Chapter Seven - A Dramatic Exchange-

I stood in darkness once again, this time there was nobody there to greet me. The eeriness was unsettling, but that was quickly over as I opened my eyes.

A roof with a hanging chandelier was overhead, the sounds of arguing all around me.

"Ughhh," I groaned and grasped my head. "Why is it so bright in here?"

I heard shuffling as I sat up, the Guard from earlier was staring at me really closely.

"Who's spawn are you?" He evaluated me, his eyes scanning my body.

"Isn't it obvious?" Jackie scoffed.

Roger nodded, "He's a Son of Mo-"

Jackie quickly smacked his mouth and shot him a dirty mouth, he recoiled and cupped his hands over his mouth. I held back a laugh then quickly felt bad due to Roger's tears forming in his eyes.

"Somnia," A girl with black hair added. "It's quite obvious, the Roman God himself is very warlike and attentive due to his Father."

The Roman from earlier scowled and returned to her side, "What do we do with him?"

I hadn't noticed but someone was missing, "Where is Adonis?"

The two exchanged glances and the blonde one sighed, "He's in a cell at the moment."

Trying to stand I stumbled and Roger caught me, a trickle of blood coming from his mouth.

"How hard did you smack him?" I frowned at Jackie and she shrugged.

"Nevermind that," Roger wiped it away with his free hand. "Let's get you to Adonis."

I smiled weakly, "He's recovering, shouldn't he still be on the bed?"
The black haired girl stared at me, "I'm guessing you're Reyna?"

She looked surprised and her body language became even more stiff, it looked like I had set off a panic alarm.

"Relax," I coughed. "The God of West Winds says Hello."
An expression of confusion was brought upon her face and then relaxation as Roger helped me out the door. I had trouble adjusting my eyes to the light, when it did I found a large cell in front of me.

In it held the Drakon.

I frowned at Roger, confused by the sight.

Then I heard him, he was whimpering and whispering my name.

"Morf…Morf…Help." I turned back to the cage, then looked towards the left far end of it.

Adonis was sitting in the tight spaced corner, avoiding the sleeping Drakon tail.

I felt a surge of anger and stormed back inside, leaving Roger standing before the cage.

"You said he was being kept in a cell." I snarled as I approached the Romans.

Octavian nodded, "He is."

"Told you he'd react like this if we did this Octavian." Reyna sat on the table.

I stomped towards the Demigod and grabbed the collar of his purple shirt, gripping it tightly as I cocked back a punch. A pair of hands grabbing onto my arm, stopping me from proceeding.

"Don't," Jackie warned. "We're here to help them."

"I'm not going to help these monsters until Adonis is out of that cage." I scowled and freed my arm from her grip, releasing Octavion.

Octavion glared at me and pressed down the wrinkles on his shirt, "That's fine, we don't need your help fil-!"

Reyna coughed loudly to interrupt his statement, "Actually we could use your help…there is someone sending monsters to our Camp…much like the Drakon."

Octavion walked slumped back into a chair, his face displaying an expression of displeasure.

"We defeated a Titan before with the help of our previous Praetor…however due to his absence on a quest we cannot imagine defeating this one as he is more powerful." She continued. "He is the Titanus Counterpart to Neptune, Ocean."

Jackie's face was serious and somewhat pale, while I was trying not to crack a joke.

"Is something amusing?" Reyna glanced at me.

Jackie elbowed my side and I stood straight, ignoring the pain that was left.

"Not at all." Jackie smiled and nodded for her to continue.

Reyna grimaced and stood, pushing back the table behind her.

"The Titan has suddenly appeared after we defeated his brother Crius," She crossed her arms. "It seems the destruction of Mount Othrys has spurred the presence of Ocean."
"Who is this Ocean?" I whispered in Jackies ear.

She muttered something to herself and whispered back, "Oceanus, and the other is Krios."
"Ocean has been sending Monsters down to us," Reyna looked at me. "In hopes of hindering our progress to find the answer to the Prophecy of Seven."

I nodded, "And I suppose you'll need us to slay him?"

Octavion laughed, "Slay him? The way to slay a Titan is impossible to do without the Blade of Saturn."

"Well how do we get this blade?" I asked.

Octavian narrowed his eyes at me, "You cannot, it was lost long ago."

The silence filled the air and I thought hard, "We'll talk about it later…release Adonis."

Reyna sighed and beckoned me over, the three of us followed her. She continued outside and stopped next to a pillar, waving her hand.
I frowned.

"What's she doing?" I asked.

Then a group of armored campers rounded the left corner of the building and marched to the cage, surrounding it. One stepped forward and placed his hand on what looked to be a door frame on the cage.

He glanced back nervously and she nodded, signaling him to open it.

Swinging it open, a flash darted out almost inconceivable to our eyes. I reached for my weapon but I was suddenly wrapped around by a pair of arms.

It was Adonis.
"Thank you!" He sobbed, squeezing me.

"Watch it!" Jackie warned and gestured towards his fingernails. "One scratch is all it takes."

I patted his back and got free, careful to avoid his sharp nails.

"Relax buddy," I peered back at the cage to see all the campers with their weapons drawn. "I would never leave a friend behind."

Our reunion was cut short by the roar of the Drakon, causing Adonis to yelp in fear.

The campers closed the door quickly and locked it as the Drakon hissed and banged on the bars.

It peered out at me after finishing its fit, staring into my eyes with a determined stare.

"Where did you come from?" I murmured.

It hissed one more time before curling up and facing away from me, the campers breathed a sigh of relief before leaving.

"Impressive," Reyna's voice spoke out behind me loudly. "A Drakon doesn't usually show its backside to anyone…especially Demigods."

I snorted, "Nevermind the Drakon…how do we plan to handle Ocean?"

She clicked her tongue, stepping forward and staring into the cage.

"What can you do? That is the question." She said, "We've been working with a Daughter of Somnia for a while, so what exactly would you bring to the table?"

That caught my attention quickly, "What's he-"

"What's her name?" Jackie interrupted.

I turned to see her face stricken with…desperation?

That was new, kind of bothered me a bit.

"What does it matter to you?" Octavian asked. "Do you know her?"

"Quite possibly," Roger stepped forward. "Could be a friend we've been looking for."

He pursed his lips, a soft touch setting in his blue eyes for a second.

Quickly that soft touch was replaced by his cold stare again.

"So you're the ones she spoke of." He stared at the two. "The only problem is, she only mentioned two of you."

He turned to me and tilted his head with a disgusted look.

"So why are you here?"

I squinted my eyes in a mocking tone, "To fix your problem."

"Yes we've been over that as well, so now that fixates on two questions instead of one, WHY are you here to help and WHY are YOU here?" He crossed his arms.

Gods he's annoying.

I started to lose the patience I had left, approaching him I was stopped by a hand being placed on my chest.

"A quest from Jupiter himself," She stuck a piece of old crisp paper out. "We've been aware of our abilities for a while now, he's chosen us to defeat Ocean."

He seemed suspicious of her answer, eventually settling down.

"Very well, we will do our best to…aid you." He sighed and grabbed the paper, opening it and scanning it.

"Great!" Adonis smiled and put his arms over the two acting as if they were long time friends. "No blood, no foul thus no harm done!"

This annoyed Octavian and he shrugged his arm off, "I will trust you girl, but the other three I cannot."

He walked away and Reyna frowned, "I apologize for him…he's been on edge since Irene left to find Ocean."

"So it was her." Jackie pursed her lips.

Reyna rubbed Jackie's arm, in a sort of 'I feel bad' type of way I suppose.

"She left at Dawn yesterday," She guided us into the building once more, towards a board with markings. "We managed to narrow down where Ocean was, she left immediately."

A sad feeling washed over me as Jackie approached the board, tracing the X on the map with her finger.

"If you leave now, you may be able to catch her." Reyna offered a solution.

"We'd need transportation," Jackie murmured. "Unfortunately Adonis is already overdue to return."

I looked around the room and found nothing but a piece of paper on the table, their voices faded as I began reading it.

Hey Guys,

I had to leave and beat traffic. It was fun meeting you guys, especially you Morf.

Your Grandmother saved me once, so I was glad to return even the slightest favor to her and guide you here.

Make her proud and beat that stuck up Titan.

P.S tell Irene I'm sorry.

,Your Friendly Zombie

Adonis.

"That's perfect!" Jackie exclaimed and I snapped out of my focus. "Thank you so much!"

I folded the paper and stuck it into my pocket, turning to find Jackie hugging Reyna.

"Uh, what's going on?" I asked, confused.

"We've got a ride, a fast one at that." Jackie grinned.

I had a bad feeling about this.