The Forbidden Four

VIII

"I'm sure we all have stories to tell and secrets to reveal, so who's going to start?" Jen said.

They were sitting behind a delivery truck far away from the mansion.

"First we need to read the rest of this." Ashley said as she pulled Hal's diary out of her backpack. She started going through the pages and completed to read from where she stopped last time.

"Okay...so far we have a prophecy...but it's unclear. But we know that Nyx is rising and she's not alone." Jen said. "She has Hecate, Eris and Nemesis siding with her?."

"No not the goddesses, their children. Other demigods." Cam said.

"Okay what's next? All we got from the mansion is: a sword and a diary." Jen said. "And I don't think Cameron is okay..." she said, her tone was worried.

"Cam. Nico's note." Ash said. He handed her the note.

Go to your old house, Ashley.

She read. "What?...No...b-but why?..." Ash muttered to herself.

"Ash? What is it?" Cam asked.

"He's saying I should go back to my old house..in Austin." Ash said miserably.

"And that's a bad thing?" Jen asked. "I live in the suburbs. And...I don't have any family to go to..." Ash said frowning.

"Wait...but..what about last summer vacation? Where did you go?" Jen asked

"I moved between my house - I lived there alone, and Hades' palace. Sometimes I came to camp, too." Ashley explained.

"The place can't be that bad..." Jen said.

"The place is surrounded by bars and drunk, smelly, old people....the only reason I agreed on living there when mom was alive is becuase it's safe. The filth around the house was enough to cover my smell and protect me from any attacking monsters."

"So it's safe. We have to go there. A, it is safe. B, we need something there." Cam said. "Plus we could ALL rest." He continued.

'How do we get there?" Jen asked.

"I'll use shadow travel. It's easy for me since I know the place." Ash said.

"But you're going to take two more people with you." Cam said.

"Yeah, but it won't kill me. C'mon."

They all stood up. Jen and Cam held on to Ashley, and they all disappeared into a fog of black smoke.