I know I've been saying this a lot lately, but work, parents, and trying to move up the ranks at work just keep making it difficult for me to write. But I'm still alive, and I still plan to write. Sorry not writing lately. Trying to move up the ranks at work has required me to do a lot of overtime and take quite a number of courses to learn. But here's the update anyways, and I hope you all enjoy.

The Chase Hospitality

Percy's POV

Remember back when I was captured and taken to that general dude, and I asked if you've ever seen one of those old movies where the private eye wakes up after being knocked out cold for a time, wondering where he was? Well, just like my time with that general, that was me once again. Though it appeared that I had no need to try to plan any escapes. This time it wasn't mostly dark with me tied up and being restrained. I was in a bedroom, lying on a comfy bed, with there being nothing but daylight from the window lighting the room. And no one but me was in the room, so I had no reason to worry about being interrogated by anyone. But it was still a question as to where I was and why I was there.

Slowly getting up and sitting up, I stretched my limbs out, snapping, crackling, and popping my joints. Not feeling cramped anymore, I got off the bed and made for the door. I found that I was in someone's house as I left the bedroom. I found myself in a hall. I was about to explore where exactly I was, when I heard commotion from downstairs. I went down to see what was going on. I had my hand in my pocket with Riptide in my hand ready just in case anything ended up getting ugly. I hoped it didn't but considering how this quest has been, I'd be a fool to not be ready.

Reaching downstairs, I found Annabeth, Thalia, and Zoe sitting at a table in a kitchen. There were two adults I saw offering them cookies, sandwiches, and sodas, but I didn't have any idea who they were. I also noticed that Grover wasn't there. Just how long exactly was I out for?

"Percy." Annabeth said, noticing me.

Everyone turned their attention towards me.

"Hey." I replied.

"We saved a spot for you Percy." Thalia said, gesturing to the seat between her and Annabeth.

I had half a mind to say that I was okay and that I didn't want to join them. But I couldn't deny the fact that I was hungry, plus with how there were no signs of a struggle, it didn't seem like we were in any kind of trouble. Not yet at least. So I just made my way over to them and took the seat Thalia offered me.

"So you're the Percy Jackson I've heard so much about. It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Fredrick." The man named Fredrick said, offering me his hand to shake.

"Um . . . nice to meet you too." I replied confused, shaking his hand.

"Percy, this is my dad. And that's my stepmom." Annabeth said, clearing my confusion on the matter.

Annabeth's father seemed like your typical American citizen. White, brown hair like Annabeth's, only a lighter shade of brown, green eyes, and an athletic build. As for Annabeth's stepmom, she was a pretty Asian woman with red highlighted hair tied in a bun, chocolate brown eyes, and an average build.

"Pleasure to meet you, Percy Jackson. You must be starving." Mrs. Chase said as she handed me a plate with cookies, sandwiches, and soda.

"Thank you." I said, taking the plate.

"Dad! He's taking apart my robots!" A little boy screamed.

"Bobby, don't take apart your brother's robots." Dr. Chase called absently.

"I'm Bobby! He's Matthew!" The little boy named Bobby protested.

"Matthew, don't take apart your brother's robots!" Dr. Chase called.

"Okay, Dad!" The other little boy named Matthew yelled.

"You have two brothers?" I asked Annabeth.

"Twins even." Annabeth said.

"They can be quite a handful, but we love them. My two little boys." Mrs. Chase added.

"Really? You seem a little too young to be a mother. You sure you're not the babysitter?" I joked.

"*giggles* Oh bless your heart, you're too sweet." Mrs. Chase replied.

Even though I wasn't going to say anything more, she kinda seemed like one of those kinds of Asians you'd see in a porno that Grover would constantly brag about. Apparently, Satyrs really love dark skinned women, even more than mortal men do. Speaking of Grover . . . .

"Where's Grover?" I asked.

"After you passed out, he offered to take the Ophiotaurus to camp." Zoe answered.

"How exactly does he plan to do that?" I asked.

"Zoe offered your dad the Nemean Lion skin to offer him safe and easy passage." Thalia answered.

It was there that I noticed that Zoe didn't have the coat anymore. Not that I cared or anything. Just a little surprised she'd part with something like that. But then again, the Nemean Lion's skin represents one of Hercules' twelve labors, and Zoe had a very ugly history with Hercules. So, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

"How long have I been out?" I asked.

"A few hours. You really made quite a display back there Percy, just like back at the museum." Thalia answered.

I had to make mental note to make sure I ask Ares about that when I see him again. I looked out the kitchen window and saw the afternoon light was fading outside. We were running out of time, and rather quickly I'd say.

Once everyone had their fill on food and soda, Dr. Chase took us to what he called his private study. The room was wall-to-wall with books, but what really caught my attention were the war toys. There was a huge table with miniature tanks and soldiers fighting along a blue painted river, with hills and fake trees and stuff. Old-fashioned biplanes hung on strings from the ceiling, tilted at crazy angles like they were in the middle of a dogfight. I never would've pegged Annabeth's dad was a kind of man who still loved to play with toys.

I let out a wolf whistle, which Dr. Chase smiled widely at.

"Yes. The Third Battle of Ypres. I'm writing a paper, you see, on the use of Sopwith Camels to strafe enemy lines. I believe they played a much greater role than they've been given credit for." Dr. Chase said, plucking a biplane from its string and swept it across the battlefield, making airplane engine noises as he knocked down little German soldiers.

"My dad's a professor of military history." Annabeth said.

"Cool." I replied.

Zoe came over and studied the battlefield.

"The German lines were farther from the river." Zoe said.

"How do you know that?" Dr. Chase stared at her.

"I was there, Artemis wanted to show us how horrible war was, the way mortal men fight each other. And how foolish, too. The battle was a complete waste." Zoe said with matter-of-factly.

"You . . ." Dr. Chase opened his mouth in shock.

"She's a Hunter, sir. But that's not why we're here. We need -" Thalia began.

"You saw the Sopwith Camels? How many were there? What formations did they fly?" Dr. Chase asked.

Zoe was about to answer, when I decided to cut in.

"Um, not to interrupt, but our quest is still not complete." I said.

"Of course. Your friends already told me everything." Dr. Chase said, setting the biplane down.

"Sir, we need transportation to Mount Tamalpais, and we need it immediately." Zoe said.

"Hmm. I'll drive you. it would be faster to fly in my Camel, but it only seats two." Dr. Chase offered.

"You have an actual biplane?" I said with a raised eyebrow.

"Down at Crissy Field. That's the reason I moved here sometime after Athena had me send Annabeth to Camp Half-Blood. My sponsor is a private collector with some of the finest World War I relics in the world. He let me restore the Sopwith Camel -" Dr. Chase started proudly.

"Dad, just the car would be great. And it might be better if we went without you. It's too dangerous."

Dr. Chase didn't seem too pleases with that, but he seemed to know that his daughter had a point, given how wherever we were heading to next, it was gonna most likely be enemy territory.

"You should take some food for the road." Mrs. Chase announced, pushing through the door with a tray full of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and Cokes and cookies fresh out of the oven, the chocolate chips still gooey in the Ziploc bags.

"Thank you." I said as Thalia and I took the bags from her.

"Will you all be alright? None of you will have any problems driving?" Dr. Chase asked.

"I can drive, sir. I'm not as young as I look. I promise not to destroy your car." Zoe answered.

"So, where will you be heading off to save your goddess anyway?" Mrs. Chase asked.

"Mount Tam." Dr. Chase answered.

"Then they'd better get going." Mrs. Chase said.

"Indeed. We're running out of time." I added.

"Right. My keys . . ." Dr. Chase jumped up and started patting his pockets.

"Frederick, honestly. You'd lose your head if it weren't wrapped inside your aviator hat. The keys are hanging on the peg by the front door." Mrs. Chase sighed.

"Right!" Dr. Chase said.

"Thank you both." Annabeth said.

"Anything for my little girl." Dr. Chase said, wrapping his arms around his daughter in a hug, which she returned.

Looking at them, I couldn't help but feel the same feeling I had when I held Bessie in my arms at the Hoover Dam, the longing and desire to be able to hold my own child in my arms. It made me once again wish that I was with Clarisse instead of with Annabeth, Thalia, and Zoe on their quest. At least Grover decided to look after Bessie instead of stick around. That was one less pain in the ass for me to have to worry about. After they let go of each other, Mrs. Chase came up placed a motherly kiss on Annabeth's head.

"Take care sweetheart." Mrs. Chase said.

"I will." Annabeth replied.

At that scene, I saw Clarisse being the same way with our baby. I had no doubt in my mind that Clarisse would make a great mother. Maybe a little hot headed from time to time, but no one ever heard that from me.

Once everyone was done saying their goodbyes, we hustled out the door and down the stairs, the Chases right behind us. We ran out to the yellow VW convertible parked in the driveway. Zoe took the driver's seat while Thalia took the passenger's seat, leaving me and Annabeth with the back seats.

"I assume you know where to go?" Annabeth asked.

"The garden of my sisters." Zoe pointed to a single mountain that rose up above the cloud layer in the distance.

"That's quite a distance from here." Thalia commented as Zoe started the car.

"Don't worry Thalia, we can go the distance." Annabeth said, which had me raise an eyebrow at her.

"Please don't quote any Hercules quotes." I said.

"Hercules quotes?" Annabeth asked.

"You just quoted a line from Walt Disney's 1997 Hercules movie, which is also the name of one of the musical numbers Tate Donovan did as he voiced Hercules." I answered as Zoe started driving to our destination.

"You're a Walt Disney fan?" Thalia asked confused.

"I was when I was little. Now I'm too old for if not all, most Walt Disney movies.

"Walt Disney movies are for everyone Percy." Annabeth argued.

"Translated: For. Little. Shits." I commented.

"I think I'd have to side with Percy on this one. As a matter of fact, I'd prefer a quiet drive even." Zoe said.

I don't know if Annabeth or Thalia knew Zoe's history with Hercules, but with how I did, I knew for a fact that the message she was giving there was she didn't want to hear anything to do with Hercules. Not that I blamed her really. Plus, I definitely agreed with the quiet ride part. With where the sun was, I figured we had less than an hour at this point of time. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I'm back with my pregnant girlfriend and unborn baby, which was really the only place I really wanted to be at.

The car ride was thankfully quiet for a while. Until Thalia decided to just go right ahead and break the silence.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Thalia demanded.

"I cannot control traffic." Zoe glared at her.

Zoe weaved in and out of traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was sinking on the horizon when we finally got into Marin County and exited the highway. The roads were insanely narrow, winding through forests and up the sides of hills and around the edges of steep ravines. Zoe didn't slow down at all.

"Why does everything smell like cough drops?" I asked.

"Eucalyptus." Annabeth pointed to the huge trees all around us.

"The stuff koala bears eat?" I asked.

"And monsters. They love chewing the leaves. Especially dragons." Zoe answered.

"Dragons chew eucalyptus leaves?" Thalia asked.

"Believe me, if you had dragon breath, you would chew eucalyptus leaves too." Zoe said.

No one questioned her, but I did keep my eyes peeled more closely as we drove. Ahead of us loomed Mount Tamalpais. I guess, in terms of mountains, it was a small one, but it looked plenty huge as we were driving toward it.

"So this is the Mountain of Despair." I stated.

"Yes. After the war between the Titans and the Gods, many of the Titans were punished and imprisoned. Kronos was sliced to pieces and thrown into Tartarus. Kronos's right-hand man, the general of his forces, was imprisoned up there, on the summit, just beyond the Garden of the Hesperides." Zoe said tightly.

As we drove on, I noticed the clouds seemed to be swirling around its peak, as though the mountain was drawing them in, spinning them like a top. I didn't know why, but I didn't like it one bit. And based on the look I saw on Zoe's face, I had a feeling she knew exactly what the clouds meant, and she didn't like it.

"We have to concentrate. The Mist is really strong here." Thalia said.

"The magical kind or the natural kind?" I asked.

"Both." Thalia answered.

The gray clouds swirled even thicker over the mountain, and we kept driving straight toward them. We were out of the forest now, into wide open spaces of cliffs and grass and rocks and fog. I happened to glance down at the ocean as we passed a scenic curve, and I saw something that almost made me jump out of my seat.

"Oh fuck!" I let out.

"What?" Thalia asked, looking out her window, trying to see what I saw, but we turned a corner and the ocean disappeared behind the hills.

"The Princess Andromeda. Luke's ship docked near the beach."

That explained why he'd sent his ship all the way down to the Panama Canal. It was the only way to sail it from the East Coast to California.

"We will have company then, Kronos's army." Zoe said grimly.

I was about to ask what was up, when suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. My senses were kicking in and I knew something was not right.

"Stop the car. NOW!" I shouted.

Zoe must've sensed something was wrong, because she slammed on the brakes without question. The yellow VW spun twice before coming to a stop at the edge of the cliff.

"Out!" I said and everyone got out without question.

We huddled together on the pavement. The next second: BOOOM! Lightning flashed, and Dr. Chase's Volkswagen erupted like a canary-yellow grenade. It was a good thing this place had snow on it too, otherwise everyone would've been as good as dead. Using my powers over water, I created a wall of ice to shield us from the flying scraps. Good thing I made it to be a thick wall to. When the explosion ceased, we were surrounded by wreckage. Part of the VW's fender had impaled itself in the street. The smoking hood was spinning in circles. Pieces of yellow metal were strewn across the road. I willed for the ice wall to shatter into shards of ice afterwards.

"That was close, fast thinking Percy." Annabeth said.

"What was that?" Thalia breathed out.

"That lightning came from the direction of the ocean." Annabeth answered.

Even though that didn't make sense in normal conditions, I had a pretty good guess what that was exactly.

"One shall feel despair by a parent's hand. Poseidon did that to try and teach me a lesson." I finished.

"Percy, you don't know that for sure." Thalia said.

"What else could it have been?" I asked.

"It could've been Kronos. Zoe did say his name, so . . ." Annabeth offered, but I wasn't buying it.

"It doesn't matter, we need to keep moving. And be silent, we don't want to wake Ladon." Zoe said as she got up and started heading up the mountain.

"You mean we're here?" Annabeth asked.

"Very close. Follow me." Zoe answered.

"I just hope your father has good auto insurance." I commented to Annabeth.

Sheets of fog were drifting right across the road. Zoe stepped into one of them, and when the fog passed, she was no longer there.

"Where'd she go?" Thalia asked.

"This way." I said, pointing to the direction we needed to head in.

"How do you know?" Annabeth asked.

"We're walking in a kind of precipitation, which involves water, and I'm a son Poseidon. Even though I wish I wasn't." I answered as I started moving on, with Thalia and Annabeth right next to me.

"Percy, about that lightning incident, . . ." Thalia tried.

"Don't bother." I interrupted.

"Percy, just because it came from the direction the ocean was in, that doesn't mean that Poseidon did it." Thalia tried again.

"I'd be more surprised if it wasn't him than I'd be if it was him." I commented.

"It could've been Kronos trying to create a rift between you two." Annabeth offered.

"By now, he knows he wouldn't have to, because Poseidon and I are already doing that ourselves. We've been on negative terms with each other for the past couple of months. And I doubt things between us will get any better anytime soon." I replied.

"Percy, I know you're under a lot of pressure right now, but don't let yourself feel so negative about everything. Everything will get better." Thalia tried to reassure with a hand on my shoulder.

"You have no idea what I'm going through or just how much of a pain in the ass it is." I sighed with shake of my head.

"Percy . . ." Annabeth tried, but I wouldn't let her finish.

"Keep moving. We need to get a move on while we still have time." I said, picking up my pace to move faster.

Thalia and Annabeth shared a look of concern before picking up speed and following me into the Mist. As we moved on, I slowly, but surely, felt the level of precipitation weakening and getting low. That meant that there wasn't much snow left to walk in. I wish I could say that didn't bother me, but even with my senses being sharper, curtesy of Ares, it did bother me. I wasn't fond of the idea of fighting whatever or whoever was waiting for us at the top of the mountain with very little power over water. But hopefully I wouldn't end up needing it.

When the fog finally cleared, we were still on the side of the mountain, but the road was dirt. And what I couldn't help but feel concerned about, there was no snow around anymore. As a matter of fact, it didn't really seem or feel like it was winter anymore. The grass was thicker. The warm temperature that I felt made it seem like it was actually spring already somehow. The sunset made a blood red slash across the sea. The summit of the mountain seemed closer now, swirling with storm clouds and raw power. There was only one path to the top, directly in front of us. And it led through a lush meadow of shadows and flowers: the garden of twilight, just like I'd seen in my dream.

'Well, here we go again.' I thought to myself.

And that'll be where I end the chapter. Hope everyone enjoyed the read, and I'll try to update sooner. And I'll also try to work on my other stories. Stay tuned until then.