Tyler lay in bed, staring at the bottom of Graham's bunk. The sun had set hours ago and he could barely see the grain of the wooden crossbeams. He kept picturing the map from the Command Center, furrowing his brow as if he expected it to appear in a blazing outline before him.

A flashlight beam swept over him. He jolted, blinded by the sudden light. He struggled to blink the dark spots from his vision, covering his face with his blanket. "What the heck?!"

Through his closed eyes, he sensed the light move off him. "Sorry." Apologized a familiar voice. "I thought everyone was asleep."

Tyler pulled his blanket-covered hands away from his face, blinking rapidly to refocus his vision. "Yeah, well... not everyone was." His vision finally focused and he met Eliza's indifferent gaze. She didn't seem to care that she'd almost blinded him. "What are you doing on the boys' side of the barracks?"

"Nothing." She replied, a little too quickly. "Just... talking to Jason."

Tyler sat up, crossing his legs. "About the quest? Did he have any idea where the Temple of Nodens is?"

"Yes and... no." She leaned on the bedpost. "Unfortunately, being the son of the king of the gods doesn't give him innate knowledge of where all their hideouts are."

"How unfortunate." Tyler lamented sarcastically, though deep down he had been a little serious. "Did he at least help you come up with some ideas?"

"Nothing specific." She replied. "Just ways to hopefully narrow things down."

Tyler nodded, not sure how to respond to that.

"You should get some sleep." Eliza finally broke the silence. "See you in the morning, I guess."

"Yeah." Tyler watched her creep through the bunk beds towards the girls' side of the barracks. "See you in the morning." He muttered.
                                      •   •   •
The next morning found Tyler sitting on the temple hill, watching the sun rise over Camp Jupiter. He hugged himself against the cold, yearning for the warmth he knew the sun would bring.

"You're so weird." Eliza's voice snapped him out of his trance. She walked over from the temples and sat down, her damp red and brown hair hanging limply around her face.

Tyler eyed her curiously, noticing her clothes clinging to her small frame. "What happened to you?"

Eliza glanced down at her wet outfit and sighed. "Apparently, Neptune's not a huge fan of me."

Tyler scoffed. "What were you doing in Neptune's Temple?"

She shrugged. "I tried asking around about the Temple of Nodens."

"Neptune didn't appreciate it?" Tyler concluded.

She shot him a side-lone glance that said - 'no duh.' "No." She reached down her collar and pulled a head of grain out of her shirt. "Neither did Ceres." She flicked the golden brown plant to the grass.

"So... you're not the favorite grandchild then?" Tyler grinned at his own joke.

Eliza just glared at him.

"Good. You're both here." Taiya approached from the barracks. "I've arranged for breakfast to be sent to the Command Center so we can get an early start."

"Great." Sarcasm drenched Eliza's voice, but she pushed herself to her feet. "Can I at least get changed first?"

Taiya eyed her suspiciously as she realized the daughter of Proserpine was soaked. "Do I want to know?"

"Probably not." Eliza reached up and plucked another head of grain from somewhere in her hair, before walking down the hill towards the Fifth Cohort's barracks.

Taiya turned to her remaining quest mate. "Come on, Tyler. We have much to discuss."

Tyler sighed. "Of course we do."
                                     •   •   •
Tyler sat next to the table, his head in his arms. He couldn't stand looking at the map anymore. It was giving him a headache. Of course, Eliza and Taiya arguing about potential spots for the Temple of Nodens didn't help.

Taiya had found a copy of the map marking the important mythological locations and started crossing out the forests that were already occupied. There were a few smaller forests circled as well.

"It can't be Pisgah National Forest." Eliza held.

"And why not?" Taiya argued.

"Because Nodens is a lesser deity." Eliza explained. "And Diana claims the bigger forests."

Taiya responded thoughtfully. "In that case, we can rule out any National Parks."

Tyler finally lifted his head and rested his chin on his arms, scanning the map absentmindedly.

"Maine is the most forested state." Taiya reasoned, tracing the state with her finger.

"True," Eliza conceded. "but that raises the same problem. Nodens doesn't seem to be a very well known god. That tells me he doesn't have the power to oversee that much forest. Not when put up against Diana."

They went on like that for another half hour while Tyler stared at the map, tracing the Xs with his eyes. As he made his fourth trip around the map, he noticed an oddly blank spot. He perked up. "Hey guys."

The girls stopped arguing and looked at him.

"What's there?" He pointed to the unmarked spot that covered most of Indiana.

Eliza cocked her head and examined the map. She let out a little gasp and ran over to the book shelf by the wall. She hefted a huge atlas and dropped it on the table with a loud 'thud'. Skimming the table of contents, she flipped to the last third of the book. "Aha!" She spun the book towards the others and pointed to one of the pages.

"Morgan-Monroe State Forest." Taiya read. "Said to be haunted by a ghostly woman." She eyed Eliza skeptically.

"It's the only decent-sized forest in the area that's not big enough for Diana to bother about. People are allowed to hunt there and the 'haunted' part could just be the Mist shielding mortal eyes from the defenses surrounding the temple."

"That... actually makes a lot of sense." Tyler was sitting upright again.

Eliza gave him a look like 'Of course it does. I said it.'

Taiya stared at the page for several minutes, her brow furrowed. "Well then, it seems we have a destination."

A/N:
So... I've caught up with my prewritten chapters. That means uploading probably won't be as regular now.
Thanks you all for the reads. I appreciate the support this story has already gotten and can't wait for you all to see what happens next. 😊
-Cheshire