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

Note: A lot of you wanted to see Katie, so I'll do her. BEHOLD!!!!!!KATIE GARDNER!!!!!!!!! DAUGHTER OF DEMETER, LOVE INTEREST OF TRAVIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll try to make an appearance for her. *thinking, wheels turning, buffering, loading, awesomeness about to erupt* GOT IT!!!!!!!! Alright, I know when she will appear. You guys will hate me so much. I'm such a troll. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!! I could pass as Rick's daughter or granddaughter or something. But she won't die, if you're wondering. I couldn't do that. Believe it or not I do have a heart........or part of one anyway, because there is LOTS of trolling coming your way. Sam_Dean_youredark,TribalWolf6901,Agent_Maddie,andjade_brooks_12should know. I tell them my trolling ideas before I confirm on using them, they're so nice. (Follow these guys, they are freaking amazing!!! Trust me, I know them in the real world. If you haven't followed them already, you're missing out on their humor and awesomeness.) And if you like spoilers you can pm me! I'll tell you things that are coming. I feel so evil now!!! And I LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, btw: I make movie/tv show quotes throughout the story and so far you have recognized most of them. The first person to find all of the quotes in this chapter will have the next chapter dedicated to them! And it doesn't count if you say "that was from a movie!" Honestly, everything said in this chapter is from a movie or tv show since there are so freaking many movies and tv shows. You actually have to say what it's from. Anyway, enough ranting. TOOO THEEEEEEE STORYYYYY!!!!!!!!!)

Piper was still mostly gold, even though she had been doused in rain, like the rest of us.

"We're gonna have to dunk her in the river. The rain isn't enough." I told Jason.

He looked at the statue with a worried look on his face, then nodded. Leo was shivering a lot and he kept hugging me and snuggling up to me like it would get him warm, but I'm pretty sure he knew, too, that I wouldn't help. We finally made it to the river and Jason and Coach dunked Piper in. They pulled out the statue and she slowly, but quicker than before, started to turn back to a human. I mean demigod, half-blood, whatever. You know what I mean.

I saw Jason smile and his shoulders seemed to relax, he likes Piper. It was so obvious. He probably likes her as much as she likes him. Cute.

"Well, what d-do we do now?" Leo said, shivering.

Leo looked so cold, his lips were tinged blue and his hair was wet and looked matted. His skin was paler than before and his whole body was constantly shaking. Coach Hedge seemed fine, but he did have to rub his arms or hands to keep warm. It probably had something to do with being part satyr and all. Jason didn't seem good either, his teeth would chatter occasionally. His lips were also blue and his skin did look unnaturally pale, but Piper had it worst out of all of them. Though unconscious, she was shaking and I could have sworn she was muttering something here and there, but her hair was totally soaked as well as her clothes from dipping her in the river. Her lips were bluer than Leo's and Jason's and her skin tone had paled dramatically. This storm was killing them faster than a chicken hawk in a coop of crippled roosters. If they were in this for to long, they'd die of hypothermia, and I'm quite sure that Piper already has it. I don't even think I can do anything about it. I control ice and snow, not cold winds and rainstorms. That's probably a Zeus thing, and who knows if Jason can do it or not with how weak he could be right now.

Jason looked around and then looked down at Piper's backpack. His eyebrows went up and pulled it off.

"What're you doing?" I asked, honestly kind of scared.

He handed Piper to Coach and held the backpack in his hands. "I was thinking, if I could harness these storm spirits, they could give us a ride across the country."

I stared at the bag, then at Jason, then back at then bag, and then back at Jason. "You're joking."

Leo stared at Jason skeptically.

"Trust me guys. We'll make it work."

I shifted my weight onto my left leg and then back to my right. I thought about Jason's idea.

"Well, wouldn't we need something to ride in?" Leo said.

"Well, I could make one." I started thinking about it.

"You could?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, believe it or not, I know a thing or two about architecture. I can get pretty nerdy when I want to." I winked at him.

Leo smiled at me. "Then I'll just stand by and make sure you do it right."

"Alrighty then, get ready."

I clapped my hands rubbed them together, thinking on how I would start making it. Well, we needed to lessen the amount of air resistance, so should the front be rounded like a bullet or sharp like those needle nose jets? Needle nose jet, that'll look cool and won't draw suspicions. And it won't make the mist work so hard, I mean it had to get a break some time, right? I kneeled to the ground and felt the wet grass soak my pants. Eurgh, gross. The rain started to feel harder and something hit the side of my head.

"Ow!" I exclaimed and looked around to find what had hit me.

The ground was starting to be covered in hail. It's starting to hail, great. Thanks, world. Thanks a lot.

I shook my head and started to form the beginning of the needle nose which is pretty big. It goes out to be two feet wide, and that's just the needle part, I haven't even gotten to the part where it's going to hold us. I walk backwards as I start making the left side, keeping in mind what one of those jets look like, focusing on the body of the plane. The body goes up higher than my waist. We won't be going super high, so I don't have to worry so much on covering us. After I come to a good place to end the plane I make a good back and start working on the right side.

"Needle nose jet, huh?" Leo says with an approving smile.

"Yup."

I finish the right side and step in the air craft to do the floor. I remembered falling off of Festus and knew I needed to make the floor about one foot and a half thick to comfort myself that we wouldn't break the thing. After I finished the floor, I hopped out and started to give it small and simple wings to help keep it airborne while the storm spirits went crazy. How was Jason going to control those things anyway? They're super crazy and won't listen to anyone. If we die, I'll kill Jason. I know it's illogical, but it's true. Even if you can only die once, I will find a way. Jason better watch his back while he can.

I looked at the plane-looking, air sled, thing-a-ma-jiggy that I made for us to ride in and stepped back. It was probably 15+ feet long and 7 feet wide. Seems pretty good, but I'll have to check with the master mechanic if it'll be good enough to ride in.

"Sooooo, what do you think?" I asked.

Leo walked over to it and starting checking it out. He started mumbling to himself and then he frowned.

"Wait, it's made of ice. Wouldn't it melt?"

"Oh, I'll take care of that. I can keep it cold, don't worry, it won't melt." I reassured him.

"Well then, it seems fine to me. But I'm concerned on how we're going to harness those storm spirits. They're super wild and dangerous. What did you have in mind, Jason?" Leo turned towards him.

Jason scratched his head. "Uhhhh, maybe......uh.....Terra could make, erm, a couple lassos and we'd.....catch them when they got out?"

I stared at him blankly. "You're just making this up as you go along, aren't you?"

He nodded with a guilty smile. Then I smacked my forehead.

I sighed. "I say we at least give it a try. It sounds like it might work."

"Alright, cupcakes! That's the spirit!" Coach Hedge shouted with his fist pumped into the air.

Cupcakes? Why does he always call us cupcakes? Do we look like cupcakes? What would I look like as a cupcake? I'd probably be a vanilla cupcake with light blue frosting that sparkles and some fondant snowflakes with those edible pearl beads on top. Ooooo, cupcakes sound soooooo good right now. Oh gods, Terra stop doing this to yourself. You've got bigger problems right now, way bigger problems.

I quickly made a few ice ropes and tied them into lassos. Then I handed one to Jason, Leo, and Coach who had set Piper down on the ground. Jason held his lasso in his left hand and the backpack zipper in the other.

"On three," he said. "One..two...three!"

Jason unzipped the backpack and the storm spirits burst out coincidentally in their horse form. I threw my lasso and all it did was hit one in the face, which made it disoriented enough for Coach Hedge to get it. Leo and Jason got the other one after wrestling it into the harness. We quickly fastened them to the what-cha-ma-call-it and got ready for lift off.

Jason got to the front of the doo-hickey and held onto the ropes tied around the storm spirits like reins. They whinnied and stomped in protest to their new position and started to get a little out of control. Jason got a look of worry on his face and shouted something at the spirits that I couldn't quite make out, then he snapped the ropes and they calmed down. I gripped the side of the craft, closed my eyes, and said a silent prayer to Zeus that he would be kind and considerate on our journey and maybe help his son out with controlling the storm spirits.

"Uhhh, go." Jason said to the spirits.

The spirits didn't do anything.

"Mush!" He said.

Nothing.

"Tally ho! Elevate!" He tried.

"Yip yip?" I suggested, recalling a TV show from when I was little that I absolutely loved.

Still nothing. Jason started snapping the ropes a lot.

"GOOO!!!" He yelled.

The spirits shook their heads and whinnied, but that must have been a good thing since they started to fly.

The take off was the scariest thing in my life.....almost. I've seen scarier, but it definitely made my list of "Things That Scared The Crap Out Of Me". All of us except Jason were gripping the edge of the.....the.....the, erm. I still don't know what to call it. The thing. Yeah, great name. Who cares I'm sticking with it. I have officially named this the "Thing". I'm a genius! Where's my Nobel prize? No? Oh. Well then, you're just jelly of my naming skills.

Jason seemed fine, and once again I cursed his offspring for millions of years. Since when could I do that? I don't know. I'm not even sure it will actually work, but it feels good to think it or say it, so whatever. His offspring better be careful. We reached a point where we flattened out I lied down on the floor and placed a hand over my heart to feel my heartbeat. It was going 90 miles an hour, I was surprised that I was still alive.

"Jason!" I yelled. "You're a terrible pilot! How? You're the son of the Lord of the Sky!"

"Sorry!" He shouted back.

The craft jerked and tilted. I screamed and when we flattened out I yelled again.

"Screw you and everything you love and hold dear, Jason!"

I think I heard him laugh, but I couldn't tell over the sound of wind rushing by. Snow and rain was starting to get in, it would have been smart to cover this thing. So I did. It took me a while to focus since the wind had somehow managed to undo my hair and flap it around in my face. When I sealed the craft shut, my hair fell down and it was a horrendous mess. I just took one look at it, shrugged and collapsed onto the floor, tired and angry.

*********🎶Do-doo-do-doooo-do, tiiiiiime skiiiiiiiip!!!🎶************

Leo was the one to wake me up, which I appreciated greatly, I didn't want to wake up to see Coach's furry facial features. But the way Leo did wake up didn't help at all. He was grabbing my shoulders and shaking me. His eyes were wild and I felt Thing tipping one way and then swerving to the other.

"What's going on?!?" I asked.

"Jason's loosing control of the spirits!"

I stood up and hurried over next to Jason and looked out in front of us. The spirits where bucking and running in different directions, and where we were heading, we were heading straight into the side of a mountain.

"What did you do?!" I asked him.

Jason looked scared out of his mind as he wrangled the ropes, pulling them this way and that way. "I don't know!"

I smacked my hand to my forehead and helped Jason pull at the reins.

"Those stupid spirits! I'll take care of them!" Coach Hedge grabbed his cudgel and smacked the top of it in his other hand like thugs do when they're coming to kill you and they have a baseball bat.

"No Coach! We need these spirits alive!" I told him.

He scowled and made a grumbling noise.

"Just make sure Piper is safe!" Jason shouted at him.

Jason and I worked together to try and tame the friggen wild beasts, but they wouldn't cooperate in any single freaking way!

"Comeoncomeoncomeoncomeon!!!!" I said as we kept pulling and yanking.

"The mountain's getting too close!" Jason shouted.

"I noticed!" I yelled back and tried to pull the spirits up.

They kept going straight.

"You're going to have to put them back in the backpack before we hit the mountain!" I said.

"How? We're all in here!"

I thought for a moment, or at least tried to.

"You fly out! With the backpack! Right now! Put them in the bag! I'll handle the rest of us!" I pulled tighter on the reins.

"Are you sure?" Jason asked.

We locked eyes for a second and I had the weirdest feeling of déjà vu.

"Yes! Now go!"

"I'd much rather take some with me!" He said.

I groaned at Jason's ignorance. "Sure! Whatever! JUST HURRY UP!!!"

I managed to see through the storm, we seemed to be in a dense part of it right now, the mountain was getting to close for comfort. Jason gave me all the reins and took Piper and Leo. Then he told Coach to help me. Coach waddled over and I gave him both of the reins. I made the top of the craft disappear, letting snow and what seemed like the whole storm enter. Jason shot out and as I looked at how close the mountain was again, the weight of the situation began to settle on me. I started to freak out. I began to breathe quickly and I couldn't think straight. I could die. I could die. We could all die.

I slapped myself in the face and forced myself to calm down. My life and Coach's was on the line. Probably Jason, Piper, and Leo's too if they aren't at a safe distance. I ran back over to Coach who wasn't struggling as bad as I was with the reins, but you could tell from his red face that it was taking its toll on the old goat. I held onto one of the reins and watched as Jason finally got the spirits in the bag. Thing slowed down, but not dramatically, and there wasn't that tugging feeling anymore. But the mountain was still hurling towards us and we still had the chance of dying. I let go of the reins that had held the spirits and used all my energy to change the direction Thing was facing. I got us turned around and tilted it downward slightly. We were still heading towards the mountain, but it just looked like we were doing it backwards. I tried to force Thing to go down a little more than it was going straight. Our course only slightly changed and I felt like as if my plan would only get us killed. But as the mountain got closer and closer, I knew we would make it.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins and I warned Coach to get ready for the impact. We braced ourselves and I made seat belts and cushions quicker than anything. I felt the tension in the air as the ground grew closer, as we neared the possible end to our lives, and for a moment, just for a moment, an image flashed through my mind. It gave off more of a warm and inviting vibe than the rest of the memories I've received combined, but it was an image that repulsed me. Although, from the feelings I recalled, the words that were spoken, and the way he looked at me, I grew to like it.

We hit the mountain and it was the most shocking and painful thing I can remember. We shook around, but Thing stayed together. I felt us start to slide down the mountain, just as I had planned. I got up and quickly made handles at the front of Thing. Coach stayed in the seat belts and cushions, wide-eyed and possibly dead. The ride was so bumpy, that if I wasn't using my powers to keep Thing together, she would have been totaled. I could barely see, everything was so shaky. We neared the bottom and I could piece together that there were trees in our way. I pulled at the handles and turned Thing to the left. She turned and we grew closer to the woods. We had a little bit of an opening, but there was no way we wouldn't hit any trees when we got to the forest.

I watched as we neared towards the flat ground, and I knew how to keep us from getting hit by the trees. And by "us" I mean Coach and I, not Thing. Sorry, there's no way she's ever surviving this.

I yanked the handles to the left again, and we started going down sideways. When we got to the ground I stamped my foot on the ground and Thing tipped exactly on her left side. This slowed her down by a lot, but we destroyed a lot of the trees. I dangled from the handles and held tightly with all the remaining strength I had. When we finally stopped, I gladly let go and dropped to the soft dirt that had just been dug up by Thing. It was so soft, I didn't want to move from that spot ever again.

The last thing I remember was Leo and Jason's face looking down on me and Jason picking me up. Giving me a close up of his face and reminding me of my memory I had regained while falling through the sky. Our memory.

*******ANOTHER TIME SKIP!!!!!*********

I woke up to the sound of a fire crackling. I opened my eyes and noticed we were in a cave, probably one that was in the mountain we had just crashed into. Jason and Coach were taking care of Piper, feeding her something I couldn't see. I was leaning on something, something soft and warm. I knew the feeling without even having to look, it was Leo. I smiled and brought the blanket that was around me in tighter.

"You're awake." Leo said.

"Last time I checked."

Leo smiled. There was something in his eyes. Sadness, heart-ache. I sat up straighter and faced Leo.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked.

He frowned for only a second, then turned to me and smiled. "Yeah, I'm alright."

I stared at him for a while, I knew he was lying.

"You're lying." I said.

He looked at me, smiled then let out the tiniest laugh and looked down at the ground.

"What's bothering you?" I cuddled up next to him a little more.

He looked straight ahead and had a blank/slightly sad look on his face.

"You almost died." He choked out.

"I know, but Jason couldn't have held all of us and put the spirits in the bag. Someone had to stay behind."

"It should have been me." He whispered.

"Don't say that! You've already almost died once, I guess it was sort of my turn to almost die." As I said it I knew it wouldn't help, and that this situation was all too familiar. Like yesterday/today familiar. (I don't know how long I was out.)

Leo stared at the ground with a look of pain and anger contorted on his face. I felt bad instantly. I put my hand on his gently.

"I'm sorry." I said and rested my head on his shoulder.

He said nothing and did nothing. He didn't embrace me like he used to, he just sat there. Which just shows how troubled he is.

"It'll be okay." I whispered.

He still didn't do anything, and we stayed like that for what seemed fifteen minutes or so. Coach declared that Piper would be alright if we kept her close to the fire and that she might wake up sometime soon. The color in her skin started to come back and I trusted Coach a little more than I used to.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

Jason looked up at me, as if finally realizing I was awake. Which probably was the case since he had been so wrapped up in Piper.

"Oh, probably a couple of hours or so." He paused. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" I asked.

"It's just......that fall. You shouldn't have survived." Jason said.

The mood was so dark, I decided to lighten things up a bit.

"You saying you wanted me to die?" I said with a small laugh.

His eyes grew wide. "No! I just- that fall. No one could have survived that."

My smile faded. I reflected on what had happened. It really did seem possible that I was still alive. How? Why? I just sat there for a while trying to make sense of the events that had occurred.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Pikes Peak, Colorado." Jason answered.

"Huh, we made it a pretty far distance. I guess the spirits were quite effective."

"But we're never doing that again. Ever." Jason gestured with his hand to express his sincerity.

We couldn't stay that serious, we ended up laughing.

Coach seemed to be eyeing me. He was scary, but something about him right now was even more unsettling than usual.

"What did you say your name was?" He asked me after we had an awkward second of eye contact.

"Terra. Why?" I said, fear obvious in my voice.

He stared at me more intensely and the corners of his mouth curved downward. I don't know why I was scared, not because he looked at me disapprovingly, no it was something else. You couldn't really tell from what he would say, or how he would look at me, more like, the feeling in the air. The emotions that are emitted into the air, the true feelings you had about someone or something.

He grunted. "No reason, just forgot."

Yeah, forgot. Sure. What was going on? Was there something I was forgetting? Was it something that had happened while we were falling? Was he mad at me because my plan had almost killed him along with me? Was he possibly in some part of my past that I haven't remembered yet? Have we known each other too? Gosh, how many people have I known in my past life that I don't remember? I lost count at this point.....

Nothing was going on. Nothing to talk about, nothing to really do. Jason looked back at Piper and brushed a strand of hair out of her face, obviously trying to stay out of the tension and awkwardness that was left there. I stared out of the cave and into the snow storm. It seemed even worse, and apparently it was still going. I watched the snow whip around in the air violently, reminding me of my horrid mother. With one swirl the storm ripped off a flimsy limb off of a tree.

I frowned as the depressing realization settled over me. I could hurt my friends in this state. During winter, cold was stronger.......and dangerous. With them all shivering and wet, if I stay with them for too long they could get hypothermia, and there would be nothing we could do. Sure, Leo could whip up some fire and we'd be warm, but my mother....... I could manage to keep my powers in check, but Khione doesn't like us, and she's the goddess of snow and ice. I'm just a demigod. Her powers are far more powerful than mine. We're weakened by the storm, right now would be a perfect chance to strike...........oh crap.

I stood up and walked over to the entrance of the cave and looked out into the forest. Nothing seemed to be out there, but that doesn't mean my mother is planning something devious. That someone else is planning to strike. We can't let our guard down, not now, not yet, not ever.

"Everything okay, Terra?" I heard Jason call from behind me.

"Yeah, it's just....." I couldn't decide on how to answer. "I'm just concerned. This snow storm came out of nowhere and I........"

I turned around to look at them, they were all starring at me except for Piper, who was still unconscious.

"With my mother and all, I thought maybe she might be behind this. That she might be planning something. I don't know..... I just wanted to make sure we were safe............" I looked at the ground, my sister and Percy coming to mind. ".......I can't loose you guys too."

There was silence, and I looked up. Coach's gaze didn't seem angry or displeased, it was kinder and more understanding. Jason and Leo looked the same way too, and I felt safer and loved. I knew that they were my friends, that they cared. I hope they know that I care too, as long as I live I swear that I'll do all I can to protect them.

I look away before I could cry, focusing on the storm outside. All was quiet once again. The only sound was the fire crackling and the wind howling. I stared out into the woods farther. A bush rustled. I flinched and jerked into better fighting posture. The bush stopped. Who was there? More Cyclopes? My mother? My "patron"? Horrible monsters that could possibly be waiting for us flashed through my mind. I waited for the bush to move again, but the only other movements it made were the leaves flailing around from the wind.

"Terra?" Leo called. "What's wrong?"

I waited and checked out the foliage surrounding the bush, nothing moved. It could have just been my imagination, or maybe it was a squirrel, or a bird, or a rabbit. I'm probably overreacting. I stood normally.

"Nothing, I just thought I saw something." I said and walked back over to the fire and sat by my self between Leo and Jason.

Piper shot up and gasped loudly, making me flip out. I was sprawled out on the floor spastically when she started speaking.

"Oh gosh," Her teeth chattered. "He turned me to gold!"

"You're okay now." Jason leaned over and tucked a blanket around her, but I could still see her shivering.

"L-L-Leo?" Piper stuttered.

"Present and un-gold-ified." Leo said. "I got the precious metal treatment too, but I came out of it faster. Dunno why. We had to dunk you in the river to get you back completely. Tried to dry you off, but...it's really, really cold."

I noticed again how cold they all were and I felt like an outsider. I felt like I should be shivering too. I should be suffering and feel the pain they had to go through. It felt unfair that I was the one to be cold-resistant. I would want them to have those powers at this time, not me. Freezing to death is an awful way to go. I wouldn't want them to go through that. Why me?

"You've got hypothermia," Jason said. "We risked as much nectar as we could. Coach Hedge did a little nature magic-"

"Sports medicine." Coach kind of loomed over Piper. "Kind of a hobby of mine. Your breath might smell like wild mushrooms and Gatorade for a few days, but it'll pass. You probably won't die. Probably."

I internally laughed.

"Thanks," Piper said weakly. "How did you beat Midas?"

Jason and I told the story and ended up centering it around "We got super lucky."

Hedge snorted. "They're being modest. You should've seen them. Hi-yah! Freeze! Slice! Boom with the lightning!"

I blinked at Coach. "You weren't even there. You were outside being a living lawnmower."

But he kept going. "Then I came in with my club, and we dominated that room. Afterward, I told'em, 'Cupcakes, I'm proud of you! If Terra could just work on her timing and Jason with his upper body strength-'"

"Coach," Jason interrupted.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up, please."

I snickered.

"Sure." Coach sat down at the fire and chewed on his cudgel.

Jason put his hand on Piper's forehead to check her temperature. "Leo, can you stoke the fire?"

"On it." Leo summoned a baseball-sized clump of flames and lobbed it into the fire.

"Do I look that bad?" Piper asked.

Yes.

"Nah," Jason said.

"You're a terrible liar." She said.

"Couldn't agree more." I muttered, but I guess I was louder than I thought because Leo smiled and Jason have me a stink face.

"Where are we?" Piper asked.

"Pikes Peak, Colorado." I said.

"But that's, what? Five hundred miles from Omaha?"

"Something like that," Jason agreed. "I harnessed-"

I cleared my throat and raised my eyebrows at Jason.

"Sorry. We harnessed the storm spirits to bring us this far. They didn't like it-went a little faster than I wanted, almost crashed us into the mountain before I could get them back in the bag. I'm not going to be trying that again."

I wanted to remind Jason that we did crash into the mountain, but I think he was trying to avoid that subject to not make Piper freak out.

"Why are we here?"

Leo sniffed. "That's what I asked him."

Jason gazed into the storm as if watching for something. "That glittery wind trail we saw yesterday. It was still in the sky, though it had faded a lot. I followed it until I couldn't see it anymore. Then...honestly I'm not sure. I just felt like this was the right place to stop."

"'Course it is." Coach Hedge spit out some cudgel splinters. "Aeolus' floating palace should be anchored above us, right at the peak. This is one of his favorite places to dock."

"Maybe that was it." Jason knit his eyebrows. "I don't know. Something else, too...."

"The Hunters were heading west," Piper said. "Do you think they're around here?"

Jason rubbed his forearm. "I don't see how anyone could survive on the mountains right now. The storm's pretty bad. It's already the evening before the solstice, but we didn't have much choice except to wait out the storm here. We had to give you time to rest before we tried moving."

The evening before the solstice?! The deadline and my birthday was tomorrow. I would be sixteen soon. And possibly dead. No, don't think like that! Everything will be absolutely fine! We'll save Hera and keep whatever's rising from rising. And maybe I could be sung "Happy Birthday" and all that, but that would be highly unlikely. We'll probably have to celebrate the day after. If we have enough energy. But what's most important right now is to finish the quest. The world is depending on us right now.

"We have to get you warm." Jason sat next to Piper and held out his arms a little awkwardly. "Uh, you mind if I...."

"I suppose." I could tell Piper was trying to say it nonchalantly. She kind of failed.

Seeing Piper and Jason cuddle brought back the memory I had received earlier. Jealousy tingled inside of me for a moment, but I brushed it away finding it childlike and stupid. I thought about the memory, closed my eyes, and tried bringing back the scene, trying to remember what led up to it, what had happened before, and to figure out if it was real. I started to see colors and people, but my eyes were still shut. It was like watching a video inside your head.

It was a party of some sort, a celebration. It was hot, and seemed like it had only happened weeks ago. People were dancing in a pavilion. The pavilion was a huge stone platform, surrounded by me able columns and lanterns hung on wire above us to light up the night sky which was twinkling within lions of stars. Girls wore beautiful and elegant gowns and boys wore their best suits. Music was playing from a stage and then I realized that I was dancing as well. I was facing my partner, a boy who was quite skinny, had blonde hair, and blue-gray eyes. He was smiling hugely and spun me around. He looked familiar and then I instantly remembered who he was. Octavian.

We danced and danced, when someone else would ask for me to dance with them Octavian wouldn't let them. We laughed and talked for what seemed like ages. I loved Octavian, like the twin brother I never had. He was lively and fun. His smile was warm and his eyes would always sparkle.

I finally got a glimpse of the dress I was wearing, and I internally gasped. It was that gown that I had gotten when I arrived at Camp Half-Blood. But, but.... I had only gotten it recently.... Oh, forget it. I don't think I can rely on anything from what I thought was my past now. This is the most confusing thing I have ever gone through.

The music stopped and one of the musicians, a son of Apollo no doubt, walked up to the microphone. "We're going to finish this celebration with one last song. Go ask someone you haven't danced with at all tonight and join us in the 'Kings and Queens' waltz."

Octavian's smile faded a little. "I don't want to stop dancing after this. I feel like I could party for years!"

I laughed. "Me too, but it's about to finish anyway so pick a partner."

Octavian and I looked around, everyone was already dancing, no one was left to dance with. We were about to dance with each other again, when I saw a girl I haven't seen before and Jason. The girl was Latino, had long dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes. She was wearing a white and gold ball gown with a purple sash. She looked beautiful. Octavian must have noticed them too. He walked over to the girl and asked her to dance.

She nodded, but looked like she didn't want to leave Jason. Jason let Octavian take her and looked awkwardly around. Our eyes met and I knew instantly that we were going to dance with each other. Jason made his way over and stood in front of me. He looked exactly the way he does now, well not exactly since this Jason was wearing a tux, but you know what I mean. This couldn't have been that long again at all.

"Uhh....Would you like to dance?" He asked.

"Sure." I said.

He put his right hand on my my waist and I put my left hand on his shoulder. His left hand took my right and we began to join the dance. There was an awkward feeling in the air. Probably something that had happened earlier that I haven't remembered yet. We were quiet for a while.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked. "I mean, after what happened at Kronos' throne-"

"I'm fine. Thanks for worrying, Sparky." I teased.

He rolled his eyes with a smile. "You know I hate that name."

"All the more of a reason to call you that." I said.

He laughed and we stared into each other's eyes. Something clicked, and I think Jason felt it too. We leaned into each other. Jason's hand was now in the middle of my back instead of my waist, and my arm was slightly wrapped around his neck. We talked and laughed and had a wonderful time. I felt the butterflies in my stomach and knew that my cheeks were pink. I could tell Jason was blushing too. The song seemed to last forever, but of course, it soon came to an end. Jason and I stopped dancing. Everyone started thanking their partner for the dance and leaving. I turned towards Jason and hugged him.

"Thanks for the dance."

I felt him smile. I kissed him on the cheek, looked him in the eyes, laughed at his shocked expression and started to leave to find Octavian.

"Wait! Terra!" Jason rushed up to meet me.

I gave him a quizzical look. "Yes?"

It looked like he had just forgotten what he was about to say, but he must have remembered.

"Uh, I have something to tell you." He looked around. "Come with me to the garden."

I followed him down the streets of the anciently-styled town. We reached a garden and I instantly recognized it as the one from the first memory I had regained. Jason looked around, sighed and tapped his foot a little nervously.

"Uhhh, Jason? You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm great. I just felt like what I needed to say should be private."

I knew instantly what was coming.

"Oh, okay then. What is it?" I asked.

Jason took a deep breath, and then looked at me intently. "Terra, we've been through a lot, and I've gotten to really know you. You're courageous, kind, compassionate, intelligent, humorous.." He took my hands into his. "Beautiful, and everything I could ask for."

I felt myself go into shock. I stood there staring at him with wide eyes, pink cheeks, and a slightly open mouth.

"I didn't know it at first, but I know now that I have always felt this way about you, even if it didn't seem like it. I figured this all out at Kronos' throne...when you......" He died off and I saw sadness in his eyes. He looked like he was about to cry. He blinked and acted like he hadn't brought up Kronos' throne.

What did happen there anyway? Did I almost die? Well, it seems that even in my previous life I liked almost dying too. Whoopee.

"I don't know if you feel the same way and if you don't I'm willing to except that, we can still be friends and all-" he caught himself babbling. "I-I-I just wanted to tell you....that.....I love you, Terra."

I stood there with my mouth still open. I wanted to talk, but nothing was coming out. Jason's hopeful and loving expression seemed to dissipate. I tried to force myself to smile or say something but nothing happening. I only came back to my normal self when Jason started to let go of my hands. I quickly pulled them back and smiled.

"I love you too."

His face lit up. I have never seen Jason look so happy. He held my face in his hand and then he kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and the memory went white. Not like the memory had ended, no. It was a part of the memory. I remember it going blinding white.

My eyes snapped open and I had to blink a few times to see properly again. I looked around and it seemed like only seconds had passed, even though it felt like 40 minutes. No one showed any signs of that amount of time going by.

Leo started getting out some cooling supplies and started frying burger patties on an iron skillet. "So, guys, long as you're cuddled up for story time......something I've been meaning to tell you. On the way to Omaha, I had this dream. Kinda hard to understand with the static and the Wheel of Fortune breaking in-"

I would have snickered, but I couldn't take my eyes off of Jason. We had something, something wonderful! But because one goddess decided to play switchero, we were put in the wrong camp with the wrong empties or no memories at all. I felt angry, I wanted to punch something!

"Wheel of Fortune?" Piper asked laughing a bit.

Leo looked up at her showing he was dead serious.

"The thing is," he said, "my dad Hephaestus talked to me."

Leo told us of his dream. I got scared when Leo said his Dad told him he would loose some friends along the way. Was I going to die? Was Jason going to die? Was Piper going to die?

"I don't understand. If demigods and gods have to work together to kill the giants, why would the gods stay silent? If they need us-"

"Ha," Coach laughed. "The gods hate needing humans. They like to be needed by humans, but not the other way around. Things will have to get a whole lot worse before Zeus admits he made a mistake closing Olympus."

"Coach," Piper said, "that was almost an intelligent comment."

Hedge huffed. "What? I'm intelligent! I'm not surprised you cupcakes haven't heard of the Giant War. The gods don't talk about it. Bad PR to admit you needle talks to help beat the enemy. That's just embarrassing."

"There's more, though," Jason said. "When I dreamed about Hera in her cage, she said Zeus was acting paranoid. And Hera, she said she went to those ruins because a voice had been speaking in her head. What if someone's influencing the gods, like Medea influenced us?"

I thought about it, and then an idea hit me hard. It couldn't be. Could it? No, no it can't.

Leo set the hamburger buns on the skillet to toast. "Yeah, Hephaestus said something similar, like Zeus was acting weirder than usual. But what bothered me was the stuff my dad didn't say. Like a couple of times he was talking about the demigods, and how he had so many kids and all. I don't know. He acted like getting the greatest demigods together was going to be almost impossible. Like Hera was trying, but it was a really stupid thing to do, and there was some secret Hephaestus wasn't supposed to tell me."

"Chiron was the same way back at Camp," Jason said. "He mentioned a sacred oath not to discuss...something. Coach, you know anything about that?"

"Nah. I'm just a satyr. They don't tell us the juicy stuff. Especially an old-" He stopped himself.

"An old guy like you?" I asked. "But you can't be that old."

"Hundred and six," the coach muttered.

"Holy crap." I whispered loudly.

Leo coughed. "Say what?"

"Don't catch your panties on fire, Valdez. That's just fifty-three in human years. Still, yeah, I made some enemies on the Council of Cloven Elders. I've been a protector a long time. But they started saying I was getting unpredictable. Too violent. Can you imagine?"

"Wow." Piper said, not making eye contact with any of us for a reason. "That's hard to believe."

I made eye contact with Leo and we smiled, nearly laughing out loud.

Coach scowled. "Yeah, then finally we get a good war going with the Titans, and do they put me on the front lines? No! They send me as far away as possible. The Canadian frontier, can you believe it? Then after the war,they put me out to pasture. The Wilderness School. Bah! Like I'm too old to be helpful just because I like playing offense. All those flower-pickers on the Council, talking about nature."

"I thought satyrs liked nature," Piper said.

"Shoot, I love nature," Hedge said. "Nature means big things killing and eating little things! And when you're a, you know, vertically challenged satyr like me, you get in good shape, you carry a big stick, and you don't take nothing from no one! That's nature." Hedge snorted indignantly. "Flower-pickers. Anyway, I hope you got something vegetarian cooking, Valdez. I don't do flesh."

I found that ironic. The person that likes to kill, doesn't like to eat meat.

"Yeah, Coach. Don't eat your cudgel. I got some tofu patties here. Piper's a vegetarian too. I'll throw them on in a second."

The smell of frying burgers was filling the air and it was driving me mad. Bacon sounded really good right now, really, really good. I watched Leo cook and had to slap myself a few times to keep me from lunging out and eating the food. After what seemed like hours. Leo finished them and handed out our food. I praised Leo and started to eat, but Piper started to talk in the middle of my second bite.

"We need to talk." She said. "I don't want to hide anything from you guys anymore."

I swallowed and looked at her. She was hiding something. I knew it. I shifted towards her and turned on my "Good Friend" button and waited for her to start talking again.

"Three nights before the Grand Canyon trip," she said, "I had a dream vision. A giant, telling me my father had been taken hostage. He told me I had to cooperate, or my dad would be killed."

The flames crackled and suddenly I wasn't very hungry anymore. I set down my burger and sat next her.

Jason spoke. "Enceladus? You mentioned that name before."

Coach Hedge whistled. "Big giant. Breathes fire. Not somebody I'd want barbecuing my daddy goat."

"Not helping." I hissed.

"Piper, go on. What happened next?" Jason asked.

"I-I. Tried to reach my dad, but all I got was his personal assistant, and she told me not to worry."

"That girl from Medea's right? Janet?" I remembered.

"Jane, actually." She said. "To get my dad back I had to sabotage this quest. I didn't realize it would be the four of us. Then after we started the quest, Enceladus sent me another warning: He told me he wanted you three dead. He wants me to lead you to a mountain. I don't know exactly which one, but it's in the Bay Area. I could see the Golden Gate Bridge from the summit. I have to be there by noon on the solstice, tomorrow. An exchange."

I felt so bad for her. I knew if I had to choose between my friends and family I would have a really hard time. I felt tears threaten to come out. I hugged Piper nice and long.

"I'm so sorry Piper, we promise you we'll figure things out." I let go of her, but when I saw her face she looked slightly angry.

Leo nodded. "No kidding. You've been carrying this around for a week? Piper, we could help you."

She glared at us. "Why don't you tell at me or something? I was ordered to kill you!"

"Aw, come on," Jason said, putting his arm around her. "You've saved all three of us on this quest. I'd put my life in your hands any day."

"Same," Leo said. "Can I have a hug too?"

"You don't get it!" Piper said. "I've probably just killed my dad, telling you this."

"I doubt it." Coach belched. He was eating his tofu burger folded inside the paper plate, chewing it all like a taco. "Giant hasn't gotten what he wants yet, so he still needs your dad for leverage. He'll wait until the deadline passes, see if you show up. He wants you to divert the quest to this mountain, right?"

Piper nodded hesitantly.

"So that means Hera is being kept somewhere else," Hedge reasoned. "And she had to be saved by the same day. So you have to choose. Rescue your dad, or rescue Hera. If you after Hera, then Enceladus takes care of your dad. Besides, Enceladus would never let you go even if you cooperated. You're obviously one of the seven in the Great Prophecy."

"So we have no choice," she said miserably. "We have to save Hera, or the giant king gets unleashed. That's our quest. The world depends on it. And Enceladus seems to have ways of watching me. He isn't stupid. He'll know if we change course and go the wrong way. He'll kill my dad."

"Your dad isn't going to die, Piper. We're going to save him." I told her.

"We don't have tome!" Piper cried. "Besides it's a trap."

"It's a trap." I whispered to myself and smiled. Ahhh, childhood.

"We're your friends, beauty queen," Leo said. "We're not going to let your dad die. We just gotta figure out a plan."

Coach Hedge grumbled. "Would help if we knew where this mountain was. Maybe Aeolus can tell you that. The Bay Area has. Bad reputation for demigods. Old home of theTitans, Mount Othrys, sits over Mount Tam, where Atlas holds up the sky. I hope that's not the mountain you saw."

Bad reputation for the Bay Area? That didn't sit well with me.

"I don't think so. This was inland."

Jason frowned at the fire, like he was trying to remember something.

"Bad reputation....that doesn't seem right. The Bay Area...."

"I know, right?" I told him. He was feeling the exact same way.

"You think you guys have been there?" Piper asked.

"I..." He looked like he was almost on the edge of a breakthrough. Then the anguish came back to his eyes. "I don't know. Hedge, what happened to Mount Othrys?"

Hedge took another bite of paper and burger. "Well, Kronos built a new palace there last summer. Big nasty place, was going to be the headquarters for his new kingdom and all. Weren't any battles there, though. Kronos marched on Manhattan, tried to take Olympus. If I remember right, he left some other Titans in charge of his palace, but after Kronos got defeated in Manhattan, the whole palace just crumbled on its own."

Something came back to my mind "After what happened at Kronos' throne-" Something did happen. And I think Jason and I did it.

"No," I said. "That's not what happened."

Everyone stared at me.

"What do you mean, 'That's not what happened'?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, we-" Jason tensed, looking toward the cave entrance. "Did you hear that?"

For a second, nothing. Then there it was: howls piercing through the night.

"Wolves," Piper said. "They sound close."

We all rose. Jason summoned his sword and I got out my bow and arrows and sword. I was ready to fight.