Apparently I should give WhenDayMeetsDark another shoutout for being "all around amazing". So… there's your shoutout. Yay.

And also to Cassidy Sapphire, for writing a super awesome story that you should all go check out. It's called The Undetermined and Kaitlyn. (I'm gonna be a character in it which excites me more than I could possibly tell you XD)

Disclaimer: Yeah… I really don't own anything…

After a few hours of questioning the two daughters of Athena, we soon discovered that just as they had told us numerous times, they really didn't know anything about what had happened to them. The fifth time I had asked Jill if she had heard any mysterious feminine voices in her head calling her stupid, I'm sure she was just about ready to strangle me.

By the time we had finished interrogating them it was too late to venture out into the streets, unless we were looking to get jumped in some dark alleyway.

So after the sun had set and the creatures of the night had come out to play, we all gathered around and discussed our master plan. While we had completed the first start of the quest by finding the two girls, we were still missing the cure that would essentially save the lives of ten campers. And unfortunately for us, we wouldn't be able to pick it up in the nearest Walmart.

"Well, what could the medicine take form of?" asked Hailey, playing with the bathroom soaps. They were shaped like little suns, and she had taken quite an interest to them.

"It could be a plant, something that comes from animals, it could even be synthetic." Isabella began to jot things down on the complimentary hotel note pad as Jill spoke. "Without getting a basic idea, we could be looking for years before finding it."

The older blonde looked up at the less attractive boy in the room. "Riley? Any plants that you know of that could potentially reverse the paralyzing effects?"

He almost seemed to take personal offense to this. "That's like asking you if there was a book on how to memorize and perform spells from Harry Potter. How should I know?" he snapped, seeming very moody.

Jill, clearly agitated, crossed her arms and stuck her chin up in a very royal manner. "You could've just said no."

"Whatever." interrupted Hailey, acting as the peace keeper. Still playing with the small yellow soaps, she said, "Let's continue the discussion. Does anybody have any reason to believe they know what form the medicine is?"

"I do!" shouted Hailey, "You know how they say "the best medicine is laughter"?" we all nodded, wondering where this was going. "We just have to make them laugh, and BAM! Instantly cured!" Everybody groaned at her bad joke, while she cracked up.

Are you really so thick that you haven't picked up on the hints yet? The mystery voice strikes once again.

I rolled my eyes. Can you seriously stop calling me stupid and give me a straight answer for once? What's the medicine?

Come on! The son of Demeter, the magical flower…

So what are you trying to say? The magical flower is real, and all we have to do is find it and it will cure everyone? It's a talent to be able to think in a sarcastic tone.

I waited for a witty remark, but there was none. I decided to work with what she had given me.

"Hey," I said, stopping Hailey's strange laugher, "is there any chance there's a magical flower that cures illnesses? Magically?"

Cue the blank stares.

"I'm really not sure, Nico. But magical flowers really don't seem like your thing, unless I completely read you wrong, which I doubt I did."

I sighed. I thought I was onto something, and it seemed completely crazy without the evidence. I decided to tell them about the woman talking to me. I mean, crazier things have happened to demigods than hearing voices, right?

"Listen," I started, wondering how to phrase this whole thing without making it seem I was absolutely insane, "there's this strange voice in my head that keeps telling me things, and also calling me stupid." I admitted, "She's the reason I picked Riley for the quest, because she started talking about ginger or something! She gave me a book, too! One with stories for little kids! And there was a story about a magical flower! And-" I was suddenly cut off by the expressions of my peers.

Hailey looked at me with sad eyes and a small, lonely smile as if I was a wounded animal about to be euthanized. Riley, on the other hand, looked like it was taking all of his willpower not to burst out laughing. And Jill? She looked at me like I was completely crazy.

The History channel blasted from where Isabella was watching it a couple of feet away.

"Nico… You've had a long day. Maybe it would be best if you lay down for a while." suggested Hailey.

"You guys don't believe me." I stated, instead of questioning. Truth be told, I wouldn't believe myself either.

More blank stares.

"Alright, fine. Whatever. We'll drop the whole magical flower thing; but I'm telling you, it's important."

"And I'm sure that it is, Nico. Now go to sleep before you start talking about invisible beavers, okay?" I glared at Jill for her comment, but I had actually begun to feel tired, and I could barely drag myself onto a semi-comfortable part of the floor before I was out cold.

(Hey, look at this super funky fresh line!)

And suddenly, I was back at camp.

Children ran around, rushing off to their activities just as they always do. Groups of Aphrodite girls strutted around in their designer outfits, giggling and pointing at campers as they walked along. To my left I could see groups of kids in canoes paddling across the lake, while water nymphs swam alongside them, trying to tip over the boats. Birds sung, the sun shone, children smiled, and yet an ominous aura still hung around the infirmary.

I searched for a familiar face. I still hadn't gotten used to all the new campers, and being away on a quest for the majority of the summer sure wasn't going to help me memorize their faces. While the newly claimed daughters of Aphrodite sure caught my attention, I couldn't care less about the newest additions to Camp Half-Blood. Even though they were new and had no idea about what they were talking about, the campers still looked at me as if I was the Grim Reaper himself. It turned out to be quite annoying.

Seeing the Stoll brothers, I rushed over to them. "Hey, guys, where's Chiron?" I asked, hoping the centaur would be able to figure out how I got here. Both brothers remained quiet, which was unusual for them. "Hello?" More silence. "Travis? Connor?" They didn't even glance at me.

Aggravated, I brought my hand up and hit Travis on the shoulder. "Hey!" the boy shouted. I smiled, finally getting recognized.

"Good! Now-"

Travis interrupted me. "What the Hades was that for?" he shouted, turning to his brother.

Connor, confused, replied "What are you talking about?"

"You punched me!" exclaimed the older brother.

"What? No I didn't!"

"Uh, you guys? I punched you…" They ignored me, yet again. I left the two brothers arguing as I went to find someone else that would actually talk to me. I recognized Annabeth's blonde hair from the archery range, and rushed over to her.

"Annabeth!" I called. She turned to me and smiled. "Finally! Someone will actually acknowledge me."

"Hi!" she called out happily. She walked closer, until it looked like she was about to walk right through me. Moving out of her way, I watched as she hugged Percy, who had been standing directly behind me.

The two greeted each other as I awkwardly stood there. "Annabeth?" I called out, "Percy?" The two didn't glance at me.

I took one of Annabeth's curls and yanked it hardly. "Ow!" she cried out, whirling around to yell at the nuisance that had pulled her hair. She seemed to look directly at me, but she seemed confused. "I could've sworn someone pulled my hair…"

"I didn't see anyone." claimed Percy, looking at the people closest to them.

"Hm… weird." Annabeth played with her hair, "It must've gotten caught on something." Disregarding the hair dilemma, she and Percy continued their conversation about going out to dinner that following weekend.

I wondered if somehow I had died, and was some kind of ghost. After all, nobody could see or hear me, which practically screamed "ghost". I really didn't want to be a ghost, considering I had seen plenty of them in the Underworld and they just looked plain miserable. I was far too young and attractive to be that miserable. Plus, staying down there for too long makes me smell bad and the damp air makes me break out. While still crazy good looking, I wasn't as attractive with little red dots all over my face.

Running off, I headed to the infirmary. I hoped maybe someone had sent me here, in hopes I would find the missing cure in my subconscious.

Pushing open the door, I made my way inside and grinned as I escaped from the harsh summer heat and was rejuvenated by the sudden air conditioning. It seemed perfectly clean, cool, and organized in here. And yet, the bodies still lay stiff and still on the small beds.

Or so I thought.

Almost seconds after entering, I noticed one of the campers move their arm slightly.

Here's a tip, in case you didn't know: paralyzed campers can't move their arms, legs, feet, hands, or really any other limbs.

Rushing over to the body, I shook it. "Hello?" I called. Recognizing the girl as Kaylee, from the Demeter cabin, I realized she was Riley's half-sister. Maybe he really had come on the quest to help the other campers, and not because he was madly in love with Hailey. But since the second one sounds more exciting, I'm gonna stick to that one. Lost in my thoughts, I nearly fainted when the eyes of the girl popped open. She stared at me like I was insane, just as Jill had done only minutes ago.

"May I ask why you're shaking me?" she asked, surprisingly polite for someone who had just been woken up by some weird camper nearly attacking her.

Surprised, I took a step back. "Uh… you… paralyzed?" My mouth decided this was a good time to embarrass me and not function as it should.

She sighed sadly. "Yeah, I guess I am paralyzed." She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stepped out. "It kinda sucks."

"Mhm, it definitely does." said a voice from my right. Looking over, I saw the rest of the campers were all sitting up in their beds as well, or even standing up and walking around. A son of Ares practiced his fighting by randomly jabbing at his invisible competitor.

Finally, my tongue started to work again. "If you guys are all paralyzed, how are you up and walking?"

"Well, that's obvious. Only our bodies are paralyzed, our minds are free as a bird!" said some girl, leaping from bed to bed to show just how free she was.

"But… how come I can see you?"

This seemed to stump them. "Well, maybe it's because you're not really here. Just your mind is." said a daughter of Aphrodite. I remember seeing her in her petrified state and how horribly unattractive she looked with pale skin and scary bruises all over. Yet, here she looked as beautiful as ever.

"Well this is all very cool, but I really need to get back to my quest so I can save you all."

"You know how to save us?"asked a younger camper, hopefully.

I didn't know how to respond to this. "Well… no. But I'll figure it out. I have two daughters of Athena with me, it'll be fine."

"Daughters of Athena aren't goddesses, they don't know everything." said one kid, "You might want to consider asking the higher forces for some help. Or we'll end up like this forever."

"Well, aren't you little Miss Pessimistic?" said Kaylee, the camper next to me.

"I'm just stating the truth!" argued the other kid.

Before the two got into a verbal fight, some guy stepped in, "Whatever!" shouted the son of Hephaestus. "Arguing seriously isn't going to help us right now."

"Well unless Nico finds the cure, nothing is going to help us!" shouted someone else.

"If something was going to break us out of this spell, it would have to be extremely magical, Nico. Magical." said Kaylee, again.

"Magical." another camper muttered.

"Magical."

"Magical."

Soon every camper was saying it.

"Magical." "Magical." "Magical."

Pretty creeped out, I slowly began to back away from them. "Okay, magical." I put my hands up, telling them to stop. "I get it. It would need to be magical."

They continued repeating the word, which now almost sounded like chanting.

And then there was a blonde daughter of Athena next to me. "Nico!" she shouted, shaking my shoulders. "Nico! Wake up!"

Wake up?

"Magical."

"Magical."

"Magical."

Completely terrified at this point, I pulled open the door and jumped outside.

I sat up quickly, bumping my head on what later turned out to be Jill's nose.

She shouted some very un-ladylike words, holding her hand up to her face. "Nico! What the Hades is wrong with you!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I just had this really weird dream…" quickly apologizing, I helped her to her feet.

"Sucks for you. That's really no reason to nearly break my nose! Gods…" Taking her hand away from her face, I saw just what a bloody mess I made. Grabbing a handful of tissues, I shoved them into her hands and she put them up to her nose.

After the bleeding had stopped, I asked, "Well, why did you wake me up in the first place?"

"Because it's morning, duh." Drawing back the curtains, sunshine flooded into the room.

Judging by the amount of light in the room and how messy Jill's hair was, I was going to take a wild guess and say I had slept through the night.

"Well, you can tell everyone about your dream. Isabella is still asleep, but I think Hailey and Riley are awake."

I sat up and looked around. There was a surprising absence of children of Apollo and Demeter.

"Where are they anyway?" I asked.

"I'm… not sure. I think one of them is in the bathroom, and the other may have gone out for a walk or something."Jill looked confused.

She walked over to the bathroom. "Hailey? Are you in there?" she pounded on the door. There was no answer. "Hailey? I'm coming in!" she hadn't cracked the door open for more than a second without screaming and slamming it closed.

"What's wrong?" my mind began to think of all the possible situations. She could be dead, sitting in the bathtub (which of course would be completely filled with her blood like in horror movies). Or maybe she was in combat with some nighttime intruder. Or she could just have been getting out of the shower and surprised Jill.

Really, I didn't expect her to be making out with Riley.

So when I opened the door and saw she was, needless to say I was pretty surprised.

Jill looked nauseated. "What are you two doing!"

I looked at Riley, who smiled sheepishly. "I thought that was pretty obvious…"

"Shut up, Nico! Do you two seriously think this is the time to be making out in the hotel bathroom!" exclaimed Jill. Storming in there, she grabbed Riley's arm and yanked him away from her best friend.

Hailey reached out and grabbed a bouquet of daffodils.

"But…" she said quietly, "he gave me flowers…"