Answering That Call

Disclaimer: Apparently some guy called Rick Riordan owns this, who knew? The idea of this was inspired by a tumblr post.

Warning: Very slight Mark of Athena spoilers at the end.

Percy

Percy Jackson was sitting down in Central Park, his arm wrapped around Annabeth. She was talking about architecture, mythology or something intelligent. Percy wasn't actually sure. He couldn't stop himself from getting distracted by her stormy eyes, and there was squirrel that seemed to be stealing everyone's food.

Percy wanted to give that squirrel a high five.

"Percy are you even listening?" Annabeth asked crossing her arms.

"Mmhmm," he grinned, hoping his devilish good looks would distract her.

"What was I saying then?"

Busted. His good looks had failed him, once again. Maybe he should try different techniques now, like downing people in water, but he didn't think Annabeth would appreciate that.

"You were, uh, saying architecture related stuff?" Percy said, pretty sure he may have got it right.

"I was talking about my day at school," Annabeth rolled her eyes, "What am I going to do with you Seaweed Brain?"

"Not dump me?"

Annabeth laughed, "You're hopeless. What were you doing anyway?"

Percy thought it was a good idea to not mention the squirrel, "Looking into your eyes."

"Nice save."

Percy couldn't stop smiling; he was in the most beautiful place in New York with the most beautiful girl having the time of his life. Forgetting that he was a demigod and there were monsters plotting to kill him, forgetting that he had lost friends, but right now, here he was with Annabeth Chase. And he loved every second of it.

Percy brushed a strand of golden hair behind Annabeth's ear and leant forwards to kiss her. It still made his heart beat ferociously after all this time and brought him back to when he first kissed Annabeth in the labyrinth.

"Percy?"

Percy turned his head and pulled his special pen out of his pocket, ready to decapitate whoever interrupted his kiss. Unfortunately, it was his mom who interrupted him, so he couldn't really behead her.

"Mom, I'm kind of busy." Percy said, looking from Annabeth to his mom. Did she see that?

"Oh sorry, it was just Annabeth, do you want to come round for dinner tonight?" Sally looked slightly flustered and was avoiding eye contact with Percy.

Percy guessed it wasn't because she disapproved of Annabeth, she had mentioned several times that she was the most level headed demigod she'd ever met. So Percy presumed it was all good. But catching your teenage son kissing her. Maybe it wasn't all so good.

Annabeth, as if she finally came to the realisation that Percy's Mom had seen them making out, was looking more and more like a tomato and Percy wondered if it was possible if she could get any redder. She cleared her throat and said, "Sure, thanks."

Sally smiled, "I'll guess I'll just go now, and leave you to, um, to it."

Percy frowned; his mom had missed something incredibly important. "Wait."

"What is it?" Sally asked.

Annabeth shot Percy one of those could-you-please-be-quiet looks, but he ignored it and said in dead seriousness, "What exactly are we having to eat?"

Sally sighed, "Fajitas Percy."

"Good."

Piper

Being the superstar dad he is, Piper's dad always took forever to get ready. Piper knew he wasn't expecting any paparazzi but it still didn't stop him for taking hours. His excuse was that his hair was always messy.

"Dad, hurry up!" Piper yelled. They were going to miss the best waves.

"In a second Pipes," He called back.

Piper rolled her eyes, typical movie stars. More like ten minutes.

Her dad had just recently broken up with another famous Hollywood actress. He said it was because he kept on comparing her to Piper's mother and she was never the same standard. So he decided both Piper and him needed a surfing break.

Piper wasn't complaining; surfing, quality time with her dad and gourmet peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, what's not to love? But she really wanted her dad to be happy and find another girl, hopefully not one plastered in makeup though.

While her dad was getting ready, Piper decided to listen to the waves crash back and forth and smell the Californian seaside. Life was pretty good. Maybe later her Dad may tell her a Cherokee tale, she never believed in them much, she just liked listening to him speak.

Piper's dad's mobile started to ring. Tristan Mclean was always busy.

"Pipes can you get that?" Her dad asked.

"Sure." If he had a sudden press conference or an audition Piper would start throwing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or something.

Piper picked up his mobile, the caller ID was unknown. "Hello?"

"You're not Tristan Mclean."

"No, I'm his demigod daughter," Piper replied. Funnily enough, no one in the real world cared if you were a demigod, they just thought you were having a joke, or you were crazy.

"Can you pass this to Tristan, demigod daughter?" The voice sneered. It was young and a female, Piper wondered if this was going to be her dad's new glamorous co-star. She hoped not.

"Who is it?" Piper asked.

"His future wife."

Oh for the love of Aphrodite,another crazy fangirl had found her dad's mobile number, it would be the third time this month he'd have to change it.

Piper decided a little bit of charmspeaking was necessary, "No you are not Tristan Mclean's future wife and you will forget his number, alright?"

The lady on the other end said, "Yes."

"Now carry on with your life and do something useful. Become a doctor, learn some Latin, read a book, Harry Potter isn't so bad." Piper hated using charmspeak on people but she'd had enough of this and she was doing the lady a favour.

"Uh huh."

"Have a nice day," Piper said while she hung up the phone. She felt a little guiltier after the phone conversation, but the woman would probably return to her normal self sooner or later. Piper was secretly hoping later.

Her dad came down the stairs in a wet suit and he had the same grin he had when he always hit the waves, the same grin which women fell madly in love with, "Who was that Pipes?"

Piper told a part of the truth, "Wrong number."

Her dad ruffled her hair and grinned, "Ready to go surfing?"

Piper raced towards the beach, "You bet."

Leo

Leo couldn't remember the last time he had a decent sleep, he had spent endless nights working on his baby; the Argo II. And when he laid on his bed everything was sweet. He started pressing some buttons. Naturally he had stored in some nachos and dip and when he pressed the green button to his left, voila! Nachos and dips is served. Leo thought you could never have enough nachos and dip.

While he was dipping his nacho in some salsa, Leo began thinking about the interior design of the Argo. The outside was fully built, but rooms were needed for the seven demigods and their supervisor/protector Coach Hedge. Leo made a note to make sure that the walls must be indestructible in Hedge's room for various reasons.

They'd probably need a stable too. Adopting mythical creatures was a habit of demigods, plus Percy's Pegasus Blackjack wanted to come on the quest. And Annabeth would destroy anyone who said they weren't sure if Blackjack should go on the quest. Leo only made that mistake once.

His intercom started buzzing. Leo decided they needed a fairly cheap communication method, not everyone was loaded with drachmas. So he gave out intercoms to people in the camp; Jason, Piper, his cabin, the Hunters of Artemis (although they threw theirs away seconds later) or any remotely pretty girl in the camp. So naturally he had made a lot.

Leo was slightly annoyed. As soon as he gets some alone time with some Nachos, he has to get disturbed. The girl who buzzed him better be pretty damn hot.

Leo started with a smooth introduction "Hello, Leo Valdez bad boy supreme and mechanic extraordinaire talking-"

"Bad boy supreme shut up. It's me Nyssa."

Not exactly Leo's definition of a hot girl, but if Nyssa called it must have been important, she doesn't call people for the fun of it. Or do anything for the fun of it. Actually Leo was actually sure that Nyssa didn't know what fun meant.

Leo sighed, "What?"

"The Stolls have vandalised the Argo II."

That got Leo's attention. Those were the words he never ever wanted to hear. Ever. "What?!"

"They drew the little mermaid on the ship and spray painted Ariel II on it," Nyssa grumbled.

Leo appreciated a joke more than the average person and he got along with the Stolls, but putting graffiti on his baby was a step too far. And then naming it after a Disney Princess was even worse.

"Where are they?"

"They managed to skip some of the security precautions we have surrounding the Argo II, but they must have forgotten about the net we installed at the back door. Jake found them there 30 minutes ago." Nyssa said.

"Well, I vote we get even, the Hephaestus Cabin way."

Leo got out of his comfortable, welcoming bed and put his tool belt and grabbed his tool belt that had been lying on the side. The Stolls weren't going to mess up his baby and get away with it.

Hazel

When Nico had said the world had changed, he wasn't lying. California seemed like a different planet to Hazel, the buildings were huge and there were big boards that seemed to change by magic.

Not to mention the food was different too. But at least it was better.

Hazel had never had pizza before, but Nico explained it was basically bread with melted tomato and cheese and usually had something on top, like meat. Anyway it smelt good and it tasted even better, not as good as Shrimp Gumbo but pretty darn good.

Hazel and Nico were sitting on a bench eating their pizza. Hazel couldn't help but stare at people who walked by they were holding strange contraption close to the ear. And some people had white buds in the ears and they were nodding their heads. Hazel knew it was rude to stare, but it was all so fascinating, and very confusing.

Nico also said that colored people had the same rights, and that was the change Hazel like most of all. It gave her hope.

After a mixture of pizza and orange juice – which reminded Hazel of New Orleans- Hazel really need to go to the ladies room.

Nico guided her to the closest ones. And he made sure she didn't go to the men's which she almost accidentally did. When she went to the bathroom, she was shocked. It wasn't like the 40s; soaps were in containers not bars! And there was this machine which dried your hands. Hazel had to admit it was cool, but really weird.

She walked into a cubicle and locked the door, and then the strange contraption which everyone was holding to their ear laid there. Hazel didn't know what to do with it. Did all modern toilets have this strange contraption?

Hazel picked it up and touched the screen, it lit up and Hazel jumped a few feet back. It read 3 missed calls and 2 unread text messages.

Oh Hazel thought it's a method of communication.

The strange contraption started to ring and vibrate. Hazel started to panic, was this normal? She didn't think it happened in every cubicle or she'd hear more.

She touched the screen again and then a voice came out of the strange contraption.

"Hello, where have you been I've called you three times?"

Hazel decided it was best for her to speak back, "Sorry I've only just come to the toilet now."

"Is this some kind of joke?" The voice on the other end said. The voice had a brittle nasal quality and reminded Hazel of a girl called Patricia who used to make fun of her hair.

"No, I am very serious."

"Listen Gabby, I will not tolera-"

"I'm sorry, my name's Hazel, not Gabby."

"Why the hell have you got Gabby's phone?!"

Hazel started to panic; Nico said that monsters used crafty ways to find demigods. Maybe this strange contraption was a way of hunting down a demigod.

So Hazel did the rational thing. She threw it down the toilet and flushed it. And left the bathroom as fast as possible.

Boy, did she have a story to tell Nico.

Jason

Krios was calling him. And Jason was going to answer.

The battle was bloody and a blanket of death surrounded Mount Tam.

The fifth was being led by Dakota, who was taking over Jason's duty of centurion for the attack. He took a swig of Kool-Aid out of his flask, the crimson liquid running down the corner of his lopsided grin. Next to him was the Gwen, daughter of Spes – the Roman goddess for hope, shouting optimistic words almost making it seem like she was cheerleading.

On the other hand Bobby, legacy of Mercury, was throwing what Jason believed to be stink bombs; but with Bobby he was never sure and yelling insults at the monsters. The rest of the fifth cohort was fighting valiantly.

Jason was proud of his cohort, his family, were fighting just as good as any other cohort.

Meanwhile Jason noticed the first cohort marching towards the black throne, where Krios would be. Octavian, legacy of Apollo, was screaming orders at the cohort, his voice in ear-piercing soprano shriek. Jason should really recommend Octavian not to go on Pop Idol.

Reyna was next to Jason, her dark hair in its usual braid, she was fully dressed in praetor armour and her eyes were focused for battle.

Together they stormed their way to the black throne, killing whatever monster was in their way on the pathway to Krios. And there were a lot of monsters.

When they reached to the top, Krios wasn't what Jason was expecting. The Titan was tall and well built, but with ram horns on top of his head he looked like Lord of the Sheep. Atlas, who was busy holding the sky, looked more intimidating. But he was too busy holding the sky to be much of a threat. Although the monsters surrounding Krios gave him the bad sheep effect.

Jason only needed one look at Reyna to know what the battle plan was. Jason would take Krios and Reyna would take everything that tried to hurt them. They were a natural team.

Reyna gazed at Jason, her dark eyes like an abyss. She opened her as mouth wanting to say something but she thought better of it and charged off into battle.

Jason firmly gripped Ilvis which was in spear mode. He yelled the lines which had been well practiced on several monsters before, "I am, son of Jupiter, leader of the attack to Mount Tam, Centurion of the Fifth Cohort and I will destroy you!"

"Jason, can you wake up now?" Jason opened his eyes to see a really annoyed Thalia in an Iris Message.

"Huh?"

Thalia rolled her eyes, "The hunters are coming and I thought be the amazing older sister I'd tell you before. I don't know how many times I called you."

Jason was sure he heard someone say 'Typical boys' in the background.

"Oh, sorry, see you soon," Jason said slightly miffed that she woke him up.

He waved his hand through the Iris Message and tried to drift back to his dream where he and Reyna were kicking some monster butt.

Annabeth

Annabeth wondered through aisles of the library. Percy was in tow and he was looking more clueless than ever, as if the library was on Mars or another unfamiliar terrain. He could deal with the sea of monsters and he barely looked confused, but a library?

Annabeth and Percy made a bet, which was who would win sparring in Percy's bedroom, her dagger versus Riptide. And naturally Annabeth won. So Percy's forfeit was to go to New York Public Library for longer than two minutes. Annabeth didn't even think it was that bad of a forfeit. There were books of every genre, even those without writing! Percy thought otherwise.

Percy would have taught Annabeth to go skateboarding. That was much worse than going to the library by far.

Annabeth was hoping maybe Percy would like a cover of a book and decide to read. Dyslexia was a pain in the butt for any demigod that wanted to read but Harry Potter was translated into so many languages -including Latin- that Annabeth hoped she'd convince Percy to read it.

Annabeth finally found the Ancient Greek section and started to inspect the books while Percy wondered to the kiddies section and tried to find something with lots and lots of pictures. Annabeth eventually found a book she was content with and decided to find Percy.

The only problem with the New York Public Library was that it's very big and easy to lose your ADHD demigod boyfriend.

She went to the kiddies section and there was no Percy. She went to the toilets and where there was any food around – Percy's two preferred hiding spots- and there was no Percy. She even checked outside by looking out of the windows just in case he got really bored and left or was chased by a gorgon. It wouldn't be the first time Percy escaped from a building by being chased by a gorgon.

The phone in Annabeth's pocket started to ring. She had only brought it with her for emergencies such as disasters at camp, family problems or for a really lost person.

Gods, this call better be important enough to risk my life for, Annabeth thought and then added, and my date with Percy.

She opened her phone and heard had dad's voice the other line, "Hello?"

"Hi dad."

"Sorry Annabeth," Her dad began getting distracted half way through the sentence. "Wrong number, hope you're having a lovely time though."

"Bye dad." Annabeth rolled her eyes as she hung up. For a professor her dad wasn't the brightest bulb in the room. He could explain the Civil War faultlessly but using a mobile phone? Not his speciality.

A nasal voice came through the speakers, "Could Annabeth Chase please come to the front desk we have a lost young man looking for you."

Annabeth couldn't believe it. Percy knew New York like the back of his hand, but he got lost in the library, really?

Annabeth marched to the front desk carefully avoiding contact with anyone when she collected Percy and then she took out her book. Next time they would go skateboarding.

Frank

Frank had pulled the short straw of all the demigods. As he could he turn into a dragon it was a unanimous decision that he had to go and distract Klytios, Trivia's giant, while Jason, Piper, Leo, Hazel, Nico and Hedge sneak into the temple where the House of Hades lies.

Sounds easy? Frank could assure you it's not.

Try dodging a giant that's throwing various curses at you which could possibly turn you permanently into a frog, or may make you randomly combust into flames, just by a random wave of the hand. Frank had never feared death as much as he did now.

He saw Hazel and the others sneak behind Klytios. As long as Frank was distracting the giant and doing his duty he would be fine.

It started to snow heavy snow and the cold ice sizzled when it landed of Frank's wing and burned like Pluto. He hissed in pain, the only sound the dragon could make, but continued drag Klytios further away from his friends.

Klytios continued moving, obviously not aware of what Frank was doing was a trick, but Frank wasn't complaining.

Klytios' spells were wild and uncontrollable, Frank had to admit the aim was pretty poor, he knew from children of Trivia but their magic was more disciplined well trained. Klytios' magic just looked like a chaotic fire work show.

Frank couldn't see the others now so he flew as fast as he could away from the Giant to the safe base where Piper or someone would call him from inside the temple when they got signal, how they would manage to get signal Frank didn't know.

Klytios had decided to let Frank flee, he wasn't a current threat, plus it seemed like Klytios was hell-bent revenging Trivia not an annoying dragon. Frank could live with that.

Frank arrived at the base and sat next to the phone. Piper had convinced tourists to give them seven mobile phones, one for each of those on the House of Hades quest. Frank felt pretty bad about it, but Hazel suggested after they used the phones they would put them in a lost and found. That made Frank feel slightly better about it.

So Frank just waited, and waiting was pretty boring.

The phone decided to ring. Frank thought it was about time until he heard a growl. A hellhound leaped out of nowhere, Frank thought they were on Pluto's side but obviously not.

Frank transformed into a bear and felt his limbs thickening and becoming furrier until he was a huge grizzly. The hell hound pounced when Frank heard the second ring

Frank dodged on the third and on the fourth he managed to swipe his paw slashing at the hell hounds muzzle.

On the fifth ring Frank bit the hellhound in the neck and left it to evaporate into dust and in the sixth ring he returned to the phone.

Frank was still in bear formation when he heard the seventh, last ring and as bears don't have opposable thumbs he couldn't answer the phone. Frank Zhang missed the call.

Reviews would be as awesome as the squirrel Percy was going about.

If you like this, check out my House of Hades, where the seven actually do answer Hera/Juno's call!