Ack! I'm so sorry! I fail at keeping promises! I'm blaming... my teachers for giving me too much homework! No? Fine... I'll blame... Fanfiction. Is anyone besides me experiencing a ton of glitches? I mean, I'll be trying to open up a page on Fanfiction and it'll just say there was an error while processing the request and it won't open! That's happened so many times already it's so annoying! I can't look at some chapters on some other stories and I can't even look at my reviews. Please tell me someone else is experiencing it too! If I'm the only one experiencing it, I will... be really annoyed. Anyway, I made this chapter longer! I think there's only one more chapter after this one, so enjoy!

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own it.

Chapter 25

Mortals can be really crazy sometimes. It's really kind of shameful, but helpful, too. They didn't question us on our journey. Instead, they made up their own idea of what we went through.

According to them, we had been kidnapped by this crazy kidnapper (coughAres) in New York and were brought across country on a "ten-day odyssey of terror." It's not like we were going to object and tell them the real story.

The mortals went on to say that the kidnapper had caused the explosion at the Santa Monica beach when he fired a shotgun at the police and accidentally hit a gas main that ruptured during the earthquake.

Percy –big shocker here- wasn't actually a criminal all along! He had caused a commotion on the Greyhound bus in New Jersey to try to get away from the kidnapper. Apparently, people even saw Ares on the bus. The crazy man (I wondered how Ares was taking all these names the mortals were calling him.) had caused the explosion in the St. Louis Arch. A concerned waitress in Denver had seen the man threatening us outside her diner and had gotten her friend to take a photo, then notified the police.

Then, Percy braved up and stole a gun from the kidnapper in Los Angeles, where they battled shotgun-to-rifle on the beach. The police had arrived just in time, but during the explosion where five police cars had been destroyed, the captor had fled. No fatalities occurred.

Now Percy, Grover, and I were in police custody. As the reporters fed us the whole story, we played along and nodded, acting tearful and exhausted, playing victimized kids for the cameras. Percy got a little too into the job.

"All I want," Percy gasped, choking back his "tears", "is to see my loving stepfather again. Every time I saw him on TV, calling me a delinquent punk, I knew…somehow…we would be okay. And I know he'll want to reward each and every person in the beautiful city of Los Angeles with a free major appliance from his store. Here's the phone number."

Nice one, Percy. I wondered if Percy's stepfather was watching the TV right now. What would he be saying? Probably a lot of ugly words.

The police and reporters were so moved by Percy's speech that they passed around a hat and raised money for three tickets to the next plane to New York.

All the while when we were boarding the plane, Percy was as white as a ghost. He clutched his hands on his armrests (and one of mine) and he wouldn't let go.

"Percy, relax," I said.

Percy started breathing loudly. "I know, I know," he said, but he wouldn't let go of the armrests.

I, myself, was wondering how it was going to go. Would Zeus be mad and kill us? But that didn't seem likely. After all, he most likely didn't want to risk harming his master bolt.

Grover and I exchanged looks. Grover started eating a tin can, attracting strange looks from people sitting around us and from a flight attendant.

"Um, are you okay, little boy?" an uncertain flight attendant asked. Little boy?

"Huh?" Grover asked, looking up. "What do you mean?" Then he realized people had noticed him eating a tin can. "Oh, this?" He asked. "Um… I'm not actually eating it… I'm sucking on it. Did you know that tin cans have a lot of minerals? They're… very good for your health." He looked to Percy and me for help.

"Yeah," Percy said. "Haven't you heard?"

"It's made the front page in the New York Times," I added. "It's a… new fad for people our age, actually. In our school, tons of people carry around tin cans for snacks."

The plane ride went smoothly, but I suspected that the turbulence was a little bumpier than usual. When we finally landed, Percy had already turned three shades of green. He finally let go of the armrests and we filed off the plane. There was one problem: the local press was waiting for us outside security, wanting to get the "newest scoop" on our side of the story.

"Uh-oh," Grover mumbled.

"Now what?" Percy asked.

"We need a way to distract them…" I said. "Hold on, I'll be right back. Meet me at the baggage claim."

I put on my invisibility cap and passed through security. Walking near to the local press, I could hear them mumbling about where Percy Jackson was.

"Look, there's Percy Jackson!" I yelled as loud as I could.

The press looked up eagerly, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Gabbi? Is that you?" A woman asked. "Where are you?"

"They're over by the frozen yogurt!" I yelled. "Come on!"

The press stampeded towards the food court. I ran in front of them, shouting, "Hurry up!"

Finally, a few yards before the press neared the food court, I ran off, leaving them stampeding towards the yogurt stand, yelling, "Percy Jackson! Could we have a minute?"

I ran as fast as I could over to baggage claim. By the time I got there, I was panting and out of breathe. Grover and Percy were standing, looking around nervously.

I poked Percy and Grover on the back at the same time. They both jumped up high, startled. "Guys, it's me!" I whispered. I couldn't take the cap off since there were too many people.

Percy gave a small nod and we all exited the airport, where once it was clear, I took off my cap.

As we got in line at the taxi stand, Percy turned towards Grover and me and said, "Look, guys. I have to get to Olympus, but you guys need to go back to camp and tell Chiron what happened.

"What?" Grover and I asked at the same time. "No, we're going with you!"

"Guys, please," Percy begged.

"We've been with you through the quest for this long, at least let us go to Olympus with you," I argued.

"I just… I just want Chiron to know the truth… in case I don't survive," Percy said, finishing the last part in a hurry and small voice.

Grover and I exchanged looks. "Percy, don't worry," Grover said. "You'll survive."

Was he really afraid of what was going to happen? Actually, there was no telling what would happen at Olympus. Would Zeus be glad he got the master bolt back or would he blast Percy to bits? I hoped it was the first option.

Percy looked so desperate that Grover and I eventually agreed with him, but reluctantly. We said our goodbyes and Grover and I took a taxi to Camp Half-Blood.

When we arrived at camp, Connor Stoll's eyes grew as big as dinner plates.

"Annabeth! Grover!" Connor yelled, a smile plastered on his face. He was high up in the tree on lookout duty. Connor blew the conch horn, alerting everyone we were back, before he shrieked and promptly fell off the tree.

Grover and I fell over laughing as Connor, grumbling, got up and dusted himself off. He shook his arms and legs, tugging down his still small shirt, and fidgeted around in his too tight pants. Almost instantly after, his frown was replaced with a big grin.

That was the way Connor and his twin Travis always were. They were two mischievous boys, who always had smiles on their faces. They would play pranks on the other campers or even steal some stuff, so everyone always had to be careful around them.

Connor ran up to us. "You guys are back! No way!" he exclaimed. He walked with us towards Thalia's pine tree. Finally, he noticed Percy wasn't with us and asked, "Where's Percy?"

"Hm? Oh, he's at Olympus," I said. "And yes, we did come through with the quest," I added, answering the question on Connor's face.

Connor grinned. "Great! Of course, the last quest anybody went on was Luke's… and that didn't go well… but…"

Luke's quest wasn't talked about much along the campers. Luke had begged for a quest and Hermes had finally given him one: to seek a Golden Apple at the Garden of Hesperides. At first he had been thrilled and grinning when he told me about it, but later on, he began to grow paranoid, saying Hercules had already done the quest before. He grew mad at Hermes for not thinking of something more original that hadn't been done before. Luke had wanted to seem like a hero. Nevertheless, he went on the quest, but something went wrong, and he failed. The dragon in the garden scarred him. When he came back, Luke didn't seem very happy.

"Oh," Connor said suddenly, snapping me out of my thought. He tossed a tin can to Grover. "Here, you might want this back, Grover."

Grover caught the can, looking bewildered. He felt around in his pocket and realized the tin can he had stuck in there wasn't in there anymore.

"Connor, you have to stop stealing things," I chided.

"Aw, come on now. I gave it back, didn't I?" Connor chuckled.

We finally arrived at Thalia's pine tree and went past the borderline.

"How long do you think we have until everyone comes out?" Grover asked.

"I'm not sure," I said. "The conch was blown a few minutes ago, so I say at the most, one minute." Great. We had wanted to get to Chiron to explain what happened before the entire camp would mob us.

"Well, I suggest you make a run for it," Connor said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some candy to steal… Which reminds me… I need some more whipped cream…"

Connor raced off. Grover and I could hear people running towards us. We looked at each other and took off running towards the Big House. We got just a few yards away from the perch when the crowd caught up with us.

"ANNABETH! GROVER! YOU'RE BACK! YOU SURVIVED!"

"GOOD JOB, GUYS!"

'WAY TO GO!"

"WHAT HAPPENED? HOW WAS THE QUEST?"

Everyone crowded around us, asking us for details.

"DID YOU SUCCEED?"

Finally, Grover and I bellowed, "SHUT UP!"

Everyone immediately quieted down.

"Does it look like there's a full-out war going on right now?" I asked, annoyed. "I think not."

"Hey, where's Percy?" Someone asked, not responding to what I was saying.

"Yeah!" Everyone chorused. "What happened? He didn't die, did he?"

This was starting to get annoying.

Finally, Chiron stepped out of the house. Thank the gods.

"Everyone, settle down," he called, holding up his hand.

Everyone shushed down.

"Grover and Annabeth, please come inside," Chiron said, beckoning us with his hand.

The crowd groaned dejectedly as Grover and I followed Chiron inside the Big House.

We sat down and finally explained the whole story to Chiron. Grover and I kept cutting in if the other left out a part or said something wrong by mistake. Finally, when we finished telling the story,

Chiron leaned back in his chair, looking perplexed. He glanced out the window towards the sky. There were a few gray clouds, but nothing severe.

"It looks like things have gone well," he mused. "Thank you, Annabeth and Grover. Congratulations to your success. You may go."

Grover and I nodded and stood up, waving goodbye to Chiron as we left. But before we were fully out the door, I could hear Chiron mumbling something. One word that stood out in particular was "Kronos". So he was worried too. What was happening with Kronos?

Outside, the crowd was still waiting for us. Great.

When they saw us coming out, they immediately came forward.

"Nice job, guys!" someone yelled.

"Thanks…" Grover and I said as we tried to push our way through the crowd.

"No, seriously, awesome job! You guys are celebrities!"

Yeah, right. I wouldn't go that far. But it was nice to know that we were admired.

"Thanks, guys, but, we, um, have to go now…" I said.

Grover and I tried running away from the crowd, but they followed us, cheering and shouting our names. Well, at least they were being nice.

One person sprinted away from the crowd and ran up to us. It was Luke.

"Hey," Luke said.

I looked over at Luke. There was something off about him, something different. I felt my cheeks grow faintly warm at the sight of him, but it felt odd that when I saw him, I didn't immediately react like I used to, for some reason. "Hi, Luke."

"You guys survived," Luke said.

Grover and I nodded.

"Congratulations on the quest," Luke said, but I saw something in his eyes… was it annoyance? But then Luke blinked, and it was gone.

"Thanks," Grover and I said.

"So… where's Percy? He didn't… die, did he?" Luke asked.

I groaned. "Why does everyone think that?"

Grover shrugged. "I think they like thinking that. It's like they need something interesting to talk about."

"Right, because us completing a quest isn't interesting enough," I scoffed.

"I didn't say it wasn't," Grover said, holding up his hands.

"So… is Percy really still alive?" Luke asked us in a strange voice.

We looked at him.

"Yeah…" Grover said.

Luke didn't say anything for a second, but then broke into a grin. "Congratulations, guys!" He looked behind him, then said, "I'll see you around." He jogged off.

Was it just my imagination or was Luke acting…weirdly? I brushed aside that thought when I found the Athena cabin. A kind of relief washed over me. It was good to be back.

As I waved goodbye to Grover and went over to open the door, the crowd caught up with me.

"Annabeth! At least tell us what happened!" one person said.

I looked over at Grover who shrugged helplessly, then nodded.

"Fine! You want to know what happened?" I asked. The crowd nodded. "We went west to the Underworld because we thought Hades had stolen the master bolt, but once we got down, we found out it wasn't Hades and he didn't even have his helm. So when we went back up we realized Ares was the one who had stolen both those items and Percy battled Ares and won and got the master bolt and the helm, and now Percy is currently in Olympus giving the master bolt back to Zeus. Oh, and along the way to the Underworld, we met Medusa and defeated her, we got stuck in a dumb hotel, and we blew up the Gateway Arch. Any questions?"

The crowd was silent. And then, "You BLEW UP the arch?" Someone shouted. Travis Stoll.

"Yes, well, technically it was Percy, but…" I said.

Travis and Connor, who had rejoined the group, looked at each other, grinning. "Awesome!" they exclaimed together.

"And Percy actually beat Ares?" someone else shouted.

"Yes. And stop glaring at us," Grover said, joining me. He looked over at the Ares cabin and raised an eyebrow.

Several people whistled. Then everyone started clapping (except for the Ares cabin.) "PER-CY! GRO-VER! AN-NA-BETH!" They started chanting. Several people stuck their hands out for some high-fives.

"Ares was the bad guy all along?" Someone else asked.

Grover and I paused. Ares wasn't technically the bad guy. It was Kronos, who had brainwashed Ares. But we couldn't tell them that.

"You know, I just want to rest right now. It's been such a long time since I slept on a decent bed, so… goodbye."

I yanked the door open, waved to Grover, and bolted inside the cabin, followed by some of my siblings.

"Way to go, Annabeth! You guys are the first to return from a quest successfully since, like, almost forever!" Katie grinned, putting her hand up for a high-five, to which I complied.

My siblings all started crowding around me and cheering me on.

"Thanks, guys," I said. I pretended to yawn. "I'm really tired right now. Could I get some rest, please?"

The truth was I just really wanted to be in peace. My siblings agreed and they filed out of the cabin, closing the door behind them. I lay back on my bed and closed my eyes. I couldn't help worrying about Percy. He had to be alive, though. Zeus wouldn't be as stupid as to kill him. After all, there wasn't even a storm going on.

I jumped off my bed and saw a piece of paper sticking out from underneath the bed. Curious, I leaned down and picked it up. I froze. It was the letter my dad had written to me a couple of years ago.

Dear Annabeth,

First, please don't throw this letter away. I want to explain something to you. I'm really sorry about all that happened at home. I know you didn't deserve what we did, and I'm sorry.

Of course you have noticed the ring enclosed with this letter and you're wondering about it. This is my main keepsake from your mother, Athena. Without her, I wouldn't have gotten through my doctoral program at Harvard. I want you to have it. I was thinking that you needed something from her and this would be it.

Of course, this was written before I turned twelve, so I hadn't gotten my cap yet.

I truly am sorry for the jerk I was. I love you, Annabeth, and I miss you. I was looking back at a photo album and I realized that you're my little girl who I love. I talked to your stepmom and stepbrothers and they all agreed with me that you should come home.

Please, Annabeth. I know it didn't work out before, but this will be different. Please come home and live with me.

Love,

Dad

I just stared at the letter. How long ago was it that I had last read it and agreed? As heartfelt as it seemed, though, nothing changed. We still argued. She called me a freak. I couldn't take it anymore.

But now, looking back at the letter, I remembered something Percy had told me back on the truck.

"You think you'll ever try living with your dad again?" Percy asked.

"Please," I said. "I'm not into self-inflicted pain."

"You shouldn't give up," Percy said. "You should write him a letter or something."

"Thanks for the advice, but my father's made his choice about who he wants to live with."

I know I said I didn't want to write a letter back to my father, but remembering this now, I glanced back at the letter. It couldn't really hurt that much to write a letter, could it? I couldn't stay at camp forever. I'd need somewhere else to go. Besides, if it was bad, it didn't have to be a permanent thing. I could just write that I wanted to try living with him again, but if it doesn't work out, I'd leave.

I sighed and absent-mindedly played with my necklace. I bit my lip and stared at the letter. Finally, I took a deep breath and got out a piece of paper and a pencil. Then, I started writing.

Has anyone noticed that I avoid saying Annabeth's Yankees cap? Wanna guess why? I'll give you a virtual lollipop if you're right.

O- - -

Let's pretend it's lying on its side... Yes, that was the lollipop. Nice, right? It can be... I don't know... tell me what flavor you want.