"I think I'm going to be sick," I muttered, as another wave of nausea hit me. The blood rushing to my head did little to help stop it. "Hey, if you know what's good for you, you'll let me go!"

"Shut up!" the cyclops growled. He stabbed a giant carrot with a knife as big as my arm, and poked me. He gave me a grin, taking all my willpower to stop me hurling from the smell. "The broth's almost ready little demigod, won't be long before you're stew!"

"Can you please take some breath mints? Or don't they sell them that bi-oof!" he poked the breath out of me. "You talk too much demigod. My last meal talked less?"

I saw a figure blur past my eye, making me smile. It's about time. "Oi, are you seriously going to make me a stew?"

"What do you mean?" Good, pay attention to me.

"You got some prime demigod cut here," I tried my best to strike a pose, but being tied upside down made it look like a caterpillar impression. "My mom used to be a chef you know, I can teach you the proper technique to cook demigod."

The cyclops moved closer to me as the figure crept closer to the scaffoldings, directly above it.

"Proper technique you say?"

"Yeah it's called DEATH FROM ABOVE!"

It all happened in an instant, the cyclops roared in pain, clutching it's punctured eye, meanwhile I clutched a knife that was thrown at me and cut free from the thick ropes.

"Great timing as always gray!" I patted the annoyed 8 year old's head, who looked adorable in her attempt to glare at me.

"You idiot!" Annabeth cried out, "That's the second time!"

"We'll discuss this when we aren't getting attacked by a raging cyclops!" I pushed her away, as the currently, no-eyed monster swiped the ground. "I think you made it mad!" I ducked under another swipe and stabbed its thumb. For something that couldn't see, it was surprisingly accurate with its attacks.

"Maybe I wouldn't have to if someone wasn't tied up like a slab of meat!" Annabeth punched a button, causing a robotic arm to grab the cyclops by its neck. "Damn you demigods! I'll gut you and eat you!" Talk about the world's most dangerous claw game. Another flurry of button taps caused another robot arm to zoom past the cyclops, giving it a mean drive by hook. Roaring in anger and pain, it tore the claw and threw it away. With another thunderous roar he charged full speed at me. Now if I was a normal like in my previous life, I'd have been a pancake. Luckily, I was a demigod now. With fast reflexes, I dodged its charge, sending it crashing into a pile of car bodies.

"Good riddance," I sighed, wiping a bead of sweat from my brow. But of course, it wasn't dead, why would it be? "Annabeth!"

She threw a bow and quiver of arrows at me, which I grabbed in a practiced motion. I knocked an explosive arrow and took aim, "Au revoir," and fired at the chains holding a giant truck engine. It looked like a scene cut from Tom and Jerry. The engine fell on the cyclops' head, crushing it.

"Is it dead?" Annabeth asked

I looked at the golden ichor flowing from underneath the engine. "Yup!"

"Good," then without warning she slapped me, then immediately gave me a hug. Talk about a cliche, "You idiot! You're an idiot!"

"Yes, yes I heard you the first two times." I patted her back, god she was so tiny.

"Why did you sneak into a Cyclops' Lair" Oh right. I fished out an intricately designed leather scabbard, and gave it to Annabeth. She gave me a confused look, before her eyes widened in realization. "No way."

I grinned, "Happy Birthday Grey!"

She took the knife out and did a few practice swings, giving a toothy grin. Oh my god she's so adorable!

We walked down the stairs to the Cyclops' lair and beheld our spoils of war. A bunch of Celestial Bronze knickknacks- a music box a crushed helmet, torn breastplates but the best was, "Twinkies!" and multiple boxes of them! I tore a packet and sighed with relief. Finally, variety! Annabeth placed a box of beef jerky beside the Twinkies, while I muttered a quick prayer for the poor demigods killed by the cyclops. We made a makeshift pyre and burned everything we couldn't use.

"Mother, accept our offerings." Annabeth prayed, as the fire burned a shade of gold.

Next I threw in the music box, "I think you might get a kick out of this dad, and thanks again for the bow." The fire burned an even brighter shade of gold. Aww, he liked it.

Then finally we threw in a couple drachma, "We pray the Ferryman accept these late payments for those who perished and guide them to their final rest."

I could see tears form in Annabeth's eyes. I placed a hand on her shoulder, as we were yet again reminded of the mortal peril we were in constantly. From the pages of a book, reading of how many demigods dying before reaching Camp, and how high the mortality rate if being one was, didn't seem that significant. Especially when compared to the scenes of fights and action Percy got himself in.

But being here in person, and experiencing the dangers constantly, really made you reconsider everything.

Annabeth gave me a sideways hug as we watched the pyre burn out.

It felt strangely serene.

XxX

"Where to now?" I asked, as Annabeth unrolled the map we had been following. If what the satyr said when he gave it to us, was true, it was supposed to glow and guide us to Camp Half Blood using the safest route possible. Safest being with the least amount of monsters. I had no idea they had all this useful stuff at Camp. If only Percy had one of these in the books.

The map was basically a GPS, there was a glowing arrow representing the user, in this case us, and the route we would take would glow. Just like a gps. If we took an accidental detour, the route would recalculate, as long as we didn't stumble upon the lair of a powerful monster or a minor god. We found that out the hard way.

"Richmond, Virginia," Annabeth pointed out, as Richmond glowed pink.

Weren't Luke and Thalia in Richmond, when they met Annabeth canonically? This was great, I was meeting them sooner than I'd thought.

We packed up the tent and stuffed everything we could into our over sized hiking backpacks.

"Are you ready?" I asked

"No," she frowned as I grinned.

I tossed a coin onto the road, "Stêthi 'Ô hárma diabolês"

A few seconds passed, as nothing without warning, a boom, as a smoky taxi materialized. The driver's window rolled down as I smiled at the truly horrifying figures in the driver's seat. "Hi, Richmond, Virginia?"

"Get in."

Annabeth looked less than pleased, as she fastened herself with the chains in the passenger's seat. I took the time to toss another coin out and prayed to Hermes so that we'd live though this taxi ride. With another boom, we took off, breaking every single speed law in the universe.