Eek! I finished this like 5 minutes ago so he it goes. Happy America or any random comment you wanna put in there...

Chapter 20

We set up a camp across the lake. The only reason we managed to get across the lake, was because Sal could sense the boat route. We willed the water into a small boat, then froze it. I kept the boat frozen, while Sal navigated. Lisa had tried to take a few steps, but nearly collapsed. Sal had caught her. He supported her so she had her arm around his shoulders. She asked Sal, "Do you know what this reminds me of?"

"When I was eight and took on those fifteen year olds?" He responded.

She replied, "That's the one. You were so beat up, but you wouldn't let your mother look at your wounds. You would only let me treat you. I remember your mother was so surprised when I morphed into a sixteen year old just to reach the shelves. That was embarrassing when John walked in and found me treating you. He kept bothering me while I was working and wouldn't leave me alone. He told you to go and play with Elizabeth, but he didn't realize I was Elizabeth. You left me alone and John actually asked me if I wanted to go to the tavern with him. I slapped him and walked off." Sal laughed.

He asked, "You slapped John?" She nodded, then he picked her up bridal style.

She threatened, "Sal! If you do not put me down right now I will slap you!"

"You are in no condition to be slapping anyone. Doesn't this remind you of the time we visited Tidewater?" He shot back.

She responded, "No, it just makes me feel inferior." He set her back on the ground.

"Sometimes, you need someone to help you out. Remember that. Do not be afraid to ask for a little help." It sounded like he had told her this a million times. She started to laugh.

"Alright, now you're really starting to remind me of Brianna, the eight year old philosopher." She said.

"Can we stop talking about my family?" He asked.

She immediately looked guilty, "Yeah. So, would you like to get to know these folks better?" He nodded. "Andy, tell him about yourself."

I said, "Well, my full name is Andromeda Marie Jackson, I'm sixteen years old and I live mainly in New York City. I've moved around from foster home to foster home because I was always told my mother, father, and brother were dead. It turns out my brother goes to camp, my father is a god, and my mother is married to another man. All in all, my life is alright. I love music and singing. I like to dance and I don't like people in general. Apparently, 'Lizzie,' has been stalking me all my life. Oh, and my guilty pleasure Disney movie is the Little Mermaid, even though the story line is completely bogus and the songs are crappy. I mean, who sings songs about wanting to play in the sun? Underwater is so much better." Shannon started laughing like crazy. "What?" I asked.

"That was so random!" She breathed. "Ok. I'm Shannon Lee Greene. I'm sixteen years old and have lived in New York City for twelve years. My mom died when I was thirteen, and I was sent to a foster home with Lisa. I got a job working as a model for old navy. About two months ago I came to camp. I've never had any siblings, nor do I wish to. My guilty pleasure Disney movie is Cinderella. I love Jacques! He is like, the cutest mouse ever! I really want to find out Nico's movie. Oh, and I adore music."

Nico told Sal, "My name is Nico Di Angelo. I don't have a middle name, so don't ask. I don't like people or crowds. I prefer the dark, and I like enclosed spaces. The underworld is just plain creepy, so contrary to popular belief, I don't spend all my time there. I like to skateboard and listen to music, and I don't watch Disney movies."

Lisa asked, "Why not? It's great to be informed when you listen to, After Ever After. Thank you BP." Shannon and I started cracking up.

I said, "Oh, yes. I thank you for spilling a ton of oil in the Gulf, Did you know that is still effecting animals today?" Nico chuckled.

"Only you would point that out..." He mumbled. I lightly smacked him.

Shannon asked, "Just how well do you all know each other?"

Lisa responded, "You know how people say their practically siblings? Well, Sal and I are pretty much siblings. His mom had married a guy who I was working for at the time, and I helped out around their home. The guy ended up leaving them and I stayed. I morphed into a four year old, and he's been my best friend ever since. I have never actually met a more powerful demigod. We should set up camp in that forest. Do you guys still have the smokescreen?"

Shannon reached in her pocket and brought out a small cylinder. "Hades yes! I knew my strange tendency to shove important pieces of equipment in my pocket was a good thing!"

Nico commented, "I have nothing to say..."

"Then shut up!" Lisa groaned as she clutched her stomach. She keeled over on the road. "Give me some more ambrosia. It'll dull the pain," She breathed harder. I handed her the plastic bag. She took out a square and took one bite. She was about to take another, but Sal and I stopped her. I could feel her body temperature rising. She put the ambrosia in her pocket. "It dulls the pain. There are a few after effects. We need to set up camp." Sal helped her back up and I took back the ambrosia bag,

I asked, "Can someone actually lose immortality? Like, have you ever seen it happen?"

She answered dryly, "Yes."

Shannon asked, "What happened?"

Lisa ignored her. "Pick a place to lie down, then go to sleep. We'll talk about this in the morning." Sal set Lisa down by a tree as Shannon activated the smokescreen. Sal and I both said we'd take first watch, Nico and Shannon both fell asleep quickly.

I heard Sal ask Lisa, "What's going to happen to you? You're not good at hiding things from me." She sighed.

She whispered, "I'm probably going to die." He cupped his hands around her face.

"Its going to be all right. We will find a way to help you. You promised you wouldn't give up, and I will hold you to that. You will not die. You said probably. What can we do?" He asked.

She closed her eyes and sighed, "Nothing. You can do nothing. Its my fight. Hades let me come back once because I cashed in a favor and his son was begging. He's not going to let me come back again, unless its something drastic, like an army of demigods barging on down to the underworld within the first five minutes of my death. Its my fight to stay alive. I can't die for more than a second. No one can do anything."

"You can't say that like its inevitable. You will not die just yet."

"I'm not gonna die now. I promised I wouldn't give up and I still hold myself to that promise. I keep my word."

"I know you do." He kissed the top of her forehead and she laughed.

"Really? We are not switching roles here. In case you haven't noticed, I'm the one with most of the medical expertise."

"Doctors make the worst patients. Besides, I'm just trying to help your state of mind. You said I can't help your physical state, but what about your mental state. You said its your battle, so your going to need all your mental strength as well as physical strength."

Lisa breathed deeply for a few minutes. She whispered, "Sal, I'm scared. I know how this ends and its so painful. Promise me you won't let them watch if I do die. Please. Andy and Shannon have never seen death before. You can't let them watch. Not anyone. Not Andy. Not Shannon. Not Nico. No Travis. Not any of them. You are my best friend and you have to promise me." He closed his eyes.

"No. I will not promise because you will not die. I will do everything in my power to keep you alive." He hugged her for a long time, when I heard a branch crack. I immediately stood up. I couldn't sense anything out there.

I asked, "Can you sense anything?" Sal shook his head no. "Perfect."

Lisa croaked, "Shannon moved in her sleep. She rolled on a branch. Thats all. Pay more attention to everyone around you, including your friends." We relaxed a bit.

Shannon woke up with a start. "What...? Is it my turn for watch?" She asked.

"No." Lisa responded. "Go back to sleep."

"Whatever..." Shannon replied, then collapsed back onto the ground. Nico was still fast asleep.

I asked, "Sal, are you armed?"

"I don't need to be. Trust me, I'm much more lethal without a weapon. My whole body is a weapon." He was starting to scare me. He went back to taking care of Lisa.

Sal's POV

As I took care of Lizzie, I couldn't help but notice how similar she was to how she was over 200 years ago. I still couldn't believe I had died. Lizzie was keeping something major from me. I couldn't quite tell what it was, but it was important. Maybe she was keeping it from me for a reason. I asked, "What are you hiding?"

She shook her head no, "No Sal. I'll tell you later."

"What?"

"I can't," She insisted.

"What is it?"

"No."

"Please."

"If I tell you, you won't want to leave and then you'll die. Just please, don't ask." She was begging.

I responded, "I promise I will listen to you. I will follow your instructions about this."

She sighed, "No."

"Lizzie..."

"Sal, I will burn. My body will burn from the inside out. There's nothing anyone could do." I felt broken. I had already watched her burn once before, I couldn't live through it a second time. I still remember her screaming, in agony. The wail cutting through my mind like a knife. I remembered her calling my name, and then, she was gone. My own pain dissipated and... I felt a searing pain behind my eyes, like I was supposed to remember something, but didn't. Was there something else?

Andromeda called, "You should get some sleep."

"No, I'm fine." I replied, because Lizzie was not in a good state, no matter how much she tried to convince me I was fine. I knew Andromeda couldn't sense it yet, but she wasn't searching for anything wrong with Lizzie.

Lisa's POV

When Andy asked Sal to get some rest he should have listened to her. Everyone needs rest, even immortals. The only time I'd seen a person who was immortal die, was when a friend had gotten hurt and begged the gods to let her die. She ended up burning from the inside out. I could feel myself reacting and coping with odd feelings. I felt like I was going to throw up, then I felt fine. I felt like I had a fever, then I was cold. I knew I was going to die soon.

I told Sal, "Go to sleep. You've had a bad day."

"No. Not until you are alright. I put my friend's safety above my own."

"I know, which is why you have to sleep. I'll be fine." I could feel myself starting to black out, but I couldn't let Sal know. I closed my eyes for a second, and the next thing I knew, it was morning. I opened my eyes, to find I was flat on the ground with Sal holding me down. I asked, "What the Hades happened and what are you doing?"

He said, "You started convulsing in your sleep." It wasn't sleep, it was a blackout. At least he was less concerned than he would've been. I was silently cursing my body for basically having a seizure. I don't want to die, but I'm not going to survive this process. There is a reason you can't go from being immortal to mortal.

"Joy." I commented. "This is going to be a long few days. Come on, help me up. We have to keep moving. It takes at least 18 hours to get from this part of Florida back to New York without stops. Twenty four hours is the maximum amount of time we have before I go unconscious for a few days. Alright, we need to keep moving." Sal helped me stand. Andy approached me.

She said, "I'll try to help you stay standing." She pulled me to the side. "I heard you and Sal talking last night. If you're going to die, I want you to tell me, right now."

I sighed, "Look, we don't need to-"

"Yes or no."

I paused. "Yes. You can't tell the others, please. I want to be able to have a little time with you guys, without you freaking out on me. Sal will get angry, and then nothing can stop him except maybe you. I've seen him die before, I can't see it again. I can't watch it, knowing I can't do anything again. Please, don't tell him its a definite thing. Stop him from leaving the camp without you, and learn how to transport yourself in a sea breeze. Tell him when I'm gone I want him to fully train you. Water powers and all. I want you to be able to defend yourself well. Thats the only thing you can give me, a little peace of mind." I was about to break down in tears, but I felt a sharp pain on my back. It felt like something had bounced off my back. I doubled over. I felt something whiz past my ear as I went down. I felt another object impale itself in my shoulder. How could I not have sensed this? I always sense this stuff. It was so painful. I felt like a million bullet ants were biting me over and over again. I heard faint voices, ringing, over and over. I heard arrow, and remove, and push through. I knew it was Sal talking, but only because he knew what to do. I had trained him a while back on how to fix normal things hat happened to me. Arrows was the most common. Once, I had actually gotten a bullet in my arm, and everyone in the town hall was watching me giving him instructions. It was very strange. They all thought I was going to die from lead poisoning. The puncture healed in a few days, and Sal was amazed. As he got older, he understood it healed so fast because I was immortal. He knew that if I ever lost my immortality and got hurt, I would probably die from even a small scratch. The next thing I knew, we were in a car. I saw the green fields near camp. I was leaning against a window. The other two people in the backseat were Andy and Sal. I tried to lift my head, but I felt like a thousand harpies were picking out my brain. Sal was watching me like a hawk. To my surprise, Shannon was driving. I croaked, "Where are we?" Sal let out a sigh of relief.

Shannon answered, "We're coming up to Camp Half-Blood. You know how Kratus was supposed to give us everything he stole? Well, he shot the arrow at us. Its Apollo's arrow. Sal got it out of you. Did you train him in medical knowledge or something?"

I gave a crisp laugh, "I guess he does have a little medical knowledge." My right shoulder hurt like Tartarus. Yeah, Tartarus, not Hades. Hades would be considered Elysium compared to Tartarus. I felt the car lurch to a stop. Shannon cursed. I noticed the car was a little dingy, and pretty old.

"Its broken. We have to walk the last part. This is going to be interesting." No. I couldn't walk for very long. I glanced at Andy. I knew that she would help me walk.

I asked, "How long have I been out?"

Andy replied, "You've been out since Florida. That was about 23 hours ago." I should be knocked out by now. Why am I still conscious? Maybe its because I was out for most of the day I had. I felt a bit stronger than I had earlier. We got out of the car, and Sal helped me stand up. I managed to stand on my own, but I couldn't walk. It was like all the strength had been zapped out of my body. I had a pounding headache, that wouldn't go away and made me feel nauseous.

He helped me walk a little, and then I started to walk on my own with Andy's support. I had no idea how I was gaining strength, instead of losing it. It was so strange, but Andy looked like she was concentrating so hard. I slowed so I could talk with her. I asked, "How much are you helping me?"

Andy's POV

"Not much, and I'm being completely honest. Really, its just your body temperature I'm concerned about." I really was. According to her, she would probably die in a few days. Maybe this is her way of using up her strength... I was worrying about her though. She still walked with me until we reached camp. Surprisingly, we didn't encounter any monsters on the way back. It was so strange, considering we were five powerful demigods, out in the open. When we finally reached the camp, and crossed the border, I could immediately sense the tension everywhere. I could tell Lisa felt it to. Lisa started to 'run' down to the big house. She wasn't going as fast as she could've, but she wasn't going slow either. As he had promised, the man who gave us the quest was there. He smiled brightly, as did Chiron. Mr. D wasn't there, as he normally was.

Eros ordered, "Give me the bow." I was about to hand it to him, when Shannon stepped in front of me.

"Can you help my friend?" She asked. His smile faltered.

The god replied, "I will remove her curse when I have the bow, it is the only way to save her. My curse is killing her."

Lisa butted in, "Why? Did your wife enchant my curse that way? I know how you work, you thrive on love. Love is unfair, but it can also be one of the best things in the world, or so I've been told. Why would you curse someone to never feel love? That has Psyche written all over it. I've thought about this for thousands of years, so don't try to contradict me just yet. You know I'm right. How long have you been apart, huh? She's with my brother, so don't try to deny it. You do realize I'm mortal now, and a shot from a real arrow would kill me in an instant, seeing as I've never felt love, or can't remember it. So, there's your problem with that. I hope you remember your guilt for a thousand years." He notched an arrow, and aimed it at Lisa. Sal stepped in front of her.

"Don't." Was all he said.

Cupid rolled his eyes. "Get out of the way, boy. Now, do you see why this arrow won't kill you?"

"No. I see you're about to shoot my best friend with a potentially lethal arrow." Sal stated, very calmly. Lisa's eyes widened.

"Love is love," The god replied.

"And Death is Death." Nico stated. "You can't bring someone back. That's the first lesson I learned when my sister died." I shut my eyes, this was not happening. Lisa was basically gambling for her life. If the arrow won't kill you because you've felt love, and Lisa thinks the arrow will kill her, then why is Eros saying it will heal her. Sal. He's standing in front of the arrow for her, so she won't die, or so they think.

I said, "Shoot the arrow, Eros. Sal, get out of the way." He stayed put. "Sal, move!" I forced the water vapor to push him out of the way. It didn't seem to affect him. I lifted a garbage can lid, and pushed Sal with it. He was stumbling, but fighting to remain in front of Lisa.

"Do you want to kill your friend?" He asked me.

I rolled my eyes, "Don't you see? The arrow won't kill her. She's felt love, she just hasn't realized it yet. Am I making any sense to you guys?"

Cupid replied, "More than these guys. They are all going to get themselves killed." I tried to pull Lisa out from behind Sal. She wasn't fighting, but wasn't complying. She was just standing there in a state of shock. When I managed to give Eros enough clearance, he shot an arrow straight into her heart. It seemed to dissipate after touching her skin. She gasped. I dropped the trash can lid. She marched straight up to Eros, and slapped him.

Well, I gave you a view into my awesome character Sal's mind, and Lisa's mind. I hope you understand I will most likely never give you a Nico POV unless its absolutely necessary to the plot, or its a one shot that can stand on its own and be ok to be called a lunatic. Show reference, sorry. I do that a lot. But only with my friends. I consider y'all my friends cuz I dislike certain people (pointedly looks at loud kid in math class who makes silly comments and pretends to teach the teacher's lesson, but has no idea how, and I give him clues because he always asks me what the lesson is. Oi ve!)