HOME IS WITH YOU | PERCY JACKSON

Twenty•The Invisinator At Its Finest

N O V A

Two days after the meeting, Enigma, Ajax, and myself stood with an excited looking Parker.

"Okay! It's time to go," he turned to Enigma, "You know where the button is?" He nodded and Parker turned to look at all of us, you could see the excitement in his eyes about us using this. "Okay, as long as you don't click the button again, you should stay cloaked, you should be able to see each other. Ajax and I could always see each other."

He stopped and I looked around, most of the camp and warriors were watching us. I caught the eye of one warrior in particular, smiling at him, which he returned. I turned back in time to see Ajax making a portal.

Parker sighed and hugged us all, he hugged his brother longer, "Be careful Percy." He whispered, only loud enough for us to hear. He pulled back and nodded, "I will, the three of us will, we'll be fine. Don't worry about us, we'll be back soon, okay?"

Parker nodded turned back to the device in his hands, handing it over to Beckendorf, "When I get over by them," he said, pointing behind him at the crowd, "Press the button, but make sure you all are holding on before you do. If anything goes wrong, make another portal and come back here. We don't need anyone almost dying again." He gave a pointed look to his brother who smiled sheepishly. "Be careful, or I'll kill you myself. Zoë, you're in charge." We laughed and gave him another hug, "We'll be fine Parker, we know what to do. If anything goes wrong I'll make sure to get them back, safe and sound." He smiled and nodded, "Well, you better get going."

He turned around and went to stand with Charlie and Bianca, "Good luck." He told us, watching as we smiled and grabbed onto the small invisinator.

"Okay," I took a deep breath as I looked up a bit from my spot in our tight circle, "We're all holding on....? Good, Enigma," I looked over at him, glancing at Percy before turning my attention back on him. "Press the button." He looked down and pressed it, as soon as he did, though, small writing came up. Like a hologram.

I looked over at Parker, who smirked in reply. Looking back, I saw it was a riddle. It not only appeared in holographic form, but a smooth, robotic women's voice played through the device.

You have but three guesses, to answer me this:
First think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard
During the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this,
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?

I frowned, where I had heard that before? My frown deepened as I thought hard, not noticing both boys looking at me helplessly, not having an idea what it was.

A creature unwilling to kiss? I could think of a few.

A few minutes later, I looked up with wide eyes. I remembered where I had heard this-or rather, read this. It was one of my favorite books, I hadn't read it in a long time, since before we came here. But I remembered the answer.

I looked back at Parker, who was already staring at me. The grin on his face widened, he knew that I remembered. He was the one that got me into the books in the first place.

I turned back, and without saying anything to the two boys, I said my answer.

"A spider." I said clearly, after a moment, the holographic words shut off, and the device gave a whirring sound.