If I haven't already said this, I really need an actual title of this piece other than "Abigail's Backstory" so if you have any suggestions, please comment! I am open to pretty much anything at this point.

The next morning I woke up hoping to talk to Liz, but Cammie told me that she, Frank, and Hazel had already disembarked for New Rome. I ate breakfast and got ready for the day, trying to come up with a solution to my newest predicament. It came to me, so obvious I didn't know why I hadn't thought of it before. I just would have to do it without Liz's guidance.

I knocked on Percy's door and, when he told me to come in, asked, "Do you have any drachmas perchance?" He seemed to read my thoughts and gave me a handful, also conjuring up a rainbow.

"Take your time."

I took a deep breath, tossed a drachma into the rainbow and said, "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering. Show me Sarah Rennes in Novi, Michigan." As I waited for Iris, or most likely Fleecy, to connect the call, I realized how incredibly rash this whole thing was.

"Abby?" Oh gods.

"Hey, Sarah." I couldn't get much farther before both of us broke down. "Hey, i-it's okay. I'm okay. Even Alex is okay. I'm really sorry I couldn't talk to you before; my phone is dead, broken, and long gone."

"I-i-it's okay. What is this thing anyways?"

"So you know Percy Jackson? Well, it's true. All of it. And this is their form of communication. It's called an Iris message."

"Does that mean you're coming back?" I could hear the desperation in her voice. I wanted to respond yes. Oh how I did. But I couldn't bring myself to make that big of a lie.

"Oh, Sarah, I wish I could! But right now I'm in California—I'll explain—and there might be problems. But I swear on the River Styx—that's a binding contract—that I will see you again. I promise. Okay?"

Her face loosened a little and replied. "Okay. But why are you in California?" I explained why, leaving out the part about Liz Jackson being Liz Noel, and then talked about her life in Novi since I left.

"Sarah?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you." And I did. Not in a romantic way, but in a pure, platonic, we've-been-best-friends-for-12-years way.

Crying now, she said, "I love you too."

With both of our hearts well and truly broken, I ended the call. After taking a few minutes to compose myself (okay, more like 5. Or 10. Or maybe even possibly 20), I again recited the calling of Iris, this time substituting "Andrew Schuler" instead of "Sarah Rennes". He was concentrated on his homework apparently, and so didn't notice my face appearing in front of him. "Andrew!" I hissed.

"What—Abby!" The look on his face couldn't have been any more different than Sarah's. His was full of pure joy and relief.

"Hi." I smiled and waved a little.

"Good God! How are you still alive?"

I laughed and answered, "I actually have no idea. Anyways, I'm alive (obviously) and right now in California with Liz."

"So you found her?"

"Yeah, we met up in Pennsylvania thanks to Hades, and—"

"Wait, Hades? Like, Hades the Greek god?"

"Yeah. Oh I need to catch you up on everything. So we met in Pennsylvania, went to Virginia for a week-ish, stopped in Oklahoma after we crashed, then came here."

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. You mean the Greek and Roman gods actually exist??"

"And the Egyptian ones! Isn't it amazing? All these characters are ACTUALLY REAL, Andrew!"

He laughed. "Well I know how much you love your books..."

"Yeah. Oh! And um, thanks for keeping your promise," I said really fast, a blush creeping up.

"How do you—oh, right, dream visions. And of course! Anything for you. So what were you doing in Virginia?"

"We visited the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young People. Yes, it's another fictional-but-actually-real thing. I got to go to school with geniuses! It was awesome! Well, except for the fact that Alex also goes there..." I muttered the last sentence, half-hoping he wouldn't hear.

"What? That _________. Do I need to come and kill him for you?"

"No, we're, well, not good, exactly, but not trying to kill each other. Most of the time anyways. Besides, he's not with us, he's still at Gallagher."

"Andrew?"

Oh, crap, that'd be my mom. I need to go. Don't wait this long until you message me again, alright?"

"I'll try. And if you think this was just a dream or something, ask Sarah. I Iris-messaged her too. Just don't tell her about Liz being alive...she thinks it's a different Liz I'm with. That would be...confusing."

"Okay, thanks."

"Bye."

"Bye. Stay safe!" It certainly felt nice to talk to Andrew, he always has a way of cheering me up, no matter how I down I felt.

At lunch the rest of the crew and I went to eat at the pavilion, where Liz, Frank, Hazel, and Reyna were. I sat down on cushions next to Hazel (who I LOVE to sit next to—she was extremely calming. Not to mention Frazel was one of my OTPs) and wind spirits immediately brought me a plate piled high with samosas. I sighed, I loved Indian food and it had been forever since I had had any. And I just loved samosas. I dug in, enjoying the feeling of my mouth set on fire.

"What's that?" Hazel asked.

"Samosas."

"What're those?"

"Only the best food ever to be created! Inside these pockets of bread-dough-thing there's a stuffing with a ton of delicious spicy goodness. It's Indian."

"Can I try one?" Frank leaned over and grabbed one, stuffing the whole thing in his mouth (if you've never had samosas, I would NOT recommend doing that).

I laughed as he grabbed a glass of water and nearly drowned trying to extinguish the figurative flames crawling up his throat. "I told you it was spicy!"

After lunch, they introduced me to Dakota, the other centurion (Hazel was the first) of the Fifth Cohort, where we would be staying.

The next morning I dressed in a t-shirt and jeans (like usual) and wore one of my many sweatshirts over top. I really love sweatshirts. Especially on crisp November days like today (the 3rd). I ate breakfast with some Apollo kids, who were very interested in the new Great Prophecy.

The wind spirits whisked a plate of the most amazing blueberry pancakes over to me as a daughter of Apollo, who introduced herself as Ally Smith, started talking. "So, what do you know about this new Great Prophecy?"

"Not too much, to be honest," I admitted, swallowing the enormous bite I had just taken. Then, being me, I started choking. Everyone looked really nervous, but I assured them, after regaining my breath, that this was perfectly normal. "I just know it has to with Liz because, well, Liz."

One of Ally's sisters laughed and agreed, "Enough said, right?"

"Yeah. She's really awesome and I'm glad I know her."

"And here she comes." I turned around and, sure enough, saw her walking towards our table with Carter and Cammie.

"Abigail! You might want to come to the meeting with us. Seeing as you've recently been living a normal, mortal life, you're input will be most vital."

"Sure thing! And are you sure about the normal part?" Nonetheless, I got up and followed her. As interesting as the daughters of Apollo were, I had not quite lost my fear of other people. We walked up to the praetor's table where Reyna, Hazel, and Frank were waiting.

Reyna led us to a room and asked Liz, "Why is the moral coming with us?" My shoulders automatically tense. I knew no one meant any disrespect, but I wasn't just the moral, or Blondie, I had an actual name.

"As she still remembers what it was like to be a mortal in the unseeing world, I made a call of judgement and decided her opinion would be necessary for the completion of this operation. Do you agree?" Liz snapped in return.

"Of course not," was Reyna's terse answer. My head swiveled back and forth between like an interesting tennis match, trying to determine the victor.

There weren't enough seats since Reyna was only expecting , so I stood in the corner, not saying anything, unsure if there would be any place on Earth I could actually fit in. I was such a jumble of stereotypes and personalities, no matter where I went I was the odd one out. I was a blonde girl who hated shopping, loved school, was slightly smarter than your average bear, loved sports but was awful at them, felt like an Indian, and was a generally anti-social and socially awkward person. In other words, I'm the blonde, nerd, jock, Indian wallflower. And don't forget that I wear black and like rock music. So yeah, I really don't fit in anywhere.

Liz broke the ever-increasing awkward silence. "We are gathered here today because of a prophecy. You have all heard by now the one that goes, 'Daughter of wisdom and of sea, shall bring alliance unto thee...' and so on. But there is a total of 3 prophecies we need to attempt to partially decipher before we can make a plan of action for fighting whatever it is in the years to come."

"Three?" repeated Carter. "Oh, jeez. I hate when things are foretold. It makes it very difficult to continue with life knowing someone has already written your ending."

'And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of Percy Jackson's life.'

"Welcome to my everyday life," replied Liz, annoyed. "Anyway, the first prophecy of Love and Chaos in its fullest: 'Five thousand years then the girls shall waken, their fates to save civilization; the difference between them hard to tell, they lead their army into hell; one will be slaughtered by Chaos's hand, the girl of prophecy to take high command; daughter of wisdom and of sea shall bring alliance unto thee; monsters rule within their world, but they will bring peace for once and all; and she will love the son of flame, their romance will be Chaos's bane; the world will see the endless light, when the free the daughter of the Night; the protector's death will bring much sorrow, that love that saved the world running out of tomorrows.' That monstrosity is courtesies of Aphrodite."

'Aphrodite? Is it possible she's not all fluffy pink hearts? She actually has a brain that's used for things other than love? Well, I guess this is kinda about love, in a way. Actually, a lot of things are.'

"Next is the prophecy that shaped this whole quest: 'From joining with the 21 Nome, across the land to New Rome; they'll form an army for the war, and her first love will hold the score.' The last part is really the most confusing about that one. I know who holds the score, but I have absolutely no clue what it does.

"Anyways, the final one is about the savior of nature. 'The savior of nature shall be found; she will be sobbing on the ground; her footsteps running did not make a sound; she leaped streams with gentle bounds.' I really have no clue what that means, besides the point that's how I met Grover and Juniper...But do any of you know what the 'savior of nature' is supposed to be?"

My first thought was that she would be this 'savior of nature'. It fit after all, she was the one it was told to. But no one else had any ideas, so I just mulled over the first prophecy, as that was the one that was most confusing.

Carter asked, "The first prophecy...say it again?" as she did, my mind ran over the lines of 'one will be slaughtered by Chaos' hand...' and 'the protector's death will bring much sorrow...' From what the crew had filled me in on, Liz was presumably this protector. If so, then...

'No. it won't happen. It can't. It's...Liz. Invulnerable, invincible, incredible Liz.' I managed to squeak out a whisper, "So basically you're going to die...?"

"Yeah..." There it was. That dreaded answer. The one that everyone hated to hear. I was blinking away tears as she continued, "And then you guys get to hand out with my super-fabulous, practically twin sister!" Liz was trying so hard to make that sound enticing, but honestly, I didn't need it. "Look, I've never met her, but I've see her in plenty of visions. She seems pretty kick a*s if you ask me. She...she's called the girl with no name. I don't know if she actually has a name, but that's how I know her." Cammie looked fully at her, as if stripping Liz of every layer she's put up, until finally getting down to the literal heart of who she is.

"The girl Leo was with," Carter said, "I saw her. That was your sister? Have you told him? You probably should. I would not want to be caught between sisters if I were him... That would be awkward!"

'No, really? Of course it would be, Carter!'

"He isn't caught between sisters," she snapped defensively. "It's not like that with me and Leo. Gods of Olympus and Egypt—"

My eyebrows shot up. "Oh my," Reyna muttered.

"—I have known Leo Valdez for about 2 months," Liz continued. "If you would cease the firm belief that somethings is between us!"

We all kept quiet, half afraid of setting her off again, until Reyna added, "The point is the prophecies. I think the major one is most important, and all we need is to know how we're supposed to form an army, who of, where we need to go, etc."

All of a sudden I felt really dizzy, as if all the blood was rushing to my head or everyone was staring at me (gods, I absolutely abhor it when they do that). Soon enough, the dizziness dissipated, only to be replaced with total darkness and the sensation of falling, falling into a bottomless abyss.

I sat up quickly, my heart beating wildly. I looked around and found myself in a hospital-looking room with a bunch of people running around. I recalled what had happened and realized that I had said the prophecy (was it really a prophecy though? It made a difference) about the Ancient Times. Wow, it had felt really weird, as though I had had the Imperius curse put on me or something equally strange.

Suddenly, my memory flashed back to the first day of 8th grade: Liz texting me "Hey, Oracle". Could that really be what's happening? I had always denied it, but it seems to becoming a very real possibility. It does seem particularly Rachel-ish. And then I remembered what she had said just before I was "possessed". She had said that she was going to DIE. Well, that obviously can't be true...right?

'No, Abigail. Stop it. Stop obsessing over things that are out of your control.'

And so I thought about the beginning of 7th grade and Liz, but after I had gotten to know her some and gotten over that moronic jolt of jealousy. We talked about Percy Jackson and Gallagher Girls. We had even started our own CoveOps program! Not that it had experienced much other than the all-mysterious topic of boys.

After I realized how stupid I was being, I realized why I had been jealous. This new girl Liz was amazing! She was unique and different, and proud of it, and I was drawn to her courage. She wasn't afraid of anything. Nope, not Liz. She was also incredibly smart, even if people couldn't see it. Not to mention she was super nice! How can anyone ever be that awesome?

The opening of a door snapped me out of my reverie. "O'Meara!" Liz! "What happened???" Wow, she must be even more freaked out than I was.

"I don't know," I admitted cautiously (wow, I'd been saying that with more and more frequency lately). "I think that it might've been something like a god talking through me? That's happened before to others..." 'Like Rachel,' my brain said. 'Shut up, me,' I replied. Then I realized how long she must've been waiting for me instead of carrying on with the meeting. "Look, that's not the point. The point is that you know where you're going for your quest. You can carry on the meeting for a while without me, okay? I'll be back as soon as they allow me."

Turns out "they" wouldn't let me go for quite a while. The descendants of Asclepius (or was it Hygeia or some other healing god/goddess?) wouldn't let me leave until the next morning "to make sure I was okay". Yeah right they just wanted to hear what happened. 50 times. EACH.

They only let me go in the morning because (a) it was time for breakfast, and (b) I said I would most likely be leaving soon. I got there and saw Liz, so I sat a few seats away from her. I didn't pay attention to what I was eating—presumably some form of food, I wasn't really sure—and waved at Liz when she looked at me.

After breakfast, we had to go into New Rome for a Senate meeting. No, not the boring ones we have in the US. I'm talking about the boring ones they had in Ancient Rome, like where Caesar was assassinated. There they would decide whether or not to be nice and help us.

When we got to the Pomerian Line, the god-bust (Terneus? Teareyus? Terminus, that's it) looked at me and asked, "Well? Do you have any weapons?" Next to him, a little girl was holding out a bin.

"I don't know. Does this require me to be a quadriplegic?" I asked innocently.

"Insolent mortal. What are you even doing here with them? You're young and a mortal," he taunted.

"She's with me," Reyna replied tightly, gripping me by the arm and dragging me across. Then she turned her death glare to me. "What were you thinking? Messing with a god?? Honestly."

"Sorry, ma'am," I replied instantly, straightening up. We walked towards the Senate building, across the town, me rubbing my arm a little. As we walked through New Rome, I realized that I could hear Liz's thoughts, a faint murmur in the back of my mind. Slightly nervous, I relaxed when I heard what she was thinking.

'Why do people always say 'Rome did it'?! Rome fell!!' I had to agree with her. But as we walked further into the city, we came to the same conclusion: Rome never fell; it just moved and updated, like Olympus.

When we got in, Reyna announced Liz, and Liz explained about the prophecy of Love and Chaos. Thankfully, we had a large majority vote. They would help.