Okay, so it is currently...-looks at the time- 12:41am here, I'm incredibly sick (my throat is killing me, I can barely talk, I'm coughing my guts up, my nose is blocked and my eyes hurt...), I'm exhausted, but what am I doing? Sitting at my laptop determined to get this chapter up before I go to sleep x_x Yes, I care about you all that much. Remember that :P

I'm also up this late because...41 MINUTES AGO I TURNED 17! WOOT! So yeah, it's my birthday and I wanted to make sure that this chapter was up in time :) I have a lot of stuff on later, so I felt it important that I posted this now, haha.

Anyway. Sorry it took so long. As I've told you before, I'm back at school and it's a very hard year for me. I'll try to update best I can, but I WILL update. This fic IS going somewhere.I promise.

Things take a turn for the worst in this chapter, but I hope you like it :)

The Son of Neptune

Chapter: 10

Piper

On her crutches, Piper hobbled her way towards the Big House with Jason and Grover on either side of her. After Grover had filled them in on what had happened with Thalia so long ago, Jason had to assure him repeatedly that he wasn't angry with him as long as Thalia wasn't angry with him. The three of them had then talked it out further until Piper suggested that they should rest. Too bad they only managed about four hours of restless sleep before they all woke up again, feeling fidgety and unable to sit still. So after Piper had been fed some ambrosia – the food of the Gods – and felt strong enough, Grover managed to get hold of a pair of crutches so they could go find Annabeth. They tried her cabin first of course, but she'd apparently left really early and hadn't told anyone where she was going. So, naturally, that left the Big house.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Jason asked for the umpteenth time and Piper clenched her teeth. No, she wasn't ok. She was exhausted from lack of sleep and her leg was throbbing with pain where the massive dog had bitten her. But even so, she wouldn't be able to rest until she had talked things out with Annabeth…and confronted Drew. But the way Piper saw it, her half-sister was another matter entirely and could wait until she was better. Annabeth couldn't – she was more important.

"I'm alright," Piper said, giving Jason the best smile she could muster but it probably turned out more like a grimace. "I just want to fix this."

"Couldn't you have done it after breakfast?" Grover complained, his hooves kicking up tufts of grass as he walked. "I can't function without food."

"You didn't have to come," she told him, almost tripping. "You could have gone to help Leo and the Hephaestus campers."

Grover pouted. "And now you're trying to get rid of me? How nice of you. Maybe I shouldn't come next time."

"Next time?" Jason mused, opening the door so Piper could get in on her crutches. "What? You want to make this a weekly thing?"

Grover chuckled. "Why not. Once a week Percy can go missing, Annabeth can get angry and Piper can get attacked by a hellhound. Perfect."

Jason and Grover laughed and Piper smiled. It felt good to see them happy for a while. It was better than Jason being worried about Thalia or Grover worrying about Percy.

"What do you three want?" An annoyed voice suddenly boomed, and Mr. D appeared in front of them. Like, literally appeared. Never underestimate the power of the Gods and always be prepared. Never hang around them if you have a heart condition of any kind.

"Um…" Grover said, looking over at Jason and Piper.

"Oh look," Mr. D said, looking at Grover, "you've finally found some new friends. It's about time. The other two were starting to annoy me."

"Hey–" Grover tried, but Mr. D gave him a look that made Grover close his mouth quickly.

"We're looking for Annabeth," Jason said before someone could say something they'd regret. "Do you know where she is?"

"Pfft. What do I look like? A Demigod GPS?" Dionysus scoffed, crossing his arms.

"Please," Piper tried, trying to keep her annoyance in check. "You sure you don't know where she went?"

"I believe that she went to see Percy's parents for a while," Chiron suddenly said, appearing in the doorway behind them. The three of them spun around as his hooves clopped against the marble floor. "We needed someone to fill them in on the new details and keep them updated – his mother is still very upset. She and Nico left two hours ago."

Piper sighed. "When will they be back?"

"It's hard to say," Chiron said sadly, looking between the three of them. "Annabeth didn't say how long they would be, but she didn't seem to be keen on coming back anytime soon."

"Didn't she want to…" Grover trailed off, suddenly having great interest in his hooves.

"Didn't she want to what?" Jason asked, frowning.

Everyone was looking towards Grover now and he blushed. "I may have overheard them talking about doing some more searching…"

"Searching for what, Mr. Underwood?" Mr. D enquired, suddenly interested in the conversation."Speak. Now."

"Uh, well, I didn't mean not to tell you, I just thought that you knew and well, I didn't think that she'd actually do it and it's all just so-"

"Grover," Chiron tried gently. "Just tell us."

"Annabeth and Nico wanted to find the Roman camp by themselves," he muttered. "They told me not to tell anyone, but I think that they're crazy, so I think it's best that you know."

Jason, moving quickly, suddenly stepped in front of Grover and grasped his shoulders firmly. His skin was pale and his blue eyes wild. "Are you saying that they went to the camp by themselves?" He shoudted. His voice seemed to bounce off the walls.

Grover stepped back a bit and almost slipped on the cold floor. "Y-yes. I think that's where they plan to go. Why?"

"There's no way that they could get there though," Jason said frantically, probably trying to reassure himself more than anyone else. "They can't get there-"

"Pegasai," Piper said suddenly, the thought hitting her hard. "They took the pegasai, didn't they?"

Jason didn't even bother to look at Grover for confirmation and turned to Chiron in panic. "We've got to stop them. They'll get themselves killed!"

"Is that such a bad thing?" Piper heard Mr. D mutter but everyone thankfully ignored him.

"If the camp is as dangerous as you claim it to be, then yes, we will have to do something," Chiron told them, his face turning grim as if a dark storm cloud was now looming over his head.

"But how do we do that?" Grover asked. "We have no idea where they are, only where they're headed!"

Everyone looked at each other – well, Mr. D kind of looked at the ground as if he were already bored with everyone – as their minds tried to piece together a plan.

"I do not think that there is any way of stopping them now," Chiron said at last, stepping out of his wheelchair so that his white stallion hindquarters appeared. "Annabeth and Nico are two very stubborn, very determined demigods, and even if we did contact them, I'm almost certain that they wouldn't listen."

"So we just let them march straight towards their deaths?" Jason shouted angrily. Piper had never seen him like this. She lay a hand on his shoulder and could feel all of his muscles tense beneath her fingertips.

"No," Chiron said, his hooves clopping against the floor. "That's not what I mean. We can't do that either. But what we can do is tell them that we'll meet them there."

Everyone paused as if trying process this information.

"What do you mean?" Piper finally asked, probably voicing everyone else's thoughts.

"I mean that you need to finish the Argo II. And fast."

"Why can't we just go after them ourselves?" Jason asked tiredly, obviously having no clue what he was doing anymore. Piper desperately wanted to help him somehow, but she didn't know what to say. Probably because she was feeling just as bad as he was about all of this.

"Because that would be just as dangerous and you need to stick together. If you wanted to go, who would you take? Leo's duties lie here and Piper is injured," Chiron argued logically. "You need to understand that you three are a part of something bigger than what you are currently dealing with and you can't just go running into these situations without thinking them through."

Piper felt Jason's shoulders slump in defeat beside her and she saw Grover chew at his lip.

"I have no doubts that you, Leo and Piper will accomplish many great things," Chiron continued, resting his hands on Jason's shoulders. "And I believe that you can help Annabeth and Nico before it is too late. Don't give up just yet, Jason. We're all still rooting for you."

Jason looked towards Piper with his electric blue eyes, studying her closely. She gave him a weak smile and nodded, feeling suddenly lightheaded. They could do this, they could do this they could do this…

"We can't do this!" Leo yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. "Have you ever heard the phrase 'Rome wasn't built in a day'? Well I have news for you, neither was the Argo!"

"We know that," Jason said, and Piper could see some of the campers look their way and whisper behind their hands. "And we're not asking you to finish in a day."

"No, but you may as well be! A week? Seriously? I thought that I was the one that was meant to annoy you and make all the jokes," Leo scoffed, looking over a blueprint and pulling a hardhat out of his magic tool belt. He kind of looked like an angry construction worker whose pay had just been drastically cut. Piper actually had to hold back a laugh.

"Look, you'll have everyone's help," Jason said patiently, watching as more and more campers, Satyrs and Nymphs – among other beings – flooded into the room. "And we're going to help you as much as we possibly can. We can do this."

Leo slammed the blueprint he was reading down hard on a worktop. "What happened to sailing on the Solstice when the God's power is the strongest? How do you expect this thing to fly without wind, huh? A thousand handheld fans behind the sails?"

"Leo, what part of 'son of the sky God who can control the winds' don't you get?" Jason asked, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows at his friend. "I could make enough wind to sail the Argo II…probably."

"Probably? That has the same meaning as 'maybe,' 'unlikely,' 'perhaps' and 'doubtfully,' and none of those mean definitely," Leo retorted and Piper rolled her eyes. Since when had Leo become a thesaurus?

"I know it looks impossible," Piper tried, using a different approach to Jason. "But can you at least try? We can't just give up on Annabeth and Nico. Please."

Leo sighed and looked over towards the ship. Pause. "You owe me," he said simply, pointing a finger at Jason. "You owe me big time."

Jason shook his head and smiled. "Remember when we were crossing that ice bridge and I had to save you-"

"What? You keep track of what we owe each other? That is so not cool, man," Leo said, shoving Jason playfully and turning towards the ship. "Keep it up, guys! Break in fifteen!"

YAY! A week...but will this cause problems? Probably. Jeez, Annabeth and Nico, can't play by the rules, can you?

Going to bed now. Need sleep.

R&R? Pllleeeeeaaassseeee? It would be a great Birthday present :)

-Bell