DISCLAIMER: I do not own PJatO.

Thalia was having trouble sleeping. The same couldn't be said about her companions, as Luke was passed out with drool running out of his mouth and Clarisse was snoring loud enough to scare off a drakon. But she couldn't find a way to keep her eyes closed for longer than a minute. The three questers had made it to a motel in Indiana to sleep the night away. She turned over on the mattress that was little more than a rough cot, to stare out the window. The moon and stars were blotted out by clouds leaving the night dark and black. She pondered their next steps and how they would reach Hades and why exactly Percy ran. The doubt started when she realised she was willingly sending herself out into danger so soon after finding safety. She was still convinced he was innocent but there were the nagging what if thoughts that nibbled away her sleep. He must have been scared of her father, but how did he know? Who told him? It was annoying her to no end that she couldn't control her thoughts enough to let her enjoy the sweet embrace of sleep.

Hoot Hoot

Thalia's head whipped around at the sound, breaking her out of her thoughts. Gazing out of the window, she saw an owl staring at her from a low branch in the front line of trees in the woods. Something about the bird called her full attention, and it seemed to want all of it. Thalia disregarded all caution and opened the window, scrambling outside to confront the owl. The silver eyes followed her every movement, they were very familiar to Thalia somehow. As soon as she was within five feet the owl's wings snapped open and it flew away, but it's movements were slow and it only went a few trees deep before landing again. Thalia pushed in after it, mind blank. It flew further, this time out of her sight and Thalia started to run into the dark, there seemed to be some type of path she was following, even though she could hardly see it. She broke into an opening among the trees, no bigger than ten feet wide at any point.

"Thalia Grace." She nearly gave herself whiplash to spin around and face the voice. She found nothing before her, just darkness.

"Who's asking?" Thalia was coming out of her trance and falling back into her attitude.

"You and the sea-spawn seem to hold many similarities with how you greet Olympians." The forest returned and standing right in front of her was the goddess of wisdom and war, intense grey eyes staring into her soul. Thalia stepped back carefully, muscles tensing, before she dropped to her knees at the Olympian's feet.

"Stand, sister. We must discuss something."

Thalia regained her courage, hearing Athena refer to her as her sister.

"What do you mean?"

"Your quest, now holds much more meaning to us. Poseidon's boy has sworn on the Styx that he did not steal the bolt. While it will not placate Zeus until he has it back in his hands, it has assured the rest of us that it is in someone else's. Lending much gravity to your situation. Perseus is in danger until this is resolved and soon you will be as well. This is a warning and assurance that your hasty assumption was correct. In the morning, you must leave, and you cannot stop moving. Transportation will be provided to you. Now rest."

With that, Athena snapped her fingers and the next thing Thalia knew was her eyes opening to bright sunlight.

_

Percy was missing his bed at camp. He had been without one for so long before he got to camp that it had quickly become his favorite luxury to just sleep in the same place two nights in a row.

Not only was he unable to find comfort, his dreams had been laden with gruesome visions of unknown bodies, although one of them most definitely looked a lot like his own, just older. So now his rest was taken from him in two ways, and he woke with a pain in his back that just wouldn't go away. He also realized he didn't know how to read a map, so he was lost, hungry, and in desperate need of a power nap. His legs were still responding the demands his brain sent them, which he counted as a win. A rustle in the bushes sent him rushing behind a tree for cover, off the road he had been following, for little more reason than he knew it was westerly. But now his focus was only on the bushes and tall weeds behind him. His sword was held ready, sweat rolled down his forehead and he felt every drop of dew on the grass and trees, and the... body, on the other side of his tree. He closed his eyes for a moment, listening intently for any sign of movement, the creature took a step forward, and Percy moved, sword swinging ahead of him.

_

Grover had been tracking a possible demigod for hours now, he had yet to see any sign to confirm it until a sword nearly chopped his head off. If he hadn't slipped on the wet grass he would've been decapitated, but the strike was followed up by a downward strike that he had to scuttle backwards from. That was when the attacks stopped.

'Thank Pan!' The satyr thought to himself. Vocally he was much less thankful.

"Blaaaaaaah" He bleated out, "What the Hades was that for?!" The -now- confirmed demigod stared confusedly down at the half-goat under his sword.

"Huh?" Percy was known for his eloquence in many parts of the world.

"I said, What the Hades was that for?!" Do you just swing your sword at everyone you meet?"

"At least it's not a goddess this time, but when I'm being stalked through the woods, I think it's a pretry good response. Who are you?" His sword hadn't moved and neither had the satyr, other than the heaving of his chest.

"I'm Grover. Searcher of Pan. You?"

"Percy. You search for pans? Why? Is it like a hobby or something?" His head cocked to the side and brow furrowed in confusion.

"Blaaaaa. No! Pan. Like, capital P, Pan. God of the Wild."

"So you weren't trying to capture me and eat me, right?"

"I'm vegetarian." Percy retracted his blade and smiled brightly.

"Cool. Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon." He held out his other hand to help the satyr up, but he just stayed leaning back on his elbows with his jaw dropped. "Dude?" Grover cautiously reached his hand out and got up.

"You're for real? No bullshit?"

"No bullshit, I already killed the bull." Percy grinned wildly, scaring the satyr even more.

"Uhh, what's tha-"

"So why were you following me if you're searching for Pan?" Percy interrupted him.

"Um, I caught your scent, and it's normally satyr's jobs to lead unwitting demigods to camp, but something tells me you've been there already."

"Yeah, I've been." His voice must not have hidden his feelings too well, because the satyr picked up the darkness to it.

"What happened?"

"A lot. Can we keep moving West?"

"Sure? I think I need a little more of an explanation to do it though." Percy's leg twitched.

"Yeah yeah, let's just move."

_

Thalia was terrified. She did not like heights, and now her godly half-sister had left her plane tickets, and now Athena found herself on Thalia's top ten most despised people list, no matter she was just speeding the quest up by a significant margin. Her blood pumped faster through her body than it ever had and her pupils dilated, her hands grasped at the arms of her seat. She was lucky her seat was away from Luke and Clarisse's, because she really did not need either of them finding out about her debilitating fear of her own element.

The plane was moving now, and her heart pounded even harder than before. Visions of headlines detailing aircraft crashes plagued her mind, several of which held their names marked as deceased. They were in the sky and turbulence was rough: Is it always this rough?

She felt sick when the plane settled in the sky.

At some point she fell asleep, and when she woke up she was in Los Angeles air space.

_

"So you didn't steal the bolt, right?" The cautious satyr asked.

"Of course not." Percy felt almost offended, but he had nearly sliced the goat's head off a couple times so he let it slide.

"And now you're trying to enlist my help on your unsanctioned quest to prove the king of the gods wrong?" There was a slight incredulity to his tone that time.

"Of course. You've gotta know you're way around better than I do if you're out here on purpose."

"..."

"Come on, it'll be fun!"

"We have very different ideas on what fun is."

"What's yours? Chewing tin cans?"

"It's a perfectly acceptible pastime, I'll have you know." Grover answered indignantly, and Percy just stared at him for a moment, before laughing and trudging on.

"You can sniff out halfbloods, and I could really use a guide and halfblood sniffer right about now. Whaddya say?"

"I really don't thin-" Percy tackled Grover's body to the ground as a massive shadow flew by just over their heads.

"Sonny!" An old raspy voice of a woman who had smoked at least two million packs of cigarettes called out, "Did you get that stupid satyr?" To which Sonny growled menacingly at in response.

"Oh there's another now? Oh I can feel his presence too, a strong little thing isn't he?" There was a dark grin twisted into those words. "He smells especially tasty doesn't he? Like greasy seafood... Oh my, we seem to have stumbled on the son of Poseidon, Sonny."

The chimera crouched low, preparing to attack the two figures again. Percy was struggling to get away from the flailing satyr to safely draw his blade. He had to shove Grover back down to the ground to separate from him. Percy had just stumbled back enough to avoid the outstretched claws of the disturbing creature. He grabbed his sword with both hands to ward it off from the same attack. By then Grover had been able to back off a ways and was now holding... an instrument. Sonny wasn't intimidated by the glinting bronze. The goat head bleated as it rose onto it's back legs, and craned its neck to let loose a barrage of flames as the lion head roared and it crashed back into the ground. Percy narrowly dodged the inferno, but it was following him as he moved, burning the ground in its path of destruction leading straight to the demigod.

"Seriously, Sonny, why is this taking so long. I really wanted to get to that monster donut shop before closing!" Echidna stepped out of the brush to find a trembling satyr and a demigod fleeing for his life. The flames cut off and Percy skidded to a halt, finding himself far closer to the beast than he ever wanted to be. He heard a hissing sound that sent shivers down his spine. Ever since his encounter with Medusa he had developed a healthy respect for snakes. In a last second effort that relied more on instincts than any training he had ever had, he swung his blade upwards, connecting with the fangs that were flying toward his face, stopping the attack and breaking one off, spraying poison that burned his clothes and skin where it touched.

Meanwhile the other heads were being distracted by the satyr's music, almost hypnotizing the beasts with the growing vines that were now latching onto its feet. It roared and reared on its hind legs, breaking free from the trance when the head of its tail was injured. Percy pushed his advantage, taking control of his fear and pushing inside the guard of the snake tail. Lashing out and chopping it off. Before he could push further the goat head slammed into his back sending him hurtling to a tree at Echidna's feet.

"I really wish you hadn't hurt Sonny. Especially since you haven't challenged me, yet. Will you challenge me now?" The ages old immortal was complaining like a child and it creeped Percy out. But before he could even call her crazy he was cut from his thoughts by Grover calling his name in a panic, and he pushed off the ground, painfully, to go help his new acquaintance who was being chased by the beast who was now down a head and seemed to be struggling with the earth itself.

Percy did one of the most reckless things he's ever done. He jumped on the chimera's back, causing its back legs to buckle and the goat head to swivel and face him. It opened his mouth and Percy could see and feel the heat traveling to its mouth. With one hand Percy held on and the other stabbed forward with his blade, stabbing into the goat's throat, cutting off the flames. The chimera was down to being a lion, but it was enough to buck him off and throw him to the ground, losing control of his sword. Echidna was getting nervous now. The son of Poseidon was proving to be very troublesome for her Sonny.

Grover scrambled to help Percy up as the lion stumbled almost drunkenly, shaking its head and snorting flames out of its nostrils. It bared its teeth and hissed in pain and rage, before steadying its movements, and began prowling around its opponents.

"What's the plan?" Grover breathed out, not daring to move.

"Plan?" Percy asked as he warily stood up. "Are we supposed to have a plan?"

"That would be preferable to not having one, Perce."

"Well... wait did you call me a purse?"

"Not the time! Move!"

The chimera lunged and its targets dove to either side. Luckily Percy dove right next to his sword. Percy had just grasped it, when the lions jaws clamped onto his ankle, eliciting a cry of pain from the demigod as bones were crushed and he was flung around by his foot. He landed in an unmoving heap. Grover again, scrambled to his side, attempting to shake him awake, but before he could he was forced to move as the shadow of the chimera missed him again. He saw the glint of Percy's sword lying near him and awkwardly lifted it to fend the beast off. Grover had never trained with a sword, but the lion was injured wasn't it? He told himself he could do this, but when the chimera was charging toward him, his train of thought devolved to: Oh Shit!

He turned tail and ran, he could feel the beast's breath reaching him from behind, and then it was gone. He stumbled to a stop and looked behind him to see the confused face of the chimera as it was suspened in the air, held by water. Grover's sight took in Percy's outstretched hand and pained face, and he knew he had to end the monster's life for the demigod.

Quickly, Grover moved within sword length of the beast and raised the blade. He let it drop and the sword cleaved its head off, causing the chimera to burst into dust, and leaving Percy to crumple back into the ground, unconscious.

"Tut," Echidna clicked her tongue, and leveled her stare into Grover's eyes. "You and your friend will pay for this, Satyr!" She disappeared with a pop.

Grover did his best to ignore her words and ran to Percy's side, grimacing at the sight of his mangled ankle.

"I'll get you to safety, Purse."

_

A.N. So, thoughts? I really liked this chapter. I wrote most of it just in the last few days, despite the long wait. Hope you enjoyed, please leave a review or follow/fav if you did ;)

KUMAN: Thanks for the welcome back :D

Percy steals because.. what other choice does he really have? It might not be fully ethical or whatever, but... plot movers, I really dont wanna write Percy walking literally cross-country and its kind of unrealistic to think he'd get there in a short amount of time without breaking some sort of law or moral, or stepping into Zeus' territory, but i get it, he's supposed to be a really good dude, even though in canon, he stole a frickin police car, which is pretty epic in my book. Also the authorities won't play a huge part in any story I write, because they are practically in seperate worlds, but if they do catch up to him before they forget about him, i won't really focus on just how they did it, because police are a very mortal problem, and Percy is very much a demigod. Just picture how in TLF the police were background until the "shootout" with Ares, they don't have much in way of storytelling. thanks for the challenging review as always. :D

CharneX: I'll take that as a compliment I hope :) thanks.

NinjaFang: Thank you :)

PEACE.