Hey guys, Chaosbot here, I'm back with another chapter. I hope you guys like it, a lot happens in this chapter. Enjoy!

Third Person POV

"Uh, sorry, you're who now?" Percy asked, completely dumbfounded by what she just said.

Kayla looked annoyed and said, "Daughter of Nyx. Like the primordial goddess of night?"

Percy paled, and handed her her knife back. "Uh, sorry."

She just grinned and said, "No problem,"

"So what are you doing here?" Leo asked after everyone had been alerted

of her presence, and we knew that she was intent on not killing us.

"Well, I just wanted to get some food, so I was just going to tie up Percy over there, and steal some meat. I don't get a lot of food in the wild." She said sadly at the last part.

Leo, being the friendly and joking kid he was, said, "Hey! You can join us!"

"Really?" Kayla said, her eyes shining with renewed hope, "I can?!"

The seven all looked at each other and spoke through eye contact. Why the hell not?

"Yeah," Percy said.

Kayla squealed and jumped up, and hugged everyone in the circle. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

The heroes all grinned, and Frank spoke up, "So, what's your story. Every demi-god, or demi-primordials, have one."

Kayla's eyes dimmed a little, but she continued on, undaunted. "Well, I was abandoned by my mom. She loved my dad, but she absolutely loathed me." she said. Then, more faintly, "I get that a lot, you know."

"No one seems to really like me, I think it has something to do with my darkness, and my mother being Nyx and all that. But I came looking for my boyfriend. He was the only one whoever came near me, and eventually loved me. But he's missing and I've been looking for him."

Piper smiled, and walked over to hug Kayla, "It's okay, no one here will abandon you, and you're a good person." She soothed.

Everyone chorused in agreement, and gave words of encouragement and

caring love.

They talked for a while, chatting about life, and other news, catching Kayla on the up to date.

She seemed ecstatic to join the war effort. "My powers are shadow-travel, control over darkness, and invisibility in the dark. I use the bow and short swords." She said, when Frank had asked about her abilities.

Percy yawned, and said, "Well, better get some shut-eye, we've been out here for a couple hours. It's like past midnight."

Everyone agreed, and they walked back to their respective tents, Kayla moving into the girl's one.

Time Skip: Morning of the next day.

Percy yawned and stretched his legs and arms, sore from the long trek from the home of the sea, and from the long battles over the journey.

"Come on!" Leo called, "We'll eat breakfast on the road, we can't waste anymore time!"

Percy nodded, every minuted that passed was another minute the evil on Earth could attack their home of Olympia.

The camp got quickly dressed and packed in less than half and hour, and were soon on the dirt, weather-beaten path, looking like a row of worker ants heading off on a day's work.

They kept close watch on the thick undergrowth of the surrounding trees and thorn bushes, but all was quiet and peaceful, except the wind, and the sound of their own voices and steps, striking out in the quiet air.

The alliance party stopped in the middle of the day for a quick break, and lunch, eating under the protection of the shade.

"Leo's going to make us some good sandwiches!" He yelled, whipping out a pan, bread, cheese, and some dried meat.

Everyone roared in approval, and joked around, shoving and flirting with each other, when suddenly, Percy yelled out, "Shut it!"

Everyone looked at him, anger clearly evident on their faces when they saw his expression.

He looked around in alarm, and unsheathed his trusty sword, Riptide,

gleaming in bright afternoon sun.

"What's wrong, Perce?" asked Jason, who brought out his spear, and leveled it.

"I don't know…"Percy said, frowning, but he still looked around, when Kayla shot up too.

"Something has disturbed the darkness," She said, and her eyes widened, "Something big, really, really big."

The others glanced around in utter confusion. Where the two crazy? Many of the royal guardsmen thought.

The sky was clear as crystal glass, and the sun was in its usual form, bright and sunny. The forest chirped with wildlife, birds singing in the air, silent thumps of running animals.

The trees stood over them like huge shields, protecting them from all harm. Everything was as it should be. What was wrong?

Then the air exploded in front of them, and the most beautiful thing and most deadliest thing everyone in the group had ever seen landed in front of them, it's huge claws causing a miniature earthquake.

It was a classic dragon, it looked exactly liked one from the fairy tales.

The dragon was double the height of the tallest tree in the small clearing they were at, and wider than the widest tree's trunk.

The dragon was a deep, blood red in color, and had massive claws, claws that could have been a couple of greatswords. It had a hulking, muscular body, and a spiky tail, spikes laid out in rows in every direction on it's tail.

It had huge arms, tattooed with scars, and muscles. The arms themselves extended into hands the size of Percy and Jason put together. It had scaly wings, covered in golden, gleaming scales, and had a long, slender neck, curving gracefully up like an elegant swan.

It's head was like a real dragon, with a row of spikes leading up to it's head, and a long snout.

The creature had wide, intelligent eyes, pupils colored gold, with specks of crimson blood.

Then, the crimson dragon reared back it's head and blew fire, deep, red, brilliant flames, with a white, fiery center.

"What are you?" The creature spoke, it's snout moving like a real mouth.

Leo recovered from his shock first, and said, "You talk?!"

The dragon looked just as surprised, "You talk?!"

Leo, being the completely, ignorant fool he was said, "Duh, I talk, you can understand me, can't you?"

The dragon's golden eyes glittered with humor, and he laughed, throwing back his head, and the sound burst from his mouth.

"You are funny, little one. Now, what kind of species are you?" he asked, looking curious.

"We're humans," said Annabeth. "We're a race of beings that live all over the planet.

The dragon raised his eyes curiously, "Oh really?" He said, stroking his chin. The motion was so familiar and so, so… human! It made me feel a lot more comfortable, or as comfortable you can be with a fire-breathing dragon in your presence.

"May I ask, what is your name, great dragon?" Percy asked, bowing and remembering my formalities.

The dragon laughed again, and bowed quickly, and said, "My name is Carmesí, or crimson."

"Well, Carmesí, we would like to have permission to pass into your lands, and respectfully request to have an audience with your king, to talk about matters of diplomacy." Percy stated.

Carmesí nodded thoughtfully. Here comes the part where we have to do something impossible, or he roast us to tasty human barbecue. Percy thought.

"Very well, then, humans, you may pass. I respectfully request to accompany you, and escort you to the royal palace. I wish to know more of your kind." Carmesí said.

Percy was surprised, but covered it up with another bow. "We thank you for your kindness, dragon Carmesí, and we will honor your request."

Carmesí smiled, and said, "Let's continue on our way, then, my good friends, we have a long way to go."

Thanks for reading and have a great day!