A/N: Certain ancient Greek names matches words use of foul language but no foul language was intentionally used. Also if you haven't read them yet read 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Early Adventures' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief' and 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters' before reading this story. Lastly, any one who wants to do a Demigods and Olympian reads story using 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon' is allowed as long as you inform me about it.

I Ruin A Museum Exhibit… Again

I wished I have got that cloth before I left, but everything happened so quickly, I haven't had time to grab it.

Now, I tore across the Mall, hoping that I delay their plans long enough to find my friends. I took off my invisibility cap once I was through the admissions area.

The main part of the museum was one huge room with rockets and airplanes hanging from the ceiling. Three levels of balconies curled around, so you could look at the exhibits from all different heights. The place wasn't crowded, just a few families and a couple of tour groups of kids, probably doing one of those holiday school trips. I wanted to yell at them to leave, but I couldn't risk getting arrested. I had to find Thalia Grover Bianca and Zoë. Any Minute now, the Skeleton dudes were going to invade the museum.

I ran into Thalia—literally. I was barreling up the ramp to the top-floor balcony and slammed into her, knocking her into an Apollo space capsule.

Grover yelped in surprise.

Before I could regain my balance Zoë had her arrow notched, aimed at my chest. Her bow had magically appeared out of nowhere, which is basically how Hunter bows worked.

When Zoë realized who I was, she didn't seem anxious to lower her bow. "You! How dare you show thy face here?"

"Percy!" Grover said. "Thank goodness."

Zoë glared at him, and he blushed. "I mean, um, gosh. You're not supposed to be here!"

"Sorry for knocking into you Thalia, and I'll explain later why I came here. But right now we got bigger problems," I responded. "Luke is here!"

"Where?" Thalia demanded.

"First off, I swear on the River of Styx that what I'm about to tell you is the truth," I responded before telling them about the Natural History Museum, Dr. Thorn, Luke, and the General.

"The General is here?" Zoë looked stunned. "That's impossible! You lie."

"No, he's not." Grover said, "Percy made an oath on the river of Styx that what he told us is true, and he doesn't go making that kind of Oath unless he's plans to take it seriously."

"That's right!" I responded. "Look, there's no time. The Skeleton warriors—"

"What?" Thalia responded. "How many?"

"Twelve and they should have Zoë's scent by now," I responded, "That's not all. The General said he was sending a monster to distract us."

Thalia and Grover exchange looks.

"We were following Artemis' trail," Grover said. "I was pretty sure it led here. Some powerful monster scent… She must've stopped here looking for the mystery monster. But we haven't found it yet."

"Who is the General?" Bianca asked.

"Nothing to worry about!" Zoë snapped, "Percy must have seen an Iris-message or some kind of illusion."

"Illusions don't crack marble floors," I responded.

Zoë took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

"If Percy is telling the truth about the skeleton warriors," she said, "we have no time to argue. They are the worst, the most horrible… we must leave now."

"Right," I responded.

"I was not including thee, boy," Zoë said. "You are not part of this quest."

"Why did you come, Percy?" Thalia asked.

I bit my lip. "Nico asked me to come, he found out about Phoebe and was about to follow you guys when I stopped him."

"Nico—why?" Bianca asked.

"He's worried about when you get claimed," I responded. "I don't know why, but he think you and him would be treated badly when you guys get claimed. If I haven't agreed to go in his place, Nico would have gone after you instead."

I expected Bianca to argue but instead she sighed, "That sounds like something Nico would do."

"You shouldn't have come, Percy," Thalia said grimly. "But you're here now. Come on. Let's get back to the van."

"That's not thy decision!" Zoë snapped.

Thalia scowled at her, "Percy came this way, and we don't have much of a choice."

"You ever had any wisdom when it came to boys," Zoë growled. "You never could leave them behind!"

Thalia looked like she was about to hit Zoë. I remembered after my first encounter with Zoë, Thalia and Luke mentioned meeting the Hunters before and how their encounter didn't end well.

But before Thalia hit Zoë, everyone froze. I heard a growl so loud I thought one of the rocket engines was starting up.

Below us, a few adults screamed. A little kid's voice screeched with delight: "Kitty!"

Something enormous bounded up the ramp. It was the size of a pick-up truck, with silver claws and golden glittering fur: the Nemean Lion. I remember getting a glimpse of this monster on a train two years ago. Now, up close and personal, it looked even bigger.

"The Nemean Lion," Thalia said. "Don't move."

The lion roared so loud it parted my hair. Its fangs gleamed like stainless steel.

"Separate on my mark," Zoë said. "Try to keep it distracted."

"Until when?" Grover asked.

"I say until we can get it to open its mouth wide enough to strike in it," I responded.

Everyone turned to me.

"The inside of Nemean Lion's mouth is its weakness," I responded.

Zoë reluctantly nodded. "Go!"

I rolled to the left taking out my thermos for some reason. Arrows whistled past me, and Grover played a sharp tweet-tweet-tweet cadence on his reed pipes. I turned and saw Zoë and Bianca climbing the Apollo capsule. Bianca were firing arrows, one after another, all shattering harmless against the Lion's metallic fur. When the lion open its mouth, Zoë tried to take aim, but then the lion swiped the capsule and tipped it on one side spilling Zoë and Bianca off the back. Grover played a frantic, horrible tune, and the lion turned toward him, but Thalia stepped into its path, holding up Aegis, and the lion recoiled. "ROOOAAAR!"

"Hi-yah!" Thalia said. "Back!"

The lion growled and clawed the air, but it retreated as if the shield were a blazing fire as Thalia took out her spear.

For a second, it seemed Thalia could destroy the monster. Then I saw the lion crouching, its legs muscles tensing. I'd seen enough cat fights in the alleys around my apartment in New York. I knew the lion was going to pounce.

"Hey!" I yelled as I uncapped my thermos and summoned a blast of water. It hit the monster, but instead of destroying it, the water blast caught its attention—which was what I hoped.

The Lion started charging at me. I backed against the railing. It sprang at me, one thousand pounds of monster, and I turned and jumped.

I landed on the wing of an old fashioned silver airplane and grabbed on as it tried to spill me on the floor, three stories bellow.

An arrow whizzed past my head toward the Lion's mouth but missed. The lion jumped onto the air craft, and the cords holding the plane groan.

I dropped onto the next exhibit before the Lion had a chance to swipe at me. Now I was on this weird-looking spacecraft with blades like a helicopter.

Zoë fired another arrow but missed completely. I dropped from the spaceship onto the top of a floor exhibit, a huge model of the earth. I slid down Russia and dropped off the equator.

The Nemean Lion growled and steadied itself on the spacecraft, but its weight was too much. One cord snapped. As the display swung down like a pendulum, the lion leaped off onto the earth's North Pole.

I remembered how I killed the Fury for the first time two years ago by cutting the ropes holding up the replica of the Argo's mast, and I knew if we didn't do something soon, someone will suffer the similar fate—only they won't be revived two weeks later.

"Grover!" I yelled. "Clear the area!"

Groups of kids were running around screaming. Grover tried to corral them away from the monster just as the other cord on the spaceship snapped and the exhibit crashed to the floor. Thalia dropped off the second-floor railing and landed across from me, on the other side of the globe. The lion regarded us both, trying to decide which of us to kill first.

Zoë and Bianca were above us, bows ready, but they were having to move around to get a good angle.

"No clear shot!" Zoë yelled. "Get it to open it's mouth more."

I look at Thalia, she had her spear out and ready. I remembered how Clarisse and I combine powers of the creek and Clarisse's spear to destroy a hellhound accidentally (I didn't know Clarisse was on the other side of the Hellhound). It might not be enough to kill the Nemean Lion, but it might be enough to help.

"Thalia!" I yelled.

Thalia turned to me as I pointed at my thermos and then at her spear. Thalia looked at the two and seemed to get the idea.

"Hey Lion, come and get me!" I yelled.

The Nemean Lion turned to me and pounced. I ducked and roll to it's side.

"Hey over here you stupid cat!" I yelled. The lion turned to me as I uncapped Riptide and threw it, so it could transform while spinning. It bounced off the Lion, which angered it enough to come at me with open claws and mouth.

I took out my thermos and focus a full blast of water just as the Nemean Lion in the mouth.

"Now!" I yelled.

Thalia nodded and fired an arch of blue electricity. It hit the water near the Lion's mouth. My guess is the combination of lightning and water help send electricity through the vulnerable mouth into the body of the lion because it didn't take long for the lion to burst into a golden dust.

Alarms wailed throughout the museum. People were flocking to the exits. Security guards were running around in panic with no idea what was going on. My guess was that Grover used a minor confusion song.

Zoë and Biacnca dropped from the balcony and landed next to me.

Zoë eyed me cautiously. "That was… an interesting strategy."

"At least it worked," I responded.

Thalia picked up something from the pile—a glittering fur coat that was now the size of a normal lion's coat. "Here, Percy, I think you earned this one."

She tossed it to me. I was surprise that it was light and soft considering it was strong enough to deflect a blade.

"Me?" I asked.

"It was your plan combining electricity with water," Thalia responded, "Only right you earned it."

"She's right," Zoë agreed.

Everyone turned to her surprised as Zoë quickly hid what I thought was an almost-smile.

I nodded and put on the pelt. When I did it shifted and change into a coat—a full-length golden-brown duster.

"Not exactly my style, but I'll take it—for now," I responded.

"We have to get out of here," Grover said. "The security guards won't stay confused for long."

"The security guards are not our biggest worry," Zoë said. "Look."

Through the glass walls of the museum, I could see a group of grey men in gray camouflage outfits—the skeleton warriors.

"Do you still want me to not be part of this quest?" I asked Zoë.

Zoë looked at me grudgingly. "I don't like it, but there is no changing fate. You are the fifth quest member. And we are not leaving anyone behind."