Ok well hi! SOOO much homework. My head will explode. There's math everywhere! Anyways. . .

I held my temper for the whole taxi ride.

Percy kept trying to start conversations the whole way to Camp Half-Blood, but he wasn't making much progress with me. He should know better than that. All I let slip was that monsters had come swarming at me throughout the summer like Aphrodite kids around mascara (No surprise there ), that I'd come back twice since Christmas, but I didn't elaborate which seemed to tick him off. Good. The reason was because Clarisse, a daughter of Ares and Percy's enemy since his first day at camp, had found Chris Rodriguez while exploring the labyrinth, this huge maze created by Daedalus, a son of Athena who's my mom too, the ultimate architect.

I also mentioned how I hadn't learned anything about where Nico Di Angelo was (long, scary, life threatening story).

" Any word on Luke?" Percy asked.

I gripped the seat and shook my head forlornly. If Percy was trying to get on my good side, this wasn't the way to do it. Luke had been like a big brother to me and for a while something more . . . Before Percy, that is. Now he was sailing on a monster infested cruise ship set out to destroy the world with his mulch mix Lord Kronos, but Luke was still unreasonably important to me and I know I can change his mind. There had to be some good left. Last year, we'd had a fight on top of Mount Tamalpais which eneded up with Luke falling down a fifty feet drop. Some how he survived.

Since we were on the topic I added, " Mount Tam is still overrun with monsters," No surprise there. " I didn't dare go close, but I don't think Luke is up there. I think I would know if he was." Percy didn't look very happy about this news. He changed the subject.

"What about Grover?" He asked.

"He's at camp," I hedged. " We'll see him today."

"Did he have any luck" I mean, with the search for Pan?"

My hands flew up to my necklace out of habit when I'm worried.

"You'll see." Was all I said.

Percy stopped trying to talk me as we passed through Brooklyn. When he asked to call his mom with my cellphone, I just shifted my head slightly as a yes. If he asked to call anyone else,( namely Rachel) I'd gut him. Besides, using a cellphone if your a demigod is insanely dangerous. You might as well walk into our woods at Camp Half-Blood at night with a torch and Percy who smells like sushi to them. It sends up a flare to monsters letting them know theres a snack near by. I know all the myths say the monster come to "challenge" us but really, there just hungry.

After the call, an awkward silence fell over us. Soon we were out of the expressway and out into the countryside of northern Long Island.

As the taxi exited on Route 25A, I started getting anxious. How could I explain everything to Seaweed Brain? If anybody could convince Grover, it was Percy but I wasn't really in a good mood with him at the moment. I needed breathing room.

I told the driver to pull over at Farm Road 3.141, the base of Half-Blood Hill.

As expected, the driver frowned and said, " There ain't nothing here, miss. You sure you want out?"

" Yes please." I replied testily, then handed him a roll of cash to shut him up.

Percy and I hiked up the hill. Peleus, our young guardian dragon, was curled up around the pine tree like always. As we a approached, he raised his shiney head and I scratched under his chin. Stream went shooting up through his nostrils and he went cross-eyed.

"Hey Peleus." I greeted cheerfully. " Keeping everything safe?"

Percy raised his eyebrows at Peleus. I couldn't blame him. The dragon had grown more that double his original length since the last time Percy saw him. On the pine's branches, the golden fleece danced in the light protecting our camp from invasion.

Below us the campers are going on with the day. Riding flying horses, making there own dangerously leathel weapons, and all that fun stuff. A couple of campers are fighting an orange sea serpent in the lake and the Big House stands proudly in the strawberry fields. I decide to just drop it on Percy for now.

"I need to talk to Clarisse."

Percy looked at me like I had gone insane. I wasn't really expecting anything less. " What for?" He replied in an incredulous voice. I b He'll it back a bubble of hysteria at his face. Really, I couldn't blame him. They'd met on Percy's first day and Clarisse had tried to dunk Percy's head in the toilit. It made matters worse when Percy doused her in toilet water for trying. Now they had this I Kill You basis thing that Clarisse seems to reinforce every time she takes a dive at Percy. Its entertainment at its best.

" We've been working on something." I reply. " I'll see you later."

" Working on what?"

Not bothering on answering, I continued with a glance at the forest where in no time Grover would get his hearing. " I'll tell Chiron you're here," Definitely. " He'll want to talk to you before the hearing."

"What hearing?"

But I was already gone.