After escaping from the Hermaphrodite a second time, the group of demigods, Spellcaster, satyr, and Cyclops found themselves standing in front of a seemingly abandoned strip mall. Jacquelyn stared at the place and said, "I usually don't trust strip malls; too many sleazy people there."

"I know," said Annabeth, "but at least the prices should reasonable."

"I don't do reasonable," said Jacquelyn. "In fact, my grandmother says that I'm the type of girl who needs pampering while my mother would rather me have a more practical style."

"Wow," said Clarisse. "And here I thought you were just another warrior female type."

"Well, you thought wrong," said Jacquelyn.

The door to a store swung open and a beautiful woman stepped out. She said, "Hello, and welcome to Circe's Beauty Salon. What can I do for you today?"

"We need makeovers," said Annabeth. "And make it snappy; it's an emergency!"

"Sure you do," said the woman. "Now, right this way..."

Within 30 minutes, everyone was sitting in booths getting their hair washed and styled. As the girls were enjoying their makeovers, Ron found himself frowning. He never did like makeovers, not even when Jacquelyn was a Hogwarts student and was constantly changing her hairstyle. She had fought with Hermione to change her hairstyle, or at least make her appearance a bit better than she already was.

Percy said to him, "I think that it's just the girls they want."

"You think?" Ron snapped at him.

"I know," Percy said as he reached for Ron's book. "I think we're in trouble."

"What?" Ron cried out. "What are you talking about?"

"Look!" Percy flipped to a page where there were pictures of men being turned into animals. The animals appeared to be squealing for help, but no one was there to help them.

"Oh my god!" Ron cried out. "I think we just walked into a trap."

"You most certainly did," said Circe, who smiled a wicked smile.

"Crap!" cried Ron. "We gotta warn the girls!"

"No you won't," said Circe as she waved her wand at them. Ron and Percy screamed as she zapped them...

****

"Now let me get this straight: Luke wants to use Ron and Jacquel to destroy the wizarding world?" Harry cried out.

"Apparently, we both didn't get the memo until after we saw him kill the entire Weasley family," said Hermione. "Anyway, we need to realize that killing the Weasley family was just the beginning for him."

"What are you talking about?" said Harry.

"I don't know if you know this, but I think Luke has some sort of vendetta against the wizarding world," said Hermione. "Why else you think he captured us?"

"It's probably to lure Ron into a trap," said Harry. "Either that, or he's probably going to use Ron to do something far worse than just kill innocent people. Which is why we probably should have called Dumbledore for help as soon as we saw that trouble was afoot."

"If we did that, Dumbledore would know something was up with Ron," said Hermione. "And if he finds out that Ron is actually a demigod, I'm more afraid of the people of Camp Half-Blood being in danger than I'm worried about him luring Ron into a trap."

"Well, Dumbledore is going to find out anyway," said Harry. "And if he finds out that we've been keeping something like this from him, we'll both be in trouble! Dumbledore doesn't like it when somebody tries to destroy his golden trio, and he'll like it even less once he finds out that Ron is, what did you say he was again?"

"I said he was a demigod," said Hermione.

"Right," said Harry. "And if Dumbledore finds out about Ron being a demigod, then Ron is going to have some explaining to do."

"And so does Jacquel, provided that she's been there since all this trouble began," said Hermione.

"We need to find out a way to warn them before something awful happens to them."

Little did Harry or Hermione know that Ron's story about him being a demigod was about to take a dark turn...

*****

Jacquelyn hated her new makeover.

Far from just a simple hair wash, the women there deigned to dress her up as a princess, complete with a beautiful pink dress, long blonde hair, and even a huge golden crown. The crown bothered her more than anything else.

"For the last time, I *DON'T* want to be a princess," she snapped as she saw Annabeth and Clarisse being made over in the image of Greek goddesses. "Princesses are too passe and cliched."

"But you're beautiful," said a woman. "You must dress as a princess."

Jacquelyn scowled as a pair of golden shoes were shoved onto her feet. This was the final straw. It was one thing to have Nichollo dress her up as a princess, and even he was respectable. But this...she wasn't going to take it anymore.

Annabeth and Clarisse watched in pure horror as Jacquelyn fought and struggled to escape from not only her seat, but the dress and crown. Grover and Tyson, who also witnessed the fight, shook their heads. "What's with her?" Tyson asked.

"Well, it's one thing to be beautiful, and it's one thing to dress as a princess, but you can't do both," Jacquelyn cried out as she slipped out the dress and tossed the crown into a garbage can. "I can be beautiful, or I can dress as a princess. I don't do princesses, and I don't dress like a princess either."

Everyone nodded. "Now, toss me my regular clothes and let's get out of here," Jacquelyn said as she worked to free the girls from their seats. Tyson retrieved Jacquelyn's clothes from a huge pile and Ron's book fell from the pile and onto the floor. There was a message scribbled on a note next to a picture of men turning into animals. Jacquelyn didn't need her magical glasses to know that that message was a cry for help.

"Son of a bitch!"