Remind me to never have Leo fix my alarm clock ever again.

I fell face first onto the ground thanks to a loud voice that shouted, "UP AND AT 'EM! ASTRA, NO DREAMING ABOUT SHIRTLESS SIX-PACKED MEN ON MY WATCH!" Smashing my fist onto my alarm clock, I made a mental note to find some other child of Hephaestus, or to woman up and open my wallet.

The drapes on the windows were closed, yet tiny spotlights decorated the ground. Everything was silent, indicated that no campers were outside. The cabin was empty, as usual, except for the piles of dirty laundry draped on the empty bunks.

"Ugh, that was painful," I rubbed at the back of my head and wondering why I was awake so early. I glanced at the time, realizing that it was five in the morning. "Oh yeah, the quest," I said, pulling up the blankets on my bed, "Losing sleep for it isn't worth it..." Crawling myself back onto the cozy mattress, I shut my eyes, hoping to get a few extra seconds in. Suddenly, the door of the cabin slams open, with a harsh bright light gouging my eyes out. "AGH!" I shrieked, clawing at my face and hissing at the silhouette by the door. How could it possibly this sunny at five in the morning?!

"I knew you were going to try and go back to sleep," Annabeth smirked, allowing herself inside and shoving me out of my comfortable paradise. Her sandy hair was tied up in a messy ponytail like usual, and she had the standard orange Camp Half-blood shirt pulled over her pants. Her Yankees hat in her hand, and she held it like a lucky talisman. I tumbled out of the bed once more, groaning at the discomfort of the wooden floor. "Your hair is an absolute rat's nest."

"I would believe you if there actually was a living being in there," I scratched my head and patted it down in embarrassment, "Where are we heading off to again?"

"Olympus," She replied, digging through my dresser and tossing me a pair of jeans and an orange shirt as of me wearing flannel turtle pajamas. "Go get dressed. If you don't get out in under ten minutes, I'm bringing out the big guns."

"You wouldn't..." I whispered, eyes widening at her warning.

"Yes. Now go get changed!"

I ran as fast as I possibly could towards the bathroom, getting myself as well groomed as possible before Annabeth could torture me. Recalling the terrible heat wave the other day (thanks, uncle), I swiftly grabbed a pair of scissors and rapidly cut off the sleeves on the shirt. You're probably thinking, Astra, the heat couldn't be so bad that you'd have to cut off your sleeves. Well, you thought wrong; my skin was going to melt right off at this rate. Tossing the scraps away, I yanked a quick hair tie off my wrist and tugged my mangled hair into a messy braid. Annabeth better not have any high expectations; it's not like we're meeting the rulers of the universe or anything.

* * *

"Okay, we're here, can I leave now?" I asked, standing in front of the towering skyscraper in boredom. If you were wondering, I barely made it out of my cabin on time, and Annabeth nearly completed her death threat. Chiron immediately sent us to the Empire State Building with a blonde surfer dude with hundreds of eyes all over his body as our chauffeur. Needless to say, I thought he was a little creepy.

We had all our supplies shoved in our backpacks, such as food, ambrosia, a bottle of nectar, clean clothes, and my second in command of the army of darkness. What? It gets lonely. "Astra, be reasonable," Annabeth pushed open the doors, and Percy followed behind her, rubbing his face sleepily from exhaustion. "Seaweed Brain, if you're this tired in the morning, then how are you going to survive college?"

"It's simple," He yawned in reply while tugging on the straps of his backpack, "I probably won't do well. My grades will be below C level."

"Oh my gods, I'm so done," Annabeth quickly entered the building, ignoring her boyfriend's terrible pun.

I nudged Percy's ribs gently with my elbow, "Doesn't she mean PoseiDONE?"

"That's another good one!" He cackled, and we gave each other a quick high five. Lance groaned behind us, obviously tired of our antics.

As we got inside the tourist center, we stood in front of the usual desk with a new security guard who had his nose buried deep in a novel with a giant title labeled Maximum Ride. He looked up at us suspiciously, obviously upset that we interrupted his personal reading time, "You guys are early... We don't open until eight. Come back later."

"Pardon us, but if you see here," Percy leaned over the counter, "We're not your ordinary New Yorkers." The guard had a weird expression on his face, like you better not start stripping or do anything ridiculous here.

I stood behind the couple, waiting for them to finish convincing the guy that we had to go up to the sixth hundredth floor when I felt a familiar chin resting on my head.

"You bored?" I looked up at the sun god's son (haha... Okay, I'm finished) face.

"Yeah," Austin replied, "And also very sleepy. I'm not used to waking up this early." His hair was still in a tangled mess, he had dark circles under his eyes, and a shirt that read (in Greek, of course): If life gives you melons, you may be dyslexic.

"Tell me about it," I said, "At least you didn't get threatened by an angry Annabeth." Earlier this morning, Chiron sent Austin to go with us in case we needed a healer, as of us constantly getting in a fight one way with another; whether it was with monsters or a battle against a candy wrapper. Will couldn't go with us, because he was one of the main nurses at the infirmary. After a couple minutes of convincing, and Percy making tiny galloping unicorns with the guard's water bottle, he finally entrusted Annabeth with the card and gestured at us to head towards the elevators.

Austin eventually got off my head, and walked ahead with Annabeth and Percy to discuss about plans. Lance had his hands shoved in his pockets with a scowl plastered on his face. "What's wrong?" I questioned, "Are you sad that you led a small Hershey Kiss to its death?"

"So that's what you meant," He mumbled under his breath. For some reason, he seemed really upset. I couldn't hear him quite clearly, but when I gave him a puzzled look, Lance snapped back to his senses, "Oh, it's not that. It's just... That guy." His angered glare bore right into Austin's back, and I followed his gaze.

"Austin? You don't like him?"

"It's not that I hate him," He explained, "It's just that I don't enjoy his existence."

"That doesn't explain anything."

"You two better hurry up!" Annabeth shouted from inside the elevators, "We all know how temperamental gods can get if we're late for a scheduled meeting." Shuddering at the thought, Lance and I ran as fast as our feet could carry us towards the metal doors.

* * *

"Must... Not... Give... In..." My eyes started to sting as I tried not to blink, "I... Must... Prove him wrong! I am worthy of his praise!"

"Astra, stop having a staring contest with a statue of Zeus," Lance forcibly pushed two fingers down on my eyelids, causing me to lose. The clothes-free bust seemed to grin with its victory, causing a flame of anger to burst inside.

"I've been having intense training for fighting monsters; I could've won this if you didn't stop me," I complained, punching Lance's arm. "I'm just nervous. He didn't want me to leave the camp, but this for the sake of humanity. What can I do about it? Go into the time out corner while the world ends?"

"Well, when you meet Zeus in person, you can have an actual competition with him," He pointed at the temple's marble white doors. I sighed, grasping the handles and pushing them open. The same throne room welcomed us, with only a few gods sitting in their proper seats, which had to be at least fifteen feet tall. From the looks of it, they could smash us under their feet as if we were ants. The constellations on the roof continued to catch my eye, and one in particular was a girl running with a bow in her hand. The usual eight year old-looking girl who tended to the hearth was still there, poking it with a stick to keep it alive. This time, I decided to give a small wave, and her warm red eyes crinkled as she gave me an honest smile.

Immediately, I looked at Artemis' throne, and to my disappointment, she wasn't there. Only Athena, looking down at us with a steely glint, Hermes, who was spinning his caduceus like a baton, and Zeus, who had an issue on disguising his anger. His fists were clenched, his greying eyebrows scrunching together, and the smell of ozone appeared. It was obvious why he was mad: his favorite team lost in fantasy football.

"You," Zeus thundered, leaning forward in his seat and jutting an index finger at our small groups direction, "You dare show your face to me without kneeling first?"

The four quickly got on their knees with their heads against their arms like knights receiving a blessing. I, however, tend to not realize the obvious and gave the stereotypical peace sign with the cute combination of a grin, "How's it hanging, Zeus?"

His right eye twitched, as if he was upset. A low rumble escaped his lips, "I will hang you if you do not obey my will!" He stood up with his fist banging against his arm rest.

Lance hurriedly pulled me down by the arm and forced me to get into a kneeling position. "I apologize for her arrogance, Lord Zeus," Annabeth quickly said while giving me a look, "We are here for your intelligence and guidance."

Zeus, obviously pleased, stroked his beard and sat himself down while turning to his attention to the goddess of Wisdom. Athena stood up, her expression not changing, "And what do you ask, my daughter?"

"We wonder where the location of Eris, goddess of chaos, strife, and discord is," Annabeth said, and her mother instantly stiffened. I remembered the ridiculous story the three goddesses fighting over a golden apple, and wondered whether or not it was edible. "Our camp is distraught. The Oracle has spoken. We need to know if she is the reason behind this."

"I've heard the prophecy from Apollo," Hermes chuckled, "How Rachel manages to rhyme so well, we'll never know."

"Alas, we have not seen Eris in quite some time," Zeus said, finally relaxed and seemed to forget that I was there. I like being a pain in a god's behind; it makes life more interesting (Lance says that I'm an idiot). "I believe that she is working under Hermes, now?"

"I absolutely hate her," Percy grumbled, "She wasn't entirely nice in Tartarus."

"Oh yes, that's right," Hermes snapped his fingers, and the caduceus morphed into the latest iPhone (jealous), "I forgot. She was placed under customer service because, man, she has really soothing voice you know?" He scrolled on the screen and sighed, "Sorry guys, apparently she went on a vacation a couple months ago. She must've been saving up for a pretty big trip."

We all made eye contact; the camp started to break out into fights around the same amount of time as Eris' break. "Is there any way you can pinpoint her location like a G.P.S.?" I asked, raising my hand and felt a cramping pain in my thigh.

Zeus scowled, "I would say, but first, who let the thing out of the camp? I THOUGHT I TOLD IT TO STAY THERE!" A ginormous lightning bolt appeared in his hand, and I flinched at the burning smell. The combination of ozone and smoke isn't the best thing in the world.

"Man, I really wish Jason was here," Austin murmured, "He'd be able to help Zeus get counseling sessions on anger issues."

"Lord Zeus, I believe that Astra is one of the only qualified campers that should be on this trip," Percy explained, pushing back his black hair, "She hasn't fallen into the camp's discord, she helped stopped the resurrection of Kronos; I think she should go with us."

"I absolutely detest logic and reasoning," The Lord of the skies complained, obviously not wanting to comply. I really wanted to shout HOW OLD ARE YOU? ONLY FIVE THOUSAND?! but then my life would end on the spot. That might not be the smartest thing to say to the leaders of the gods. "But alright. My daughter would be upset if I don't let the creature out for a walk."

"That has got to be the most pleasant thing I've ever heard you say," I said, and Lance covered my mouth to stop any more sassy comments.

"Eris will most likely be in Las Vegas, possibly messing around with tourists gambling," Hermes finally looked up from his phone screen, "She apparently wrote that down on her resume."

"Gods have to submit resumes?" Percy seemed intrigued, "Who else do you have?"

Annabeth slapped her boyfriend upside the head, "Then we will be heading out. Thank you, Lord Zeus, Lord Hermes, and Mother."

We finally got up from our kneeling positions, and I nearly fell over from lack of blood flow. The numbing feeling felt like Jason accidentally zapping me with a lightning bolt. How do you accidentally strike someone with electricity? He tried to explain it to me once. Apparently it's sort of like passing gas: you can't control it, and also, it smells bad.

Back to the point.

We left Olympus in a state of confusion, and started to walk down the hundreds of flights of stairs again. "Now we know where she is, but how can we afford getting to Las Vegas?" Austin twiddled his thumbs, "We can't afford plane tickets, and Zeus would probably shoot it down thanks to Percy and Astra. No offense."

Percy shrugged, obviously not affected. I, on the other hand, wasn't entirely paying attention. "First my legs are asleep, now the stairs again?!" I whined, pausing for a brief moment to massage my thighs, "I'm not going to make it much longer."

Annabeth placed her hand against her forehead, "This is going to be a long quest."

-------------------------------------------------------

Sorry for the late update! I have a proper excuse: I had to celebrate my birthday the day before, and crammed up until midnight for three tests. Yay~!

... I lost my sense of humor. I guess Astra should be more mature since it's been a while, but I'm sorry if you guys couldn't have a good laugh over the past few chapters.

Comment below who you ship:

Astra and Lance

Astra and Austin

Astra and Nico (apparently this still exists and I am sort of in disbelief lol)

Any other ship you stalkers decide in the meantime. (I need to give you guys an official name... Hm...)

Leave a vote and comment if you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for your love and support!

XOXO,
Arisa