003: This is…uncomfortable.

002: Ever thought about how I feel about it? I'm the one scraping glue off your butt. *continues to chisel away*

003: Are you almost done yet? OW!

002: Oops, my bad. *grins evilly*

"This is stupid," Hades muttered.

"Can I go home now?" Poseidon asked.

"NO!" Hera insisted, and hit the god of the sea's hand with a wooden spoon. Poseidon yanked the hand back, rubbing the spot where he'd been struck. Athena, who was watching all of this go down, couldn't help but smack her forehead at the sight of Poseidon being scolded like a child.

"We've been at this for four hours," Hades complained. "Ugh, this is why I never used to come up to Olympus."

"No one is leaving until you three make nice," Aphrodite said to the three brothers. Zeus, Hades and Poseidon exchanged glances and glares. They'd been pointlessly arguing about…something. No one even remembered anymore. But Hera had decided they'd been arguing on and off for millennia and it needed to stop, so she and the other gods had staged an intervention for the Big Three to "set aside their differences" and "learn to get along". Ares had barfed and left to go "hit something" only ten minutes into it.

Their symbols of power had been confiscated and left in the throne room, just in case things got too hostile. But Hera was being persistent. The three were not allowed to leave until they agreed to stop fighting. Yeah, because that was going to happen in the next six hours.

"Just admit you're both idiots so we can all get back to work," Zeus groaned.

"Us?" Poseidon said, offended. "We're the idiots? This coming from the god who fries people to a crisp so they don't get hurt?"

"Oh shut up, how was I supposed to know there was gas in that car?" Zeus defended.

"It was running!"

"Why am I here again?" Hades asked, bored of watching his two brothers bicker like immortal five-year olds with biceps the size of bowling balls. "You don't see me arguing, do you?"

"Oh right, because you're sooo much better than we are," Zeus taunted.

"Well, now that you admit it…"

Hera smacked herself in the forehead as well. This could take a while. A long while. It was a good thing it was a peaceful day and the Big Three wouldn't be needing their ultimate weapons of power for anything.

Will was the first to peek inside for any signs of trouble. Finding none, he waved us forward. The throne room was empty, surprisingly, except for the steadily burning hearth and the Ophiotaurus swimming happily in its aquarium. But oh the prize. Resting atop the throne of Hades, like some sort of decoration, was the Helm of Darkness. Where a fishing pole would normally go in Poseidon's throne was the mighty trident, and resting on an arm of Zeus's throne was the master bolt.

It was almost too good to be true. There, unguarded were the three things we'd been searching for. But what were they all doing here anyway? You know what? I don't care, I'm just glad that with only one day left we don't have to make the extra trips to the ocean and the Underworld.

There were just two problems. One, gods didn't like it when people touched their thrones. If we did, we would be blasted to bits for sure. And two, the more obvious of the two, the thrones were tall. Really tall. We couldn't exactly just grab a step stool, steal the weapons and run, now could we?

"Well now what?" Han asked miserably. His voice echoed in the empty chambers, and Will immediately clamped his hands over his mouth.

"The Helm first," I decided. "If we can get it, we can use it to grab the other items without ever being noticed."

"Yeah, but how do we get up to it?" Will asked in a whisper. "It's not exactly at eye level, or did neither of you notice that?"

All three of us looked up, but it was Han who snapped his fingers as an idea came to him. He smiled, proud of himself. "I've got it! Guys, come here!"

At first I was glad we might have a way to snag the helm without dying, but a few moments later Will and I were regretting going along with Han's "master plan".

"For the record," Will grunted out, "This is a horrible idea."

"Stop moving, you're throwing me off balance," Han dismissed.

"You have no balance!"

Willl and I were struggling to support Han as he reached out for the Helm. Will and I had locked our hands together to form small platforms for Han to stand his hooves on, and the two of us gave him a boost to reach up and grab the Helm without climbing all over the throne. Because I don't think Hades would appreciate goat hair in his seat.

"Little higher," Han encouraged as he stretched his arms out. "A little higher, c'mon just a little higher…"

"How long do you think my arms are?" I retorted in an angry whisper.

Han's fingers just barely brushed the base of the Helm, but he couldn't grab it. He tried again, and only succeeded in nudging it a little. His legs were shaky from trying to balance, and our arms were tiring out pretty quickly from trying to hold him up.

Han's legs gave out first, and he nearly fell onto the throne before he shifted his weight to avoid it. He still ended up knocking the Helm off the throne and sending it crashing to the floor. The sound of that elaborate bronze helm hitting the floor was the loudest noise I'd ever heard.

We all sucked in a breath and waited. Four three heartbeats, there was no sound. Then, soft footsteps. Han panicked and trotted out to grab the Helm before Will or I could stop him. That stupid satyr grabbed the Helm, pulled it on, and vanished.

"He ditched us," I said in disbelief.

Will grabbed my arm and yanked me behind Zeus's throne. "Hide!"

We crouched behind the throne, drawing breath as quietly as possible until the sound of throne room doors opening silenced us. Will and I stopped breathing and waited while I silently begged my hearbeat to be quieter. The soft footsteps entered the room, and I caught a voice.

"Can't believe I forgot to adjust this thing before my break," a young girl's voice muttered. Will risked peeking out, and so did I.

By the hearth was Hestia, tending to the hearth briefly and quickly. It wasn't long before the flames were glowing and crackling as bright as ever. She smiled, pleased with her work, and walked back out of the throne room. Once the doors shut, Will and I finally let out our breath.

"That was close," Han said, suddenly right behind us.

I jumped and actually let out a surprised shout before I realized it was just Han. Then, I glared and swiped the Helm from his hands. "Give me that! What do you think this is, a toy?"

Han pouted but didn't make any other protest. I inspected the Helm to make sure nothing had happened to it during the fall. It was fine except for a bit of a smudge here and a scratch there. Nothing serious…hopefully. I don't pretend to understand this thing.

"One down," Will said, staring at it. I nodded, now setting my sights on the trident. It was…big. Very big. But it should shrink down once we got a hold of it. And now that we had the Helm of Darkness, this would be a synch.

I slipped the helm on and it was like my body melted away into the shadows. It moved to Poseidon's throne, my eyes fixed on the trident resting in its slot. Gulping down my fears and doubts, I climbed onto Poseidon's throne.

I waited for the "WHO DARES?" followed by the blast that would turn me into algae… but nothing happened.

I looked to Han and Will to give them a thumbs up, but they didn't react. I forgot they couldn't see me either. They just stared at the trident, waiting for something to happen. I reached out, and after a moment's hesitation, grabbed it. It shrank down to a more manageable size as I lifted it. Han and Will jumped slightly, surprised about something. I looked around, but there was nothing.

I hopped off the throne and pulled off the Helm, satisfied that it worked.

"Holy Zeus, it worked," Will said.

"That was awesome!" Han said. "One second the trident was there, and the next it's gone! Then when you come back, you've got it in your hands!"

"Is that what it looked like?" I said, handing Will the trident to hold while I set my sights on the master bolt.

But before I could go after it, I heard the voice of a very angry god yell. "SCREW THIS, I'M LEAVING!" Stomping footsteps reached our ears, headed for the throne room.

"…time to run," Han gulped.

I tossed him the Helm and ran toward Zeus's throne. "Both of you, run, go!"

"What?" Will asked, still clutching the trident. "What about you, if they find everything missing and your still here, they'll kill you!"

"If we don't bring all three weapons, they'll kill Alex," I reminded him. "Now go! If I get caught, I don't need you two dying with me."

"You're crazy!" Will shouted in disbelief.

"BYE!" Han shouted. He slipped the Helm over his head, and he was gone in an instant. Will shook his head, gave me one last pity filled look, and took off with the trident. But just before he could make it out, a thought came into my head.

"Will, if I don't make it, you have to save her!" I called after him. "Don't let her die! Do you hear me?"

Will stopped, turned, and nodded. "I hear you!"

Then he was gone too. I jumped onto Zeus's throne. Almost immediately, thunder rumbled in the clouds. I jumped again onto the armrest, grabbed the master bolt, and jumped back down. Before I could take off running though, there was a flash in the center of the room, almost blinding me.

Hades, who'd tried to leave earlier, was now in a heated argument with Zeus and Hera, with Poseidon struggling to restrain him from attacking or worse…leaving the god of the seas alone to deal with ridiculous intervention.

"Wait!" Zeus said, calling every shouting god at the intervention to a halt. He stood still for a moment, and then suddenly his face turned to one of rage. Thunder rumbled in the clouds, and Zeus began to storm off for the throne room until Hera stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Hera asked.

"Someone was on my throne, I felt it!" Zeus shouted.

"Then I'll handle it," she insisted. "I told you, you're not going anywhere until you sort things out with your brothers. If you don't, you three and your constant fighting will tear this family apart!"

Zeus glared, but Hera glared back even harder. Finally, the king of the gods backed down and Hera flashed away to the throne room to deal with whatever fool who had dared to sit on a god's throne. Who knows, by the time she got back the Big Three may have even agreed to get along.

I gaped as I saw Hera, the queen of the gods, look around the throne room. Her back was still turned to me, but my heart rate still shot up to dangerous speeds. Without even thinking, I pointed the master bolt and let out a single bolt of lightning. It struck her in the back of the neck, and she went down.

I held my breath, waiting for her to get up and kill me. But she was out cold. I smiled in disbelief at my one shot of good luck for the year, and ran away after my other two partners in crime. But as I was running, it occurred to me, if anyone ever found out I's done all of this, I would be dead and cursed to an eternity of torture. Hades would probably have me run through a cactus field, swallow flaming lemons or even—gods forbid—force me to listen to Justin Bieber!

And that would all come after the gods killed me in the most painful way possible.

Yeah, I picked up the pace after I thought that over. Eventually, I caught up to Will near the bridge that would take us back to the elevator. He stopped when he saw me, finally giving me a chance to stop running and catch my breath a little. Trying to outrun the wrath of the gods is hard work.

When I finally stopped panting, I looked up. "Where's Han?"

Han materialized out of thin air. "Right here. What happened back there?"

I bit my lip as I recalled what I'd had to do to escape. "Well…I'm pretty sure I knocked out Hera with a lightning bolt." The jaws of both my companions dropped open at that. But before either of them could say anything, an angry roar filled the air and shook the ground beneath our feet. Which meant someone had found the mess we'd left behind.

"That's our cue to leave," I said, and we all took off down the bridge.

"Well, we angered the gods," Han said as we ran. "What happens now? Cut a deal with the Titans maybe?"

"We need to make a sacrifice to Hecate," I remembered. "After that…I don't know exactly. There's still a pretty big gap in my plan."

"You have a plan?" Will taunted. "I thought you were just making this up as you went along."

We reached the elevator, and Han must've hit the down button about twenty times before I grabbed his wrist to stop him. Why, of why do elevators have to take so long? I nervously glanced over my shoulder, wondering if the gods had already locked onto us or something. Han couldn't take it and pulled the Helm back on, vanishing once again.

Somehow, we stayed alive long enough for the elevator to come up to us. Will and I scrambled in, and Han was probably in with us even though we couldn't see him. The ride down couldn't go fast enough. The legendary Lightning Thief had made it a long ways off before the gods even noticed the bolt was missing. We on the other hand, had been discovered before we'd even made it out of Olympus. We were on thin ice already, and part of me wanted to act like Han and vanish so I could eat my shirt.

But another, likely stupider, part of me was taking a sick liking to all of this. The pressure, the risk, the test of my abilities, it was a challenge that begged me to answer it. Nervous as I was, the thought entered my mind that I can do this.

"You're making a big mistake," Alex droned.

"I'm sure I am," Evan laughed.

"You're going to regret this," Alex repeated for the billionth time. "You're going to get your over confident ass kicked."

"Why?" Evan taunted. "Is Jacob going to come, beat me and save you?"

"Jacob?" Alex asked. "Who said anything about Jacob? I meant me. I'm going to kick your ass."

Evan stared at the chains that still held Alex firmly in place. She looked down at them too, and sighed. "Okay, so maybe not anytime soon. But mark my words, you're going to eat voltage."

"I'm trembling just thinking about it," Evan teased. He smiled as he watched the sun slowly set on another day. "Almost out of time Jacob, better hurry…"

There was a rumble in the sky, and a black lightning bolt shot down from the sky. It missed Evan by less than a foot, and he turned to Alex with a look of rage on his face. Alex gave him a shy, innocent look as she said, "It wasn't me."

Evan let a punch fly, just to remind Alex who was boss. She took it, but she barely flinched at it. How much starvation, beatings, and threats did it take to break this girl? Evan stormed off, his satisfaction gone and replaced by anger. Alex smiled despite the fact that she was probably going to have a bruised face now. Nothing Evan or the Pit could do was going to keep her down.

I was woken to the sensation of a stretching goat hoof hitting my face. I rolled away in annoyance, stretched my sore limbs, and stood up. Han groaned in his sleep, curled into a ball, and continued his peaceful rest. I gave him a light kick to the shaggy behind.

"Ow!" he complained, rubbing the spot where I'd kicked him. "What was that for?"

"For waking me up," I told him.

We'd spent the night in some woods by a freeway not that far outside Manhattan. Not exactly a four star hotel, but demigods aren't exactly made of money. Alex once pulled a diamond out of the ground…but still, we're not made of money.

Pretty soon, all three of us were awake, standing in a circle (Or, triangle when you think about it.) around the master bolt, the trident, and the helm of darkness. By the look on Han's face you would think they were king cobras that had their fangs bared.

"Okay…everybody ready for what happens now?" I asked.

"You mean the part of the plan where we die?" Han asked. "No, I'm not ready."

"Calm down Goat Boy, we're not going to die…right?" Will aksed me. I just shrugged, even though I was ninety-nine percent sure we'd come out of this okay. The other one percent though…wasn't pretty, I'll say that much.

"Alright, let's get a fire going," I said. "Then, we make the offering to Hecate, save Alex, and party because we outsmarted the Pit."

"See? Why can't you make all your plans sound that simple and nice?" Han whined.

"Because, I really like seeing your face when I remind you that standing in our way is quite possibly a small army," I said, a smile spreading across my face.

Han whimpered, but got to work collecting wood for the fire.

003: *rubs butt* Ok, that's it for this chapter. Up next, we have an interview with Henry, the son of Poseidon. If you have any questions for him send them by either PM or review, whichever works for you.