While everyone else was asleep, Serena just sat and stared into the warm fire, thinking. It had felt so long ago when she had that dream of the huntress girl, and when she first met Nico at that school dance. Serena chuckled to herself. She remembered that she wouldn't have even been at the dance had Astrid not pestered her to come. The young demigod silently thanked her somewhat-annoying friend. She wished she could have said it to her face before she left for camp.

Truthfully, the daughter of Poseidon missed her somewhat-annoying friend. She knew that Serena liked to just draw by herself, but Astrid seemed to like taking her out of her comfort zone. If she were being honest, Serena appreciated Astrid's effort. If it wasn't for her, Serena would not have met Nico at the dance.

Serena sighed and stood up, deciding to take a walk. She figured it wouldn't hurt, and she wasn't worried about leaving the others alone for a bit. The chance of monsters attacking them was small. Even if they did get attacked, they would be able to handle themselves. Besides, Serena wouldn't be too far away to help.

"I'll be right back," Serena said quietly, not wanting to wake up her sleeping friends.

Serena found herself thinking about everything that had happened since they left camp. Soon, she froze in her tracks. She started to think about all the things that seemed a bit too unusual for a demigod's quest. The ghost, Serena's "dream," her conversation with her father. While she knew that the short versions sounded normal for a quest, the details weren't. Ghosts didn't disobey a son of Hades. Greek half-bloods didn't talk to Egyptian gods in their dreams. Normal demigods didn't . . .

Normal demigods didn't descend from monsters.

Serena wasn't a normal demigod. Not by a long shot.

The daughter of Poseidon sighed. "Why does my family have to be so complicated?" Serena complained rather loudly.

"That I don't know, my little songbird. But I do know that you will be helpful to me. Quite helpful, indeed."

Serena whipped her head up from where she was looking at her feet, now looking around wildly. "W-who's there?" Silence. The daughter of Poseidon felt something wrapping around her ankles. When she looked down, she saw plants that might've been vines, but she wasn't sure. She resisted the urge to yell at the strange plants, clamping her mouth shut.

"I said," Serena started with more confidence and volume, "Who's there?"

Silence. . . at least, for a few moments. Then, the young demigod could hear quiet laughter, but she couldn't tell where it was coming from. The vines felt like they were slowly growing thorns, which brought a shout from Serena.

"Show yourself!" The laughter got louder, and the thorns got sharper. "I said––"

A shadowy figure came from the bushes, and something sharp grazed Serena's face. Pain flared up from her cheek, where the sharp object had hit. "What the––!"

"Here's a tip, girl," the voice said, and something else came out of the shadows. Serena tried to look at who–or what–the two figures were, but her vision had gone blurry. "Never keep me away from what I want. You're lucky to be alive right now."

"What are you–ngh–talking about?" Serena tried to back away, but forgot her ankles were still in the vine-like plants' grasp. She tripped backwards, landing hard on the ground. The pain she felt was almost unbearable, and Serena could feel blood dripping from the cut on her cheek.

"That's for me to know, and you to never find out." The voice said, and Serena could hear the sneer in his voice. "Lycaon, thank you for your help. You may go now."

Something–the other figure, Serena guessed–growled in approval. "Always up for slashing a demigod. Though, why you wouldn't let me bite the thing, I'll never understand."

After that, Serena couldn't decipher what they were saying. A ringing in her ears drowned them out and made it hard to concentrate. The overpowering pain in her face made her thoughts dissolve. A few thoughts managed to make their way through the blur of pain, most of them saying to get away. Get away, get away, LEAVE––

The world went black.

Nico awoke to someone saying his name, repeatedly. At first he tried to go back to sleep, but then the person's words came through his sleep-muddled mind. He was awake in a second.

"Serena's gone."

"What do you mean, she's gone?" Nico snapped as he sat bolt upright on the ground, soon jumping up to his feet. He realized that Eclipse had been the one to wake him, and Will was packing up their campsite.

Eclipse shrunk away from Nico, but she was still on the ground. "I-I don't know! I just woke up and . . . she wasn't there."

The son of Hades turned from looking at the trees to giving Eclipse a sharp glare. The daughter of Apollo shrunk away even further. "She 'wasn't there'?"

The fearful girl nodded. "Look, I'm s-sorry. She's my f-friend too, you know. O-of course I'm worried."

Nico, still furious, felt a warm hand rest on his shoulder. He redirected his glare to next to him, but it softened when he saw Will's face. He saw that this upset Will, too, but he knew better than to take it out on everything and everyone like Nico did. Nico's anger dissipated at least somewhat. "Sorry."

"It's not me you should be apologizing to." Will replied matter-of-factually. Nico looked back over to Eclipse, who was shakily getting to her feet. Now that Nico was paying more attention, he noticed that it looked like Eclipse had been crying.

The son of Hades sighed. "Sorry, Eclipse," he said a little roughly. Eclipse seemed to understand that was the best he could manage at the moment and nodded.

"Just as long as we get her back. I'm not losing her again." She looked like she could start crying again at any minute, but Nico decided to look past that for the moment.

Nico nodded. "Let's get looking, then.