Here's chapter eight.

also, the answer to the last trivia question was Oscar. I'm actually surprised somebody got that; use only met one other person who's read the Isle of the Lost, but now I know more people!

also, I took some descriptions directly from Rick Riordan (I'm good at describing, but Rick is better).

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.

WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF ABUSE


Shadow travel was dark.

(Wow, Leo, shadows are dark? Who knew?)

When Mrs. O'Leary, Percy, and Leo bounded out of the shadows, they were on a cliff in the woods of Connecticut. At least, it looked like Connecticut from the single time Leo had been there (one of his foster homes): lots of trees, low stone walls, big houses. Down one side of the cliff, a highway cut through a ravine. Down the other side was someone's backyard. The property was huge—more wilderness than lawn. The house was a two-story white Colonial. Despite the fact that it was right on the other side of the hill from a highway, it felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. There was a light glowing from the kitchen window. A rusty old swing set stood under an apple tree, looking as though it hadn't been used in years.

The house was nice; most people would wonder who would runaway from a life like this? But appearances can be deceiving. Leo had learned a long time ago that the higher the castle walls are, the more the people can hide.

Leo tried not to think about his foster mother, Teresa.

Mrs. O'Leary staggered, the shadow travel having drained her.

Leo and Percy slipped off her back. She let out a huge toothy yawn that would've scared a a drakon, then turned in a circle and flopped down so hard the ground shook.

Nico appeared right next to them; Leo almost didn't notice him because his dark clothes made him naturally blend in with the shadows. He stumbled, but Percy caught his arm.

"I'm okay," he managed, rubbing his eyes.

"How did you do that?" Percy asked.

"Practice. A few times running into walls. A few accidental trips to China."

"One trip to a sewer," Leo reminded him.

Nico nodded. "Yeah. Sorry I fell on you by the way."

"It's cool."

"Wait. You two knew each other before the Labyrinth?" Percy asked.

Nico nodded. "When I was first practicing shadow travel, I shadow traveled on top of him. It was awkward. It took us months to figure out why we looked so familiar to each other."

Percy nodded, but he didn't seem to know how to reply to that.

Mrs. O'Leary started snoring. If it hadn't been for the roar of traffic behind them, she would've woken up the whole neighborhood.

"Are you going to take a nap too?" Leo asked Nico.

He shook his head. "The first time I shadow traveled, I passed out for a week. Now it just makes me a little drowsy, but I can't do it more than once or twice a night. Mrs. O'Leary won't be going anywhere for a while."

"So we're going to have some fun time in Connecticut." Leo gazed at the white Colonial house. "What now?"

"We ring the doorbell," Nico said.

Leo immediately knew this woman was off her hinges when Nico said that. A normal person would not open the door for two strange kids. If Luke's mom would, she was... different.

The sidewalk was lined with those little stuffed beanbag animals you see in gift shops. There were miniature lions, pigs, dragons, hydras, even a teeny Minotaur in a little Minotaur diaper. Judging from their sad shape, the beanbag creatures had been sitting out here a long time—since the snow melted last spring at least. One of the hydras had a tree sapling sprouting between its necks.

The stuffed animals only proved Leo's 'crazy' theory.

The front porch was infested with wind chimes. Shiny bits of glass and metal clinked in the breeze. Brass ribbons tinkled like water, and noise rushed through the air.

Leo liked the noise; he hated silence, but still... creepy.

The front door was painted turquoise. The name CASTELLAN was written in English, and below in Greek: Διοικητής φρουρίου.

Nico looked at Percy and Leo. "Ready?"

He'd barely tapped the door when it swung open. Not a good sign.

"Luke!" the old lady cried happily.

She looked like someone who enjoyed sticking her fingers in electrical sockets. Her white hair stuck out in tufts all over her head. Her pink housedress was covered in scorch marks and smears of ash. When she smiled, her face looked unnaturally stretched, and the high-voltage light almost made her appear to be blind.

Leo had seen crazier people, but he had a bad feeling about this woman.

"Oh, my dear boy!" She hugged Nico.

"She thinks Nico is the golden-eyed weirdo?" Leo hissed the Percy, who shrugged.

She suddenly smiled at Percy and said, "Luke!"

She forgot all about Nico and gave Percy a hug.

Don't look at me, don't look at me, don't look at me, Leo thought. For the first time in a long time, he prayed to be invisible; you never want to be noticed by a crazy person. That never ends well; Leo speaks from experience.

Just his luck. She turned to him.

"Leo!" She cried.

Leo paled as she used his real name and embraced him.

She smelled like burned cookies. She was as thin as a scarecrow, but that didn't stop her from almost crushing him.

"Thank you for saving Luke," she said.

'Is it too late to leave?' Leo mouthed to his friends, who were both as white as a sheet.

How had May Castellan known Leo's name? He hadn't mentioned it. He'd remember meeting her in the past (but of course, he was missing some memories).

"Come in!" she insisted. "I have your lunch ready!"

She ushered them inside. The living room was even weirder than the front lawn. Mirrors and candles filled every available space. Above the mantel, a little bronze Hermes flew around the second hand of a ticking clock.

In short, it looked like the living room of one of the orphanges Leo lived in, owned by Miss Sunshine (and yes, that was her real name. He saw the birth certificate). And that was not a good thing because Miss Sunshine was way off the deep end.

The photo of a boy rested on the mantal. Leo had only seen Luke once, but he recognized the younger version of Gold Eyed Villainous Person immediately.

Luke was around nine years old, with blond hair and a big smile and two missing teeth. The lack of a scar on his face made him look like a different person—carefree and happy. Leo preferred this version of Kronos's puppet or host or whatever to the person he fittingly nicknamed Scarface.

"This way, my dear!" Ms. Castellan steered them toward the back of the house. "Oh, I told them you would come back. I knew it!"

She sat the trio down at the kitchen table. Stacked on the counter were hundreds, if not a thousand, of Tupperware boxes with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches inside. The ones on the bottom were green and fuzzy, like they'd been there for a long time. The smell reminded Leo of his second group home. The home actually wasn't awful, but his roommates did not know how to keep the room clean. Considering Leo was the farthest thing from a neat freak, this opinion was impressive.

On top of the oven was a stack of cookie sheets. Each one had a dozen burned cookies on it. In the sink was a mountain of empty plastic Kool-Aid pitchers. A beanbag Medusa sat by the faucet like she was guarding the mess.

Ms. Castellan started humming as she got out peanut butter and jelly and started making a new sandwich. Something was burning in the oven. She must be baking more cookies.

This woman was a worst cook than Leo's old friend, Madison. And Madison managed to burn soup. Soup!

Above the sink, taped all around the window, were dozens of little pictures cut from magazines and newspaper ads—pictures of Hermes from the FTD Flowers logo and Quickie Cleaners, pictures of the caduceus from medical ads.

Nico coughed. "Urn, Ms. Castellan?"

"Mm?"

"We need to ask you about your son."

"Oh, yes! They told me he would never come back. But I knew better." She patted Percy's cheek, and when she pulled her hand away, he had peanut butter stripes across his skin. It would've been funny if the event weren't so... anyone know a stronger word for insane and creepy?

"When did you last see him?" Nico asked.

Her eyes lost focus.

"He was so young when he left," she said wistfully. "Third grade. That's too young to run away! He said he'd be back for lunch. And I waited. He likes peanut butter sandwiches and cookies and Kool-Aid. He'll be back for lunch very soon. . . ." Then she looked at Percy and smiled. "Why, Luke, there you are! You look so handsome. You have your father's eyes."

She turned toward the pictures of Hermes above the sink. "Now, there's a good man. Yes, indeed. He comes to visit me, you know."

The clock kept ticking in the other room. Percy wiped the peanut butter off his face and looked at Nico, pleadingly, like Can we get out of here now?

Leo knew that he signed up for this plan, but he agreed. 100%. If they ran while her back was turned, they could make it back to Mrs. O'Leary before she even noticed they were gone.

"Ma'am," Nico said. "What, uh . . . what happened to your eyes?"

Her gaze was scattered—as though she'd konked her head and was seeing double or triple (we've all been there, so I'm sure you know the gaze). "Why, Luke, you know the story. It was right before you were born, wasn't it? I'd always been special, able to see through the . . . whatever-they-call-it."

"The Mist?" Percy suggested.

"Yes, dear." She nodded encouragingly. "And they offered me an important job. That's how special I was!"

"You know what she's talking about?" Leo hissed to Nico.

Nico shook his head, looking just as confused as Percy and Leo.

"What sort of job?" Leo asked. "What happened?"

Ms. Castellan frowned. Her knife hovered over the sandwich bread. "Dear me, it didn't work out, did it? Your father warned me not to try. He said it was too dangerous. But I had to. It was my destiny! And now . . . I still can't get the images out of my head. They make everything seem so fuzzy. Would you like some cookies?"

She pulled a tray out of the oven and dumped a dozen lumps of chocolate chip charcoal on the table.

"Luke was so kind," Ms. Castellan murmured. "He left to protect me, you know. He said if he went away, the monsters wouldn't threaten me. But I told him the monsters are no threat! They sit outside on the sidewalk all day, and they never come in." She picked up the little stuffed Medusa from the windowsill. "Do they, Mrs. Medusa? No, no threat at all." She beamed at Percy. "I'm so glad you came home. I knew you weren't ashamed of me!"

Leo's eyes widened. She had talked to a stuffed animal. That's a sure sign that they should all be running for their lives.

Nico and Percy were creeped out by her, but something in his gut told him to run and never looked back. He sat sideways in his chair, so that his front was facing the door, poised to spring and dash for the exit if needed.

Now, Leo knew what kind of person Luke was running from. Crazy people were unpredictable. They weren't all there. Sometimes, they mistaken one person for another and go off.

Leo rubbed his arms where Ms. Sunshine used to shake him when she was having an episode.

He wondered if Mrs. Castellan ever did that to Luke and his father had ignored the abuse for years. If it did play out like that, Leo could understand Luke's bitterness. Did he hate it and think it was the wrong choice, yes, but did he understand it? Absolutely.

"Ms. Castellan," Percy said.

"Mom," she corrected.

"Um, yeah. Have you seen Luke since he left home?"

"Well, of course!"

That can't be good, Leo thought. Bitter, evil Scarface visiting one of the roots of his bitterness. That never ended well. Considering Leo 'visited' Teresa after he left her foster home, he knew that it didn't end well for either party.

Still, Nico sat forward expectantly.

"When?" he asked. "When did Luke visit you last?"

"Well, it was . . . Oh goodness . . ." A shadow passed across her face. "The last time, he looked so different. A scar. A terrible scar, and his voice so full of pain . . ."

"His eyes," Percy said. "Were they gold?"

"Gold?" She blinked. "No. How silly. Luke has blue eyes. Beautiful blue eyes!"

"Ms. Castellan?" Nico put his hand on the old woman's arm. "This is very important. Did he ask you for anything?"

She frowned as if trying to remember. "My—my blessing. Isn't that sweet?" She looked at the trio uncertainly. "He was going to a river, and he said he needed my blessing. I gave it to him. Of course I did."

Nico looked at Percy, triumphantly. "Thank you, ma'am. That's all the information we—"

Ms. Castellan gasped. She doubled over, and her cookie tray clattered to the floor. Nico, Leo, and Percy jumped to their feet.

"Ms. Castellan?" Percy said, panicked.

"AHHHH," She straightened. Percy scrambled away and almost fell over the kitchen table, because her eyes were glowing green.

There's the episode I was waiting for, Leo thought, oddly calm about this. Maybe it's because he'd expected something like this. That didn't make it any less terrifying and freaky, though

"Change his fate," she rasped in a much deeper voice before lunging across the table and grabbing Leo by the shoulders, shaking him hard enough to leave bruises. "Child of time, change his fate."

"Guys!" Leo squeaked (a very manly squeak, of course!) "Percy, Nico, ru-"

Suddenly, Ms. Castellan collapsed. Percy lurched forward and caught her before she could hit the edge of the table. With Nico's help, Percy managed to get her into a chair.

"Ms. C?" Percy asked, wearily, keeping his distance.

She muttered something incomprehensible and shook her head. "Goodness. I . . . I dropped the cookies. How silly of me."

She blinked, and her eyes were back to normal—or at least, what they had been before. The green glow was gone.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked.

"Well, of course, dear. I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

Percy glanced at Nico, who mouthed the word Leave.

Leo didn't need to be told twice. He was already backing towards the door; it took all his effort not to bolt. He'd scramble out a window if he had to.

This woman reminded Leo of Mrs. Sunshine, and Leo did not want to get acquainted with another hauntingly insane person that would not leave Leo alone, even after death. The nightmares of Mrs. Sunshine had stopped years ago, but Leo had a feeling they'd be staring up again.

"Ms. C, you were telling us something," Percy said. "Something about your son."

"Was I?" she said dreamily. "Yes, his blue eyes. We were talking about his blue eyes. Such a handsome boy!"

"We have to go," Nico said urgently. "We'll tell Luke . . . uh, we'll tell him you said hello."

"But you can't leave!" Ms. Castellan got shakily to her feet, and Leo practically leaped a foot backwards.

"Hermes will be here soon," she promised. "He'll want to see his boy!"

"Maybe next time," Leo said, his voice much more high pitched than usual. "Thank you for everything."

She tried to stop them, to offer them Kool-Aid, but Leo had to get out of that house, and the others felt the same way. On the front porch, she grabbed Percy's wrist and he almost jumped out of his skin. "Luke, at least be safe. Promise me you'll be safe."

"I will . . . Mom."

That made her smile. She released Percy's wrist and turned to Leo.

"Remember what I said, child of time. You're the only one that can save my Luke."

She didn't elaborate, and as she closed the front door Leo could hear her talking to the candles: "You hear that? He will be safe. I told you he would be! And the fire user-"

As the door shut, the three demigods ran. The little beanbag animals on the sidewalk seemed to grin at the trio as they passed.

Fire user. How did she know?


Back at the cliff, Mrs. O'Leary had found a friend, one Leo recognized.

A cozy campfire crackled in a ring of stones. A girl about eight years old was sitting cross-legged next to Mrs. O'Leary, scratching the hellhound's ears.

The girl had mousy brown hair and a simple brown dress. She wore a scarf over her head so she looked like a pioneer kid. She prodded the fire with a stick, and it seemed to glow more richly red than a normal fire.

"Hello," she said.

"Lady Hestia," Leo greeted, bowing.

Nico bowed to the goddess. "Hello again, Lady."

She studied Percy with eyes as red as the firelight, and Percy, although confused, followed his friends' examples by bowing.

"There is no need to bow, demigods," she giggled. "Sit, children. Would you like some dinner?"

Leo didn't think he'd be able to eat after what just happened, but Hestia waved her hand and a picnic appeared at the edge of the fire. There were plates of roast beef, baked potatoes, buttered carrots, fresh bread, and a whole bunch of other foods Leo hasn't had... ever. Leo's mom was poor, and Leo rarely stayed in his foster homes long enough to see a holiday or a special occassion. People cooked these foods on Christmas and Thanksgiving and Easter; Leo's holidays were spent in sewers, eating stolen candy bars and if he was lucky, some nicked fruit or cookies or something. Leo had only seen these kinds of food through windows as he wandered the streets.

The goddess made a five-foot-long dog biscuit appear for Mrs. O'Leary, who happily began tearing it to shreds.

The demigods picked up their food, and Leo, Percy, and Nico each scraped part of their meal into the flames.

"For the gods," Percy said.

Leo honestly wasn't sure if the gods deserved ot. After all, his dad allowed him to rot on the streets and in foster care for years without so much as a small portion of guidance. His dad watched as he was abused, pushed around, stalked by monsters, beaten, neglected; he watched as Leo fell into a spiral of depression, and there was nothing. Not one sign that his dad cared about him.

And after meeting May Castellan and piecing together some of Luke's past, Leo saw that his dad wasn't the only one that stood by and did nothing.

Hestia gazed at Leo, as though reading his mind, but luckily, she didn't say anything.

Instead, she turned to the other two and smiled. "Thank you. As tender of the flame, I get a share of every sacrifice, you know."

"I recognize you now," Percy said. "The first time I came to camp, you were sitting by the fire, in the middle of the commons area."

"You did not stop to talk," the girl recalled sadly. "Alas, most never do. Nico talked to me. He was the first in many years. Everyone rushes about. No time for visiting family."

"You're Hestia," Percy said. "Goddess of the Hearth."

She nodded.

"My lady," Nico asked, "why aren't you with the other Olympians, fighting Typhon?"

"I'm not much for fighting." Her red eyes flickered, filled with flame, but it wasn't intimidating. It was comforting.

"Besides," she said, "someone has to keep the home fires burning while the other gods are away."

"So you're guarding Mount Olympus?" Leo asked.

"'Guard' may be too strong a word. But if you ever need a warm place to sit and a home-cooked meal, you are welcome to visit. Now eat."

The three demigods scarfed down their food, and Leo was surprised by how fast he cleared his plate after eating nothing but soup and crackers for two weeks.

"That was great," Leo said. "Thank you, Hestia."

She nodded. "Did you have a good visit with May Castellan?"

"What's wrong with her, exactly?" Percy asked.

"She was born with a gift," Hestia said. "She could see through the Mist."

"Like my mother," Percy said. "But the glowing eyes thing—"

"Some bear the curse of sight better than others," the goddess said sadly. "For a while, May Castellan had many talents. She attracted the attention of Hermes himself. They had a beautiful baby boy. For a brief time, she was happy. And then she went too far."

Ms. Castellan had said: They offered me an important job . . . It didn't work out.

Whatever job it was, it left its mark on her.

"One minute she was all happy," Nico said. "And then she was freaking out about changing fate and a child of time. What happened to . . . to make her so scattered?"

The goddess's face darkened. "That is a story I do not like to tell. But May Castellan saw too much. If you are to understand your enemy Luke, you must understand his family."

"No wonder Luke ran away," Percy said. "I mean, it wasn't right to leave his mom like that, but still—he was just a kid. Hermes shouldn't have abandoned them."

Hestia scratched behind Mrs. O'Leary's ears. The hellhound wagged her tail and accidentally knocked over a tree.

"It's easy to judge others," Hestia warned. "But will you follow Luke's path? Seek the same powers?"

Nico set down his plate. "We have no choice, my lady. It's the only way Percy stands a chance."

"Mmm." Hestia opened her hand and the fire roared. Flames shot thirty feet into the air. Nico and Percy jumped at the sudden heat, but Leo, being a fire user, remained unaffected. Then the fire died back down to normal.

"Not all powers are spectacular." Hestia looked at Percy. "Sometimes the hardest power to master is the power of yielding. Do you believe me?"

"Uh-huh," Percy said, a little nervously.

The goddess smiled. "You are a good hero, Percy Jackson. Not too proud. I like that. But you have much to learn. When Dionysus was made a god, I gave up my throne for him. It was the only way to avoid a civil war among the gods."

"It unbalanced the Council," Percy remembered. "Suddenly there were seven guys and five girls."

Hestia shrugged. "It was the best solution, not a perfect one. Now I tend the fire. I fade slowly into the background. No one will ever write epic poems about the deeds of Hestia. Most demigods don't even stop to talk to me. But that is no matter. I keep the peace. I yield when necessary. Can you do this?"

"I don't know what you mean."

She studied the son of Poseidon. "Perhaps not yet. But soon. Will you continue your quest?"

"Is that why you're here—to warn me against going?"

Hestia shook her head. "I am here because when all else fails, when all the other mighty gods have gone off to war, I am all that's left. Home. Hearth. I am the last Olympian. You must remember me when you face your final decision."

Final. When you're a demigod, final is never a good term.

Percy looked at Nico and Leo, then back at Hestia's warm glowing eyes. "I have to continue, my lady. I have to stop Luke . . . I mean Kronos."

Hestia nodded. "Very well. I cannot be of much assistance, beyond what I have already told you. But since you sacrificed to me, I can return you to your own hearth. I will see you again, Percy, on Olympus."

Her tone was ominous, as though the next meeting would not be happy.

"Oh, and son of fire" she said, turning to Leo. "Tell them. They will not judge you; they will not hate you. If you are going to succeed, you need to learn to trust those around you."

Leo didnt know what that meant, but he didn't get the chance to ask because the goddess waved her hand, and everything faded away.


Suddenly, they were somewhere else. Nico, Leo and Percy were sitting on the couch in an apartment Leo didn't recognize. The rest of the living room was occupied by Mrs. O'Leary, and Leo felt bad for whoever lived here, considering Mrs, O'Leary would surely destroy the living room.

There was a muffled yell from the bedroom. A man's voice said, "Who put this wall of fur in the doorway?"

"Percy?" A female voice called out. "Are you here? Are you all right?"

Leo recognized the voice, but he couldn't quite place it.

"I'm here!" Percy shouted back.

"WOOF!" Mrs. O'Leary tried to turn in a circle to find the source of the voices, knocking all the pictures off the walls.

It took a few minutes, but they finally got things worked out. After destroying most of the furniture in the living room and probably making the neighbors really mad, they got the people out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, where they sat around the kitchen table. Mrs. O'Leary still took up the entire living room, but she'd settled her head in the kitchen doorway so she could see them, which made her happy.

Now that Leo could see the people, he realized where he'd heard the voice before. Percy's mom. He'd only met her once; he'd met her when she'd come to pick Percy up from camp last summer.

Percy's mom tossed the hellhound a ten-pound family-size tube of ground beef, which disappeared down her throat. Percy's step dad (begins with a P... Peter? Paul? Something along those lines) poured lemonade for the five of them while Percy explained about their visit to Connecticut.

"So it's true." Peter/Paul/whatever stared at Percy like he'd never seen him before. "All the talk about monsters, and being a demigod . . . it's really true."

Percy nodded. "Sorry about Mrs. O'Leary," he said, "destroying the living room and all."

Peter/Paul/whatever laughed like he was delighted. "Are you kidding? This is awesome! I mean, when I saw the hoofprints on the Prius, I thought maybe. But this!"

He patted Mrs. O'Leary's snout. The living room shook—BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—which either meant the police had kicked in the door (Leo would like to hive a piece of advice: if that happens hide under your bed; they never look there) or Mrs. O'Leary was wagging her tail.

Percy smiled, trying not to laugh.

"Thanks for not freaking out," he said.

"Oh, I'm freaking out," the man promised, his eyes wide. "I just think it's awesome!"

"Yeah, well," Percy said with a tone that meant bad news, "you may not be so excited when you hear what's happening."

He informed Peter/Paul/whatever and his mom about Typhon, and the gods, and the battle that was sure to come. Then he told them Nico's plan.

Leo looked over Percy's mom's shoulder and in the kitchen window, silvery moon lace glowed in the flower box.

It looked so familiar...

Percy's mom (Suzy? Sally? Leo was horrible at names) took a deep breath.

"Percy, it's dangerous," she said. "Even for you."

"Mom, I know. I could die. Nico explained that. But if we don't try—"

"We'll all die," Nico said. "Ms. Jackson, we don't stand a chance against an invasion. And there will be an invasion."

"An invasion of New York?" Peter/Paul/whatever said. "Is that even possible? How could we not see the . . . the monsters?"

"I don't know," Percy admitted. "I don't see how Kronos could just march into Manhattan, but the Mist is strong. Typhon is trampling across the country right now, and mortals think he's a storm system."

"Ms. Jackson," Nico said, "Percy needs your blessing. The process has to start that way. I wasn't sure until we met Luke's mom, but now I'm positive. This has only been done successfully twice before. Both times, the mother had to give her blessing. She had to be willing to let her son take the risk."

"You want me to bless this?" She shook her head. "It's crazy. Percy, please—"

"Mom, I can't do it without you."

"And if you survive this . . . this process?"

"Then I go to war," Percy said. "Me against Kronos. And only one of us will survive."

None of them informed her of the prophecy. It was too complicated to explain how it changed and which would come true and if it would change again.

"You're my son," she said miserably. "I can't just . . ."

"Sally." Peter/Paul/whatever (he'd figured out his name eventually) placed his hand over Sally's. "I can't claim to know what you and Percy have been going through all these years. But it sounds to me . . . it sounds like Percy is doing something noble. I wish I had that much courage."

Sally considered this for a moment.

"Percy," she said, slowly, "I give you my blessing."

Nico nodded. "It's time."

"Percy," Sally said. "One last thing. If you . . . if you survive this fight with Kronos, send me a sign." She rummaged through her purse and handed me her cell phone.

"Mom," Percy said, "you know demigods and phones—"

"I know," she said. "But just in case. If you're not able to call . . . maybe a sign that I could see from anywhere in Manhattan. To let me know you're okay."

"Like Theseus," Peter/Paul/whatever suggested. "He was supposed to raise white sails when he came home to Athens."

"Except he forgot," Nico muttered. "And his father jumped off the palace roof in despair. But other than that, it was a great idea."

Leo elbowed Nico so hard, the son of Hades almost toppled out of his chair.

"Sorry, bad time," Nico apologized.

"What about a flag or a flare?" my mom said. "From Olympus—the Empire State Building."

"Something blue," Percy said.

Leo almost laughed. Percy's obsession with blue was just hilarious. He even drank blue Coke; the first time he did that, Leo thought someone was pranking Percy, but when nothing happened, Percy explained his obsession with anything and everything blue.

"Yes," Sally agreed. "I'll watch for a blue signal. And I'll try to avoid jumping off palace roofs."

She gave Percy one last hug, and Percy shook hands with his step-dad.

Then the trio walked to the kitchen doorway and looked at Mrs. O'Leary.

"Sorry, girl," Percy said. "Shadow travel time again."

She whimpered and crossed her paws over her snout.

"Where now?" Percy asked Nico. "Los Angeles?"

"No need," he said. "There's a closer entrance to the Underworld."


A few details:

I Keep mentioning Mrs. Sunshine. She's a special person. I don't know if I'll mention her much for the rest of the story, but let's just say Gaea had something to with her mental state.

Second of all, Leo a little OOC, and that's because the meeting with Ms. Castellan threw him for a loop. You know those times where something happens, and you spend three days walking around like a zombie, trying to wrap your head around it? That's what this was like. Don't worry, Leo will be back to himself next chapter.

Thirdly, Leo mentioned that Calypso's moon lace looked familiar, but he's been paired with Reyna, so how can that be? All will be explained in time, my dear readers.

Trivia (PJO):

What is the name of Leo's cousin?