Chapter 6: It's Gettin Hot In Here.

"Got Luke." Annabeth called, I leapt from my leaning spot, where I was almost falling asleep… I was all of a sudden very, very tired. I had never been a night owl.

"Luke, can you explain how to use the shoes?" Beth asked him, I jogged over to where she was and looked at the screen.

"Tell Percy he needs to break into a run, like a jet on a runway. Now they may take some getting used to. Oh! Hey Joanna." Luke said, nodding at me.

"Sup Lucas?" I responded, nodding back. I looked to see Percy doing just as Luke instructed. He leapt into the air, and up to the statue.

"IT'S GONNA TAKE SOME PRACTICE!" I shouted as he struggled with control. He got so close to the Pearl, but slammed into it instead.

"Now that had to hurt!" I chuckled lightly. All of a sudden he lost his grip and I gasped.

"You're looking pretty worried," I heard Grover state. I looked up to see him smirking. My eyes narrowed.

"He's your best friend! Why aren't you?" I retorted. He just gave me a look, I glared at him and turned my attention back to Perseaus. He latched onto the front of the statue and hung there. I gasped. I swear. He better be careful. If he dies, I'm gonna kill him…. Again..

"Be careful Perc!" Grover called out to him. Percy climbed up and grabbed the Pearl.

"GOT IT!" He yelled down to us. We all cheered. On his way down, he had much more control, so he was able to lower to the ground with ease. I smiled happily, rushing to him.

"Great job!" I exclaimed, we all bumped fists and I hugged him tightly. He laughed.

"All right guys, lets get our things." Annabeth began saying, but Percy cut her off.

"Oh no.." He muttered. I pulled away.

"What?" I asked, I turned to where he was gaping and saw the janitors.

"Oh my, Hades!" I gasped out. They all stood in a line, looking kind of odd….

"Look, I got this." Grover told us. He walked forward, holding out his jacket.

"Look guys, I'm with Park Recreational Services. You guys been caught sleeping on the job! You're lucky I'm not writing you guys up! I'll let it go this time! " He exclaimed at them. I chuckled slightly.

"We've been expecting you Mr. Jackson." They chorused, we all groaned.

"Not again." Percy and I grumbled in unison.

"Just give us the Bolt, and we'll leave you alone." They said again. Percy rolled his eyes and began walking forward.

"Look! For the last time! I don't have the lightning bolt!" He told them. They remained silent as one coughed out fire. We all took a step back.

"Okay…. This is bad!" Grover stated.

"Thanks Captain Obvious!" I hissed, the men all began to merge together. In a huge amount of black smoke, emerged a giant multi-headed beast. Oh Gods….

"Hydra!" Annabeth yelled, she grabbed Percy, who grabbed Grover, who grabbed me and we all bolted behind the pillars for cover.

"BE CAREFUL! HYDRA'S BREATHE FIRE!" I yelled, just as I warned them, the beast decided to illustrate my point by doing so. Heat rushed past me, grazing my arms, leaving light burns. Ouch.

"GUYS! What are we gonna do!" I yelled, I noticed Percy had his shield and sword out. More fire was blown, and one of the heads appeared next to me. I pulled out my dagger, a present from Jeremiah when we were younger and stabbed the thing in the eye, it backed away, but only for a second.

"OH! SO YOU GOT A SWEET TOOTH HUH!" I heard Grover yell, I turned to see him throwing candy at the thing. Then I remembered, and turned back around to see the beast ready breathe fire at me.

"AH!" I squeaked, scrambling away. Grover pulled me out of the way of the blaze of fire that nearly engulfed me.

"Thanks G." I breathed out.

"No problem." He responded. Beth was staring at my arm.

"You okay?" She asked. I nodded.

"I'm fine, but is it just me, or is it getting hot in here?" I chuckled lightly at my lame attempt to ease the tension.

"No time for jokes!" She scolded, I nodded and looked up to see Percy using the shoes to fight the Hydra in the air. He was doing awesome…. Until he cut off one of the heads.

"NO!" Beth and I yelled. He cut off another one.

"PERCY! DON'T!" I yelled. He didn't listen and cut off another one. After a minute, the Hydra crumpled to the floor. Percy flew down towards us, grinning like an idiot.

"How flipping awesome was that?" He asked.

"That was great!" Grover exclaimed.

"I just killed that thing!" Percy beamed. I rolled my eyes

"WHOO!" He and Grover high-fived, clearly happy with themselves.

"You just made things worse!" I exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked, clearly confused.

"Every time you cut off a Hydra head, two grow back! TWO!" I exclaimed, holding up my fingers for emphasis, just then, the Hydra roared behind us.

"Oh Gods…." I groaned. We ran behind the pillars, me with Grover.

"JOEY! GO GET THE PEARL!" Percy bellowed from the next pillar, where he and Annabeth stood. He pointed to the statue, and my a little less than brilliant eyes spotted something shiny and blue. He and Beth had begun to distract it, so I instantly bolted to the statue.

"JOEY LOOK OUT!" Grover yelled, I looked behind me to see the Hydra on my tail, all of a sudden, my senses and training seemed to kick in, at least for a brief moment. I did a tuck and roll and hid behind the statue, out of the view of the Hydra and it's fire.

"JOEY! STAY THERE!" Percy yelled. I rolled my eyes.

"I WASN'T PLANNING ON MOVING DUDE!" I yelled back. I peeked around the corner and jumped back when the Hydra blew fire at me. As I sat there, attempting to catch my breath, I noticed I was shaking pretty badly, my burns were starting to hurt, and I was feeling really tired. The Hydra roared above me.

"Well… I'm dead! TELL JEREMIAH I LOVE HIM!" I yelled at the others, figuring I was as good as dead.

"At least I died in a pretty awesome." I muttered. All of a sudden, the water fountains exploded! Water gushed out, soaking me to the bone. When I finally got the water out of my eyes, I saw the Hydra behind a giant wall of water.

"Whoa! Cool!" I exclaimed.

"JOEY! THE PEARL!" Beth screamed, using the little energy I had left, I ran and grabbed the Pearl. I ran over to Annabeth, who grabbed hold of me and steadied me.

"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked. I nodded.

"Let's just get out of here!" I yelled. We grabbed our things, and bolted for the doors.

"OPEN THE DOORS!" I yelled, glancing back at the Hydra briefly.

"THEY WON'T OPEN!" Percy yelled back. All of a sudden, Grover broke away. He pulled Medusa's head out of his bag and shoved it towards the Hydra. I watched in amazement as the thing froze. We were safe.

"WOOOOO!" Grover yelled. He kissed Medusa's cheek, I cringed. Yuck.

"Ew! That's nasty!" His nose scrunched up.

"All right G! That was awesome! You saved our lives… Let's get outta here!" I said. They all agreed with me. Now that we weren't rushing, we figured out how to unlock it. After we were out of the Parthenon, we walked to the car. Once there, I climbed in and all but collapsed from exhaustion.

"I'm hungry guys…. What about you?" Grover asked, climbing into the drivers side.

"Yeah." Percy agreed.

"I am too." Beth said. I stared at my arm, it was blistered lightly. 2nd degree burns… I grabbed the first aid kit and patched myself up… I wasn't sure about the whole song thing to heal my wounds. Jeremiah could do it, but I couldn't. I messed up the words.

"There's a diner coming up. That good with everyone?" Grover asked.

"Sure." We all said. We parked at the diner and dashed out of the car. We settled at the table.

"Are you okay Joey?" Percy asked. I nodded.

"I'm fine, just tired… And thirsty." I replied. After 30 minutes, we were all basically finished when the news caught my attention.

"We interrupt our usual programming with breaking news." The man on the TV said, the image cut to an picture of London, the sky darkening and what seemed like a strong wind kicking. The guy went on to explain what was going on. Instantly, I knew it was Zeus and Poseidon. They were pissed at each other.

"The Gods are angry…" Beth stated. I nodded in agreement.

"As Hades." I added. I looked around at everyone.

"Listen, we gotta get those last two Pearls, and fast! Where's the next location?" I said, Percy pulled out the map.

"Uh… St. Augustine, Florida." He replied.

"All right! Let's roll!" I said, we paid for our meals, mine being merely a basket of fries and a coke. We walked out to the car and climbed in. As we drove, I guess I fell asleep, because the next thing I knew, I heard:

"Joey! Wakey, wakey!" Along with being violently shaken.

"HEY! HEY! CALM YOURSELF!" I yelled, sitting up straight and rubbing my eyes. I glared at the smirking Percy.

"Payback…. It's amazing." He smiled.

"Don't forget Jackson…. I know your secrets." I warned. He just rolled his gorgeous eyes and climbed out of the car. I followed after him and stepped out into the glorious sunshine. I do love the sun!

"Okay… Where on Earth would a Pearl be in this place?" Beth asked, looking around.

"I dunno…. But I do wanna change!" I replied, plucking the tank top.

"All right…. Let's find a place where we can change, then get started on a plan." Grover said. We all nodded and got back into the car.

Not my best work... Sorry ): Tell me what you think! The next chapter will be an original, so it may take a bit, but I will try my hardest to get it out sooner. I'm outta school for the next week and a half, so I will have lots of time to work on it, since I've got ideas in my head. Anyway, R&R. And until next time.

Much Love.
Rhey.