Hello and happy Easter! I know it's kind of early to say that but eh. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and thank you all for your reviews and feedback.

Disclaimer I do not own Percy Jackson, all rights belong to Rick Riordan

Percy woke up feeling warm all over, almost like he was wrapped in a blanket. Half awake, the fourteen year old searched for the source of the heat with his hand. It rested upon the thick and soft fur of Lupa, she must have curled up with him while he had been asleep. He figured that it was probably a dog thing. Then he blindly searched for the second source of heat, this one was lying on top of his right arm and making it numb.

His hand instantly became entangled in soft, curly strands of hair, much less course than Lupa's fur. The source of heat nuzzled closer to him, that's when Percy felt his heart leap up and into his throat. He went into a sitting position so quickly that Annabeth was thrown to the side. She awoke on impact to the ground. The daughter of Athena let out a curse and shuffled as she up-righted herself.

"What the Hades, Seaweed brain?" She demanded.

Percy's face burned so badly that he was sure he was glowing in the dark. He wondered if Annabeth knew she had been cuddling up to him, maybe she had just gotten cold and, in her sleep, found the nearest heat source. Him. Even in the dankness of the cave, the son of Poseidon felt almost as if he could see Annabeth glowering blindly in his general direction. He couldn't find any words to say.

"Well?"

"Food!" Grover answered in his sleep.

The fourteen year old boy laughed, hoping her focus would go onto their friend's ridiculous outburst rather than her anger at him. It succeeded because Annabeth gave a fond chuckle before she woke Grover up. He apparently hadn't shut the flashlight off and the battery had given out sometime during the night. The trio and wolf were in the dark. Percy could feel Lupa clamor to her feet and stretch as she gave a big yawn. She nudged Percy's head,

"Come, Pup, the day awaits you."

After collecting his stuff, Percy grabbed onto Lupa's flank as she began to lead the demigods and satyr out of the cave. At first the three were blinded by the thin sunlight that came down to them, but they quickly adjusted. The forest was beautiful in the light; vibrant, green, healthy, all of the things Percy never got to see much in the concrete jungle. With a smile the son of Poseidon let himself soak it all up. His mom would have loved to see it, she would have loved to describe it in words.

Grover gave a content sigh, "This is as nature should be! It's wonderful out here."

The son of Poseidon nodded mutely in agreement. He felt himself freeze up when Annabeth's fingers softly brushed against his. She did nothing except cross her arms over her chest as if she were cold. Maybe she was pretending that she didn't know how close they had been moments ago. Percy mentally slapped himself so he'd stop thinking about her weight on him, the feeling of his fingers running through her hair-Ugh! If he could, he would have slammed his head against a wall.

"Are you alright, pup?" Lupa inquired merrily, as if she knew what was running through his head.

Percy swallowed, "I'm fine. So we have to find Ares, right? Will you be coming with us?"

Lupa shook her large head, "No, you must do your quest on your own, but your friends will be a great help to you."

He frowned, so the three of them would be on their own again. Percy felt like they were going to run into more trouble before the day was even out. The She-wolf didn't hesitate to push him forward with her snout, like a mother bird pushing its chick out of the nest. Lupa told him to return and train with her once his quest was over. Annabeth looked kind of disappointed when she wasn't given a similar order.

"Come on, Seaweed brain." She told him as she tugged on his sleeve, "We have to find a road, maybe even get a taxi, a non-mythological taxi. Or maybe get a bus."

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover began to wander, it didn't take long for the trees and bushes to swallow up the sight of the cave. It was going to be a humid and warm day, Percy could tell that much. He could already feel sweat beginning to bead on his forehead. The cave had been a lot cooler, so the temperature difference was very noticeable. Grover continued to babble happily about how beautiful the forest was.

"Seeing all of this, it makes me miss camp..." Annabeth frowned. "It was beautiful there as well. And...I just wish we could have done something differently, I wished we could have stopped Titan army from taking our home. It was your home too, Percy."

Percy gave a slight smile, the camp had always been highly praised by his fellow Greek demigods. He wasn't sure of anything other than the fact he really wanted to see this place. Thinking about how Kronos and his army had robbed him of that made him feel indignant, especially when he saw the forlorn expression on Annabeth's face when she talked about it. How could one person gain enough followers to push them out of their home? The daughter of Athena looked so sad, Percy just wanted to cheer her up.

"You know, maybe we will take the camp back from him some day." He told her. "I'll be there, you know, to help you."

She grinned brilliantly at him, like a star in the night sky. Percy felt himself blush lightly and rubbed the back of his head nervously. He really did like it when she smiled like that. The dark haired teen didn't pay attention as he ran into Grover who had suddenly stopped in his tracks. What was up with him? Percy tapped his still friend on the shoulder.

"G-man?"

Grover sniffed, "You guys, we have company..."

There was a rustling in the bushes, "Drat, Killer, I told you we needed to hide downwind from them."

"But here we would have been able to grab the kid and run." A second voice chimed.

Percy recognized them easily, they were the monsters that had chased him from Central Park to the Empire State building. Slate and Killer both materialized from the shrubs. They looked even more hideous than when he had first met them. A weird mixture of scales and patchy fur covered their bodies. While they had once looked human, their features had distorted and twisted to look more reptilian. Percy couldn't understand what had caused them to look so differently, he still hadn't had everything about the mythological explained to him.

"Long time no see, kid." Slate smirked and showed off some of his pointed teeth. "How about you make this easy on us and come quietly? We might not eat your little girlfriend there."

Killer snickered, "Not that it would be much trouble to eat her. She is probably some dumb daughter of Aphrodite."

Annabeth's fist clenched, her whole body was like a ridged spring ready to jump. It was obviously calling her dumb was a fatal mistake for anyone to make. The monsters took no heed as they charged at the trio. Slate went after Percy while Killer quickly took an opportunity to go for Annabeth, nether one was interested in Grover who trembled helplessly. Slate tried to grab onto Percy's arm,

"Come on, kid!"

The fourteen year old tumbled away, he tried to pull the pen out of his pocket but he fumbled and dropped it onto the ground. Slate kicked it away even though he obviously didn't understand the significance of the pen. Percy cursed his luck or lack of luck. The monster reached out to capture him, Percy kicked Slate in the shin and scrambled back to his feet. Slate flinched, but he wouldn't relent in his endeavor to grab the sea prince.

"I hear you are really the son of the sea god." the monster showed off all of his razor like teeth. "Do you understand how delicious that makes you? However, I'm more interested in serving my master rather than a taste of your rare blood. Be glad I found you before some other monster could sink his teeth into your flesh."

Percy could feel his skin crawl, it grossed the teen out to think there were things out there that would eat him as soon as they saw him. Suddenly a shriek pulled Slate's attention away. The son of Poseidon looked in Annabeth's direction as toxic yellow dust fell to the ground at her feet. Killer was nowhere to be seen. Slate's jaw went slack.

"You little brat."

There was a weight that had reappeared in Percy's pocket, he reached inside and found that the pen had returned. Instead of questioning why or how it appeared, he brought it out and uncapped it, ready to defend himself. Slate turned to look at him and growled like a angry dog. He apparently thought better than to attack because he fled into the forest without another word. Annabeth cleaned her blade off, an air of pride seemed to be radiating off of her.

She chuckled, "Whose dumb now?"

"Nice job, Wise girl. So is he dead?" Percy asked as he looked at the yellowed ground.

"F...for now." Grover told him through chattering teeth, "He will eventually find his way back to the surface."

"Can we do that?" Percy asked with a scowl, Grover shook his head. "That's totally unfair."

"Tell me about it." Annabeth muttered as she put away her blade. "Let's just find a road."

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