This time, the demigod dream was almost not even a dream. Aphrodite sat on my bunk next to me, her pink glow faint. She brushed her hand against my cheek and my grey-blue eyes opened. A weak smile spread across her face and all I did was look at her, different emotions entering my mind. She looked the same as she did from the dreams, beaten and withered.

"I understand you might not be glad to see me, but I'm in desperate need to talk to you and I cannot stay for too long for my energy will not last."

"But, those dreams, they're true?"

"Yes and with you, the plans Eris has for Olympus will become reality."

"So you're saying I shouldn't come to save you?"

"My love, there is a greater power behind this and I need you to find out what it is. It takes a lot more than just a goddess to stop another goddess."

"But what about you?"

"You need not worry about me, Ares will soon be on the search and so will Hephaestus, unless of course she has already found some way to change them."

"I guess that won't be good to have two gods fighting while trying to solve a mystery."

"Exactly, now, all I know is that you have ten days to find the source of Eris' strange power and that we're somewhere in South Dakota."

"One last thing; when Paris chose you to have the apple, why did you even give him Helen?"

"It was his choice and true love that lead to the terrible battle; us gods cannot be judged by mortals' wrong decisions."

"So if Paris was the spark, Eris was the dynamite."

"Oh you are so smart. My spirit is becoming weak, I must go and sweetie; don't worry over being different."

She kissed my cheek and disappeared.

*****************************************************************************

In the morning after breakfast, I walked to the Big House with Stewart, telling him each of the dreams. He just listened with his mouth not muttering a word the whole walk. Seriously, what goes on inside a guy's head? Chiron stood on the wooden porch, reading some old book; he looked up from what he was doing when we approached.

"Stewart, Alyssa, what can I do for you?"

We sat in the Big House and I told him exactly everything I had told Stewart.

"So you are requesting to go on a quest?" he asked.

"Yes Chiron," I crossed my arms and waited for his reply.

"It seems you need to visit the Oracle,"

"The Oracle?"

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare is the Oracle and stays in a cave on the side of the hill. Though I will warn you to mind the paint scattered everywhere."

Stewart reluctantly stayed behind as I left to the hills. I saw the cave Chiron told me of and taking a deep breath, pulled back the purple curtain that hung over the entrance. Judging by the paint, brushes and art supplies scattered around, Rachel must be an artist. A girl with crazy curly red hair looked up from her reading as I came in. She wore doodled jeans and a paint stained T-shirt. I thought to myself, well, the Oracle at least isn't very scary looking.

"Hi," she said cheerfully.

"Hi, your the Oracle right?"

"You're looking at her, what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering of there was an answer on how Eris, the goddess of discord has such great power?"

For a second, we just stared at each other, then Rachel doubled over like some just punched her. Then she stood straight up, her eyes serpent green and green smoke flying from her mouth; as she spoke, it sounded like three of her were talking at once:

"While her mother weeps, her daughter seeks

And the goddess of discord controls the weeks

Two choices, with both wrong and right

And a son of Apollo's sword will glow for the night

The daughter filled with hate,

Will fall into the hands of fate

And her friends will open the gate to chaos."

Then, all returned to normal and Rachel acted like nothing ever happened.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine, I never know the words I spoke until someone tells me. What did I say?"

I retold the prophecy and she became interested, "Wow, sounds pretty bad if you ask me."

"Yeah; well thanks for the foretelling of my doom,"

"No prob,"

Stewart was pacing on the porch when I walked up, and as Chiron wished, I recited exactly what the Oracle had said to me.

"That is very interesting..." Chiron mumbled.

"But I don't understand a single word," I pouted.

"You never do till what was spoken happens. Now which two companions shall you pick for your quest."

"This is more of a personal quest, do I really need partners?"

"If you want to keep your life then yes,"

"Come on Stewart, let's go find someone we can trust," I grabbed his arm and pulled him out the door.

When we were a good distance away from the Big House and out of earshot from any demigods, I stopped and Stewart nearly ran over me.

"Make sure you have your bag ready to go after lights out is called."

"Let me guess, we're sneaking out of here in the night? Alyssa, the rules are to take three on a quest, you're sure about this?"

"Stewart," I squeezed his hand, "I'm positive."

He nodded and we separated.

****************************************************************************

When I was convinced everyone was asleep, I slipped on my shoes and jacket, grabbed my drawstring bag, pocketed Heartbreaker and crept out of the cabin. Stewart already stood in the stables, where we planned to meet. I lead out a snow-white pegasus from his stall.

"Do you even know how to ride one of those?" Stewart whispered.

"No, but there's always a first time for everything," I answered.

There was the sound of swooping wings and faint voices.

Stewart said what we were both thinking, "The harpies."

I leapt onto the tall winged animal and Stewart mounted on behind me.

"Go Porkpie," the pegasus broke into a canter and I weaved my fingers through his mane to keep myself from falling. Once he cleared the barn, he spread out his beautiful feathered wings and took flight.

Learning to fly one of these creatures is an adventure itself. Porkpie was patient while Stewart explained to me how it was like riding a horse, but I have never ridden a real horse so that didn't help much. Stewart had placed his hands gingerly at my hips and by the time I made Porkpie do three drops and loop de loops, his arms were tightly wrapped around me.

"Could you fly any straighter?"

"If you want to fly so badly you can always take over."

"Now where's the fun in that?"

I looked over my shoulder and saw him smirking. Leaning my head against Porkpie's neck, I fell into a dreamless sleep.

*****************************************************************

When I had woken up, we were circling down, landing in Pierre, South Dakota. The sun was peeking in the east and the sky was painted with purple, pink and orange.

Stewart helped me off and we walked to the nearby doughnut shop to buy Porkpie his well-earned treat. After ordering a dozen doughnuts and coffee along with it, we sat at a nearby park bench to eat.

"So, have a plan?" Stewart asked shoving a doughnut into his mouth.

"Mom's here, but she doesn't want us going after her."

"Why not?"

"She said that the goddess of discord would be able to fulfill her plans with me."

"I can see that."

"See what?"

"How she can spread chaos with you."

"I'm not chaotic," I punched him in the arm.

"Don't be so sure about that," Stewart grinned rubbing his arm.

"Well Sunny boy, seems as if you and I are headed in that direction," I pointed down the street.

"How do you know that's the right way to go?"

"Because it doesn't have a strange lion walking down it," I ran over to Porkpie, gave him his doughnuts and shooed him away.

The lion was massive with a goat head coming out of its side and a live snake for a tail. Fire burned in its eyes and its nostrils quivered, sniffing for a meal. Stewart and I ran in the direction of the city and when we saw we couldn't shake it, we decided to send it to Tartarus.

"I'll distract her while you come in behind her," Stewart told me, pulling out his bow.

"What do you mean her?" I asked uncapping Heartbreaker.

"Don't you know? That's Chimera, the mother of the Sphinx and who knows what other monsters."

He ran into the middle of the crossway and shot an arrow, which burned before it reached the creature. It let out an ear splitting roar and charged after Stewart, who had the lead for now. I sprinted to the back of the monster but I forgot about the tail. My face paled when the serpent snapped at me then spewed fire.

If you're wondering why I didn't just chop off its head, I was terrified. To me, snakes are probably scarier than Hades himself. When I was little, I was bit by a rat snake and an infection resulted from it. Even the little grass snakes make me squeal, and not in the good way.

I dodged the fire, but it was clear I had caught Chimera's attention. Stewart shot another arrow and this time, it sank deep into the creature's thigh. She roared in pain then pounced on top of me. The weight of the monster was enough to flatten steel and my body screamed in pain. She roared in my face, her hot breath causing my eyes to water and my nose to wrinkle. Heartbreaker was out of reach. I watched as fire built inside of her mouth and I squeezed my eyes shut, expecting a beam of red and orange to send me to the Underworld.

There was a grunt and the monster that was once pressing me against the ground, disappeared into dust. Stewart stood there, holding Heartbreaker and just as in shock as I was. He bent over and helped me to my feet.

"That was fun," he smiled.

I smiled back, "I guess that's one way to put it."

We headed deeper into the city, where hopefully there were no monsters or at least the easy ones. My pain slowly wore off and Stewart was quiet the whole time; which I didn't blame him. My mind was flooded with thoughts of food, sleep and rest; I just wanted to talk with Annabeth and Percy again. They knew so much about monsters and quest; I should've taken them with me, but of course, stubborn Alyssa took over.

Wait a minute, maybe I could talk to them. I grabbed Stewart's hand and headed in the direction of the car wash. Turning on the hose, I positioned it in the right angle to make a rainbow.

"What're you doing?" Stewart asked, using some of the water to clean his face.

"I'm sending an Iris message," I replied, taking a golden drachma from my pocket, "Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering."

The drachma disappeared and I told it Annabeth's name and thank gods she was also with Percy. They sat at the beach, eating a picnic lunch.

"Oh, Alyssa, Stewart, you're okay," Annabeth stammered.

"Yes and we need help."

"Look at that Annabeth, looks like we've become mentors," Percy teased.

I rolled my eyes, "what do you know of Mount Rushmore?"

"That it has former presidents of the United States carved on it."

"Is there anything Greek about it, because I heard of landmarks that serve as bases for monsters?"

"You're right, and Mount Rushmore is the home for most cyclops."

"And Chimera?"

"Yep, it is one of the places most half-bloods find Chimera; why?"

"We were nearly killed by her."

"You are in South Dakota; you went on a quest?"

"That explains Porkpie's late arrival," Percy muttered.

"We're trying to find the source of the goddess of discord's recent power over the goddess Aphrodite..."

"That explains the strange things that are happening at camp," Annabeth interrupted.

I studied her face, "what strange things?"

"The strawberry patch is going berserk, it has grown over and nearly reached the cabins."

"Then tell the satyrs to pipe down on their tunes."

Percy and Stewart snorted.

"It's growing without their music."

"That's still not that odd."

"I haven't even got to the worst of it, you know Nico?"

"That gloomy son of Hades, why?"

"He's wearing yellow and acting jolly."

"Now that's strange. Anyway, I was also wondering if you'd have any advice."

"Well, that one monster attack, there will be many more, and second, go where Chimera came from."

"We can't, Aphrodite is being held captive in there and she told me not to."

"Another thing about quest, we half-bloods never listen to rules or warnings," Percy chimed in.

"Which perfectly goes by Alyssa's standards," Stewart added, with a tone of annoyance.

"Alright, thanks and don't tell Chiron where we went!"

"You won't hear a peep about it," the beach scene disappeared when the paid time limit from the hose went out.