Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Chapter 20

"Okay guys, here's the plan," Annabeth spoke in hushed voice as all the counselors 'huddled' together for the plan. "We'll have Nico shadow travel Thalia and I to the entrance of the Empire State building. One of us asks for the key, I suggest Thalia should go. Then we'll go to Olympus to see what the Hades is happening to Percy."

There was a small moment of silence before Nico spoke slowly.

"You know that shadow traveling takes out a lot of my energy right? So traveling that far a few times will be not cool. Also, why use my father's name? It's so stereotypical-" Nico complained, but got cut off by Annabeth.

"I'll give you an entire bag of ambrosia and a bottle of nectar," Annabeth reassured the son of Hades. She wisely ignored to answer the Hades statement. Thalia however, didn't.

"Death Breath," Thalia butted in. "Hades' domain is the Underworld which is technically hell, so basically, what the Hades means what the-"

"I'll make sure my father doesn't put you in Elysium then," Nico interrupted coldly, staring at his cousin in the eye. "Since you think the Underworld is like a living hell."

Seeing as Thalia was about to open her mouth again, Annabeth decided to end it. Her grey eyes were stormy. "Enough! Percy is probably in trouble. When you guys needed help, who was the one that rescued or helped you? Who was the one that was always there? And now that he's in trouble, all of you are arguing at the worst possible time!"

At the end of her mini speech, Annabeth slammed the palms of both her hands on the ping pong table in anger. Her patience and temper was short, and her breaths came out raggedly. Her eyes narrowed but eventually closed, opening only after a few seconds.

"The plan will proceed in a few minutes. All of you wait here until I come back with the nectar and ambrosia," Annabeth concluded, taking out her Yankees cap out of her jean pocket.

Slapping her cap on her head, she immediately turned invisible. The rest of her actions couldn't be seen anymore.

Thalia looked up from the ground. "Now that Annabeth isn't here anymore, how many of you think that Percy has actually gone insane?" She asked quietly.

No one raised their hands- either out of fear or out of truthfulness.

"The gods are lying again," Will said through gritted teeth. "Anyone could see that they were lying. Athena always pronounces her words right."

Pollux nodded his head. He clenched his fists, his eyes closed, as he remembered his twin brother he had lost in the war. "Percy wouldn't go insane. I know I know that I don't know him as well as any of you guys do but he wouldn't go insane like that."

"I've got the things," a new voice entered. Annabeth walked in the room carrying only a backpack. She handed the healing items to Nico quickly. "I know most of you want to come but, the less people we have should be quicker and stealthier. Thalia, Nico, and I will be going."

There were a few protests and groans, but Annabeth had a fierce expression on her face. In a matter of seconds, everybody quickly shut up.

"We'll be back as soon as we can," Annabeth told the counselors. "If anything happens-"

"Why would anything happen?" Katie asked in confusion. "You're just going to see Percy, then coming back, with or without him."

"Just in case. Hopefully we'll be back with Percy, if not, then you'll know that Lord Apollo can heal him better."

A flash of sadness passed in Annabeth's eyes. She ignored the fact that almost everyone could see before turning to the two cousins. A gesture she made with her hands signaled them that they were going.

"Good luck you guys," Will told them before giving a small nod of respect, leaving the room right afterwards.

All the head counselors nodded their heads, muttering a few things before shuffling out of the room as if the Big House didn't have fresh air. The trio looked at each other.

"Nico, you go with Thalia first, I need to check something," Annabeth told them, as they nodded.

"Sure thing ma'am," Thalia mock saluted before she disappeared in a flurry of shadows, caused by Nico.

They were gone in less than five seconds. Annabeth finally allowed herself to nearly collapse on the ping pong table in exhaustion. It had been hours since she had last slept, and the fact that something was happening wasn't helping at all.

"Are you okay, my dear?" a voice asked.

And then there was still Chiron, who had let them slip in the Big House and have a big meeting without the gods knowing, while 'not noticing them.' His face was concerned as he wheeled himself over to Annaneth, who had a tear escaping her eye.

She hastily wiped the tear away. "Yeah. I just didn't think that... That the gods would lie again, or that Percy actually got himself hurt again."

Chiron's eyes showed understanding, and he patted his student's shoulder. He sighed. "You'll get Percy back, he always returns after all. Even in the most unexpected times."

Annabeth allowed herself a small smile. "True."

An exhausted figure sat on the ground unexpectedly, panting for breath. Nico drank a sip of the nectar before some color returned to his 'paler-than-before' face.

"Good luck my dear," Chiron called out after.

"Thanks," Annabeth replied, before grabbing Nico's hand un-awkwardly, and traveling along in the shadows.

The centaur that was in wheelchair-form smiled sadly, casting a look towards where they used to be before turning around-

Only to come face-to-face with a rather angry goddess.

"Where's Annabeth?!"

With Thalia, Nico, and Annabeth:

"That fast?" Annabeth asked her friend once they were in the elevator.

Thalia shrugged, grinning. "I have that effect on people."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Sure you do."

"Try me Death Breath," the daughter of Zeus challenged with a glint of amusement in her sky blue eyes.

"As stealthy and quiet as possible," Annabeth quoted from earlier, annoyance etched in her features.

There was silence on the rest of the elevator ride, mostly due to Annabeth. They were almost on the right floor before Thalia asked a question.

"Why didn't Grover come?" Thalia asked curiously.

Her grey eyes widened, and she nearly facepalmed if it wasn't for the fact that they had already arrived. The elevator dinged once and the doors slid open easily.

"Okay, Nico," Annabeth started, her eyes closing then reopening after some reconsideration. "You have to shadow travel again to the infirmary, same system as last time."

Nico nodded tiredly, before Thalia reluctantly grabbed his shoulder. She closed her eyes once she felt that familiar feeling of coldness spread through her, before they both came to a stop.

Opening her eyes again, she saw that they were right in front of the Olympus ward.

"I'll be back," Nico muttered.

She only nodded, before going to the side of the huge doors, hoping not to be noticed by anyone. Holding her breath, she risked taking a look inside the doors, wondering if she could see her cousin there.

Voices were yelling- shouting at each other in angry tones. She could identify them as male as they continued their arguing about... Things were still unclear.

"I just need to do one checkup! He's fine, why do you need to keep him under daddy-care?!" Apollo shouted, throwing his hands up in the air for extra emphasis.

"It's not 'daddy-care,' Apollo!" Poseidon roared back, putting quote marks on daddy-care.

And so it continued. Thalia watched for another minute before turning around, her electric blue eyes slightly widened. She bit her lower lip before sliding to the ground in shock. It had been Poseidon who had planned the lies all along, she thought. Percy's own 'loving' dad. Planting lies on the campers just because of... Something.

"Hey Thalia, we're back," a voice whispered in her ear.

A normal person would scream. Instead, she jumped a few feet up in the air before activating her shield, taking out her bow, and aiming the arrow right in the person's face.

"Hey Thalia, it's just us, relax," Nico corrected sarcastically, putting his hands up in the air in surrender.

The daughter of Zeus didn't even acknowledge his presence. She immediately turned to Annabeth, saying her words hastily. "Poseidon is the one who had asked the others to tell the campers about Percy's condition."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes, looking at her friend strangely. "How do you know? He appears to care about Percy-"

"Just hear them," Thalia encouraged, moving away from the doors so Annabeth could hear what they were saying.

"I don't get what your problem is!" Apollo hollered.

"Just for a day or a few hours Apollo, let him stay here!" Poseidon responded, resorting to pleading now.

"And blah blah blah," Thalia continued their pointless arguing with an eye roll.

"That doesn't necessarily mean something Thalia," the daughter of Athena pointed out tiredly. "Maybe he's being overprotective or something."

Thalia pretended to widen her eyes in shock. "The great Annabeth Chase not getting it?!"

Annabeth sighed. "I'm not that great Thalia."

"What do you want to do now?" a voice butted in.

"Now..." she had a faraway look in her eyes as if she were daydreaming about something. "Now we wait."

A/N: Extremely sorry for the late update. I had writer's block and school wasn't exactly helping, but now it's Spring Break so I hope I can update faster. This chapter was more of a filler one, but the next one will hopefully be better. Thanks for all the support!

(Also, I have a poll on my profile asking which chaptered story I should put on hiatus since I have lots of things going on and I can't handle everything at once anymore... Even though it is Spring Break. I will be updating every story once more, ('The Return of Perseus Jackson' has already been updated) before I will see the results and put something on hiatus.)

emmalunajackson33: Thanks. Sorry that this was a filler as well, but I had to clear some things up.

Daydreamer with wings: Thanks, and its ok.