Ahhh! Why can't it be the 4th already! I'm getting it the day it comes out, but I'm gonna finish my version too, since a lot of people probably won't get it that day.

Percy's POV

Percy knew he had done this before; it just came naturally, instinctually. He just let himself control the boat, and they were off. It was nothing fancy, a small private boat, but it was all they were going to risk stealing. Percy was all for the model pirate ship, but they decided people would definitely notice when that sailed off. Nevertheless, Percy was enjoying himself. The salty spray in his hair, and schools of fish were following them. He could hear them saying, "Lord?" as they sped by, and they did encounter the occasional shark, but he sent them away since they made Reyna uncomfortable. They sailed for miles, passing quaint little beaches, and commercialized stretches perfect tanning spots. Too soon though, they began to run out of gas.

"Hey guys, we gone about as far as we can go, I'd say about 42.65 degrees north, close to the California border with Oregon," Percy told Reyna and Bobby.

"Good, I swear man, I was about to throw up from seasickness. Dude, don't give me that look, not all of us are fish-people okay," replied Bobby, during which Percy shot him a dirty look for insulting his boat-driving skills.

"Booby's weak stomach aside, that's pretty far. I'm satisfied, I just hope we didn't pass teddy-bear boy's house on the way," input Reyna.

Percy pulled them into the next dock he found, leaving a note that said it belonged in Grey Seal Marina, San Francisco. They got out, and immediately Percy had a bad feeling, it was the middle of the week, and winter, so why were all the boats gone, was this place bad, or what?

"Guys, something's seriously wrong, I think we should check out the main building before we go," requested Percy.

"Ummm, I don't see what's wrong, but you're the kelp-head, so I guess we can," replied Reyna, "Bobby, get up on that hill and cover us with your arrows in case we need it."

"Sure, how will I know if you need it?"

"Well, we'll probably be yelling or you'll see us getting into a fight," Percy told him.

Percy and Reyna skirted the edges of the low cement building at the edge of the water, swords drawn. They came to a window, and Percy peeked in. Empty, just a storage room, but wait, what was that? There was a glint of bronze coming from under a sheet of linen in the corner. He arched his neck and was sure; it was a block of uncrafted celestial bronze.

"Rey, there's celestial bronze in there," Percy said.

"What's that?"

"You know, the stuff our weapons are made of."

"No, that's imperial gold, celestial bronze is… well I've never heard of celestial bronze."

"I… I'm not sure where I got that from either."

Percy looked back at the block and now it looked more yellow-ish, definitely gold. But he was sure it had been bronze. Either way, why would a marina storage closet have a huge chunk of it? They heard a rustling and a muffled scream come from the direction of the hill where Bobby was hiding and immediately turned around to see what was going on.

"Bobby, dude, there's something seriously messed-up here, they've got imperial.., where is he," asked Percy, "This is where we told him to go, right?"

"Yeah. Percy, I think we should go back to the main building, I've got a bad feeling that whatever needed a slab of gold wouldn't want demigods snooping around, and wouldn't give then long to explain," answered Reyna.

They went back and peeked into a different window, inside was a Cyclops, with Bobby hanging upside-down talking to what Percy decided was a seal-dog hybrid.

"Telehinke," he thought. Just then, pain seared through his head, and he started shaking, "not again," he prayed, "not now." Luckily, it was short, just a memory of him flying through the air, his body on fire, then landing, and a girl's face and a thought he didn't where it came from, "what if I had stayed?"