I'M BACK! After like a month :P But it's okay! Because I'm here now!

Thanks for all the understanding about the whole laptop thing. If someone was snotty about it I probably would've gone into an angry rage and brought a sledgehammer down on this stupid computer. But everybody was super nice and so I thank you all :) and I'm really surprised at the amount of you that had similar experiences. Stupid little boys… :P

A thousand thanks to Cassidy Sapphire to gave me the plot for this chapter! :D I was stuck in a rut until lovely Cassidy came along and saved my sorry butt! So, thank her for this chapter.

P.S. I didn't know how to end this, so the ending kinda sucks :P

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

That was basically when Jill showed the city of Detroit just how loud she could scream.

"Flowers! FLOWERS!" she shouted, her face growing redder and redder as she spoke. "You practically shove your tongue down his throat for a couple of flowers!"

Hailey crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "Hey! They were very pretty flowers! Grown with love! Right, Riley?"

Under the pressure of Hailey batting her eyelashes and smiling at him, he muttered out "Yeah, grown with love, and soil, and stuff…"

That was all Hailey needed to hear. With a victorious smile on her face, she exclaimed "See! Love!"

"And soil." piped in Riley

"Love!"

Jill scoffed. "Love? You just met him a few days ago!"

Putting her hand on her chest, Hailey gasped dramatically. "Wha-? Pshhh, no! You of all people should know I've always had a secret crush on Riley!"

Jill rolled her eyes. "What? No you haven't! You've always had a not-so-secret crush on Taylor Lautner! Not Riley!"

Hailey sighed. "That's totally different, Jill!"

"Seriously? Look, female demigods are always put down. Apparently we're not strong enough, smart enough, or fast enough. On this quest, you're representing girl half-bloods all over the world! Do you really want to be remembered as that girl who got eaten by a monster because she was too busy making out with a fellow quest member and didn't hear it coming?" Hailey tried to get something out, but Jill was on a roll and there was no stopping her. "Do you think great heroines throughout history have taken breaks on their quest so they could swap spit with some random teenage boy? Do you think Atalanta was caught hiding behind some bush kissing Meleager! No! No, sh-"

Holding one hand up, Hailey stopped Jill's rant and quickly began to speak before her friend could continue yelling at her. "Hey, I know you're reprimanding me and stuff, but are you comparing me to Atalanta? Because that is, like, soooo sweet of you! I mean, Atalanta? Gee, I'm blushing? Right? Yeah! See?" she pointed to her cheeks, "I'm blushing! You would make a great Atalanta, too; or a Penelope, because she was quite the clever one, eh? Hey! Do you remember Penelope from the Aphrodite cabin? You know, the one with pretty hair, pretty eyes, pretty- oh, wait. That doesn't narrow things down. The one with the red hair. Remember? Yeah, you remember. Ugh, she was such a brat. This one time, when she was dating Andrew, she came into the cabin, right? And I was on my bed putting on lipgloss. It was that cherry one I got at that cute store, remember? The one with the sparkles? Yeah? Remember? You remember. So anyways, she was like 'Hi Hailey!' and I was like 'Hi Penelope!' and she was like 'Cute lipgloss!' and I was like 'Thanks!' and she was like 'Can I borrow it?' and I was like-"

"Hailey!" Jill shouted out.

"Hm?"

"Shut up!"

(look! It's another of those really cool and totally exciting lines!)

After an hour of Jill giving Hailey the cold shoulder and Isabella refusing to be torn away from the History channel, we were set to leave the hotel and get back on with the quest. We walked down the hot, concrete sidewalks as busy commuters hurriedly rushed past us; shoving us out of the way as they quickly talked on their smart phones. Considering Isabella refused to put down her book long enough to walk down the street, Riley and Hailey were forced to walk on either side of her as a protective barrier. Jill and I had to stand in front of and behind her, completing the human shield. If we were wearing black suits, ear pieces, and dark tinted sunglasses, we would've easily been mistaken for the Secret Service.

"Hey…" Isabella said at random, looking up from her history book for the first time since we had left the hotel, "What if the cure is some kind of thaumaturgic type of vegetation that contains chemicals that, when used correctly and perhaps with the enchantment of a demigod, could be used to cure whatever illness is present?"

Though I didn't have the slightest clue what "thaumaturgic" meant, the rest of the sentence talked about a plant that could heal them.

Ha.

She obviously wasn't listening yesterday when I said that and got turned down. I looked forward to seeing her idea being rejected.

"That's… " Jill started, most-likely trying to phrase it in a nice way without hurting her little sister's feelings, "that's genius!"

…What?

"Yeah, that's brilliant!" exclaimed Hailey.

Jill grinned. "Izzy!" she picked her up and swung her around, "Where did you come up with that brilliant idea!"

The little demon smiled and giggled in a most annoying way. "I dunno, I guess being a daughter of Athena has its perks, right?"

"Woah, woah, woah!" I shouted out, "Wait, you guys are joking, right?" I asked. This had to be some kind of trick. I was no genius, but I was pretty sure that April Fool's Day was actually in April.

"Why would we be joking?" asked Jill, seeming annoyed.

"I said that exact idea yesterday and you all looked at me like I was waving around a cheeseburger and wearing a tiara!" exasperated, I threw my hands into the air.

Jill gave me her signature eye roll. "Uh, you said something about a magic flower, Nico."

"So did she!" I complained.

There was no way the little brat was going get away with this. Tons of things she's done has made me mad, but this? Stealing my thunder? No, I don't think so.

Isabella copied her sister by rolling her eyes. Something about this made me want to throttle her; little girl or not. "No, I said a thaumaturgic type of vegetation! Gosh, some people…"

"Jill!" I shouted.

"What do you want me to say?" she replied, sounding like a mother separating her two bickering children.

"Fine!" I exclaimed, "Don't believe me!"

"Okay." She casually stated, and then looked to her darling sister. "Anyways, since you came up with that profound idea and we're all starving, why don't you pick out a restaurant and we'll go eat?"

"Yayyyy!" annoyingly shouted Isabella. "Let's to go El Café de Lorenza!"

"…What's that?" questioned Riley.

Isabella looked at him as if he was garbage rotting on the side of the street. "Oh, it's this wonderful Spanish vegetarian restaurant that specializes in salad, favored water, and fruit!"

"Salad, water, and fruit? Are we demigods or gerbils?" I asked.

"Hate to break it to you, but when I said 'restaurant' I was talking about something a bit cheaper? More convenient?" the older blonde took her sister's hand in what I'm sure was a very sweet gesture. "Plus," she added, "I have the metabolism of a squirrel. If all I eat is salad and fruit, I'll be hungry again in a matter of minutes."

Izzy frowned. "Oh… well then what about The Swan Lake?"

Hailey, who looked very confused, pushed her way into the conversation. "Wait," she said, "I thought Swan Lake was some ballet thing?" To symbolize ballet, she danced around on her tiptoes (earning some angry glares from passing by pedestrians as she shoved past them) and attempted to leap through the air, but failed when she ungracefully crashed into a businesswoman.

"Well, it is," the little devil explained, "but it's also this delightful Italian vegan restaurant that-"

"Isabella!"

"Fine! Okay, can we go to Les M-"

Before she could go into another culture lesson and teach us about some strange restaurant that nobody has ever heard of, Jill decided to put us out of our misery. "Nico, you pick."

Finally; a reward for being so wonderful.

Without missing a beat, I spit out the name of a restaurant worthy of the gods.

"Taco Bell."

"Taco Bell!" Princess Isabella gagged. "Homeless people eat there!" she cried out, "Vermin eat there! I heard someone found a finger in their chili! I heard someone found a rat in their burrito! I heard-"

Having enough of her insulting the best restaurant on the face of this planet, I shouted "Well I heard that annoying little girls are a monster's favorite snack!"

Like any little girl, when insulted she turned to a figure of authority and tried to get somebody in trouble. "Jillllll!" she cried out, "Nico said-"

"Seriously? Am I your mother? Nico, Izzy, stop arguing!" Turning her back, the evil little blonde stuck her tongue out at me.

Stuck her tongue out!

Can you even believe that?

She dared stick her tongue out at the King of Ghosts? The Prince of Death? The true Greek hero?

No. Nobody gets away with that.

"You're stupid!" I shouted at her, which was a pretty lame insult to a little girl with an IQ of 140, but I was too frustrated to think clearly.

"You're an idiot!" she yelled.

Something about arguing with her brought out the obnoxious ten year old boy in me, and I couldn't help myself from shouting out "I know you are, but what am I?"

Just as I was about to come back with some quick and witty remark, Jill interrupted.

"I swear to the gods if you don't shut up I will take you both right back to camp and continue this quest without you!" she screamed.

We were both silent, hanging our heads guiltily.

"Good! Now, to Taco Bell we go."

Moving along, neither of us said a word. But that was okay.

It was obvious I won.

(Oh my gosh, another line! Cah-razyyy!)

Finding a Taco Bell just a few blocks away, we hurriedly ran inside and waited on the annoyingly long line to order.

A man, probably in his early twenties, stood behind the counter. An ugly orange visor that read "Taco Bell" drew attention to his disgustingly greasy hair, and a wispy mustache sat upon his lip. Scrawny arms awkwardly stuck out of his uniformed shirt, and I noticed an unattractive under bite from where I was standing. His name tag read "Jorge", which I'm guessing wasn't his real name considering he had curly red hair and freckles.

Hot.

"Can I take your order?" he asked in a strange accent.

I stepped forward, eager to order. While I couldn't possibly decide on just one thing, I had intended on ordering anything that sounded remotely delicious on the menu.

A.K.A. Everything

But unfortunately, Jill had decided to rain on my parade and told me I could only order one thing.

One.

So, I decided to order something with the word "grande" in it. I was pretty sure that meant "big" in Spanish. It either translated to that, or "eraser". I could only hope for the first one.

"Can I have a grande soft taco with extra cheese?"

"Yes." He answered in a dull voice. I stepped aside, content with my decision, and Jill quickly took my place.

"Can I have a hard shelled taco with meat, cheese, lettuce, and onions?"

"Yes."

Hailey stepped forward next.

"Can I have a salad?"

"Make that two!" called out Isabella from behind her.

Hailey sighed. "Can I have two salads?"

"Yes."

Riley came forward. "Can I have a bean burrito-"

"No." He shook his head.

Riley, surprised, took a step back. "What? Why not?"

"Bean burritos make you go toot. No bean burrito for you." He explained. Both Hailey and Jill giggled girlishly at the word "toot".

"Are you kidding me?" Riley questioned.

"No." he said in the same monotone voice.

"Give me a bean burrito!" demanded Riley.

"No!"

"Yes!"

Jorge sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, but you and your friends will very much regret it later."

"I don't care!"shouted Riley, "I just want my bean burrito!"

"Fine."

"Fine!"

"One bean burrito, one grande soft taco with extra cheese, two salads, and one hard shelled taco with meat, cheese, and lettuce." recited the boy.

"And onions." added in Jill, correcting the order.

"And an onion." he said.

"No, onions." She corrected irritably.

"Ohhhh, onions! I see." He nodded his head. "How many?"

"What do you mean?" asked Jill.

"How many onions do you want?" he slowly said, pronouncing each word clearly. Afterwards, he muttered "….Idiot"

"What are you even talking about? exclaimed Jill. If there's one thing I learned about her, it's that she has absolutely no tolerance for those less intelligent than her. And this guy was a -5 on a smartness scale from one to ten.

"What are you talking about?" he remarked.

"Onions!" she cried, throwing her hands up.

"Oh good," he sighed a breath of relief, "me too."

"Okay, listen." she slowly explained, "I want you to take an onion, cut it up into very small pieces, and then put it in my taco. Comprende?"

He didn't seem to pick up on her rudeness. "Ohhh! I see; sorry for the confusion, miss."

"That's quite alright." Jill glared at him.

"So, is that all?" he asked.

We all shook our heads.

"Great. That'll be 190 dollars." He said with a smile.

"What?" we exclaimed.

"That'll be 190 dollars." he happily explained again.

"That can't be right!" Riley commented.

The guy rolled his eyes. "Yes it is. It says so on the cash register. The cash register never lies!"

With a sigh, Jill hopped over the counter, earning a "Hey!" from the cashier, and checked the price for herself.

"That says 19 dollars!" she shouted.

The man sighed. "Is there really a difference?"

Was there something seriously wrong with this idiot?

"Jeez, calm down you guys. So dramatic…" Pressing some buttons and getting change for the money we had handed him, he called out our order to the kitchen. Not a moment later and he was back withtwo bags and a big smile on his face.

"Enjoy your day!" he said.

Grabbing the bags, we got out of there as soon as we could. The retched stench of rotten eggs and body odor was getting so bad that my stomach was beginning to feel queasy. It was torture to have to hold a bag of tacos after not eating for a day and not being able to rip it open and shove the contents into my mouth.

Finally after we found a sitting area suitable for the girls (me and Riley were willing to sit in the middle of the road, but apparently that was "dangerous" and "stupid" and "the place where street vermin reside", and so we were forced to continue looking until we found a public park with benches.

Settling down on the bench and getting comfortable (which included me pushing Riley off so I could have more room for myself), we finally opened the bag, passed out its contents, and began to devour everything edible.

It was all very peaceful until a series of unladylike curses came flying out of lovely Jillian's mouth.

"What's wrong?" asked Hailey.

In response, Jill showed her meal, still wrapped in the yellow paper. Unfolding it, she dropped the contents onto her lap.

Resting on her leg sat nothing but a single onion.