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

Note: Here's Octavian!!!!! Everyone's "favorite" person.)

I rolled to the side as fast as I could and made it safety to the side just as the truck flattened the machinery like a steam roller. I got to my feet and found Leo a little to close to the wreckage. I ran over to him and helped him up.

Ma Gasket spotted us. She yelled, "Torque, you pathetic excuse for a Cyclopes, get him!"

Torque barreled towards us. I aimed my bow and started firing at Torque. I'm so glad I can just make more arrows, because I would have run out of all of them for the rest of the quest. Torque slowed down a little from the millions of arrows protruding from his skin that I programmed to give the enemy frostbite.

Leo was behind me fiddling with his gadget of some sort, it kind of looked like those controls for little race cars.

"What are you doing Leo?" I asked looking away from Torque for a little bit, but still firing arrows and hitting Torque.

"Just wait." He said really focused on how close Torque was.

A robotic arm whirred to life and a three-ton yellow metal claw slammed the Cyclopes in the back so hard, he landed flat on his face and the arrows pushed in farther into his skin. Before Torque could recover, the robotic hand grabbed him by one leg and hurled him straight up.

"AHHHHHH!" Torque rocketed into the gloom. The ceiling was too dark for me to see what had happened, but judging from a harsh metal clang, I guessed that Torque either hit the ceiling or one of the support girders. Instead of Torque falling down, yellow dust did. We just killed a Cyclopes.

"Leo you're a genius!" I said throwing my arms around Leo.

He smiled his crazy smile and held up his remote, "I am a special boy." I laughed.

Ma Gasket stared at us in shock. "My son....... You....... You...."

As if on cue, Sump lumbered into the firelight with a case of salsa. "Ma, I got the extra-spicy-"

He never got to finish his sentence because Leo started to spin the remote's toggle and another arm whacked Sump in the chest. The salsa case exploded like a piñata and Sump flew backward, right into the base of another one of Leo's machines. The third crane arm came down and slammed him against the floor so hard that he exploded into dust like a broken flour sack.

"Ha ha! That's what'cha get when you mess with our friends! What!!" I said excited.

Why was I so excited? I don't know, but I have a feeling Leo was wondering the same thing. He was smiling at me and shaking his head. I knew that expression to well. He thought I was nuts, but he liked it.

Ma Gasket locked her eye on us. She grabbed the nearest crane arm and ripped it off it's pedestal with a savage roar. "You busted my boys! Only I get to bust my boys!

Leo punched a button, and two remaining arms swing into action. Ma Gasket caught the first one and tore it in half. I shot an arrow and it planted itself into her cheek, throwing her off and not being able to catch the second one. It smacked her in the head, but we had only seemed to make her even more mad. She grabbed it by the clamps, ripped it free, and swung it like a baseball bat. It missed Piper and Jason by a hair. Then she let it go-spinning it towards us.

"Leo!" I shouted and pulled him out of the way as I rolled to the side.

It totally demolished the machine we had been standing by. The excited feeling I had felt before was gone.

"Good feeling gone." I said.

She stood about twenty feet away from us, right next to the cooking fire. Her fists were clenched, her teeth bared. She looked absolutely ridiculous in the chain mail muumuu and her greasy pigtails-but given the murderous look in her huge blood-shot eye and the fact I was less than half her size, I wasn't laughing at all.

"Anymore tricks, demigods?" Ma Gasket demanded.

"You wanted magic tricks? Well then, I'd suggest asking Hecate about that....... But, I think I've got a pretty good one." I said.

I fired an extra large arrow and let it fly through the air. As soon as it made contact with her face, it exploded into a bajillion ice particles and they stuck to her face.

I smirked as she swatted at her own face, trying to wipe off the ice. She opened her eye and she roared with anger. She charged at me and I just froze her face a little. I knew it would hurt a lot, that's basically why I did it. She swatted at her face again trying to get the ice off.

"Well, that's all I got. What about you, Leo? You got anything special?" I asked playing along with my joke.

"Heck, yeah, I got tricks!" Leo raised his remote control. "Take one more step, and I'll destroy you with fire!"

I shook my head a little bit in disappointment. Did Leo not know that Cyclopes are immune to fire?

He noticed, "What did I say?"

Ma Gasket laughed. "Cyclopes are immune to fire, you idiot. But if you wish to play with flames, let me help!"

She scooped red-hot coals into her bare hands and flung them at us. I dodged to the side as soon as she leaned back to throw them. I looked back to see Leo surrounded by the coals. She had missed.

"You missed," he said incredulously.

Then Ma Gasket grinned and picked up a barrel next to the truck, labeled "kerosene". She threw it towards Leo and the barrel broke open, spilling lighter fluid everywhere.

"Leo, no!!!!!" I screeched.

I looked at Ma Gasket laugh as the flames billowed 25 feet high. I could smell smoke, and I felt anger rush through my veins. I couldn't let Leo die, but he was. Nobody could survive that, no one. I felt my heart pound heavily, tears started to trickle down my face. I felt useless, I had let Leo die. At least there was one thing I could do, kill Ma Gasket.

I lifted my arms slowly and created a blizzard that lifted me about 20 feet in the air. I felt my hair whip around my face and my jacket thump against my sides. The blizzard lowered the temperature in the room dramatically. I made the storm seem wild and dangerous, but I had it all under control. The cold felt nice against my face, it felt warm to me, not hot warm, more like a comforting warm. You could smell storm, like how you walk out before a rainstorm and you could smell the rain. It's like that, except with a snowy smell.

I had Ma Gasket's full attention now, and I gave a murderous look letting out my emotions and being super intimidating. I saw surprise in her eye and knew that I was doing just great.

"How dare you hurt me and my friends! You will suffer the wrath of a daughter of Khione!!" I said in a booming voice.

She tried to pick up some more coals, but I flicked my wrist quickly, like some sort of spaz, and the coals froze. She looked up at me with more surprise. I willed the massive blizzard to pick her off of the ground a couple feet to bring her to my eye-level, making flowing movements with my arms as if I was a sorceress. Energy surged through the air, and power was overwhelming. I could see frost developing slowly on almost everything. I could see Piper start to shiver.

I felt anger grow in me, absolute hatred towards Ma Gasket and myself. Why couldn't I save Leo? I could have dragged Leo with me to the side when Ma Gasket threw the coals and kerosene. I know I could have done it, but why didn't I? I thought I had liked Leo, but I guess apparently I didn't because my life was my first instinct to save, not my friends. I need to channel my anger, channel it into power to kill the Cyclopes.

I extended my arms I front of me and slowly put my hands into fists, creating icicles hovering around Ma Gasket. They had their points faced towards her and vibrated dangerously, as if they were eager to send her to Tartarus. I pulled back my arms and the icicles retracted ready to lodge themselves into the skin of the Cyclopes.

Right then, I heard Piper gasp. "Leo?!"

I looked over to the fire and saw the silhouette of Leo standing in the fire starring at me.

"L-leo?" I said shocked and relieved at the same time.

My hands relaxed, but then something happened that I couldn't recall. I felt like I got ran over by a train and then back-flopped on a concrete sidewalk from a fifty-foot drop. Everything had gone black, and the last thing I heard was the mixture of Leo and Piper's voice screaming my name and the horrendous cackle of Ma Gasket. I felt totally useless again. There was nothing I could do to save my friends now. Was I dying? I don't know, but it felt like I was slipping away, everything felt like it was a dream. No, I couldn't give up. My friends need me, I can't die now. I have to help, I have to.

Things started to focus, but it wasn't on waking up. I had slipped into another dream. Oh joy. Is my "favorite" goddess of the dirt going to appear? Pssh. I hope not. I don't need her telling me how badly I had failed, that I had let my emotions stop me from killing Ma Gasket.

Then I realized something, what if this was the time I would prove myself that Terra/Gaea had talked about? Well then, I had failed and she has no reason to haunt me and ask for me to join her army ever again! I failed the test and hopefully Leo could get us out of this place before Ma Gasket decides to eat us all.

There was a hazy image appearing, it looked like some sort of ancient town either from the Greek or Roman times. It was all super fuzzy, like everything was now made of fuzz balls and had no detail whatsoever. I looked around trying to see where the heck I was. I could see people, loads of people, most of them wearing purple shirts which was really random. The weird thing was, I felt like I belonged there, it felt a lot more comforting than being at Camp Half-Blood and that was the only place I really belonged........... Or so I had thought. This place really felt welcoming to me, more welcoming than I have ever felt.

I had a feeling like I was younger, and like I've had this dream before. I felt excited for some reason, and rushed. Like I needed to be somewhere that I wanted to go to.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see I was wearing a purple shirt like everyone else and blue jeans. The purple shirt looked vaguely familiar and I felt a nagging in the back of my head again, like I should know why I was wearing it and what it was supposed to mean.

I could tell that there were huge white buildings, some had pillars, some had domes, and others had both. Some of the people wore something bronze and shiny on their chests and held things that looked gold. I tried to get up close to one of them, but I started going a different way. I tried to ask people where the heck I was, but nothing would come out. I had no control over my actions or over what I say, crap, I hope I don't say anything stupid. I headed towards a huge bright green blotch with hints of purple, red and pink here and there. Something, no someone, stopped me from getting to my destination.

"Got any change today, Terra?" the boy asked, shaking a tin can in my face. He was a satyr, no a faun. Saying satyr felt wrong to me for some reason.

"No Justin, I'm sorry." I apologized. He shrugged his shoulders and went on his way to the next person, asking for money.

Who was that? This dream is so weird, but it feels so...... real.

I saw and archway and I walked through it. I could tell I was in a garden. I tried to make my body turn around and find out where the heck I was, but no such luck. I stood there, looked around for a second, and then finally sat down on a bench.

"I thought you'd never get here." I heard a voice say.

I looked over to my right and there was a human shaped blob there, leaning against the wall. I could tell he was blonde, scrawny, and about 12 years old. He had a white toga over a purple shirt and beige cargo shorts. He wore this belt that had brown blobs hanging from it that, for some weird reason, resembled teddy-bears. This is by far the weirdest dream I will ever have.

"Octavian! How did it go with the praetor?" Who the heck is that, and what the crap did I just say? What is a frickin' praetor??

"He made me augur." Octavian sat down next to me.

"Oh my gosh! That's so great! What's it like?" I said elbowing him gently.

I could see him smirk a little. "It's nothing to great. People say it's the creepiest job, but I don't believe them."

I looked at him and pulled the sarcastic "Really!!? People are saying that?!?!" look. "What? Really?! It's not like being Augur involves killing teddybears and reading prophecies from the stuffing inside them or anything, right?"

He shook his head laughing, "I swear Terra, you're the only person here that makes jokes 24/7."

I smiled. "Yeah, Romans have no real sense of humor. What a shame." I pretended to be dramatically depressed and held my hand against my chest. Then I held my finger up to my eye and ran my finger down my cheek, mimicking the motion of a tear.

This "Octavian" laughed. "I don't know what my life would be like without you."

I just shrugged my shoulders and started to list things off while counting on my fingers. "Well........... you'd be super boring, you wouldn't know how to make jokes. You also probably wouldn't be Augur because we all know who's the reason for that." I widened my eyes at him and leaned in a little. He just blushed and looked down slightly smiling. "You'd also be alone and probably depressed. You would find someone else to be your friend, but they wouldn't as awesome or as funny as me, so you'd still not know how to make jokes. You wouldn't really know how to fight because I'm your tutor...."

"Okay, you can stop there." He said getting slightly annoyed, but I could tell I was going for that.

"But, I only got to six!" I said holding up six fingers in a tone saying that I was having fun.

He shook his head. "Sometimes, Terra, I really don't get you."

"Well, this isn't the first time." I said slightly giggling.

"Definitely." he said not hesitating and on the verge of laughing.

"Wow. No hesitation on that one." I said laughing a little more.

He starts laughing and I laugh with him too.

Things started getting out of more focus than it was before. No!! I want to figure out where I was!! Who is this kid?? Where was I?!? Stop!! Continue the dream!!

I had no control on whether the dream proceeded or not, everything continued to go a blinding white.

I could start to feel my body, I was in some pain, but it wasn't to bad. I opened my eyes and found myself laying in Leo's arms while he was driving Festus.

"Leo!" I said joyfully and threw my hands around his neck. I felt his hand against my back.

My head started to hurt. "Ah." I said painfully and touched my head. Leo looked worried.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

"Yeah, what happened? How did we escape?" Then I remembered how Leo had been engulfed in flames and somehow survived it. "How did you survive the flames?"

"You know how I'm a son of Hephaestus? Well, apparently some of his kids can be immune to flames and can even control them."

"You can control fire?" I interrupted him. What the freak. I was right about him having fire powers. What the crap.

"Yeah. Well, after you had calmed down the flames when you were....uh....what would you call it?" He asked.

"Killing a Cyclopes Khione style?" I offered.

"Yeah," he smiled, "killing a Cyclopes Khione style. You were able to notice me and when you weren't paying attention, Ma Gasket knocked you out of the air. At first, I-I thought you were dead." He paused here and drew a shaky breath. "You hit the warehouse wall and then fell down to the ground. I have no idea how you had survived, but you did. I shot a stream of fire to a weak link in a chain that suspended a huge engine and it dropped on top of Ma Gasket. She died, but then they started reforming, so we left."

"They started reforming?" I asked in shock. "They shouldn't have done that so quickly."

"Yeah, that's what we thought too." Piper said, startling me a bit because I had forgotten she was there. "When Jason and I had gone to Boreas, he had said something about that-about the world yielding up horrors. 'when monsters no longer stay in Tartarus, and souls are no longer confined to Hades.'"

"Well, that's just great." I said rubbing my face with my hand.

"It's my turn to ask you a question." Leo said.

"What is it?"

"Who's Octavian?" He asked.

"What?" I asked surprised. How the heck would he know the name of the guy in my dream? Is that a popular name or something?

"When you were asleep, you kept mumbling that name. Is he your boyfriend or something? Or your brother, cousin maybe?" He asked, he seemed like he didn't want me to answer "boyfriend", so he was lucky because I'm pretty sure that guy wasn't, was he? Well, it was just a dream so there's nothing to worry about, right?

"I-I don't know. He was just this guy in my dream but-"

"Cyclopes!" Jason shouted and his eyes shot open.

It just about scared the crap out of me and I almost hit Leo. He had jerked his head back just in time and his eyes were wide open with shock.