A/N: So it seems that I will be updating once a week, because of all the stuff I have to do for school. I think that I'll aim for Sundays, so I have two days to work on it. And special thanks for my faithful reviewers! You have absolutely no idea how much that helps me want to finish this. And because this is the tenth chapter, I am aiming for a total of 100 reviews. That's only 14 more! Please make my day! Don't think that someone else will review for you. I've been getting less and less... This is longer than usual, to encourage you to review. Hope you enjoy it! ;-)

I admit that my idea may have been a bit flawed, but it was the only one we had. Of course, it was really easy to look up a stable in a phone book at the convenience store, and even easier to arrange for horses for two days. I had no idea how long that it would take until we could get to another town were we could get another train or subway, so we played it safe.

We got to the stable just around noon, and the stable-boy met us halfway down the long drive. "You the three who requested three horses for two days?"

"That's us," Annabeth put in, smiling widely. I could see her feminine charm working on the boy, and I was jealous. Immensely so. He was definitely older than I was, but I tried not to let it get to me.

The boy crossed his arms. "What kind of experience do you have?" He sounded reluctant to let a couple of horses out with a few teenagers. I didn't blame him. One would probably be eaten, another roasted alive, and the third would be too traumatized and go completely wild.

"Get me within three feet of a horse and I'll show you," I replied, mimicking his posture and narrowing my eyes. He regarded me for a second, then turned on his heel and walked away. We followed at a slight distance, and I whispered, "I'm going to tell the horses to be nice to you. Don't act afraid if one whinnies or something like that, just be confident, or this'll never work." That got me a glare from Nico and an elbow in my side from Annabeth.

"And make sure that you don't step in anything," she hissed. I knew that I had offended her, but it wasn't something I could take back easily, so I just let it go.

The horses that thundered past us in a pasture as we made our way up the hill were pretty big and strong. Not nearly as majestic as Blackjack, but then again, he was a 'mythological' creature. But these horses seemed sturdy, two mares and a stallion, galloping past as incredible speeds, then they stopped and turned around and looked at me.

"Our wild horses, for now," the boy said with pride in his voice. I wanted to hit him.

Save us, the sandy mare begged, We fear him.

He does not let us our of this confinement, the other mare whined. The stallion confirmed their arguments and whinnied.

I could do nothing but look on as the boy led us to the stables that were at the top of the hill. It didn't smell like roses, that was for sure. I wondered how often their stables were cleaned. I guessed around three times a week.

When I walked into the stable, all of the horses started nickering and whinnying at the sight of me, cramming my head with their thoughts. The main idea was escape. The attention I was getting from the horses was not lost on the boy.

"Feel free to check them out and choose the ones you like the best." Now all the horses were boasting on how excellent they were.

I spent ten minutes going from horse to horse, seeing how sturdy their legs were and how fit they were. After much complaining from Annabeth and Nico, I chose three horses who seemed acceptable for our long trip. Three young mares.

I saddled mine and Nico's horses while the boy helped Annabeth, totally oblivious to my icy glares at his back. I so wanted to kick his behind and watch him get a mouthful of hay. But when he went to lead her horse out, she insisted that he let her be.

"I'm going to be fine, thank you," she said a bit sharply, locking her stormy gray eyes to his boring brown ones. He backed off, undeterred.

"The path starts out that way"--he pointed towards the woods-- "and there are several camps set up where you can spend the night. But be careful of the wolves, they'll..."

"I think we're all set," I said maybe just a little to harshly, cutting him off. He glared at me as I mounted my horse, who told me that her name was Gretchen. Nico and Annabeth got on awkwardly, but the boy didn't notice. I tapped my heels to Gretchen's side, and she started forward at a brisk trot. The other horses followed with no guidance from Annabeth or Nico, eager to follow me.

Once we were in the woods, The horses started chattering away.

Where are we going, lord? one asked.

"West," I replied. "But we won't be bringing you back. We'll have to leave after a day and a half or so. We're going to make it look like the wolves got to us, and you three will go back."

We cannot come with you? Nico's mare inquired, sadness dripping in her voice.

"No. That would be stealing," I replied sensibly.

We continued like that for a while, until the woods got extremely quiet.

"Do you hear that?" Annabeth asked, speaking for the first time in a while. Vixen, Annabeth's horse, snorted and started pawing the ground, tossing her head.

Wolves, I think, Gretchen whispered. I can smell them.

"Let's go!" Gretchen burst into a sudden gallop, and Vixen and Jasmine weren't far behind. They didn't like the idea as much as we did.

After thirty minutes of solid galloping, I was sure that the wolves were far behind us. Nico and Annabeth were groaning from saddle sores, and I didn't blame them. I could feel that the insides of my legs were raw, too, and burning. I didn't want to say anything.

We rode until we made it to the second camp, just as the sun set. I didn't tie up the horses, but I made them promise not to try anything. They agreed wholeheartedly, eager to please.

I had been hoping for a pleasant night, but apparently, someone else had other ideas.

The room was completely black, save for a circle of dim, yellow light, in the middle of which kneeled a dark-haired woman. Her hands were held above her head, tied at the wrist to something that was invisible.

Her face was weary as she looked up to me and locked her familiar gray eyes to mine.

"I do not want your help, Percy Jackson," she said clearly. I couldn't speak, though I longed to ask why not.

She seemed to understand my thoughts. "Because you are a son of Poseidon." I wondered how that had anything to do with me. It wasn't as if—

"Because, that is how it is," she said, cutting off my train of thought. "You father and I have some...disagreements." And I was exactly like my father in the sense that...?

"You are his son." Her eyes were still boring into mine, but it wasn't hard for me to keep eye contact. But I wasn't my father. I was much less than he was. "But the fact still remains that you are his son." But my mother was not like that. I was just as much a art of her as I was of my father.

She said nothing in reply, only looked down. She didn't say anything for a while, and neither did I.

"Aphrodite came to have a little chat with me before this happened," she said at length. Why would she...?

"Why would she see me? Because of you, Perseus." Uh-oh... "Uh-oh is right. I told you that I did not approve of you being friends with my daughter." I felt my body tense unconsciously. "And as such, I do not approve of your feelings for her, and her feelings for you. You keep away from my daughter, even though you are leading this 'quest' and she is, naturally, coming along. I do not need rescuing." I wanted to tell her that if she didn't want rescuing, then she should get her butt out of where ever she was already. Her steely eyes glared at me.

I woke up, gasping, to find Annabeth's face above mine. I put a hand to my forehead and went to sit up, but she pushed me down. I could feel the horses' concern for me, which made me feel a little bit better, but only a little. The cabin that we were in was small, so I wasn't surprised that I had woken her up, and that Nico was still fast asleep, his mouth slightly open.

"Are you alright?" I considered that for a second. Hmm, I had a chat with my best friend-crush's mother, and she told me that I should basically never see her daughter again. She had also pointed out that she could save herself, where we were doing all this stuff to get to her.

"I'm fine," I lied. She didn't believe me, so I elaborated. "Your mom." That was all she was getting.

"She said that she didn't want us to be friends, right?" I started guiltily. "Yeah, she told me that, too. Two nights ago, actually. Bucketful of nonsense, I think. You're my best friend, even if our parents are enemies."

"If I remember correctly," I began, "You thought that we wouldn't get along. Shouldn't, actually. But we do. So, that shows that our parents should be able to get along. Doesn't it?" It was a rhetorical question; big mistake. Annabeth just sat there, her hand still on my shoulder, thinking about it. Slowly, she began to nod.

"Yes, they should get along. At least enough so we can be friends without my mother flipping out." She laughed a bit, and I smiled. "But I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't get along now." She winced.

"Why?"

"I have awful saddle sores, thanks to you." She hit my shoulder, and I frowned.

"Well, I'm sorry that you were a bit faulty with coming up with a plan," I teased. She hit me again.

"Any idea would have better than this." She pulled her pant leg up and showed me the red marks on her calf. "That's about half as bad as my thigh."

"Oh, you'll get over it. At least we got rid of those awful winter coats and whatnot. It would have been hard to explain carrying them in a desert. And who came up with the idea of donating them?" It had been my idea, when we were starting to get tired of carrying them. Of course, I hadn't given Annabeth to think of it, but it didn't matter.

"Yours, because you were such a wimp."

"Ouch. That sounded like Clarisse."

"Oh, stop it." Her face turned pink, but I pretended that I didn't notice, even though it was hard, because she was so pretty when embarrassed and flustered.

"We should wake Nico," I said after a moment.

"Yeah." She got up, and I could still feel where her hand had been on my shoulder as she tried to shake Nico awake. "Nico!" she all but screeched. I covered my ears and winced.