Hello! How is everyone doing? I hope good lol :). Don't forget to read and review! Alrighty then, I don't have much to say other than that...

Percy: Jingle?

Yesh

Percy: You know what you have to do

Can't youuuuu do it?

Percy: :( no I don't want to

Annabeth: Fine, I'll do it, you two. Jinglebells does not own anything, she's not Rick Riordan or Brandon Mull, she only owns the plot she writes.

Thanks Annabeth. Ya know what, in real life, my name is actually really similar to yours! I'm not gonna tell the people of the internet my real name but yeah. I mean, well, I might some day, but-

Annabeth: *rolls eyes*

On with the story!

~~~~~~~~~1st Person Kendra~~~~~~~~~

Who were these strangers? None of them seemed unusually bright to me, so they weren't fairy-related. The way they got here intrigued me, though. Was it possible that the Sphinx and Seth weren't the only shadow charmers out there? Maybe one of these teens was. But then, why hadn't we seen them before, on our side or the Society's? Were they some sort of demon that didn't go into the shrine at the Shoreless Isle with all of the others? Maybe they were from the Fairy Queen's realm. But, again, they didn't shine or glow at all!

All of these questions and theories kept popping into my head as Seth blabbered on with them. I decided to save it for later, as we couldn't verify whether they would tell the truth or not unless Bracken was here, which he wasn't. He was off with his mother helping with the transformation of the old Zzyzx.

"Well, we can't get... er... go back... home... without Nico here being awake" the boy said, pulling me out of my musings and gesturing to the unconscious kid he had fed the caramel. "Would it be alright if we stayed the night here?" He asked, sending a quick glance at his female companion and receiving a slight nod from her.

"Well," I spoke up, "We would have to ask our grandparents. And our parents. And, like, everyone else that lives here."

"I've never noticed just how many people live here," Seth murmured. I elbowed him in the side. The teens just stood there awkwardly, until the girl bent down to pick up her unconscious companion.

"Well, we have to get Nico inside to rest up either way, so we might as well. We don't have to stay the night, just until Nico is up and ready to go."

"Okay!" Seth said happily, and led everyone inside.

Sitting on the couch reading a book was Grandpa Sorenson, AKA the caretaker of Fablehaven. When he saw us leading the strangers inside, he abruptly stood up and raised a wary eyebrow, not taking his focus off of the unknown teens.

"Who are these?" he asked us, still staring at the newcomers. I was about to speak up until I realized we didn't know any of their names yet, except for 'Nico', only because they kept mentioning him.

"I'm Percy, this is my girlfriend Annabeth, and the unconscious one is Nico," the boy, or Percy, responded, gesturing to each individual as he said their names. "Who are you guys?"

Grandpa was still scowling thoughtfully, but I decided we might as well tell them. "I'm Kendra, and this is my brother Seth." Seth smirked and waved a little when I said his name. Percy smirked right back. Oh god, if he was another trouble-maker, I was screwed.

Everyone looked expectantly at our grandfather, waiting for an introduction. "Stan," he stated simply, then left the room, presumably to inform the others of our new guests.

~~~~~~~1st Person Annabeth~~~~~~~

It was time for dinner. It was evident that not a single member of the household trusted us. Well, at least, evident to me, but I couldn't speak for the seaweed brain seated next to me, as I hadn't had a chance to talk with him in private yet. Nico was still passed out in a guest bedroom, which they seemed to have a lot of, oddly. We had told everyone that we had already eaten, so we wouldn't have any food. They seemed to be satisfied with that. My reasoning was that A), who knows, they could be monsters and it could be poisoned, you never know, and B), we had actually already eaten at camp.

There was a tense silence at the table as forks clanged against plates and Percy and I sat there trying to be polite with our ADHD.

A woman finally said something. She had pretty features with curly, long, dark brown hair. "Alright, well, first things first, I'm Vanessa," she began, "I just wanted to let you know that we have an ant infestation, so if you get some bites overnight, don't worry too much."

I noticed the others stare at her for a second too long, and then go back to awkwardly eating their food. I wondered what about what she had said prompted that. I'd figure it out later.

"Alright. Let's get this over with. Is Nico a shadow charmer?" The kid, Seth, asked abruptly. Every fork stopped moving and everyone glared at him, most of all his sister.

"A what?" Percy asked smartly. I realized 'shadow-charmer' must have something to do with our entrance into the backyard earlier. Could these humans see through the mist? Better yet, were they even fully human, or at all human?

"Sorry about him," Kendra said, still glaring daggers at Seth, "My idiot of a brother here thinks everything is a fairy tale and makes up superhero powers for everyone he meets as a joke." Seth pouted and resumed his meal.

These people were definitely not normal.

~LINEBREAKERdedicatedToBobMyHeroLINEBREAKER~

That night, I had dreams. Now, demigods didn't get dreams like most people did, with unicorns, leprechauns, fairies, and magical, happy things. (Do ya see what I did there? All things in Fablehaven? Eh? Eh? No? Ok, I'll stop now) Most often, our dreams were visions of the past, present, or future, or a message, usually being sent by a god. Wanna take a guess at what I got that night? If you guessed a message, DING! DING! DING!, you're right.

The dream began and I saw a beautiful woman with straight, brown hair. Her expression was... well, expressionless, and I instantly recognized her from her stormy grey eyes that were a perfect reflection of my own.

"Mother?" I said, respectfully, but a hint of surprise escaped into my tone. I was shocked that she was contacting me - the gods had been sort-of out of touch ever since the Second Giant War.

"Hello Annabeth. I have little time, but I have come to warn you. I do not know much about these newcomers you have faced, but as you have figured, they are not regular mortals. You must find out what their intentions are, and try to hide our world from them unless it is completely necessary to give away, as it could show them potential weaknesses or help them learn how to better outsmart you if they are enemies. Try to stay and gather as much information as possible before you depart.

"All I know about why and how you arrived where you are when Nico shadow traveled is that it likely has something to do with the Fates," she explained. Schist, I cursed mentally. Why was it always the Fates?

"I must depart now, my daughter. I wish you luck."

"Wait-" I tried to say, but the dream had already ended, and I was already awake. I saw Percy getting up as well.

I pushed a loose strand of hair out of my face as I stood up and stretched. "Did the ants get you?" Percy inquired. I quickly scanned my limbs and found a few red, swollen bites on my arm.

"Yep," I replied, walking over to the other bed to check on Nico.

"Me too," Percy said simply, and walked away to get dressed.

Chapter word count: 1194

Date published: 7/22/20 (M/D/Y)