EXCELSIOR!!!...

"But they were right there?!"

Max tasted the air and found the demigods hiding under the bed inside one the empty rooms with the door busted from their fight. Max lifted the bed like it was nobody's business, "You can come out now, she's gone."

The twins slowly came out with the sister keeping the brother behind her. "Thalia can you give them some ambrosia? The girl's bleeding." they just looked at the small honey coloured cubes, looking at each other they nodded at each other and popped it into their mouths.

They had blissful expressions as if they were eating their favourite food in the world. "So what are your names? And why is a Fury after you?" Thalia question brought them back to reality.

To this the girl answered, "My name is Bianca De Angelo and he is my brother Nico. I don't know what that thing was and I have no clue what is going on. But thanks for saving me and my brother." Bianca said.

"Let us talk later. I'm picking up more scents a mile away gaining on us. Lets talk on the plane." Max said interrupting their chat. "They have a plane?" Max heard Nico whisper to his sister, confused.

They were on the ground floor, passing the slot machines to the exit when Max here a distinct voice yell, "EXCELSIOR!!". Max ran to the man, finding an old man waving his walking stick in the air as he won the Jackpot. "No way!" Max whispered to himself. Max made his way to him and gave him a big hug which he returned and whispered into Max's ear, "Take care of her kid, she's is a keeper. And remember. NEVER. LET. GO." He just nodded and left the chuckling old man to his devices.

The four squeezed into their seats on the bike and sped off to the airport, the stench of monsters growing further by the second. "You know the guy?" Thalia asked. "Sort of." He replied. Thalia understood she get anymore out of him on this matter and pushed it out of her thoughts.

They had quickly boarded the plane after knocking Nico out cause he freaked out seeing the plane and dint like flying, refusing to get on. Bianca also looked really uncomfortable.

They were in the air in 5 mins just when Max caught the scent of monsters nearby. They were on their way back and woke Nico up to explain some things to both of them.

----------×----------×----------×----------

"So let me get this straight, my brother and I are demigods? And we are the children of Hades? The God of hell?And we have been stuck in the casino for around 50 years? The war is over?" each time Bianca asked, Max gave a nod. "Not God of hell, rather the Lord of the underworld, there is a lot of difference." Thalia chimed bringing her 2 cents to the table.

" But Max, are sure they are children of Hades? I mean the prophesy said Spawn of Ange--OHH!" she realized the connection.

"Yeah. Out of the children of the three, you are here, Son of posiedon is with Grover in New York and that leaves the child, or in this case children of Hades. Further the prophecy tried to confuse us with the spawn of angel crap. The last names are de Angelo, which is the cherry on the cake." Max reasoned off, bullshitting through with his story and thought at himself, [Thank Pan for my memories].

Thalia was sitting across on Max's lap leaning against his chest, purred and gave him light peck on the cheek, making the twins faces blush bright red for different yet the same reason.

"Umm...Aren't you supposed to wear seatbelts or something that the pilot told us to wear? Isn't it unsafe?" Bianca asked, her face was like a tomato.

Max chuckled, "We don't have to worry about that. She os the daughter of Zeus, The lord of the skies and Shawn over here- our pilot, is the son of Hermes. Although a scoundrel he is one the best damn pilots there is."

"I heard that!! And I'm the best pilot there is...PERIOD!" Shawn shouted through the intercom.

----------×----------×----------×----------

They had landed, Max switched on the Mist on the bike and cruised through the streets until the reached a school, Yancy Academy. "Wow! I still can't believe we were stuck in that place for 50 years! New York looks so different!" Nico's eyes wide in wonder, his sister behind him nodded but was not looking at the surroundings, just the person's chiseled shoulder in front of here.

Bianca was in her own world, her mind wandering to Max's back, her breathing slightly heavy. She wanted to touch those arms, imagining how it would be wrapped in them, unconsciously she hugged herself. Even though the twins were 10 year olds, their speech and mannerisms were measured and matured for their age, probably because of the war they had to witness for the first 10 years of their lives.

"What are we doing here Max? This place feels damn depressing. Is this a school or a mortuary." Thalia asked, pulling Bianca out of her thoughts.

"The son of Poseidon, remember? Probably your demigod spider-sense is acting up. There is a monster inside the campus. We need to be extra careful as to not pull the other students or staff into this." saying so Max tasted the air and immediately regretted it.

"Blergh!!" Max retched, close to throwing up. The air was a mixture of smells and odours. It smelled of burnt grease, piss and vomit. He also caught a whiff of a sickly sweet smell coming from Bianca and a smell of burning rubber from 4-5 blocks away. Max face twisted into a sadistic smile when he caught the burning rubber smell of a certain dirty little, shit-stain parasite.

"We'll come back at night. I can sense Chiron in there. Go get something to eat. Thalia, take care of them, I'll be back in an hour. Buy a couple for me, pepperoni. " Max said parking his bike in a near by Domino's.

"Wait we're coming with you. Dont leave us." surprisingly it was Bianca. "Yeah Max! What the hell dude?!" Thalia chimed in. [ Atleast these two are getting along.] Max grunted to himself.

He equipped his Leviathan axe and took a few seeds from a pouch he got from the satyrs and stuffed them in his pocket. He looked into Thalia's eyes, searching for something. Whenever Max was nervous or uneasy, he looked into Thalia's deep electric blue eyes and would always find what he would need. Strength. He took a breath readying himself.

"I won't lie to you Thalia. I'm going to go and kill a guy and couple of his friends."