(Disclaimer: all of this belongs to Rick Riordan, except for Terra. I made her up.

Note: This time I decided to do the song Demons by Imagine Dragons because it applies to Nico and Terra's lives so easily.)

***one season later***

"Fight!" Chiron ordered. I stepped around to silently ice the floor without my opponent noticing. He leaped forward to attack, but slipped. He was about to face plant, but I hit him so he would fall the other way onto his back. While he fell I knocked his sword out of his hand. As he lied there on the floor I held both swords to his neck. He groaned and opened his eyes.

"Ugh. That's not fair Terra! I don't have special powers like yours!" Connor whined. I laughed.

"No. It's totally fair. I train to work with my powers and you train to expect the unexpected." He let his head fall back to the ground. I handed him his sword back and helped him stand up.

The past couple months were great. I was finally able to control my powers and build my cabin in September. It's absolutely beautiful and Drew is totally jealous. Drew is now my sworn enemy and we never talk. (Let's just say she has to go to the roof of the Big house to get her makeup.) Annabeth and Percy are my best friends and I get along pretty well with the Stoll brothers.

I learned that I'm an amazing swordsman (or is it swords woman?) and archer. Chiron taught me how to automatically summon a bow and quiver full of unlimited arrows and my sword, that appeared when I first came to camp, using my powers. They're all very detailed and look amazing.

It's now winter and somehow Percy went missing. Just three days ago, he was here with Annabeth and I, being his goofy/sassy self..... and then he's gone. No one, not even the gods know where he is.

But Annabeth got this message from Hera about where she might find Percy. Well, she didn't say that exactly, but Annabeth and I think that's what Hera meant. So she's off with a guy from the Iris cabin right now getting whoever is the answer to knowing where Percy is or actually getting Percy. I wanted to go so bad, but Annabeth said that I needed to stay here to see if Percy would come back.

"Anyone else?" I ask the rest of the kids waiting to duel. No one raises their hand.

"Okay, bye."

I walk away to go to my cabin. It was quite a ways away, but I didn't mind. I put my ear-buds in and turned on one of my favorite songs on my iPod touch, Demons by Imagine Dragons.

"When the days are cold and cards all fold and the saints we see are all made of gold...."

When I got to the cabins, something was moving in the shadows, right next to me.

"Hello? Who's there?"

The grass was dying quickly and then a boy with dark hair and dark brown eyes came out carrying a bunch of celestial bronze scraps. He's just as tall as me, had a black aviator jacket, black jeans, black tennis shoes, and a black shirt with a skull on it. His skin was like an olive color and he had a dark and depressing appearance, not to mention his face was like three inches away from mine.

His eyes really stood out to me. They seemed so soulful, and they had dark circles underneath them like he hadn't gotten enough sleep and stayed in a dark place for a long time. I just then realized that the chorus had started to play.

"When you feel my heat, look into my eyes. It's where my demons hide, it's where my demons hide. Don't get to close, it's dark inside. It's where my demons hide, it's where my demons hide." I quickly stopped the music and pulled away from his gaze. That was so creepy.

"Sorry, I'm just looking for a guy. Is Percy around? He said that Camp Half-Blood could use some more celestial bronze." This must have been Nico. Percy told me about him before. He fit the description. Dark, pale, and the grass dies were ever he steps.

"No. He's been missing the past couple days. In fact Annabeth is off trying to find him right now. She told me to stay behind and watch for him, but I don't think he's coming back."

This caught him by surprise. We had backed away a good distance from each other by this time. I just hope I wasn't blushing, because he was really cute......in a dark way.

"Really? Does anyone have any idea where he might be?" He asked. He seemed genuinely concerned. I shook my head.

"We've been searching everywhere, but there's no trace of him."

He seemed shocked and scared and looked down at the ground.

I laughed slightly at the irony of my whole situation and gave a sad smile. "And just when we were getting to be great friends." Nico looked up at me.

"Well, I'm Nico." He held out his right hand, which had a skull ring on the ring finger, and I shook it. I had this weird feeling when I shook his hand.

"I'm Terra." He pulled his hand away and looked at it. I had covered it with frost.

"Oops! Sorry! I should have been more careful." I smack my hand on my forehead. How stupid of me?! I looked down and noticed I've been freezing the dead grass. Nico noticed too, he raised his eyebrows and seemed impressed.

"I'm the daughter of Khione." I explained.

"Ah. I'm the son of Hades."

"Yeah. Percy talks about you. It's nice to finally meet you." His eyes went wide.

"He talks about me?"

I laughed slightly. "Yeah, he does, and I know why. You're an amazing person. Well, at least from what Percy told me." He kind of blushed and gave a small smile.

"What was he telling you?" he asked suspiciously.

"Almost everything. He left some details out." I said.

"Okay." I just remembered about the celestial bronze he was carrying.

"Oh! Yeah, the celestial bronze. Um. I guess we can take it to the forge." I took some of the bronze.

"Here. Let me help."

He was about to protest, but stopped himself. We were walking in silence and I wanted to start a conversation with him again, but how? I thought of some of the things he could do from Percy's stories. Ooo, yeah. Now I know what to talk about.

"So what's it like to shadow travel?" I ask. I was so amazed at the ability to travel by shadows.

"Percy told you about that didn't he?" He gave me a smile. I nodded. "Well, the first couple times it sucks and takes up a lot of your energy, but once you master it, it's pretty easy and fun to do."

"Cool." I say.

"It's not much for looks, all you see is total darkness. Well, except for the openings to where you can go." He says shrugging his shoulders. That caused a piece to fall off of his pile.

"Dang it!" He muttered. He started to get into that really awkward and painful position to get it back without spilling the rest of the pile(You know how that is.).

"No. Let me get it." He was about to protest again, but I stamped my foot and the piece shot up next to Nico's hand on a pillar of ice. He took the piece and I made the pillar melt.

"Now that was pretty cool." He said standing up.

"Not as cool as shadow traveling I bet." He gave me a nice smile that totally went against his Gothic look, but didn't clash.

"What song were you listening to back there?" Oh. Now he's searching for small talk?

"Just one of my favorite songs. It's called Demons by Imagine Dragons." He smiled even wider.

"That's my favorite song too. Well, it's more like my theme song. You know, being the son of Hades and all." I thought of all the lyrics and how it related to him.

"Oh my gosh. That's so cool. I wish I had a theme song."

"Well, you haven't heard all songs in existence, so your's might still be out there waiting for you to find it."

"Yeah I guess I'll have to look out for any songs that really stand out to me." We made it to the forge, but I couldn't go that far. I got to close trying to get to where the piles of celestial bronze were and my knees buckled. Gladly, Nico was there to catch me and had already put his pile down.

"Are you okay?" He asks me wondering why I almost spontaneously face planted.

"Yeah." I try to get up, but helplessly fail. "I just get really weak around heat."

He chuckles. "You knew that, yet you still tried to get in?" I laugh too, because it was so ridiculous.

"In a way. I was just trying to test how far I could go. Try to make my weaknesses into strengths." He shakes his head.

"That makes sense, but still."

He started to help me go to my cabin so I could regain my strength. On the bright side I had made it halfway through the forge without loosing. I was making progress.

When he saw my cabin he was in awe for a while. "You made that?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"What did you use for detail?" He rubbed his fingers against the small details on the pillars.

"This awesomeness right here." I gestured to all of me and made snowflakes for effect. He shook his head and laughed a little, then looked back up at the cabin.

"You gonna stand there and gawk forever, Nico?" I asked. He was suddenly snapped out of his daze and I opened the door.

I was able to walk to my bed in my cabin. He couldn't come in with me because it was a rule that a boy and a girl from different cabins couldn't go in together, but he also wanted to see if I could make it. I could tell he was teasing me when he said it.

"There I made all the way all by my self. You satisfied?" I ask him folding my arms and leaning on my left leg more than my right so my hip stuck out a little.

"I guess. Well, I'll see you later. I promise I'll take you shadow traveling sometime." I could feel excitement rushing through me.

"Really? You would?" He softly laughed at my excitement.

"Yeah, why not? You seem interested in it enough." I ran up to him and gave him a quick hug.

"Thank you so much. I've always wanted to shadow travel." He was shocked by the hug, but didn't push me away, back up, or cringe, so I guess he didn't mind.

"No problem. How about tonight? I'll be waiting outside your cabin, after campfire." He suggested.

"Yes! Totally! Do I have to be dressed a certain way?" I realized it sounded like we were going on a date, but he didn't seem to care.....or notice.

"No, what you're wearing is fine."

I was wearing my Camp t-shirt, blue jeans, dark grey boots that went just below my knee and had fake fur sticking out, and a dark blue jacket that had a fake fur covered hood. I had my long hair in a braid that went over my left shoulder. I put snowflakes (That I made with my super amazing powers.) throughout my hair, and you had to be as close as Nico was to see them. Which he did.

"Did you put snowflakes in your hair?" He said somewhat interested. He picked up my thick braid and studied them.

"Yeah. I was just bored this morning, so I tried it out. Very few people noticed."

"Okay, good. I thought I saw your hair sparkle. I thought I was going crazy and maybe it was a side effect of shadow traveling, but now I know that it was just because of the snowflakes." He let go of my hair and was shaking his head at himself. I gave a soft laugh.

"That's what Annabeth said."

"Well, I gotta go, see you later." He gave me a two finger salute and put his hands in his pockets.

"Bye, Nico." Then just before he stepped into the shadows I remembered something.

"Nico wait!" I yelled. He stopped and I ran over to him.

"Could you look for Percy when you have the time? We've all been so worried about him. I just have a feeling you'd be a big help." His smile went down a little, but he was still smiling with his eyes.

"Sure. I'll do anything I can." He said. "You know what? You remind me of him."

"Thank you." I said one last time before he went into the shadows, getting one last glance of me.

I saw something in the sky. It's coming really fast. Really, really, fast. I could tell it was Annabeth, and she was heading towards the sea. I started running as fast as I could to the beach.

"Oh, please Percy. Please be there." I say as my head and legs are throbbing and my heart is pounding. I make it to the beach just as they crash into the water.

I take off my boots, jacket and socks. Annabeth surfaces and I dive in to help the other kids. I'm able to grab one boy with really dark brown curly hair and pull him onto shore. He coughed for a while and then looked up at me.

"Did I die? Am I in heaven?"

I help him up. He's a little taller than me, brown eyes, pointy ears, and tan. He looked like a Latino Santa's elf. In a hot way....... wait, what? Someone hits us with a wave of warm air and all my clothes are dry. It was a little to hot for me and I get a little weak.

"No. You're pretty much alive, and this is Camp Half-Blood." I put my shoes and jacket back on and walk towards Annabeth to ask if Percy was there or not, because I'm not seeing him.

"Then did it hurt?" He asked me. I turn around.

"What?"

"When you fell from heaven? Because you have the face of an angel." He gave me a devilish/attractive looking smile. I laughed. I have this line I've been waiting to say my whole life.

"No, but I scraped my knees a little crawling my way back from hell." I said seriously.

"What?" He said surprised and super confused. His expression was priceless.

"I'm messing with you." I told him giving him a huge smile that I couldn't keep in any longer. He laughed.

"I gotta remember that one."

I went to Annabeth and Butch. Butch is this really dark and depressing buff dude. And guess who his godly parent is? Iris! Goddess of rainbows!!! And he also gets along really good with the pegasi!! Rainbows and ponies. Ha ha!

Butch was cutting the chariot off of the pegasi. "Annabeth, Butch. Where's Percy?" I ask.

"He wasn't there." Annabeth said looking down.

"Oh. No luck here either. But if it helps, Nico is looking for him too."

Annabeth gives a nod. I look at the other two kids that had been with them. One boy was blonde with electric blue eyes and a scar on his lip. The other was a girl with brown hair that had random strands braided, tan skin, and hazel eyes.

The blonde kid only had one shoe. "The kid with the missing shoe. He should know where Percy is!" Annabeth gave me a sad look.

"Sorry, Terra. But he lost his memory. He doesn't remember anything." I could feel depression settle in and my smile was gone. That rarely ever happened.

Will ran up to us. "Annabeth! What happened?! I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!" I couldn't help, but give a little laugh. The expression on Will's face was just as good as the other kid's.

"Will, I'm sorry," Annabeth sighed. "I'll get it fixed. I promise."

Will scowled at his broken chariot. Then he sized up the three kids that had come with Butch and Annabeth. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed?"

"Claimed?" The one that I had talked to earlier asked.

Before Annabeth could explain, Will said, "Any sign of Percy?"

"No." Annabeth admitted.

All the campers muttered. Life as a half-blood is never dull. There's always something going on, and sometimes too much.

Drew stepped forward. I gave her a scowl and she returned it. She glanced at the kid I had talked to, fixed her eyes on the blonde kid like he was worthy of her attention (Which I had to agree with.), and then curled her lip at the girl. I had a feeling that that girl and I were going to be great friends. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?

"Well, I hope they're worth the trouble." Drew said.

The Latino Santa's elf snorted."Gee thanks. What are we, your new pets?" I liked his style, it reminded me of me.

"No kidding," The blonde said. "How about some answers before you start judging us-like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?" Those were all questions I had when I first came. Never really wanted the answer to the third one, though. I could stay here forever, as long as Percy and Annabeth were with me.

"Jason," Annabeth said. Ah, that's his name. "I promise we'll answer you're questions. And Drew," Annabeth frowned at her. "all demigods are worth saving. But I'll admit, the trip didn't accomplish what I hoped."

"Hey," The other girl said, still didn't know her name. "we didn't ask to be brought here."

Drew sniffed. "And nobody wants you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?"

The girl stepped forward, but Annabeth said. "Piper, stop." She did, but I could still see the rage in her eyes. Two names down, one to go. I leaned over to Piper.

"Hey, watch this." I whispered. I pointed to my foot. She looked down, and I quietly stomped it. It sent a trail of frost to Drew's feet and then went up in spikes.

Drew screamed "Ow!" and kicked the ice away. Piper and I were laughing.

"Terra!!!" Drew screamed. She came stomping up to me, anger written all across her face. I kept satisfyingly smirking in her face and folded my arms. Her fists were clenched tight. I wasn't scared of her at all. She had the fighting skills of a dead badger.

"Yes, hon?" I said mimicking her, making people laugh. She was about to throw a punch but I thrust my hand out and grabbed her arm. I twisted it behind her back and put it at a painful angle.

"UUURRRGGHHH!" She screamed in defeat.

"What was that? Did you want to say something?" I said sarcastically.

"I will kill you Terra!" She somewhat shouted.

"How can you do that, hon? You have the fighting skills of a dead badger." I mimicked her again. People started laughing even harder.

"I know your weakness." She said. Almost everyone did. I let her go.

"Well what is it?" I asked to make sure she wasn't bluffing.

"Fire. You loose energy very easily around fire." I saw the Latino Santa's elf stiffen a little. Why did that make him edgy?

"So what? Everyone knows that. And you don't think I've been working on it?" She pulled out a huge lighter and turned it on.

"Let's see how well your doing then, hon." She came closer to me. I didn't care if my eyes were wide. I wasn't scared of her, I was scared of the lighter. I grabbed her arm and tried to freeze her hand,but the lighter was too close, it didn't work. I fell backwards and started crawling away.

"That's enough Drew." Annabeth said and took the lighter away. Everyone was starring at me, the Latino Santa's elf was wide eyed in surprise. Why was he so surprised? But I saw something else in his eyes. Fear. I was familiar with it.

"We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome." Annabeth helped me up. I quickly regained my energy. I mouthed 'It's not over.' to Drew and she nodded. "We'll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of the camp. Hopefully by campfire tonight, they will all be claimed."

"Would somebody tell me what claimed means?" Piper asked.

Everybody gasped as a flaming hammer appeared over the Latino Santa's elf's head. Everyone stood back. Cabin 9. The curse, poor kid.

"That," Annabeth said. "is a claiming."

"What did I do?" He asked and backed toward the lake. Then he glanced up and yelped.

"Is my hair on fire?"

I guess it kind of looked like that, but why would he think his hair would spontaneously catch on fire? Wait a second.... Stunned when I admitted my weakness was fire, son of Hephaestus, worries about spontaneously catching on fire. Does he have... no it hasn't happened in years, but why couldn't it happen now? I think he might have fire powers. Great, just what I need. If I get called to be his guide, I'll scream.

He ducked and started weaving and trying to get away from the symbol, but the symbol followed him, so it looked like he was trying to write something in flames with his head.

"This can't be good," Butch muttered. "the curse-"

"Butch, shut up,"Annabeth said."Leo you've been claimed-"

"By a god,"Jason interrupted.

Yea! Now I know all their names! But I kinda liked calling him the Latino Santa's elf. Whatever.

"That's the symbol of Vulcan. Isn't it?" Whoa. How did he know that? All eyes were on Jason.

"Jason," Annabeth said carefully, "how did you know that?"

"I'm not sure."

"Vulcan?" Leo demanded. "I don't even LIKE Star Trek. what are you talking about?"

I laughed along with several others, but since it was very few, we stopped awkwardly.

"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus," Annabeth said. "the god of blacksmiths and fire."

Some people looked at me sympathetically for some reason. The fiery hammer faded, but Leo kept swatting the air like he was afraid of it following him.

"The god of what? Who?"

Annabeth turned to me and Will. "Will, Terra, you two take Leo and give him a tour? Introduce him to his cabinmates in Cabin 9."

"Sure, why not?" I said. I screamed on the inside.

"Sure, Annabeth." Will said.

"What's Cabin 9?" Leo asked. "And I'm not a Vulcan!"

I laugh. His pointy ears say otherwise.

"Come on Mr.Spock. We'll explain everything." I say and Will puts his hand on Leo's shoulder. We went off to the cabins.

We showed him everything. Leo found the real Greek warships moored at the beach (That we sometimes had practice fights with flaming explosives.) cool. As well as the arts & crafts sessions that make sculptures out of chains and blowtorches. I noticed that he would check out a bunch of girls, including me. I've caught him several times, but he hasn't noticed.

When we got to the sword pavilion, Leo asked. "Do I get a sword?"

Will glanced at him like he found the idea disturbing. "You'll probably make you're own, seeing how you're in Cabin 9."

"I made my own, and I'm not in Cabin 9." I muttered. Gladly they didn't hear me.

"Yeah, what's up with that? Vulcan?"

"Usually we don't call the gods by their Roman names," Will said."The original names are Greek. Your dad is Hephaestus."

"Festus?" He misheard again. "Sounds like god of cowboys."

I tried to keep the laugh in, but it eventually came out. Just the thought of the god Hephaestus riding a horse in leather pants and a cowboy hat just threw me.

Will, laughed a little too. "He-phaestus," Will corrected."God of blacksmiths and fire."

"The flaming hammer over my head," Leo said. "Good thing, or bad thing?"

We kind of paused."Well, it was a good thing that you were claimed almost immediately." I said.

"But that Rainbow Pony dude," I snickered again."Butch- he mentioned a curse."

Will and I looked at each other.

"Ah....look. It's nothing. Since Cabin 9's last head counselor died..." Will said.

"Died? Like, painfully?"

"I ought to let your bunkmates tell you about it." Will said.

"Yeah, where are my home dawgs? Shouldn't their counselor be giving me the VIP tour?"

Poor Jake, he was attacked by a dragon automaton made by the cabin years ago, he's now in a full body cast.

"He, um, can't. You'll see why." I say and Will forges ahead before Leo can ask anything else. I'm only able to hear Leo mutter.

"Curses and death. This just keeps getting better and better."

We were halfway across the green when Leo stops in his tracks.

"What's wrong?" Will and I say at the same time.

"Jinx." I tell him and he rolls his eyes at me. Leo was still starring near the Hera cabin.

"That old lady...." Leo said. "What's she doing here?"

Will and I followed his gaze. I saw nothing for a while. Then for a second she was there and gone the next.

The creepy thing was, she looked like my weird babysitter from when I was a baby until I was four. She had the same leathery skin, black dress and head covering, even the same dark expression. What was her name? Something like, Auntie June?

I was creeped out. I didn't make an expression to show I had saw it, so I pretended I didn't.

"What old lady?" Will asked. I looked at him and could tell he didn't see anything at all.

"Dude, the old lady. The one in black. How many old ladies do you see over there?" I stiffened, and Leo noticed.

"You saw her, didn't you? I knew I wasn't crazy!" Leo pumped his fist in the air.

"What? No.....no I didn't see an old lady." I tried to cover up.

Will frowned. "I think you've had a long day, Leo. The Mist could still be playing tricks on your mind. How about we head straight to your cabin now?"

"Just messing with you, guys." He tried to convince us he was joking around. I think Will was convinced, but I wasn't. He pulled out some gears and levers from the pockets of his army shirt and started fiddling with them. He was definitely a Hephaestus child.

"Let's go see Cabin 9. I'm in the mood or a good curse."

We got to the Hephaestus cabin, which looked like an oversize RV with shiny metal walls and metal-slatted windows. The entrance was like a bank vault door, circular and several feet thick. It opened with lots of brass gears turning and hydraulic pistons blowing smoke.

Leo whistled. "They got a steampunk theme going on, huh?"

Inside, the cabin seemed deserted. Steel bunks were folded against the walls like high tech Murphy beds. Each had a digital control panel, blinking LED lights, glowing gems, and interlocking gears. I figured each camper had his/her own combination lock to release their bed, and there was probably an alcove behind it with storage, maybe some traps to keep unwanted visitors.

I've been familiar with the inventions of the Hephaestus cabin, so I knew what to expect from them.

A pole came down from the second floor, even though it looked like it had no second floor from outside. A circular staircase led down into some kind of basement. The walls were lined with every kind of power tool in existence, along with lots of other stuff I won't bother to mention for your sake.

I looked over at Leo and he looked like he was on cloud nine. Wait. Hahahhahahahaha! Cloud nine, Cabin nine? Hahahahahahaha. Holy cow is that ironic or what? Wait......did I even use ironic correctly? Psh, who cares? That was funny!!

Leo picked up a high tech weed whacker. "A weed whacker? What's the god of fire want with a weed whacker?"

A voice in the shadows said, "You'd be surprised." It was Jake. I walked over to see him.

"Hey, Jake." He attempted a smile, but winced.

"Hey, Terra. Nice to see your smile again." I couldn't help but smile wider at the compliment.

"Thanks. Are you getting any better?" We engage in a conversation about how we've been doing and we got onto the topic of Annabeth's latest trip for Percy.

"Still no sign of Percy, but we found the boy with one shoe that Hera told Annabeth about." His eyes lit up. "Sadly, he has no memory what so ever."

"Oh." Jake lost the light in his eyes, so I changed the subject.

"But we found you a new cabin mate." I pointed out. I stepped back to show Leo.

"Hey, I'm Jake Mason. I'd shake your hand, but..."

"Yeah, don't get up." Leo said. Jake smiled and then winced. I jumped a little closer to him. I was so protective of my friends, but some people take it the wrong way when I'm around my friends who are boys.

"Welcome to Cabin 9," Jake said. "Been almost a year since we had any new kids. I'm head counselor...for now."

"Don't talk like that." I ordered Jake.

"For now?" Leo asked.

Will cleared his throat. "So where is everybody, Jake?"

"Down at the forges," Jake said wistfully "They're working on....you know, that problem."

"Oh." Will changed the subject. "So, you got a spare bed for Leo?"

Jake studied Leo, sizing him up. "You believe in curses, Leo? Or ghosts?"

"Ghosts? Pfft. Nah. I'm cool. A storm spirit chucked me down the Grand Canyon this morning, but you know, all in a day's work, right?" Leo said.

Jake nodded. "That's good. Because I'll give you the best bed in the cabin-Beckendorf's."

"What?" I asked. Why in the world would he do that?

"Whoa, Jake," Will said. "You sure?"

Jake called out: "Bunk 1-A please."

The whole cabin rumbled. A circular section of the floor spiraled open like a camera lens, and a full-size bed popped up. The bronze frame had a built-in game station at the foot-board, a stereo system in the headboard, a glass-door refrigerator mounted into the base, and a whole bunch of control panels running down the side.

Leo jumped right on it, his arms behind his head. "I can handle this."

"It retracts into a private room below," Jake said.

"Oh, heck, yes," Leo said. "See y'all. I'll be down in the Leo Cave. Which button do I press?"

"Hold on," Will protested. "You guys have private underground rooms?"

Jake probably would've smiled if it didn't hurt so much. "We got lot's of secrets, Will. You Apollo guys can't have all the fun. Our campers have been excavating the tunnel system under Cabin 9 for almost a century. We still haven't found the end."

"Looks like I'm updating the ice palace." I mutter. I call my cabin the 'ice palace' because I purposely made it look like a miniature palace.

"Anyway, Leo, if you don't mind sleeping in a dead man's bed, it's yours."

Leo sat up cautiously. "The counselor who died-this was his bed?"

"Yeah," Jake said. "Charles Beckendorf."

Leo gave suspicious looks to the bed. "He didn't like die in this bed, did he?"

"No," Jake said. "In the Titan War, last summer."

"The Titan War," Leo repeated, "which has nothing to do with this very fine bed?"

"The Titans," I say, like Leo is an idiot. Because he is! "The big powerful guys that ruled the world before the gods. They tried to make a comeback last summer. Their leader, Kronos, built a new palace on top of Mount Tam in California. Their armies came to New York and almost Mount Olympus. A lot of demigods died trying to stop them."

"I'm guessing this wasn't on the news?" Leo said.

Will shook his head in disbelief. "You didn't hear about Mount St. Helens erupting, or the freak storms across the country, or that building collapsing in St. Louis?"

Leo shrugged. "Guess I was busy." How could he be so unupdated? How could he not miss any of these?

"Doesn't matter." Jake said. "You were lucky to miss it. The thing is, Beckendorf was one of the first casualties, and then ever since then-"

"Your cabin's been cursed." Leo guessed. Jake didn't answer.

Jake sighed halfheartedly. "Well, I should get some sleep. I hope you like it here, Leo. It used to be...really nice." He closed his eyes and the camouflage curtains closed.

"Come on, Leo," Will said. "I'll take you to the forges." Then he gave me a smile. "If Terra can handle the heat."

"Oh I'm ready." I say as we walk out the door.

"Really?" Will asked skeptically. "How much ya willin' to bet?"

"My ice sword."

"Whoa! Your serious about this aren't you?" Will said, somewhat really and somewhat sarcastically surprised.

"What's your ice sword look like?" Leo asked a little excited.

"Here, I'll show you." I swirled my hands around and created a cluster of snowflakes. I then put my hands together like they were holding the hilt of a sword, and let my powers do the rest. Out it came, flawless. Leo's eyes widened.

"What? How?" He asked.

I handed it to him. He practically checked every single particle. Then he looked up at me like I was a goddess.

"You just made this?" Leo was shocked.

"Yes....did you not just see me?" I say, pointing out the obvious.

"Oh, yeah." Leo says, just realizing how stupid that was. I take the sword back and make it disolve into thin air. I even get Will's jaw to drop.

"Whoa, what? When did you learn to make it disappear?" Will asked. We stayed in touch a lot.

"I think, the....fifth lesson, with Chiron?" I actually forgot when, I can forget some minor details quickly.

"What else can you make?" Leo said, letting a little bit more eagerness than what he intended show.

"I'll show you later."

We were quiet for a while, then Leo started getting curious. "How did he die? I mean Beckendorf?"

Will trudged ahead. "Explosion. Beckendorf and Percy Jackson blew up a cruise ship full of monsters. Beckendorf didn't make it out." I let the smile on my face leave and lowered my head a little. All these stories were so sad, not my style.

"So Beckendorf was pretty popular?" Leo asked. "I mean-before he blew up?"

"He was awesome. It was hard on the whole camp when he died. Jake-he became head counselor in the middle of the war. Same as I did, actually. Jake did his best, but he never wanted to be leader. He just likes building stuff. Then after the war, things started going wrong. Cabin 9's chariots blew up. Their automatons went haywire. Their inventions started to malfunction. It was like a curse, and eventually people started calling it that-the Curse of Cabin 9. Then Jake had his accident-" Will explained.

"Which had something to do with the problem he mentioned," Leo guessed.

"They're working on it," Will said without enthusiasm. "And here we are." We stepped through the doorway, and everyone stopped and starred.

"'Sup guys," Will said. "This is your new brother, Leo-um, what's your last name?"

"Valdez." Leo checked out his new family.

I wish Khione would've at least bothered to have other kids so I could have some other family that would except me and I would be able to be with all the time. Well, I haven't met her yet, maybe she really does love me.

Kids came up and introduced themselves to Leo. I started to feel weak and pulled up a chair for me to sit down on.

"You wimpin' out Terra?" Will asked.

"Haha." I said sarcastically. "You're a riot."

"No need to be so sour, Frosty." I hated my nickname, but ever since Drew came up with it, everyone's been calling me that.

"Loosen up a bit, Sunshine. I was being sarcastic." I softly punch Will's arm. He hated his nickname too. You get it? Sunshine, Apollo. Pretty good, right? Will gives me a frown, but then can't help, but smile. I have this effect on people. Whenever I smile, the other person can't help, but smile too.

"Well, all right!" Leo said. "I hear this is the party cabin!" Nobody laughed. I shook my head, smiling.

Will patted Leo's shoulder. "We'll leave you guys to get acquainted. Somebody show Leo to dinner when it's time?"

"I got it." Nyssa said.

"Cool," Leo said. "I always wanted a sister who could beat me up."

I smiled, but Nyssa didn't. "Come on, joker boy. I'll show you around."

I tried to get up, but I had let myself get too weak.

"Here, let me help." Will said. I put my right arm around his neck and he put his left arm around my waist. I was able to stand up with his help.

"Get some, Will!" A male voice shouted from inside the forge. Will laughed and shook his head. I could see he was slightly blushing.

Darn it! Really? Was it really true? I had heard from some people that Will liked me, but we were such good friends, I thought it was impossible. But, then again, the way he's been acting lately. Forget it Terra, just forget the subject.

"I think I can walk now." I say and he let's me go. I'm able to walk normally and he gives me the same two finger salute that Nico had given me.

"See ya, Frosty." He gives me a teasing smile.

"Later, Sunshine." I give the same teasing smile back and wave my fingers.

I make it right to my cabin door when the dinner bell rings.

"Seriously?" I ask and make my way to the Mess Hall.