Thank you for being so awesome with your reviews! Sorry for this filler chapter too, but I needed it! As always, tell me if I did anything wrong!

Alexandria

"Apparently Ally was thinking ahead when she told us to be nice to the daughter of Hades," Alex said as she and Ryan took off in a dead sprint towards the dark Hades cabin.

Ryan laughed. "Now let's just hope you were nice enough."

"Me, nice enough? I'm the most lovely, wonderful-" Alex cut herself off as they stopped right in front of the skeletal door.

They both hesitated. Alex hadn't quite thought ahead as to what exactly to ask of Elizabeth Sinclair. Obviously, Elizabeth had access to the Underworld whenever she pleased, which was the destination of Alex and Ryan. However, there was no guaranteeing that Elizabeth would even help them.

Alex pat Ryan on the shoulder. "Well, there you go. You're the all powerful leader so you get to knock on the door!" she congratulated, earning a glare from Ryan.

"Smartass," Ryan grumbled, reaching his long fingers towards the door handle that was so nicely carved into a skull and pulling it back, causing a loud knock to shudder across the door.

Alex held her breath in, not entirely fond of the Hades cabin as a whole. She knew Ryan wasn't comfortable with it either, which was expected. Both of them were used to the freedom of the sea and the sky, not to a confined dark place underground.

The door opened, revealing a pale blonde girl with a sunken in, long face dressed in a royal purple dress. She had dark circles around her eyes, whether that be from being an insomniac or makeup Alex didn't know, and she wasn't going to ask either.

Like all children of Hades, Elizabeth was from a past time, Hades being the only one who hadn't broke the oath before it was removed. If he had children now, they were still too young to attend camp. Elizabeth was from South Dakota, but that was all anyone knew about her past.

"Yes?" her hazily voice asked, her eyes narrowed in question at the two other children of the Big Three.

Alex tried for a charming smile. "Can we come in? It's kind of private," she suggested in a light voice.

Ryan threw her a look, but Elizabeth didn't seem to notice as she had already disappeared back into the cabin again. Ryan reached for her hand to pull her in, but then blushed, which made Alex blush, and stumbled in without her.

Alex had half the nerve to punch him for making her blush.

If the outside of the Hades cabin was weird, the inside was definitely no better. Basically because it was almost impossible to see anything aside for the creepy glow around everyone's bodies, which helped Alex to notice that they were alone in the cabin with Elizabeth.

Elizabeth didn't speak, leaving Alex and Ryan to stand there awkwardly with a silent and unspoken battle going on between facial expressions about who was going to speak first.

Alex won, or Ryan gave up rather. "So, we need to ask you a favor…"

"You want into my father's realm," Elizabeth stated. Her eyes had a far away look about them.

Alex popped her knuckles in anxiety. "Um, that's exactly it. Straight to the point. I like you," she said in approval, which seemed to ease the tension a little.

"Can you help us?" Ryan asked, rolling his eyes at Alex.

Alex almost stuck out her tongue, but Elizabeth pulled something out of her pocket. It was a shiny obsidian key. The ends seemed to be changing shape at every second. "This is a key," Elizabeth stated.

No, really? Alex thought to herself, but decided not to voice that out loud.

"It isn't part of my father's original set of keys, but it is a duplicate. Unlike his keys, which can literally set up a passageway to the Underworld in any given place, mine can only have one place. I've already chosen the place, so it can't be changed," Elizabeth explained.

Ryan swallowed. "Okay, so where is this place?"

Elizabeth smiled, but it wasn't a happy one. "Assuming you prove yourselves worthy of my help, it is in Rushmore Cave, South Dakota. The place where I was trapped for years, unaging, until my father took me out."

"What do you mean by proving ourselves worthy?" Alex asked, hardly even noticing the personal piece of information Elizabeth had just shared with them.

Elizabeth sighed and pulled the key away from Alex and Ryan's sight, her face resonating a ghostly glow. "I apologize, I worded myself wrong. See, I need something from you, too, it seems."

"Okay, what?" Ryan eagerly asked.

"The Fates, should you come across them," Elizabeth started, "I want you to request of them my string that represents my life. In return, you shall offer them my key to the Underworld. You see, my father has recently restricted the amount of time they spend down there, which angers them. If they had a key that allowed them in there whenever they pleased, my father's restriction would mean nothing."

Alex shifted and crossed her arms. "So you're going against what your father's doing?"

"Are you not doing the same, Alexandria Hayden?"

"Point taken," Alex agreed, holding out her hand for the key.

Elizabeth made no movement towards her, instead placing it in Ryan's hand. "Please be careful with this. I don't want it lost. It's all I have for leverage for my strand," she said in a pleading voice.

Ryan ripped off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it into his jean pocket. "We will. Why do you want your string of life anyways?" he asked, taking a hardly unnoticeable step backwards.

"That is my business," Elizabeth snapped, and Alex felt the air almost turn cold. Of course, that could've been part of Ryan's fault because he didn't like being spoken to like that.

Alex quickly latched onto Ryan's wrist and pulled him out of the cabin as best as she could. "Well thank you for your assistance, Miss Sinclair, but we must be going. After all, we have a quest to start!"

Elizabeth didn't answer with anything but a dark stare and a closing of the Hades cabin door. The two of them got a safe distance away from the cabin and anyone else before they tried for discussion.

"So, we sneak out. But how in the Hades are we going to get all the way to South Dakota? Where even is Rushmore Cave?" Alex asked in irritation, looking over to the Hades cabin in distaste.

Ryan gave her one of his looks. "I'm like your human GPS. It's in Keystone, South Dakota. Do you want the coordinates as well?"

Alex resorted to what she did best after Ryan gave her a smart answer. She hit him. "Oh, whatever. Just as long as we get there. How do you feel about hijacking the camp van? I saw it was back from dropping the others off," she told him.

"Actually, I have an easier and faster way…" Ryan responded, but he had a hesitant look in his eye like he was pretty sure Alex was going to hit him again.

Alex put her hands on her hips. "What is your marvelous idea then?"

"We fly to the airport."

"What? Are you kidding me? Your father will blast me out of the air!" Alex yelled, but immediately shut her mouth after a few campers started to look over to the two of them curiously. Well sorry, but Alex could not believe Ryan had just suggested that.

Ryan grasped her shoulders. "Chill out, Alex. It'll be okay. Besides, I'll catch you if you fall or if Zeus decided to blow up the airplane. But what choice do we have?"

Alex pulled away, feeling the slight pulsing of the electricity that ran through Ryan's veins remain on her shoulders. "We don't have any other choice, I suppose, that'll get us there in time," she agreed as she opened the door to her cabin, which they had slowly drifted towards.

She walked in, grabbed her backpack that she had angrily thrown at the wall, and met Ryan behind the Zeus cabin. He had his bag strapped around his shoulder with a few bungee cords attached. Alex didn't want to think about what those were for.

"Drop me, and I'll make sure your life is hell," Alex warned as Ryan strongly pulled her against him. She was almost reminded of how their position was like a dance.

Ryan chuckled as they began to leave the ground. "Honey, where we're going, I think life's going to be hell anyways."

Ally

They ran out of luck in the middle of a cornfield.

And of course, they didn't have the human navigator son of Zeus to give them any sense of location, so Ally had almost no idea of where they were, just that it was nearing night and they were somewhere in the Midwestern part of America.

The plane ride had been relatively safe, getting on had been a little hard but Rory and Sansa took care of any problems with a little magic. They only ran into one monster once they got on the plane, which Carter strangled with a planted pot he had brought in his bag.

Who knew that celestial bronze thorns could be inbred into a simple plant to make it lethal?

Ally was the only one who felt completely useless at this time. And to top it off, she was the leader of this quest, and she'd done absolutely nothing at all to contribute to it.

Even now she was doing nothing as the other three set up camp for the night. Sansa and Rory were trying to create protective spells around their camp since there was absolutely no cover other than cornstalks. Carson was manipulating the corn stalks to intertwine and create a shelter of some sort.

And what was Ally doing? Blankly searching through her giant book of research on what to expect in the Underworld while the cornstalks twisted around her.

Overall, Ally was very upset with herself.

Rory and Sansa warily dragged themselves under the shelter, each pulled a thin blanket from their bags, and collapsed from magic exhaustion. Ally sincerely hoped their efforts would be enough to at least hide their scent and keep outsiders away. In a way, Ally was glad that the prophecy had called for two children of Hecate. Only one might not have had enough energy to cast a strong spell, but with two, their powers were doubled.

As Ally watched Carson work on making some sort of food source out of the dried up corn, she wondered what his purpose on this quest was. Why did it have to be this son of Demeter of all the demigods in Camp Half-Blood?

Ally just felt so awkward around Carson ever since Alex and Rory had pointed out that he was obviously head over heels for her. Ally just never really noticed, she supposed. Then again, Carson was more of the quiet type who stayed in the back and waited for the right time to say or do something.

It made Ally feel like a horrible person that she couldn't return what he felt for her. And then there was Erick…

"Hey, Ally. Can we talk?"

Ally turned around, nearly dropping the encyclopedias she had in her arms. It was Erick, son of Apollo, total bad boy of the camp. From his dark hair to his dark attitude, he had the word trouble written all over him, in Ally's opinion.

Ally pushed a piece of her annoying black hair behind her ear. "Um, sure. What do you need?"

He motioned towards the weapons shed and took off walking towards it in a solemn mood. Ally followed him, somewhat hesitant, but curious as to what in the world Erick could want.

They stepped inside, and Erick closed the door. Ally trained her eyes on the variety of lethal weapons all around, ranging from ancient to modern day made with celestial bronze and imperial gold.

"You don't have to go on that quest," Erick started.

Ally felt her face turn hard at the mention of the quest. "Yes, I do. It's my quest. I found the scroll."

Erick studied her, and for once, Ally found herself unable to read his emotions. "Just because you found the scroll doesn't automatically make it your quest. I don't see why it would be anyone's quest! This is the gods' problems. Let them figure it out."

"It doesn't work that way. We're born for a reason, the gods can't solve everything themselves. I have to go. Why does it matter to you anyway?" Ally asked, feeling this conversation take a bad turn.

Erick forcefully hit the door, but turned back to her, grabbing her face with his rough hands. "Alice, come with me. We can run away from all this. You have siblings to take your place on this quest. Please. You might not come back from this quest," he begged.

Ally pulled herself away from Erick, surprised by the sudden change in character from Erick. "Why is my life so important to you?"

Erick came closer to her again, but this time he lightly kissed her on the lips. "Stay, and I'll tell you."

"I-I can't," Ally stumbled out, pushing past Erick and running out of the old shed, leaving Erick behind.

Ally wasn't sure if that was sign from Aphrodite that she was fifteen and needed to get a boyfriend already or not. Add Carson who was apparently head over heels for her, and it would look like it was a sign.

But Ally was sure Erick wasn't under any influence at all. There were a few things that seemed a little fishy, however. How did Erick expect to take her to a safe place that was any better than a quest? He must not have been telling her everything.

"Hey, do you want some, uh…corn-type-stuff?" Carson asked, holding out a plate of deformed yellow kernels that didn't even look healthy.

"Are those even safe to eat?" Ally asked, picking one up and eying it carefully.

Carson popped one in his mouth. "I'm not dead yet."

Ally sighed and cautiously ate one, discovering that they tasted sugary but dry. "You're also a son of Demeter, which probably makes you immune to produce food poisoning," she pointed out.

Carson crossed his legs on the ground, placing a few more small cobs above the fire. "You're a daughter of Athena. Does that make you immune to stupid moments?"

"Well played, Mr. Williams," Ally said, admitting defeat after she could think of no response.

They stayed silent for a few moments in awkwardness, so Ally decided to take the opportunity to sharpen the throwing knives she'd taken from the supply. Eventually, Carson collapsed from lack of sleep right on top of a plate of corn, and Ally decided to maybe try for a little sleep too. She didn't know if she'd be getting any nights of sleep for the rest of the entire quest, so it could be vital to her survival.

However, she found herself to be in the perfect position to look at the dazzling country sky full of stars, something she wasn't used to due to her Boston home. Ally had studied star charts before, completely mystified by the pure vastness of knowledge that they had yet to discover.

Though that had been back before she knew about her mother's godliness, when Ally believed in what mortal scientists said. But even now Ally couldn't understand how even the gods could control all that unknown in the universe.

Maybe the mortals were on to something.

Ally quickly realized that the star charts made it sound easy to identify constellations. The ancient Greeks really had imaginations when they made them up.

After much trial and error, Ally identified Cassiopeia, the queen who almost caused her daughter Andromeda to get eaten by Poseidon's monster, Cetus, after claiming Andromeda was more beautiful than Poseidon's. That was of course, before Perseus saved Andromeda.

She also found Draco the dragon, both of the dippers, and was almost certain she had found Leo the lion before a dark shadow covered her view that was definitely not Carson.

"Enjoying the view, daughter of Athena?"