4/2/16: Welcome to Into the Darkness: Book 2: The Journey. As a general note, if you have not read the first book I suggest taking a look, otherwise you might find yourself a bit lost.

Chapter 1: Changes

Last year, when Luke declared himself to be on Kronos's side in the upcoming war and tried to kill Percy I made a promise to myself that I would never let something like that happen again. It was too close a call for comfort, Luke almost succeeded and I would not lose another person if I could help it.

Throughout the school year I had been working on my endurance, improving my shadow traveling and even working a bit on my "earthy" powers. I would be prepared for the future. Either way, I was just glad I had never shown my ability to throw a knife before that last day of camp in front of Luke. Slowly but surely I had been working myself up to my old standards.

Nowadays Percy and I spent most of our time attending Meriwether College Prep. It was a kind of new type of "progressive" school that substituted chairs for beanbags and the teachers wore jeans and band T-shirts to their jobs. We didn't get grades either, at least not in the normal sense. It was very relaxed compared to other schools. Yeah, some of the kids were troublesome, but they were manageable - nothing compared to what was out there in the Greek world, anyway.

During the school year I had only had a few run-ins with monsters; a giant scorpion in Central Park near my birthday and a few dracaenae by Broadway in April. They weren't very hard to deal with though. Luckily they found me outside of school, otherwise our school probably wouldn't be overly fond of the resulting outcome.

What started out this adventure was a dream I had the night before the last day of the school year. It was fuzzy to try to recall, but I knew that it involved Luke and Kronos. Kronos was plotting something, talking about how their plan was coming along nicely after his failure. That was not comforting- Kronos and Luke plotting, the failure was most likely him failing to get the Master Bolt to Kronos. That one I could live with.

I woke up to Sally knocking on my door, coming inside to make sure I was awake. Moving into our new apartment was bit of an adjustment, the new location, and having a room to myself after so long. We were now living on the fifth floor of a nicer, cleaner building. It wasn't a huge apartment but it did its job so I liked it. It was a vast improvement from our last place with Gabe mucking things up.

"Come on, up and at 'em! Time to get ready, last day of school!" Sally said after giving my shoulder a small shake, then left to wake Percy.

I lay there for a minute trying to remember my dream better but I didn't have much luck. I sighed and rolled out of bed and got changed, double checking to make sure I had my necklace and bracelet with me. I would have worn the Chimera tooth necklace but I didn't want to have to deal with potential questions about it in school so it typically stayed home, along with the knife I brought from camp.

I pulled open my drawer and opened the little box I kept in the back behind my socks. Inside was the picture Chiron gave me last summer, it was of me and Nick. We were both posed in front of the camera, both laughing at something behind the photographer. Nick's sword was propped up in the dirt, his hand resting on the hilt as he rested his other elbow on my shoulder. We were twelve in that picture. I gave it a small smile before putting it away carefully back into the drawer, like I did most mornings.

I walked into the kitchen to see Sally laying out blue pancakes and some eggs for breakfast. By the time I was already seated and eating Percy came out, hair ruffled from sleep.

"Percy, fix your hair dude." I said as he sat down and leaned over to brush my hand through it to try to fix the mess. Percy seemed a bit out of it, which was odd for a day like today. You would think he would be bouncing off the walls - it was the last day of school after all. A distracted "Mhm" was all I got in response. Sally looked at our exchange and frowned.

"Percy, are you all right?" She dried her hands and sat down across the table from us. "School, or..." We all knew what she was talking about.

"I think Grover is in trouble," He told us, then described his dream. As he spoke I studied my breakfast in thought. If Grover was in the middle of an ocean or something that really complicated things.

When Percy was finished speaking I said quietly, "Ocean, not my forte. I might be able to get to him though if I knew where he was. Check in on him. Do you know exactly where?" He shook his head and Sally pursed her lips.

"I wouldn't be too worried, dear, Grover is a big satyr now. If there was a problem, I'm sure we would have heard from... from camp..." Her shoulders tensed ever so slightly at the word "camp". Immediately I knew something was wrong.

"What is it?" I asked cautiously, her unease more apparent in the brief silence.

"Nothing. I'll tell you what, this afternoon we'll celebrate the end of school. I'll take you two and Tyson to Rockefeller Center- to that skateboard shop you like Percy, and maybe the old record store you like, Allison."

"Wait a minute, I thought we were packing for camp tonight." He said.

Sally twisted her dishrag. "Ah, dear, about that... I got a message from Chiron last night."

Chiron send an I-M and didn't tell me the problem? "What did he say?"

"He thinks... it might not be safe for you two to come to camp just yet. We might have to postpone."

"Postpone?" I asked while Percy blurted: "Mom, how can it not be safe? We're half-bloods! It's like the only safe place on earth for us!"

"Usually, dear. But with the problems they're having-"

"What problems?"

"What's going on at camp?" I questioned hastily.

"Percy, Allison... I'm very, very sorry. I was hoping to talk to you two about it this afternoon. I can't explain it all now. I'm not even sure Chiron can. Everything happened so suddenly."

My mind was running at a million miles-per-hour. Camp not safe- Chiron saying we can't come? Then I remembered the bits of my dream. Could it have to do with them? Before we could ask any more questions the kitchen clock chimed and Sally looked relieved.

"Seven-thirty, dears. You should go. Tyson will be waiting."

I pursed my lips, I wanted to stay and ask more questions, maybe even I-M Chiron myself, but I knew she was right. Tyson was afraid of traveling alone underground. I didn't want him to get upset so I went to the doorway and gathered my stuff with Percy. I had always been comfortable underground, which helped him, along with having someone in general to go with him.

"Mom, this problem at camp. Does it... could it have anything to do with my dream about Grover?" Percy asked.

She wouldn't meet his eyes and busied herself with cleaning up the table. "We'll talk this afternoon, dear. I'll explain... as much as I can." Reluctantly, we left to catch our train. Percy stopped suddenly once we stepped outside and I nearly bumped into him.

"What is it, Percy?"

"Huh? Oh... nothing." He started off again, glancing back at the brownstone across the street.

When we got to school we had to go to our English class, which Tyson was also a part of. Tyson was a sweet thing; he was a Cyclops, which I had discovered on our first day, but he gained my trust. I even nailed the school bully in the face for him, which instantly made him our friend and singled us out, but we didn't care.

Tyson was really just like a little kid, both in how he talked and his innocence- just a baby really in Cyclops terms. I knew he was just lonely and needed friends from that first day. Both Percy and I had grown protective over him despite what he was. I honestly didn't think Percy was aware that Tyson was a Cyclops, but that didn't really matter - it was how he acted that counted, and he was so sweet and innocent. What happened during English was good example of that.

We were sent out into the break yard for our "final exam", having read Lord of the Flies. It was the eighth graders and us seventh graders. Needless to say, two pebble fights, a full-tackle basketball game, and a wedgie contest came into being during that exercise. The leader of most of those activities often was Matt Sloan, the school bully I had slugged. Sloan was just like those rich delinquent kids Yancy had. He made the mistake of trying to give Tyson a wedgie and ended up being swatted fifteen feet away, tangled up into the tire swing. Tyson had panicked when Matt snuck up on him.

"You freak!" Sloan yelled as he detached himself from the swing. "Why don't you go back to your cardboard box!"

Tyson started sobbing as he sat down on the jungle gym, burying his head into his hands. I did my best to comfort him but he was still pretty upset.

"Take it back, Sloan!" Percy shouted. Matt just sneered.

"Why do you even bother, Jackson? You might have friends if you weren't always sticking up for that freak."

"He wouldn't need anyone to stick up for him if you didn't bully him, Sloan." I said, shooting a glare at him.

"Pff, like you would know." He said, which made no sense. "Just wait till PE, Jackson." He called to Percy. "You are so dead." I wasn't sure, but his comment made me more wary than it might have been on a different day. There seemed to be more goons hanging around the kid than usual.

I turned my attention back to Tyson. "Tyson, I will get you an extra peanut butter sandwich at lunch, buddy. Alright? Don't worry about what that idiot said, he doesn't know what he's talking about. You are better than he will ever be."

"Yeah, Tyson. Sloan is just a bully." Percy put in.

"I... I am a freak?" He asked sadly.

"No," Percy promised, but I caught him gritting his teeth. "Matt Sloan is the freak."

"Tyson, Sloan has his own issues that he takes out on others. You are not a freak. You are Tyson, you are a sweet person and he just can't see that over his big head. He is wrapped up in his own stuff and immature."

"You are good friends. Miss you next year if... if I can't..." His voice trembled and I patted him on the back.

"Don't worry, big guy." Percy said. "Everything's going to be fine."

Tyson smiled so happily that it made me feel a bit sad. Neither of us truly knew what would happen to him after this school year.

Meriwether College Prep was on the smaller side of populations as far as schools went, so I had a large chunk of my classes with the boys, but my next two periods were different from their schedules. During Gym there was a lot of activity in the hallways though we were told to ignore it and continue our game. We were just playing Sharks and Minnows mainly, Coach Nunley sitting at his desk reading a sports magazine.

My next class was Science with Mrs. Tesla. Our final exam was mixing chemicals until we caused something to explode. There was a faint smell lingering in the air of something that had been burning once I entered the room, and I saw a few orange marks running up the wall above the trash can, so I figured someone received an "A".

Mixing chemicals until something exploded was a very bad idea in my book, especially for middle school kids. Either way I just threw a bunch of the stuff into a test tube and watched it smoke, followed by a big puff of smoke as it made a miniature explosion.

Most of the day I found myself thinking back to this morning and what Sally said about Camp. I wanted so badly to just I-M Chiron, or even shadow travel there. I needed to know what was wrong.

During my next class, Social Studies, I bent down to pick up my pencil while doing the review and when I came back up there was a paper on my desk.

It read in Greek: Allison, trouble. Will be with Percy, find us soon. -AC

I recognized it immediately to be Annabeth's handwriting. I pocketed the note, taking a quick glance around the room only to come up blank. Nobody but the normal students were in here, the door was ajar though. She must be using her invisibility cap. What are you doing so far from camp this early, Annabeth?

Soon a few explosions echoed throughout the building and teachers started rushing to see what the problem was, students lingering by the doors. I got the feeling it had not come from the science lab.

"Wait here, do not move!" My teacher ordered and ran out of the classroom in the direction of the Gym. My thoughts went straight to Percy - the only logical explanation for this. My classmates were just looking around at each other but I threw down my books and ran out the door for the Gym.

By now sirens were sounding and there was a choppy voice coming through the loudspeakers. I ignored it all and ran, turning the corner to see a mass of teachers lead by our headmaster, Mr. Bonsai, trying to unlock the gym doors. From the glowing light and smoke coming through the cracks in the doorway I figured things were bad and ran into a broom closet. If the teachers couldn't get through the doors, then it was safe to say I wouldn't be able to easily do it with them around.

I focused my energy and shadow traveled into the gym, near the bleachers. What I saw was a wreck of a gym. The boy's locker room looked like dynamite had run its course and there were pot marks all over the walls, their source appearing to be flaming metal dodge balls. "Only us..." I muttered as I saw the end of a Laistrygonian bursting into a cloud of green flame.

There, standing with her knife out, was Annabeth- grimy and scratched up, but still Annabeth. She looked like she had been on the run for days too, like someone would look after a quest. Her eyes had a wild storm look to them and she had a backpack on. I ran up to them as Matt Sloan spoke.

"That's the girl... That's the girl-" I had no clue what he was talking about but Annabeth decided he needed to be punched in the nose, knocking him flat. Huh, just like the first day. At least I'm not the only one.

"And you, lay off my friend." She barked down at him. I skidded to a stop before them.

"Got your note- what are you doing here and what happened?"

"Laistrygonian dodge ball." Annabeth supplied.

"Ah." So my guess was correct.

"Annabeth..." Percy stammered. "How did you... how long have you..."

"Pretty much all morning." She sheathed her knife and readjusted her backpack. "I've been trying to find a good time to talk to you, but you were never alone."

"That shadow this morning- that was-" Percy's face went beet red. "Oh my gods, you were looking in my bedroom window?"

"There's no time to explain!" Annabeth snapped, red-faced herself. "I just didn't want to-"

"There!" A teacher screamed. Mr. Bonsai had managed to get the doors to work and teachers and staff were pouring into the gym.

"Meet me outside," Annabeth said quickly. "And him," She pointed to Tyson, who was sitting with a fuzzy look on his face against the wall. Annabeth gave him a short look of distaste. "You'd better bring him."

"What?" Percy asked, confused.

"No time," She said. "Hurry!" She threw on her Yankees cap and vanished. The two of us were left standing in the middle of a burning gymnasium with our headmaster, half the faculty, and some police officers storming in. I quickly slouched and clutched my arm. We would not get out of this one easily.

"Percy Jackson? Allison Cooper?" Mr. Bonsai said. "What... how... you aren't even in this class."

Matt Sloan of course chose that time to come around and look at Percy with a look of pure terror. "Percy did it, Mr. Bonsai! He set the whole building on fire! Coach Nunley will tell you! He saw it all!"

Coach Nunley finally decided to look up and say, "Eh? Yeah. Mm-hmm."

All of the adults turned to us.

I got a split second idea to try and ease the blame off us and went for it. I snapped my fingers, focusing hard on the Mist. The faces of the adults closest to us turned slightly blank as they looked to me. "Mr. Bonsai, it was Matt's friends that did this, I ran here once I heard it because I was worried about Percy. Percy would never do something like this, Matt is lying." I said as sincerely as I could, willing the Mist to work with me. A few of them gave small nods, as if understanding.

Percy grabbed his sword out of his ruined jeans and called to Tyson. I caught Percy's eye and gave him a pointed look to Tyson, then to him, then tilted my head toward the gaping hole in the wall. His eyes were wild from the fight but he nodded. I knew he wouldn't get out of this one very easily, he was going to be thrown to the wolves - I just hoped my attempt at the Mist confused them enough to lessen the blow.

"Come on!" He told Tyson and the two of them jumped through the hole in the side of the building.

"What are you all waiting for? The building is burning, we need to get everyone out!" I said, trying to get their attention away from Percy's escape but I saw their faces turning back to normal.

Mr. Bonsai just raised an eyebrow as some of the adults went to help the kids that were still scattered around the gym.

"Um... bye!" I turned on my heel and ran for the Girl's locker room, throwing open the door and leaving a confused, slightly indignant Mr. Bonsai in the dust. I pulled the door shut, hit the lights, and used the shadows coming from the little light poking through to bring myself outside the school.

I landed in the shadow of a building further down the street and saw two police cars, tailed by a fire truck go flying past me, heading for the school. I began walking down the street in search of Percy and Annabeth. I was just glad I hadn't come from Gym, otherwise I would stand out like a sore thumb with our Gym uniforms like Percy and Tyson probably were.

Another minute passed and yet another cop car came whizzing down the street and just as I started to run for cover a car that could only be described as a misty tai flew by. I somehow was able to catch sight of Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson all squeezed inside the back. Whatever it was I trusted that it was all a part of Annabeth's plan to get them to camp. She probably knew I could get myself there and left me behind to try damage control and tell Sally. Alright, that I can do.

I found the nearest alley and brought myself into the hallway outside our apartment. I took a brief moment to steady myself, fished the key from my pocket, unlocked the door, and stepped inside. I exhaled a long breath, leaning against the now closed door. Of course something just had to go wrong on the last day, just our luck. I flipped on the lights. Sally was at work right now at the candy shop so I would have to leave a note. I made my way into the back bedrooms and took out the old backpack I used for last year's quest.

"Alrighty, going to camp early... what will I need..." I sifted through my small closet. I pulled out some clothes and basic supplies, a small bag of spare drachmas, and my backup knife from the drawer. I hesitated, hand hovering over the box containing the picture of me and Nick. Did I want to risk it getting ruined? I needed to get a copy of it so I didn't have to worry about ruining the last picture I had of him.

I pushed the drawer shut again, snatching my Chimera tooth necklace and slipping it over my head, tucking away the tooth. I slung my backpack over my shoulder and went into Percy's room. I packed whatever I thought he could need into a spare bag and went to the kitchen to leave a note.

Dropping the bags in the doorway I opened the fridge in search of our reserve bottle of nectar. I had to move a carton of eggs and some of last night's meal from my path before I found it behind a sports drink. I unscrewed the top and took a quick swig of the godly drink, the taste of my mother's caramel filling my mouth. I would need the extra energy to get the rest of the way to camp.

I screwed the top back on and hid it back in the fridge. I searched around for some note paper and a pen, and once I gathered them I scribbled down a brief note to Sally describing what happened and that we were going to camp. I was pretty sure I spelled Laistrygonian wrong, but I figured she would get the gist of it.

I actually cringed when I heard the phone ringing, probably the school. It wouldn't surprise me after what just happened, even if the Mist only made them a bit more confused. I put the note down on the table as the answering machine went off, Mr. Bonsai's furious yet slightly morose voice coming through the speaker, I winced. Sally would have a big mess to clean up when she got home. I ignored the message and went back to the doorway.

Scooping up the bags I shut off the light, the afternoon light filtering in through the windows. "And away I go." I stepped into the shadow of the couch and was off. I pulled myself through the shadows, clutching onto our bags and focused in on the Big House basement. Typically nobody ever went down there so it should be safe, I could dip into the ambrosia supply there if need be once I arrive too.

After landing in the Big House basement I pressed my hand to the cool wall to let the moment of dizziness pass. Once it did I climbed the stairs and opened the door leading to the main level. I started to really become aware of this one weird type of feeling , it had started once I arrived downstairs but I couldn't pinpoint it. It was like something was different with the camp, or there was a really sick or injured camper nearby. Normally that wouldn't stand out too much to me, but this time it did. It felt like more than just a simple sickness or injured demigod. The whole place was off.

I slid myself through the door with the bags, tossing them onto the couch in the living room as I passed.

"Chiron?" I called, knowing that sometimes at this time of day he would be filling out papers or organizing camp funds.

"Allison Cooper? In here." I heard him call from his office from his wing of the Big House. His voice sounded odd, not its usual tone. Strained almost. As I opened the door I heard some old music playing and he was busy packing.

"What's going on, Chiron?" I didn't like the sight I was seeing.

"Ah, that is a difficult subject. I was not expecting you to be here."

"Chiron..." But his ears twitches slightly and he turned his head.

"I believe there is something happening on the hill, would you investigate that for me, please?" I knew he was trying to avoid the obvious questions but I nodded anyway.

"This isn't over, Chiron. I'll be right back." I left him to his own devices and went to the front of the wraparound porch. Looking out at the hill I saw a horrible sight. Thalia's pine tree was a sickly yellow and smoke was rising up from the hillside. I then saw something that made my stomach lurch: a bronze bull the size of a full grown elephant was rampaging across the hillside, campers scattering in its wake.

"Styx!" I started running full tilt to the fight. As I grew closer I heard Clarisse's distinct voice shouting.

"Let me go! Percy, curse you!" I saw her and Percy at the base of the pine, more shouts coming from the fight. The closer I got I realized that there was not just one bull, but two. The first one had started in a wide arch inside the border and the second had turned to face Percy and Clarisse, fire blazing out of a gash on its flank.

I nearly tripped, foot catching on something in the grass. It was a spear- most likely lost by a camper during the battle, likely having rolled down the hill. I scooped it up and continued running. Percy was busy dodging the second bull. He rolled to the side and cut its muzzle. I watched him trying to stand again but his leg buckled underneath him.

The first bull was charging straight at him.

"Tyson, help him!" Annabeth shouted. I wouldn't be able to shadow travel quickly enough to where he was with all these campers around, let alone after the three consecutive trips I just did. Tyson was struggling against the camp barrier and Annabeth called out, letting him through the borders. Tyson dove in front of Percy just as the bull unleashed a firestorm almost like the Chimera did at the Arch. I heard Percy yell Tyson's name in panic, Tyson completely engulfed in flames.

When the flames died down Tyson was still there, his clothes now scorched but otherwise unaffected. I ran up to Percy's side, sliding the last bit and crouching next to him, pulling his arm over my shoulder and standing him up. I started to try to get him away from the bull but Tyson had it covered, taking advantage of its brief pause, maybe out of surprise at not seeing Tyson as a pile of ashes.

"BAD COW!" Tyson balled his fists and slammed them into the bull's face, creating a crater where its shout used to be as it tried to start up another fire burst. The fire welled up and shot out of its ears, the main passage blocked.

"Down!" The bull staggered and fell onto its back, legs moving like an upside-down turtle, steam pouring the cracks in its ruined head.

Annabeth came up to us, checking over Percy and giving me a small nod. She pulled some nectar out for him as I helped him keep the weight off his ankle.

"The other bull?" He asked.

Annabeth pointed downhill. Clarisse had successfully speared the second cow through the back leg with a spear. It was running in slow motion circles now, like a broken windup toy. She pulled off her helmet and marched over to us. Some of her hair was smoldering but she didn't seem to care, and I didn't bother pointing it out. "You-ruin-everything!" She yelled. "I had it under control!"

"Good to see you too, Clarisse." Annabeth grumbled.

"Argh!" She screamed. "Don't ever, EVER try saving me again!"!

"I think this belongs to one of your wounded campers - you know, the ones lying hurt on the hill." I tossed her the spear I had picked up. That seemed to sober her up. Even the rough and tough daughter of War cared about her soldiers.

"I'll be back," she growled and proceeded to trudge off to do a check.

"You didn't die." Percy said, staring at Tyson in amazement.

Tyson looked down, embarrassed. "I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."

"My fault." Annabeth said. "I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the boundary line to save you. Otherwise you would've died."

"Let him cross the boundary line?" He asked, putting down his foot and removing his arm from my shoulder. "But-"

"Percy, have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean... in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him." He looked intently at Tyson. I frowned slightly, not knowing how exactly Percy would react. Knowing him he would probably be a bit shocked at first, but I had faith that in the end he would still be Tyson's friend.

"Tyson," Percy stammered. "You're a..."

"Cyclops," Annabeth offered. "A baby, by the looks of him. Probably why he couldn't get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. Tyson's one of the homeless orphans."

"One of the what?"

"They're in almost all the big cities," Annabeth said distastefully and I found myself taking a step closer to Tyson. "They're... mistakes, Percy. Children of nature spirits and gods... Well, one god in particular, usually... and they don't always come out right. No one wants them. They get tossed aside. They grow up wild on the streets. I don't know how this one found you, but he obviously likes you two. We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do.

"He can understand you, you know, Annabeth." I told her, but at the mention of Chiron my worries came back, temporarily forgotten during the attack. I didn't like what I saw when I was in Chiron's office.

"But the fire. How-" Percy started.

"He's a Cyclops." Annabeth paused, like she was remembering something. "They work in the forges of the gods. They have to be immune to fire. That's what I was trying to tell you."

Percy looked shocked but Clarisse didn't give him much time to think it over as she marched back over to us. "Jackson, come on. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what happened."

"What?" I asked sharply, head snapping around to face her. "Who?"

"Tantalus?" Percy asked.

"The activities director," Clarisse said impatiently. Chiron, what the heck are you doing?

"Chiron is the activities director. And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here."

Clarisse made a sour kind of face. "Argus got fired. You three have been gone too long. Things are changing."

"But Chiron... He's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. He can't just be gone. What happened?"

"That happened." She snapped, pointing to Thalia's tree. I took a step closer to the tree and pressed my hand against the bark. So that is what felt so off... Thalia. Her tree is poisoned and it's affecting all of camp. Her spirit as still inside the tree somehow, I could sense it. She wouldn't be down in the Underworld if this much of her was still here. She reinforced the magical borders of camp now. Something had always felt off about the tree.

I looked up at the sickly yellowed needles on the branches, then to the ones at my feet. In the center of the trunk, about a meter off the ground was a puncture mark that oozed green sap. This is what Sally needed to tell us. They tree is dying, along with Thalia's spirit.

AN: Hello new and old readers! I just wanted to post a quick few notes: I post once a week, usually at the end of the week. I always post (The story is fully written out and I do a check edit before I post) unless something comes up and I am unable to get to my computer or something of that nature. As you may have noticed, this is the second book in my Into the Darkness series. Book 1 was about Allison's entrance into her new life and mostly surrounding the Master Bolt quest. This book focuses around the Golden Fleece quest. It may be a bit boring to begin with but it will pick up soon. Each chapter is at least 3k, if it is a short chapter I always post two to make up for it but I am pretty sure all Book 2's chapters are at least 3k. I had a lot of fun writing this and I hope you enjoy reading it. I will cut this here, be sure to let me know what you thought of it so far, and have a fantastic day/week!

Note: Story Cover Picture Line-art by Incredibru (Check her out, she rocks) Color & Background by myself