Annabeth didn't feel particularly victorious at the moment. She was in the backseat of a taxi cab on her way home. Home, it seemed an odd choice of word, for she ran away when she was just seven years old. But now, she was returning, and only Zeus knew what awaited her.

"Ello, Miss," the cab driver said, politely, in a gruff accent. "How's the day goin' for yee?"

He met her wary gray eyes via the rearview mirror, "That bad, eh?"

Annabeth shook her head, and promptly decided to glare out the window.

"It won't be so bad," the taxi driver rambled on, "Where yer goin' has lots of life to it, y'know? Lots of wild life..." He trailed off dreamily, which Annabeth immediately found suspicious. "And, er, well it's gotta be better than that musty old strawberry field. I swear. It must be abandoned or somethin'."

"It's a strawberry export," Annabeth said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her tone. She would prefer the ride in silence. "It's not abandoned. And it's not musty," she added as an afterthought.

The cab driver nodded slowly, "So, yer headed off to New York, are ya?"

Annabeth folded her hands in her lap and stared at them, "Yes. What's it to you?"

"Just thought I'd make some polite conversation, y'know. Lots 'o people come and go, not many stop to talk. It gets lonely."

"Surely you have a life besides driving a taxi," Annabeth reasoned, logically.

The cab driver smiled wryly to himself, "Yar would think, wouldn't yee?"

"So you drive a taxi all the time? That's not possible!" She argued.

"Ah, but it is, my little sea cucumber," the taxi man chuckled. "Tis alright, I don't mind it much. Drivin', alas, is what I do best. 'Why not make a livin' out of it,' I thought, when I was just a wee lad." He shook his head sadly. "Never did think things through. I was quite the character, ya see."

Annabeth frowned slightly.

"Might I ask yer name, miss?"

"Annabeth," she responded, quietly.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha," he chuckled, "That's a bit of an odd name, yee got there. Parents must be mighty proud."

Annabeth leaned her head against the frosty window, "Yeah, proud," she muttered, thinking of her father and her step mother. She didn't feel they were proud when she'd ran away when she was seven. "My mother named me," she recalled, remembering her mother.

Yeah, her mother would be proud.

"Well looks like we be reachin' yar destination, Annabeth!" The taxi driver announced. "New York City!"

Annabeth braced herself for the uncomfortable reunion that would ensue. She took a deep breathe. "Okay. Look, thanks for the ride. I'm pretty sure my father already paid you in advance but here..." She offered the taxi driver a five dollar bill, but instead of a hand grabbing it, it was a green flipper.

Annabeth shook her head. Her eyes must have been playing tricks on her.

The taxi driver examined the bill, "Thanks, miss. But...what are these silly green things yee be givin' me?"

"Um. Money."

"Well," the taxi driver said gruffly, "they ain't no bells, but it's the thought that counts I 'spose. Enjoy your time in New York, miss."

"Thanks..." Her gratitude was lost as she noted her surroundings. It was certainly not a city that surrounded her, but a...forest? "Wait, where- where am I?" She asked, but the taxi had already driven off.

"You- YOU THERE!"

Annabeth's eyes widened as a raccoon in an apron trotted up to her.

REMMY'S NOTE: hee-heee!:D just a little something that randomly came to me today. plz review!