"I know that, you fool," the man thundered. "But where?"

"In the rocket museum."

"The Air and Space Museum," Luke corrected.

Dr. Thorn glared at Luke. "As you say, sir." The way he said sir made it sound like the worst insult he could think off.

I jerked my arm away from Percy and took a few steps forward. I knew it wasn't the smartest idea, but I wanted a better view. I took a step to the right to make sure that Percy wouldn't know where I was standing. I didn't want him trying to grab me and pull me back. Once I got into position as quietly as possible, I turned back to the conversation happening before me.

"Four, General," Thorn replied, answering the question I had obviously missed. "The satyr, Grover Underwood. And the girl with the spiky black hair and the --- how do you say --- punk clothes and the horrible shield."

"Thalia," Luke informed.

"And two other girls --- Hunters. One wears a silver circlet."

"That one I know," the shadowy General snarled.

I could feel the tension as everyone seemed to stir uncomfortably.

"Let me take them," Luke cut through the silence as he addressed the General. "We have more than enough---"

Patience," the General said. "They'll have their hands full already. I've sent a little playmate to keep them occupied."

"But---"

"We cannot risk you, my boy."

"Yes, boy," Dr. Thorn cruelly smiled. "You are much too fragile to risk. Let me finish them off."

"No." The General rose from his chair and finally left the shadows behind. He had the look of a statue. His eyes held no emotion and were as cold as stone. He had light brown skin with dark hair. He was larger than life and wore and expensive brown silk suit.

"You have already failed me, Thorn," he reminded.

"But, General---"

"No excuses!"

Thorn flinched beneath the stern stare of the General. I almost felt bad for him, except for he had made Percy's best friend fall of a cliff. That kind of stopped me feeling any pity for him.

I started looking back in the direction Percy was instead of paying attention to the conversation. I'd already heard it and know I had other things going through my mind such as the fact that Percy was probably super worried. I mean, I had kind of run off without even a whisper. I started to feel guilty. That was a stupid thing to do. Really, really stupid. I wanted to go back and find him. I would have, except I probably would have ended up tripping over him and alerting the whole room to our presence.

For a moment, my vision flickered. Everything went black and then I could see again.

"No no no no no no no," I though desperately. This definitely wasn't the time for a stupid dream vision to come and make me pass out. I wasn't even tired. I had finally gotten enough sleep. Unfortunately, my body seemed to disagree with my statement. Luckily, I was able to lay myself to the ground soundlessly before everything was black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up and sat up with a jerk. I looked at other me angrily as she calmly observed me. We had left on reasonably good terms, but this was a completely different circumstance.

"I was kind of in the middle of something. You know, only eavesdropping on a top secret meeting of the enemy," I said, getting louder with each word until I was yelling.

She didn't even bat an eye. She just calmly continued to watch me. I looked at her annoyed and turned my back to her.

"Well, unless you have anything useful to tell me, I'll be going back."

"Then you'll have to wait a bit longer. I need you.

I glanced back at her over my shoulder. "Like what? I already read the chapter that I'm in and seeing as you don't have the book with you it's unlikely you want me to read the next chapter."

"My mistress wishes me to inform you of something.

"Speaking of," I said as I began to get to my feet so my eyes were exactly level with hers. I mean, obviously they were going to be level to mine seeing as she was an exact clone of me. Actually, I'm starting to stray from the point here. Just as a reminder, I just said "speaking of". "Who is this mysterious mistress? You said one day, but couldn't you just scoot that day to today."

"No, she has made it quite clear that that day won't be for a while."

I sighed in exaggerated impatience. "Fine, fine. I understand. You'll die if you say anything else. Could you at least tell me what I was brought here for that is oh so important."

Other me glanced lowered her gaze to the ground. There seemed to be a mixture of emotions going through her eyes. Well, my eyes. You know what I mean. She seemed to be hesitant in following her orders, but eventually her will to live won out. She took out a slip of paper from her back pocket and handed it to me.

"You'll only get a quick glance. As soon as you read it, you'll be sent back." She immediately stepped back from me and returned her gaze to the floor.

I eyed the piece of paper with suspicion as it lay in my palm. The look she gave me as she handed the piece of paper had been unexpected. She acted as if what she was handing me would harm me. What on this piece of paper could hurt me? What could possibly be so important that was on this folded slip of paper? I carefully opened it and saw a name. It definitely wasn't a name I recognized, not even from the books that Percy had wrote. Next to the name there was a symbol, but I wasn't able to get a good look at it because it had already vaporized.

"Wait," I cried. "I wasn't do-" I was cut off by the disappearance of everything around me and I was suddenly back on the floor in the secret meeting. I carefully sat up and mulled over the name on the piece of paper.

Who was this Leo and how was he so important? More importantly, why did other me look at me with so much sympathy and pain when she handed his name to me?

I am so sorry guys! Like I said, I am awful at updating regularly. I just kind of update when am able to use the computer. I have siblings who are addicted to Minecraft so sometimes it's tricky to get a few hours on the computer. Thanks for being patient with me. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!