The Hermits exchanged glances with Grian and immediately knew what he was planning.

Gem did not approve.

Sure, he wanted to go back to Hermitcraft, at least for a while. So did Gem. She missed False and Stress. But that didn't make a good reason to run away, even if it meant a possibility that Scar was alive.

"What if we're caught?" Tango muttered out of the side of his mouth.

"We won't be," Grian whispered back.

"What are you whispering about?" Bdubs stage-whispered loudly.

"Nothing," Grian said.

Thankfully, Chiron had already clopped away with a worried expression.

"It's against the rules," Gem said desperately. "We can't leave until after summer's over."

"Who said anything about rules?" Ren said, grinning.

"Uh, me," Gem said, crossing her arms.

The boys rolled their eyes at each other. Gem stuck her tongue out at them. "Fine. But you deserve it if you get fed to the harpies."

Gem walked away.

Over the next few days, Gem could tell that the boys were planning things without her. Several times, she walked into the Hermes cabin to see Grian and Bdubs hastily stuff papers into duffel bags and under books. She caught Ren sneaking around the forest, looking for monsters to kill quietly. He never killed quietly. And Tango and Zedaph spent lots of time in Arts and Crafts, doing Zeus knows what while at the same time completely shutting Gem out. Probably because they were smart enough to know she would talk sense into them, or possibly just because she was the new Hermit.

Or maybe they thought she had cooties. Those two never grew out of anything.

However, all plans to leave Camp Half-Blood were put aside when the gossip started to spread. Gem first heard about it from Tulip, one of her dryad friends.

"Gem!" Tulip hissed.

Gem turned to see the brunette girl sitting in a bush, glancing nervously at a nearby satyr. But her green eyes sparkled with mischief and excitement.

Gem walked over to her. "Why are you in a bush, Tulip?"

"Shh," Tulip said. "It's a known fact that Conifer has a crush on me. You know how satyr crushes are."

Gem did. They usually involved a lot of the satyr chasing the nymph, and ended with the satyr having a broken nose from running into a tree, being unconscious for an hour from hitting his head on a rock, or being half drowned. Yet they still kept coming.

"But I'm willing to risk him for a minute," Tulip said. "Have you heard the news?"

"What news?"

Tulip grinned. "Well, Grover told Juniper who told Pine who told Hazelnut who told Oakley who told Mangrove, and then Spruce overheard Mangrove telling Lily, and then Spruce told Lilac who told Lupine who who told Dandelion who told me about a quest. Percy Jackson's going on a quest."

Once Gem had processed that, her eyes widened. "What for?"

"Zeus thinks Percy stole his master bolt under Posideon's orders," Tulip said. "So he says that if he doesn't get it back, he declares war on Posideon. And Posideon denies that he stole it and wants an apology. Both of them want it by the summer solstice."

"But that's only a couple weeks away!" Gem gasped.

Tulip nodded gravely. "If two of the Big Three have a war, then it won't end well for the world."

This world... or all the worlds?

"I have to go," Gem said, glancing at Bdubs as he waved her over to join them at the canoe lake.

"I do too," Tulip squeaked, looking at Conifer, and then blushed and disappeared in a puff of green mist.

Gem jogged over to the (now two):other Hermits of Cabin 11.

"What's going on?" Grian asked.

"I'll tell you when you tell me what you've been planning," Gem said, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to keep the secret for long. From what Tulip had said, they would find out eventually.

However, none of them knew anything yet, so they just pouted and got into a boat that promptly dumped them into the lake.

Things are a little harder to control here, aren't they? Gem thought wryly, then frowned as she realized it went beyond the canoes.

------

The rest of the Hermits found out about the quest for the master bolt the next morning.

"Guys!" Ren said excitedly, coming up to the Hermes table. "Did you hear about the quest? Jackson's going on a quest! I wanna go on a quest!"

"A quest?" Bdubs said, perking up.

"I'm surprised you haven't heard about it before now," Gem said, rolling her eyes.

"Wait, you knew?" Grian said, looking betrayed.

Gem nodded.

"I wanna go so baaaad," Ren said wistfully.

"Why?" Zedaph said, coming over with Tango close behind. "We're fine here. And you get into plenty of trouble in the woods."

"Yeah, but the monsters in the woods are kinda boring," Ren complained. "I want to go out into the other world. I want to see the awesome cities and places that everyone talks about."

"No!" Gem said. "It's too risky! I know you're planning to leave, but we don't know what's out there? We don't know if survival out there is different from survival at home."

"We're attracting some looks," Tango warned, and then everyone who wasn't in the Hermes cabin went to their own tables.

Gem picked at her food. This situation was getting dangerous. If she didn't find a way to convince them, especially Ren and Grian, not to leave, then they would probably die. And they still didn't know whether they would respawn or not. They had no means of communication with Xisuma, since Grover had warned that technology was dangerous to demigods so that had left their communicators at home. Of course, now they knew that redstone was a demigod-friendly alternative to electricity, but they hadn't known that when they left.

That's it, Gem realized once breakfast was over. Communication with Xisuma. That's more important than getting out of camp.

Gem went to find Tango.

The son of Hephaestus was hanging out with his siblings in the forge, making wires out of a mixture of copper and redstone.

"I'm making a super-wire," Tango said when Gem approached. "It's able to conduct electricity and redstone signals. And also, electricity is pretty much tamed lightning."

"It doesn't quite work like that," a girl sitting next to him laughed. "Electricity is everywhere, even in whatever world you're from."

"Like when lightning strikes a lightning rod," Gem said. "It'll send out a redstone signal."

"Wait, really?" The girl said.

Gem and Tango nodded.

Gem turned back to Tango. "Do you know how to make a communicator?"

Tango hesitated, then nodded. "Why?"

"I think it's a better idea to contact Xisuma with a communicator than to do..." Gem glanced at the Hephaestus girl. "What you were going to do."

"Oh, come on, I can keep a secret!" the girl protested.

Tango frowned. "I can make a communicator, but I can't connect it to the main chat without Xisuma. Although, even though it is a better alternative, I don't think you can stop Ren and Grian."

Gem's heart sank. "So, we can't contact him."

Tango grinned. "We can. We just won't be able to talk to everyone at once."

Gem nodded excitedly.

Tango turned back to his workstation. "I'll figure it out... as soon as I finish this.'

"How long will that be?" Gem asked, bouncing excitedly on her heels.

Tango shrugged. "An hour or two."

Gem had never been more relieved.

She spent the day in the forest, practicing her monster fighting and hanging out with the dryads, satyrs, campers, and Hermits. She started to hope less and less that she would be claimed, because even though the Hermes cabin was cramped, it was fun.

That evening, they had s'mores and a sing-along by the Apollo cabin, which turned into a gigantic disaster when Grian, Travis, and Connor decided it would be funny to throw marshmallows at the Ares kids. They left the campfire smelling like smoke and with marshmallow, chocolate, and graham cracker crumbs stuck in their hair and clothes.

Tango, Gem, and Zedaph planned to meet the next morning to use the communicator, but it turned out Percy Jackson, and the rest of the camp, had other plans.