Alas, I got this chapter done! I'm not extremely happy with it, but I guess it's more of a filler chapter. I hope the next is more interesting! Anyways...

Sansa

Sansa sprang up from yet another dream message from her lovely mother.

Seriously, Sansa got it! Go on this quest, screw everything up, overthrow the gods…blah blah blah. And what was Sansa gaining from all this? Pretty much close to nothing. And what was Hecate hoping to gain from this? Oh, not much. Just ruler of the gods.

Being a demigod was so not fair.

Just laying there, Sansa realized that she might not ever be able to do this again. She might not return from the quest to be able to lay in bed and stare at her decorative cabin. No more head counselor duties, no campfires, no hanging out with her friends. Hades, she might not ever even have to clean this place again or yell at her siblings to do things.

But Sansa couldn't worry about pathetic things like that. She could make it through this quest alive and come back. She was a very much talented daughter of Hecate, her mother had even told her. If Sansa had made it this far in her life, she could survive a dumb quest to the Underworld.

Sansa sleepily looked at the enchanted clock on the ceiling since no one else was awake in her cabin yet. 5:05 a.m. in the morning, it read according to the ancient symbols. No wonder nobody was up yet.

But she was, and she had a quest to leave for at seven. Sansa quietly got up from her bed and grabbed her bag of things she had packed last night.

As Sansa walked by Aurora's bed, she noticed that she too was up already, hanging upside down from her top bunk and putting her blonde and purple hair in a ponytail.

Sansa put a finger to her lips, and Rory nodded in response. They both knew to keep quiet so as to not arouse the rest of the cabin. Besides, Sansa really didn't want to be there when her siblings would have to figure out who would be head counselor.

With one last look at her cabin mates, Sansa slipped into the bathroom and greeted her horrid morning appearance in the mirror. She pulled out her sloppy night bun, which almost immediately turned to its normal flat appearance with a few tangles that Sansa quickly took care of with her comb.

Sansa became aware of just how nervous she was for this quest. It didn't make sense, though, because she had known about it far longer than anyone else at camp. She should be more prepared and ready to go out there.

She felt like something was going to go wrong on this quest, she just needed a sign. Sansa half expected the mirror to crack in front of her, or a black cat to cross her path.

Stupid superstitions.

However, she was confident in herself that she could get done whatever needed to be done. Sansa would be able to go through with this quest, it was just the others that she was worried about. What if someone backed out on them and betrayed them, completely ruining all the plans?

It's not like Sansa was going on this quest by herself or even with her friends. She and Rory had the relationship of strictly sisters. Alexandria, Alice, and Aurora were all best friends, leaving Sansa to be the outsider of the girls. Sansa was on okay terms with the Demeter kid, Carson, but she knew nothing about the son of Zeus other than he was respected and got in fights with Alexandria a lot.

Sansa was so going to fit in.

In just a few minutes she had dressed herself for the quest, choosing to wear jeans and a black leather jacket. Sansa put her aviators on the top of her head, strapped her backpack on, and checked that her staff was properly attached to her belt.

When she left the bathroom, Aurora was already waiting at the door, dressed and everything.

"Somebody's excited," Sansa softly commented, walking past her and heading out the cabin door.

She heard Rory follow her out the door, her lithe footsteps barely making a sound on the dirt. "Not excited, just too nervous to sleep," Aurora responded once they were out of earshot of the cabin.

The morning sun was just rising against the eastern horizon, giving the land and sky an orange tinge. The Big House front porch was empty, as was the rest of the camp. Probably since no one wanted to risk being eaten by the harpies.

Sansa didn't reply to her sister, instead focusing on what to do until they left for the quest. Waiting by the Big House was probably the best option, but Sansa didn't want to risk possibly getting in trouble for being out.

But, it was all she could think of. So she stepped on the dewy morning grass and made her way towards the empty porch. Aurora followed her silently, most likely too absorbed in her own thoughts to even notice the lack of sound between the two.

Sansa took the opportunity of snatching Dionysus's seat since he had most likely stayed at Olympus for the night, hopefully maybe even for forever. Not like it would matter to Sansa anyways if she died on the quest, but at least it was a somewhat pleasant thought.

Rory took the seat across from her and busied herself with arranging the contents of her bag. "Sansa, what did you bring? I feel like I'm forgetting something and I didn't really know what to bring anyways. I mean, who knows what we'll need."

"Um, well, my staff for one," Sansa answered, surprised. "A few clothes, spell books, an enchanted apple I've been needing to get rid of, a puzzle-"

"Why a puzzle?" Aurora interrupted in curiosity.

Sansa rolled her eyes. "I didn't bring it for enjoyment, though I'd like to. It's cursed, I did it last night. Give a piece to someone, even a god, and they'll feel as if they're missing something even if they're not. Eventually, the feeling will get so aggravating that the owner can't do anything but look for the missing thing for days or maybe weeks, depending on whether you're mortal or immortal," Sansa explained.

"That's kind of a dirty trick," Rory said appreciatively. "How big is the puzzle?"

Sansa leaned back in the chair uncomfortably. "I was only able to curse about three pieces before passing out. It's a difficult spell that requires a lot of energy."

Sansa expected Rory to laugh at her weakness of only being able to curse three pieces before passing out, but Aurora actually smiled. "Wow, Sansa, that's really cool that you found that. I wish I could be as talented as you when it comes to magic," Rory said in a dull voice.

"What are you talking about?" Sansa said with a light laugh. "Everybody thinks you are so talented and good at magic, I hear about it all the time. Even Hecate told me. I'm pretty sure she thinks you have more potential than me. I can't believe you just said that!"

Aurora blushed and zipped her bag back up. "I don't know about that," she simply said.

Before Sansa could reply with a sarcastic remark, she noticed a few more people out and heading towards the Big House porch. The Demeter boy was already hauling himself up the steps.

"Morning," the brown haired boy sleepily greeted, throwing his bag in the seat next to Sansa and sitting right on top of it, making him at least a half a foot above everyone else.

"Good morning, Carson," Rory brightly said in response.

Sansa rolled her eyes. This was going to be such a fun quest! "Are you ready to leave so we can be on schedule?" she asked. Sansa did not want to make any extra trips back just because somebody forgot something.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Carson grumbled, pulling an orange out of his pocket and peeling it without much effort. "Next time, why don't the gods do something good for themselves? Like die," he grumpily added.

Aurora gasped. "Carson, don't say stuff like that here! It's not like it was when-" she abruptly stopped and busied herself with arranging the playing cards on the table.

Sansa raised an eyebrow, but let it slide since obviously she wasn't allowed to know what Rory meant. Carson must have understood though, because he was intently interested in the contents of the orange.

The rest of the six were now entering the Big House porch area, and the little conversation between them ceased as they approached, though Sansa could tell that the Alex girl and Ryan had been arguing.

Ally was carrying a binder of papers, which she laid neatly on the table. "Before anyone asks, this is what I spent my sleepless night doing. Researching anything that could possibly help," the black haired girl stated. "Anyone else sleep deprived?"

While everyone else nodded yes, the son of Zeus waved a lazy hand. "Actually, I slept just fine, thank you. I live for this stuff."

"I slept even better than fine," Alex countered. "We kids of Poseidon would die to go on quests like this!"

"Then why don't you just drop dead?"

"If you guys don't shut up, I'm going to curse you so that you can't talk anymore!" Sansa irritably interrupted, causing the two blondes to direct their attention away from each other.

If they were going to argue with Sansa, they didn't because the screen door opened to reveal Chiron and Argus, the many eyed security guard, coming out to send them off.

The plan was that Argus would drive them in the camp van until they got to the airport, then the six of them were on their own. From there, the plan was to take a plane to DOA Recording Studios in Los Angeles to gain access to the Underworld. Everything after that was purely take it as it came, then figure out what to do.

Chiron had a grim look on his bearded face as he sent them off. "You're ready, I take it? You may go and load yourselves into the van then," Chiron calmly said, and they all started to pick up their bags and move off the porch.

"Except for Miss Hayden and Mr. Princeton, that is."

Ryan

"What do you mean, we can't go on the quest?" Ryan objected angrily.

Chiron had taken Ryan and Alex into the small living room, which was sparsely decorated to look like a winery. While everyone else was allowed to load up and leave for the airport, he and Alex got to stay behind to have a 'talk' with Chiron.

Chiron paced in front of the couch that Ryan and Alex were situated in at opposite ends. "Your godly parents have it in their best interest that you two do not attend this quest-"

"What, so they want my brother Indigo and his brother Jack to go?" Alex interrupted with a sneer, crossing her legs on the couch.

Chiron gave her a pressing stare, but Alex held her ground. "If you would let me finish my statement, please. At the meeting last night, Zeus and Poseidon declared that none of their children were allowed to be in attendance of this quest," Chiron finished.

Ryan skeptically narrowed his eyes. "So they're going against the prophecy? Don't bad things happen when you try to go against a prophecy?"

"What inspired them to dawn on this marvelous idea?" Alex added as she pressed her lips together and crossed her arms.

Chiron walked with his hooves towards another door. "Your parents say you show no traits of self control or dignity. Childish and immature, they say," Chiron calmly stated before leaving the room.

The words took a minute to sink in, but Ryan got it first. "It's all your fault, Alex! Seriously, the geysers? If you hadn't of done that, we'd be on that van too!"

"Oh yeah?" Alex challenged. "What about that twister you tried enveloping me in? Or the sucking the electricity from my cabin? Or the rain cloud that followed me around for an entire week just because I went on a date with Kaldon from the Apollo cabin-"

"That wasn't because you went on a date with Kaldon! It was because…it doesn't matter! You're the immature one!" Ryan retorted, standing up from the old brown couch.

Alex followed suit. "Whatever, Ryan. It doesn't make a difference anyhow! We missed our chance. We blew it!"

Outside, the conch horn sounded, signaling time for breakfast. Ryan felt his face fall, the actual meaning of being left behind from this quest sinking in. How were they supposed to get on with their lives like nothing had happened?

The rest of the day went by slowly and miserably. Ryan sat with Jack at the dinner table now, but he felt alone. Ryan couldn't help but feel that Jack was blaming him for the banning.

When Ryan had to give an offering to his dad, he honestly couldn't think of anything nice to say. "Thanks for the support, Dad," Ryan sarcastically said, hoping Zeus was too old to pick up on sarcasm.

Apparently he was, because Ryan wasn't sitting in his new form as a pile of ashes.

Ryan stared blankly at the juicy steak on his plate with absolutely no appetite whatsoever. When Jack said, "Hey, Bro. You gonna eat that?" Ryan just pushed the plate towards Jack wordlessly.

Alex was sitting at her table next to them with Indigo, but she was doing about just as much as Ryan was, if not worse. Ryan had to give it to her, when it came to sulking and moping, Alex was the queen of it.

When Indigo got up and left, leaving Alex at her table all alone with her head laying down in her arms, Ryan snapped. This was not going to happen like this.

He got up from the Zeus table and sat right across from Alex, earning a lot of gasping and staring from the surrounding demigods. Alex looked up. "What do you want?" she exasperatedly asked.

"We're going on that quest, whether our parents like it or not," Ryan stated firmly with his hands on the tabletop.

Alex rolled her eyes. "Okay. Let me know how that goes." Then she returned her head into her arms.

Ryan pulled her arms away from her head. "Look. I know you have pretty good connections around camp. Especially with the Hades cabin…"

That pulled Alex out of her sulkiness. Her ocean blue eyes widened. "Elizabeth!"