I yawned, looking down the lit streets of New York, watching cars and people go by, all of them unaware that I had enough weapons in my bag to start a small rebellion. Argus had dropped us off half an hour ago, maybe more, and the coach or bus, or whatever the hell was taking us to Camp Jupiter, was now officially late.

Nico was leaning against a nearby wall, while Sophia and I shared the duffle bag.

"There anything we might've left at camp?" I asked.

"Not that I know of..." She yawned too, "It's too late for that anyway, we can't exactly go back to get it."

I nodded, looking at her wristwatch as she lifted her arm to scratch her face. Three in the morning. Getting up early had never been my strong suit, nor would it ever be.

While it wasn't comfortable sitting on a pile of swords and small pieces of armour, it was certainly better than sitting on the cold floor. Unlike Nico, I was too tired to stand right now, a view Sophia shared with me. At one point, my gaze wandered to a nearby street lamp, and I noticed a pigeon staring right back at me. Most probably Pandora, keeping her distance and still close enough to rush to my defence.

Though I wanted to take her with me in a cage at first, Sophia had reminded me that many of the mortals wouldn't share my affection for her, and it'd just cause more trouble than we could do with. So I had to tell her to follow us discreetly instead, something which she hadn't been against in the slightest.

Patting down my cloak, I made sure, for what felt like the thousandth time, that I could feel the hard bumps of my knife hilts underneath it. They were too useful to leave behind, but I used them too rarely to be certain that I had packed them for the quest. My two swords were stashed inside the bag, along with my third knife, while my bow was stored safely in my inner coat pocket. My entire arsenal was within arm's reach.

Both Sophia and Nico had also insisted on bringing their own swords, rather than just using one out of the bagful we had with us already. The daughter of Athena, apart from her blade, had also brought along her invisibility cap, flipping it over and over in her hands. Thank the gods we were travelling at night, that way the Redsox logo wasn't visible. Last thing we needed was meeting a proud Yankees fan and getting into a verbal battle with them.

Not like she couldn't defend herself, hell, I'd be more worried for the unknowing mortal than for Sophia.

The daughter of Athena and I had made an agreement of sorts, one that I was now fulfilling for the second time today. Lightly shaking her, her head stopped dipping downwards, and she nodded her thanks.

She had been the first to give in to sleep, me similarly waking her the first time. When it was my turn, however, I had gotten an elbow in my ribs, which she swore was supposed to hit me in the arm, but had slipped.

Yeah, right, and I'm the bloody Pope.

Finally, after what felt like forever, one set of headlights veered off of the road and stopped before us.

Chiron had chosen well because it was a big one, and by the looks of it, few people sat on board. Perfect.

"Are you the campers of Mister Brunner?" Asked a man who was dressed in fairly formal attire. The tour guide, most probably.

"Yeah," I said, stretching, remembering the name Chiron had given them as an alias. Getting up, I helped Sophia to her feet, then got ready to lift the bag, taking two deep breaths.

"Leave that bag, Jerry over here'll throw it under." He gave us a polite smile, "I'm guessing you want to keep your backpacks with you?"

"Yep," Sophia replied.

"Alright, come aboard then." My two companions headed forward, stepping past the tour guide and Jerry, the bus driver.

I lifted the duffle bag, grunting and struggling a bit with the weight, ready to hand it over to Jerry. The man gave me a smirk, the same kind you'd give a little kid struggling to open a pickle jar. Oh, how naive he was.

"Here, sir," I said, holding my shoulder over for him to take it. He grabbed the strap and I let go, the smirk quickly getting replaced by a look of surprise as it fell straight to the ground with a metallic clatter. It was only thanks to his good luck that he didn't follow the bag on its journey, planting a kiss on the concrete.

"Jerry! For fu-" The tour guide composed himself, "Be more careful!"

He nodded, shouldering the bag and ever so slowly lifting it up. Giving him a final bow of the head in thanks, trying to hide my grin, I stepped onto the bus, looking down the aisle of seats, searching for my friends.

Apart from us, there was a family of four onboard and a mid-twenties couple, all of them sleeping except for the father. At the very back sat an old man, his hat covering his eyes as he slept.

That's also where I found them, right at the very back, Nico laying on two seats at once, right in front of the sleeping man, while Sophia had taken the other seats in that row. Their backpacks were thrown behind Sophia's seat and as I got to them, mine joined the pile as well.

"You guys mind if I use this place to nap for a bit?" Nico asked, not really taking into consideration that he had already basically claimed those two seats for himself.

"Sure." I answered, looking at Sophia, "You certain the mist works on that stuff?" I pointed down, thinking about the duffle bag and Jerry.

"It should. Just hope he doesn't get curious and opens it up."

"Great," I muttered, plopping down next to her. A slight rocking of the bus signalled that the bus driver had managed to throw the bag inside. Soon enough, he was sitting in his seat again, a bit sweaty and visibly frustrated. The engine came to life, and we were off, slowly leaving behind New York.

"You do realize Nico that that's not really the safest way to sleep," Sophia said, looking at the son of Poseidon.

"Where's the fun in sleeping normally?" He asked, and the daughter of Athena shrugged, looking at me instead.

"There are some magazines inside this net here, want one to read?"

"I'd rather not piss off everyone by switching on the light."

"True." She stopped her hand from reaching for one, "We shouldn't draw too much attention to ourselves."

"You tired?"

"A bit, but I doubt I can go to sleep yet, despite what I was doing on the duffle bag. I'm still sorry about that elbow, it wasn't-" She stopped, "Ah, damn it, you're not going to believe me anyway... Still, I'm sorry about that."

"I guess I can accept the apology..." I smirked, "But same, I also suddenly feel more alive."

"Right? We're finally on our quest! I mean, this hasn't happened since the second giant war!"

She stared off into thin air, smiling.

"You want to talk about anything quest related?"

"That can wait until later, we've got three days' worth of time to spend in each other's company, we might hate the sound of each other's voices by the end of that." She thought for a while, and I waited for what she was going to say next, "You know what? You've not really been asking any questions from me lately. Can I take that as a sign that you now know everything that you wanted to know?"

I snorted, "So is this you're way of asking if I have any questions?"

"Precisely that."

"You are full of surprises, I thought you hated my constant questioning of everything."

"It can get on my nerves after a while, but what can I say, I do like telling stories."

I let out a small chuckle, "Now that you mention it, I do, in fact, have some questions that I've been keeping to myself."

"Some? I'm starting to have second thoughts-"

"No, no, no! You asked for this, so now you have to suffer through it."

"Ugh... Okay, what's the first one?"

"Okay, so, you've already told me about the quest of the seven, and I saw three of them in the orientation film, but what happened to them after?"

"After what? After the quest ended?" I nodded, and she sighed, "I see you're ability to choose tough topics isn't completely gone. Where to start..." She hummed for a bit before continuing, "I guess with Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. They got married at the age of twenty-five and had two children. Jenny is related to Percy through his son, Charles. They also had a daughter, Silena, but I'm not sure where that side of the family is now, they kind of distanced themselves from everyone else. After the war came to a close, Percy helped out Jason Grace with building shrines for the minor gods in Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood."

"The Hall of Fame."

"Yeah, the shrines are looked after by the nymphs and the children of those gods. Meanwhile, at Camp Jupiter, Temple Hill grew massively, dozens of shrines springing up both above and below ground. Annabeth Chase went on to complete the rebuilding of Olympus and continued to return regularly to Camp Half-Blood with Percy to teach the younger demigods from time to time. They sadly lost their lives at the early age of thirty-eight. While travelling from Camp Half-Blood back to Camp Jupiter, a rogue pack of monsters found them. They were taken by complete surprise, and though they held out for as long as they could, they didn't survive the encounter. We don't know what it was that attacked them, but it must've been powerful, to best both of them."

"Oh... Why do all heroes have a tragic end?" I muttered.

"Probably because few of them remain heroes if they live long enough... Now then, Jason Grace. As I already mentioned, he was the person responsible for making minor gods relevant once again, however, the amount of work he put into this made him lose the connection he had with Piper McLean, after which he never found another partner. He died after a section of Enyo's shrine collapsed in on itself during a particularly bad storm, something which the goddess of carnage blamed him for. He was stabbed to death by a zombie conquistador while he slept in his chambers. As for Piper, she settled down with a mortal man, who never knew who his wife actually was. They lived a long and happy life, and she died at the age of eighty-nine, sometimes returning to Camp Half-Blood in secret, for just a few days."

She sighed sadly.

"So Jason died without children?"

"Unfortunately, yes. His sister is still alive today, as the lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis."

"The immortal women."

"Yep... Where was I?"

"You just finished Piper."

"Oh yeah, thanks. Frank Zhang and Hazel Levesque come next. They were praetors for many years, Hazel replacing Reyna after a year of Frank's co-praetorship. Even once they handed off their rank to others, they still took part in the workings of New Rome and the camp, as senators. In the mortal world, they managed to gather a small fortune for themselves, allowing them to settle down on a large estate. The Zhang-Levesque family is one of the few families that everyone knows sponsors New Rome and Camp Jupiter, even if there's no official statement from anyone that says so."

"One of the few?"

"New Rome has quite a few sponsors, all of them old campers, or descendants of them, who managed to gain a large fortune in the mortal world and actively sponsor the camp. Their names and where they live are both secrets though, to stop any enemies of the camp from hunting them down."

"Smart move, that... What happened to the two of them?"

"They had a single child, who left to explore the world at a young age. His bloodline, and the blood of Periclymenus, have not been rediscovered since."

"How are they sponsors then?"

"Beats me, as I said, everything that's official is a secret. The two of them lived long and happy lives, first Hazel, then Frank dying one year apart from each other. They are buried on their estate... And that leaves Leo Valdez. He returned from death thanks to the physician's cure, and arrived at Camp about half a year after the defeat of Gaia, with Calypso, the daughter of Atlas and former prisoner of Ogygia. Calypso lost her immortality, though she kept her other gifts that stemmed from her bloodline, according to her memoirs though, it was a small price to pay to finally be free."

"Losing immortality is a small price to pay?"

"She was trapped on an island for millennia, with only a dozen or so men that happened to wash up on her shore, only to leave the moment she fell in love with them."

"That does sound like hell... Go on."

"The two of them opened their own restaurant and mechanic joint, which was a surprisingly effective combo. In his spare time, Leo, like Percy and Annabeth, would return to Camp Half-Blood to show the inhabitants of cabin nine some new tricks, and to take care of Festus. Bunker Nine was also opened for use, the only bunker out of gods know how many that Chiron had allowed the use of. Unfortunately, Calypso died first out of the two of them, and Leo lost the energy he had carried until that point. One day, he went inside Bunker Nine and sealed the doors behind himself. Ever since then, it's remained closed, with no way to open it."

"Have you tried blowing up the door, or drilling through it?"

"The doors are made out of celestial bronze, enchanted to make it even stronger than normal. Nothing can get through it, except for what you mentioned. Explosives. As far as we know, however, the place itself is filled with enough imperial gold to send the entire camp into the air. Bunker Nine became something we just ignore the existence of."

"Good thing really." I agreed, "Doesn't sound like a good way to go out, burning up in an imperial gold fire."

"Generally speaking, getting burned to death isn't a nice way to die." She corrected, "But yeah, that's the story of the seven. They passed, leaving only their descendants and their epic stories behind."

"It's crazy what seven demigods could do."

"Well... Technically they did have some help from others."

"Really? Who? What happened to them?"

"Well... I guess I can start with Nico-"

"Huh?" Nico asked, sitting up in a half-wakened state.

"Nothing, go back to sleep."

He muttered incoherently and laid his head back down. We shared a chuckle before she continued.

"So Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, whose the very reason why Nicholas is even shortened to Nico to begin with, was the one who helped them the most."

"I always wondered why that was the case."

"Well, now you know."

"So what happened there?"

"He fell to one of Eros' games." She made air quotation marks, "Why him, of all people, we don't know, the guy never really was one to tell everyone else his secrets. Whatever the case, the god of love shot his boyfriend, William Solace, with a lead arrow."

"John's ancestor?"

"Yeah. Weird, ain't it?"

"Very."

"But back to the story. William lost all his love for Nico with that one godly arrow, and the moment Nico found out it was Eros' doing, his anger caused a release of energy that to this day, has a memorial in San Fransisco, though it remembers a suicide bombing, rather than a demigod losing his cool. Eighteen people died, and hundreds were wounded, the sudden release of his powers causing the son of Hades' essence to become one with the shadows. He has not been seen in Elysium, or anywhere else for that matter."

"Where is he then?"

"One with the shadows." She shrugged, "Gods know what sort of fate that is."

"Jesus, that sounds horrible." Without thinking I yawned, though I quickly stifled it once I realised how rude I was being, "Sorry."

Sophia copied me unwillingly.

"I think that's a sign that we need some sleep." She said, snickering, "Or that you're bored of me."

"No, no! Please, continue."

"Well, there's one final person that I can think of. Two rather. The Ramirez-Arellano Sisters. Reyna and Hylla. After Reyna retired from her role as praetor, she remained a roman senator until the end of her life, though she rarely stayed in New Rome. Travelling the world, she helped the satyrs of Camp Half-Blood with the task of conserving nature. She joined the ranks of the Amazons sometime during her trips, becoming her sister's second-in-command. Hylla died a few years later through unknown means, after which Reyna took over. We don't know much about her after she became the Queen, or much about the Amazons in general, for that matter." She yawned again, "They cut ties with the Romans completely after Reyna passed away, but I'm fairly certain some of her descendants are still fighting for them."

"Fuck, that sucks."

"Really?"

"Yeah! I mean, it's a tribe of warrior women. An actual army... I'd happily meet them."

"You do realize they don't like men talking out of line there." I frowned, Sophia laughing at my expression, but quickly stopping when she realized how loud she was being, "Well? Who did I leave out?" She stared at her hands for at least half a minute in silence, before clicking her fingers, "RED!"

"Now what the hell does the colour red have to do with-"

"Shush, it's short for Rachel Elizabeth Dare. She was the first oracle after the Pythia's curse was broken, and she held out for quite a long time too. Died a while ago, but Sam still remembers seeing her when he was new at camp. After that, another woman called Polly Jenkins took her place, but she saw a vision of her own death when she gained her powers, and ever so slowly it ate away at her. I still remember her, she always had this crazed look in her eyes and a tic in her hand. Julia took her place some time ago when she could no longer take the strain."

I tried to reply, but whatever I had wanted to say was lost in a yawn.

"Shit... That's not a good sign."

"Yeah, we should probably catch some shut-eye before the sun comes up. Better to waste night-time than daylight."

"Completely agree, but I've still got some questions, and I won't forget your offer to answer them."

"We have all the time in the world on this bus, but for now, let's just keep it at goodnight."

"Goodnight."

I watched her try to lay her head against the window, but she quickly realised that it was way too uncomfortable, and returned to an upright position.

Closing my eyes, I heard Nico's light breaths on one side, and on my other, Sophia's were slowing down too.

And just like that, sleep came to me as well.

The bus jerked to a sudden stop, my eyelids fluttering open. In an instant they were closed again, the blinding sunlight causing a groan to escape my lips.

How long had we slept?

Cracking my eyes open carefully, I realised we had come to a stop at a gas station.

I also realised that there was a weight of some sort resting on my right shoulder, and my heart started beating just a tad bit faster. Sophia's head was drooping onto me, a streak of light shining onto her head making her blond hair glint golden.

Beautiful.

The entire moment was quickly ruined, however, when I noticed the massive patch of drool on my cloak shoulder. A tiny slither was travelling down my chest, leaving behind a wet streak.

It reminded me of a slug.

"I've been watching that thing move for the past half an hour," Nico said, and I looked over to him as he was getting up, "Pretty interesting stuff."

"Didn't see you were up..."

"Well, I was sitting quite still, so that might explain it." He rubbed his eyes.

"How long've you been awake for?"

"I don't know what time it is, but I'm sure it's been an hour."

I tried looking for Sophia's wristwatch, but it was buried underneath her, and freeing it to check the time would wake her up. As would moving.

"You know where we are right now?" I asked.

"Nope, but I'll ask someone. Gonna go to the bathroom in a moment, get something from the shop while I'm there. Anything you'd prefer, or is my expertise at choosing good enough?"

"I'd be thankful for a cappuccino if you can get one." I looked at the daughter of Athena, "I'm not sure about her though."

"Oh, coffee? ADHD and coffee can be a weird combo. I don't drink the stuff, or I'm gonna be insufferable, but for others? They actually act less hyperactive because of it."

"Which is she?"

"Beats me." He shrugged.

"Then how should I know? You've known her for much longer than I have."

"True, but I don't look at what people drink, especially not in the morning. That's the time of day when I'm perfectly content with only knowing where I am, who I am and what I want to eat."

"Ah, I say screw it then. When she wakes up she'll get her own cup of it if she wants. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for my cappuccino you so gallantly offered to bring me... We stay here talking any longer and the bus leaves." I smirked sarcastically.

"Piss off." He smiled, struggling to get up, before grabbing his backpack and walking off the bus.

While their parents were inside the shop, getting coffee for the same reason all of us wanted a cup of something caffeine-based right now, the kids chased each other around the bus.

"Bang, bang!" I heard the muffled voice of one of the kids, "Hey! I hit you there."

"Did not! BANG!"

The childish bickering continued, and I listened to their playfighting for a while, wondering about how weird it was that our lives were so different compared to theirs. If only it'd be the same for us... Getting mauled by an overgrown lizard? Just state how you have everything-proof armour and BOOM! Epic warrior has joined the game, with no weaknesses whatsoever.

As my brain started to kick in, the wet spot created by her drool and the weight of her head were both starting to become an uncomfortably obvious presence. I didn't want to be that dick who woke someone up for no reason, but at the same time, I doubted the position she was laying in was that comfortable for her either.

I nudged her a bit with my entire body, hoping to lightly shake her awake.

Nothing.

"Sophia..." I whispered, shaking her with evergrowing ferocity while repeating her name.

Finally, she darted awake, looking around, before her eyes met with mine.

"Huh?" She muttered, bleary-eyed. Her hair, which was normally a jumbled mess of golden locks, was flat on one side, while the other was even untidier than normal.

"We've stopped."

"We there?" The daughter of Athena croaked.

"No, only at our first gas station. Nico's gone inside to get some snacks, but I can go after him if you have anything specific you'd like."

She just looked at me, slowly blinking away the sleep.

"Umm..." I could see her mind start to come back to life, much faster than mine, first staring at where she had gotten up from, and putting together why I had a wet patch on my shoulder. "Oh fuck... I'm sorry." She cursed, wiping away at my cloak with her jumper sleeve, "Why'd you not wake me before?" She asked while forcefully trying to remove the spittle streak to no avail.

"Hey, hey! Ow!" I grabbed her hand, "I was sleeping until about eight minutes ago. Didn't want to wake you up for no reason. As for this-" I pointed at the patch, "-it's no biggie."

Her cheeks flushed an even deeper shade of red from embarrassment.

Standing up, I stretched as high as I could, my back crackling multiple times. After sitting for such a long time in chairs that weren't all that comfortable, my ass hurt like hell, and for once it was standing up, rather than sitting down, that felt good.

My fingertips brushed against the roof a few times, before I yawned, and looked at Sophia.

"So, anything you'd like?"

"Nah, I trust Nico's judgement."

"Alright, I'll be back in a moment then."

"I just told you that I'm fine with whatever Nico brings back."

"Yeah, I heard you, but I've gotta go take a tinkle."

"Ah... Oh." Her face turned a slight shade redder.

"There's still a long way to go, and I guess there won't be that many stops, so I suggest you do the same."

She muttered something, but I didn't hear it as I was already halfway down the aisle.

Just as I was about to go down the steps, the man who had greeted us last night stepped in front of me.

"Good morning sir!"

"Good morning to you too," I replied, hoping that he wasn't about to hook me into a long-winded conversation.

"I'd just like to inform you that everything will go the way we agreed upon... Your teacher can be very persuasive." He winked.

"He's got some good people skills, I guess you could say."

He chuckled goodheartedly, "I found that out pretty early on. Anyway, we'll only be stopping at some gas stations to refuel, other than that I'll make something up for some of the landscapes we pass that sounds sort of historical, while also telling them how we can't visit this and that for whatever reason."

"Sounds good," I said, inching a step closer towards the bathroom.

"May I ask, will you be returning with this tour group?"

"As far as I'm aware, we won't be."

"I understand, and I hope whatever urgent job you have in San Fransisco goes well."

"Thank you... Uhhh."

"Oh, it's Francis. Francis Trenmore."

I shook his hand, "Daniel Greenfield."

The man frowned, "That name is familiar from somewhere..." Realisation struck me, like a slap to the face, and I cursed my own stupidity. This man was from New York! He probably knew about the incident my name was connected to, that for a while, was the headline of every newspaper and local news website, "Ah well, I'm garbage when it comes to names anyway. Might be confusing you with previous tour group members."

I laughed, trying to keep the anxiety out of it, "Yeah, Greenfield isn't a rare surname, I'm pretty sure."

"That we can agree on..." He stared at the kids absentmindedly for a few seconds, before suddenly focusing back on me, "I won't take up any more of your time though. Hopefully, we can talk later on." He said, patting me on my wet shoulder. I saw him slightly recoil from the sensation, before wiping it subtly into his trouser leg, his smile barely wavering.

Quickly rushing towards the bathroom, I couldn't feel thankful enough that there was no queue standing before it. Spending a few minutes in an atmosphere of stale urine was more than enough for my liking, and after checking myself in the one useable mirror out of the half a dozen fixed onto the wall, I was more than ready to leave. The other mirrors were all graffitied into oblivion, and even this last one was covered in lightning streaks of cracks.

Hell, it wouldn't have taken so long if I wasn't stuck so long on deciding which urinal looked the most appealing to use.

And by the gods, it was a choice between ugly and utterly rank. Choosing the lesser evil, I managed to find one that had a nice little poem written beside it in black marker. Pretty tasteful stuff, the entire work centred around the reader's small tool size.

Maybe Apollo had left it here out of boredom... Who knew?

As I made my way back to my seat, I noticed Nico sitting upright, laden down with two plastic carrier bags of snacks and junk food, lightly holding a small cardboard cup of steaming liquid. With the door of the bus open, it was quickly starting to get cold inside, and I was more than happy to take the drink from the son of Poseidon.

Sophia was looking at the cup intently, watching every tiny gulp I took.

I slowly turned my head towards her.

"Would you like a sip?" I asked, shaking the half-empty cup.

"Is that an offer?"

"Umm, yeah."

"The gods taught me a few things, one of which is never to refuse a good offer." She said as she took my cup, and savoured the heat just like I had done, before taking two big sips.

After the third sip, I decided that asking for it back was a lost cause. Staring at her with minor annoyance, she downed the last few drops and looked at me innocently.

"How did you put it?" I mused, putting my finger onto my chin sarcastically, "Nah, I trust Nico's judgement." I said, mocking her voice.

"Oh shut up already, I wasn't thinking straight!"

"You? The daughter of Athena? Not thinking straight?"

She punched me in the arm. Playfully, but with Sophia, even that could hurt like hell. Tingles travelled up and down my arm, which I tried my best to shake away. My cloak was supposed to deflect sword swings, and sure they still hurt if they caught me at the right angle, but Sophia could simply ignore the powers of my cloak. Was that some sort of hidden power of Athena children?

I looked around the bus and saw the couple still hadn't returned.

"So would you like something now, seeing how you've drunk my cup of coffee?"

She looked at the empty cup sheepishly, "Well, if you're asking, I could go with a large cup of this..."

"Capucc-" I started.

"Capuccino, yeah. I'll give you half?" She offered, and I couldn't keep the grin off my face.

I turned towards the son of Poseidon who was staring blankly out of the window.

"Nico?"

"Nah," He muttered, handing me a twenty-dollar bill without so much as looking in my direction.

I nodded, and jogged off of the bus, nearly slipping on a small patch of ice, before entering the store. Noticing the self-serving coffee machine, I walked over to it and took two large cups from their holder, placing one of them under the nozzle and pressing a button. Ever so slowly, the level of light brown liquid crawled upwards.

While I waited, I looked at the woven basket filled with sugar packets.

"These free?" I asked, calling over to the cashier who was swiping at her phone boredly.

"Two cents a packet." She glanced my way, and I saw her put her phone away.

"Good enough," I muttered to myself, grabbing a small plastic bag and putting in two handfuls of the sweet stuff. With the first cup filled, I reached over to grab it, only to feel that it was way too hot to carry all the way to the bus. Even Hephaestus would have trouble holding it for that long.

An idea popped into my head, and I took another pair of large cups, placing the coffee-filled one into its empty counterpart. Instantly, the warmth of the cup was at a more bearable level.

While the second one filled up, I whistled tunelessly, sometimes looking in the direction of the cashier girl. Every time, she caught my gaze and gave a small smile back.

Freckles on her cheeks, beneath her lovely, green eyes, and curly brown hair tied in a lazy ponytail. Incredibly pretty, and more surprisingly, she was around my age. A student worker perhaps? The moment the second drink was done, I gave it the same treatment as I had the first, then put the cap onto both of them, and walked over to the counter with a bag of sugar and two cups filled with cappuccinos.

"Hey there." I placed the cups before her.

"Will there be anything else?" She asked as she tapped in the first cup of coffee.

"Umm..." I noticed a few different newspapers on a rack and took one. There was news from all across the world, which was just what I needed, "This too." I placed it on the counter.

"Okay... Could I maybe ask you to help me count out these sugar packets?"

"Ah right, sorry about that."

She chuckled and handed me half the bag's contents.

"You're from the tour bus too, no?"

"Yeah."

"That boy with black hair, he's your friend then?"

"Yes. Don't tell me he did something... Did he?"

"Oh, no, nothing of the sort." She giggled nervously, "Just asking... It gets boring here after a few days, you know."

"Not enough customers?"

"Well... It's complicated."

There was silence for a bit as we both counted. Twenty-six for me and thirty-one for her.

"So that's fifty-seven packets, making it one dollar and four cents. The two large cappuccinos are six dollars each and the newspaper is one."

I handed her the twenty-dollar bill, and while she went looking for some change, she'd glance at me from time to time, getting more and more redder with every passing moment.

"How'd you know I was with the kid?" I asked.

"Oh, just a guess. He had quite a bit of trouble with the coffee machine. Is this stuff really that good? I never really liked the taste of it."

"Well, the sourness can disappear with enough sugar," I pointed at the packets of sugar and she gave a good-natured chuckle, "We're looking out for a long day, so that'll give us the kick we'll need. The heat is also a nice addition in such cold weather."

"He talked a bit after I helped him out... Quite a bit, actually."

"I hope he wasn't too annoying." I snorted, as I watched her count some coins.

"Nonsense! He was one of the first customers that talked with me properly ever since I started here... So, San Fransisco, huh?"

"Never been there before." I shrugged, as I pocketed the change, looking at the girl, "But it can never hurt to explore our country a bit more."

"There's a first for everything." She bit her lip, "Which is why I'm giving you this..." She scribbled something onto the bottom of the receipt and handed it to me. I looked at it with confusion.

You're cute.

Followed by a phone number and a heart.

"Umm-" She was blushing a bit, and I could feel my face heating up as well.

"Olivia! Help me out please!" Came a voice from the staff room's open door.

"Before I go, what's your name?" She asked, looking back at me.

"Daniel." I smiled, "And you're... Olivia, right?"

"Yeah, as you just heard my Dad." She poked her tongue out a bit. Outside I heard the honk of a bus.

"That's my cue to leave, unfortunately." I frowned.

"Yeah." She muttered sadly, "I could do with a coffee though, maybe I'll like the taste this time?"

"I'll call you." I smiled, grabbing everything from the counter, and waving her goodbye as I jogged through the door. She returned both gestures.

Instantly, the temperature dropped by ten degrees as I set foot outside.

Going into a gas station to buy some coffee half a year ago? I would've been told to fuck off by the cashier if I would've dared to initiate any sort of small talk. That or at the very least I would've gotten a look that gave off the feeling that she wanted to strangle me, or herself.

Maybe my time at camp had brought more changes than I realised by looking in the mirror.

"But how the fuck will I call her?" I whispered to myself.

"Mister Greenfield, could you please hurry up!" Francis yelled.

I quickened my pace, the bus having rolled closer to make it faster for me to climb aboard. Yet it was still painfully slow, knowing everyone was looking at me from the bus, while I was trying my best not to drop anything or slip on rogue patches of ice.

"Sorry!" I called out as I walked down the aisle, "Sorry!"

As I sat down, I handed Sophia one of the cups, quickly scrunching up the receipt before her eyes got to the part written in pen.

"Hey!"

"What?" I looked at her.

"I was reading that! Why did you buy fifty-seven packets of sugar?"

"They were two cents each."

"We're never gonna use that much though, are we?"

"Sugar? Who knows? The next stop might sell it for twice as much."

"Well... It's not like we don't have the money to afford sugar packets."

That much was true. She waited a bit, looking at me expectantly.

"Sooo... Can I read the rest of the receipt?"

"Nope."

"Why?"

"It's a long story," I muttered, stuffing it into one of my pockets.

She grumbled a bit, before sipping her coffee. Nico slowly ate an entire bag of sweets, and very soon he was once again asleep. The guy was like a housecat, honestly.

As for me, I opened the newspaper and searched for anything that could be important.

In the background, Francis talked about Pittsburgh's history, since it was the city we had recently passed by. At times, Sophia fleshed out what the tour guide said with facts about demigods, and what actually stood behind some of the events, that the mist had twisted for the mortals.

"Hey, this looks interesting." I interrupted her, "Earthquake shakes Los Angeles. Twelve dead."

"That's not a good sign. The entrance of the underworld is there."

"Wait, really?" I looked up at her quizzically.

"Yeah, it's also where the Lotus Hotel and Casino is, so being in the city as a demigod isn't a cakewalk."

"That where you got the lotus card thingy?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm not sure how exactly we managed to get one for ourselves since there've been no quests since the prophecy of the Seven was fulfilled, but I'm not going to complain about us having one. Probably a secret of Chiron's."

"It's just slightly weird, no? We have more money than I could ever have dreamed of."

"Well, using it all up, as Chiron and Sam both said, should be done carefully, and the lotus card should be used as little as possible. Both the cash and the card could get us a lot of unwanted attention."

With a grunt, I looked back at the newspaper, trying not to dwell on the fact that we were the richest people on the planet right now.

"What about this?" I pointed at a different title, "Biggest storms recorded in the last two centuries rage over Atlantic."

"Poseidon... This isn't good either. Whoever attacked the gods knew to attack on multiple fronts. You remember those pictures in the fire?"

"Can I ever forget them?"

"There were massive figures with dragon legs in multiple. Those were the Giants, the spawn of Tartarus and Gaia. I'm also certain I saw Oceanus in there."

"They're supposed to be dead, no? There've now been two Giant wars in the history of mankind."

"You can't kill immortals. They can fade if their source of power diminishes, or if they are forgotten. It's what happened to Pan, Helios and Selene, just to name a few. Gaia was put to infinite sleep when her humanoid form was destroyed, and Kronos' essence was spread so thin when his host was killed that the chance of him reforming is practically non-existent."

"That's shitty if they're back. What can we even do against them? How many of them even are there?"

"Well, they were the leaders of the second giant war, which ended with the destruction of Gaia, as I'm sure you know by now, so there weren't that many. They could only be killed if a god and demigod worked together against them, however."

"So just round up the gods and take them on. There are two hundred campers at camp, and we could say the same about Camp Jupiter. There's what... like twenty of them?"

"It's not that easy, I'm afraid. The number of monsters we saw, they couldn't have been mustered by the Giants, there were never this many in any war."

"So there might be something or someone working in the background that the Olympians might know about, but we're too simple-minded to know?" I made quotation marks in the air.

"Exactly. All we can do right now is help out New Rome and hope that one of my theories proves itself to be true, even though I don't like the thought of any of them ever being true... It'd mean only trouble for both the mortals and the immortals."

I sighed, reading through the rest of the newspaper without finding anything else of importance.

Hours passed, and we were bored out of our minds. For a while, we listened to the young kids laughing and talking excitedly about how they were going to fight the aliens next, making me nearly forget that we were travelling into a war zone.

Nearly.

With a sigh, I watched as Sophia once again beat me at mega-tic tac toe. I couldn't help but smirk though when I saw her do a victory jiggle in her seat. Waking up at eight in the morning after a six-hour nap would've been nice if I could continue that sleep now, but the coffee wasn't really helping me out on that front. Now it was four in the afternoon, and the sun glinted on the snow outside, turning it a lovely orange colour.

Sophia noticed me staring blankly into thin air.

"So who was that girl at the gas station?" Sophia asked beside me, and I whipped my head towards her.

"Wh-What girl?"

"Stop playing dumb! I could clearly see you talking with her through the windows! You spoke a bit, she gave you those lovely puppy eyes and wrote her phone number on the receipt, along with a nice cutesy message. If you don't want to show me that, you should be faster to begin with."

"Why- I'm-"

"Look, there's nothing to be scared about. There's no rule against dating mortals, and if you got that far, it's definitely worth a shot. You know, despite not being from cabin ten, I'm still interested in lovey-stuff, to a degree, that is."

"Really?"

"Oh come on, is it that hard to believe?" She chuckled, scrunching up the paper we were playing on.

"It's just that's quite the opposite of what I know you to be like." She raised an eyebrow, and I quickly continued past this dangerous topic, "It's not like I could call her anytime soon anyway. Phones aren't exactly in a loving relationship with me, and the reverse is also true."

"You're saying that like I don't have that very same issue... But here's where I can help you."

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a flip phone that looked like the love child of a brick and a bomb.

"What the fuck is that abomination?!" I muttered.

"Specially made by the Hephaestus cabin for me. It's got celestial bronze parts, uses the Olympian networks and has a timer that automatically ends the call if you're broadcasting too much of your presence."

"Huh, in that case, it's not really an abomination."

"Oh, don't call it pretty names. It's just that, an abomination, but it serves its purpose well. Just keep it between you and me... Not even Chiron knows about it."

"Why would you keep it a secret if it's perfectly safe?"

She grimaced, and I knew the answer to that.

"I never said it's safe, only safer."

"Oh, great! So maybe after I dial the number, another drakon will come and interrupt our trip!"

"Sounds like you're just scared of calling her. Fucking hell, if you don't do it, I will."

I looked at her with eyebrows raised.

"Why are you doing this?"

"I can do more than beat your ass in tic tac toe and duelling, okay? You've been a good friend so I'm giving you some girl advice, though once again, I'm no daughter of Aphrodite, so take it with a grain of salt. Or a few grains."

I took the phone tentatively and unravelled the receipt from my pocket. Dialling the number, it started ringing, and I placed it to my ear.

"Olivia Lee here! Who is this?" She picked up on the second ring.

I couldn't speak for a second until Sophia elbowed me in the side.

"Daniel. I mean- Hi, it's me, Daniel, from the gas station." I saw the daughter of Athena rolling her eyes beside me.

"Oh... Hi! I wasn't expecting you to call me back if I have to be completely honest."

I laughed awkwardly and instantly regretted it, cringing at my own voice.

"So... How are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine..." She paused, "Oh, Dad wants to speak with you."

"I'm sorry?" I asked, confused.

"Hello... Daniel, is it?" A male voice replaced the voice of the girl from the gas station, and I felt my face flush.

"Yeah- Yes... Sir?"

I heard a slight chuckle from the other side, "Well, it's a pleasure to see that Olivia has a knack for choosing kind-looking folk. I saw you as you were leaving the gas station, and you're a spry young man, what can I say."

"Thank you, Mister Lee," I said, looking at Sophia, who had realised what my predicament was, and was trying her damndest to hold back a laugh.

"Oh please, call me Dolos."

"That's a unique name, Sir- I mean Dolos."

"Yes, you could say it's-"

The phone was wretched from my hand and thrown out of the window before I could even so much as blink.

"Do you know who that was?" Sophia spluttered anger and worry etched in her features. How the fuck was she able to change so quickly from barely-controlled laughter to that?

"Yes... Olivia's father?"

"Olivia doesn't exist. Dolos, you said."

"Well yeah, it's a rare name I guess. What do you mean-"

"Dolos is the name of a primordial god." I felt the blood drain from my face, "A personification of treachery, cunning and deception. I've read about him." She said, looking out of the window, paranoid. Like she was expecting something to attack us at any second. My heart was pumping now, no longer because I was crawling closer to a potential girlfriend, but because the realization was dawning on me that I might've just doomed us.

"That's a problem," I whispered, not managing anything more.

"Listen up folks!" Came the voice of Francis over the PA system, "We're making a quick stop here in Springfield for a driver switch. Take your time to stretch a bit, because there's still a long distance for us to go!"

Fantastic, right fucking now. We have to do that right. Fucking. Now?!

"WE NEED TO STOP! THIS INSTANT!" Sophia yelled, standing up. All eyes were on her instantly.

"Miss, we'll be there in no more than ten minutes. Please, sit back down!"

"But our friend is sick!" I said, standing up beside her, pointing at Nico, who was still asleep and oblivious to everything.

"Is that so?" The father stood up, "I'm a doctor! Let me take a look at him." He jogged down the aisle.

Of course... Of course, he bloody was.

"I'm-" I said, stepping in front of him just before he got there. He frowned and pushed past me.

"What's wrong with him?" The man asked, checking his pulse, temperature and whatnot.

"We don't know, but we've gotta stop this inst..." Sophia trailed off, looking out of the window above Nico. A golden blur was rushing straight towards us.

There was no time to react.

I was off of the ground in the blink of an eye, weightless for what felt like an eternity. My ears were filled with a head-splitting ringing, and I noticed our backpacks cartwheel through the air. Then came the first crash, and I landed against something soft.

The doctor.

Was he dead?

That was one of the many questions that rushed through my head, but they were all pushed to the back of my mind by the sheer terror of what was happening.

The first spark of pain registered in my head, though I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. That was after the third time I had crashed into something. By the fifth, I was close to blacking out, partially because of slamming my head against what was most probably a chair.

Then the spinning started slowing down, and I managed to grab onto a handle, however, I was quickly flung against the body of the mortal man once more, my grip not nearly strong enough to keep hold of my entire body weight while things were still in motion.

We stopped after a lifetime and a half, my chest on fire with pain. I never had a broken rib before, but this felt as close to the feeling as I could imagine.

The bus was on its side, that much I was sure of because I was laying across two rows of seats. Turning my head carefully, I saw that Sophia wasn't in a good shape under me. Blood trickled down her face from a wound on her forehead, and her right shoulder was clearly dislocated. The window she was laying on was cracked, the epicentre of the cracks smeared with blood. Was she even alive?

A logical question, but abandoned by the panic that crushed all my other thoughts.

What the fuck had happened?

Nico was still conscious, though every time his chest rose, he let out a grunt of pain. Broken ribs, that was for sure, probably more than one. Having smacked against something with his face, his nose was also at an odd angle, blood trickling down to his chin.

As for the man who had rushed to the aid of our friend, unknowing that we were only bluffing, he was dead.

Crumpled against a window, his neck was dislocated and his upper body was at an unnatural angle compared to his legs. Blood poured out of his mouth and nose, pooling on the cracked window.

"The fuck... was that?" Nico wheezed.

His question fell on deaf ears.

I was staring up at something that was both terrifying and epic to look at, hell, I might've even gasped would it not have caused me great pain to do so.

A paw the size of a manhole cover stood on the window above Nico, cracks already appearing underneath it. Claws as big as daggers scratched the glass and its golden fur basked in the colour of the setting sun. A terrifying roar shook the bus, bringing Sophia back to her senses below me.

Breaking the glass, the paw reached through, one of the claws stabbing Nico in the leg, who screamed in pain.

He was flung outside a second later, his screams receding, and the claws searched for me. I tried to reach for my knives, but I whimpered as the pain in my chest flared up.

It caught hold of my shoulder, though the claw wasn't able to pierce through my cloak. Yet, it still managed to find a grip. I sucked in air, preparing for the worst.

Then I was flying.