Here's my next chapter, its a bit slow, but I hope you all enjoy :)

Disclaimer, I don't own Percy Jackson, all rights belong to Uncle Rick

In spite of Annabeth's ever gracious insight, Piper didn't seem content to do what Annabeth said and let her father rot. The teens found a diner with payphones at the entrance. Percy convinced Piper to have breakfast before she called around. She agreed, even going so far as to pay for their entire meal. Not having a decent meal in days made the trio less than respectable breakfast guest. Annabeth had even stopped being irritable long enough to enjoy the Grand-Slam breakfast she had ordered.

"Wow, and I thought I had an appetite." Piper smirked as she nibbled at her toast. "When's the last time you guys had something decent to eat?"

The trio looked at each other knowingly before giving the brunette a shrug. Piper still had questions for them. A lot in fact. She asked where they were from, how they got to California, their ages. Percy knew she was probably nervous. Who wouldn't be after a night of chaos and anarchy? She'd be crazy to not be curious. Though, she could be crazy regardless.

Percy was surprised she had chosen such a public diner. The teen was famous after all, be it indirectly through her father. Miraculously, none of the other patrons seemed to mind her. Most of them chatted with one another merrily, eating breakfast and trying to power through the morning. Some parents were also there with their kids enjoying a nice family outing. The son of Poseidon wouldn't be ashamed to say he envied those children. He often dreamed of having his mom and dad doing such things with him. Without any real idea of who his dad was, Percy often had Paul assuming the role.

"So, Piper." Grover began lamely. He had been the first to finish his breakfast. Even though he had an extra-large-vegan enchilada with hash browns, the satyr still seemed to be hungry. Percy grew a bit nervous seeing Grover eye the empty plate so longingly. "Aren't you afraid someone will notice you?"

A rueful smile came to Piper's face, her kaleidoscope eyes began looking a bit green. "When you're a celebrity kid, you're invisible, unless you are with the celebrity himself. And my dad...he's not here."

"I'm sure he's fine." For once Annabeth didn't seem to have any malice in her voice. Percy looked at the blond and realized her features had softened considerably. "I guess I should thank him for protecting you and Percy. You too."

Piper blushed as she pushed her empty plate to the end of the table. "I'm kind of the one who put him in danger. Besides, what are friends for if not to protect you from psychopathic-model-gangbangers."

Grover snorted when she said that, choking on laughter and California Sun orange juice. Even Annabeth was biting back giggles. That about summed the guy as far as Percy knew. The brunette tried to stay serious, but even she let herself laugh. It wasn't just about her being funny, the three teens and goat had enough emotional baggage to last a lifetime.

"I'm going to try to get in touch with my dad or his agent." Piper sighed, her giggles sputtering away like a stalling car. She warily slid out of the booth, afraid of what her phone call would yield. "We can head out when you are done eating."

Piper seemed to be doing a death march to the diner phones. It was hard to say he blamed her, what if the news she got wasn't good? The trio remained quiet until she disappeared from their sights. Annabeth polished off the last of her breakfast, passing her unwanted toast to Grover.

"So, what are we going to do about her?" The daughter of Athena asked. "If she is a demigod, she could be in danger."

Grover crunched down heavily on his gifted food. "Percy and I decided, it'd be better if I came back for her after the quest. So, for now ixnay on the demigod talk around Piper."

Annabeth gave an annoyed glance around at the other people in the restaurant. None of them seemed too interested in anything other than their food or their group. With her being a little softer towards Piper, Percy thought her foul mood was gone, but it seemed that it was still dominate. He wondered why she was so grumpy, was it just because of the late night searching for him? Or was it something else?

"Okay, so Bedazzled is on a need to know basis." Annabeth frowned and rested her head in her arms. "The sooner we find Nereus, the sooner we can send her back to her dad."

Percy stayed silent, he stared out the window of the diner. They were slightly out of the condensed part of the city, on the urban outskirts. It was a little bit slower and less packed. Busy, but moderately so. He watched the cars and people pass by, none of them seemed to have a care in the world. Percy's heart stopped when he thought he had seen a familiar wrinkled face in the crowd, but she vanished before he could say a word.

"What's wrong, Percy?" Grover asked. Looking at the satyr, Percy could see concern in his friends eyes. Almost like he knew what the teen was feeling.

"Do you remember when in sixth grade when I said Mrs. Dodds wasn't human?" He asked slowly. "You told me I was right..."

"Why are you thinking about Mrs. Dodds?" Grover's face pinched up worriedly.

"I had a dream last night." Percy admitted. Annabeth perked up and gave him a weird look. "Or maybe two? She was there...telling me I had a debt to pay. Her and Hades."

Grover bleated and practically rolled out of the diner booth. The daughter of Athena clamped her hand over his mouth as if he had said an atrocious cussword. Some of the other restaurant patrons gave them looks out of the corner of their eyes. They must have looked like stupid teenagers goofing off. Percy irritably pulled Annabeth's hand from his mouth.

"You need to be careful about the names you say, they have power." the blond warned sharply. Her grey eyes scoured the whole room as if searching for a threat. "What happened in your dream?"

Percy told them everything. Every excruciating detail; from seeing the two of them run around the city looking for him, to Hade's torture and threats. By the time he was done both looked as if the world its self would open up to swallow them all. Annabeth shook her head and Grover began to mutter 'not again' under his breath.

Way to make me feel better, guys. Percy thought as a chill raced over his skin.

"Annabeth, what does this mean?" He asked her, he tried to keep the fear out of his voice. "Why did I dream about any of this?"

The blond opened her mouth to speak, but instead of her voice, there was the voice of a young boy calling out. "Annie?"

Her face went pale as a pair of little kids jumped on her and smothered her in hugs. She was stiff at first, but something came over her and she hugged the boys back. Percy could hear tears in their voices as they rambled nonsense into her shirt and fought over who'd get to sit in her lap. Annabeth chuckled a bit, her grey eyes looking stormer than ever.

"I've missed you guys too." She told them as she gave each boy a kiss on the head.

"Where have you been?"

"We've missed you sooooo much."

"Dad's been looking for you, but your mom told him to never come to the camp."

One of the boy's jumped up in a hurry, "Bobby, we should get dad. He'll be so happy to see Annie!"

"No." Annabeth told them sternly. Both boys gave her blank stares, as if they were confused by her response. "Don't get Dad, okay?"

"It'll just take a moment." Bobby argued. "Me and Andrew will be really quick."

Before she could get a word in edgewise both boys were rushing to another part of the restaurant. Percy could see them running at a blond man and a dark-haired woman. They were startled when both boys began chattering excitably at them. The son of Poseidon only managed to catch one word before Annabeth began pulling him and Grover out of the diner.

"ANNIE!"

The blond man stood with a forlorn look on his face. He locked eyes with Percy's as the teens disappeared out of the door. Both Percy and Grover were perplexed by Annabeth's sudden rush to leave the restaurant. Percy could tell she didn't have a good relationship with her family, but she didn't even want to see them?

"Okay…I'm glad you're okay, Daddy." Piper was just finishing her call when the trio burst into the lobby room. "Love you too, bye."

The girl could only yelp in shock as Annabeth started pushing her out of the restaurant as well. It felt like Annabeth were a farmer herding a group of dazed cows. She rushed them to the bus that was loading up. Even without knowing that it would take them where they needed to go, the daughter of Athena readily pushed them onto it. Like the good anti-social teens and goat they were, all four migrated to the back seat of the bus.

"ANNABETH!" A voice wailed. Percy turned to see the man, whom he had decided was Annabeth's dad, he frantically stumbled out of the diner. "Please, I need to talk to you. Annabeth!"

Percy almost felt bad for the guy. He made a desperate attempt to chase after the bus, but the host of the diner grabbed his arm and waved a bill in his face. The man tried to throw some money at the woman and go after the bus, but it was already long gone. There was an air of defeat that the man gave off as he fell to his knees.

The look on his face made Percy feel sorry for him.

Annabeth gave a sniff and caught Percy's attention. She had her arms wrapped around herself, her fingers playing with the ring on her necklace. Her father's ring, Percy realized. They all remained silent as if they had gone into shock. Piper only spoke once to assure them the bus was heading the direction they needed to go. Percy focused on the hissing of the busses breaks each time it came to a halt. He couldn't stop the barge of thoughts racing through his mind.

The daughter of Athena had never looked so frantic before.

After about a half hour on the bus, both Grover and Piper had fallen asleep. The girl used the goat's shoulder as a pillow. They both seemed too exhausted to do anything else. Thankfully Piper told him the stop they needed, which was a half-hour away. When Percy looked at Annabeth, he could tell she needed sleep too. Instead of doing that, she stubbornly remained awake and continued to run her fingers over the ring.

"You should get some sleep, I'll keep watch." He assured her as he pried her fingers from the ring. "You had a long night."

She shook her head, tears coming to her eyes. "No, I'm fine, Percy. You get some sleep."

"After the nightmare I had last night, I'd have to give that a big fat 'no'." Percy refused. "If you won't go to sleep, maybe you'd like to talk about what happened at the diner?"

The blond bit her lip and looked away. She didn't seem too eager to share. Percy could understand her hesitance. There were some traumatic experiences he had from his Step-father he wouldn't want to share either. Annabeth gave a big sigh and drew her legs onto the seat. She wrapped her arms around her knees. Her shoes were worn and muddy, but that didn't seem to bother her.

"How about you start with those boys?" He suggested and gave her a nudge. "Secrete boyfriends I don't know about?"

"Jealous?" Annabeth inquired with a raised eyebrow. There was a ghost of a smile that came to her face. "My little brother's, Andrew and Bobby. They're cute, right?"

"I don't know, they reminded me of monkeys the way they pounced on you."

The daughter of Athena elbowed him with a chuckle. "Jerk. Anyway, I haven't seen them in a long time."

"Why?"

"My dad and his wife don't want me." Annabeth admitted bitterly. Her hand went back to clenching tightly onto the ring. "They've made that very clear. And they especially don't want me around Bobby and Andrew."

Percy thought back to the man who had fell to his knees in despair when he had missed his daughter. He didn't want anything to do with Annabeth? The son of Poseidon couldn't wrap his head around it. If Annabeth were right in her observation, Percy couldn't help but think that the man would have to be blind to feel that way. He didn't know what to say to her. What could he say?

He knew what it was like to feel unwanted. The pain was all too familiar to him. Percy was bullied in school and at home. There were constant reminders about how worthless he was. So, yeah. He could understand Annabeth's anger and heartache. The teen wished he were better with his words, he wished he could say something that would console her.

Then he thought about his mom. What would she say? She'd be forgiving, she gave up everything to take care of her uncle. From what Percy understood, the two of them had never been close, but she didn't let that stop her from taking care of him when he needed it.

"He's family, Annabeth. You should give him another chance." Percy began hesitantly, he could feel Annabeth bristle defensively next to him, as if she were being attacked. "If you don't have a good relationship with him now, what do you have to lose by giving it another try?"

Annabeth didn't say anything; her face was decidedly neutral. "I should probably take you up on your offer. I'm going to get some sleep."

She didn't fight it as her eyes slid shut. While he knew it was an attempt to escape their conversation, Percy couldn't help but be happy she was getting sleep. If the nightmare Hades had given him was any indication of the danger they were in, she was going to need it.