'Okay, genius. What makes you think that this is the right way?' Thalia asked. She seemed to have a problem with me leading the way.

I know that she has been wanting to ask that question ever since we got into the secret passageway. I can tell that she's been staring at me strangely, like questioning whether following me was a good idea or not.

I sigh, 'Don't you ever watch a film? This is the kind of way that kings use to escape their castle.'

Thalia rolls her eyes, 'This is not a film.'

I laugh, 'When you learnt that you're a child of a god. It changed all your perspective of reality and fiction.' I turn halfway to Thalia, 'What you've seen in films might actually be the true reality.' I smile to her, turning on my maximum charm, hoping that what I just said would be cool enough to mesmerize her.

Thalia rolls her eyes again, it doesn't seem to have worked very well. I sigh again.

'Trust me, this is the right way.' I assured her, even though I'm not certain myself.

I keep walking with Thalia following me from behind. Finally, we come across to a dead end. There's nothing ahead except a solid wall blocking our way.

'A dead end?' Thalia looked more confused, rather than angry.

It is unusual that they would put a dead end in a secret passageway; after all, being a secret and all, it should've leaded somewhere.

I examine the wall that is right in front of us. There's probably another secret button right on the wall. It makes sense, to make sure that only people, who truly know about this passage, are the only one who can pass.

I checked the wall in front of me completely, but there's nothing whatsoever. I turn to the right side of the wall, and then I examine it as well.

I run my hands on the wall and putting some forces behind them. I managed to push something inside, and then I smile. I pinpoint that particular part with my eyes, and then I push it with my hand. A block, the size of my hand got pushed inside, and then we can hear the gears working.

Click! I smile yet again at that sound.

The wall right in front of us is being lifted up.

I turn to Thalia and grin. Thalia manages a smile, like saying "Fine, you were right all along.". Of course, she would never say those words in a million years. I have only been spending a week or so with this huntress of Artemis, but it feels so much longer than that.

I walk outside of the secret passageway, but it's not the exit that we walk into. It's another hallway that stretches out forever. I sigh; this is starting to get really confusing. The hallway is like the exact replica of the hallway before. The big white columns, lined up

'Did you hear that?' Thalia asked.

I look at her, confused; there is nothing but silence in the air.

Thalia freezes, like putting all her concentration in hearing that something. A few seconds later, I hear it as well, it's music. Somewhere alongside this hallway, someone is playing an instrument, and it's beautiful.

Thalia follows the sound of the music, there's a part of me that wants to argue, but I decide to keep it to myself. After all, things that appear beautiful in the bad guys' lair, they're usually deadly and dangerous. Although it might not be so bad, the good guys usually always escaped the deadly pretty things.

We keep walking forward, and the sound of the music gets clearer and clearer. Finally we come across a room on our left. Thalia and I take a peek at what's inside the room.

To our surprises, it's a girl's room. Well, to say that a normal girl's room would be a lie. It's like a princess's room that I read in stories.

The room is basically white and blue in colors. The lights here are dimmed, and the walls are filled with blue crystals. A king sized bed is placed against the wall, at the side of the room. The white silk drapes are hung on the ceilings on top of the bed, covering the bed in a transparent silky way. The blanket and pillows are all white. The bed itself is put on a square shaped container that covers the entire side and bottom of the bed, made from what it appears to be white oak. A white make-up table is put at the opposite side of the entrance, alongside a big reflection mirror. On both sides of the make-up table; two white bookshelves on each side, filled with white, and blue books. A small sofa at the opposite of the bed, with coffee table made of glass right in front of the sofa. There's a silver tea set right on the coffee table. Right beside the white bed is a girl playing a big white harp.

The girl is wearing a silky white dress, and white stiletto heels. Her hair is black, like really pretty black. Her hair is long and wavy, just like a Hollywood actress. The unfortunate thing is that she's facing the other way, so we can't see her face. Although, she's definitely not human. How can we tell? Because she has the moon floating right above her head, the size of a fist, gleaming. Looks very much like the real moon, just in a miniature size.

I don't know anything about music, but somehow the sound that is coming out from that harp made me want to cry.

The girl stops playing the harp all of the sudden, she pauses, and then she grumbles loudly in annoyance. She throws the harp across the room, and it slams right to the wall. We flinch, and then the girl quickly turns around.

Thalia and I quickly hide in reaction. We freeze for a couple of seconds.

'Nathan?' She called with a charming voice.

Thalia and I look at each other, unsure of what to do.

'Show yourself.' There's a hint of caution in her voice.

Thalia and I stop moving, definitely still thinking over whether or not we should show ourselves. After all, for all we know is that girl is some sort of a new breed of a killing machine. Finally though, Thalia careful shows herself to the girl. I sigh, and then I follow her.

The girl in white is super pretty, and cute. Her face radiates some sort of elegant aura, like a princess from a kingdom.

So this is what it must have been like to face royalty.

The girl looks cautious at first, but then she suddenly smiles, and looks really cheerful and happy.

'Ooohhh! Demigods!' She looks really excited. 'You will not believe how long it has been since I've seen any demigod. Well, any demigod who isn't a son of Poseidon. Gods know I have enough problems with that brat, Jonathan.' She mumbled. 'Sit down!' She points excitedly to the sofa.

She runs to the small coffee table, and then pours something from the teapot to the cups.

She gasps, 'Cookies! I forgot to put some!' She starts running around busily around the room. 'I'm out of cookies!' She panicked.

She stops moving around, and then she seems to be in deep thoughts. She snaps her fingers, and then she smiles.

'I'll just ask Endymion to bring some!' She points out to herself.

She snaps her fingers again, and then a cellphone appears out of thin air. She grabs it, and then she starts texting.

She turns to us, 'Well? What are you waiting for? Sit! The cookies will be here soon!'

I stare at her, loss for words. Moments ago, she was this elegant princess. Now she's like this excited hamster. Still, she's cute regardless of whether she's an elegant princess, or a hyperactive immortal hamster. Also, she looks pretty harmless. What's the worst that can happen?

Thalia looks at me, like searching for an answer as what is this girl doing, or who in Hades' name this girl is. I shrug, and then I gleefully walk to the sofa. I sit on the sofa, but Thalia glares at me like she wants to impale me.

The girl turns to Thalia, 'Sit down! Hurry up!'

Before Thalia could react, the girl grabs Thalia's arm, and then drag her to the sofa like Thalia is made from paper. She pushes Thalia down to the sofa. The girl quickly runs and drags a chair that she was sitting on when she was playing the giant harp, to the side of the coffee table. She sits down quickly and looks at us with an annoyingly happy face.

'So tell me something!' She ordered.

I glance back to Thalia, Thalia seems to be utterly loss for words, and then I turn to the girl, 'Like what?'

'Anything! Like your name, your age, your e-mail address, your occupation. Stuff like that!' The girl answered.

'Who are you?' Thalia ignored her question.

'Me? Oh-oh! Let's play a guessing game! I used to represent something in the sky until someone took over my job! I have two brothers, and their names are Helios and Eos! So who am I!?' She asked gleefully.

That's definitely in a class that I've missed. I'm not much good in "GUESS WHO THIS GODDESS IS!" game. Actually I'm not much good in anything that has to be learned in books.

Thalia gasps, 'You're Selene? The old goddess of the moon?'

Selene grumbles, 'Old!? I'm not old! I'm as young and as energetic as you two are!'

'Uhm… I didn't say you're old.' Thalia muttered.

'Silence! That discussion is over!' Selene smiles, 'So tell me, hunter of Artemis. How is my sweet young apprentice doing?'

'Lady Artemis…? She's doing… good?' Thalia seems to be having trouble keeping up with Selene's spirit.

'Good. Good. Did you know that she is what she is today because I trained her from scratch?' Selene smiles proudly.

'I thought gods are born like that? You know, like super mega talented in what they do.' I asked.

Selene blushes, 'W-Well… She was awkward when I first met her, but now! She is my successor as goddess of moon!' Selene declared proudly.

'I didn't know gods teach each other.' I laugh. 'So, what did you teach her? Archery? Or in like, you know, moon stuff.' I asked.

Selene crosses her arms and legs, 'Uhm… Bakery?'

I look at her like I just lost all respect for this goddess.

Selene senses this; she quickly waves her hand, 'Silence! Son of Morpheus! The important thing is that I chose her to replace me as the moon in the sky!' Selene bragged.

'I thought it was because the Greeks thought it was too much to serve two goddess of moon?' Thalia followed up.

'They picked Artemis over you?' I asked.

'Silence!' Selene ordered. She looks at the untouched cups, and then she turns back to us, 'Drink your tea!'

I smile, it's like watching a cartoon character in real life. Selene is really pretty, but at the same time, ridiculously funny. I pick up the cup and then drink it whole. It tastes like tea, but a very different tea, nothing like I have ever tasted before in my life.

'Can I have more?' I pleaded.

Selene smiles brightly. She picks up the teapot and then pours some into my cup.

Thalia on the other hand is not touching the cup and Selene realized this. Thalia has a serious expression on her face.

'Lady Selene, are you on their side?' Thalia asked.

The goddess giggles, 'Silly demigod! I'm not on anyone's side. The sons of Poseidon are fun. Marcus often visits and talks to me, and Nathan brought me cookies from all around the world, although that brat Jonathan is a catastrophe!' Selene grumbled. 'But I don't partake in the primordial' game.'

'So why are you here?' Thalia asked again.

Selene smiles, 'Nathan summoned me here. At first, I wanted to blow their heads off for being too arrogant. But then it turns out to be a lot of fun here. I get visited by demigods, it's been a while, and I get to enjoy stories from the sons of Poseidon.'

Thalia seems to be thinking, 'Are you going to let us leave this place?'

Selene looks surprised, 'You want to leave? But why? The cookies aren't even here yet.' Selene looks sad.

It feels like watching a puppy crying, that's the kind of guilt that you feel when you look at Selene's sad face. I just want to hold her, and then caress her head, like to calm a puppy down. Of course if I do that, she can easily blast me into millions of pieces.

Thalia seems shaken by this, but she quickly shook her head, like trying to get back to reality, 'W-We just really need to get back to our friends.'

Selene crosses her arms; it looks like she's pouting, 'Fine! You can leave, but you'll have to wait for my husband. Only he knows the way out of this fortress.'

'You don't know?' I asked.

Selene shrugs, 'I haven't left this place ever since I got here. Besides, I can just poof myself out of here.'

I shrug to Thalia, Selene did have a point. Thalia rolls her eyes, she turns back to Selene.

'When is he coming?' Thalia asked.

Selene's face is still sour, 'He should be here soon.' Selene's face suddenly brightens up, 'With cookies!'

I snicker; somehow it's really fun to see Selene. She looks like the type that is always in a good mood.

Selene's face brightens up again, but this time it seems she just gotten an idea, 'Since you two have been such a delight. I'm going to give you a sneak peek!' Selene giggles.

Thalia looks curious, 'A sneak peek? Of what?'

Selene stands up, and then she snaps her fingers. A white screen appears out of nowhere and it's floating in the middle of the air.

'Of the primordial gods' biggest surprise!' Selene declared it like a presenter declaring a prize of a game.

The screen is white at first, but then an image slowly appears on it. It's an image of the forest, but there's a huge trail of trees brought down to the ground. The scene changes, same forest but just different angle. We see something, but it quickly slithers away. My demigod sense is buzzing out of place, I can tell that what I'm about to see is going to be unpleasant. Then the scene changes one more time, and there I see something that I have never seen before in my life. Something terrible and horrifying.

'By the gods…' Thalia murmured.