I don't think I can apologize enough for my poor attendance in my writing. I started my fanfiction account when I was in High School. My obligations were school and being a teen at the time. But now I have things that take up a lot of my energy. Again I want you guys to realize my college and my job take up a lot of my time. Its not that I don't want to update, but my other obligations make it hard to. Right now I have just gotten into 3D modeling, working in 3D programs to create objects and characters. I am at school or work pretty much all day, or I have homework to work on. I never give up on my stories, but I ask for patients NOT death threats or people telling me to die for lack of updating. Threats and people telling me to 'die' doesn't make me want to update any faster.

For those of you who don't do that stuff I love you all, and I'm sorry I'm making you wait so long :,(

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

When the last of the Minotaur's dust fell to the ground Percy collapsed to his knees. It was as if all of his energy had been ripped from him. How had he managed to survive the fight? Percy panted and brushed his damp hair from his face. He could still sense the eyes of the on looking mortals piercing through his back.

"Percy..." Annabeth crawled up to him. She had a gash going across her forehead and her curly blond hair was matted down against her face. "How in Hades did you not die?"

Very good question. Percy thought as he spat a large clot out of his mouth, the dark red blob washed away with the remaining water on the grass. He was out matched in every way by the giant muscular monster. The teen was surprised he hadn't been turned into a pulp drink. Perci-cola, a great sports drink for any monster tired from a day of smashing demigods skulls in.

Trembling the son of Poseidon answered, "D..did you want me to die? Cause it's kinda late now."

With a furious scowl the blond childishly pinched his arm in retaliation. Her whole face had become red like a tomato, her eyes had watered up with tears. Percy figuring that her head was probably really hurting, he reached out and tried to move her hair to get a better view of the wound. Annabeth flinched back and smacked his hand away as soon as he had brushed it. The action had caused her face to turn a whole new shade of red.

"If I wanted you to die, I wouldn't have shouted 'Percy look out!', would I?"

Percy shrugged and tried to get back onto his feet, only he was trembling too much to keep his balance. The daughter of Athena grabbed onto him, trying to break his fall. She called him an idiot before she checked him over for any severe injuries. He didn't feel severely injured, maybe his mouth hurt from him biting his cheek, but he felt fine. When Percy tried to tell Annabeth that, she called him an idiot again.

He sighed and looked back at the mortals, all were still too petrified to do anything more than call the police on their phones. Grover was still blissfully unaware of what had occurred, still out-cold from the Minotaur's hit. They had to get out of the park, they had to leave. Some of the braver pedestrians made their way to the trio. Hesitantly of course, gods knows what they had seen through the Mist.

"A-are you kids alright?" a woman behind them asked. Percy looked over his shoulder to see a small boy with dark hair and grey eyes clutching onto her pant leg bashfully. Or maybe he was more terrified than anything.

"Are they okay?" A man demanded indignantly. "That kid just murdered someone!"

Annabeth's grey eyes gave him a frantic, what are we going to do? look. What had the mortals seen? Percy looked to where the remaining monster dust was settled. Him, a murderer. That was great, fan-freaking-tastic. Of course that would be his luck. The teen rubbed the bridge of his noes in thought; how would they get out of the park without someone playing cop and putting them under civilian arrest.

"But that guy disappeared?" The little boy pointed out innocently. "Poof!"

"My little one is right. There is no..." When the woman put her hands over the boy's ears, Percy couldn't help but think of his mom doing the same for him when Gabe had gotten into a drunken fit. "There is no body."

Percy felt the little boy's grey eyes shoot up to him, an excited smile grew on the kid's face. "Hey mister, are you a wizard?"

It took the son of Poseidon a moment to realize that the boy had given him and his friends a way out. Despite his pounding head and jelly-like legs, Percy put on his best smile. "That's right! We are magicians, traveling around the world to promote our act in public places like this park."

"That's so cool!" The boy squealed as he jumped eagerly. "Mamma they're wizards, it was all a magic show."

"What kind of magic show does...that?" The man asked as he pointed to where the Minotaur had once been.

Annabeth, instantly catching onto Percy's plan snapped her finger and winked confidently, "The best kind. An epic battle between worriers and a hulking giant man. A real David and Goliath show."

"So you were the good guys and he was the bad one?" The little boy asked.

The man looked doubtful about the trio being a part of a magic act. "So, where is the other guy, the one who disappeared?"

"Oh him, he's hiding behind the shed over there." Annabeth pointed out. "He gets shy after his big 'death' scene."

All looked over to the park shed, expecting the Minotaur-or whoever they had seen- come walking out from behind the structure. While they were distracted, Annabeth gave Percy a nudge and nodded to where Grover was out cold. Telling him that they needed to get the goat boy and get outta Dodge. The two quickly shuffled to Grover and hauled him out of the play structure. Luckily, it seemed as if he was starting to come too.

"Whaz going on?" Grover slurred.

Annabeth silenced him. "Be quiet."

"We've got to leave before they get anymore suspicious."

So the three tried to walk away undetected, but their lie about their fourth member hadn't held the attention of the on lookers for long.

"Hey Mr. Wizard." The little boy called innocently. "Where are you going?"

Both Annabeth and Grover cursed under their breaths as more and more mortals began to close in on them. Police sirens wailed in the distance, Percy didn't want to stick around to find out what would happen when they arrived. The three friends continued to shuffle farther and farther from the group.

"Aye." The man shouted. "Even if this was a stupid stunt, you kids still have to talk to the police."

Grover bleated fearfully next to him and Annabeth looked as if her mind was going a mile a minute. Some of the adults were starting to close in on them. It was almost like they were going to try and take the three down. Percy felt a familiar tug in his gut, the same feeling he had gotten when he was causing the water fountains on Olympus to act up. Whatever he was about to do, he had to do it fast. Please he thought as if trying to talk to the water all around him.

"Well my friends and I don't have time to stick around." The teen told him as the tug grew more and more intense. "And I think it's about time we disappeared."

It all happened at once, the water on the ground hissed like a snake before shooting up like a water fall going in reverse. The water seemed to turn to steam when it came in contact with the air. Everything was covered in a fog that was as transparent as a brick wall. No one would be able to see through it, except for Percy who seemed to be parting the fog with a mere wave of his hand. He nudged both Grover and Annabeth to indicate he had created their escape path.

While all the mortals were all in a panic in the fog, the trio made it to the other side of the shed where the fog's grasp hadn't reached. Now what? Percy thought as he looked at the endless road ahead of them. It was Annabeth who had gotten their get away ride. Meaning three of the bikes that had been chained to the bike rack. Should they feel bad about stealing the bikes. Probably. But being caught by the police wasn't an option.

"Why couldn't we have hijacked a car?" Percy complained an hour later.

His thighs were burning and he felt exhausted. The teen didn't know how far they had gotten from the park, but his body was telling him that they had gotten far enough to earn a well deserved rest. Annabeth didn't think so. She was still peddling far ahead of him, her curly hair had become more unruly thanks to the fog Percy had created back at the park. Not even a pony tail could seem to tame it well.

Annabeth sent a side ways glance over her shoulder, "Cause cops tend to find a stolen car faster then stolen bikes."

"I'm sweating so much my fur is going to be matted." Grover bleated in annoyance.

The sun was high over their heads. Percy figured it was probably lunch time or at least his stomach insisted that it was. Those chips hadn't really filled him up. All the biking had eaten up any reserve of energy that he had left. Both Grover and Annabeth were looking exhausted like him.

"Come on guys," Annabeth chided as she swiped a line of sweat away from her forehead. "Let's just keep going until we get near something with a bathroom, maybe we can get cleaned up and rest for a bit."

The more childish side of Percy wanted to flop over and pout on the ground like a little kid. He knew she was right, that they had to keep pushing forward as long as they could, but the dark haired teen had been malnourished before he had arrived at the base on Olympus. While going without substance filled food wasn't a new concept for him, Percy hardly felt he had the energy to keep moving. His whole body was becoming stiff and clumsy. He needed a burger or barbecue, something with lots of meat in it.

"Fine," Grover huffed. "But if we don't find a town soon we should just stop for a bit, Annie."

Annabeth's turned to face the goat boy, "Don't call me Annie."

Grover only grinned in response to her irritation. Of course they were all tired and on edge from their battle with the Minotaur. Percy could still feel his muscles were still painful from getting thrown to and fro around the park. The teen shook his head, in spite of the pain it caused, and tried to remind himself of his mission. His mom needed him so she could move on into the after life. After everything she had done for him for the last fourteen years, it was the least he could do.

Though, it didn't stop him from wishing for a colder day.

"Hold it right there, Children." A familiar voice cut through the trio's somber mood. It was Chiron, right behind them.

Percy winced, he had thought the crazy Gray sisters had at least got them far enough that they wouldn't get caught. Now they'd have to fight their friends to prevent themselves from being dragged back to Olympus. Or, Percy thought as he looked up at the cloudless sky, Zeus might just smite me here and now. The teen remembered his Uncle's threat back in the throne room. He didn't doubt that the overly dramatic god would kill him, even if it meant Poseidon would be mad.

"Chiron, listen..." Percy began as he turned his bike around.

But Chiron wasn't there per-say. Somehow an abundance of mist had formed a vanity mirror sized image of Chiron. Nether Grover nor Annabeth seemed too surprised by it, but Percy was. He figured he probably had a lot of surprises waiting for him through the remaining years of his life. The Centaur didn't look too pleased with any of them. His wrinkled face was drawn into a impatient frown.

"Annabeth, I told you that Percy was not aloud to leave Olympus. It's too dangerous for him." Their teacher scolded. "If Kronos were to get Percy into his clutches it would be the end of the world as we know it."

Percy frowned, he knew Chiron wasn't trying to be offensive, but the teen was starting to feel more like an unstable weapon then a human. He gave a growl and told Chiron, "You know Percy has his own mind and he can make his own decisions, he's not going to go bad just because he's being threatened by some bad guy."

"I'm sorry, Percy." an apologetic expression came to the older man's face. "We've failed to protect you once before, please, just let our scouts bring you back to Olympus before we fail to keep you safe a second time."

Percy looked down at the peddles of his bike, he wanted to turn and leave without saying another word to the Centaur. He respected Chiron as much as he respected Paul. It wasn't like the teen wanted a bunch of monsters to be chasing at his heel, trying to drag him to their master. There were just some things that were more important to him then self-preservation. Like his mother, his friends, the countless people suffering outside the gates of Hades.

"Come on, Chiron." Annabeth sighed. "Grover and I will keep Percy safe. With my knowledge and Grover's magic and Percy's strength, we're strong enough to take anything that Kronos might throw at us."

The Centaur looked pained at that, "If you three do not get to the scouts as soon as possible, you will come face to face with the monsters and mercenaries that the king and queen of the gods have sent after you. And they don't have orders to bring any of you back alive. Least of all Percy."

"W-what?" Grover's brown eyes seemed to bulge out of his head. Annabeth went pale but she didn't say anything. "They sent monsters to k-kill us."

"Namely Percy."

For some reason Percy felt the audacity to smile, "Peachy."

"This is not funny, Perseus!" Chiron voice boom. Percy flinched when Chiron used his real name. "Your life is at stake! Now, the three of you are to turn around and go meet up with the scouts. That is an order."

Percy looked away from the centaur's image again. "I'm sorry, Chiron. I can't do that, mom needs me and for once I'm not going to let her down."

"We'll see you back on Olympus." Annabeth's voice held confidence, but she seemed rather shaken up by what Chiron had told them. "Percy is safe with us."

Chiron's expression went cold, as if he had to shut off a part of himself before he spoke his next words. "Just like she was."

"HOW DARE YOU?" Annabeth's eyes welled up with tears. "She has nothing to do with this."

"Are you sure that you are unable to draw similarities with the boy's problem and hers?" Chiron asked with an arched eyebrow. "You are wise beyond your years, Annabeth, but not even you can rationalize enough to cope with another loss of that nature."

Percy was completely out of the loop when it came to who this girl was. They were probably talking about Annabeth's friend. The girl who had died years ago, Percy had yet to know why or how she died. Now Chiron was promising his death if Percy did not immediately return to the safety of Olympus. While being hunted by two groups of monsters didn't seem ideal, Percy had faith that Annabeth and Grover could keep him safe.

"Like Wise Girl said 'we'll see you later', Chiron." Percy told the protesting centaur. Grover swiped his hand through the mist and dissipated Chiron's image.

The three were left staring at an empty road. Oddly enough Percy felt more energetic than he had moments ago. When he looked at his friends, however, both of them looked as if they'd throw up. Whatever had happened to that girl all those years ago was still haunting the two of them. Percy looked up to the sky. The sun was far above their heads, Percy was guessing that it meant that it was noon.

"Come on guys, let's take a quick break before we keep going." He told them before dismounting his bike and flopping carelessly onto the grass. Unlike their first break back at the park, they weren't filled with ceaseless chatter and childish horseplay. it was silent except for the cicadas that buzzed on in the distance.

That's it for this chapter, I'm sorry if it is a bit slow. Hopefully my next chapter will be a bit more fast paced. Again, with school and work, it will take time for me to update, and I understand that many of you like this story, but I am only human. I have other obligations that can and will take up a lot of my time and my energy. I want to thank you for your support and I appreciate all of the kind reviews and helpful comments.