The Fates Want Change

by FMPtrumpets

The Fates are tired of watching it. There is a storm coming, and if they want to survive... so they force them to read what they're actions are doing to themselves and their children. And they pull Percy and a few others along for the ride.

14. I Ruin a Perfectly Good Bus

Once she opened the book and found the right chapter, she raised an eyebrow and read... Chapter ten: I ruin a perfectly good bus"

She looked at Percy, who shifted while rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly while avoiding Annabeth's slight glare. After a moment, he shot a glare at Hades before settling back down and asking that she read, her question wasn't going to be answered by staring at him.

Zoe raised an eyebrow, but read anyway.

(It didn't take me... had found for me.)

"That was all he owned, and then we lost it not even five hours into the quest." Grover said, ignoring Percy's muttering about stupid, evil math teachers and lightning happy uncles.

Everyone else looked at Percy like he was finally losing it.

(The camp store... golden drachmas.)

"It wasn't a loan, we don't expect to be paid back. Just the fact that you came back at all would be good enough." Chiron said absently.

Sally's eyes widened. Does he have to say it like that?! Seriously!

(These coins were... than pure gold.)

"Of course we don't. Why would we?" Athena sniffed.

(Chiron said the coins... whatever that meant.)

Sally sighed. She really hoped Annabeth at least answered his questions. If not, then it was a good thing her son was good at figuring things out on the fly and making up workable plans as he went.

(He gave Annabeth and... lethal to us mortals.)

"Which is part of why it's so hard for the Romans to get. Our healers have such a limited amount, its used in only the strictest of emergencies where there is still a chance to save them, but not by normal healing means." Reyna said with a frown. "Meanwhile, you Greeks are handing it out like candy."

"Maybe because we are closer to Olympus?" Percy suggested. "Or, the Greek counterparts are less disciplined and closer to their kids..." He said hesitantly.

"Let's go with the second part." Poseidon said with a shrug. He personally didn't care. In the past few centuries, he'd only had one child as Neptune. The Romans were just that terrified of him, for reasons he still couldn't quite figure out. No, the only presence he'd really had in New Rome in a long time was Frank's family. And he still found that lineage to be both amusing and slightly confusing. The boy was a Greek-Chinese-Canadian Roman. To top it off, they were also blessed by him and often had Hestia's attention over the centuries. If that wasn't a combination...

(Too much of it... us up, literally.)

Sally shuddered. She did not want to hear about her baby burning up.

"One of the reasons why only the healers are allowed to handle either substance. I can't believe you just hand it around like candy." Reyna said in disbelief.

"Our campers are heavily warned of the risks. They are also highly trained so that hopefully such an emergency doesn't arise." Chiron said a little sternly. He didn't like her suggesting that he was lax in training his campers. He knew that he wasn't nearly as strict as Lupa was... but he also knew that some of his average skilled campers could take out one of Lupa's best any day of the week, purely because the Greek fighting style was so chaotic and unpredictable compared to the Romans.

Reyna shrunk back in her seat, she had a bad feeling she just insulted the old teacher.

(Annabeth was bringing... when she got bored,)

A bunch of the demigods found that to be highly amusing, to the confusion of the younger ones, Sally, and Paul.

"Be quiet, all of you! I was young, and naive. I know the truth of the matter now. Besides, the book was left behind on the bus when we had to abandon it, and I don't want to lose another perfectly good book like that again." Annabeth said, pulling her knife out threateningly when they wouldn't stop laughing at her.

They stopped pretty quick. But the younger ones and the two mortals were still confused.

(and a long bronze... a metal detector.)

Sally snorted. "Like that ever stopped you before..." She muttered. And ignored the grins sent her way by the boys.

Poseidon frowned towards Hermes. "Are you sure that Sally isn't one of yours? At least somewhere down the line... grandparents? Something? Because I know he didn't get ALL this from me."

"I don't know... I'll look into it tonight." Hermes said, looking at Sally thoughtfully. Mentally, he told the others that he had already asked Athena to look into it, and that she could also be descended from another pantheon.

"At any rate, Celestial Bronze doesn't show up on mortal equipment. At least, not as a metal. It might show up as an energy source, or on infrared, but not on metal detectors. Another part of the Mist." Annabeth explained.

(Grover wore his fake... apples to snack on.)

Grover groaned again about perfectly good tin cans being wasted and glared at Zeus for a bit.

(In his pocket was... "So Yesterday,")

"Thank goodness he learned more songs over the years." Most of the Greeks muttered. Grover turned red, but didn't say anything. A few people were confused on who Hilary Duff was. Mostly those (Reyna, Hazel, and Jason, for example) who had either been raised in the legion, or were more busy with demigod stuff to pay attention. Hazel, of course, was dead and had no idea what kind of music or technology was around these days.

(both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes.)

Grover turned red and muttered something about not having much time. Grover just said that they may not sound good, but they had their own uses.

(We waved good-bye... daughter of Zeus.)

"Ugh, how long are you going to describe it like that?" Thalia groaned, slumping back into her chair. She really didn't like it when they said it like that, especially since she was here now. Alive, and most certainly not a tree.

(Chiron was waiting... face, and neck.)

Hera smiled proudly. He was her greatest creation. Hephaestus and Ares saw her look and grumbled to each other about how they never got looks like that. All she did was nag and nag about who even knew what half the time.

If there was one thing those two could and would agree on, it was how much they disliked their mother sometimes.

("This is Argus,"... an eye on things.")

All the Greeks groaned. "Enough with the bad Argus puns."

"Yeah, those weren't even funny the first time we heard them."

"He really needs to come up with something new." Was heard all around the room. Even Hermes and Apollo joined in. Hera shot them all dark looks, this was her Argus they were talking about. (She thought anyway.)

(I heard footsteps... of basketball shoes.)

"Were you in such a hurry to catch them, that you forgot your shoes?" Thalia asked him with a weird look on her face.

"Not exactly." Luke told her with a scowl. Those shoes almost killed Grover and Percy. He hadn't known why exactly he was told to give the shoes to Percy, he was just told to make sure Percy got the quest, and give him the shoes. Kronos would take care of the rest.

("Hey!" he panted... Luke was around.)

"You're never going to let that go, are you?" Annabeth asked Percy. He just shrugged. Because, honestly, probably not.

Athena narrowed her eyes again and started thinking of ways again to get her Annabeth and the son of Hermes together. She may not approve of some of Hermes ways (theft and pranking and the like), but it was better than the Seaspawn.

("Just wanted to... kind of normal.)

"Seriously, you smelled them?" Thalia asked her cousin incredulously.

"What? If they smelled weird, then that meant he wore them a lot, and I didn't want any of that touching my feet! I can't stand wearing other people's worn out shoes." Percy defended himself. "I mean, I will if I have to, but..."

Sally sighed. That is probably left over from all the times they had to get clothes and shoes from consignment shops or Goodwill. Most of those stores had a policy of making sure clothing was clean and in good condition. Others... not so much.

(Luke said, "Maia!")

"Ah." Hermes said. "Are you trying to help, or..." He trailed off as he looked at his older son. Luke grimaced, which told Hermes all he needed to know. Those shoes were a trap. Luke frowned at both his older self and his father.

(White bird's wings... "Awesome!" Grover said.)

"They are, aren't they?" Hermes said, activating the wings on his own shoes. Just because.

(Luke smiled. "Those... as much as Annabeth.)

"Oh?" Thalia said teasingly.

"Not like that." Percy growled. To prove his point, he put his arm around Annabeth, you know, his girlfriend. Thalia just raised her arms in surrender.

But her smirk got bigger.

("Hey, man," I said... for me, okay?")

Hermes leaned towards his older son, and murmured, "You wanted to warn him, didn't you?"

Luke sighed, "Yeah, but..." He paused and shook his head, Hermes gave him a look and sighed before patting his shoulder. Luke's frown deepened and he started wondering if his older self hadn't told their father everything, and why. He also started panicking slightly at the thought of them knowing now, he wasn't expecting to leave the throne room alive anymore.

(We shook hands. Luke patted Grover's head between his horns,)

"I'm not a dog." Grover grumbled. If anybody asked, he did not enjoy that, at all. His goat half did not momentarily take over and cause him to enjoy it. Nope. Did not happen.

(then gave a... might pass out.)

Athena nodded. Yup, the son of Hermes would be a much better partner for her daughter.

(After Luke was... you, didn't you?")

A few people laughed. "Yeah right, like Annabeth would ever..." They trailed off when they noticed Annabeth's red face and the fact that she was not looking at any of them.

"What? You did?"

No comment.

("Oh... why do I want to go anywhere with you, Percy?")

"Because I'm a lovable, cute, daring son of Poseidon." Percy quipped. A few snickered, Athena glared again, and Poseidon added under his breath that he also had a natural leadership quality that drew people to him.

Percy reached over to high-five his older self, and Annabeth went back to curiously studying the older couple. They seemed quite close despite being children of Athena and Poseidon.

(She stomped down... jingling his car keys.)

"Huh, you use white, we use black." Reyna muttered, for some strange reason picking up on that one fact.

"Well, our camps are kind of opposites..." Percy said with a shrug.

"My grandmother would be able to spout so many Chinese proverbs just from what color of SUV we use. Just the fact that they are black and white would probably have her lecturing us on the principles of Ying and Yang." Frank muttered.

Percy frowned. "Well, if you think about it, that actually fits us perfectly. We are both different sides of the coin, and we might be stronger together." He said.

"Hmm, maybe. We'll see." Reyna said. Gwen nodded beside her. She was being really quiet.

(I picked up the... use these, will I?")

"No, no you would not." Annabeth muttered.

"Why not?" Luke asked.

"Because those are flying shoes." Percy reminded him. Luke looked like they just explained the answers to the universe to him.

He had wondered about that. After all, Percy had seemed to love the shoes, but then gave them to Grover. He never even considered that Percy couldn't use them for fear of being struck down by Zeus.

(He shook his head... then I got an idea.)

"Uh-oh."

"Hey!"

("Hey, Grover. You want a magic item?")

"Hey, I just realized, you never mentioned having a weapon with you." Dakota suddenly said. He'd been surprisingly quiet... the Romans were beginning to suspect that his sugar-induced craziness wasn't all quite real.

"That's because I didn't have a weapon at this point. Don't worry, I got one before I left." Percy said. Sally was relieved.

Seriously, though, what was Chiron thinking, letting him run off on a quest without a weapon?

(His eyes lit up... ready for launch.)

A few people chuckled at Percy's unique way of putting things. Grover got a bad feeling that he was forgetting something about this...

("Maia!" he shouted.)

"Oh no. Oh, please no." Grover said, he had forgotten about this... somehow. How did he forget about this? Oh, wait, evil demon grandmothers blowing up the bus he was on.

That's how he forgot about this.

A few people looked at him curiously, while a few others looked at him as if he was crazy. The rest were leaning forward in anticipation wanting to know what had Grover so worried. They were just shoes... right?

(He got off the... through the grass.)

People started snickering as they somewhat started to realize what was happening here. Grover's face was starting to get dangerously red with embarrassment.

(The winged shoes... like tiny broncos.)

Hermes winced. "Those shoes can be... temperamental, at first. They will settle down, though." He said with an apologetic shrug in Grover's direction.

("Practice," Chiron called after him. "You just need practice!")

"I'm afraid it's not that simple with those shoes." Hermes said again. Luke looked slightly horrified.

He completely forgot to warn Percy about this! Grover could have gotten seriously injured while the shoes had their little tantrum.

("Aaaaa!" Grover went... heading toward the van.)

A few people laughed at the mental image Percy provided, a few more were too horrified and worried for Grover, and a couple were looking at Percy like he suddenly developed two heads.

Grover himself got into a whispered argument with Percy about whether or not he really looked like a possessed lawn mower. Grover lost.

(Before I could follow... all got more training.")

"Yes, they all got several years more training before they were sent out on actual quests. You, however, only had, what, a week? Maybe two?" Poseidon asked, worried.

"Not to mention, he doesn't have a weapon on him." Sally muttered. She was amazed that she was staying so calm right now. But, she figured she would freak out again later. Like, when her son faced Medusa. She knew it happened, how else would he have been able to give her the head to get rid of Gabe. She had just avoided asking for details.

Percy smiled at him, "It's ok, we all made it back safely. I had Annabeth and Grover with me." He said. Zoe said nothing, just looked at him for a moment before she turned back to the book.

She still hated men, and thought they would all be better served as Jackalopes, but... maybe Jackson wasn't so bad. His mother certainly raised him well.

("That's okay. I just... Annabeth's invisible cap.)

"Eh, I got something much cooler." Percy said, smirking.

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him. "Just because your sword comes back to you whenever you lose it..." She started.

"It's also collapsible. AND, I bet that I could write with it if I need to. I haven't tried it yet though..." Percy interrupted, and then promptly got Riptide out so he could test his new theory. Once he had it out, he examined it for a moment, before putting the cap to the end to the hilt, like you would put the cap of a pen on the end so it didn't get lost. Sure enough, the sword shrunk back down to pen form, except now there was a tip to write with. "Cool!" He said.

Nobody noticed some of the MS shaking their heads and looking to another one who had his arms around one of the girls. (They could tell from the blue and pink trim in the hoods, they just noticed it.) The one the were all looking at shrugged.

Annabeth stared at him for a moment, before she huffed and decided to drop her argument for this new discovery. "You don't even know if there's ink in it." She pointed out.

"Anybody have any paper on them?" He asked, only for a notebook to show up in front of him. "Thank you!" And then, he just started writing in it. "Sweet! I never have to carry a pen in school ever again! Although I will have to be careful about people seeing me pull out a sword in the middle of class..." He mumbled while everyone stared at him.

A sword that collapsed into pen form, and still wrote. Who knew?

"Chiron..." Poseidon started. "Should you not have given him the sword by now? In the book?" He looked at Chiron, wondering if perhaps they shouldn't give him a vacation. He seemed to be getting rather absent-minded. He would still be a trainer, but maybe a fifty year vacation would do him some good. Get away for awhile.

Chiron frowned. "I hope I didn't..." He trailed off.

("What am I thinking?"... away without this.")

"Ah, there we go." Chiron said in relief. Maybe he needed a vacation. He hadn't had one in three thousand years after all...

(He pulled a pen from his coat pocket)

"I carry it on me at all times." Chiron declared. To prove his point, he pulled another Riptide out of his pocket. Poseidon nodded in approval.

(and handed it to... Probably cost thirty cents.)

"Not quite." Everyone who had ever seen Percy whip that pen out and take out monsters like he was taking a stroll in the park said. The Romans shivered just thinking about the war games. That had been equal parts awe-inspiring and terrifying. They just hadn't known how to deal with Percy on the battlefield.

Percy smirked.

("Gee," I said. "Thanks."... who I was waiting for.)

Percy cocked his head to the side, and turned to look at his father. Everybody could read the question in his eyes.

Poseidon shrugged. "I gave it to Chiron when you were born. I knew, despite your mothers protests, that you would eventually find your way to camp. Honestly, I'm surprised it took you as long as it did... but, I suppose I underestimated the stubborn nature of Sally Jackson. I left a necklace with him too..." He said, and turned to face Chiron.

Chiron reached into his bag, and pulled said necklace out. It, like Riptide in pen form, didn't look like much. There were two small, gold charms on it. One, in the shape of a sword, the other, a shield. Poseidon reached out and took it from him, staring at it with a frown.

Percy, wisely, figured out that it was supposed to be Lily's, but since nobody knew where she was...

(But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one.")

Percy groaned in frustration. "Maybe I don't want to be the one." He muttered petulantly. Chiron just smiled sadly at him.

(I remembered the... sword. Could this be...?)

"You know, Perce, when Chiron covered you with the Mist, you weren't supposed to remember any of these details. Or that Mrs. Dodds even existed." Grover said bluntly. Percy just shrugged while Poseidon coughed and looked at his wife innocently.

"Its the ocean's essence. It makes it difficult for the Mist to be effectively manipulated around children of the Sea. Depending on how powerful the child is and how strong their connection to the Sea is, the Mist will either have absolutely no effect at all, or the Mist will do more than it was supposed to." Amphitrite said after glaring at her husband.

"I didn't know that." Chiron said, staring at his half-brother.

Poseidon shrugged. "None of us keep it secret exactly, we just don't make it known."

"It's all part of the oceans, and Poseidon's, unpredictable nature." Triton said with a shrug.

The more Percy and Annabeth heard, the more they felt it explained some of, if not all of, Percy's behavior over the years.

(I took off the cap... balanced in my hand.)

"Made from the ocean." Poseidon murmured.

"And he'd been fighting pretty well up to that point using the swords in the armory that weren't balanced for him. Once he did have a balanced sword in hand..." Luke said, somewhat proudly. They may have been enemies, but Luke still taught Percy everything he could and he'd been quite proud of his student, even while trying to kill him.

("The sword has... "Its name is Anaklusmos.")

Zoe paused and Artemis touched her arm, silently asking if she was alright. She nodded and kept reading. She had a feeling that her history would come up eventually. After all, that girl, Thalia, said she was the new Lieutenant of the Hunt, so something obviously happened to her.

("Riptide," I translated, surprised the Ancient Greek came so easily.)

"It should. I wouldn't be surprised if Latin came easily to you as well. As is often the case with some of the more powerful demigods." Chiron said.

Percy coughed. "It actually has been coming pretty easily to me while I was in the Roman camp. It never came that easily before though..." He said with a frown.

"Hm, I imagine that to be because outside of class at Yancy, you never really had anything to do with Latin, at Camp we always speak Greek or English. But, now that you are in the Roman camp, and being exposed to more Latin then Greek..." Chiron trailed off thoughtfully.

Hermes thought back to his thought earlier about Sally being descended from either himself or another Pantheon's version of himself. Now he was thinking maybe his Roman half...

("Use it only for... absolutely necessary,)

"Yeah, Percy. What were you thinking?" Rachel taunted suddenly.

"I was being chased by skeletons who wouldn't die and you surprised me! What was I supposed to do?" Percy exclaimed, surprised that she brought this up now. He thought they buried this hatchet years ago.

"Skeletons?" Hades demanded. Percy waved him off with a mumbled, "It's a long story."

Thalia and Grover grimaced and started grumbling about how much they hated those things. Luke shrunk down on himself and smiled sheepishly when they both turned to glare at him.

(of course, but this... wickedly sharp blade.)

"Yeah, it looked like it could do plenty of damage to me." Percy explained.

("What do you mean... mortals like an illusion.)

"It does provide a good momentary distraction though if your cornered and need to escape." Annabeth admitted, thinking about the gang in Los Angeles. Percy shrugged. That hadn't been what he really meant to happen, but... hey, it worked.

(They simply are not important enough for the blade to kill.)

"Hey!" Paul complained. Rachel just glared at the old centaur and huffed.

(And I should warn... twice as vulnerable.")

"That doesn't mean what I think it does, does it?" Paul muttered.

"Yup, I can be killed with a steel bullet just as easily as with a celestial bronze blade. Unlike monsters that can only be harmed with celestial bronze." Percy said cheerfully. The others snorted in amusement, but grinned just as cheerfully and nodded in agreement.

Paul just stared at them, wondering how on earth they could be so cheerful discussing their own deaths.

What he didn't know, was that they weren't cheerful at all. They were actually kind of scared of dying, they quite liked living, thank you very much. But, they pretended it didn't bother them so much because, during the war, they kind of had to have that attitude to try and keep the younger campers somewhat calm. Over time, the cheerful mask just stuck.

That, and they were demigods. This was their life. It was dangerous, and once you made it to camp, you got used to the idea of dying pretty quick. Especially after a session of sword training with Percy.

It also helped that they all knew where they were going when they died, as demigods they had several options. Elysium, rebirth and trying for the Isles of the Blest, or hoping their parent steps in and offers them immortality. That last one was probably never going to happen, but they could always dream.

Of course, there was always the fear that they would have a repeat of what happened with Thalia and they would end up as trees or something for the rest of the world's existence.

("Good to know."... ballpoint pen again.)

"That is seriously cool though." Leo muttered while his hands fiddled with some parts. His cappuccino machine lay forgotten behind them all while he put together some bits and pieces he needed to finish it. He paused and wondered if he could figure out how to make something like Riptide. Not exactly like that, obviously. Like Chiron said, the sword had a long history, that and it was made in the sea. But maybe...

(I tucked it in... losing pens at school.)

"Yes, you were/are." Both Grover's muttered. He'd gone through a lot of pens giving them to Percy. And he knew that Chiron had lent him a lot of pens during the year too.

"Yes, I know." Chiron informed Percy with a small smile. How many times just in the first semester had Percy needed a pen because he lost his, yet he swore up and down that it was in his pocket when he left the dorm.

"Well, luckily Riptide is not an ordinary pen." Percy said sheepishly.

("You can't," Chiron said.

"Can't what?"

"Lose the pen,")

"Can he read minds?" Percy whispered to Triton.

Triton grinned and whispered back, "No, but he was Percy's teacher in school, so he would know of his habit of losing pens, so he probably figured out what he was worried about from the look on his face."

"Oh."

(he said. "It is... your pocket. Try it.")

"The only downside is if I'm not wearing anything with pockets in them." Percy complained, thinking of the incident in the gym during the dodgeball game. Those monsters took the game a little too seriously.

"I so need to recreate that." Leo muttered absently as he put some more parts together. Some of them did not want to go together. Beckendorf and Hephaestus watched in interest, but otherwise let him be.

(I was wary, but... in the grass.)

"It would have been such a pain to find it again if it didn't come back." Percy muttered. He was so glad the pen came back and Chiron's little demonstration with his sword didn't fail. That would have been really bad.

("It may take a... the pen was there.)

"I have to get something like that." Jason muttered. He would be perfectly happy with the sword/spear coin he used to have though. Stupid giant.

("Okay, that's extremely... powerful thing, Percy.")

"Only if used correctly and on the right people..." Thalia said, thinking about what Poseidon and his family said earlier about it not affecting those from the sea as much as others. Plus, mortals like Sally and Rachel, who just weren't affected by it at all.

("Mist?"

"Yes. Read The Iliad... version of reality.")

Sally and Rachel both sighed. "Chiron, you forgot to mention that some of us mortals can see through the Mist." Sally said. She was started to get frustrated with how much information the teacher was forgetting to tell her boy.

Chiron inclined his head in agreement, but didn't say anything, merely looked apologetic.

"And that's a very simple explanation." Athena murmured.

(I put Riptide back... the Land of the Dead.)

"A good sword is all you really need most of the time." Ares muttered.

"Provided, of course, that you actually know how to use that good sword." Athena added with a raised eyebrow in his direction. He waved her off impatiently.

("Chiron..." I said... before them, right?")

Zeus scowled. He didn't like acknowledging that.

A few others frowned, they couldn't figure out where Percy was going with this.

("Four ages before... before the gods?")

"Not good." Aphrodite muttered. As the only one there who lived through it... there were a few other minor gods, well... technically Zoe was there too, but she was isolated in her garden with her sisters.

When the demigods looked at her curiously, she sighed, "I'm the oldest one here, I was born not long after Kronos took control. You forget, he's something like my older half-brother. So, I was around then. Trust me, it was not a good time for anyone who wasn't a Titan, a sibling, or one of their children." She said, glancing at Zoe, who frowned, but shrugged and nodded. She didn't mention Chiron. He didn't like advertising who his father was, and he was born towards the end of Kronos reign anyway, he was practically still a foal when Zeus took over.

(Chiron pursed his lips... of cheap entertainment.)

A few of the older Greeks glanced towards Luke and Chris, remembering what Chris told them they were promised. Luke and Chris exchanged looks, hindsight was, as they say, twenty-twenty.

(It was only in the... up everything, right?")

"Oh." That was where he was going with it. Chiron smiled sadly at Percy. Yet another child who was burdened with the fate of the known world. Sometimes he really hated his relatives. Especially when their kids had to go through the hard times while pondering if their parents really cared.

Sally frowned. This was part of why she didn't want her son going to that camp, they would train him, then expect him to go fight and, because of his parentage, they would expect him to fight the big fights that no child should ever be burdened with.

(Chiron gave me a... suffer such a doom,)

Zeus scowled, he did not like thinking about this, he did his best not to acknowledge the fact that if the Fates decided, his rule would come to an end, and there was nothing he could do about it.

(or that we should... war in human history.")

"So, no pressure or anything." Will muttered. Percy overheard and just snorted.

"Chiron, maybe you should have just left it at telling him to keep a clear head." Paul said, putting a comforting arm around Sally when she groaned, worried.

("Relax," I said. "I'm very relaxed.")

Annabeth turned and raised an eyebrow in his direction, which he just shrugged at.

(When I got to... Thalia, daughter of Zeus,)

"How many times are you going to comment on that?" Thalia grumbled, annoyed with the constant reminders that she used to be a tree.

(Chiron was now... your typical centaur.)

"I love your sarcasm, sometimes, Prissy." Clarisse said. Percy shrugged. A few people just chuckled.

(Argus drove us out... were normal carpoolers.)

A few Greeks nodded, it did feel really strange to be out and about in the mortal world again after a couple weeks in camp. Watching all those people who had no idea that there was this whole other world right under their noses that they weren't aware of, and never would be if they had any say in it.

(After two weeks at... not a single monster.")

One of the MS, the one that the others seemed to be paying the most attention to during all this, leaned forward and slapped his hand against his forehead, repeatedly.

"No!" Everyone moaned.

"Percy, why would you say that?" Nico demanded.

"This was my first quest! I didn't know any better yet!"

"Don't worry, he learned." Annabeth assured everyone.

(She gave me an... way, seaweed brain.")

Several nodded in agreement. That was very bad luck to talk that way.

("Remind me again-... "I don't hate you.")

"Could've fooled us." Clarisse muttered. Annabeth shot her a look, which she ignored. Rachel watched in interest, she didn't know that Annabeth used to hate Percy, you would have never guessed from how they acted now.

("Could've fooled me.")

"See, Prissy agrees."

(She folded her cap... parents are rivals.")

"What does how your mother and I act around each other have anything to do with you?" Poseidon asked Annabeth seriously. She turned red, because, honestly, it didn't. Her mother and Poseidon may not get along, but that didn't mean she couldn't get along with children of Poseidon.

("Why?"

She sighed. "How... is hugely disrespectful.)

"Oh, for crying out loud." Poseidon muttered. "For the last time, she wasn't my girlfriend. I only went in there because I thought that she wouldn't dare try anything in somebodies temple, I was wrong. I was trying to get away from her. I couldn't go home, because Amphitrite was having her sisters over, and my palace was over-run by females!"

"Oh, please, you really expect any of us to believe that? Why won't you just admit it already?" Athena scoffed.

Amphitrite frowned at her. "Maybe because he has been telling the truth. A truth you refuse to believe because then it would mean admitting you were wrong about something. We had been having problems with Medusa stalking Poseidon for months before that incident, no matter how many times we had her arrested, or escorted off Olympus or out of Atlantis. We had seven different restraining orders out on her. As I have told you before. Poseidon would never disrespect one of his family like that."

All the demigods blinked, and the Athena kids frowned. The history books all had Athena's version of events in them. There had been nothing about Medusa stalking Poseidon. So, which version did they trust? They didn't know what to think right now. They knew that history tended to be written by the winners, but...

Athena narrowed her eyes at Amphitrite, but Zoe decided it would be best if they kept reading. They could continue this argument when the children weren't in the room. No doubt it would get messy, again. Personally though, she was on Poseidon's side, she was one of those who was asked several times to escort Medusa off Olympus because she was getting too bold with the Lord of the Seas.

(Another time, Athena... saltwater spring for his gift.)

Poseidon sighed. "I honestly wasn't trying. This was right after the fiasco with Medusa, I was trying to not rile her up anymore than she already was. My original plan for my gift was this very rare, very delicious herb that only grows in the deepest parts of the ocean. It's so rare we never even bothered to name it. But, it is delicious. I was going to give them some, along with a way to grow it themselves. I've found that it can be grown above sea in the right conditions." He said with a shrug. Athena narrowed her eyes.

"That's why you had our divers searching for it, and then suddenly called them off right after everything with Medusa." Amphitrite said in understanding. He never told her what his idea for the competition for the city would be until the day of. He had wanted to surprise her with it, to say she had been less than impressed and confused at the 'big reveal' had been an understatement. Poseidon shrugged.

(My mom created... really like olives.")

"Well, they did use olive oil for everything." Hermes said.

"Including medicine." Apollo added.

"Or to show off their wealth." Demeter said.

("Oh, forget it."...I could understand.")

Athena scowled.

"What is with you and pizza?" Clarisse asked fondly, although to those who did not know the true extent of hers and Percy's relationship, she just seemed to be annoyed.

"Pizza is delicious. Almost as good as my moms cookies." Percy proclaimed, staring at her as if she grew another head. Clarisse rolled her eyes and shook her head. She knew there was more to it, but she didn't push. Sally smiled sadly. They couldn't often afford much by way of food when the kids were younger, especially before she met Gabe. Pizza was always a rare treat, so the kids always enjoyed it when they could get it. She tried to always set some money aside so they could at least go for their birthdays.

("I said, forget it!"... his neck winked at me.)

"You think he knew?" Annabeth whispered to Percy, who just grinned and shrugged.

"He might have guessed. He has been around for long time, he's probably seen other couples that fight like we used to before getting together." He whispered back.

(Traffic slowed us down... mom and Gabe's apartment.)

Annabeth wrapped an arm around him, and he looked towards his mom, as if to reassure himself that they got her out. She was home, safe, and away from Gabe.

(Taped to a mailbox... YOU SEEN THIS BOY?)

"Honestly, though. Did he have to use that picture? It was one of those horrible school pictures, you know, the ones where you stand there and the photographer has you make this weird face that is supposed to be a smile?" Percy ranted.

Annabeth looked amused as she patted him on the arm consolingly. Inwardly, she was laughing her head off as he continued grumbling about stupid school photographers and Yancy Academy.

(I ripped it down before Annabeth and Grover could notice.)

"Oh, we noticed it." Annabeth and Grover both chimed in, Percy just groaned and said that of course they did.

(Argus unloaded our... then drove away,)

Sally blinked. That was... he honestly just left a couple of kids and a satyr standing there at the bus station? In New York?! Where anything could happen? Sure, it was pretty safe if you knew what to watch out for and where not to go, but... still. He just left them there.

(the eye on the back... poker, not even missing her.)

There were a few growls coming from the older demigods. In there not-so-humble opinions, it was impossible not to miss Sally. Sally was amazing. And no, the fact that she opened up her home to any demigod that needed a place to crash for the night or medical care had little to nothing to do with it. She was the kind of person that just drew you in, and made you want to never let her go.

(Grover shouldered his... something?"

"Just your emotions.")

"I thought you said he was almost impossible to read?" Rachel said, confused.

"He is." Grover said. "The key word there being almost. There are times when some of his emotions are strong enough that I can pick them out of the jumbled mess his emotions generally are. In that case, it didn't take much to realize what he was thinking or feeling when I noticed where he was looking." He said with a shrug. Percy smiled slightly in Grover's direction.

(He shrugged. "Guess... forgotten to tell me.)

"I think I told you everything relevant..." Grover muttered.

Percy narrowed his eyes at him. "You never told me about the Empathy link, you just did it." He said deadpan. Grover blinked at him, then turned red. Oh, yeah...

He quickly recovered, ignoring his younger self staring at him in disbelief. "That was an emergency! And besides, I offered to dissolve it once we were back at camp and safe. You're the one who decided to keep it." He grumbled.

("Your mom married... him for a week.")

A few people, particularly the girls, were disgusted. Of course, they had already smelled Gabe for themselves, but to hear that Percy still smelled like him even after a week of being at Camp, surrounded by other demigods, and the woods... the fact that Percy still smelled like that a week later... that was truly disgusting.

They were also suddenly grateful that they didn't have the enhanced sense of smell that Satyrs did.

("Thanks," I said. "Where's the nearest shower?")

"Said sarcastically as he possibly could." Grover muttered. Seriously though, was it weird that one of the things he missed the most about his friend was his sarcasm?

Percy heard him and grinned.

("You should be grateful... of any demigod.)

"A good solution, unfortunately, you brought the monster right into your home." Poseidon muttered with a frown. He wasn't trying to blame her or anything, she wasn't exactly safe there either, but still! Sally frowned too and looked ashamed.

Ashamed that she had no idea what was going on in her own home, to her children.

(As soon as I took... you feel any better.")

While Sally nodded her head with a sad smile, because she did love her kids, Percy shook his head. "Thanks for trying, Grover." He whispered. He didn't like all this talk of his mother being gone. Honestly, the older kids were actually getting a little worried, he was being a little too quiet on the subject for their liking.

Triton frowned down at the boy beside him, he then nudged him to sit over with his mother. Honestly, there was only so much a brother could do, sometimes, and he was not admitting to anything, a little boy just needed his mother.

(It didn't, but I... thought. She isn't gone.)

"While you aren't wrong in her not being gone, this much denial is not healthy. If she had actually been gone, you would have only been hurting yourself." Hades said with a frown. As somebody who ruled the dead, he knew how some people could react to the deaths of their loved ones, he'd seen it all.

"I was determined to get her back any way possible. Even if she was really dead, I would have figured something out." Percy said with a shrug.

"Yes, and I would have killed you for it." Hades deadpanned.

"Yes, but my mom would have been alive." Percy said back.

"Yes, until I sent Thanatos to bring her back to the Underworld, where she would have belonged." Hades said with a sigh. This made Percy go quiet. He hadn't considered that part...

Poseidon and Hestia, while proud and happy for how much Percy cared for his mother, were worried about how he didn't seem to care for himself all that much.

(I wondered if... up as they were.)

"Nope, my moment of clarity into them had disappeared." Grover grumbled.

"Moment of clarity?" Will asked.

Grover grumbled for another moment before he answered. "Whenever the jumbled mess straightens out enough to read, I only get a moment before it goes back to being all jumbled up and crazy." He explained.

Poseidon nodded, "The sea is ever changing. It is never the same from one moment to the next." He murmured.

(I was glad he and... to this crazy quest.)

"Don't worry, we knew the whole time what you were really after." Annabeth said with a grin.

Percy shrugged, while they all ignored Zeus's complaining about what could possibly be more important than his lightning bolt, and what other reason he'd be on this quest. Those who knew that Percy's real reason was is mother scowled at him.

(The truth was, I... Zeus's lightning bolt,)

Everyone ignored Zeus demanding to know why not, in favor of Zoe continuing to read.

(or saving the world,... I resented Poseidon)

Poseidon winced, but didn't say anything. He knew Percy no longer felt this way, but it was still hard to hear. Especially one who had always been more emotionally invested in his children than most of the others. He knew it was dangerous, but he also knew Percy would earn immortality many times over, the only question was if Percy would take it or not. He figured he probably would... eventually. After he lived a little first, and especially if Annabeth was offered immortality with him...

He wasn't the type to leave those he loved behind like that.

(for never visiting me,... child-support check.)

Poseidon was startled out of his thoughts. "I sent checks. I sent you a check every Friday if I could. Those days I couldn't were mostly because of Zeus, but I would always send double the next week." He said to Sally. He had been startled earlier when the apartment they lived in was described, but figured that that had been Gabe's doing, or that she had been hiding the money from him while spending it on herself and the kids discreetly, even setting some aside for school and stuff. Amphitrite nodded in agreement. Poseidon always tried his best to take care of his children, even if he couldn't be there. No matter how much she didn't really approve.

Now it was Sally's turn to look startled. "We never got any checks. At least..." She said, slowly turning towards Gabe. "Not that I knew of." She said angrily.

Paul frowned. "When we get out of here, I'm going to go to the bank or find a lawyer or something, see if he didn't have any bank accounts set up separate from yours that never got handed over to you after his disappearance." He said soothingly. Sally nodded, but she was still shaking in anger.

So, Percy did what he needed to calm her down. He plopped himself right down on her lap and leaned back with his head on her shoulder.

(He'd only claimed me because he needed a job done.)

"That's not true." Poseidon whispered. Percy smiled over at him.

(All I cared about... going to give her back.)

Hades groaned and mumbled something about demigods who loved to give him headaches. Seriously, why did they always think that he would, or for that matter, COULD just give them their loved ones back after they were dead? It was a good thing for Perseus that his mother wasn't actually dead.

(You will be betrayed by... Shut up, I told it.)

"Hearing voices in your head is the first sign of madness!" Thalia sang out teasingly.

"No, I'm pretty sure its when you talk back to them." Will muttered to his seat-mates. Then he checked to make sure Thalia hadn't heard him, he didn't feel like getting into an argument with her over it. Honestly, its not like he was a Healer or a son of Apollo or anything... Nope, not like that at all.

"Aren't we all mad?" Rachel asked cheerfully.

The other demigods paused a moment, before they snickered as nodded in agreement. It was true, after all. They were all just a little insane (more like a lot, but who's really keeping track?). Their parents just shook their heads.

(The rain kept coming down.)

Poseidon frowned. "It keeps mentioning the rain a lot." He muttered.

"Which means it must be important later on in some way..." Paul said in agreement. Hey, he was an English teacher. He knew a lot about foreshadowing.

(We got restless waiting... one of Grover's apples.)

A few people tilted their heads curiously. Didn't they mention something about hackey sack apples earlier when they were having one of their 'inside joke moments'? Were they actually going to find out what that was all about now?

Percy moaned as he realized something. When Annabeth glanced at him curiously, he leaned over to whisper, "We're not going to have very many inside jokes left after these books." He said.

Her eyes widened. "Aw man! But it's so much fun watching them try to figure out what we're talking about!" She whined. Percy nodded mournfully.

(Annabeth was unbelievable.)

"Why thank you." Annabeth said in a snobby accent with her nose turned up in the air. She only held it for a moment before her, Percy, and Grover started laughing, making the parents look at them strangely before shaking their heads at the teenagers.

Chiron just smiled, he loved watching his students have fun, and act their ages. They trained so long and so much, Capture the Flag was really his way of just letting the teenagers be teenagers, but even that was another training method. All of his students, no matter how young, were really too mature for their ages. Something he attributed to knowing who their parents were, and their combat training.

(She could bounce... shoulder, whatever.)

Annabeth smiled slightly in pride at the compliment.

(I wasn't too bad myself.)

Artemis narrowed her eyes slightly. That had been the first real example of male egotism from Percy so far. She decided to withhold judgement until they read more.

"Yeah, you did pretty good too. Of course, you haven't been trained nearly as long... you could probably do what I was doing now that you've had a few years training." Annabeth said, looking at Percy thoughtfully.

Percy raised an eyebrow and said, "We'll see."

(The game ended when... close to his mouth.)

A few people guessed what was about to happen to the apple and were already laughing.

(In one mega goat... stem, and all.)

Zoe had to stop reading for a few minutes to let everyone stop laughing enough for her to be heard. Both Grovers just sat there, tomato red. A quick glance towards the MS showed that they, two were trying not to laugh, or at least, to laugh quietly.

(Grover blushed. He tried... busy cracking up.)

As was the rest of the throne room. Still...

(Finally the bus came... cafeteria delicacy- enchiladas.)

Poseidon frowned. He really wished that it was food he smelled and not something else... Unfortunately, this was his demigod son he was talking about.

A few of the kids muttered about how on earth he could eat those, school food was disgusting.

("What is it?" I asked... "Maybe it's nothing.")

"No!" Several of the gods and demigods yelled. Zeus growled, he really didn't like Grover. Was it this kind of thinking that almost got his Thalia killed?

"You never think it's nothing." Poseidon said sternly while Dionysus frowned at the younger satyr.

Grover grimaced while Grover cowered a bit at Dionysus' frown, but they both nodded that they understood.

(But I could tell it... my shoulder, too.)

A few people nodded in approval. You should always heed the satyr's advice, if they started getting jumpy about something but didn't know what was wrong, then something was probably stalking you.

(I was relieved when... in the back of the bus.)

"Lesson one," Percy started telling the younger kids. "Never, NEVER sit in the back. It makes for very poor escapes." He lectured. Annabeth and Grover nodded in agreement, while a few of the older kids grimaced in remembrance.

"While it is good to keep an eye on the whole bus for monsters, you can do that just as easily by sitting sideways in your seat with your back against the window." Clarisse added.

(We stowed our backpacks.)

"Lesson two," Annabeth said this time. "Never stow your bags. Keep them in hand or on your back at ALL times." She said.

(Annabeth kept slapping... my knee. "Percy.")

A few people glanced over at them, worried. At that point in their relationship, Annabeth went out of her way to avoid any kind of physical contact with the Seaspawn, not even tapping him on the shoulder if she could help it. For her to grab his knee like that...

This couldn't be good.

(An old lady had just boarded the bus.)

A few were confused. What was wrong with a little old lady? A few who lived by the words 'do not judge by the appearance', knew differently. That little old lady was a monster. A bad one.

One that Annabeth recognized from somewhere. Those were always the worst ones, because they seemed to think it to be their life mission to get revenge on you for the first time you killed them. Annoyingly enough.

(She wore a crumpled... carried a big paisley purse.)

Throughout this description, Hades sank back into his throne while glancing at Poseidon, whose eyes were narrowing as he found the description to be familiar and didn't like it.

A few of the girls made faces at the description of the ladies outfit.

(When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered,)

A few people gulped, those who had yet to figure that this old lady had to be a monster finally figured it out, and they started reassuring themselves that Percy and the other two obviously made it out alright. But still, the monsters whose eyes glittered, were usually the cruelest of the bunch.

(and my heart skipped a beat.

It was Mrs. Dodds.)

Poseidon glared at Hades quickly, which made Hades gulp and start to pray that Alecto didn't harm Percy, before glancing worriedly at his son.

A few people's eyes widened. That wasn't good.

Ares leaned forward. "Finally, some action coming up." He said gleefully. It had been getting boring. A few people gave him dark looks.

(Older, more withered, but... two more old ladies:)

Hades eyes widened, he wasn't expecting all three of the Furies to be there. He was expecting just Alecto, since that was who he'd already sent. Poseidon was going to kill him if Perseus got hurt, and dying hurt!

"What?" Sally croaked. She had stayed silent when hearing about Mrs. Dodds being back, because, ok, she may have been holding back last time, but Percy still dealt with her. And now he had training. But all three of them at once?

"Don't worry, mom. I'm right here, we made it out alright." Percy said, trying to reassure his mother. But, like all times when a parent is told not to worry, it only made her worry more.

Everyone else was staring at the book wide-eyed. A few were muttering, 'not good, not good,' over and over again. Especially the futures. Percy had never really shared what happened on his quests. They knew what the quest was, they knew he accomplished his goals, and they knew whatever the three let slip, but they never actually just sat and talked about it. For him to face all three Furies the first day out... it didn't bode well for the rest of the trip.

The Romans eyes widened. He faced all three Furies when he was younger and lived? With barely any training? Suddenly, they wanted to see him in action when he had his memories.

Yes, they'd seen him fight at the war games, but that was without his memories, without him knowing the extent of what he himself could do. They all wondered just what he could do now that he had his memories back... Hazel and Frank were just wondering about the trip to Alaska, and how it was going to go.

Ares was getting even more excited now, all three of them? Oh man! Now he could see some more of what the kid could do.

(one in a green hat... wrinkled velvet dresses.)

The girls turned green when they heard that they were all wearing the same disgusting sounding outfits.

(Triplet demon grandmothers.)

Hades cracked a small smile while trying to avoid Poseidon's glare. They could be rather grandmotherly... when they wanted to be. Honestly, they may be his main torturers, but when they were off duty, they were kind of like everyone's favorite grandmother.

(They sat in the front row, right behind the driver.)

"Yet another reason why you should never sit in the back. It gives potential enemies a chance to block your escape." Thalia said with a raised eyebrow at Annabeth. Luke, too, was watching Annabeth, while Luke was waiting for Annabeth to indicate that she heard them. Thalia and Luke had taught Annabeth that very thing back towards the beginning when they first found her.

Annabeth grimaced. She had done a lot of things she had been taught never to do on this quest. Stuff that, if it weren't for Percy and his crazy, bipolar luck, she probably wouldn't have survived the consequences of.

(The two on the aisle... message: nobody leaves.)

The worry levels spiked. How did they get out of this?

They were trapped.

"That's not ominous at all." Nico muttered.

(The bus pulled out... didn't stay dead long,")

"Well of course not." Hades said, annoyed. "After all, I need her in the Fields of Punishment. She can't do her job when she's dead." It would have taken quite a bit of his power to speed up the reforming process and then to bring her back out of the Pit. He hated doing that, too. Although, why he would do that just to send her right back out to find that boy... it was looking more and more like his Helm got stolen along with Zeus's Bolt.

Poseidon shot a glare at him, which effectively shut him up, although he did continue to grumble quietly. Persephone laid a hand on his arm in comfort. She had figured out already that the Helm was taken, and she had already worked out that Hades wouldn't have said anything about it to the rest of their family. The only ones he would have gone to for help, were Poseidon and Hestia. And they both had there own issues with the Bolt having been stolen.

(I said, trying to keep my voice from quivering.)

"You were only marginally successful." Annabeth kindly informed her boyfriend. Percy scowled for a moment before he stuck his tongue out at her. She just quirked an eyebrow.

("I thought you said... "You're obviously not.")

"No, no you're not." A few people muttered.

"Yeah, we figured that out years ago, but I don't think we realized just how bad your luck really is, Perce." Thalia informed her cousin. Percy stuck his tongue out at her while Annabeth and Grover grumbled that you would have to actually be there to truly understand.

"Actually, his luck is more unreliable." Grover said to the room. "One minute, he'll be the luckiest guy on earth, the next, he's the unluckiest guy on earth and we're almost dead before his luck kicks in again and we somehow escape." He finished with a sigh. A sigh echoed by Annabeth.

"How have you two survived this long?" Nico asked, ignoring Percy's yell of 'Hey!'

"Believe me, Nico, we ask ourselves that all the time." The two answer mournfully, ignoring Percy's look of betrayal. Sally just shook her head at her sons antics while Percy shook with laughter in her lap.

She hugged him closer to her, it had been a while since her boy was small enough for them to do this.

Nobody noticed Athena glaring at Percy and going over her plans for getting him away from her daughter. That Luke boy looked so much better for her.

("All three of them," Grover whimpered.)

Thalia winced. The last time Grover would have seen the Furies together would have been the night she died and turned into a tree. Before that, they had been chasing the four of them all through the countryside while Grover tried to get them to Camp Half-Blood before they caught up. Grover had been terrified out of his mind during that, but had somehow managed to push his terror to the side for Annabeth's sake, but she had no doubt that he had a severe nervous breakdown afterward.

Probably nightmares, too. She was pretty sure that Annabeth would have suffered the same, she didn't know about Luke, he was tough, but he probably would have had nightmares too for a bit.

("Di immortales!"... obviously thinking hard.)

"If I stopped thinking about a way out, I would have probably have broken down. The last time I had seen them..." She said, and shuddered, glancing at Thalia, who looked deep in thought about something. Everyone understood though, the last time she had seen the Furies, Thalia had died.

("The Furies. The three... No problem. No problem.)

"I was trying to stay calm and reassure the boys." She said.

(We'll just slip out... suggested.

There wasn't one.)

For some, the worry and fear was replaced by confusion.

"Ok, talk about a massive safety violation." Beckendorf muttered with a frown. "There should be a way out other than the door, in case the bus catches fire or some other emergency, right?" He said louder. Even if there wasn't a back exit, it was probably taken up by seats or something, there should have been emergency exits in the windows, the windows should have been able to pop open.

Sally nodded. "How on earth did this company stay in business? Wouldn't they have failed their Department of Transportation inspections?" She questioned. Her worry for her son was put on temporary hold in her confusion.

Hermes frowned. "Unless some of the company big-shots bribed the inspector. Which, sadly, does happen sometimes." He said, his disgust clear.

Sally made a noise of disgust. "Wouldn't it be cheaper just to buy new buses?" She asked, exasperated. "Ones that would pass inspection?"

"Sure, but the fact that they got called out on an inspection also looks bad to potential customers. Even if they did fix the problem." Poseidon said with a frown of his own. He was just mad that this company put his son in danger like that.

Hermes frowned again. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it. The Department of Transportation is part of my domain after all... Unfortunately, I don't always catch problems like this." He said with a nod to everybody.

(Even if there had... for the Lincoln Tunnel.)

"What does that matter?" One of the Romans asked.

"Too much traffic and too little stop lights." Percy said.

("They won't attack... said. "Will they?")

"Yes." Hades said bluntly. "If anything, they might actually attack because there are witnesses around." Percy's eyes widened.

"They don't care for witnesses, as far as Monsters are concerned, that's what the Mist is there for, so they can do what they want to us demigods no matter where we are." Thalia grumbled.

Hades tilted in head in agreement with what she said, even though that wasn't quite what he meant. When the Furies got into a mood to hunt, like they were doing with Perseus and his friends, then they reveled in the panic and confusion they caused the mortals around them.

("Mortals don't have... see through the Mist.")

"Some mortals, anyway." Sally said, gesturing between herself and Rachel.

Annabeth's face went slightly red. "I wasn't thinking about those who could see through the Mist." She muttered.

("They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?")

"That... would actually be kind of hilarious." Thalia said thoughtfully. Percy glared at her and Annabeth threw her dagger, which Thalia caught and tossed back without blinking. Paul watched this happen with wide eyes, slightly horrified when he saw the sharp weapon being tossed around.

Leo, still working on his cappuccino machine, raised an eyebrow and decided that he really liked Percy. They seemed to have a similar sense of humor, and were both sarcastic like nobody's business when they wanted to be. Jason and Piper could also see the similarities and were thinking that the trip to Rome would be interesting.

Ares spoke up then, "If three little old ladies could kill you, kid, then you obviously aren't as good as everyone around you is saying you are. Besides, Little Cuz is right, that would be hilarious to see!" He said with a grin. None of them found his grin at all creepy. At all.

(She thought about it... exit in the roof...?")

Annabeth made a face. "Although the question of how we would have reached it before being attacked once they noticed what we doing and then gotten off the top of the bus..." She muttered.

"Especially while the bus was moving." Grover muttered too.

(We hit the Lincoln Tunnel... the sounds of the rain.)

Poseidon narrowed his eyes at his younger brother. 'Again, the rain is being mentioned. And there is only one who can control the weather like that, and have a REASON to at this point in the book.' He thought. He was worried. Percy had two powerful gods coming after him right now... both at the same time. The Furies on behalf of Hades, and he had a feeling that the storm caused by Zeus was going to have its own impact.

(Mrs. Dodds got up... said the third sister.)

"Well, that's not suspicious or strange at all." Will muttered sarcastically.

"Not to mention, too much information." Chris said in agreement with a frown. Most everybody else nodded in agreement.

"Why would you announce something like that? Especially to a bus full of strangers." A few people grumbled.

Ares ignored the comments and leaned forward again. Honestly, the action was taking too long to get here.

(They all started coming... "Percy, take my hat.")

Clarisse frowned. "Are you sure that would have worked, Annabeth?" She asked.

Annabeth grimaced, but didn't say anything. She had known it would be a long shot, but she had also felt it was the best chance they had at the time. Especially since she thought they were after Percy.

("What?"

"You're the one... front and get away.")

Zoe frowned and stopped reading to ask, "But, what about the two of you?" Annabeth looked uncomfortable for a moment and looked away. Sally made a worried noise.

Annabeth and Grover had been planning to sacrifice themselves if necessary so Percy could get away and hopefully either get back to camp, or go on and complete the quest. What kind of twelve year old makes choices like that? A small voice in her head reminded her that demigods were not normal people. Even without their training to make those same kinds of choices.

("But you guys-"

"There's an... not notice us,")

"I don't like outside chances." Athena said, with a hint of worry in her voice. Yes, she didn't exactly care as much as some of the others, but she did still care, to a point.

(Annabeth said. "You're... might be overpowering.")

"Which also means they'll be able to smell him when they go past and know exactly where he is anyway." Hades pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

Annabeth sighed. "I know, I was hoping that since it was such a confined space, it would make it more difficult to pinpoint where exactly the smell was coming from, his scent would have spread out a little more evenly throughout the bus enough to cover the whole area." She explained. Hades nodded thoughtfully, that was true... but his Furies were too good for that.

He didn't say anything else though, it was obvious they made it off the bus in one piece, so he decided to let it go. He also decided not to mention that the Furies would have heard their entire conversation, their hearing was very sharp. So... they would have known the demigods plan the whole time.

("I can't just leave you.")

Zoe stopped reading again to glance at her Lady. Artemis was sitting back in her throne, with her arms crossed over her chest, clearly deep in thought. Probably thinking about the few male heroes she had met over the years that had an attitude and personality similar to Percy's. Some of those, eventually, became cocky and arrogant. They gave into the fame and cheering crowds. Others, kept to their ideals and actually tried to avoid the cheering crowds. Artemis was probably wondering which of those categories Percy would fall under.

("Don't worry about us,"... wasn't there anymore.)

"It does take some getting used to." Annabeth said quietly. She had only recently gotten her hat from her mother, so she was still getting used to it.

The older Greeks all frowned at the kids for a minute. They had been pretty quiet the past few chapters... they wondered what was wrong. Especially considering they were in a room with two sets of Stoll brothers.

Come to think of it... why were the Stoll brothers so quiet right now...? When they looked around to find them, they saw them sitting in the corner, writing something down in a notebook. At first, they were terrified, wondering what they were doing... but then they noticed that the brothers were occasionally glancing at either the MS, or Gabe. When they glanced at the MS, their faces turned thoughtful, like they were trying to figure something out.

They were probably trying to figure out who they were. Although, a few people had the idea that they might be the Argo crew from even further into the future. Who knew.

When they looked at Gabe, their expressions were... actually pretty close to the mischievous expression Percy got on his face earlier when he revealed himself to be the true Pranking King of Camp Half-Blood.

As long as they didn't get caught up in whatever they were planning for Gabe, they could care less what the boys had planned for him.

(I started creeping... looked straight at me.)

A few people held their breath, wanting to hear what happened next and if Percy was alright. Well, obviously he was, he was HERE, but he might not have been alright at the time.

"Yes, she knew exactly where he was." Hades muttered, and Annabeth turned white. She hadn't realized that.

When the Fury stopped, she hadn't known that Percy had been RIGHT there.

(My heart was pounding... her sisters kept going.)

A few people sighed in relief. Then frowned in confusion. Why did they just keep going?

Hades frowned. "They would only do that if Perseus wasn't what they were looking for. When they smelled Perseus there, they didn't sense whatever it is on him, so they decided to look for it with his companions..." He muttered. "But what could they be looking for?" He asked, he hoped it wasn't his Helm. That would be bad. Sadly, he had a bad feeling that that was exactly what it was.

(I was free. I made... from the back row.)

Everyone tensed again, what was happening with Annabeth and Grover? Were they alright?

Thalia got up and went to pull Annabeth into her arms, just to reassure herself that her little sister was alright, while Luke pulled Annabeth into a hug as well. Annabeth rolled her eyes, but accepted it, and Annabeth curled deeper into her hug for comfort.

Ares was practically bouncing in his seat from anticipation of the fight coming up.

(The old ladies were... get any uglier-)

"Hey!" Hades said, annoyed. Percy looked at him and blinked. Then he shrugged and went back to looking around at everyone while they read the book. Hades narrowed his eyes, but didn't say anything when he heard Persephone trying to muffle her giggles beside him.

He sighed and sat back again, putting an arm around his wife.

(but their bodies had... feet like gargoyle claws.)

A couple of girls shuddered at the description. Hades gave them a dark look before turning away and muttering something to Persephone about girls putting too much stock in appearance.

(Their handbags had turned into fiery whips.)

Leo looked up in interest, and tilted his head to the side. Now there was an idea... If he could get ahold of a whip that could withstand his flames... he would probably have to craft it himself... he wouldn't have to search through his tool belt every time something happened and he needed a weapon, hoping to find something he could use. Sure, he could make stuff for basically any situation... if he had the right tools and it wasn't too complicated for the belt, not to mention if he could get the others around him to stall for enough time.

Otherwise, he was stuck flinging fireballs everywhere, and with that there was always the risk of hitting his comrades or catching his surroundings on fire... which was bad. The Great London Fire, that was probably from a Son of Hephaestus flinging a fireball in the wrong direction during a fight with a monster.

But a whip... that didn't run as much of a risk of going somewhere he didn't want it to, or missing his target and hitting something way behind them that it wasn't supposed to hit. And if it did look like it was going to hit something it shouldn't, then he could just extinguish the flame before it hit...

It would take a while to train with it of course, after he made it... but...

A massive grin took over his face as he abandoned his mostly finished cappuccino machine for now and chose to instead take out his sketchbook so he could plan out his new toy- er... weapon. Yeah, weapon.

Hephaestus and Beckendorf noticed what he was doing, and looked at each other curiously, wondering what their son/brother was up to now. Obviously something about that last sentence caught his attention for him to abandon his current project. People of the Forge didn't tend to abandon projects until they were either finished or it was clear that it would never work. Either because they just didn't have the right knowledge, yet, or they didn't have the right materials to finish and didn't know where to get those materials.

Jason and Piper watched Leo with a little bit of worry. They knew the look in his eye. It meant he had an idea and they probably wouldn't be seeing much of him until it was completed. They hated it when he did that. But, how were you going to keep a Son of Hephaestus away from a workshop?

"Finally! Some action!" Ares yelled. "This was getting way too boring." He informed everyone else, cheerfully ignoring the glares from Poseidon and Sally. Although they did scare him a bit, (a lot), not that he would ever admit it, of course.

(The Furies surrounded... "Where is it? Where?")

"It? You are sure they were asking about it?" Athena asked curiously. When the trio nodded, she sat back into her throne with a frown, what on earth could they be looking for? Why would Hades send them after Percy if they didn't want him? While it was true that some monsters would refer to demigods as 'it', and considered them to be playthings, a lot of them still referred to demigods as being part human, they at least respected the power wielded by demigods and the might backing them through their parents. But... the Furies were some of those that referred to demigods as people.

Apollo and Hermes looked at each other. The only thing they could think of was if something of Hades also got stolen, and he was blaming Percy for it as well as Zeus. The only thing they could think of that would be stolen and for him to send the Furies to find would be his Helm. And, sadly, they didn't see any of their family aside from Poseidon and Hestia helping their uncle out if he mentioned it. Poseidon had other problems on his hands right now with Zeus threatening him with war to be able to help out, and Hestia would be trying to mediate and calm the two brothers down... which meant Hades wouldn't have seen the point in mentioning it.

Which meant Percy would now have two gods on his tail, either trying to capture him or kill him. And all this while on a deadline to return a stolen item while trying to prevent a civil war on Olympus.

A civil war that could tear the world apart. If they didn't know that even Ares wouldn't orchestrate something of that level, they would suspect him to be behind all this.

(The other people on... something, all right.)

"Hm... I've always wondered just what it is mortals see sometimes. I mean, I know they see Mrs. O'Leary as a poodle for some reason, but..." Percy said thoughtfully as he got the notebook and Riptide out in pen form and started setting it up to play Hangman with Annabeth (in Ancient Greek, of course).

Annabeth shrugged. "Who knows. You could always ask Paul. He's the only one here who's affected by the Mist." She said as she started to think about what to guess first. Percy paused and said that was true.

He then looked at Paul and said he would ask later, as he drew the head of the person after Annabeth guessed wrong. They both ignored everyone staring at them incredulously. Finally, Zoe shook her head and decided to ignore the two of them, they obviously had a screw loose somewhere.

("He's not here!" Annabeth yelled. "He's gone!")

"Uh, Annabeth?" Rachel asked.

Annabeth paused her guessing for a second and blushed. "I guess I missed what she said in the heat of the moment." She said, embarrassed. Everyone nodded in understanding though, that had happened to everybody at some point.

(The Furies raised their whips.)

People tensed back up and Luke and Thalia tightened their holds on their respective Annabeth's. Percy ignored how Thalia also whispered a letter in her ear. Since Thalia had already guessed the word, somehow... He did give her a dirty look first though, before ignoring it.

Ares leaned forward.

(Annabeth drew her... prepared to throw it.)

Reyna blinked. "Why a tin can?" She asked. Fa- Satyr's were so strange...

Grover blushed. "I meant to grab my reed pipes out of my pocket, but I still had my hand in my bag from earlier, and I was already holding the can. So, I just went with it." He said with a shrug, turning red when people laughed. Even Percy.

"Well, your acting is very good, I thought you did it on purpose." Percy said, looking up from where he was drawing the first foot on his hangman. Grover smiled at him.

(What I did next... poster child of the year.)

"WHAT?! No, that's me!" Leo yelled in indignation after he shook himself out of his planning haze. He stared at Percy, unblinking.

Percy looked up from his hangman and blinked at him. "I'm pretty sure my mom would claim otherwise." He said and went back to his game.

Annabeth laughed, then cocked her head to the side. "Actually, just from what I've seen of Leo the past few months, I would actually say the two of you are about tied for the position." She said seriously.

Hazel and Frank looked horrified, they were going to be in close quarters with these two for how long now? Jason noticed their looks and leaned over. "Don't worry, I made sure there was space on the ship for the rest of us to go get some time to ourselves, and be away from Leo, and I guess Percy too." He whispered.

They sighed in relief. "Thank you, Jason." Hazel breathed. He quirked a grin at her.

(The bus driver was... his rearview mirror.)

Hermes winced, he was going to have to spend some time toughening up the requirements for getting a CDL license. Or, at least get some training requirements changed up a bit. The driver should have found a spot to pull over before turning his attention to the fight. Otherwise, he risked getting into a wreck and injuring his passengers. Hopefully it was just this one driver, but... well, it bore going over anyway, he had been putting it off for a couple of years now... busy doing other things, like keeping the US postal service in business...

(Still invisible, I... jerked it to the left.)

"Percy! What if you had crashed into another car?!" Sally scolded.

"I let the driver keep THAT much control." Percy defended himself, honestly, he wasn't that much of an idiot. Besides, even at that age, he knew enough about driving to not let that happen. Sally frowned, but let it go.

"Now, THAT'S how you cause a distraction." Ares said in approval.

(Everybody howled as... against the windows.)

"It was," Annabeth said.

"Oh, good. I was worried it was actually one of you guys..."

("Hey!" the driver yelled. "Hey- whoa!")

Percy decided not to mention that the 'whoa' from the driver was because he had to swerve to avoid another car. See, he let the driver have THAT much control of the bus.

(We wrestled for... a mile behind us.)

Sally squeaked and tightened her grip on the son on her lap. Mrs. O'Leary whimpered a little and put her head down beside her human. She knew he would be fine against the Furies, he was strong, but a crash was out of his control if it happened. And she didn't like hearing about him being hurt.

Percy looked beside him and patted his dog on the nose, smiling at her softly. Some of the younger kids once again wondered how on earth he got a Hellhound for a pet.

(We careened out... aside like bowling pins.)

"You said-" Sally started sternly.

"We didn't actually hit any of them! They were swerving to avoid us too!"

(Somehow the driver... veering toward the river.)

A few people sighed in relief. There was water nearby, Percy would be safe. They conveniently forgot the part where he still didn't really know how to use his powers on command. And the fact that water might mean safety for Percy, but not necessarily for Annabeth and Grover. Or the part where, if they went into the river, the other passengers wouldn't be as safe. Especially from drowning.

So far, him using his powers seemed to consist of his emotions getting away from him... not a good thing, especially when he needed them in a situation like this.

(Another great idea: I hit the emergency brake.)

Sally sighed in relief. Percy could get off the bus and they could take the fight out into the open, or, better yet, get to the river.

(The bus wailed,... was the first one out,)

Thalia tilted her head to the side, *"Shouldn't he have been the last one off?" She asked. A few people muttered things like, 'coward,' and 'can't even do that much.'

Zoe and Artemis both muttered something about disgusting males. For once, none of the males nearby protested.

Hermes frowned. He would have to check the regulations of the company, and probably double check the DOT regulations. Because Thalia had a point. Although, he supposed the driver couldn't be blamed for panicking... Hermes probably would have too in this situation... if he weren't a god and all that...

Ares ignored them, now that the bus was stopped and the mortals were out of the way, Percy had some more room to actually fight.

(the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him.)

"That's why the driver needed to be the last one out. So the other passengers didn't potentially trample each other." Thalia said.

(I stepped into the driver's seat and let them pass.)

Sally nodded in relief, that was good. She didn't want her boy getting trampled. Especially when there were still enemies nearby.

(The Furies regained their... Grover threw tin cans.)

The two of them got strange looks, but they just ignored everyone else, although their faces were rather red.

They kind of froze up, not that they would actually ever admit it. It was just... the last time they had been faced with all three Furies...

Ares blinked at that one, but shrugged. Whatever worked. Although, given their training, the fact they seemed to freeze like that was a little embarrassing...

(I looked at the open doorway. I was free to go,)

Zoe and Artemis narrowed their eyes. If he left right then, left Grover and Annabeth to fend for themselves, then he would lose every ounce of respect they had for him. Which, while not a lot by virtue of his male gender, was quite a bit considering where it came from.

(but I couldn't leave my friends.)

The Hunters eyes stayed narrowed, but instead of suspicion, it was in thought. Ares nodded in approval too.

You never left one of yours behind unless there was absolutely no other choice. Now, if it was a choice between risking everyone to save the one, or getting everyone else home, then you still did what you could to save the one, but if there was nothing to be done... then sometimes it was best to get everyone home that you could. That was just the way it sometimes was in fights, or war in general. Otherwise, leave no man behind.

(I took off the... seemed like an excellent idea.)

There was some nervous laughter at that. Ares raised an eyebrow, he knew the boy wouldn't leave though. Especially since Ares had already worked out the kids fatal flaw to be loyalty. He just had to watch the kid interact with the people around him to know that. Plus, the fact that he was so determined to save his mother, showing her a loyalty rarely seen anymore.

(Mrs. Dodds stalked... my F- math test.)

"F-? How do you get an F-? I didn't even know they did F-." Thalia said incredulously.

"It was Mrs. Dodds." Was all Percy said.

(Every time she flicked... the barbed leather.)

Leo's eyes gleamed at hearing another description of the whip. Unfortunately, he didn't think leather would work for him. He would either be constantly oiling it and never doing anything else, or it would burn up after the first few times of use. The Furies whips were obviously magical, and the fire was an internal source. The fire for his whips would be external. Plus, he would need to have some Celestial Bronze at least in the tip... he went back to planning. He made a note off to the side of his plans to ask Hades or Ares for more information regarding the Furies whips. Ares knew weapons, and Hades knew the Furies, so.

Piper and Jason saw the gleam and scooted away from him.

(Her two ugly sisters... like huge nasty lizards.)

"They are not lizards!" Hades protested. Internally, he was smirking. Oh, he liked his nephews sense of humor, even if he would never show it.

"They crawled like them!"

("Perseus Jackson," Mrs. Dodds... south than Georgia.)

"Although, she does have a strange fondness for Georgia. She's always coming back with peaches for some reason." Hades said with a shrug. Everyone decided not to comment.

("You have offended... math teacher," I told her.)

"I'll agree with that." Both Grovers and Nico muttered.

"She's pretty good as a lawyer and she doesn't do a bad job teaching history, either." Nico offered up.

"Just who does your dad have teaching you down there?" Percy asked, curious.

"Well... Alecto for history; both mortal and otherwise, Perseus and Jason for swordplay and/or fighting in general, Isaac Newton and Einstein take turns for anything involving numbers and science... there are a few others in there too for English, Greek, Latin, French for some strange reason..." He said with a shrug. As if it was everyday that you get taught by some of the greatest minds in history, plus the fact that they were dead.

Both Annabeth's eyes widened at the fact that Nico was being taught by these people, two of them were sons of Athena, but they were geniuses of their time! Their ideas were still being used today despite the fact that mortals were constantly changing their views and making new discoveries.

Persephone blinked and turned to her husband, who was nodded in satisfaction at the list Nico just reeled off. "Didn't Einstein swear he would never teach again?" She asked.

He nodded, but shrugged. "Obviously, I convinced him somehow." He said, he wasn't worried about it. He knew what Einstein said, but he also knew that the man had a firm belief that knowledge was made to be shared. He must have seen something in Nico, either that or Hades had said something that convinced him.

(She growled.)

"That's because she hates math. She loves history though." Nico said with a shrug.

"Hippocampi!" Annabeth said triumphantly, out of nowhere.

They turned just in time to see Percy hanging his head grumbling about only having two more parts to go to the hangman and he would have won. When they realized that Hippocampi was the word Annabeth had been trying to guess, they rolled their eyes and turned back to the book.

Percy handed the notebook to Annabeth for her turn, although she had to find her own pen.

(Annabeth and Grover... looking for an opening.)

Ares nodded in approval. The two of them had their wits about them again. That was good. Although he did wish the Satyr had something other than a tin can.

(I took the ballpoint... double-edged sword.)

Ares leaned forward again, eager to hear just how much better the kid was with some actual training under his belt.

(The Furies hesitated.)

"Most monsters do when they see a blade appear out of nowhere." Percy said matter-of-factly.

"They can also sense Riptide's long history. Those that are old enough have probably also been killed by the same blade many times, from several different heroes." Poseidon said. "I rarely gift it to one of my children, it has only had seven owners since Hercules lost it, but each of them put it to good use." He said, satisfied. Percy looked awed, and he smiled at his father.

(Mrs. Dodds had felt... like seeing it again.)

"No, she has often ranted about how much she wants to melt the blade down and scatter its remains in Tartarus." Nico told Percy.

Percy blinked at him, then he held his blade protectively to his chest, his expression turning into one of horror. Poseidon chuckled. "Don't worry, nothing will happen to Riptide." He assured his son. Zoe looked on, quietly hoping the blade would be destroyed, but at the same time, knowing that it was in good hands with Perseus Jackson. At least for now.

("Submit now,")

"Percy submit? Yeah, that's never going to happen." The Stoll brothers chimed in from their corner of the room, where they were still planning.

Everyone else laughed and agreed. Poseidon looked decidedly smug. The sea bowed to no one.

(she hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal torment.")

Hades tilted his head to the side for a moment. "She doesn't get to decide that." He said mildly, wondering just how mad Alecto was with Perseus and why she thought they would fall for it when one of them was a daughter of Athena.

("Nice try," I told her... side lunged at me.)

Everyone either winced in sympathy at the tight spot Percy was in at the moment (the Titan War veterans), cried out in worry (Sally, Paul, and a few of the younger kids), or leaned forward in either worry or anticipation (Ares and Poseidon).

Apollo and Will started muttering about how to treat burn wounds.

(My hand felt like it was wrapped in molten lead,)

"How would you know what that one felt like?!" Sally demanded. Percy jumped and muttered something about Mt. St. Helens and Telkhines. Sally's eyes got wide, nobody ever told her that Percy was there when the volcano erupted a few years ago! (Of course, what she didn't know, yet, was that he was the one to set it off...)

Annabeth's eyes narrowed at her boyfriend. She did not like talking about that particular adventure. Not only because of Calypso, but because she thought Percy had died! For two weeks! She had been speaking at his funeral service when he suddenly appeared out of nowhere!

(but I managed not to drop Riptide.)

"Good!" Ares shouted. "That's the most rookie mistake to make, the fact that your already not making it is a good thing." He said.

(I stuck the Fury... exploded into dust.)

Hades winced, he would have just used a lot of energy to bring Alecto back, now he would have to bring back one of her sisters, possibly both or even all three of them.

Terrific.

This was why he rarely let all three of them out of the Underworld at the same time. So he didn't have to deal with bringing all three of them back at once, it was difficult enough bringing one of them back early.

Ares nodded in approval at the way the fight was going so far. He got one out of the way before he turned to another, he didn't try and take them both on at once. That was good. Considering the close quarters they were fighting in, fighting them both at once would have been tantamount to suicide. He was also enjoying the action in the book. Listening to them talk and plan all the time was so boring. Sure, there were the funny moments, but nothing beat a good, old fashioned fight.

(Annabeth got Mrs. Dodds... out of her hands.)

"Oh, yeah, you don't want to do that. Even the handle will burn you. They burn everyone who touches them that is not their owner." Hades informed the room. Ares hummed, it was still a good tactic. Also practical to disarm your opponent.

Leo tilted his head to the side. Now that would be handy... and a good safety mechanism. The problem would be how to get his to do that... He would have to possibly consult with Beckendorf on that one. He had heard how his older half-brother was a genius with crafting after all. He would be able to help Leo with the enchanting part, since that was probably what it would take. The children of Hephaestus had their own magic (not that they advertised it), but, unlike children of Hecate, their magic could only work when crafting. Unfortunately, that part of his talent had always been harder for Leo to grasp than the rest of it.

Jake and Nyssa had theorized that it was because he was a Fire-user. They also said that, since he had such a hard time grasping his forge-magic, as they called it, that it was why he wasn't affected by the curse. The curse was a real thing that affected their projects through their magic. They weren't sure if, when Beckendorf died, that they weren't too depressed and downhearted for their magic to work properly anymore, or if some children of Hecate on the Titan's side of the war hadn't actually cursed them. And of course, none of Hecate's children in camp would tell them anything.

("Ow!" he yelled. "Ow! Hot! Hot!")

Hades nodded. Yup, that was about right. Not even he could touch them without feeling a little uncomfortable. Not that it could actually hurt him.

(The Fury I'd hilt-slammed... open like a pinata.)

Hades winced, there was at least two he would have to bring back from Tartarus. Oh man, he was going to be in a really bad mood in these books by the time Perseus and his companions reached his palace. Because, he had no doubt that they would.

Ares nodded in approval again, he didn't allow himself to be distracted by the pain his friend was in. That was good, too.

(Mrs. Dodds was trying... Annabeth held on)

"Huh. I don't think anyone has ever managed to stay on before. At least, not for this long." Hades said, blinking out of his thoughts.

Annabeth shrugged while she filled in the letters Percy had correctly guessed. "I'm stubborn." She said smugly. Ares was starting to consider asking Percy and Annabeth for a spar. He liked what he was hearing so far. The Furies may have been holding back due to close quarters and the fact that it wasn't really the demigods they were after and they wanted answers, but the fact two of them were taken out by a barely trained demigod was still impressive. Annabeth was doing a very good job with Alecto as well.

(while Grover got Mrs. Dodds's legs tied up in her own whip.)

Everyone blinked for a moment until they processed what they just heard. Then, all it took was a snort, before some were rolling around on the ground, all tension gone as they pictured a Fury getting hogtied with her own whip.

After Leo let himself laugh about it, he started jotting notes down on ideas to make sure that didn't happen to him when he had his whip.

(Finally they shoved... so she kept falling down.)

"You know, at the time I was still too terrified, but now, that was hilarious." Percy said to Annabeth. She nodded, laughter in her eyes and a smile on her face.

"I still can't believe I did that." Grover mumbled.

Nico finally calmed down enough to inform the room that this was one story that he had never heard. Usually, he heard every story that existed about Percy and his friends getting the better of her, mainly because she was ranting about how she would destroy him because of it. This one, she must have really not wanted to share. It was pretty embarrassing for her, he supposed.

("Zeus will destroy you!")

"That's not her choice either." Zeus said. "How dare she go around telling people what I will and will not do. I don't want her speaking for me." He grumbled.

(she promised. "Hades will have your soul!")

"Hmm, no, I think I'll pass. You are much too amusing alive, after all." Hades said thoughtfully, while ignoring Sally and Poseidon's glares. He was rewarded, though, with a snort from Perseus.

("Braccas meas vescimini!" I yelled.)

All the Romans started laughing at what he said, and the fact he said it to the Furies, which just made Percy go red and the Greeks to stare at them in confusion. What did he say?

The gods, though, were wondering why he just randomly yelled Latin, and not Greek. Either Percy learned more than he thought he did in Latin with Mr. Brunner, or... could Sally be a Roman legacy...?

Hermes nodded. Her being a legacy of Mercury was looking more likely. Although, that was assuming she was a legacy at all.

(I wasn't sure where... "Eat my pants!")

Hazel nodded, "It did!" Before she started laughing again, which of course set off all the Greeks now that they knew what was said.

Ares snorted, trash talk during fights never failed to be amusing. Some of the stupidest insults could be thrown in tense situations.

(Thunder shook the... back of my neck.)

Poseidon narrowed his eyes at Zeus. If what happened next was what he think was going to happen...

Thalia narrowed her eyes too. She knew what was going to happen. They had the same feeling back in California before their car was blasted off the side of the road when they going to the Garden of Hespirides. No wonder Percy had known what was going to happen before even she did. It had happened to him before.

("Get out!" Annabeth... "We're going to die!")

A few people snorted in amusement at the dramatics. Mortals could be kind of pathetic sometimes in how they dealt with issues. Not all, mind, but a lot of them.

"That's pretty hilarious in hindsight, too." Percy said thoughtfully as he watched Annabeth draw an arm.

(A Hawaiian-shirted tourist... I could recap my sword.)

"That's not good." Everyone said. Who knew what the picture would show his sword as being, and considering he was just involved in that fight, and the newspapers (through Gabe) were blaming him for his mother's disappearance...

"No it was not." Percy said. "Well, I suppose we made it work in our favor later on." He said to Annabeth, who shrugged.

"Later, maybe, but it was really annoying to deal with the entire trip to California." She said.

("Our bags!" Grover realized. "We left our-"

BOOOOOM!)

"Exactly why you should keep your bags in hand at all times." Annabeth said sagely to the younger kids.

Poseidon sat up quickly, glaring at Zeus. "Brother..." He warned.

Zeus looked at his brother, hiding his slight fear, "I thought he had stolen my Master Bolt! Would you not deal with a thief the same way?" He demanded.

"No, I would capture them and make them tell me where they hid whatever they stole from me. Not just blow them up! Especially not when I knew perfectly well that if anything happened to that person, then that person's parents would get extremely... upset." Poseidon hissed. Reminding his brother that he was extremely protective of his children. Especially when they were younger. As they got older and could handle themselves more, he started watching them a little less. He had learned the hard way with Triton, some kids did not appreciate parents hanging over them once they got to a certain age. At all. Although he still let them fight their own battles no matter their age.

Zeus paled slightly.

"Brothers." Hestia said quietly, causing Poseidon to back down slightly, but he still glared at Zeus.

(The windows of the... was not yet dead.)

"How?" A few people yelled, dumbfounded. How on earth did she survive that?

Hades sighed in relief. At least he wouldn't have to bring all three of them back. One was bad enough, let alone two. Especially so soon after already bringing one back.

("Run!" Annabeth said. "She's calling for reinforcements!)

"I don't think it was reinforcements as much as she was just angry." Hades said with a shrug.

(We have to get... nothing but darkness ahead.)

Zoe put the book down. "That's the end of the chapter." She said, still slightly stunned that a demigod with barely two weeks training was able to take out two Furies. Whether those Furies were hindered by the battleground or not, that was still quite the accomplishment.

Everyone else was silent for a moment as they processed what just happened, Percy and Annabeth quietly continued their game of Hangman.

"Well, that ending wasn't ominous for the rest of the book at all." Paul said, trying to be cheerful. Sally just patted him on the back consolingly when it didn't work.

That was when both Sally and Hestia noticed a few of the younger kids yawning, especially now that the excitement in this chapter was over with. They both stood up at the same time, after Sally put Percy down, of course, and announced it was time for bed. They both looked at each other, slightly surprised, but pleased. Everyone else grumbled, but between the two of them, they got everyone shuffled off to their rooms.

---

*My mom is a bus driver, she's constantly going on about how the driver should never leave the bus if there are still passengers onboard. Especially in an emergency