Two hours later Annabeth pulled into a 24 hour coffee shop with a neon sign declaring that internet connection could be had there. Percy woke from his long nap when she stopped, and stretched in his seat.
"Wakey wakey sleepyhead" Said Annabeth.
Percy groaned, still hidden under his hood. "Why are our friends nocturnal? It's almost midnight."
"They aren't nocturnal" replied Annabeth. "It's only 8pm in San Fran. Four hour time difference."
Percy slouched out of the car and followed his girlfriend into the coffee shop. Annabeth bought a cookie while Percy ordered a black coffee. He would try and get in a few more hours of driving tonight. They sat down and connected to the wifi, and a few minutes later, Jason popped up on the screen of Annabeth's laptop.
"Annie! My girl! We miss you! Frank and Hazel are here too. Say hi guys!" Jason said.
The sounds of a muffled scuffle came from off screen, and Hazel's voice saying "Give the laptop back Jay, you can't have them all to yourself."
Frank's fuzzy head swung in and out of view, and then Hazel's dark sweet face appeared. The boys peered over her shoulders.
"Hey guys. How's the trip been so far?" Asked Hazel. Her voice was light, but there was a seriousness in the set of her dark brown eyes.
"Well, we've only been on it for about 10 hours, but it's been amazing." Replied Percy.
Annabeth had gone uncharacteristically silent. She was studying Hazel's face on the screen, and she looked worried. Suddenly, she spoke up.
"Hazel, tell us what's going on. I can tell that there's something wrong, and I can also tell that you're reluctant to tell us, probably because you don't want to spoil our wonderful road-trip. And so it must be something bad, something that will endanger our wonderful road-trip."
Percy had a baffled look on his face. It was clear he had not picked up on any of that, and was probably now thinking something like, how come girls are psychic?
Behind Hazel, Frank murmured something that sounded like "Busted".
Jason just sighed.
With an apologetic look, Hazel relented.
"I was going to tell you. I just didn't want you guys to have to deal with this right away, because it seems like all you ever deal with is magical godly dangerous drama, and you deserve a break. More than anybody."
"Wow", said Jason. "Magical godly dangerous drama. That could be an acronym. MGDD. Like TGIF."
"Okay, whatever you say Jason." Percy said with a grin. "Listen guys, dealing with MGDD is just what we do. We've resigned ourselves to our fate. Now please, tell us what's going on, the suspense is killing me."
Hazel took a deep breath, and dove in.
"Okay. So you know that Camp Jupiter monitors magical and monster activity around the country, right? In the past few weeks, there's been some strange activity along the west coast. Monster's are becoming more active, they're flocking here as if being attracted by some kind of beacon. Normally, monsters just kind of pop up and do their thing, but now, monsters who pop up in Kansas are coming to California to do their thing. It's like something attracting them."
She paused and took a deep breath, and then continued.
"The numbers are rising fast. If we don't stop whatever is going on, the west coast could be overrun within months."
Annabeth and Percy exchanged a look. No matter how many potentially catastrophic scenarios you dealt with, the feeling of panic you got when you realized the scale of the crisis never went away. Under the table, the couple linked hands.
Hazel faltered, and Jason smoothly took over the briefing, turning the webcam to face him.
"That's not all. Usually, monsters mostly just go after demigods and magical beings. For the most part, they ignore humans. But now, human monster attacks are on the rise. Somethings got to be shifting their focus to the humans."
Jason looked slightly ill at the thought. Now Frank moved into the camera and spoke.
"Listen guys, we're worried about you, just the two of you travelling alone. It's not safe on the west coast for demigods anymore, outside of Camp. And I know, you guys are two of the most powerful demigods of this era. But as your friends, we worry. The monsters are hunting in swarms, because there are so many of them. They could overwhelm you."
Annabeth felt her heart warm at the concern her friends showed for Percy and her. After all they had been through together, 'friends' didn't even cover it. They were a family, and she could understand exactly where they were coming from, because the thought of losing any of the seven caused a pain to sharp to bear.
"Okay, this is bad. So what's the plan?" Annabeth asked.
Hazel had recovered her words by now, and reclaimed the webcam.
"Camp Jupiter is sending out a quest, and Jason and Frank and I are the nominees. Normally they would send out demigods who hadn't gotten a chance to quest yet, but this time⦠well, they think it's too dangerous for an inexperienced demigod. They don't want to lose anyone, and I guess we have a reputation for pulling off the impossibly dangerous."
Percy spoke up: "Are you guys okay with that? We're not the only ones who deserve a break, you all did just as much to defeat Gaea."
"It's like you said man," Said Frank. "It's what we do. We can't very well refuse."
"We should join forces." Annabeth was already beginning to plan, analysing and mapping in her mind. "We'll be safer as a group. Percy and I have to get to New Rome anyways, and we can't let you guys take this on alone."
Jason nodded in agreement, and Percy whooped.
"The seven reunited! Oh wait, the five I guess. Are Piper and Leo up to speed?"
"I was going to mention that." Replied Jason. "I talked to them earlier today. Chiron doesn't want them to come, he says that seven demigods will be too strong of a beacon for monsters. Five is already pushing it. And he wants his two best counselors, barring you guys of course, to stick around camp. But they believe, and I agree, that we're stronger together, even if it does mean a bigger group. They're coming to join us, sneaking out of camp tonight. I guess Leo has engineered a specially modified Jeep for the trip."
Annabeth nodded thoughtfully as she processed the new information.
"We should meet at the top of the coast, where it's somewhat safer, so that none of us have to travel through the danger zone alone. Maybe Vancouver? Hazel Frank and Jason, I assume you are flying? You won't be safe travelling over land."
"We've got protected passage from my dad to the meet up spot." Said Jason.
"Vancouver sounds perfect. That's my home turf!" Frank put in.
"Okay", Percy began decisively, "to recap, Annabeth and I will wait for Leo and Piper to catch up tonight. We'll drive to Vancouver to meet you guys at say, noon, two days from now, on the 23rd. There we'll all convene to make a plan, and we'll head down the coast and kick some monster butt!" He finished triumphantly.
"Also", Percy continued, "I insist that despite the fact that this is now technically a quest, we treat it as the fun and exciting road-trip it was meant to be. Annabeth and I have a lovely new car, and we will be most disgruntled if it gets injured."
Everyone agreed. They all pledged to protect the car with their lives if necessary.
Sorry it's short, this chapter was pretty much setting up the plot. Will hopefully update again by the end of the weekend. Pretty please review, it is so wonderful and helpful.
