After a few repetitions of the monkey vault- when I finally managed to get it right- I got bored and left the pillars for a bit of sliding down the handlebars positioned right next to them. Again and again I slid down, sometimes landing on my feet, sometimes on my butt, and sometimes just forgetting what I was doing and clambering back up to the top.

I was sort of grinding down the bars standing up when Ryan came my way, and I was so startled that I fell straight down. Awkward! But he didn't scold me, only held out his hand to help me up. "So... Percy. You used to do that kind of thing?" I nodded. "Back in seventh grade I was a big fan of skateboards. I'd have lots of fun with my half-brother Tyson."

"Why did you stop?" An awkward question with no obvious answer. I couldn't very well tell him the truth- that Tyson left to work in our dad's undersea forges- so I mumbled something about lack of money and went back to the beginning of the rails. This time I braced each foot against a rail and started sliding down American Ninja Warrior style. Yeah, I'm a fan. Sue me. I want to go in for it when I turn 21.

Ryan smiled as I landed. "How about now? What sports do you do?" I went over to my bottle, drank half, and dumped the rest over my head. "I do a lot of swordfighting. Those two? They're my cousins, and I train with them at the academy we all attend. I also swim a lot- I've always been a fan of the water. Sometimes I go canoeing with my girlfriend, but that's about it."

"Your cousins? Really?" I heard a shout from across the room, but it seemed that both Jason and Nico were concentrating hard on the moves they were practicing. I rolled my eyes. "Okay, they're not just my cousins. They're also my best friends." "That's more like it!" I could hear now that it was Jason yelling that.

"Thanks a lot, Sparky!" Nico snarled, making Jason huff with annoyance. "Hey! How was I supposed to know that would affect you the way it did?" They started bickering, and Ryan rushed over to stop them.

After another couple of hours of the two of them bickering and some more parkour skills, Ryan couldn't deal with us anymore. He gathered us all together and handed me a flash drive. "Okay, I've had enough today. But you haven't finished learning todays material, so watch the video and practice the skills shown in it. I'll see you tomorrow."

He walked away, slamming the door behind him. "Seriously?" I started laughing, tossing the flash drive from one hand to another.  Jason understood what I was laughing at pretty quickly. "A flash drive? We can't even use phones, let alone computers!" Jason spluttered as he snatched the little object out of the air. Nico seemed to be thinking hard, having stayed out of our giggle session. I turned to him.

"Drachma for your thoughts?" Nico smirked slightly as he answered, "If Iris is able to show us anything in the world, then why wouldn't she be able to show us whatever is on this USB stick? All we'd have to do is throw it in after the drachma." Jason clapped the son of Hades on the back. "Good idea, Death Breath. We should try it."

Nico grabbed our hands and led us to the nearest patch of shadows. All three of us knew what was coming.

Shadow-traveling is a strange sensation. It feels as though you're traveling through it at really high speeds, but it also seems as though you've been split into little bits that have spread out in space and rejoin when you get to your destination. Annabeth calls it "tingles up one's spine," but I call it plain creepy.

We reappeared under Thalia's pine, where Frank, Reyna, Hazel and Nancy were waiting for us. Nancy spoke first. "We're leaving now, but we just wanted to say goodbye first." Reyna tilted her head to Jason. "When you're done with this course, come back. Ella needs your help writing down the scraps of prophecies and piecing them together."

Hazel went over to Nico and hugged him. "I'll miss you, big brother." Nico ruffled her hair. "You know that you can come over whenever, now that you can shadow-travel as well." Hazel returned to the Romans and they clasped hands in a circle. After a moment, they were swallowed by the shadows.

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770 words!!! This is by far my longest chapter yet! Thank you, SylvanaWolfpup for reminding me to write and inspiring this chapter with her ramblings.

Thank you all for reading this story!

SpringStar186