Gah! I feel my chapters steadily creeping up on me! If I was updating twice a week like before I'd have to take another break but I should be fine for a bit, I'm just a lil worried…. Anyway, reviews would be much appreciated! Mainly on the part II chapters (11 upwards) because I always feel like I'm a little shaky on these ones, but I can't judge my own writing that great, so anything you can say will be helpful! Probably….

Anyway! Thank you Kuroshibata70 and losthero071300 for the follows and favourites, that's totally awesome! Kuroshibata also has a few fanfics of his own, including an Avengers one. Though I haven't gotten around to reading them yet since they aren't my preferred fandoms… some of them seem kinda popular so check em out, maybe tell me what you think! Also Fanvergent394 who also followed and faved and who's Percy Jackson fic I have read, and it definitely has promise so go read that!

That was longer than I thought so let's cut to the chase!

CHAPTER 14: THE DEVIL JOINS THE PARTY (Biko's journal)

So, I was in the infirmary, trying not to stare at the guy in the bed in the corner of the room. Apparently, he had gotten his left arm lopped off while going to sleep in the Hephaestus Cabin. The fact that everybody took murderous beds as a normal everyday experience was staggering. The guy stitching him up even had an 'in case of dismemberment' first-aid kit, complete with a guide on reattaching left arms. Not limbs in general, just left arms. I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around this.

Well, clearly I couldn't stop focussing on One-Arm Joe, because the person who I'd come to the infirmary with was saying my name, trying to wake me up from my own thoughts.

"Sorry," I apologised to her. Apparently, she was the other new girl, the 'shamed' camper. She looked tiny, with a too wide sunhat that she was now twirling around her finger. Brown hair and wide eyes. I wasn't sure why, but she reminded me of a mouse. That was Ludmila in a nutshell, and apparently, she was the daughter of Hestia. I remember hearing that Hestia was an eternal virgin, so her having a kid was questionable at best. The two girls who had been listening in on my convo with Mom had directed me to the guy who would know the most about whatever items of power she was talking about, or even where to start. And that guy was in bedrest, reading a poorly written young adult novel.

"We came to ask for your help," Ludmila said. One of the girls from yesterday, Reika, was also there, although I'm not sure where her friend had gone since she'd said she was also coming. "Biko was given a quest, but he didn't get any prophecy or guidelines to go with it. His only hints were that I was supposed to go with him, and he needs to find three super powerful items. We heard that you would know where to find them." The guy in the bed stroked his chin as he thought. Maybe he was hoping that if he kept stroking it, he would grow a beard.

"Well, it's true that Hunters know where to find a lot of weird stuff," he said. "But 'powerful item' can mean just about anything, and that's all relative to who's talking. To me, a couple of hex bags are some pretty strong stuff, but I'm guessing to you demigods, that's child's play. Who gave you the quest?"

"It was Athena," I said. "She said that… well, she said I had to prove myself to her. Prove that I was actually her daughter." I had to admit, I didn't know what to feel about the whole situation. I was kind of hoping that Mom would be friendlier. Maybe I got the whole idea of a mom wrong, and they really were horrible overbearing perfectionist nightmares, but having her tell me that I wasn't her son? Well, that was a little harsh. And the worst part was, I definitely did feel some kind of connection to her. It was almost like I had seen her somewhere before. A vague memory from a long forgotten dream. Even her intimidating presence seemed familiar. But that was where it stopped. Unlike the other Athena kids, I didn't have any resemblance to her. Not even her grey eyes. So being told I had the chance to prove myself to her… did I even want to? Did I even care?

Either way, the guy in the bed frowned, and pulled out a small, slightly beat up journal from beneath his pillow. Parts of the already worn leather looked like it had been soaked in acid.

"You know, this might actually be convenient for me too," he said, flicking through the pages. "As you can see, I can't exactly move from here, but I still have a lot of things that I need people to look into…. If you guys are going to leave Camp Half – Blood, you might be able to do that for me."

"So that means you can help us, right?" Ludmila asked. "Like, you scratch our backs, we scratch yours?" Zach was staring at the journal so intently that I was sure I could see smoke rising from him burning through its pages with his intensity.

"Well, that's the problem. I'm not actually sure I can help you. This journal has got info on all sorts of stuff my Mom was hunting and following up on, but it's two months old by now. It might give you a lead, but I don't know if it's still gonna be relevant. Especially after that flashy incident in Nevada…." He exchanged a quick glance with Reika, an entire conversation passing between them, but I had no idea where to start on deciphering it. Instead, Reika's face brightened up, and it almost looked like she was going to jump out of her rollerblades.

"Oh, wait! I know who can help!" she cried out, then immediately her energy petered out, and her face looked like she had got a bug in her teeth. "Oh… I know who can help…."

"I know, he's kind of sketchy-"

"Sketchy? Zach, he stole the Megiddo Circuit."

"And then helped us get it back. I know, we can't trust the guy just on principle, but he seems solid if he's going to get something out of it too. I'm pretty sure that if we can convince him that it's worth his time, he'll listen." Reika gritted her teeth, and it looked like she was resisting the urge to strangle him. But she just sighed.

"Fine. You win. Should I go get him?"

"Yeah, that would be gre-" He'd barely finished with Reika disappeared from the room, the door almost tearing itself off its hinges like a tornado had just blown through it. Thirty seconds later, and she reappeared, having dragged a very dazed and confused camper into the room.

"I brought Zodiac," she grumbled.

"Is it normal to be abducted at light speed?!" he asked, a half finished sandwich hanging out of his teeth.

"Oh shut up," Reika chided. "You can teleport, you of all people shouldn't be surprised." Zach cleared his throat. Zodiac's attention turned to him.

"Oh, hey there compadre!" he yelled. "How's the recovery coming along? You talked to Riley at all since the event?"

"Yeah, once or twice," he said.

"Wait, really?" Zodiac and Reika looked equally surprised, but Zach either didn't notice, or didn't care.

"I haven't brought you in here for that though. I need to ask you a favour." A devilish grin spread across his face.

"Oh really now? I thought that you would owe me a favour after I helped you get the Circuit back."

"The one you stole," Reika growled. He waved his hand as if he was swatting a fly.

"Water under the bridge! Anyway, tell me about this favour of yours, and I'll see if it's actually worth my time."

"These guys here need help on a quest," Zach said. "They're looking for three super powerful items in America. From the way they've described it, they might be some of the items Mom was writing about in her journal. The relics that have been recently smuggled in here. No offence but…." He looked up and down at me, as if he was scanning all of my strengths and weaknesses. "These kids are gonna die if we send them anywhere too dangerous." I wanted to be offended, but evading danger actually seemed like a pretty good idea.

"So what do you need me for?" Zodiac asked. He'd pulled out a coin from his pocket and was flipping it, catching it on the back of his other hand, checking it, and repeating the process.

"I need you to tell me what you know. You've been dealing with these guys for a while, right? So you should have the heads up on where these things have been moved around, and which ones are easier to… well, 'liberate' I guess."

"Okay then, lemme see your notes." Reluctantly, Zach let Zodiac take a peek. He skimmed through them, sometimes nodding and pointing out whatever he thought was interesting, and other times frowning and shaking his head, normally with equally optimistic messages like 'fun place if they want to be swimming with concrete shoes' or 'do they like lead in their diet by any chance?' Finally, he stopped Zach from changing the pages, pinning his fingers to two points on the page.

"I've given you your head start," he said. "Nashville Tennessee, Atlantic City in New Jersey and Cleveland Ohio. You'll find your super cool, super awesome symbols of power there."

"Cool, we just have three entire cities to search," Ludmila said. "No problem."

"Look, I've not got a problem with directing you guys towards them," Zodiac said. "After all, the Camp has actually been a pretty sweet place for me to crash. But I'm not getting anything from giving you all the cheat codes. Why should I help you guys?"

"Because I already know that you're a thief by trade," Zach said. "You rob and steal and loot rare and mystical items all the time. That's how you've been living by yourself all this time, right?"

"Hey, I don't steal all the time!" He yelled back. "And I only take stuff out of the wrong hands. What's wrong with that?"

"A lot of things depending on your definition of 'wrong', but I don't really care. Somebody who lives like you do probably lives by sneaking and slinking through the shadows. What if you had the opportunity to strike it big, and I mean real big? In exchange for helping these kids find whatever toys they need, I can help you steal whatever super powerful item you want, as long as it's magical."

"What, you? Ha! You must be joking. Why would I bother asking you for help on a job like that?"

"Because first off, I'm friends with a Hermes kid, and one that could steal you from wherever you were."

"Wait, you're roping me into this?" Reika asked incredulously. Zach ignored her and kept speaking.

"And second, because I'm a hunter. Unlike these demigods, I have connections in shady places. I can get them to cover up any job as long as it's done well. And I've done my fair share of dirty deeds so I'm not gonna let my moral compass sway me." Zodiac stayed silent, as if he was thinking on it, his eyes shifting between Zach, Reika, and us.

"Well, I can definitely tell you're a veteran when it comes to this kind of thing. And maybe I do have a few things that I wanna take for myself… but let me tell you this now, you can't negotiate a deal for your life. I mean, you're trying to bribe me with something I still have to work for? Are you crazy? There's no way any normal person would accept that!"

"But I'm guessing you're not a normal person?" Zodiac shrugged his shoulders.

"Well I've spent half of my life living on the streets despite being the son of a goddess. I think that automatically disqualifies me from being a 'normal' person. Don't get me wrong, I'm still gonna take you up on your offer, but I'm not gonna help these kids out because of it. I have my own agenda, my own things to do, to take care of."

"So you're gonna give the kids all the info they need for their quest?" Zodiac looked at me with a smile that made him look more like the devil than a kid.

"Even better. I'm going to escort them myself."

What little time I still had flew past me like a blur. I'm sure that I was still talking with the other members of the team, dealing and associating with them. I had to have been doing something like that. But it felt more like a dream than reality. Or maybe an awkward mix between a dream and a nightmare. I wasn't even used to being far from my Old Man, and now I was going to go on a cross country tour, where the main activity was thievery. The only thing that I could remember just before leaving was our trip to the armoury.

Ludmila and I were gawking at the various weapons stacked all around the Athena cabin. Even with how nervous I was, I couldn't contain the elation at seeing so much cool stuff around me. It was freaking Swordhaven full of Black Ops II equipment, with magic attachments instead of scopes. It didn't really look that ordered though. It was more like somebody just found a bunch of really cool stuff and crammed them together in one place.

"Take your pick," Zodiac said, beckoning all around him, his arms spread wide around him. He was trying his best to look cool, but he couldn't fool me. He wanted to become as much of a fanboy as I felt. "This cabin has everything you need to slay anything from a gremlin to a mutated Indian elephant."

"You say that as if we're going to need to fight a lot," Ludmila grumbled.

"Trust me kid, you have no idea. If we're lucky, our journey is actually gonna be pretty boring. But since I'm stuck with an Athena kid and a Hestia kid, which may as well be a super charged child of Demeter, things are gonna be different. Monsters will be attracted to you like rats to cheese." I wanted to tell him that most rats didn't like cheese, and it was actually mice that ate the stuff a lot, but instead, I pointed out:

"But I've been fine this whole time. I've only ever been attacked by monsters a few times. What makes now so different?"

"Well, now you actually know your lineage, and you know what you are. Walking around out there, you're like a walking beacon to strong monsters. Everybody's gonna want a piece of you, literally."

"Like Miss Valentine," Ludmila said, a little sweat dripping down from her hairline, getting lost in her eyebrow.

"Right now, you probably smell like bacon strips to all the nasties of the world. If you walk around unarmed, you'll be toast in seconds. So that's why you've got to pick something cool to use. Your three factors are power, familiarity, and practicality. Power is an obvious one. Zach, for example, uses guns, like this guy here." He pulled a golden revolver from the gun rack, inspecting it for God knows what. "His guns are strong, real strong. Most bullets don't work on monsters, but Zach's found loopholes around that. He's pretty familiar with them too, so he can use them just fine. The problem is that unlike this little guy, it's pretty tricky to hide a shotgun."

"Plus, none of us know how to use one," I said.

"Exactly, so that's out of the question. On the other hand, you have something else, like this." He put the pistol back and took out a grey yoyo with blue pentagram patterns on the sides. "Bone steel yoyo, with thread made of woven divine silver. This hurts most monsters and can bind werewolves. Plus, you don't even need to hide it. It's a yoyo."

"But unlike the gun, it's pretty weak," Ludmila said.

"And there's the problem again of familiarity. I don't think you guys can fight with yoyos. So you should stay away from… what are you doing?" Ludmila was walking towards another item that was next to the yoyo. There were two of them, and they looked like two balls of glowing bronze rope attached to chains.

"These are poi," she said. "Monkey fist fire poi, used in performance arts."

"Yup," Zodiac said. "I've seen some like them before with demigods. That one is probably made of something weird like Kevlar infused with celestial bronze, with celestial bronze chains. It's nigh on indestructible, and probably set to burn with Greek fire. They're pretty showy." Ludmila grabbed them, examining them carefully. "Hey wait, you wanna use those as weapons? Those are probably ceremonial or something, and they're pretty impractical. It's like using the yoyos as a weapon!"

"I think I'll be fine," she replied. "Plus, I've used poi before." Zodiac just shrugged his shoulders and turned to me instead.

"Okay then noob, what's your weapon of choice then?" I saw the only zweihander in the whole armoury, a massive bronze sword a bit bigger than I was tall, and reached to grab it. Zodiac slapped my hand away before I could even touch it.

"Oh no, I'm not having you lug around a weapon like that!" he yelled. "Mist or not, I don't see you hiding this thing from anybody, and using it is impossible!"

"But, it looks so cool!" I said. "It's like Cloud's Buster Sword but it glows in the dark!"

"And by the time you even swing it, you'll be sliced to ribbons! Pick something practical!" Dismayed (no, heartbroken!), I tore my eyes away from the weapon and spotted a sparkling gold short sword next to it. It didn't look like anything fancy, apart from being solid gold of course. I picked it up. I guess I was expecting it to feel like lightning was racing up my arm and along my spine, like I'd found a lost part of myself. Like I had found the chosen sword of legend, or pulled it from a magic stone. But it felt strangely… normal, if not a bit heavy.

"Well, I guess this will do," I complained. Zodiac nodded his head.

"Better choice. That's an imperial gold gladius, forged for Roman soldiers. It's a good weapon. It's easy to use, and was the go to sword for centuries." I guessed he was right, but it didn't really look… cool. It was just a sword, and that was it. There was nothing really special about it. Either way, I grabbed it and the scabbard it came with (remember King Arthur!), tying it around my belt and sheathing it so it hung to my side. "Don't worry about this being spotted. It's small enough that the mist will automatically warp it. It will look like… I dunno, a switchblade? A Swiss army knife?"

"Good enough! So, now that we've got our weapons, we're all set, right? Rations, clothes, first aid, toothbrush…."

"Yeah, we won't over it all a thousand times," Ludmila replied. "We've barely been doing anything else but planning for this."

"Wow, you guys actually think that you can plan a quest without experience," Zodiac snickered.

"So you expect us to walk out there blind?"

"The way you are now, you might as well. Not like it's gonna make a difference."

"We'll soon see about that," Ludmila said with a smirk. "And how come you aren't picking out a weapon too?"

"Me? Why would I need to? It's not like I'm going to be doing a lot of fighting. That's your job." As soon as he saw the irritation on Ludmila's face, he started speaking again, covering himself up. "Besides, it's not like I'm completely unarmed! I already have a weapon of my own! So, can we get going now?"

"Yeah!" I yelled. "Tomorrow, we will run faster! Stretch out our arms farther! And one fine morning…."

"You'll wake up with a sword in your gut," Zodiac finished with a smirk, walking out of the shed.

"Oi, oi…."

"Oh don't worry, you have me on your side. I'll make sure you stay safe!"

"What, until the going gets tough?"

"Glad you know how I work already! Well then, it's time to head out! Our first stop: Atlantic City!"

. . .

Third Person POV

Zach was starting to get edgy having to lie around all day. Every now and then, he got up and went for a walk, got some fresh air. But he wasn't allowed to participate in camp activities, and he had a crutch wherever he moved. All he had was a sprained ankle now. He'd seen demigods enter with wounds that would take weeks to heal and be out in a few hours. Knowing that by comparison he was so useless… well, it wasn't the most cheerful thought.

Instead, he spent his time either reading, or writing. Sometimes, Reika would stop by and give him something to read. Usually they were terrible paperbacks or cheesy comic books, but every now and then she gave him something interesting.

He was in the middle of reading Looking For Alaska when somebody came into the sickbay. He looked up from the pages of his book and saw Riley standing at the doorway, the light from outside making her cast a shadow into the already dark room.

"What is your plan?" she asked him.

"Good morning to you too."

"I heard that the new kids went out on a quest just recently with Zodiac. I also heard that you gave them a helping hand, pointed some things out for them. You're telling me you did this out of charity?"

"What, is that so hard to believe? I can be a nice guy sometimes." She clearly wasn't buying it, but she played along anyways.

"Even if you're just trying to be nice, you wouldn't have sent Zodiac of all people unless you felt like you had to get something stolen, and quickly. You can't trust the guy to work with yourself, but a bunch of strangers? They're perfect guinea pigs. If anything goes wrong, they'll just wind up as collateral."

"Geez, that's a heartless assessment of my tactics don't ya think? What if I genuinely just want to give Zodiac a chance to prove himself as 'one of the good guys'? What if I believe that the rookies might actually come back fine from their quest? What if-"

"What if they're all just pawns for your own plans? Zach, I know that you're used to operating on your own as a Hunter, but you can't keep hidden agendas and go behind our backs while you're here."

"Yeah, yeah, Campers stick together and all that…." Riley shook her head furiously.

"No, screw the camp! You can't go behind the backs of your friends." Zach had to admit, he was a little surprised by that one. He didn't expect to hear that coming from Riley of all people. Huh, maybe he wasn't as alone as he thought after all?

"I know that it's overwhelming," she continued, "meeting something that you can't kill. Believe me, I'm still recovering from that now. It's why I've been so trippy lately. But, doing things on a whim isn't a good way to deal with it… as you found out."

"My head still rings on some days," I admitted. Riley grimaced, but continued anyway. I figured it was best not to interrupt her again.

"We're here to check up on you if you do anything stupid. And trust me, we all want to get a second shot to prove ourselves. So trust us a little so that we can help." Zach stayed silent. She probably did have a point, but the advice sounded strange coming from Riley. He nodded his head, but he wasn't sure how much he actually believe her.

"I'll give you the heads up if I find out anything. If it might affect Zodiac too, then I'll tell Chiron afterwards." Riley didn't look convinced, but she headed back towards the door. Just before she could leave, she stopped, lingering at the doorway and looking back at him through the corner of her eye.

"Oh, and Zach? Sorry about… you know…." She didn't need to say anything else. Anybody could tell what she was talking about.

"Don't worry, it's given me a lot of time to think," he said. "Don't beat yourself up over it. Just let Clarisse do that for you." For one regretful moment, he wondered whether she would turn around and punch him through his bed for the joke, but she laughed it off and left. After five, maybe ten minutes, when he was sure that he couldn't hear anybody else nearby, he pulled out a cell phone Zodiac had smuggled in from beneath his pillow. Being mortal, it would probably be safe as long as no demigods were nearby. Putting aside his book, he pulled out his journal, turning to a blank page, right after Suparna's entry. He scribbled furiously with one hand while his other hand dialled on the phone. It took three rings before somebody picked up.

"Gordon Kent speaking, may I help you?" a gruff voice called out over the phone.

"Get me B. Singer," Zach said. "Tell him it's from Kerouac. I need him to find me a gun. A special gun…."

Okay! I think that's all the follows done! So now on to favourites! Simply for time, I'm only mentioning people who favorited only. If someone's name was mentioned as a follow, then yeah that's it. So, shoutout to keyking24 (The Kingdom Key! I expect to see Sora or Mickey to show up any minute now…), Animeangie (Her active account for writing fanfic is keymasterdan (THE KINGDOM KEY!) so if you like Fairy Tail or Katekyo Hitman Reborn, stop by! I'm reading Phoenix Wing right now, and my reviews probably sound harsh since I don't like Fairy Tail much…. BUT it is pretty good, and gets better over time, so you might wanna have a look!) and Petrichor in May who seems to have a bunch of fics I need to check out and seems to be pretty popular too (admittedly, I'll probably dodge the Naruto ones because Naruto but to each their own). So yeah, thanks for reading, sorry for the monstrous ANs, and I'll see you all next week!