Evangeline couldn't sleep, she could hear Percy and Grover's whispering conversation, it wasn't like she wanted to listen to Percy's agitating voice but it was either that or she just got lost in her own mind and she did not like the second option.

"How are we going to get into the Underworld?" Percy asked. "I mean, what chance do we have against a god?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "But back at Medusa's, when you were searching her office? Annabeth was telling me and Evangeline—"

"Oh, I forgot," Percy scoffed. "Annabeth will have a plan all figured out. And Evangeline did absolutely nothing."

"Don't be so hard on them, Percy," said Grover. "They've both had a tough life..." His voice faltered."

"Both of them want me dead, well Evangeline does, she's made it pretty clear how much she despises me."

The satyr sighed. "Evangeline, she's a tough person to understand, you can't really blame her Percy all anyone has ever done is hate her. She has her reasons to be cold toward you."

Percy looked over at Evangeline's "sleeping" frame then looked at Grover "I'm pretty sure she just doesn't have a heart, she's probably just as heartless as her dad."

The satyr shook his head at Percy. "Percy, that's not... look, just give her a chance she'll warm up to you. And Annabeth she forgave me-" his voice faltered.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked. "Annabeth forgave you for what?"

Grover never answered, playing notes on his reed pipes.

"Wait a minute," the son of Poseidon said. "Your first keeper job was five years ago. Annabeth has been at camp for five years. She wasn't ... I mean, your first assignment that went wrong—"

"I can't talk about it." Grover's voice was quivering. Evangeline knew if Percy kept pushing Grover would start crying.  "But as I was saying, back at Medusa's, Annabeth, Evangeline, and I agreed there's something strange going on with this quest. Something isn't what it seems."

That's when Evangeline decided to fall asleep.

Evangeline eyes snapped open as she woke up panting and sweating.

After she calmed herself down she looked around and saw that Annabeth and Percy were still asleep, which was weird because she always slept longer than everyone else. She saw Grover looking at her, he offered her a smile. "Morning," he said.

"Yeah," she murmured, looking at the other two demigods who were still asleep.

Evangeline could hear Percy mumbling something in his sleep and Annabeth's snores.

"How are you holding up?" asked Grover as he looked up at the brunette.

" I'm fine... I always am" She reassured him. Annabeth then woke up saving Evangeline from another question from the satyr. She sat up and brushed her hair out of her face, blinking at the two.

"How are you awake before noon?" Annabeth asked, her voice groggy

Evangeline chuckled and shook her head at the daughter of Athena's question. Annabeth grinned then looked at Grover, and asked "How long have you been up?"

"Maybe forty-forty five minutes" The satyr admitted, shrugging.

"Well," Annabeth said as she stood up "We better get moving"

Grover stood up as well. "I'm gonna go looking for anything to help us."

Evangeline looked back at the sleeping boy, he was stirring now and then.

After Grover left, Annabeth and she cleaned up their mess, and Annabeth chucked her a packet of chips, saying "Breakfast" she stated.

Evangeline opened the bag and ate it quickly.  When Grover came back, he came back with a "friend", he had a pink poodle named Gladiola in his hands, he held the dog out towards Annabeth and Evangeline but the dog growled at them.

"They're nice people, Gladiola," promised Grover. He looked up at the two girls. "You have to say hello."

"Hey, Gladiola" Evangeline simply said.

Annabeth looked at the pink poodle, saying with a forced smile, "Hello, Gladiola."

After a while, Evangeline saw Percy's eyes snapping open out of the corner of her eyes, looking startled as he sat up.

"Well," she spoke. "The moron lives."

"How long was I asleep?"

"Long enough for me to find breakfast." Annabeth pointed to the bag of chips in Evangeline's hand. "And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."

The brunette threw the packet right at Percy's face, he fell back on the ground. Percy sat back up and removed the packet from his face shooting her a glare.

The pink poodle jumped out and began yapping at Percy's groggy face. "No, he's not," Grover said to the poodle.

"Are you ...talking to that thing?" The poodle growled at Percy's words as the son of Poseidon scooted a little away from the animal.

"This thing is our ticket West." Grover retorted "Be nice to him."

"You can talk to animals?"

"Percy meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy." Percy glanced at Annabeth. He looked at Evangeline next.

"Be nice," She said.

"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle." He said. "Forget it!"

"Percy," Evangeline spoke sternly, "I said hello to the poodle, you say hello to the poodle."

Gladiola growled.

Percy said hello to the poodle.

Grover then explained how he had come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a local rich family, who'd posted up a two hundred dollar reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.

"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Percy asked bringing the brunette's attention back to the conversation.

"He read the signs." Grover added "Duh."

"Of course, silly me." He nearly rolled his eyes.

"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained. "We get money and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."

"Not another bus," Percy murmured.

The blonde shook her head, agreeing with Percy, "No way." Pointing downhill Evangeline's eyes landed on a train track. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon."

"Who wants your help?" asked Annabeth.

"What do you mean?"

"You don't just drool in your sleep." Percy immediately told her everything.

Evangeline spoke up "That doesn't sound like my father. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs. I know that better than anyone."

"He offered my mother in trade," the boy continued. "Who else could do that?"

"I guess... if he meant, 'help me rise from the Underworld'  he wants a war with the Olympians," Annabeth said. "But he wouldn't ask you to bring him the master bolt if he already has it, it doesn't make sense." She pointed out, as she stared at the boy.

"You can't barter with Hades, Percy. You know that right? He's deceitful, heartless, and greedy. I don't care if his Kindly-Ones weren't as aggressive this time-" Annabeth looked over at Evangeline.

"This time?" Percy asked. "You mean you've run into them before?"

Annabeth quickly changed the topic. " Let's just say I don't have any love for the god of the dead."

"You're friends with his daughter," Percy pointed out.

"Best friends," The blonde corrected. "And that's different, Evangeline isn't her father. Just like you aren't yours. You can't be tempted to make a deal for your mom."

Percy's eyes flickered back to Evangeline. "What would you do if he took your mom?" He asked.

"Why would my father kidnap my mother?" Evangeline knitted her eyebrows as she spoke in an obvious tone.

Percy couldn't think of anything to say so he turned back to Annabeth. "You can't be serious."

"My dads resented me since the day I was born, Percy. He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn't happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent." Annabeth explained taking the attention off Evangeline.

"But how, I mean, I guess you weren't born in a hospital..."

"I appeared on my father's doorstep, in a golden cradle, carried down from Olympus by Zephyr the West Wind. Though you'd think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? Like maybe he'd take some digital photos or something. But he always talked about my arrival as if it was the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him. When I was five he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got married to a regular mortal woman, had two regular kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist."

It was quiet for a moment, as Evangeline observed Percy, watching as he let the words sink in.

"My mom married a really awful guy." He finally spoke to the pair. "Grover said she did it to protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. Maybe that's what your dad was thinking."

"My dad doesn't care about me. His wife-my step-mom-treated me like a freak. She wouldn't let me play with her children. My dad went along with her. Whenever something dangerous happened, you know monsters, they both look at me resentfully, like, 'like how dare you put our family at risk!'  Finally, I took the hint. I wasn't wanted. I ran away."

"How old were you?"

"Same age I was when I started camp. Seven." Annabeth looked at Evangeline breaking eye contact with the son of Poseidon.

"You two went to camp by yourselves?" Percy asked.

"No, Athena watched over me and guided me towards help. I made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time anyway."

Her grey eyes were stormy. She stood up quickly. "I'm going to the bathroom."

And she left, walking to the bathroom.

"You?" Percy asked.

"Me?" Evangeline arched a brow.

"What about you?" He asked. "Why did you leave your mom?"

"I had a change of plans, she was too busy."

Percy looked at her for a while. "Why do you keep saying was?"

Evangeline swallowed, she looked him in the eyes and said "People I care about have a tendency to die on me."

Percy's eyes softened "I'm sorry-"

"You don't have to say anything," she dismissed. "Just go back to hating me."

Percy frowned and spared her one last look before he looked somewhere else.