***********WARNING: THE END TO THIS STORY IS VERY DISNEY-LIKE! DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU! I DON'T WANT A LOT OF PEOPLE TELLING ME IT WAS CORNY, BECAUSE I KNOW…AND I LIKE IT LIKE THAT! SO DEAL WITH IT!!!!!************

Note: Listen to the songs mentioned in this chapter at your own risk. I am not guaranteeing that they are rated "T".

Super Genius: You were right, but I had to delete your review because of spoilers. Sorry!

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I don't own any songs mentioned in this chapter or their respective owners/writers. We live in freedom, people, no owning other people here!!!!

The Blast from the Past Marathon had conked out somewhere on the border between Montana and Washington, but nobody noticed except for me. Why? They were all asleep, still sitting up. Grover and Juniper passed out in the backseat and Annabeth in the passenger. It was funny listening to Grover talking in his sleep.

"No I don't want hamburgers! You murder poor innocent animals and eat them!"

Or,

"Go away, skunk! No! That's my celery—oh no!"

Juniper and Annabeth didn't yell in their sleep, (unlike Grover) but I caught Annabeth murmuring once in a while. I'm pretty sure she said something about a picture, a notebook, and word puzzles. She said something about yogurt, too.

So there we were—a dryad, a satyr, and two demigods, three of them passed out and one about to, carting around an empty RV at 3 AM over really, really huge mountains.

(For a fun experiment, tell that to a cop or psychiatrist and watch their reaction…then run.)

The car was eerily quiet. Grover hadn't said anything for a while. Idly, I turned on the C.D player. I wasn't expecting anything to actually play, of course, since we hadn't put any C.D in there.

That's why I about jumped out of my skin when a song started playing.

After I calmed down, I realized I knew the song. It was 'Sexyback' by Justin Timberlake. What it was doing in our C.D player I didn't know. Still, I wasn't complaining. It was better than the quiet for keeping me awake, at least.

Annabeth stirred in her sleep, so I turned the volume down. The song played for its four minutes, and then there was a break for a few seconds.

Another song came on. I didn't know this one. Some guy was singing, but it was a lot slower than Sexyback.

A minute into the song, Annabeth murmured under her breath. Listening closely, I figured out that she was singing the lyrics with the song.

"Holy crap, she sings in her sleep!" I said in astonishment. Gods. Who sings along with songs when they're sleeping?

"No, I don't," sleep-talked Annabeth.

"She's sarcastic in her sleep, too!" Seriously, I was really shocked. I knew that children of Athena were smart, but they were so smart that they could talk with other people in their sleep? I wondered what their cabin sounded like at night. Ha! Sleeping kids having conversations about math and other smart stuff!

Annabeth opened one eye and glared at me. "I'm awake, idiot!"

"Oh. Never mind, then. Hey, what happened to 'Seaweed Brain'?"

"Seaweed Brain has stopped being a term of insult and has become a term of endearment."

"I know. That's why I like it," I smirked, even though she wasn't looking at me.

"Percy Jackson, are you flirting with me?" questioned Annabeth.

"Um, no?" I let my voice rise slightly at the end so it became a question, not a statement.

"I'm going to pretend that wasn't a question," she said in a no nonsense tone, but I could hear the smile in her voice.

(That was my pathetic try at flirting. Bear in mind that they're tired and don't realize what they're saying. So not the Percabeth I promised. Keep waiting!)

By the time we finished talking, the song had ended. I recognized the song playing. It was a song that all the girls at my school loved.

"Oh, this is one of my favorite songs."

"You like Taylor Swift?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes." She answered curtly. "I like this song especially." The song was 'You belong with me.'

"But she wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers
Dreaming 'bout the day when you'll wake up and find
That what you're lookin' for has been here the whole time.

"It just reminds me of…" she trailed off again.

"Of who?"

"Never mind." There was silence for another 3 or so minutes, while the song finished up.

A new one began. I didn't know this one, either, but Annabeth knew every word, even the ones in French.

"I want your love and
I want your revenge
I want your love
I don't wanna be friends."

Je veux ton amour
Et je veux ta revanche
Je veux ton amour
I don't wanna be friends

"You know this song?" I asked.

"Yeah; it's Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. I like her songs, but…"

"But what?" I asked.

"Nothing."

"Jeez, Percy!" She yelled suddenly, scaring the crap out of me. "You're half falling asleep! Take that left."

I was too tired to argue; I stopped the car when we got to the rest area and got out of the car. Annabeth got out too and we switched seats. We were back on the road in a few minutes.

I knew the song playing now; Replay, by IYAZ, making it, officially, the strangest collection of songs I'd ever heard. The song blended into the next for my tired brain, and before I knew it, I'd fallen asleep.

***

I could tell it was really early when we woke up, but I couldn't go back to sleep with the sun in my face. Sleepily, I rubbed my eyes. When I saw the car moving, I almost passed out, because I thought I'd fallen asleep driving it. Then I remembered that Annabeth and I had switched.

Yeah, I'm a real Daedalus, aren't I?

"Hey," said Annabeth. "You're awake." It wasn't a question.

"No way! How'd you figure that out?" I glanced at the back seat, expecting to see Grover and Juniper. They weren't there. "Where'd they go?"

"I stopped a while back to change. Juniper and Grover woke up, and they wanted to shower and all. I'm pretty sure Grover's in the shower and Juniper's making breakfast."

"What? Why didn't you wake me up?" I asked

"They were in favor of waking you up, but you looked really tired, so I told them not to."

"Oh. Thanks. What time is it?"

"Seven. That's A.M., in case you were wondering." I didn't reply, because it was obvious with the sun shining in my face.

"Percy, can you…um…" she bit her lip. "Can you tell me what happened yesterday?"

"We had a fight and then made up." She nodded slowly. "Can I ask you something, Annabeth? How come you didn't forget anything for a long time and then forget suddenly?"

She laughed a little, but it wasn't a happy laugh. "Oh, I forgot. I just wrote everything down in a notebook that I read every time I forgot things. But yesterday I didn't get a chance to write it down, so I had to ask." I nodded.

"Percy…do me a favor. Promise me something. If something happens, promise me you'll read that notebook. I don't care how long it takes. Just promise me you'll read it." There was a desperate edge to her voice, like her life depended on my reading that book.

"Okay…sure, I will." I assured her. "Of course I will."

"Good." She sounded relieved. "Thanks."

"Um, sure. Do you wanna go to the R.V and get something to eat?" She nodded. In a few minutes, we stepped out of the car. I stretched and yawned. Annabeth slapped the back of my head.

"Cover your mouth, you look like a slob."

"I'm a teenage guy. I'm supposed to be a slob. That's my job."

"Sure it is," she scoffed. "It just so happens that I know a lot of teenage guys who aren't slobs."

"Like who?" I challenged.

"Beckendorf, Ryan, James, Jason," she rattled off a few more of our friends from camp. "And," she laughed, "how could I forget Jake?"

There wasn't anybody at camp named Jake. "Who's Jake?" I asked a little uncomfortably. Not that I was really curious, of course. It was just polite to keep the conversation going…right?

(I apologize for the note. Notice that slobbish Percy is now trying to be polite for Annabeth. Don't you love jealous Percy? I do!)

"He's this one guy I know back in Cali. He's sweet, and he's not a slob, unlike some people," she said, throwing me a pointed glance.

"Okay, okay, you win! Are you happy now?"

"Very," she assured me. "Now let's go, I'm hungry!"

***

"Hey, guys!" Juniper called happily. She was braiding her hair with river grass. Annabeth fingered her own hair thoughtfully.

"Juniper, you're going to have to teach me how to do that someday," said Annabeth.

"Sure," Juniper laughed. "As soon as we get back to camp."

"If you're done, can I ask if anybody else is hungry?"

"Ahm withcha, brotha!" Yelled Grover.

"Um, Grover, when did you go all gangsta?" I asked nervously.

"I thought it would sound cool," he said dejectedly. I looked at Juniper.

"What happened to him?"

"I told him I that you thought he was uncool," Juniper smiled.

"Why did you do that?" I screamed. "G-man, I don't think you're uncool!" Well, I did, but I wasn't the most popular person in the world, either. "Juniper lied."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and said, "I'm gonna go make something for breakfast. Waffles." While I was trying to convince Grover that no, I didn't hate him, and that no, Nico was not cooler than him, and that, no, he was not a dumb goat, Annabeth finished the waffles and set them on the coffee table in front of us.

"Here," she said, setting a bottle of maple syrup in front of us. Juniper joined at the table.

I grabbed a couple of the waffles and put them on the table. After that, I poured the syrup on the stuff. I'd just started shoveling it into my mouth when Annabeth kicked me and said, "Slob," disgustedly.

"It's what I do!" I protested, and continued shoveling it into my mouth.

"Um, okay then…I'm not gonna ask. Whatever, we're going to be in Florence by tonight if we keep going at this speed," said Juniper. "After that, we can spend the next day trying to figure out the Etgroftnig/Vuretole puzzle."

A cold feeling spread through me. "Wait, how long has it been since we started this quest?"

"Ten days," Annabeth answered. "Why?"

"No reason," I answered, but I did have a reason. I remembered that Dr. Heale had warned me: we had only eleven days. But if this was only the tenth day, then that would give us just enough time…hopefully. "Well then, we'd better get started!" I said, stuffing the last (rather large) piece of waffle on my plate into my mouth. "Who's volunteering for mapping duty?" I asked.

Not much happened…but there are very large, unforeseen problems in the future. Mwah ha ha!!! I know something you don't know!

As to the passages from the songs I picked…yes, they are important…too bad Percy's too much of a Seaweed Brain to figure out that Annabeth's been dreaming about the day he's gonna wake up and find that she wants his love, doesn't wanna be friends :'(