Sophie stood on a hill, holding hands with Keefe on one side and Fitz on another.

She had just teleported the members of the prophecy and Sandor, because he was being stubborn. She never realized this, until teleporting so many people, that more the people she teleported, the more she felt tired.

Are you wondering how she knew where to teleport? (A/N: There goes the fourth wall) Well there is such a thing as reading minds, with permission, of course.

So, here they were, all of them standing in the middle of a forest, which trees so bushy, that no sunlight fell on the floor. It was a good forest, with fruit trees, soft grass and small bushes growing here and there. The sounds of birds singing, crickets chirping and frogs creaking filled the air.

But it didn't feel right. Something was off about the forest. Maybe it was the fact that it was home to monster shifters, or maybe it was something else, she didn't know. But it didn't feel like the warm and bubbly forests she had seen when she went camping with her human parents. 

Gods, her heart ached thinking of them.

'Get a grip on yourself, Sophie, she chided herself in her mind. Now is not the time.'

Y, W and J started walking towards somewhere and they followed.

As they walked, Sandor whispered slowly, so that the shifters didn't hear, "There is something wrong here. I can't smell any other shifter."

Annabeth frowned, "You can't?" Grizel, Coach Hedge and Tyson shook their heads. "But I checked in Dedalus' laptop. This is exactly how it looked."

"You can see that in Dedalus laptop?" Sophie asked.

"Yeah, apparently, he sent a drone here." Annabeth nodded, "The laptop also said, that this is a forest of confusion, so if someone were to come here, they would get lost forever, no matter how many Mark's you make on the trees."

"I wouldn't mind being lost here. Just look at all those lush trees with fruits." Piper said.

"Careful." Marella warned, "It's an enchanted forest. You can't trust anything here."

Everyone nodded, especially Sophie, who had read loads of stories about enchanted forests. They kept walking, being very careful that they do not lose the sight of the shifters. Sometime during the walk, Percy and Leo started a game of think-up-ridiculous-titles-of-the-gods, soon to be joined in by Keefe and Dex asking them about who the gods were.

So the game ended up as a session of recounting stories of gods and mythology in ridiculously funny way. Annabeth supplied the incident, Percy said the story, with everyone chipping in dialogues here and there, with Keefe doing mimicking of every character, in his very funny Keefe way.

Just when Keefe was saying, "Ah, I am the goddess of love and beauty, fear me, or I will smother you with glitter." In a high pitched voice, fanning his face with hands (by now everyone, even Sandor were in giggles ), they appeared in a clearing.

It was a circle of trees, with a lake in the middle. It had crystal clear water, with not a single ripple disturbing its surface.

What they saw, was not suspicious at all. But Wylie, who had been working on illusions, could see that the water didn't ripple, when the breeze was particularly high. Even Linh and Percy sensed that it wasn't really water, Linh more than Percy, because lake water didn't exaclty qualify as sea water.

The shifters looked back to see that all of them were here, and jumped into the lake.The lake didn't ripple, like most of them had expected to, or cause sloshing sounds. The shifters just passed in it, like it was thin air.

They looked at each other, and then Keefe shrugged. Someone had to do it first, and this isn't as bad as jumping in a cyclone, like he has to every time he goes to Shores of Solace.

Seeing that Keefe jumped, and no screamed followed, everyone one by one jumped. Tyson seemed particularly keen to do it.

When Sophie jumped, best she could say was that it felt like she was being sucked into a vacuum cleaner. All her parts were getting pressed together, and she felt as if she was being pulled into another reality.

After a few moments, she felt ground below her boots. Being the clumsy elf she was, she twisted her ankle and felt sideways, right on top of Sandor, inhaling a breatheful of his musky goblin scent. Sandor held her with surprisingly gentleness, and helped her stand up, when Biana fell beside her through a cloud in the air, with the grace fullness of a queen.

Sophie grinned at Sandor and said, "Wow Sandor, for a guy who whips out his sword every two seconds, you are soooooo gentle. You did be a good dad." Sending a winking towards Grizel.

The elves burst out laughing at the pink tint in both of their cheeks and the way they avoided each other's eyes.

"Awww. Aren't you guys cute." Stina said with a scowl, "There, I said it, now can we get going."

"Why so grumpy Stina? Is it because you don't have a boyfriend?" Biana asked, raising one eyebrows.

"Boyfriend? I would rather die before I date the idiotic race called males." Stina scowled.

"Remind me to introduce you to Thalia." Annabeth said, "You are partially immortal already."

"Guys, this is not really the time." Wylie said, pointing to the shifters who looked more and more impatient as time went.

"Thank you." Y said to Wylie, and motioned for them to follow her. They were in a large grassland, which was elevating a little in the direction Y went, so they couldn't see where they were going. After walking a about kilometre, the stoop on the hill levelled and they could see far into the distance.

Before them spread out a valley, for some point. In the distance, they saw huge, black doors, with golden inscriptions, rising between huge fortified walls, which seem to be covered with small glowing golden dots. 

Sophie's mouth was open in awe. Of all the things she had expected the last island to be, this wasn't it. 

Smirking at their reaction, Y spread out her arms in front of her and said, "Welcome, everyone, to they city of gold, Lanka***." 

"Lanka? As in Sri Lanka?" Frank asked, referring to the south western country of Asia.

Y scowled, "Sri Lanka. Fancy name for the modern world. Everyone forgets their past. Lanka was the ancient city of monster rakshashes. It was the city of gold."

"Gold? You mean to say that all that is real gold?" Dex asked incredibly. Sophie remembered the conversation she had with Dex in one of their alchemy sessions.

"So, why can't I see any gold around here?"

"What do you mean?" Dex said, leaning with his back against the cave wall.

"I mean, I see everywhere crystals and gems and all, and silver. But no gold. Is it like...unimportant in lost cities?" Sophie emphasized.

"My goodness, Sophie. No. Humans don't understand just how valuable gold is. It is used only in medical elixirs."

"So, you mean, gold is valuable here too?"

"Valuable? Humans waste gold, Sophie, in jewellery. It is used to make most of the basic elixirs." Dex said.

"Yes. It is all gold." W said, with a proud smile. 

Y elaborated, "Shifters are a prosperous race. They were very rich and that is part of the reason the gods reacted the way they did. They feared that the shifters would take over the world from them."

Percy snorted, "Of course, they did."

"Which is why, when Lady came, they gave her this stupid curse. They very well knew that Lady was living in the human world till now, and was not an escaped shifter." Y said.

"Escaped. Like we have done a crime and escaped prison." J said bitterly.

"So... what are these huge walls protecting you from?" Piper asked.

"Its more to keep up in, than keep someone else out. Not very clever idea, since the keys are with the shifters, but just another form of humiliation of the gods, which we turned into grandeur." W said.

Just then, the huge gates began to open.

Y said, "Quick. Run after me. Only K and his men use the main door. Follow me." She was already running towards the right side of the wall, and they others followed.

Author's note: 

***Lanka was the city of rakshashs (hindu mythology monsters) during the ancient times, and it is dubbed the city of gold, because of its prosperity under the demon king Ravan. It is now known as Sri Lanka.

This city is also a monster's city, and very prosperous. Hence, I decided to call it Lanka.