I kneeled, shaking, a cold blade pressed against my throat. 

"Well, answer your king!"

"I-I can't—"

"Speak up!"

"Now, now, Ares, we can't have our scribe die of fright before we even start," Zeus examined his fingernails. "It would spoil the mood, and then I would have to get Hades to bring her ghost back. And we all know how bad ghosts are at spelling. No one would benefit in her death."

During this, my eyes never left his face. Was I scared? Well, yes, but I was also in a bit of a grumpy mood. All I did was write a short essay on how I thought that Hestia should have been Queen of Olympus. Next thing I know, I'm kneeling in a room the size of Grand Central Station. Ares, the Greek god of war, is holding a sword to my neck and threatening to kill everyone I loved.

Joke's on him—none of my friends are real, and my family passed on long ago. I don't even have a pet.

The king of the gods sat forward in his throne. "Let's run through this one more time: You write a story about how I am the best choice for Olympus, and I will personally find the most famous publisher for all those novels you want to print. If you refuse, we will be—," he coughed into his fist uncomfortably, "gracious for a time. You get three chances, this one being the first. If you continue to refuse, we will kill you and simply find someone else. Are we clear?"

Unfortunately, he had a point. I have been wanting to publish my own novel for years. But would I write a story I myself didn't agree with just to save my life? Or refuse right off, and make someone else suffer?

I carefully swallowed. "Zeus, I can't make a decision right away. Could you possibly give me a day to think it all over?"

His upper lip curled in disgust. But after thinking for a moment, he waved his hand at Ares, who gave me dirty look as he sheathed his sword.

"I can give you a day, mortal. Just remember that it is your second chance. Choose wisely." Strong hands yanked me roughly to my feet, and the last I saw of Zeus as the doors closed was his knowing smile.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•Time skip to later that night~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

I slammed my fists into the straw mattress. "Agh! A thousand curses upon their oily heads! Why didn't they fade into nothingness like all the rest of the gods?" I closed my eyes, exhausted, yet unable to sleep. "And while we're on that topic, why do they even exist?"

I had always been taught that there was only one God. I maybe didn't want to know how I managed to get kidnapped by an ancient Greek myth, but I would like to know if there was still a Capital- G God out there.

"Where are you? Have you abandoned us? Abandoned me?"

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

I don't know what immortal being was in charge of my sleep that night, but whoever it was didn't want me to actually get rest. I dreamed that I was standing on a green hill, trees spreading out on either side of me. In the valley, to the right, I could see a group of cabins, none of which looked alike. A volleyball court, a four-story, sky-blue farmhouse, and strawberry fields were on my left. Across the camp, water glinted in the sunlight. Somehow, it felt familiar, but wrong and uncomfortable. I shifted nervously.

Someone coughed behind me. I spun, heart racing, and backed into a tree.

"Who are you, and what are you doing in my dream?" The question came from a girl who had been standing behind me. She looked as confused as I felt but also looked worried and guarded. Her black hair was tousled, and her green eyes were boring into me as if to read my thoughts.

"Dude, I would like to know as well. Where am I, and who are you?"

"We're on Half-Blood Hill, just inside the border of Camp Half-Blood, and my name is Crystal. But if you don't know where you are, how are you—" she gestured at the camp, "here?"

"Half-Blood Hill. Why does that sound familiar?" I rubbed my forehead. "Oh, I'm Eliora." 

"E-lie-or-ah." Crystal pronounced carefully. "Pretty name. Are you one of us?"

"One of..."

"Are you a demigod?"

"I hope not. From what I've seen of the gods,—"

"You've seen the gods?" Crystal's jaw dropped.

"Well, two of them."

"Which ones?"

"Zeus and Ares. And maybe Athena, but it could have been someone else."

"Still more than what most of us have seen." She twisted a strand of hair between her fingers. "If you don't think you're a demigod, what were you doing to get the gods attention? You look older. Did Zeus...?"

"No. I wrote an essay for school about how Hestia could have been a better ruler than Zeus. I barely even had time to save it to my computer when I got hauled up to Olympus to write a story on how Zeus is the 'Best and the Greatest.'"

Crystal studied me. After what seemed like an hour, she looked out across the camp. A determined expression was on her face when she turned back to me.

"Girl, I'll tell you what. There isn't a lot I can do, but there are more people at camp than it seems, and I have a few old friends that owe me favors. If you could hold on for at least six more hours, I could get a substantial amount of backup, and storm Olympus."

It did take me a minute to fully realize what she was suggesting. "Oh no you don't! I'm not going to have you drag everyone up here and potentially get them all killed! We barely even know each other!"

"Well, what do you want me to do?! Obviously I wouldn't be here and you wouldn't be here if we weren't supposed to do something together!" Crystal ran her hands through her hair. "Ok, ok, what if I just got some of the more powerful people I know, and we smuggle you out?"

"When you say powerful, what exactly do you mean?"

"I mean powerful as in one dude literally had to have a firewood lifeline to keep him in check."

"Fair enough." I cautiously sat down under the pine tree I had backed into, then motioned at her to join me. When she had made herself comfortable, I started telling her about an idea I had.

After I had laid out the bones of the plan, Crystal slowly nodded. "Well, to quote my friend Ezzy, 'It has a 60% chance of being deadly, but fortunately for us, the fun factor is always double the pain factor.' I think we have a deal, Eliora."

We shook on it, then ran through our plan one more time. 

"I'll be honest, I think this is what Rachel was talking about the other night at the campfire." Crystal said at one point.

"Was it like a prophecy?" The words just popped out of nowhere.

"Yeah, actually, it was a prophecy. But how did you—"

"I don't know. I just feel like prophecies are a common occurrence here.  Even though there is a part of me that recognizes this camp, it's kind of like I've seen it in, well,—" I laughed, "a dream."

Crystal snorted, then froze. "Wait. We're still dreaming. Oh n-"

A raspy laugh echoed through the woods. We turned just as a black fog billowed up among the trees. Crystal and I managed to catch one last look before everything went dark.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~~•~•~•~•~•

"'Ello, 'ow's did you'se sleep?"

I squinted at the sudden brightness. "Wha?"

"Me names Fred. Oi'm your jailer. 'Ope you was comfy last nioght. I brought you'se some grub." An old, mostly toothless man crouched next to my mattress. He wore a brown coat that looked like a dog had tried to eat it. In one hand he held a bowl of dry cereal. In the other, a Styrofoam cup of coffee. Cold coffee, but caffeine all the same.

He chuckled into his crusty beard when I grabbed the coffee straight off and downed the whole thing in a gulp. "Bad nioght?"

"Maybe." Depends on if Crystal is going to ignore me or try and save my sorry mortal butt.

"Well, Zeus'll be ready for you'se in jus' a little bit. Best git ready."

Fred stood up, his joints protesting loudly. Right before he left, he looked me dead in the eye, and I heard a very different voice in my head say:

A diamond shines bright. Orange swarms the mountainside. The god's wrath is stirred.

"Good luck!" Fred's regular voice said. The prison door swung shut.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

I had just finished my Cheerios when suddenly I was standing in the throne room again. Ares stood at attention next to me, and Zeus in his slimy glory was sitting in the same place as yesterday. But this time, a brown-haired, gray-eyed goddess glared daggers at me from her own throne.

"I still don't see why this scrawny excuse for a mortal is the one you chose to write your biography" she said, "I could name several other mortals, half-bloods, or gods who have compared your big-headed methods to more sensible structures."

"Not the point, Athena." Zeus said dismissively. He stood up and—oop. I might have forgotten to mention that he was 10 feet tall.

As it—ahem—stands, I was very much intimidated by this 'show of power.' Nonetheless, I also stood on my own two feet and calmly watched as the king of gods paced back and forth.

Athena sighed. Ares shifted uncomfortably. And then another 10 foot tall deity kicked open the throne room door.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Apollo has arrived!"

Apollo was, well, hot, but not really my type if you know what I mean. He wore sunglasses, a bright orange concert shirt, and faded blue jeans. As he approached the center of the room, Ares stuck out his foot, but Apollo simply hopped over it, at the same time blowing a kiss to Athena. She in turn glared at him.

"Hey Dad. What's going on?" He settled in a golden throne and flipped his shades up.

"We are simply considering an official scribe for the council."

"Wait a minute!" I cried, "You never said I was going to be writing false biographies for all of you!"

"FALSE?!" Zeus roared. He started growing even bigger than what he had been. The temperature in the room increased rapidly, and the wind kicked up.

"Father." Athena said sharply, "It would not do to incinerate the mortal. Control yourself please." 

Zeus growled, but lowered himself rigidly into his throne. "Not false, mortal girl, simply writing what happens in meetings between the gods. Humans would call it a...a..." he looked Athena.

She rolled her eyes. "A Clerk of Courts or a Secretary would work."

"Exactly."

"But Father," Apollo said, "don't we already have one of those? I could have sworn you got one of the minor gods to do that job."

"Well I did, but she faded a century ago."

At this point, I had realized what my answer needed to be. However, I didn't want to do anything to drastic because I had to give Crystal as much time as possible to carry out the plan.

As if on cue, someone shouted outside. Almost every god jumped a little. Except for Apollo. He looked me straight in the eye and I heard a familiar voice in my head say Fred's haiku. But now I realized that it had been the sun god himself who brought me my breakfast earlier.

So I was about ready for anything when the heavy doors swung open to reveal an adult in a gray hoodie and combat armor. He looked like a grown-up male version of Crystal, with green eyes, black hair and an unshaven chin to match. Aside from a circular shield on his arm, he seemed to have no other weapons.

"Hey Uncle, Mother-in-law, Apollo, and The Guy I Stabbed When I Was Twelve. " He said casually.

 Apollo nodded at him. "What up, Perc?"

Everyone else kinda gaped at the two of them.

"Ah, you know, nothing much. The baby is almost due, and everyone at camp is excited for her to arrive. You know, I could be at home with my wife, but apparently, some relatives of mine have turned to kidnapping mortals." Percy pulled a pen out of his pocket and started twirling it around his knuckles. "You feel me?"

"For sure."

"Now what is the meaning of this?!" Zeus finally seemed to catch up with what he was seeing. He sprang from his chair, thunder booming in the distance.

"Dad, literally, chill out." A dark haired girl walked into the room and stopped beside Percy. She looked to be about 15, but her blue eyes seemed darkened by heavy wisdom beyond her years. She had a shield similar to Percy's, but she also held a spear loosely in her other hand. There was a slight tension in both newcomers that said they could jump into battle at any moment.

"This is a warning, Uncle. You let this mortal go, and we won't destroy you. Failure to do so will result in a lot of deaths."

"Deaths like your own! Who are you to walk into my palace and threaten me like that?"

Instead of answering, Percy uncapped his pen. An instant later, he was holding a bronze sword. "That's our cue." He said. Behind him, a small group of adults filed into the room.