Alec glanced at the hotel clock. The luminous red numbers read 9:08. He groaned and slumped back onto the bed and flipped on the TV.

They were late. Not that it worried him too much. They were adult half-bloods, so they knew how to avoid dying pretty well. He was just impatient.

Though he did have the good end of the deal; in their mission to scout out the particularly-powerful-slash-possible-Big-Three half-blood that Chiron had detected, his job instead of playing school was to sit around and keep tabs on everything. Eva and Emon. The half-blood. Possible monsters (of which, so far, counted up to three). Finally, the inevitable Big-Ass Death Monster. (It had been nicknamed many things, and Alec liked them all too much to settle on one name.) Chiron had sent out scouts, like Ryan Blaze, to track the thing and keep tabs on it and hopefully, help out once it attacked. As of the last report, it was blazing a trail through Kentucky.

And it would arrive in less than a week, if the scouts were correct.

If Alec had his way, they would grab the half-blood and get out of there. Unfortunately, that would trigger the old "once you know, it blows" thing and every monster in a fifty-mile radius would come after them. That wouldn't be too much of a problem, Alec guessed, but it would also cause the Giant-Toothed Fuck to come after them with even more bloodlust than before.

In addition, the monster was following them. It knew where they were; it's almost beeline trail so far told him that, and some sort of battle was inevitable, and Alec wanted the home court advantage; he wanted to learn the school and all its nooks and crannies, so that once it came down to that, they knew where their escapes were.

Alec sighed. Everything seemed so inconvenient that it seemed like some higher power was making it deliberately awful for them. But that was how being a half-blood was. Fucking inconvenient.

"I know, right?" A voice said.

Alec lifted his head from the pillow. "Oh, hey dad," he said in a monotone voice. "Fancy meeting you here."

Hermes brushed off his tracksuit. It was the same one he always wore, that made him kind of look like a middle-aged power walker, though everyone was too afraid to tell him that, seeing as he was a god and everything. Alec noticed he didn't have his little snake friends with him, unless they were hidden in another form or something. "Yeah, well. I do love visiting my children. Especially the ones that actually live for eighteen-plus years. It's a refreshing change."

"Well, I'm glad to know you appreciate me. So why are you here? To throw some other prophecy or information at me that will give me doubt about myself or my peers that I won't resolve until it really, really matters?"

Hermes shrugged. "Funny you should ask," he began.

"Motherfucker," Alec muttered.

"Shut up, you're being ungrateful," Hermes scolded, but not very seriously. "That Emon kid? I don't like him."

Alec scoffed. "Neither do I. He's a shady kid."

"I don't like him," Hermes said again. He paused, like he was rolling his next words around in his mouth before he said them. "You ever ask Eva about her last quest that she had with him?"

Alec shook his head. "Never did. It seemed like a really touchy subject, so I figured if she wanted me to know, she would've told me."

Hermes paused for a second and looked at Alec skeptically. "You two a couple?"

Alec felt his face turn red, and tried to will it away. "No. Funny, I'm asked that a lot. We just got partnered together for the retrieval job."

Hermes smirked. "You ever see that tumblr post-"

Alec sniggered. "You tumble?"

This time it was Hermes' turn to blush. "You little shit. But there is a post about how sometimes teachers partner students who they think should date together-"

"Oh my gods," Alec said. "Leave."

Hermes laughed. It was kind of dad-like, in a way. "Okay, okay. But seriously. Watch out for Emon." Hermes eyes looked cold. "He's not how you think."

"Sure, sure," Alec muttered. "See ya later." Hermes gave him a little two-fingered salute, and spun on one foot, vanishing with a poof. Alec watched him go, and couldn't help feeling a small sense of pride. Visits from his dad were, of course, somewhat rare, but they did happen. Which, as far as he knew, was a lot more that most of his siblings. He knew some that had still never seen or talked to him yet.

There was a sniff at the window. "Who were you talking to?"

Alec turned to see Emon perched in the windowsill. His dark curly hair reflected a bluish color in the moonlight, and his dark eyes glinted mischievously. Alec's stomach churned a little, as his dad's words echoed in his head. Watch out for Emon. "Oh, you know. Gods that like to show up at random times and say hi. Where's Eva?"

Emon shrugged. Alec noticed his new school uniform- navy blue blazer with a green striped tie, and absentmindedly wondered what it looked like on Eva. "I don't think she was able to sneak out. The girls were having a little new-school-year-meet-and-greet or something. Probably painting their nails and watching Mean Girls or something." He swung his legs into the room. "You find out there Ol' Fangy is?"

Alec nodded. "We've got less than a week. You figure out who the other monsters are yet?"

Emon shrugged again and yawned. "The teacher is kind of suspicious, but I'm pretty sure he's just a dick. There was the group of popular girls, who I have become acquainted with-"

"Sure you did," Alec muttered.

Emon put a finger to his lips. "Hush. I'm monologing. Anyway, it could really be anyone."

Alec rolled his eyes. "I see you've set your priorities straight."

Emon rolled his own eyes, mimicking him. "Well, it's kind of hard with the Big Three chick right next to you. She gives of power like a nuclear power plant. It's a miracle that I can still smell with her around."

Alec huffed. "Well, let me know if you find out anything."

Emon gave him a half smile before he hopped from the window. "I'll let Eva know, too."

Alec wanted to ask him. Quite badly. What was his history with Eva? He'd never asked her himself. It just didn't seem right. As her partner, he had to respect her, and that meant respecting her privacy as well. But being her partner meant protecting her. With this job, he knew that that meant protecting her from the inevitable monsters, but he feared he might have to protect her from Emon as well.

….

Eva was floating gently, gently down. Her hair swirled around her head in a dark halo, and when her feet touched the ground ever so slightly, it floated down to her shoulders like a soft curtain.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. The air smelled like a forest, humid and filled with earthen aromas. When she opened her eyes, she was in a dark forest, with the full moon showing mottled silver through the deep green canopy.

And she was filled with a sluggish terror. She tried to look around, but it was as if she was enveloped in molasses.

"Evangeline," a voice hissed. It was vaguely human, but otherworldly, as if the voice was being used without permission, forced and pained. "Where are you, Evangeline?"

"That's not my name," Eva murmured. She could feel her heartbeat in her throat. No one calls me that. My dad doesn't even call me that.

"I called you that, my little Evangeline," the voice dripped. "Where are you? I want to see you. I thought we were more than just friends, Evangeline."

"Stop- stop saying that," Eva struggled. Her arms and legs wouldn't move, but the forest spun around her as a dark figure danced behind the trees. The smell of the forest was stronger now, but sickly sweet.

The voice sniggered. "Oh, are you hurt by this form, Evangeline? I thought you liked it- or was it more than just that?"

Eva closed her eyes and took a breath, but it calmed her as much as taking a deep breath of water. She fell to her knees, grimacing. "Go away. You're not… you're not…"

"Not him?" the voice said, falsely sympathetic. "How do you know it's not? It's me, Evangeline. You remember me, don't you? When we snuck out of camp on the Fourth of July-"

"You're not him-" Evangeline gasped, curling closed to the dirt. It was like some force kept pushing her down, trying to push her through the earth.

"-And then we climbed the tree together and kissed under the fireworks-"

"Shut up!" Eva screamed. "You're not him!"

With her words, it felt like a barrier was broken, and the force pushing her down was gone. She stayed in her curled position, breathing deeply into the forest floor. The forest around her was silent except for the sound of her own breathing. She opened her eyes, feeling her eyelashes tangle from the weight of tears.

Maybe he's gone.

Slowly, cautiously, she lifted her head.

And she felt a hand, claw like, grab her hear and force her to look upward.

The young man before her smiled inhumanly, and her insides froze to ice. He cocked his head, eyes glinting yellow against olive skin, framed by black curls.

"Evangeline," it hissed.

Eva woke with a start, gasping for air.

It was a dream. Just a dream of something that happened long ago. It wouldn't hurt her.

It wouldn't hurt her. Eva repeated that in her head several times. She lifted a hand to brush her hair back, and was met with a forehead wet with sweat.

It wouldn't hurt her.

She laid herself back down. It was just a dream.

"Oh, I wouldn't go back to bed just yet," someone said. "You woke up just in time for the party!"

Eva flung out her arm, but a cold hand was slapped over her mouth and she was dragged from her bed.

So there's the stuff for this week. Hope you enjoyed, and please review! Its quite helpful in the motivation area and such, and I really appreciate it!

Also, I forgot to mention. Last weeks new character, Dakota, is the OC of Blitzy-chan! So yeah. There's also the vaguely mentioned Ryan Blaze of Princess of Flames, so thank you to you both!

Keep submitting OCs! I'll make up my mind sooner or later.