground. "Eugh, my shoes are going to be ruined."

Now that he was closer, I could see him with more clarity. He had short black hair, that fell into his eyes, and a face that would have made me swoon, had I not already been swooning from exhaustion. He wore fairly regular clothes, plain, with leather finger-less gloves but he managed to make it stylish, even though he had a bronze breastplate over his t-shirt. In his hand was a bow made of the same sort of bronze-y metal as his breastplate, and slung over his back was a quiver full of arrows, and the weapons shone slightly. I looked down, and realized that the shard in my hand was the same metal.

"Do you know how many others of those are out there?" He nodded at the dust dissolving in the mud. "What about.. machine monsters, see any of those?"

I swallowed, thinking. "I-I think there was only one. If- if you had that thing-" I pointed at the bow in his hand. "-why didn't you help?"

Benny laughed. "I wouldn't want to tangle with one of those. Besides, I'm sort of a bad shot- I was more likely to hit you. Wouldn't want to kill another demi-god."

"Demi-god?" my voice cracked. "Y-you're a demi-god?"

"Yeah," he said, walking towards me into the faint light of the bridge. "Son of Aphrodite. Who are you?"

"D-dev..." I managed to mutter before passing out.

What happened next is still fizzy to me. I fell back in the mud. and I vaguely felt hands, pulling me away. I realized that I had passed out, I was dreaming, but it was so vivid.

I was in a room, filled with shining suits of armor. They were 7 feet tall, and must have been modeled to fit Hercules, judging by the muscles on the things. Curious, I walked over to one, staring up at the helmet. It was of a human face, but the features just weren't right. The parts were all in the right place, but it seemed too... perfect. Grotesquely perfect. Like when you see someone, and you know that they are attractive, and they're attractive in the 'perfect' or stereotypical way, but it just makes them seem... not. The face was male, and carved out of some sort of shining metal with love and a careful hand. It was realistic, with tiny hairs for it's eyebrows and eyelashes.

Slowly, an eyelid rolled open, revealing a blank sphere beneath it to serve as it's eyeball. I felt as it it was staring straight at me, into me, into my mind and my soul, and I realized suddenly that it wasn't a suit of armor- it was a robot. I gasped and stepped backwards, forgetting that this was a dream. The armor moved in reaction. It raised a hand to reach out to me, but something was broken, the wrist wasn't finished and the entire hand would dangle, until it finally broke off completely, falling off with a clatter.

"Who's there?" yelled a voice. I seized up, falling into the shadows and they swallowed me up whole.

I fell and I fell and it felt like I fell for eternity in the black void. I tried to scream, or to stop myself, but I was powerless. A face formed out of the blackness. It stared at me with curiosity, and caught me with it's hand, covering me.

The night is coming, said a voice.

I woke up on what felt like broken glass, staring at a grey concrete ceiling.

I sat up so quickly, my spots appeared before my eyes. I braced myself against the ground, getting a good look at my surroundings.

I was in what appeared to be a building under construction. It was bare, and open; the entire floor was one huge room. The only things in sight were some discarded boxes, a few plastic curtains hung from the ceiling, and the bare, lumpy mattress that I was laying on. Something shuffled from behind a curtain, and Benny's face appeared, with concern etched on his face.

"Easy there." said Benny. "You still need to rest."

"WHERE AM I?" I shouted, trying to scramble away. My limbs seemed to disobey me, and I ended up flailing most elegantly.

Benny ducked his head, looking a bit... ashamed, almost. "You're in my home,"

I glanced around again, this time picking up on the subtle hints that showed that someone was living there. There were clothes peeking out of the boxes, and books lined up on the top. The plastic sheets were hung with care, and a few blankets lay at the end of the mattress. "You live here?"

He mumbled, "Well... yeah, I mean, there's not many places a demi-god can stay, having no money and such. I... assume you're a demi-god too- I don't think I know any mortal who can lift a railing that heavy."

I blushed, and looked down. "I was desperate," I mumbled. "It's been a crazy day; I don't know how it happened, 'kay?"

"Day? Try two days ago- you've been asleep for a while. You talk in your sleep, did you know?"

I frowned, looking away and I ignored the part about my sleep habits. "Two days? Oh, God, I gotta get back home- my parents-"

"You still live at home?" Benny wrinkled his nose. He sat down next to me on the mattress. "Dev- you're a demi-god, they must expect this to happen. Being a demi-god doesn't exactly lead itself to a stable life-style."

Then I passed out again, I don't know for how long.

When I woke up, it was lighter. Benny was sitting next to me, his hand on my leg.

"What are you-" I almost screamed, but he shushed me.

"I'm not doing anything to you, just watch," he said. Wary, I frowned but watched him. He concentrated and the rips and tears of from when I was running from the storm-spirit started to stitch themselves closed, weaving and reattaching until the rips were invisible.

I gasped, unashamedly impressed. "How did you do that?"

He beamed. "Demi-gods get powers, didn't you know that? I can control clothes, make-up, jewelry, my physical appearance, love and love-like emotions." Benny wiped his hands off. "How did you think your clothes were clean?"

They were- I hadn't even noticed that but now that he had pointed out, I realized that they were spotless- and I noticed a faint floral pattern on my shirt that hadn't been there before. I was pretty sure that my jeans weren't so tight before either.

"I wasn't going to undress you, so I just cleaned you up!" Benny made jazz-hands and smiled.

"Am.. am I going to get powers?"

"Maybe... depends on who your parents is- who's your godly parent?"

I shrugged. "They don't know- I only found out that I was a demi-god yester- I mean two days ago."

"What? Seriously? Girl- how old are you?"

"Fifteen, how old are you?" I retorted defensively.

"Fifteen, but I've known since, like forever! Most people find out when they're like twelve or thirteen- you're lucky you haven't been killed already! Geez, who's your parent?"

"...My mom's named Aaarti, and my dad's George..."

"No; I mean your godly parent!"

"She's un-un-un-un-un-un-claimed, probable male god parent," garbled the G-Book from inside my jacket on the box. Oh crap, the G-Book, I had forgotten about it. I dragged myself over to it and unzipped my jacket and gently took the book out. It was covered in grime, and the pages were still a bit soggy from two days ago. It quivered pathetically. "Aph-Aph-APHRODITE, goddess of love and-and-and b-beauty. Lover of ARES... ZEUS, m-m-married to HERA..."

"Is that a talking book?" asked Benny. "Seriously?"

I glanced at Benny, wondering if I could trust him. He had saved me from the river banks, I could assume, but he didn't help me fight the Venti.

Then I realized that I was, in all aspects of my life, alone. I was in a strange country with a broken talking book. I was kilometers away from my mom, and my dad was a god who never even bothered to stick around. Benny was the only person who seemed interested in me. I sighed. Why not? "I-I found it. Seems like... some sort of guide." I held it out at arms' length. "I don't know- it talks but it doesn't really help."

Benny examined the book for a moment, before shrugging. "Fair enough. I've seen a lot weirder."

"Please state-state-state-state your name and god-godly parent," murmured the book.

"Benito, aka Benny, son of Aphrodite, at your service." Benny bowed dramatically.

"Wel-welcome BENNY..." it stammered weakly.

"I think it's broken now," I said. "But it gets me across borders- does something to people."

"Some magical objects can do that." Benny lay down, putting his arms behind his head. "They can make non-demi-gods see things." He said it so casually, I almost forgot that we were talking about a magical object. This was a strange world to be dropped into. I swallowed, trying to make sense of everything. Names, letters colours swirled in my head and spots appeared.

"I-I don't feel..." I began, before the world went black.

"De-ev." said a voice that sounded like an angel. Something was slapping me in the face. "De-ev wake up, you're snoring."

"Am not," I said instinctively opening my eyes. Benny was sitting next to me. He laughed. "Not anymore. Eat this." He held up a little square of what looked like crumbly fudge. I must not have eaten in days, because my stomach grumbled loudly when I saw the fudge in his hand. I snatched it from him, gobbling it down as fast as I could. It tasted weird, like a Kit-Kat bar. It was a great chocolate bar, but not what I was expecting.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Ambrosia. It's the food of the gods. It heals you quicker, but also burns you up."

"What? Actually never mind. Do you have any food? I'm starving." Already, I was feeling better. I could feel my wounds start to itch, and I refused the urge to scratch them furiously. Benny smirked. "I have cheeseburgers!" He held out a paper take-out bag from a burger joint. My hopes felled, my stomch growling louder. "I'm vegetarian," I said, disappointed.

"What?" Benny was shocked. "How can you not like beef?" He waved the bag, as if to prove a point. I sighed.

"I've never had it, okay?" I shrugged like it was no big deal. "My mom's family was strictly vegetarian, and so she was too. Do you have anything without meat?"

Benny looked into the bag. "Can you eat french fries?"

I sighed. They were could have been cooked in animal fat, but I was starving. It wasn't as bad as actual meat, right? "Fine." I snatched the fries out of his hands and wolfed them down so fast I started to choke. Benny handed me a cup of Coke to help wash it down. "Sorry, Dev, I didn't think... I didn't know that you were-" I mumbled an assurance around a mouthful of potato, and waved off his apology.

Soon, the french fries were gone, and my hunger was only dulled. "How long was I out?"

He tilted his head, thinking about it. "About three days." he said. "I mean, you were awake for some of it, delirious for most of it. I tried to make sure you drank enough- I wasn't about to try to feel you anything more than ambrosia while you were foaming at the mouth."

"Do you have any more food?"

"Sorry, no."

I started to get up, "Well, let's go get more, I'm sta-" The world spun like a top, and I sat back down heavily.

"Dev, no!" Benny grabbed my arm to steady me. "You're still too weak to start wandering around. We're going to have to wait at least a week before we can hit the road."

My head snapped up, staring at Benny. "We?"

He blushed, and shuffled his feet. "I-I thought we could, y'know, travel together. It's safer with two of us- I mean, two will attract more monsters, but we'll be able to watch each other's backs and take shifts sleeping and have someone to talk to.. The pros outweigh the cons!"

"I'm going home, Benny! Thanks for stitching me up, but I need to get back to my mom! Oh my god, my mom! She's probably so worried about me!" I dived for my bag, retrieving my cell phone.

"NO!" screamed the other demi-god, snatching the phone from me. "You can't use phones! It's like sending out a bat-signal saying WE ARE HERE AND WE TASTE YUMMY to all of the monsters in the area! I've had enough problems with the mecha-monsters that have been popping up lately.."

"You're just making that up," I scoffed.

Benny turned around, grabbing the pathetic looking Greek Book off of a box-table. "G-Book, tell her!" He gestured it at me. "Tell her we can't use cell phones!"

"What the-the-the Hades is a cell ph-phone?"

"Oh, my gods, you're useless!" screamed Benny. "A phone! We can't use phones."

"Oh of course not! Any-any-any-any form of modern technological comunitcation such-such-such as telegraph, Morse code or telephone is strictly for emergency sit-sit-situations, and preferably when you can move away quickly. Monsters can sense you-you-you stronger when you use modern forms of communication Please use other convenient forms, such as Iris-message, postal-postal serivces, pigeon message, or smoke signals."

"Smoke signals?" I asked. "Seriously?"

"Listen to the book, Dev!"

"It's my mom, Benito!" I pronounced his real first name witha sneer. "She doesn't know where I am!"

"And that's good! She's safe, we're safe!" Benny yelled. He stopped himself short to calm himself and sighed. "Look... We can't move- you can't move. If you call her now, she'll know where you are, but so will the monsters. Guess who will find you first? Wait until you can move, at least. Okay? Then you can call her. Please?" He pouted, his brown eyes wide. I tried not to look at them, but in the end I couldn't resist. "Fi-ine!" I moaned. "I'll wait- for now. I still might just fo home when I get better.

Benny burst out into a smile. "Okay! I'll get more food; I'll be right back!" He got up, and rushed out of the room in a way that reminded me of a puppy.

The next day or so, I drifted in and out of waking and dreaming, but I kept having the first dream over and over again. Benny was sometimes there, and he would talk to me whenever I woke up.

He'd explain things- not very well- telling me about all of the gods- some of them he had actually met, which I found surprising.

"Yeah!" Benny laughed "It's weird- you'd expect them to be huge- which they are some of the time- but they look really really average, except for my mom." Benny's face softened a little bit, revealing an extra sparkle in his eyes. "She's always beautiful."

He'd talk about the other demi-gods, or half-bloods he'd met, with their stories-

"Sometimes the gods choose demi-gods to go on quests, and they send, like, dreams that are supposed to help us on the quest- like, a sort of heads up. 'Hey! A monsters coming your way, better wake up!' or 'There's probably a chariot around the corner, it'll make your journey quicker' or 'Your outfit is just tacky, please change' depending on who's helping you."

"The gods help us?"

Benny shook his head sadly. "In my experience unless there's a big problem, only your godly parent helps you out. Even then, it's not often and their help might not even do anything. Last time I prayed to my mom for help in a fight with a Harpy, she threw a shoe at it."

"A shoe?"

"It didn't even transform into anything, it was just a shoe. A great shoe- I wish I had the other one, cause it had a slight heel with a silk- Sorry, rambling on fashion again. Sorry, I just really like clothes," he waved a hand in front of his face. "Like my mom- she's a little useless when it comes to fighting. Give me a shirt, and I can tell you the make, designer, retail store and season just by smell, but don't let me anywhere near a sword or I will somehow main three people by accident."

A huge shadow fell over the floor, and Benny froze, terror on his face. He swore, jumping to his feet and did this weird hand movement, where he clapped his left hand to a his chest, and a shimmery band of light arced over his torso, hanging on his right shoulder. In a second, it solidified into a bow in his hand and a quiver of arrows slung over his shoulder. It was the same bow and arrow that I had seen the night I had met Benny for the first time.

"How did you do that?" I hissed. He scowled and put a finger to his lips. "Magic, don't argue."

He crouched low, drawing an arrow and notching it with some difficulty. The shadow moved, and I could hear the concrete crunching under the weight, hissing, and gears clicking against each other. My heart leaped to my throat. Suddenly I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move, all I could manage was pulling my blanket up to my chin, wringing it. Right then and there, my life was hanging in the balance and the only thing I had to protect me was a guy with magic arrows who was a bad shot. Silently, Benny pulled back the string, aiming it straight at the shadow.

I held my breath.

There was a snort, and more gears spun and clicked, but nothing happened; nothing moved. Then, finally, the shadow moved again, retreating with a grunt that sounded like a car backfired. I jumped, but the thing didn't seem to notice.

Benny and I stayed perfectly still for 5 minutes after it left. By that time, Benny's arm was shaking from exhaustion.

"That was close," breathed Benny.

"That was scary," I whispered. "What was it?"

"There have been mechanical things roaming around the country lately. I've run into four or five of them," Benny stood, putting his arrow back in the quiver. He pressed his hand to his chest again, and the bow and arrow shimmered and disappeared. "They're like a new type of monster. I don't know where they came from but they're good. From what I've heard from other half-bloods, they go after groups. We're lucky it's sense of smell sucks."

"There are more of them?" I squeaked.

"Yeah..," Benny glanced at me. "Understand now why you can't go home?"

I nodded regretfully. Benny sighed.

"We're going to need to get you a weapon."

"You, are a very, very lucky person, Dev-"

"My name's actually Devitka." I corrected.

"-And you are very lucky because you found Celestial Bronze just in time to save your life."

Benny held up the shard I killed the Venti with. It glowed a pale light. "Celestial Bronze is probably the most reliable tool a demi-god can have. It's a sure-fire way of killing a monster. Land a good blow with a Celestial Bronze sword and it'll poof into dust and get sent back to Tatarus, where it will eventually reform, but that's off topic. Bronze like this is one of the most rare metals on the Earth, for the main fact that it's usually mined from Olympus. Of course, back home we had an abundant supply-"

My ears perked up, "Home?"

"-Uh... never mind, back to the point. Even though the actual ore is very rare on Earth-"

"There's no such thing as bronze ore- bronze is a mix or iron and steel," I blurted before I could stop myself. Benny just rolled his eyes.

"You accept a talking book and fudge that heals, but get nit-picking when it comes to metal? Get your priorities straight. Anyway; it's rare, but sometimes, Hephaestus, the gods of the forges who makes pretty much everything (my mom's also married to him), throws stuff he doesn't like down to from Heaven, and that's how you found it. But your luck doesn't end there." Benny picked up a basket and showed me the contents- scraps of Celestial Bronze. "I went back while you were sleeping and found enough for a weapon of your own."

"That's... nice, but I don't think either of us know how to make a sword, or have a forge to make it in."

"We have an industrial furnace downstairs- same difference." he shrugged. "Come on, it doesn't have to be anything fancy, but we're going to need at least a knife for you. I have my bow, but you need a weapon."

We made our way down the building, stopping every ten floors for me to rest and catch my breath. It was embarrassing, to be honest, but I was still weak.

The basement was dark, with a flickering light bulb every ten feet or so, leading up to the furnace in the distance.

"Wow, that's ominous," I muttered. "

"Let's just get this over with," he said. He dumped the shards on a plywood table infront of the furnace and then fumbled around for the gas valve. There was a clicking noise as the furnace tried to spark, then the metal chamber exploded with fire.

"Suddenly this doesn't seem as safe as I originally thought..," I muttered.

Benny chuckled. "Nothing's safe for us." He left to find some tools we could use and I looked over to the table.

In the light from the small window of the furnace, the Celestial Bronze shone. I leaned over the table, examining all of them. Benny said that it used to be something that one of the gods had made, I wondered what it could be. Like a puzzle, I started arranging them fitting pieces together, following the outline of the.. whatever it was. A pole, broken in 4 pieces and almost 5 feet long, was the first thing I put together. I ran my hand along it, feeling a ridge of about one and a half feet long. There was more. I started building it out from the pole, a flat sheet of bronze, extending two feet in either direction. My hands worked quickly, and by the time Benny returned with a tool box, I had finished.

"What is it?"

I wiped sweat off my forehead. "Looks like an axe," I said. In pieces on the table, the axe lay in pieces, but it was unmistakable It was a war axe, as tall as I was,with a curved blade that taped into a pointed shard at the end, perfect for stabbing, slashing, hacking and all your monster-slaying needs.

"That looks deadly."

"It makes everything a lot simpler though," I said. "I mean, we just need to reattach the pieces."

Benny stared at me for a moment, then he burst out laughing. I scowled. "What?" I snapped.

"I'm sorry- it's just- I can't do that! We only took basic forgery at- I only know a little bit- enough to make a knife," he shook his head. "Re-making a battle axe? That's a lofty idea, sister." He giggled once again. My scowled deepened. I straightened my shoulders. "Get out of my way," I pushed him to the side and grabbed a hammer and a pair of pincers from the tool box. I turned to the table, selecting the first piece of the handle. "Go get me a lot of water," I snapped at Benny, before I realized what I was saying.

He raised an amused eyebrow. "Yes, ma'am." He saluted with a flourish and went off, still giggling to himself.

When he left, I turned to the furnace, pincers and pole in hand. I wondered what I was doing for a moment, but it was pushed to the side as soon as I thought about Benny laughing. I opened the furnace door. Behind me, the G-Book, which I had taken to carrying around with me, piped up.

"B-b-be careful!"

"How do I do this, G-Book?" I grunted as heat blasted me, and I could feel my hair curling and hissing in the heat. I ignored it, finding it easier to bear than I expected.

"I suggest a smaller weapon, which-which is more-more-more easily concealed..."

"Just tell me how."

"My knowledge is limited, but you need to hammer them-them-them together..."

I nodded and shoved the far end of the pole in the fire. It was soft and burning white-hot in a matter of seconds, and I pulled it out, despoisting it onto the floor and picking up the next piece. I did the same, but when I retrieved the bronze from the furnace, I lay it next to the first piece and started hammering them together, the G-book interjecting every once and a while. It took a few tries to get it right, but by the time Benny got back, I had done it.

"I'm ba- HOLY SACRED COW OF APOLLO, Dev, what the hell are you doing?" yelled Benny as he returned.

"Hey Benny!" I smiled at him, brandishing the now joined pieces of bronze. "Hold still." I dunked the metal into the water pail he was holding and steam billowed out.

"Dev- how did you-"

"It actually wasn't that hard," I said giving him a pointed glance. "I mean, you just get them hot and hammer them together. I never even studied forgery or whatever and I know that." I turned my nose up at him. "I guess I'm just loftier than you."

"I told her what to do..."

He waved his hand in front of his face to clear the steam. "You have one piece done- are you going to do all of them?"

"That's the lofty idea, Benny."

"I don't think you understand what lofty- never mind," he muttered. "Tell me if you need anything..."

I will upload the next chapter later, not that anyone's sitting on the edge of their seats for it.