Aru must've fallen asleep at some point during the night although she couldn't seem to remember that happening. What she did remember was being arrested by Officer Pineapple for crimes against foodkind, but that might have been a dream. You know, probably. It's hard to differentiate dreams from reality when your world is constantly being turned upside down.

"What time is it?" Aru asked groggily.

"It's about 5:45 am," Aiden replied. He was now sitting in the driver's seat, so they must've switched again while she was sleeping.

Aru jolted up all of a sudden when it sunk in. "EW, I WOKE BEFORE TWELVE WHEN I DIDN'T NEED TO GET UP?"

That seemed to wake everyone up.

"What's going on?" Ezra asked, stretching his arms.

"Is there a monster somewhere?" Brynne asked, thinking that must've been the only reason someone would dare wake up during a pleasant dream.

"Bacteria... Don't kill me... Need hand sanitizer," Mini mumbled in her sleep.

The only people who weren't woken up were Aiden and Jemisha who were already awake.

"Do you ever fall asleep?" Ezra asked Jemisha after she swatted his arm away once it breached her personal space bubble.

She shrugged. "Rarely. I have insomnia."

Aru yawned. "And you aren't tired?"

"Not really," Jemisha replied.

"You're a very odd person, you know that?" Brynne chimed in. "Not as odd as Aru though. No one could match up to her craziness."

Aru beamed. "Thank you!"

"That wasn't a compliment."

"I know."

"There's always a chance you could be a demigod with how strange you are," Ezra told Jemisha.

"I sincerely doubt that," she said.

"That means you probably are," Aru commented. At everyone's confused looks, she decided to continue. "Think about it. You just jinxed it, strange things happen around you, you can see past the strange mist thingy, but only on occasion probably, and you're denying it."

Brynne blinked. "If you're right, I'll cook whatever you want when we get back home."

"Aru has a point," Ezra said. Jemisha scowled at him. "Let's just imagine for a moment that you are. Who'd you like to be the daughter of?"

"I'd like to be the daughter of the god of can-you-shut-up-already."

"I don't think there's a god for that," Aru told her. Jemisha glared at her too.

Aiden sighed. "When we get back, y'all need a lesson on how to be nice."

"What'd I do?" Aru asked. He gave her a pointed look. "Message received."

"So what's the camp called?" asked Mini, who had finally fully woken up.

"Camp Half-Blood," Ezra replied.

"Sounds cheery," Brynne replied sarcastically.

"Very! Oh, wait, that was sarcasm, wasn't it?"

"It's a good thing we only have a little bit left to go," Aru said, glancing at the GPS before turning her eyes back on the road. "WATCH OUT!"

A griffin swooped down and started attacking the car. Its claws scrapped to top until they poked through.

Complete pandemonium erupted inside the car. Aru rushed out the door and turned Vajdra into a lightning bolt. The others were doing the same as Brynne turned her choker into a wind mace, Mini brought out her death danda, Ezra took out his knife, and Aiden got his scimitars.

"Light 'em up, Shah!" he shouted as Aru touched his scimitars with her lightning bolt.

"Hey! Can you maybe stop trashing the van I so rightfully stole?" Ezra asked the monster.

"You stole a whole car?" Jemisha asked him. He smiled and shrugged. "Of course you did," she muttered.

The shouting seemed to do the trick though because the griffin looked at the ragtag group of kids and abandoned the car for a tasty snack.

Aru turned Vajdra into a hoverboard to get on the griffin's level. While it was distracted by her, Brynne swung her mace at it, creating a blast of air that forced it backwards where Ezra was waiting with Aiden for a chance to attack. Mini watched in case anyone needed a force field. It seemed like it would work. It was relay simple, so in theory it should have. It would have if it weren't for one thing they had forgotten.

Just as Aiden and Ezra charged forward to fight, the griffin spotted Jemisha watching it. With the speed and grace of a falcon, it changed forwards to the unprotected human.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Jemisha's eyes widened in fear as it came closer. Aru could only watch in horror as the griffin stretched out its claws and Mini tried desperately to create a force field around her too slowly. It opened its horrible beak and let out a cry of triumph. And then-

Pure darkness seemed to gather around her. Shadows collected to form some kind of shield all around Jemisha. The griffin tried to fly past the barrier, but it crashed into it as if it was solid. But it couldn't be. Right?

As the griffin sat there, dazed by what had happened, Ezra came up and plunged his knife into the soft flesh of the monster. It erupted into dust and fell all around them.

The shadows guarding Jemisha slowly retreated and left her swaying on her feet in confusion. "I think I'm tired now." And then she collapsed.

A/N
What do y'all think?

I've only finished the first 5 chapters of this, so if I do get enough people who want more of this story, updates will probably be slow.

Also, if y'all have any ideas of what to call this book, I'd love to hear them because it needs a better title.

Hope you enjoyed!

-Orchid