Thalia's P.O.V.

"Grover have you figured out where we are, yet?" I asked getting impatient. Zoe was in the gas station's store pre-paying for gas after I had to explain to her how to do that.

"I'm working on it." Grover grumbled and went back to fumbling with his acorns.

I hate to admit it but I wish Percy were here. And Annabeth. If they were here on the quest with me we'd have fun and get the job done. With Annabeth we would've already known where we were and had a game plan down. With Percy here it would've been… complete. He'd make me laugh, make me mad, make me grateful, and keep me loyal to the gods. If it weren't for Percy I may have went out to find Luke and help him get away from Kronos. In the end of that fantasy I know I would've ended up helping Luke and disappointing Annabeth. I just wish Jackson were here.

"Any luck?" Bianca asked with a frustrated look on her face.

"No, what's getting you? Zoe?" I asked.

"No… I just feel… I know where we're at." she said then like lightning from my father realization hit her face.

"D.C. it's 60 miles away. The signs back there and a faint, faint memory have me almost convinced!"

"By Pan I think she's right!" Grover said excitedly while gathering his acorns.

"Let's get going." I said with hope in my voice.

"But the prophecy said go west." Zoe added.

"I think D.C. is our best option." Phoebe said.

"She is your best tracker." Bianca said. She may be a hunter but she still remembered she's my friend.

"Alright." Zoe said wistfully.

Eventually we made it to a museum where Grover was sure was where we needed to stop. We parked and went to walk in. Zoe had us looking at old exhibits and what-not.

"Nothing wrong has happened so far and Zoe is leading!" I said sarcastically. Then someone ran into me. I turned to see Percy panting.

"Percy! Oh I mean- Percy your not supposed to be on the quest!" Grover said shying away from the hunters.

"Luke… here… bad." Percy said. Luke? He's here? My hand subconsciously shifted above Aegis.

"Some guy called the General and Dr. Thorn was there and Luke." Percy panted. "And skeleton soldiers."

"You lie! The General cannot be here!"

"He's here cracking marble floors and all." Percy told.

"We must leave skeleton warriors are the worst.

"Yeah." Percy agreed.

"I was not including thee! Thy not apart of the quest!" Zoe yelled.

"Hey I'm trying to save your lives!" Percy countered.

"Percy you shouldn't have come but since you're here, you're here." I said.

"This is not thy's decision!" Zoe yelled.

"Your not the boss of this rescue mission!" I yelled back.

"You never knew how and when to leave boys!" she snapped. I wanted to electrocute her when a little girl yelled from the floor below.

"Kitty!" then a growl was heard through out the room. We turned to look and saw a lion.

"He also said he's send a surprise to distract you guys." Percy said.

"Kinda of late with the warning." Bianca whispered.

"Nemean Lion. Keep very still." Zoe said.

"Separate, now!" I yelled ignoring her and Percy and I both ran for the first floor. Well I headed for the steps and he jumped over the ledge. The lion caught sight of Kelp Head and went for him.

The hunters shot arrows and Grover threw things. I caught up with Percy and we were holding the monster back side-by-side.

"Thals!" Percy yelled in warning but it was too late the lion swatted me up into the air leaving my stomach on the ground somewhere and my head colliding with a rocket.

Percy's P.O.V.

I grabbed astronaut food and launched it into the monster's mouth and he went to hacking while Zoe caught on and started shooting for his mouth. she was taking a little longer than I'd like so I stabbed the lion inside of his mouth and he turned into a coat. I ran across the room where Thalia had fallen after hitting her head on the second floor's rocket.

"Your spoil of war, hero." Phoebe spat at me.

"I could care less right now." I said. While getting Thalia into a sitting position using my chest to support her back and neck while my arm wove around her to keep her there. Bianca trickled nectar into Thalia's mouth and a large bump on her head seemed to be going down. I let out air I didn't realize I was holding in. Thalia turned her head and opened her eyes slowly. She grabbed her ears for a minute then relaxed and dropped her hands.

"Thy did a great service to us all. Thee will not be left behind." Zoe said and walked away. I nodded to her and helped Thalia up.

While driving we noticed a familiar looking helicopter. "They know the van. We've gotta ditch it." I said.

"Parking lot to your right, tunnel just below the stairs, we'll take the subway." Bianca said. Zoe followed through without any questions.

We bought tickets and boarded.

"Great thinking B." Grover said and Bianca half smiled she's probably still wondering how she remembers but doesn't remember.

"What's wrong?" I asked Bianca.

"I remember passing this highway before but there wasn't a subway when Nico and I used to live here. It's gotta be new but it looks old." she said.

"It does look old." I said. More mystery about Bianca's past.

"Wait a minute, no subway at all?" Thalia asked. Bianca nodded with raised eyebrows like she was positive.

"Bianca, how long ago…?" Zoe started but we heard the helicopter.

After changing trains three times we hit a dead end and had to get off. All around us were old empty freight trains and snow, and lots of it. I'm now thankful for the general's 'surprise' it gave me this lion's coat to keep warm. over by one of the cars was an old homeless guy keeping warm but a trash fire. He gave us a toothless grin and said, "Yall needa get warmed up? Come on o'er!" We all huddled around. Thalia was next to me and I could hear her teeth chattered like thunder in the sky.

"W-w-well, this is g-g-great." she stammered. I put flap of my lions coat around her and she eagerly cuddled against me with it around her to get warm. My stomach felt weird and I'm hoping she doesn't notice or she just thinks it's the cold. Her head fits just right against my chest.

"My hooves are frozen." Grover complained.

"Feet." I corrected for the sake of the homeless guy's sanity.

"Shouldn't we contact camp?" Bianca suggested.

"No. They cannot help us anymore. We must do for ourselves now."

Miles away Annabeth is in danger, Artemis is in chains, and a dooms-day monster is on the loose. And all I can think about is how I want Thalia and I to stay like this forever. Zeus should've killed me long ago.

"You know, " the homeless man said, "you're never completely without friends. " His face was

grimy and his beard tangled, but his expression seemed kindly. "You kids need a train going west?"

"Yes sir. Know of any?" I asked. He just pointed and a gleaming train that read Sun West Line. It was carrying cars.

"That's… convenient?" Thalia said.

"No kidding. I call the Lamborghini!" Grover said and ran to hop into a car. I turned back to the homeless man but he was gone and so was the fire. The trash can was cold as if he'd been apart of our imaginations. Zoe, Phoebe, and Bianca went to isolate themselves from boys, animals, and senselss girls in their own car. Grover was playing race car in his and Thalia was in a black Mercedes that she'd hot-wired for the radio.

"Join you?" I asked her. She shrugged so I climbed in. The song playing reminded me of my mom and how'd she sing the lyrics to it when she heard it coming from my room. Thinking about her made me sad. It's less likely I'll be home for Christmas or even live that long.

"Nice coat." Thalia said.

"Yeah but that wasn't the monster we're looking for." I said.

"Not even close." she agreed.

"Thalia, this mystery monster, whatever it is, the general said it would come for you. They wanna isolate you from the group, so the monster will appear and battle you one-on-one.

"He said that?" she asked.

"Yeah, something like that." I answered.

"That's great, I love being bait."

"No idea what the monster will be?"

"No but you know where we're going right? San Francisco, that's where Artemis was going."

"What's with the bad rep at San Francisco?" I asked.

"The msit is really thick there 'cause the Mountain of Despair is so near, titan's magic still lingers there and monsters are attracted there like you wouldn't believe!"

"Mountain of Despair?" I asked.

"If you really don't know, ask Zoe, she's the expert."

I glanced at Thalia's face -okay I was staring at her face- when something hit me. Thalia has the same toughness like the hunters, why wouldn't they get along?

"They tried to recruit you." I said. Thalia frowned.

"What?" she asked.

"The hunters." Her eyes got dangerously bright and I thought I was gonna die then and there. Then she sighed.

"I almost joined them. Luke, Annabeth and I ran into them once and Zoe almost had me but…"

"But?" Thalia got rigid and looked away.

"I would've had to leave to Luke."

"Oh." I mumbled my stomach falling.

"Zoe and I got into a fight she'd told me I was being stupid and would regret my choice. She told me Luke would let me down someday."

"That's harsh, having to admit Zoe was right."

"She wasn't right! Percy, Luke never let me down. Never."

"We're gonna have to fight him with no way around it." I told her and she didn't respond.

"You haven't seen him lately… I know it's hard to believe but-"

"I'll do what I have to do." she cut me off.

"Even if it means killing him?" I questioned.

"Do me a favor, get out my car." Thalia said. I was beginning to feel bad she and Annabeth had to go through this. As I was getting out she said my name.

"Percy," I looked back. "Annabeth, wanted to join the hunters too, maybe you should think about why." Thalia said. Before I could ask what she was talking about she rolled up the windows and sealed me out. So naturally when I'm unwanted I go to Grover.

R&R!