A/N: HOLY CRAP! I'M SORRY! I know it's been well over a month and I'm really sorry but I've been REALLY busy. I had a bunch of tests and projects and then my mom left to go to Africa for three weeks and I was left as the woman of the house- I wore the same jeans at least seven times. Anyhow, my sincere apologies. I can't really say I'll be updating any time soon either because I've got a bunch of benchmarks coming up not to mention I have yet another biology project and I just don't have the time. Maybe I'll be able to update a bit over spring break...

Anyways, here's the chapter:

Disclaimer: As always, I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Maximum Ride which, belong, respectively, to Rick Riordan and James Patterson. I also do not own the quote featured at the beginning of the chapter nor do I take full credit for this chapter as some of the action and plot does indeed belong to the aforementioned Mr. Riordan.

MPOV

"Tell me when it's over," Thalia said. Her eyes were shut tight. The statue was holding us so we couldn't fall but still she gripped onto it's arm as if it was her lifeline. Interesting... was a daughter of Zeus, the god of the sky, afraid of heights? How could anyone fear the sky? It was natural to me. I'd grown up in it. Of course, if I fell, I'd just spread my wings and fly to safety. I suppose normal humans- or, in this case, demigods- have a reason to be terrified. But Thalia? If she fell, wouldn't her father just protect her? Oh, well, we all have our quirks.

"Everything's fine," Percy promised in that sincere voice of his that came when someone was reassuring a friend.

"Are... are we very high?" Her voice quivered. I looked down. What was her definition of high? Below us, a range of snowy mountains zipped by. I stretched out my foot and kicked snow off one of the peaks. It was pretty low- for me and the flock anyway. However, if you were afraid of heights...

"Nah," Percy said before I spoke up and said something stupid. "Not that high."

Then Zoë cut in. "We are in the Sierras! I have hunted here before. At this speed, we should be in San Francisco in a few hours."

"Hey, hey, Frisco!" The statue holding us said. "Yo, Chuck! We could visit those guys at the Mechanics Monument again! They know how to party!" Why was I just reminded of Iggy? Oh, yeah, cause that's exactly something he would say.

"Oh, man," the other angel said. "I am so there!" And there was the partner- in-crime. It reminded me of Gazzy. I miss those guys. I wonder how they were. I swear, if Fang wasn't taking care of them, I'm going to kill him when I get back.

"You guys have visited San Francisco?" Percy asked.

"We automatons gotta have some fun once in a while. Right?" our statue said. "Those mechanics took us over to the de Young Museum and introduced us to these marble lady statues, see. And-"

"Hank!" Chuck cut in. "They're kids, man."

Oh, gods. Images of statues going at it filled my head. Oh, sweet Poseidon. Get out, get out!

"Oh, right." If statues could blush, I swear Hank did because his bronze skin turned brown. "Back to flying." Yes, please, back to flying. I'm not about to get "the talk" from two bronze statues.

The angels sped up and I could tell they were excited about... get out! The mountains turned in to hills and then we were flying above towns and roads.

Grover played his pipes to pass the time- what kind of hobby is that? Is that Taylor Swift?- and it began to annoy me. Zoë got bored and started shooting arrows at random billboards as we passed by. She nailed a picture of some slutty model in the eye. Hm... Maybe I could like this girl. That is, if she ever stopped trying to kill Percy and get rid of me.

Thalia kept her eyes closed the whole way. She muttered to herself a lot, like she was praying. Percy started talking to her. "You did good back there. Zeus listened."

It was hard to read her expression when she had her eyes closed. "Maybe," she said. "How did you and Max get away from the skeletons in the generator room, anyway? You said they cornered you."

"A girl helped us," I said, speaking up. "A mortal. Her name was Rachel."

"A mortal?" Thalia asked, shocked. "And she could see you?"

I looked at her like she was insane. "It's not like I was wearing Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility. Of course she could see us."

"No- I mean... she could see you were running from monsters?"

And then Percy stepped in to settle the confusion. "Yeah, she could see through the Mist- it's the cloud that is over most mortal's eyes that prevents them from seeing things as they truly are. Even some demigods are victims of it."

Thalia nodded her head in confirmation. "Right. Some mortals, however, have truesight- it allows them to see things clearly."

I nodded my head in understanding. "So, when you tried to convince her your sword was a pen..."

"Her truesight allowed her to see through the mist," Thalia finished for me.

"Well, the girl was annoying," Percy said. "But I'm glad I didn't vaporize her. That would've been bad."

I scoffed. "She saved our lives, you ungrateful ass. What would we have done if she hadn't been there?"

He looked at me. "That's why I said it would have been bad."

I slapped my palm against my forehead. Slimy git. I was about to punch him but then Thalia sighed wistfully. "Must be nice."

"What's that, Thalia?" I asked, confused.

"To be a regular mortal... Don't you think?"

I sighed, regretfully. "Yeah."

"Where do you want me to land?" Hank asked us, waking Percy up. I watched in amusement as he shook his head to get rid of the remnants of sleep and wiped away the drool on his chin.

"Oh, um... " He looked down and all of a sudden, his focus sharpened. "Woah."

I followed his gaze and had to stop myself from repeating him. I'd been to California before, of course, and I'd seen movies set in San Francisco, but I'd never seen the actual thing. It was beautiful... Normal people going about their normal, safe lives... I felt like taking a picture and sending it to the Flock for a postcard. The writing on the back? "Greetings from San Francisco. Haven't died yet. I swear, Fang, I'm gonna kick your ass when I get back. Wish you were here, Max." With a little "P.S." at the bottom: "P.S. Found out that my dad's a god... oh! And I have a brother. Love from, MR." I snorted mentally. Yeah, that would go well.

"There," Zoë said. "The Embarcadero Building." The what now? Is that Spanish?"

"Good thinking," said Chuck. "Me and Hank can blend in with the pigeons."

I raised my eyebrow, looking at him like he'd lost his mind... if statues had minds... Did they have minds? Well, maybe it's just statues blessed by Zeus...

"What? Can't statues have a sense of humor?"

I looked at him seriously and he put on a hurt expression. "You know what? Forget it!"

Percy snorted. "Way to piss him off, Max."

"Shut up."

As it turned out, there wasn't much need to blend in. It was early morning and not many people were around. We freaked out a homeless guy on the ferry dock when we landed. He screamed when he saw Hank and Chuck and ran off yelling something about metal angels from Mars. I nearly died laughing at him.

"See you," Percy said, "and thanks."

"Yeah, guys. Have fun partying!" I gave them my best wishes.

"Thanks, kid!" Then they took off, no doubt to find those "lady friends" of theirs. I shivered.. Well, there go our guardian angels.

A/N: So, this could easily be like, ten pages longer but I frankly don't have the time. However, I will update sooner and I'm sorry for the wait. Review, please!

AJ