A huge thank you goes out to everyone who reviewed last chapter. We passed the 100 review mark, which is awesome after only three chapters.

Last chapter I asked you guys whether you'd like to go to Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter and the results are in. Camp Half-Blood was chosen by an outstanding 19-1 margin over Camp Jupiter. CJ only has that 1 because two people said they'd like to go to both camps, so I gave each camp a half-point.

Chapter Four is dedicated to RoyalGreyFeather and the story is still dedicated to JazzApples.

Enjoy Chapter Four of The Ten.

Disclaimer: Rick Riordan isn't heading to college in under a month.

IV: TWO FORMS A TEAM (WITH SOME HELP)

"We need to get out of here," Thalia said as she hopped into Percy's BMW, throwing a small backpack into the backseat. She was wearing a white blouse and jeans, something Percy would never have thought he would see on the princess.

Percy looked over to his left at her before releasing the brake and starting back towards his hotel.

"Why?" He asked. Percy turned the wipers up to the next setting as the rain poured down and lightning flashed overhead. The streets were basically empty. Anyone in their right mind would be inside right now.

Thalia held up her left hand. Percy looked over quickly before returning his eyes to the road. He then had to do a double-take, because he wasn't sure what he saw.

"They let you take it?" He asked somewhat stunned.

Thalia rotated the bracelet around her left wrist nervously with her right hand. She was quiet for a couple of blocks before she answered.

"No. They didn't let me." Her voice was very soft, as if she was holding something back. Truthfully, Thalia didn't want Percy to know what really happened.

"Wait," Percy said, coming to a realization. "You stole it?"

"I had to," she replied quickly as if defending herself. "I didn't really have a choice."

"Oh gods. This is bad. Do they know?"

"I wouldn't have asked you to be quick if they didn't."

"You're right," Percy said as he stopped the car outside the hotel. "We need to leave."

"They don't know it was me," Thalia said to him as the two of them stepped out of the car. "At least, not yet. We have at least twenty-four hours. We need to find out where to go next and get out of the country."

Percy looked over at the princess before leading the way into the hotel. He was quiet for a while. As they entered the room, Thalia spoke up.

"Percy, you ok?" She asked. He gave her a look. "What?"

"I think I'm starting to like you princess."

Thalia rolled her eyes at Percy before jumping onto the bed and making herself comfortable. She pulled out her laptop and powered it up. Percy's mouth formed a smirk and he turned to grab his own laptop before joining the princess on the bed.

"So, any ideas?" Percy asked.

Thalia shook her head. "None right now. You said you got directed towards me?"

"Yeah. And that led me here."

"Ok, it looks like we're not getting any help here. I mean, no one has given you a clue, have they?" She looked to Percy for confirmation. He shook his head. "We should just split up and research and see what we come up with."

"Sounds like a good idea." Percy turned away from Thalia and he immediately brought up Google. After around fifteen seconds of blanking out, he sighed. This was going to be a long night.

Two hours later Thalia was immersed in the history of England when she looked over at Percy. He had both earphones in and he was on a webpage that didn't look anything like research.

"Percy, what are you doing?" She asked.

Percy stood as still as a rock, occasionally clicking the mouse, but otherwise not looking in her direction.

"Percy." Still no reaction. "Percy!"

The black-haired boy jumped and then slowly removed his earphones.

"Yeah?" He asked timidly. Thalia rolled her eyes and then pointed to his computer screen.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, it's Pandora," he replied. "Helps me concentrate."

"What's Pandora?"

Percy's eyes widened. "What? You've never heard of Pandora? Wow, you royals sure are spoiled."

"Just tell me what it is," she yapped at him.

"Ok, ok. Pandora is a music website," Percy said, pointing to the screen. "What you do is type in any artist, song, you name it, into the search bar and it will create a music station based around that artist. It's like radio, but all attuned to what you like and there are barely any commercials, only an ad here and there."

"Wait, any artist?"

"Yeah, for the most part. It will even give you the lyrics of the current song and a bio on the band."

"That's cool. I'll have to check it out." Thalia paused, returning to her own screen when she realized why she was yelling at Percy. "Wait, why weren't you doing any research?"

Percy looked over at Thalia and his face was filled with confusion for a second. Then his facial expression changed completely.

"No, no, I was just changing the song," he said quickly. "I've been doing research, see?" His screen changed to a Wikipedia page.

"Ok, if you say so." Thalia looked away, but then did a quick double-take. "Wait, why are you looking up Queen Victoria?"

"Just a little hunch," Percy replied. Thalia looked at him skeptically.

"Care to explain?"

"Sure." Percy tilted the screen towards her. "Ok, so I was researching about Queen Victoria and I found out that she was born in 1819, right?"

"Yeah, sure," Thalia responded distractedly, wanting him to continue. "That sounds about right."

"Ok," Percy went on. "So on a whim I decided to see what other world events were happening around that time." He looked over at the princess to make sure she was following. Thalia looked at him, urging him to go on. "I found out that several of the Latin American countries, a lot actually, had gotten their independence from their colonial powers during the span of 1810 to 1825. So then I checked the individual countries and I found something interesting. In 1819, the same year Victoria was born, Brazil started their rebellions against Portuguese rule."

"Yeah, and?"

Percy held up a hand, signifying that he wasn't finished.

"Three years later, in 1822, Brazil declared their independence from Portugal. Three years after that they were officially recognized as an independent country."

"Yeah, and? So what?"

Percy sighed. Thalia obviously wasn't catching on.

"Threes," he said. "Things are coming in threes, Thalia. Three years between the first rebellion and the declaration. Three years until they were recognized. It's been three centuries since Queen Victoria's lifetime."

"Again, so what? Why are threes so important?"

"Thalia, we're looking for our third person."

"You get the window seat."

Percy blinked a couple times, not sure he heard her right. She didn't want the window seat? That was a surprise.

"You sure?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm not really fond of heights. I'd rather not see us thirty-thousand feet in the air."

Percy shrugged. "Ok, if you insist."

Percy hopped into the seat by the window and Thalia slid into the seat next to him.

"Oh my god, it's the princess!"

Thalia tensed and Percy looked to his left. A young boy of around ten or so was standing right next to their seats, his mom obviously behind him. Thalia stuttered, not knowing what to say. She hadn't expected anything like this to happen. Luckily Percy saved her.

"Oh, she wished she was the princess, don't you cuz?" He said. "Ever since you dyed your hair black I tried to tell you, but no, you wouldn't ever believe me." He turned towards the ten-year-old. "Sorry little guy, but she isn't the princess. The princess is probably still sleeping, thinking about her next archery tournament."

The little boy looked down in disappointment and his mother dragged him along towards the back of the flight.

Thalia looked over at Percy. "Thanks," she said quietly.

"I warned you, didn't I?" Percy returned a smile.

"So you're not actually the princess?"

Thalia looked to her left and saw a college-aged girl. She was sitting next to a guy who Thalia presumed was her boyfriend. Thalia quickly put on a smile, albeit a forced one.

"No," she lied. "I wish though."

"Oh darn," the girl said with a laugh. "It would have been nice to meet someone important."

"Remember, we're sitting in Economy," Percy put in. "If she was actually the princess, we'd probably be in first class."

The girl laughed again. "That's true."

Luckily the girl turned away and Thalia released a sigh of relief. She shared a look with Percy before looking back towards the front of the plane, where the flight attendants were demonstrating how to buckle and unbuckle the seatbelt.

As the plane made its way towards the runway, the pilot came on over the loudspeaker.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am Captain John Honeysworth and I will be your pilot for your flight today. Rio de Janeiro is a seven hour flight, so sit back, relax, and let the flight attendants take care of your every need. We will be arriving at around 8:00 local time. A huge thank you goes out from everyone here at British Airways and we hope you enjoy your flight.

Thalia and Percy shared one more look before settling down for a long nap. They had been up almost all night after all.

Thalia shook Percy awake. Percy stirred and eventually opened his eyes.

"What?" He asked.

"We're landing," Thalia told him. Percy turned to look out the window and sure enough the ground was closing up on them.

They landed with barely a bump and soon they were at the terminal. It took the two teens a while to get off the plane, but eventually they made it into the airport.

Thalia and Percy stopped as they made their way into the terminal. They looked at the signs, but they couldn't tell what they said.

"Do you speak Portuguese?" Thalia asked Percy.

"Not a chance," he replied. "You?"

Thalia shook her head.

"Great," Percy continued. "So we're stuck?"

"No, but we should try to find an information desk. They'll be sure to help us."

Percy kept his eye trained on Thalia as she looked both ways down the walkway.

"This way," she said, pointing opposite him to the left, but still looking to her right.

Thalia started to move without looking. Percy was about to follow when he noticed someone else doing the same thing Thalia was, except she was looking down at her phone and texting. In the split second Percy had to calculate, he knew they were on a crash course.

"Wait-" Percy started, but he was too late. Thalia crashed into the girl and her phone went sprawling, just like she had. Thalia also fell to the ground.

The girl threw out some rapid Portuguese, probably apologizing, and Thalia was doing the same thing, but in English. The two girls looked at each other and then, as if they had rehearsed it, stopped speaking at the same time.

Thalia reacted first, standing up and offering the girl her hand. Now that they weren't struggling trying to apologize, Percy finally got a good look at the girl.

He immediately realized that she was very attractive. She looked to be around eighteen or nineteen, only a year or two older than they were. Her brown hair was so dark it looked almost black and her stunning blue eyes made Percy immediately turn rigid when she turned her gaze on him. Her skin was tanned, but he knew a lot of girls around here were tan. He didn't really know why he was assuming, but she seemed like a local, although they were in the middle of a huge airport, so she could have been from anywhere.

She wore a tank top under a winter jacket along with some jeans and some Uggs. The tank top didn't seem to fit the picture, but somehow the girl managed to pull it off.

Percy found himself speechless. He noticed the girl was now standing up thanks to Thalia and she was looking at him. No, not at him, but rather at his feet. Percy followed her gaze and an iPhone gleamed at his feet. It was wrapped in a pink case.

Percy picked the phone up and walked over to the girl before handing it to her.

"Thank you," the girl said in English. Percy was surprised how well she spoke the language, even if she had a slight accent.

"You're welcome," Percy replied.

The girl turned to Thalia, again intent on apologizing.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I wasn't looking. Are you ok?"

Thalia let out a short laugh. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was actually about to ask you the same thing."

The girl responded with a smile.

"I'm not hurt, so that's good." Thalia let out another chuckle.

"Yeah." Then a look of realization dawned on her and she looked over at Percy. "Actually, could you help us? You seem like you know the area."

"What gave me away?" The girl asked with a laugh. "Was it the winter jacket and Uggs?"

"More like the rapid Portuguese," Percy chimed in.

The girl looked back over at Percy before responding.

"I have to admit, you two seem a little out of place. Where are you from?"

They almost screwed it up. Percy responded with, "We're American," just as Thalia said, "England."

"Er," Thalia continued. "I'm from England. Percy's American."

"We're cousins," Percy added, answering the girl's unasked question.

"Oh, that's cool," the girl replied. "I'm Carolina, by the way. Carolina Silva."

Percy and Thalia each introduced themselves, shaking the girl's hand in turn.

"So, you guys are lost, huh?" Carolina asked. "Rio's airport can be confusing at times. Follow me. I'll help you out of here." Percy and Thalia muttered their thanks before following the girl off down the walkway.

Carolina led the way into a Starbucks, grabbing something to go before heading down towards baggage claim.

"So, what are you two doing here in Rio?" She asked.

Percy and Thalia, who had been walking behind the local, looked at each other before Percy replied.

"We're exploring," he said cautiously.

Carolina looked back at him, but kept walking.

"Really? And what exactly are you exploring?"

Percy and Thalia shared another quick look and Thalia nodded.

"We're searching for something," Percy said. "A bracelet to be exact."

"Like the ones on your wrists?"

Thalia looked over at Percy surprised and realized he was doing the same thing. Were they really that obvious, or was this girl just observant?

"I saw it when you helped me up Thalia. Kind of cool if you ask me." She paused. "Why do you need it?"

"We're on a scavenger hunt," Thalia said tentatively.

"All over the world?" Carolina looked back for confirmation.

"Yeah, well sort of."

"And you know it's in Rio?"

"No, well not exactly." She paused. "We have a hunch it's here, but we're not positive. We kind of get clues when we find the previous ones, but we're on a time limit. We're supposed to find as many as we can before the time is up."

"Cool. And the winner gets some sort of prize, I'm assuming?"

"Yeah, well, we're not really sure what the prize is, but the winner does get something." Thalia's eyes glanced over at Percy as if sending a message and Percy knew what she was saying. She didn't really want to talk about this much more. She was starting to run out of lies.

Before Carolina could respond, Percy cut in.

"Hey, Carolina, would you mind giving us a tour of Rio when we're out of the airport?" Thalia was shooting daggers at him, as if that was one thing she didn't want him to do, but Percy knew this was a chance they couldn't fail to take. It's not every day you would have the chance to get a tour from someone who really knew the area.

Carolina seemed a little surprised by the request, but she quickly composed herself.

"I'll have to check with my parents, see what I'm doing today. Wait, actually," she popped up as if remembering something. "Actually, we're going to a futbol game tomorrow. It's pretty early, but would you mind coming along to the game before we head out for a tour? I could give you my phone number."

Percy sent a little glare at Thalia to shut her up before responding. Thalia was about to decline the offer and tour and Percy wasn't going to let her do that.

"Yeah, sure. That would be fine with us. Who's playing?"

"Brazil is hosting Japan in a friendly. It's a warm-up game for the World Cup next summer."

"Sounds great." They had arrived at baggage claim and Percy saw the car rental behind the slew of people waiting for their bags to arrive. "Hey, thanks for leading us out of there, Carolina. You were a big help."

"No problem," she replied. "Are you guys leaving?"

"Yeah," Percy answered. "We should probably get to our hotel and get some rest. We were basically up all last night."

Thalia muttered, "That's an understatement," but Carolina didn't seem to hear her.

"Ok. We can meet up tomorrow. Here's my phone number." The three teenagers exchanged phone numbers. After they were done, Carolina continued, "Are you sure you can make it to your hotel alright?"

"Don't worry, we have GPS," Percy replied. "The roads shouldn't be that confusing."

"Ok. I'll see you guys tomorrow then."

Percy and Thalia said their good-byes before heading off towards the car rental.

The second they had opened a gap between them and the local, Thalia turned on him.

"Why would you ask for a tour from her?" She asked. "She was basically forcing me to lie out of my mind."

"Trust me Thalia," he responded calmly. "It will help us."

"It better," she replied. "Or else I'm going to have to kill you."

The next morning Percy and Thalia joined back up with Carolina for breakfast before tailing her the entire way to the stadium for the game. Percy wasn't a huge fan of soccer, but he knew that Brazil always had a good team and the World Cup was their biggest tournament, so success was critical.

They had been told to wear yellow or blue, as they were the colors of Brazil and as they walked in Percy noticed that they would have stood out if they had done otherwise. Everyone was wearing something representing the country and that wasn't an understatement.

They had pretty good seats. They were tenth row just left of the midfield stripe.

After two hours the game was over and people were starting to leave. Brazil had won 2-1 with a goal in the final minutes, so everyone was going home happy. Percy and Thalia had stayed behind as people were heading out. They were waiting for Carolina, who was talking with her parents. After a couple of minutes she walked over to the two of them.

"Ready to head out?" She asked.

"Yeah," Thalia replied. "Are you sure your parents won't mind?"

"They're fine. They are actually supporting me in giving you this tour. They say it will help me when I get out into the real world when I finally get a job."

"That makes sense. What are you planning on becoming?" Thalia asked.

"A translator."

"Wow, that's pretty cool. So you need to know a lot of languages then, huh?"

"Yeah," Carolina replied. "I already know Portuguese, English and Spanish and I'm currently working on French."

"Jeez," Percy replied. "That's four languages. I barely know one."

That got a short laugh out of the girls.

"Come on," Carolina continued, "let's keep moving. It's going to take a while to get out of the parking lot."

The three teenagers followed the crowd out of the stadium, but Percy was hungry, so they stopped for a hot dog before finally leaving.

Thalia and Carolina both rolled their eyes in harmony as Percy headed towards the concession stand.

When Percy was finally satisfied, ketchup and all, the trio finally walked out of the stadium and towards the parking lot.

They were about to cross the road when Percy stopped them suddenly.

"Wait," he said. "Let me throw away this trash."

As Percy turned back to head towards a trash can, Carolina turned towards Thalia.

"He's already done?" She asked.

"Boys," Thalia replied. "Always eating." Carolina let out a short laugh and they returned their gaze to Percy.

Percy put the last bite of hot dog in his mouth and dumped the wrapper in the trash can. He looked up and immediately saw a girl who looked quite out of place a couple steps from him. The girl turned and the two of them locked eyes.

The girl looked to be his age, maybe a couple months younger. Her skin was tanned, not quite as tanned as Carolina's, but still quite tan. He couldn't tell what color her eyes were from this distance, but he could tell that the girl had chocolate brown hair. She was very pretty, but like he said previously, she seemed out of place. She looked a little scared.

Percy walked up to her. The girl looked him up and down once and seemed to relax for a second.

"Hey," Percy said. "Are you ok? You seem a little lost."

The girl paused before replying. "I'm – I'm fine," she finally replied.

"Ok, I just thought I'd check. You're not from around here, are you?"

The English kind of gave it away. If she was a local, she probably would struggle with the language at least a little bit, like Carolina did, but she seemed to be fluent.

"No, I'm not." She paused for a second, as if debating whether to go on. She looked like she came to a decision. "My dad's making a movie here. I'm supposed to be watching him and learning how to act."

"You're an actress?" Percy asked.

The girl gave him a shy smile. "Kind of," she said. "My dad's a pretty popular actor, and I get the feeling he wants me to follow in his footsteps."

"That's cool. Do you need a ride? Like I said, you do seem out of place."

"No, I'm fine with the ride. I wasn't supposed to sneak out, but I had to get away, so I decided to come to the game. My dad probably didn't notice my absence anyways."

Percy's eyes narrowed at that. "Really? You mean your dad wouldn't notice at all?"

"Probably not." Percy sensed a little bit of annoyance in the girl's words, but he let it go.

Percy was about to say his good-byes when the girl cut him off.

"Is that your bracelet?" She asked suddenly.

Percy was thrown off by the question. He looked down at his left wrist, bringing the bracelet up into the light.

"Yeah," he replied, "it is."

"It's so pretty," the girl replied. "You wouldn't happen to have any extras, would you?"

The girl looked up at him, her eyes filled with hope. Percy still wasn't able to tell what color they were, they kept changing.

Percy finally seemed to come to a realization. The wind seemed to stop as he stared into this girl's eyes.

"You don't have one of your own?" He asked hesitantly.

The girl pouted. "No. I really wish I did though."

Percy's senses were going into overdrive.

"What's your name?" He asked her.

The girl seemed to be caught off guard. Percy thought her barriers seemed to go right back up.

"Why?" She asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Sorry," Percy apologized. "I was getting ahead of myself. I think I might be able to find you a bracelet, but I'd have to get in contact with you. We had never introduced ourselves, so I thought we'd do that. Sorry if it caught you off guard."

"Oh, ok. That makes sense. I'm Piper. Piper-" She cut herself off. "I'm Piper." She held out her hand.

"Percy," he replied, shaking the girl's hand.

"Do you really think you could find me a bracelet?" Piper's voice was hopeful.

"I might need your help to find it, but yeah, we could find you one."

"Oh, thank you so much. It's so pretty and – sorry. I was getting a little too anxious."

"No problem," Percy replied. "Can I get your phone number? I get the feeling we're going to have to be in contact."

"Yeah, sure," Piper replied. "Let me see your phone. I'll put it in for you."

Percy handed Piper his iPhone and she typed in her number. She handed the phone back when she was done.

Percy looked at the number, a ten-digit number starting with a 323 area code.

"You're American?" Percy asked.

"Yeah," Piper replied confused. "Aren't you?"

"Yeah. I'm from New York."

"New York, the city?" Percy nodded. "Oh, cool. I'm from LA."

"Then why-"

Piper cut him off. "Am I in Rio? My dad's movie, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, of course." Percy paused. "Sorry, my bad."

Piper laughed. "It's ok. Why are you in Rio then?"

Percy was about to reply when he heard Thalia's voice from behind him.

"Percy, come on!"

Percy turned to look at Thalia before turning back to Piper.

"Sorry, I need to go. I'll call you tonight and we can talk, ok?"

"Ok, sounds great. See you later, Percy."

With that, Percy turned and walked away from Piper. She was one mysterious girl, he thought. Then again, was he any better? Percy shook the thought away as he regrouped with Thalia and Carolina.

Thalia glanced at him questioningly, but he ignored her for the time being.

"Did you know her?" Carolina asked.

Percy looked back over his shoulder, but Piper was already gone.

"Yeah," he lied. "One of my friends from back in the US. She seemed a little lost, so I went over and talked with her."

Thalia was still shooting him a questioning look, but she kept her mouth shut. She obviously knew Percy was lying, but Carolina didn't.

"Oh, that's cool," Carolina replied. "Ready for the tour?"

Percy looked back over his shoulder once more before turning to the local girl.

"Yeah," he said. "Let's go."

A/N:

So, what did you think? Piper is now involved and she'll make another appearance next chapter.

Chapter Five will be uploaded on Wednesday of next week, so mark your calendars.

In other news, a new chapter of The Prince, The Girl and The World will hit the site on Monday and a new chapter of Scars and Recognition will be up on Tuesday, so check for those.

Onto the Question of the Chapter: Would you rather be a Greek or Roman demigod?

This is different than the question last chapter, so please take that into account. The camps aside, what type of demigod would you like to be? If this question looks familiar, it is. I asked it in Chapter 7 of The Princess and the Peasant. But I'm asking it again for a couple of reasons. If you haven't caught on yet, I'm sort of profiling a list of different random things based on the series. I will publish the results in Chapter 10. You'll see what I mean as we go farther on.

Ok, now onto my answer, now that that is out of the way. I'd rather be a Roman demigod. Despite my laziness, I've always wanted to be extremely fit as well as strong, etc. The only thing I wouldn't really like is the swordfighting, as I'd rather fight alone like the Greeks, rather than in a team like the legion. I like the gods more in their Roman aspects as well, so that'd be another plus. That's about it. I promise the next question is a little easier and more fun to answer.

Now, make sure to review!

Thanks!

-PSON