Where we last left off...

A few hours earlier, Luke had captured Ron Puckerman, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Clarisse La Rue, and Grover Underwood and forced them to board his yacht, the Andromeda, as prisoners. Luke had shot Tyson (a Cyclops who was the brother of both Ron and Percy) as punishment for the children escaping from him earlier in the story. Jacquelyn-Claire Ulrich, a Spellcaster, evaded Luke and her location is currently unknown although the readers know that she is hiding out in Disneyland.

But she didn't escape from Luke alone, as she had her friend Magnus Kroger and his younger brothers Hansel and Francis Kroger. All of them were currently missing after the confrontation with Luke.

Ron, meanwhile, finds Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, who had also been captured by Luke. They tell him that Luke had captured the Weasley family and upon learning that Molly had kidnapped Ron and killed Ron's birth mother Joanna Puckerman, Luke had the entire Weasley family killed in retaliation for Joanna's murder. Ron confronts Luke a second time and he and his friends escape from the Andromeda.

Not to be outdone by Ron, Percy uses the confrontation to mount yet another escape from Luke. He and the other demigods rescue Ron and they all sail away from the yacht.

After escaping from the Andromeda, Ron said, "I don't suppose that anyone here has a plan on how to hide ourselves from Luke, or do we?"

"No," said Annabeth. "We're just making this up as we go along."

"We need a plan on how to hide," said Clarisse, "and no, we don't need any Spellcasters involved."

"But Jacquelyn is our only chance at victory," said Grover. "Luke shot Tyson and we don't know if we're going to be the next to die. I'd like to get somewhere where no one is going to notice us."

"Why not try Disneyland?" said Percy. Everyone stared at him. "Disneyland is the safest place for us to hide while we escape back to Camp Half-Blood."

"I hope you're right," said Annabeth. "It would be better for us to become faces in a crowd than to be sticking out."

"Let's go," said Ron, but he was reluctant to go back to Disneyland. After all, he, Harry, Hermione, and Jacquelyn already had a bad experience when they went to Disneyland the year before, and he didn't want to repeat the same story.

For once, he was certain that something was forcing him to confront his worst fears.

-----

When they all reached Disneyland at last, none of them were prepared for what they saw; apparently, everyone in the park was dressed as a character from the Disney cartoon Hercules.

"Now you know that's not even right," Grover said with a disapproving look on his face as he watched the crowd walking around the park. "Disney got this story wrong."

"You're telling me," said Annabeth. "That cartoon took the true story of Hercules and turned it into a pile of crap."

"And that's why I refused to watch that movie," said Percy.

"What story did Disney NOT get wrong?" said Annabeth.

"None of them," said Clarisse. "It's like they just can't stop screwing up the story. Come on now."

At the same time, Ron was not happy to be back in Disneyland. He, Harry, Hermione, and Jacquelyn had had the worst summer of their lives there, mainly when they nearly drowned after a mishap on the ride Grizzly River Run in Disney California Adventure.

"We go back to the same place that we swore we'd never return to," said Ron. "We must be crazy."

"You're telling me," said Hermione. "Between The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Grizzly River Run, last year's vacation stopped being fun."

"Indeed," said Harry. "I did NOT appreciate being dropped from a building and almost falling to my death."

"Luckily, Jacquelyn was smart enough to stop us from hexing that poor guy who operated the Grizzly River Run," said Ron.

"Yeah," said Hermione, but then she grew confused. "Hey, wait a minute, Ron. Since when was she Jacquelyn?"

"What are you talking about?" said Ron. "She's always been Jacquelyn."

"No, she's not," said Hermione.

"Yes, she is," said Ron.

"Well, which is it, because I'm a bit confused here," said Harry. "Is she Jacquel or is she Jacquelyn?"

"She's Jacquel Romanov," said Hermione at the same that Ron said even louder, "She's Jacquelyn-Claire Ulrich!"

"Well, be that as it may, I still say that she's Jacquel Romanov," said Harry. "That's who she is and that's who she's always been."

"She's not," said Ron. "Besides, Dumbledore made her up just to trick us. I've been with her the entire summer and you haven't. I know things about her that you don't know. I know that her mother was a Spellcaster and that's how she's a Spellcaster. I know that her father is from Germany. In fact, I also know about her brothers and sister."

"And I know that she's an orphan who came from some crazy who claimed to be a Romanov," said Hermione, but Ron ignored her. He was done listening to her lies about Jacquelyn-Claire Ulrich. "Are you even listening to me, Ronald Weasley?" she snapped at him.

"My name is Ronald Puckerman," Ron snapped, "and don't you dare be forgetting that!"

"What's happened to you, Ron?" said Harry. "It's like you've become a completely different person overnight. What happened to the Ron Weasley who was my best friend, the friend who went with me while others cringed? What happened to him?"

"He went away the moment the centaur claimed him as a demigod," said Hermione. Harry's angry look told her that he didn't hear the entire story about how she and Jacquelyn had to get Ron to safety while monsters attacked them.

"I want to know what's going on here," Harry said with a snarl on his face. "You are going to tell me the truth. How is Ron a demigod? Who was that guy who attacked us? Who are the Greek gods? Don't you dare lie to me."

Ron and Hermione glanced at each other, wondering what they were going to tell Harry. They both knew that Harry didn't have much of a right to know about Ron's secret past, but it didn't mean anything now, if Luke's claims that he knew about the wizarding world were true.

Plus, there was the matter of Jacquelyn and her torment at the hands of the Hermaphrodite. If anything, Ron swore to kill the creature when they next met. "Why should I tell you anything?" he spoke his next words carefully. "You never liked me, you just wanted me for my family. Now my family's gone, and it's like I don't even know you at all."

Hermione nodded in agreement, but Ron turned to her and said, "And I haven't crossed you off the list of people who told Molly Weasley about my trip to Camp Half-Blood. Where were you when Amy Winehouse died?" Hermione looked at him in shock. "All I know is that you two had better get your alibis straight when the God Poseidon finds out about this."

Just then, Percy came to them, saying, "We found Jacquelyn and the others. They're over by the Haunted Mansion."

"OK," said Ron. He went to join the others, leaving Harry and Hermione behind, their dignities ruffled and their lies exposed. Jacquelyn was going to know about them and when she did, no amount of wizard's magic would protect them from the Spellcaster's wrath.

to be continued...