I groand as my senses came back slowly. Everything hurt, my body was sore and my head felt like I had hammers banging inside my skull. I raised a shaky hand and hesitantly touched my head. I felt a strip of cloth wrapped tightly around the giant gash in my head. I blinked my eyes open. There wasn't much to see. What looked like Raph's glowing bronze sword my bow laying beside us on the cement floor and a regular old flashlight for light. I blinked a few more times, and finally my vision came into focus.

"Ahh sleeping beauty is awake." A deep voice said above me. I focused up on the vouce. Raph was leaning against the wall, my wrapped up head laying in his lap.

"Aww. You think I'm beautiful? Thanks hot stuff." My voice was dry and scratchy. It made me cough a bit which made me wince.

"Stop talking. Will said to drink some water if you wake up. Then another nectar juice box."

"Where is he?" I asked, feeling panicked suddenly. I tried sitting up, Raph had a hand on my shoulder and kept me laying down in his lap.

"Sleeping. He did what he could in the dark. But you two are kids of the sunshine god, you need UV light to heal. Will did what he could."

"Oh...ya... Okay...as long as he's still here...what happened?"

"You passed out."

"Yes clearly." I tried to roll my eyes but that made my head hurt. "After that."

"Carried you for a bit, we had to find a place Will could try stop the bleeding and whatever. This weird cement room was the best place we could find in a time crunch. Your head was bleeding quite a bit."

"How long have we been here?"

He shrugged. Leaning his head back against the wall, he looked tired. "Dunno. Time is weird in the Labyrinth. Maybe a few hours in here but a few days in the real world? Maybe a few minutes. No idea."

I frowned. "How...how long were you and Clarisse down here?"

"A week in real time."

"I'm...I'm sorry for dragging you back in." I said quietly. I slowly pushed myself to sit up and shift to lean against the wall beside him.

"Why? I volunteered. Someone is threatening my home. I'm not going to sit back and let others fight for me."

We were quiet, he took his sword and started polish it with a scrap of cloth.

"Why'd you do it?" He finally asked, his dark eyes searching mine.

"Do what?"

"Take the rock? Dive over me?"

"Oh. Umm..." I stamared. "I dunno. I saw it falling. Easier then trying to warn you. I dunno." I shrugged. "It was just instinctual. Does it bother you that I did?" I asked hesitantly.

"No. Would've done the same. I just wanted to know."

"Know what?" I frowned. I was confused, not like I had alterier motives. Not like my concussion and bleeding was a benefit to our quest. He just stared at me with his dark intense eyes for a moment, then placed his sword on the ground by his feet and pulled his knees up his arms draped over his knees and laid his head back with his eyes closed.

"You're very different than Clarisse."

He rolled his head and looked at me. I wanted to look away, but his dark gaze kept me captive. We were shoulder to shoulder, only an inch or two apart, I could feel his body warmth. I saw a small smirk slide onto his face. My cheeks burnt I was glad it was dark.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Sunshine."

"She's just a bully to people, she's no different than every kid in every school I went to. You stay out of fights, she forces them and then gets mad when she loses."

"I have my reasons."

"Okay." I said quietly, sipping the water.

He blinked and pulled his eyebrows together, "You're not going to ask me what reason?"

"Do you want to tell me the reason?"

"No." He said simple, looking straight forward again.

"Hense why I didn't ask."

We were quiet for a bit.

"So. Other schools?" He asked, changing subjects.

I groand. "Ya. Lots of them. And kicked out of every single one. Trouble always found me...now I know why. Dad just kept thinking I was troubled and sent me from one school to the next."

"A good girl like you?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Ya I'm cute and little, so it's fine." I grinned mischievously. Raph snorted with laughter.

"Ya, I don't trust you as far as I can throw you, especially with that face!"

"Well seeing how you held up a cement wall, I'd say you're pretty strong, so you'd be able to throw me pretty far. All I gotta do is bat my eyelashes and you'd trust me!"

"You secretly a kid of Aphrodite?"

"Ha! No!" I rolled my eyes with difficulty. "But... Most of the time I had no idea what happened or why!" I paused and then grined up at him, "Blew up a theatre on Broadway, ignited an old war cannon which blew a hole in the school bus. Pretty sure I may have vaporized some wild monster hound thing on a camping trip with dad when I was eight...Percy and I killed a cheerleader and blew up a school."

"Solid life choices."

"And I got a criminal record now."

"Oh? A bad bad girl?"

"Ha. Does that turn you on, son of Ares?" I smirked at him. He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Your a demi god. Of course you do. Other than arsin, what could a sweet little ray of sunshine like you do? Pick flowers from the wrong house."

"Vandalizing and defacing public property."

"Really?"

"It was sunflowers on the back of the school building. Cops were called."

"Whoa! Such a violent criminal!" He teased.

"Okay, what about you?" I challenged.

"I grew up on the streets, the Italian neighborhood...my mom was the daughter of a mafia leader." He paused. His eyes became far away, as he stared at the blank cement wall across from us.

"Her father wasn't impressed when she was pregnant by some unknown person he was furious with her- she was promised to some other gang leader, and she had no idea who Areas truly was, and her father was furious. She was aloud to stay, only because of her father. But...we weren't treated the same. She left. Got her license and opened a tattoo shop to pay the bills. I grew up fist fighting...." He trailed off, and was quite.

"I was 10...the fight at school was...I got carried away. Almost killed the kid and all because he bumped my shoulder in the hall earlier...I was pulled off by a teacher- Mr Miles actually. He was my protector too. I fled the school. He found me in the subway and took me to my mom, explained things and he took me to camp."

"Whoa. Raph..." I said quietly, laying a hand on his forearm "I'm so sorry."

"Thing was...I wouldn't have stopped. I would have beat the kid to death...Miles saved the kid's life. And mine that day..." He paused, shaking his head. He exhaled heavily, "I- I actually enjoyed it!"

"That's why you stay out of fights, if you can." I guessed.

He stayed quiet. I understood him a little bit more. Sounded like he had a hard childhood. I had seen the wild battle lust in his eyes before I passed out and it was scary. He was absolutely the son of Ares. But I had seen how his eyes shifted and softened.

"You're a good guy Raph."

He just hummed and hung his head.

"Sleep. I'll take watch."

"I don't think -"

"Sleep. Please. We need you rested."

He stayed up right for a while until he finally shifted and laid his head on his backpack, his sword grasped tight in his fist.

"Maybe for a little." He yawned.

"Great idea."

He closed his eyes and he was breathing peacefully within a few minutes. I smiled as I watched. I could hear his heart slowing down as he fell deeper into sleep, I could almost feel his psw as his blood pumped through his veins, and his rhythmic breathing. He looked younger when he slept. The dark broody wolf look was gone, all the anger disappeared. His long thick lashes brushed his cheeks, the longer I stared the harder it was not to, he was like a magnet for my eyes. He was coated in dust and grime- like the rest of us. He had a few scraps and cuts from the collapsing wall. Will had wrapped his bicep with a cloth that was stained red. But his dark rugged handsomeness was clear. And I felt my cheeks become warm.

I finally shook my head and ripped my eyes away. I watched Will for a bit. He looked pale in the bronze glow. I hoped he hadn't drained his power to help me. He looked even younger when he slept. I had no blanket to tuck him in with, and I felt a stab of guilt. I felt awful for taking a kid with me on a life and death quest.

He was only 13! But then I thought...I hardly turned 15. We were all just kids. Sent on a quest by immortal beings, by God's who can poof in and out of here, who can pretty much do anything and were the one risking out life's for them because they can't get their act together.

I felt the anger boiling in my chest again. These gods really couldn't do any of this themselves. It seemed so stupid sending their kids... KIDS to fix their problems. As I sat and listened to the maze around me I slipped the nectar juice box.

I read the back of the juice box.

NEW PRODUCT!

NectarAid

Liquid of the gods! Is it in you?

Grown in the fields of sunny valley of Olympus. Made with all natural and fresh ingredients.

Fighting monsters? Better do it with NectarAid. Nectar on the go. Now a new and more satisfying taste!

Help restore lost electrolytes and keep a demigod hydrated, during intense activity. Also excellent in healing purposes during times of illness, and injury.

*Please drink responsibly. Drinking too much Nectar Aid can result in fever and in serious cases, burning death and/or incineration.

Now available for bulk order. Please contact Hermes; god of messengers and all roads travelled, head representative of GodFX.

Any questions or product related inquiries or questions on the ingredients in NectarAid please call the toll free number 1-300-Olympus.

There was a picture of a bright golden sun on the front. The whole Greek world really threw me for a loop sometimes. Demi gods, half god half human. How was it even possible that my mother caught the eye of a god? And did Apollo actually love her or was it more of a one night stand... I brooded over that for a while, and I felt my anger boiling. He was the god of healing...but she died in childbirth. I supper the juice box some more. My headache was slowly going away. I fiddled with the straw, staring at the big picture of the sun on the front.

My mind wandered to the dream I had had about Helios and him being fired. And then to the picture of Apollo and Helios on the tiled wall. Annabeth had said it was Sol, because it was a Roman piece of art. I wondered who was in my dream, Helios or Sol. How would they differ? The Greek world was complicated enough, then throw the Roman side into it. My mind wandered to how Helios and Apollo were similar. I felt a stab of pain behind my eyes.

My vision became shimmery. I blinked a few times, trying to clear my vision. It only got worse. I'd never had a concussion before, so I wasn't sure what was going on. It was like shimmering, like heat waves in the air, the cement room came in and out of focus. Something blurry appeared in front of me.

An old man, he was dirty and pale. His white hair sputtered with a dying flame. His hospital gown and housecoat were grimmy and ripped. He was huddled in a corner of a dark hall. He stood up, a short dagger of celestial bronze clutched in his ancient sun spotted frail hand.

"Who calls me, Helios, the all seeing Titan-god of the sun?" His voice, though clearly older and raspy it was strong and confident. "Which child calls to me?"

I blinked and shook my head. The rippling changed. I saw Percy and Annabeth, Grover and Tyson and someone or something else, He was human-size and his skin was very pale, the color of milk. He wore a loincloth like a big diaper. His feet seemed too big for his body, with cracked dirty toenails, eight toes on each foot. But the top half of his body was the weird part. He made Janus look downright normal. His chest sprouted more arms than I could count, in rows, all around his body. The arms looked like normal arms, but there were so many of them, all tangled together, that his chest looked kind of like a forkful of spaghetti somebody had twirled together. Several of his hands were covering his face as he sobbed.

The group was all gasping for air, leaning over, Percy had collapsed to the ground panting on his back. The room was full of waterfalls. The floor was one big pit, ringed by a slippery stone walkway. The water falls spilled down into the pit, and even when Percy shawn a light, I couldn't see the bottom.

The image flickered again.

I saw Clarisse and Lee standing still like centuries in front of the big pile of stone in the forest. The entrance to the Labyrinth in the Forest of camp. It was dark, the moon was out and the stars twinkled above the canopy of trees. Mrs O'Leary sat between them, her eyes glued to the crack of the stones.

The heat waves shimmered and the vision changed.

This time I was seeing some workshop, screens lined the walls. The counter was piled high with half built things, parts, gadgets, tools and everything else you'd find in a work shop.

"Hey! What are you doing?" A deep gruff voice barked.

There was a long pause.

"Hey! You! Girly! Demi god! I asked what in Hades you're doing in my workshop!"

I frowned was this guy ..this voice talking to me? I couldn't see him, but I heard banging and the sound of something being fused together.

"Yes I'm talking to you! Who else would I be talking to?"

"You...can see me?"

"I can feel your presence. Now get out!"

"I don't even know what I'm doing!"

"You have the gift. Now stop snooping! I hated it when he did it...though... I must thank him....ever indebted to him. He caught them." He paused and then muttered, "That no good sneaky, manipulative wife and that stupid brother of mine...can never just let me have one thing in life. No! Always gotta take everything." There was a pause. "Fine. Demi god, I'll help you. Only once though. Only this one time on your quest, and only because of who you are Eleanora Blofis."

He paused. Still absolutely clueless with what's going on the only thing I could think came blurting out.

"Who the heck are you?"

There was a loud Humph. "Of course no one knows who I am! I'm Hephaestus. And you invaded my workshop, kid."

"I'm...I'm so sorry! I don't know what's going on! Am...am I seeing things that are happening right now?"

"I'll help you out so you can leave me alone. I'm busy!"

He didn't answer my question.

"Umm...Ok...?" I wasn't going to turn down help. And this god seemed a bit more helpful than Hera, despite his gruff exterior.

"My mother...in all her infinite wisdom," he said, and sounded rather bitter and like he had rolled his eyes. "Told you, you needed to start at the beginning. Yes very helpful-"

"I know right? That's what I said and I got the evil step grana death glare!"

"Carful. I don't like my mother much, but you watch your words little lady!"

"Fine fine. Sorry."

He grunted in response to my lame apology.  "I'll send you a guide to get you to the beginning. Good luck girly."

Hephaestus snapped his fingers and the shimmering heat waves vanished. The visions disappeared. The grey cement walls came into focus. Will and Raph were crouched in front of me looking very freaked out.

"Hey! Nora!" Someone yelled shaking my shoulders I blinked a few times, my head flopped and I was panting hard, my chest was rising and falling, and I felt dizzy and exhausted and very warm, like feverish warm.

"What did you just do?" Will gasped.

"I- I don't know! I saw...I think it was Helios...and Hephaestus... And...camp and Percy..."

"What?"

"I dunno! But I saw-"

I was cut off when there was a scuttling noise. Raph jumped up his sword in his hand, ready to fight. A small little spider like machine scuttled into the room. Raph tried to slice it with a yell, but I had my bow knocked and released the arrow, it hit his blade, knocking it out if his hands.

"Don't!" I cried.

He rounded on me like he was going to swing his fist.

"It's not a monster. It's from Hephaestus. He's going to show us the beginning."

🔆