Charlie was mopping water off the floor when I entered.

"Hey Chuck," I greeted. He didn't bother looking up.

"This lady is a mess. Look at this! The entire floor is soaked!" he cried, nearly throwing his mop. I laughed and offered a hand. I began wiping off the circuit board.

"How are we on trajectory?" I asked.

He groaned and motioned towards a panel in front of me. "We lost about half a day. I think we might be able to make it up pretty quickly if I make a few adjustments," he stopped talking and began fiddling with a beautiful crystal. It was small, but it seemed to mean a lot to Charlie.

"What's that?" I asked. Charlie smiled as he held the crystal.

"My mom said it came from her home, where she lived before my dad came. She said that he came and rescued her and they flew away into the sunset, like in the fairytales," he said wistfully.

"It must have come from Ogygia. From what I've heard about your dad, I guess he must have used it as a beacon to find Calypso," I said. Charlie's smile grew weaker.

"I get why they didn't tell me," he said. I went quiet and let him talk. "They gave me this when I was a baby, Dad said with it I would never be lost. Sometimes I'd wake up and he'd be gone, and Mom would tell me he had a job. But he worked at the garage under the house. I never thought about it until now. I saw things, monsters I guess, but I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me. I think they almost told me once, but then Dad got hurt and they didn't. They were always so careful to keep me in the dark. I was angry at first, but now I just miss them. They had a whole nother life that I knew nothing about, and now Dad's been taken." He looked down like he wanted to cry, but he didn't.

"My mom was ran away when she was just a little kid," I spoke softly. "Her family was rude to her, they didn't care. She was just too different for them. Camp Half Blood was her home. When she was twelve, she met my dad. He didn't know anything about this world. When he got to Camp, his mother was kidnapped by a monster. They went through Hades realm, to get her back. Eventually, they defeated Kronos. Together, they survived the Labyrinth and so many other things that should have killed them before they were even sixteen.

"Then, they finally got together. They were dating for a few months when Hera kidnapped my dad and stole his memories, then stuck him in the Roman camp. They reunite months later and the Prophecy of Seven got together. As a team, they set off to defeat Gaea, who was trying to wake and kill everybody. My mom beat Arachne, but was pulled into the deepest pit of hell, where even Gods don't dare speak of. My dad jumped in after her," I went quiet as I spoke of Tartarus. My parents were still suffering from that wretched place. I felt sorrow just thinking about it.

"What happened?" Charlie whispered.

"They survived. They made it through Tartarus, then them and the rest of the Seven closed the Doors of the Death. They went back to Camp Half Blood and lead the battle against Gaea and her monsters. Leo, your dad, defeated her. He died in the process. He didn't stay dead though, which we now know was because he had something called the physician's cure. Finally, my parents were able to settle down. They went to college. Then they got a house, and had me. They tried to give us a normal life while still preparing us for the real world," I said.

Charlie smiled. "What are they like?" he asked.

"They're amazing. My dad is basically a fifth child. He sneaks out of bed at night to steal cookies and gets into pillow fights with us kids. He's the greatest dad. Casey was bullied by some kids in sixth grade and Dad made their bathrooms explode. He's got black hair, green eyes. He usually wears longer shirts unless he's at camp because he's covered in scars from Tartarus. A couple weeks ago I got sick and couldn't go to school, so he took my backpack and homework and went to school in my place. He pretended to be me, and ended up getting kicked out of the school and had to call my mom to bail him out," I laughed as I thought about it.

Charlie chuckled. "He sounds a lot like my dad," he said. "What about your mom?"

"My mom, she's amazing. She works full time as the CEO and founder of the biggest architecture on this side of the country. She's brilliant. Despite working so much, she comes home before school is out and makes us a snack for when we get home, then she'll help us do our homework and do the rest of her work from home. She's an amazing listener. She's so polite, but if somebody touched one us or Dad, she'll probably kill them," I joked, but it was actually pretty likely. "I miss them," I added.

Charlie nodded. After a moment of silence, he spoke. "I bet my mom is worried sick. First, Dad takes off and freaking out about his best friends, and then I go missing. She doesn't know where I am, that I'm safe. I don't even know the threat my dad is facing, but I find myself not caring. All I want to do is find him. I've been raised to believe that as long as my Dad was there, nothing could go wrong. I know that's not true, but part of me still believes it. But we can get them back, right?"

I smiled. "Right." He went back to fiddling with his necklace. I, of course, ruined the moment. "Wait, Charlie, that necklace!"

"What about it?"

"Leo used it to find Ogygia again. They gave it to you and said you would never be lost if you had it, which must mean it's somehow connected to them. If we can figure out how, then we can use it to find Leo and the others!"

Charlie looked doubtful. "But what if it's just sentimental? How did Dad even use it?"

I shrugged. "Not sure, only he knows. But at this point, we need it to work. We don't know where to go."

He nodded in understanding but looked doubtful. "Yeah. I'll work on it."