Chapter 4

As the duo was leaving camp, they were stopped by someone.

"Well, look at this! The boy and his lovesick girlfriend!" Annabeth's face became red:

"I am NOT lovesick!". The girl just chuckled.

"Hunters, fire!" As soon as this was said, hundreds of arrows, all aimed at Percy, were fired at speeds he would have thought to be humanley impossible. Percy quickly drew out Riptide, and started cutting, slahing and deflecting the arrows that were meant to hurt him. As Percy advanced, the rate of firing slowed down as the hunters arrows ran out. As soon as no more arrows were left Percy lay Riptide on the girl's throat.

"Now, you might not appreciate a man saving your ass and defeating Gaia, but I did. Now, you better show some respect to me and my girlfriend over here, or the result will not be pretty." As Percy took Riptide away from the girl's throat, a bright flash of light appeared. When it left, a certain godess of the hunt appeared.

"You dare attack a member of my hunt, boy? You will pa-" Artemis was interrupted by Thalia.

"Milady, we attacked him. Well, not me, of course." Artemis had a look of defeat on her face.

"Fine, boy." She said. "But if you attack my hunt again, provoked or not, you will-" Artemis stopped as she realised they already left.

Over a day, Percy and Annabeth managed to get to Central Park in New York city, when they collapsed from exhaustion. They took a long break, and after a fuss of what they should do, as the day was coming to a close, they settled for a middle-class motel close to the park.

Percy led Annabeth to the kerb, where he yelled: "TAXI!" and waited. A few seconds later, a battered NY cab raced up to the kerb at speed humanly impossible. As the driver's door wound down, they saw 3 eyeless old ladies in the front seat. A look of horror spread across Annabeth's face.

"Oh, hell no!" She said, and dragged, literally dragged, a confused Percy down the street. Then, Annabeth was restrained from moving by an invisible force, as the taxi raced to come beside them once more. The back door magically opened, and the same force restraining them literally threw them in. Literally. The door closed, the seatbelts strapped the duo in by themselves, and the three grannies creepily turned their heads towards Annabeth.

"Where to, sweet cheeks?" A look of horror crossed Annabeth's face when she realised that they were stuck in here until the reached their destination. Percy piped up and said:

"Hotel of Californa, a few miles from here."

"I wasn't asking you, boy. I was asking sugar-bum over here. So I ask again, girlie. Where do you want to go?" Annabeth was still disturbed about being practically kidnapped, and just muttered: "Hotel... Californa." And with that word, they raced through the streets. Man, Percy thought, I wouldn't be surprised if we just killed someone. Percy looked up as he heard something hit the car. Okay, that's an exaggeration. Mabye we just cast someone into a coma. These old hags shouldn't be driving. Then, a lady, probably the 'Haggiest' of the trio, turned around and said:

"You know, sweetie-boy, we can read your thoughts." All he did in reaction was gulp. I'm screwed, he thought.

Luckily, the old hags didn't kill him. They just used their force powers to kick him to the kerb, while Annabeth was doused with a bucket of water to wake her up and then thrown on top of Percy. Nice ladies, they were (Note the sarcasm). As they reached the motel (Finally!) a doorman was there to, well, open the door for them. As they reached the counter, the receptonist was laughing her head off when they asked for his best room, but immedietly stopped when he saw the balance of their Lotus Hotel credit card. Percy knew that they would be treated like royalty that night, and sure enough, they were. A man led them up to their room, with it's pre-fluffed pillows and all, and treated them to refreshments, as he called them. It really was just a Fanta with a litle umbrella sticking out the top. Cute, but annoying.

Seeing that it was already dark, Percy and Annabeth got into bed, not even brushing their teeth. It had been a long day.

The next day, they were woken by a ball of water. Not just a bit of water sitting in a cup, but a real-life floating ball of water. Annabeth looked terrified. She looked at Percy, as if asking: Is this you? Percy just shook his head. The ball started moving, and formed a hand to motion for the duo to follow it. Annabeth picked up their bag, and they followed the ball out of the motel room and onto the street. Then, the ball whisked away, with two confused demigods following it.

The ball led them into Central Park, past the fountain and into the outskirts of the city. It stopped at around the half-way point of the couple's walk the day before. Well, that's just great, Percy thought. Five hours of walking that we didn't need to do. You see, the duo's stmina and fitness level declined slightly since the giant war. But they could still beat any camper in a one on one duel. Anyway, as Percy and Annabeth was walking through the forest, they heard a snore. Now, it wasn't just any snore that Will Solace yould occasionally emit in his sleep, it was a big snore. Percy uncapped Riptide. He gestured for Annabeth to tay back with his sword, but to no benefit.

Sighing in defeat, he crept forward with Annabeth within an arm's length of his tail, and stopped when he got to a clearing. There, right before him, was the Minotaur! He slowly backed up, but after one step, he made one mistake that he would regret for the rest of his life – he stepped on a twig. At the snapping sound, the beast stirred. The Minotaur stood up and scanned his surroundings to fing Percy and Annabeth slowly backing up, holding hands. Then, Annabeth tripped, bringing down Percy with her. The minotaur advanced, until he was looming above the duo, axe in hand.

Aww, a cliffhanger! So, I can see that you guys are really interested in the pairing, which is hopefully quite obious... Perstia! But I might throw in some other godesses in as well... mabye even a few gods! But I asure you – the god pairing WILL be one-sided. Godesses get all the joys! Anyway, I have to go now, guys, but remember: REVIEW! It only your fingers to press a few buttons and voila! This story won't be deleted (Okay, okay. I'm not that mean. Mabye no reiews will just mean that I won't update). Bye!

Matthew Out.