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.

21. We Take a Zebra to Vegas

You might want to go back and read chapter 20 again if you have not already read it since 12/30/19, I was reading over some previous chapters and realized I'd left something out of that chapter, so I went back and added it.

Younger kids with an older self. kids with no younger self. The Seven.

Normal talking, telepathy

---

He laughed when Percy was shoved back in the pool by Annabeth after he said something, only to come up sputtering in surprise. She merely walked back to the locker room to change with her nose in the air, looking for all the world like a stuck-up princess. Her amused smile and sparkling eyes gave her away, though.

He pulled himself out of the pool, perfectly dry, and raced into the locker to change. When they emerged, six out of seven were working towels through their hair in an attempt to dry it before they had to put their hoods back up. They didn't know why the Fates insisted on them wearing hoods, even though most had already guessed at who they were, and they didn't really care, either.

When everyone was finally gathered in the Throne room and settled, Thalia took the book from where Ares had left it at the floor by his throne and started reading before anybody could say anything about it. "Chapter sixteen: We Take a Zebra to Vegas"

At this, Thalia paused and glanced at them in slight confusion. "A zebra? Why?" She asked carefully. She, and everyone else, was alarmed by the dark looks that crossed the three's faces. Just what in Hades happened in Vegas? Unless it was the zebra itself that they were angry about?

"I'm sure it will explain in the chapter." Annabeth said, twirling her knife in her hands. She glanced at Artemis and Zoe. Hmm, this might point them in the direction of their next 'hunt'. She knew that they did more than hunt down monsters, all the Hunters also had official status as animal control and DNR officials. They could deal with this operation easily, and in an official capacity. Not just as Huntresses who answered only to a goddess.

Everybody else merely looked concerned for this chapter. Here they had been hoping for a nice, calm chapter where nothing too exciting happened to them and they could travel in peace.

(The war god was... diner parking lot.)

"Of course he was." Thalia cut herself off again to mutter. Ares glared at her for a second before playing with his knife.

("Well, well," he... yourself killed.")

Sally glared at the war god, making him shift uncomfortably. Everyone else (except Poseidon and Paul) merely grumbled a little.

("You knew it was... couple of stupid kids.)

"How dare you call my daughter stupid!" Athena yelled, glaring. She was interrupted, though, and nobody paid her anymore attention.

"You count yourself lucky if I ever repair your bike for you again." Hephaestus growled. Ares waved him off, not believing him.

Hephaestus merely narrowed his eyes and muttered something under his breath. Beckendorf and Leo both paused in what they were doing as they felt Forge Magic wash over the room, but nobody else seemed to notice anything, so they glanced at their father and continued. They were just happy that whatever their father did, didn't seem to affect them in the slightest.

Ares, though, might get a nasty surprise next time he went to use his bike.

(You looked good on T.V.")

Apollo and Hermes exchanged a look. Now that they knew the demigods weren't hurt... that would be awesome to watch.

(I shoved his shield... caught their breath.)

"We were terrified that we were all about to be turned into rodents and run over." Annabeth confessed easily.

"Sorry." Percy said, but he honestly wasn't sure if he was really all that sorry or not. He was just saying his mind and not taking crap, just like he always did. And besides, it was true. Ares was a massive jerk, and he was used to getting his way and having people fall over themselves to do what he wanted, which didn't really help.

Annabeth and Grover shook their heads while Sally sighed fondly.

That was her son, although she wasn't sure if he got his attitude from her, or from his father. Maybe both... which certainly didn't do him many favors.

Poseidon glared at Ares, silently daring him to actually do what Annabeth had feared.

(Ares grabbed the... into a bulletproof vest.)

Thalia paused and looked like she was warring with herself for a moment. "Ok, I gotta admit that would be kind of cool." She grumbled, then returned to her reading before anybody could say anything or Ares could do more than look triumphant.

She still preferred her Aegis any day of the week.

(He slung it across... with one stop in Vegas.")

"Hmm, so that's where the Vegas bit comes in." Katie said with a frown. She didn't remember hearing anything about any zebras or anything though. It probably wasn't big enough to make national news, though. Not if it was just a zebra.

"But where does the zebra come in?" Travis asked, confused.

"Don't know, Thalia will read about it, though." Connor told his brother, who shrugged.

"What do you want to bet they don't make it to L.A in that truck?" Gwen asked Dakota.

He snorted. "Sucker's bet." He said simply. She smirked, happy that he was letting himself be more... himself. And not acting like he was hyped up on sugar. Now, if he wasn't drinking Kool-Aid all the time or with as much sugar as he did, then she would be worried.

(The eighteen-wheeler... good combination for dyslexia:)

Athena frowned and hummed in thought before making a note of it. That might help the program she was thinking about for helping dyslexic kids. There had to be a way to help them in school without hindering the other students in some way. Part of her plan was to make sure the teachers themselves could actually help.

(KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL... LIVE WILD ANIMALS.)

Zoe frowned. "Milady, isn't that...?" She asked, looking up at her mistress.

"Yes. I think that is." Artemis said with a frown. Apollo tilted his head to the side.

"I seem to recall hearing something about it as well..." He said, pursing his lips. He was a hunter, but as the wild and nature itself wasn't one of his actual domains, he didn't really do anything with operations like this. That was all his sisters job. He still heard things, though, and kept an ear out to occasionally pass her information.

"That company is on several watch-lists. Unfortunately nothing has ever been connected to them, and they are a small enough operation to simply be flagged for watching." Artemis reminded him.

"Oh, yeah." He said. "Huh, suddenly the chapter title and the dark looks make sense." He muttered. She nodded in agreement.

The demigods didn't pay any attention to their conversation. "That's where the zebra came from. Ok." Travis said, happy to sit back and write in his prank-idea journal.

(I said, "You're kidding."... for doing the job.")

"I thought the trip west was supposed to be their reward." Hermes said, suspicious.

Ares shrugged and cleaned out his fingernails with his knife. "So I decided to throw in something extra. I'm a nice guy." He shrugged, not caring. Hermes didn't become any less suspicious.

(He slung a blue... tossed it to me.)

Percy growled when he heard about that bag. He really didn't like it. Didn't like that he was tricked into carrying it the rest of the way, didn't like that Grover almost died because of it, didn't like that he was used like this.

Overall, he really hated that bag and what it represented.

Everyone looked startled when they heard him growl, and were immediately concerned, especially when Annabeth started rubbing circles on his back in an attempt to calm him down, and Mrs. O'Leary whined at hearing the sign of her humans anger.

(Inside were fresh... bag of Double Stuf Oreos.)

"That's... nice of you." Apollo said hesitantly, while he joined Hermes in looking at the war god suspiciously. There had to be something else about that bag, why else would Percy have reacted like that to hearing about it?

"Like I said," Ares almost growled. "I'm a nice guy." Everyone glanced at him in disbelief, but didn't say anything. For now.

(I said, "I don't want... red-alert warning look.)

"You were starting to push your luck, there." Grover shook his head. Percy shrugged, not really caring right now. He'd learned where the line was over the years, and he'd gotten good at toeing it or stepping just outside of it while staying in what he liked to think of as a 'safe zone'.

("Thanks a lot."... something from a god,)

"Yeah, we don't tend to take it too well." Apollo said with a shrug. He could admit he was guilty of this one, even though he was one of the more laid-back gods when it came to respect and such.

(but I didn't want anything that Ares had touched.)

Piper snorted. "I don't blame you." She shook her head, and Jason had to bite his tongue to stop himself from saying anything. In fact, all the Romans were biting their tongues to keep from saying anything about all the disrespect Percy was showing towards the Greek form of their patron god. Defending him, or punishing those who disrespected Mars was almost an ingrained response.

(Reluctantly, I slung... Clarisse, Smelly Gabe,)

"I am nothing like that filthy mortal." Ares spat, pointing at the corner where Gabe was sitting tied up.

Percy merely raised an eyebrow and blinked at him. He didn't say anything, though. His mind wandered to what he'd seen on the Civil War iron-ship. He wondered what Ares would say when they got to that part.

Out of nowhere, he was knocked forward by a punch to his shoulder-blade. "Ow! Hey!" He protested, looking back to see that Clarisse had been the one to punch him. "What was that for?" He demanded.

"For lumping me in with him." She snarled, jerking a thumb at Gabe. He blinked and glanced over at his old step-father.

"This was before I really got to know you?" He tried. She gave him a narrowed eye glare and stalked back to her seat. Chris made an apologetic face, but didn't say anything, Clarisse ignored Mrs. O'Leary growling at her for assaulting her human.

(sarcastic teachers- every... Ares might hurt us.)

Sally frowned. "Well, at least she cared at all." She muttered, thinking back to when the woman tried to deny them food because they didn't have money. She hadn't offered to help them out or bring them something small on the house.

(She dragged the... snapped a picture of us.)

"This could either be very good for you, or very bad." Thalia said with a frown.

"Eh, it was kind of both. On the one hand, the police now knew where we were. On the other, they were no longer completely convinced of Percy's absolute guilt up to this point." Annabeth said, tiling her head to the side.

"That picture now casts doubt on whether or not Percy is really a disturbed child, or a victim of kidnapping." Sally said in realization.

"Yup." Percy grimaced.

"Depending on who was asked, anyway." Annabeth muttered, thinking about the 'expert child psychologist' that was supposedly on the news to discuss Percy.

(Great, I thought... UP DEFENSELESS BIKER.)

"That would have actually been interesting to read." Percy commented, tilting his head to the side in thought.

"That would have never happened." Ares said with gritted teeth. Grover and Annabeth found this statement to be highly amusing, to the confusion of the Romans and younger kids.

"I can't wait to see the look on his face." Grover muttered, while Clarisse scowled at Percy, torn between amusement, embarrassment, and loyalty to her father. Percy smirked while others looked at them in confusion.

Again, once the adrenaline and terror of what he was doing had worn off, he'd found that he had quite enjoyed himself during that whole fight, especially since he'd been holding his own against the god of war. Well, even if said war god was most likely holding back the whole time. He wondered if he could convince Ares to spar with him or something once they were done here. He didn't know how he would hold up, but he'd done pretty well against other immortals he'd fought over the years.

("You owe me one... about my mother.")

"Horrible thing to use as a bargaining tool." Hera said with a small glare at her son. She couldn't believe he would use the bond between mother and child in such a way.

("You sure you can... "What do you mean?")

Ares snorted. "What do you think? 'Not dead' means, 'not dead'." He said sarcastically. Most of the room glared at him, he tried to act nonchalant about it, but both Sally and all three Percy's were glaring at him at once. Just one of those was honestly pretty terrifying.

("I mean she was... She's being kept.")

A few people cast worried looks at Sally, they knew that it had to be one of the gods that took her, they could only hope that she was being treated right. Sometimes immortals tended to forget that mortals had different physical needs than they did. Like the fact that mortals actually had to eat, and Ambrosia wasn't an option.

"That makes it sound like she's some kind of pet." Thalia muttered, getting strange looks from everybody else.

"Why on earth does your mind jump to that?" Luke asked.

"Not all monsters come from Greek mythology." Zoe said bitterly. Artemis and Thalia nodded their agreement.

("Kept. Why?"... control somebody else.")

"Very effective, although it can get messy if not done right." Ares nodded, agreeing with his book self.

"Nobody controls the sea or those that come from it." Poseidon said wisely. Not even he could fully control the oceans, merely manipulate them, it was the very nature of the seas to not be controlled. It was a nature that he and his children all possessed.

From past experience, he knew that kidnapping a family member or somebody one of his children cared about, never ended well. Especially for the one doing the kidnapping.

Ares scoffed, not quite believing that. Everybody had some sort of weakness, some way of being controlled. It was only a matter of finding it.

("Nobody's controlling me."... smug, Lord Ares,)

Thalia stopped and blinked at the words on the page in shock.

"I'm sorry, you must have read that wrong. There's no way Percy called him 'Lord'." Nico said with a small laugh.

"No, I read it." Thalia said slowly. Everyone else who truly knew Percy turned to him in disbelief, and the looks on their faces made Annabeth snort.

"Oh, don't worry. This is the first and last time he called anybody 'lord' or 'lady'." She informed the room helpfully.

"Well, unless they really earned my respect." Percy corrected, giving Hestia a small smile. He truly respected his aunt, there were few others who he could say the same about. She smiled warmly back.

(for a guy who runs from Cupid statues.")

You could have heard a pin drop. After a few seconds, the room started slowly filling with laughter as people processed what Percy had said. Jason and Frank glanced at each other and discreetly moved so they were between the god of war and Percy.

"Perce, my man."

"I'm begging you, to please,"

"Please teach us your ways. We will forever be your humble servants."

"We will be dedicated and loyal students."

"Just please teach us how you do it!"

"How you can turn insults into such an art form that you don't get in trouble or killed for them!" The Stoll brothers pleaded with him, to everybody's amusement. Luke sighed and shook his head fondly.

Percy laughed. "I will have to think about it." He promised, already thinking of ways to get out of it.

Ares, for his part, was sitting on his throne, fuming. Mentally, he was running through every single technique he knew for inflicting maximum pain, without granting the other the release of death. Oh, he would use them, too. He didn't know when, but he would not forget this conversation.

Ever.

(Behind his sunglasses... watch your back.")

Everyone on the Council frowned at the way that was worded.

"You better have just been talking, and not cursing." Poseidon said with a growl. Ares looked at him and blinked slowly, watching him warily. At that moment, though, he really hoped that he was indeed just talking.

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover all glanced at each other. They were wondering what would happen to Ares when they read about Percy actually getting cursed. Percy and Annabeth silently resigned themselves to having to come between Ares and Poseidon when Poseidon attacked. Jason and Frank were already between Percy and Ares, the other two girls and Leo would be better for keeping an eye on the rest of the room and hopefully resolving anything before it even starts.

They would really rather not, but they had a job to do, and they would do it.

(He revved his Harley... not smart, Percy.")

"Maybe, maybe not." Percy shrugged. "But it felt good." Everyone else shook their heads, especially those who agreed with Annabeth.

"It's a miracle he's survived this long." Jason muttered to Piper.

"I don't think it's as much a miracle as it is, a very protective father, and skill." Reyna countered, overhearing him. When he and Piper looked at her in question, she huffed. "You've seen how Lord Nep- I mean, Poseidon has been acting everytime Percy gets hurt in the book. And, you weren't at the War Games the other night, he tore through the First, Second, and Third Cohorts like nothing." She informed them.

Jason looked surprised. "Whoa." He muttered. Reyna nodded in agreement and repeated what she said earlier. It wasn't so much a miracle as it was skill and a protective father.

("I don't care.")

"Still don't." Percy was in complete agreement with his book self. He still compared Ares to most of the bullies he'd ever dealt with growing up. Ares' expression darkened, and Jason and Frank tensed in preparation, both of them with a hand on their main weapon.

("You don't want... not that god.")

Annabeth merely sighed. She should have saved her breath.

Granted, Percy didn't go out planning to make enemies of the gods, or even trying to. But, he didn't exactly try not to, either. He was blunt, and he told them like it was. For a bunch of beings who were used to being worshiped and respected, and none of their decisions or orders being called into question, this was a very dangerous thing to do.

Everybody else looked at Percy, in complete agreement with book-Annabeth. Ares looked at him smugly as well, only for his face to darken when he noticed how uncaring Jackson was.

"How many gods have declared you their enemy now?" Clarisse asked, honestly curious. She knew her father and older half-brothers weren't ah... too fond of him, but she didn't know anybody else beyond them.

"Umm... good question." Percy muttered. "Let's see... Ares, your two brothers Phobos and Deimos, Hades depending on the day, Athena, Zeus really doesn't like me much, I think I made Hecate really mad that one time... don't ask, umm... I can't think of the others off the top of my head." He shrugged. "I've never really bothered keeping track of them all. I have other things to do." He finished with a decisive nod. Hazel and Frank were really wondering if going to Alaska with him was a good idea.

Annabeth sighed. "Well, then its a good thing I have been keeping track, as best I can anyway." She muttered and tossed her the book Nico and Thalia wrote about Percy's enemies, which she had already added the full list of gods into earlier. Sally merely sighed and looked towards the ceiling in exasperation.

("Hey, guys," Grover... KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck.)

"If you're going, you might want to go." Thalia said seriously. They didn't have much longer to get on the truck without being seen. Percy huffed a little for some reason.

("If we're taking... seen enough of Denver.)

"Yup, and I don't think I ever really want to go back." Percy said with a decisive nod. There were a few places like that, actually...

Annabeth snorted. "Tell me about it." If she ever visited Maine again, it would be too soon.

(We ran across the... the doors behind us.)

"Wait, were the doors already open?" Dakota suddenly said, confused.

"Ares opened the door for them, remember?" Gwen reminded her friend.

"Oh, yeah." He flushed a bright red and took a quick gulp of his Kool-Aid to try and cover his embarrassment.

(The first thing that... pan of kitty litter.)

Most everybody made faces of disgust. "Must you be so descriptive?" Artemis asked with a strange expression on her face.

"Hey, I didn't write this. They may be my thoughts, but I didn't write them out." Percy calmly reminded everyone.

(The trailer was dark... know the name for.)

Artemis, Thalia, and Zoe looked angry enough to kill something (or someone). "A male white lion? Do those people have any idea how rare those are?!" Zoe demanded to know. Sure, zoos and such had breeding programs in place just to get that white coat, but still! A male would be even more valuable because they could have multiple cubs while females could only have so many before their body could just no longer support getting pregnant, let alone carrying to term and the cubs being healthy.

Percy snorted. "If they do, then I'm sure they also saw the dollar signs." He informed the room darkly. The pelts of a rare coloring would be worth a lot of money to the right people (or wrong, depending on how you looked at it).

If possible, the Hunters looked even angrier. "And no zoo would ever allow their animals to be kept in such filthy conditions." Thalia hissed. In fact, most zoos would have their own fleet of trucks and vans for transporting animals to and from their new homes. And even the smaller ones that don't would be able to call a larger one and ask if they could borrow a vehicle.

"That's no transport company." Artemis confirmed darkly. She was already planning the Hunt for when she and Zoe got back to camp. Many of the demigods slowly inched away from the Hunters, worried that any sudden moves might turn their fury on them. Even Apollo looked angry.

(Someone had thrown... didn't want to eat.)

Percy had a feeling that the book had only just begun to describe the inside of that trailer, and already Artemis, Thalia, and Zoe looked ready to kill something. And all they described was that the lion had been given the food that should have gone to the zebra and antelope.

Those smugglers were toast.

(The zebra and the... their spare time.)

Most of the goddesses growled lowly. They may not have nature or the wild in their domains, but they all cared about Artemis and hated seeing animals under her protection treated this way.

(The antelope had a... through his white fur.)

Sally had a hand covering her mouth in horror, while the goddesses looked ready to kill, even the gentle Hestia looked ready to send them straight to Hades tender loving care.

"How. Dare. They." Artemis gritted out. She was holding her bow so tight, her knuckles were white and the veins were showing.

Zoe was furiously writing all the details she could think of off the top of her head down, getting ready to start the Hunt and make sure her Sisters knew all they needed to know.

("This is kindness?"... "Humane zoo transport?")

"You said it." Everybody that cared grumbled or growled.

Ares looked around, honestly getting annoyed with all of the fuss over a few zoo animals. Sure, he cared too, they were part of his favorite half-sisters domain, after all.

(She didn't take crap from anyone, especially men, she wasn't afraid to get down and get her hands dirty, she fully believed in fighting your own battles, and she was the kind of general that led from the front lines instead of safe and secure in the back of the army.)

But all this fuss for three animals... especially when they all knew that Jackson wasn't going to sit back and not do something.

He just wanted to get to the action.

(He probably would've... with his reed pipes,)

There were some scoffs, cheers, and snickers at the mental image while both Satyr's turned bright, bright red. Grover was unrepentant, though.

(and I would've helped him,)

Grover shot Percy a grateful grin, one that Percy easily returned.

Artemis and Zoe studied Percy intently, they could not figure him out. Ares sat forward, hoping they were about to see some action at last.

(but just then the... down or fall down.)

"Aww." Most groaned. They didn't appreciate the fact that Grover wasn't about to go off on the truck drivers. Ares sat back again with a scowl.

"Don't worry, I doubt they got away with it." Annabeth informed them, amused.

"You doubt? You mean you don't know what happened to them?" Thalia asked, shocked. Did they not do anything to help? She didn't believe Grover could do something like that.

"Not really, we didn't stick around long enough for them to find us." Percy shrugged. Especially the police officer nearby... that would have been bad for Percy.

(We huddled in the... them on the spot,)

There were a few more cheers and even catcalls, while a few others actually thought it through and knew that would be a bad idea.

Especially with a half-starved lion in there with them, Grover talking to him would only help so much when two of his natural prey were in such close vicinity..

"Bad idea." Artemis said with a shake of her head. The anger in her eyes was visible, in fact they glowed silver the more they read about the conditions the animals were in.

"At least wait until you stop moving and the door is opened." Zoe said in agreement. The three questers glanced at each other.

(but I pointed out it... truck stopped moving.)

"Oh, that's true." Connor frowned. Annabeth sighed and shook her head fondly, while Katie face-palmed when his brother looked just as disappointed.

(Besides, I had a... than those turnips.)

"That is also very true." Leo said, blinking in surprise.

"Oh, I didn't even think of that." Annabeth murmured, to everyone's surprise. She shrugged. "All I saw was how they were living." She explained.

(I found a water... their bowls,)

"Most of it sloshed out again whenever we hit a bump in the road, but they at least got to drink something." Percy frowned. "I also needed to clean it first, it was very dirty." And hadn't that taken a few minutes to figure out, after he thought of it, of course.

(then used Anaklusmos... out of their cages.)

Ares made a face at the thought of a sword, especially one like Anaklusmos, being used in such a way. He glanced at Artemis, though, and didn't say anything.

(I gave the meat... and the antelope.)

"Thank you, young Perseus." Artemis said suddenly, to everybodies, including her own, shock. However, she wasn't going to take it back, this boy was showing care and mercy towards helpless animals that were part of her domain. He was trying to help.

Percy blinked at her in shock. "Er, your welcome, but I was just trying to help." He tried to wave it off without being rude, she was one of the few that he watched his tone around. Partly to try and prove her wrong, that not all males were vile and cruel beings, and partly because she honestly reminded him of his mother sometimes.

(Grover calmed the... truck bumping around.)

"Oh, yeah, might want to hold off on that one for a bit." Thalia grimaced. "Don't need you cutting the poor thing in the neck, given where you are, you might accidentally kill it."

"Exactly why we didn't do it." Annabeth said dryly.

(We told Grover to... settled in for the night.)

"And hopefully in the morning, we would have arrived, or the truckers would have at least stopped for a bit." Percy commented briefly.

(Grover curled up on... it in plenty of time.)

The demigods started moaning and groaning, startling the gods. "Percy!" Travis whined.

"Why would you say that, man?" Will asked, looking truly concerned for his well-being.

"Now something is going to happen, leaving you with no time to finish this quest and get answers!" Somebody else berated.

"Seven days is a long time for something else to go wrong, causing a giant delay." Hestia frowned. Percy flinched back and looked at Grover and Annabeth apologetically.

"Sorry, guys." He grinned sheepishly. "At least I knew better in later years!" He tried to be optimistic. Both of them just stared at him, deadpan. He deflated sadly.

Sally sighed and shook her head fondly. That was her son alright.

(On the other hand... to expect next.)

"That's a better attitude to have towards it. Expect to get there with time to spare, but leave room so you're not disappointed when stuff happens to slow you down." Thalia nodded in satisfaction. At least he acknowledged that they probably weren't going to make the time limit, although she would rather he hadn't said anything about having plenty of time at all...

Percy shrugged.

(The gods kept toying with me.)

"It's extremely annoying." Percy said dryly.

"Very." Every other demigod from the Titan War agreed.

(At least Hephaestus... for the gods.)

When all the gods glanced at the children, they were met with stony gazes, as clearly the demigods felt the same way as Percy did in the book.

"I hate being used for entertainment." Clarisse muttered.

"It sucks."

"Our lives are worth more than that."

"Why can't they care more about us beyond being their next source of amusement?" A few of the older ones muttered. The younger children looked at them in surprise, they hadn't really experienced what the others were grumbling about yet.

The gods looked at them in surprise when they kept grumbling. Even those who did care and actually showed it most of the time, had no idea they felt this way and occasionally used them as entertainment.

Sally frowned at the gods, knowing that they weren't going to appreciate hearing about this much, hopefully it would open their eyes about it. She'd been treated to enough rants along the lines of what they were currently saying over the years of offering her apartment as a safe house.

("Hey," Annabeth said,... shuddered. "Spiders.")

Both Annabeth's shuddered. Athena frowned, what was it about spiders? She knew that all of her children were afraid of spiders, but she didn't really know why.

All the demigods looked at the daughters of Athena with sympathy. They all knew how bad it could get, especially after the time with the Hermes cabin pranked the entire Athena cabin with fake spiders.

"Maybe now your mom can start understanding her that her actions affect you guys." Percy whispered to her, and she shrugged.

"Doubtful." She muttered.

("Because of the Arachne... weaving contest, right?")

Athena sniffed. "Insolent little wretch." She muttered, and all the demigods glared at her. She ignored the reproachful glance of Triton.

Apollo and Hermes frowned at her, they had thought she would start thinking about her actions more after the children's encounter with Medusa, but her behavior right now made that doubtful.

(Annabeth nodded... Athena ever since.)

Athena frowned, was that really what happened? She looked down at her lap, thinking.

Apollo and Hermes narrowed their eyes in her direction.

(If there's a spider... Anyway, I owe you.")

"Never." Percy whispered before planting a kiss on her temple. She smiled at him before leaning back into his side.

Athena glared at him again, not liking him being near her daughter at all.

("We're a team... the fancy flying.")

Zoe and Artemis once again found themselves shocked. A male who wasn't taking the credit and bragging about his achievement? Thalia grinned proudly at her cousin.

The demigods broke out into cheers at the reminder

(I thought he was... amazing, wasn't I?")

A few people laughed while Grover turned red and his older self grinned. He didn't even remember all of that conversation, but he woke up just in time to hear that bit.

(Annabeth and I... really say nothing?")

At the curious looks, she shrugged. "He looked pretty out of it when he came back from talking to him. I didn't press him more at the time, because I figured it could wait, and then everything with the park happened..." She shrugged. That, and she just wanted something to talk about while in the truck, she'd been tired, but not tired enough for her brain to shut off and let her sleep.

She didn't mention that she was kind of hoping he would have asked about her, or mentioned her in some way.

(I munched my cookie... into a pine tree.")

Thalia glared at Luke again while everyone else who cared grumbled death threats under their breath. Luke shrunk down in his seat and tried to pretend he could turn invisible.

Needless to say, it didn't work.

(In the dim bronze... wouldn't want me along.")

"Of course I would want you along." Percy said, slightly impatient. He frowned at the younger version of his friend and pointed a finger at him. "You best start getting that through your thick goat skull right now." He said sternly. The younger Satyr's eyes widened and he squeaked softly before nodding his head, so hard Percy was half afraid his horns would come flying off his head.

"And you are anything but a failure." Thalia said to her Grover, firmly. He flushed red and didn't say anything. She gave the younger one a warning look as well, but didn't say anything more.

("You were the satyr... the daughter of Zeus.")

"Did you just now work this out?" Nico asked, curious. They'd been leaving enough clues throughout this trip, after all. Percy flushed red.

"I suspected, there were a few things they said since I came to camp, but I didn't really think about it too much until we were talking in that trailer." Percy said with a sheepish grin. A few people sighed fondly while others looked at him like they were trying to figure him out.

(He nodded glumly... Luke, wasn't it?")

"Took you long enough to work this stuff out." Annabeth said, amused.

Percy pouted at her, but a moment later shot everybody else a dirty look when they started snickering at him.

(She put down her... me toward help.)

Athena looked vaguely smug, while Annabeth frowned. Honestly, that was probably the most motherly thing her mother had ever really done for her. Otherwise, none of them ever interacted with their mother, like other demigod children, but their mother seemed to be extra distant.

Annabeth was extremely envied among her siblings for having a gift from their mother, her invisibility cap.

(Thalia was twelve... home, like me.)

Luke and Thalia ignored everyone's curious looks, while Hermes sighed and rubbed a tired hand down his face.

(They were happy to... monster-fighters,)

"Aww, thanks, Annie." Thalia said teasingly, causing Annabeth to glare and Luke to snicker quietly.

"Don't call me Annie!" She snapped with a red face.

(even without training... "Only Thalia.)

A few people frowned at the way that was worded. Only Thalia?

"What about the other two?" Sally asked, curious. She'd never heard of a Satyr being ordered to get one and leave the others before.

Grover grimaced. "My priority was Thalia." He said quietly.

Everyone fell silent to listen to the explanation of what happened.

(I had strict orders... a little quicker…")

"We weren't exactly any help in us moving any faster." Luke said in amusement.

"Huh?" Was the collective question.

"Well... we enjoyed our freedom of movement, and weren't exactly- thrilled with the idea of being take to some camp that two of us had only vaguely heard of." Thalia said sheepishly. "Of course, the run-in we had with the Hunters before we ever met Grover didn't help." She muttered under her breath.

Annabeth hid a bitter grin. "And the cyclops in Brooklyn." She muttered.

"The point is, that Grover wasn't the only one slowing us down. We all slowed each other down." Thalia said firmly after grimacing.

"And you did lead us all to safety. What happened at the end wasn't your fault, and as for it being your fault for the Furies catching up to us, if anything that was Hades for sending the Furies after us in the first place." Luke finished, referencing Grover's small rant about everything he'd 'done wrong' on the race to reaching camp.

Grover didn't look convinced, while Grover looked down. He'd been through enough lectures since Thalia came back, he really didn't want to hear another...

("Stop it," Annabeth said... blame you either.")

"No, I did not." Thalia said sternly, eyeing Grover, both of them.

"Luke blamed me." Grover suddenly muttered, and everybody who cared looked at him sharply, while both Luke's eyes widened in shock.

"Wha- I never once blamed you." Luke protested, shocked that Grover would say something like that. No, he didn't blame his Satyr friend at all. He blamed the gods, completely and utterly. Which was why he was going to tear down everything they'd built.

"You said it yourself. You told Percy, to tell me that nobody would get turned into a tree this time if I just..." Grover repeated what Luke had told Percy in the last chapter, during the IM.

If it was possible, both Luke's eyes widened even further, and they were shot some dirty looks at the reminder of what was said. "I didn't, I don't-" Luke stammered. "I never blamed you. When I said... I didn't-"

Thalia clenched her fists to resist the urge to beat Luke's face in again. Somehow, she didn't think the MS in the corner would let her beat him up a second time. Her glare could have frozen the hottest parts of the Underworld. Grover merely looked down, not quite willing to believe him.

("She sacrificed herself... Cloven Elders said so.")

"Who cares what that group of old and umph-ph-mmm." Nico had slapped a hand over Thalia's mouth before she could really get going on her rant. She stopped trying to talk around his mouth and glared at him.

There was a quick spark, and Nico yanked his hand away with a yelp, "Hey!" He protested, shaking his hand out to encourage feeling to come back. She raised an eyebrow and smirked, but didn't continue her rant, to Grover's relief.

When she came back from being a tree, to say she had not been happy to be told how the Council treated Grover after she sacrificed herself... would be an understatement.

("Because you wouldn't... "That's not fair.")

"Or right." Was the general consensus.

"Besides, even if you hadn't refused to leave them behind, I would never have left them behind." Thalia said something she should have mentioned earlier. She'd proven that when she refused to join the Hunt the first time they offered.

("Percy's right," Annabeth... the council says.")

"I don't think anybody cares what those useless old goats think." Yes, Percy was still holding a... bit of a grudge from when they pretty much exiled Grover after they found Pan.

"Are you ever going to let that go?" Annabeth asked.

"Nope." Nobody else knew what they were talking about.

(Grover kept sniffling... the lamest satyr ever)

"No, you're the best satyr ever." Percy amended book-Grover's statement, to everyone's amusement and agreement.

Except for Zeus, of course, but he merely gritted his teeth and glared at the satyr to blame for his daughter almost getting killed. (Obviously, since she was right here, he couldn't say that Grover actually got her killed.)

(and I find the two... Thalia and Percy.")

"Make that four. You've found all four of us Greek Big Three kids. That's not something to sneer at." Percy was proud of his friend, and wasn't shy about making it known.

"Four?" Reyna asked, there were only three of them that she could see.

"My older sister, Bianca. Grover found us at Westover Military Academy, and called camp for an extraction team." Nico explained after a moment. It was still hard to talk about his sister, even after the few conversations they'd managed to have after she finally answered his summons ritual.

Hazel looked down, still not sure about her relationship with her brother. Especially when Bianca was brought into the mix.

"Where is she now?" Gwen asked, curious about why she wasn't here. Hazel, Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth's eyes widened in surprise and some fear. Hades looked up, too, wanting to know, but at the same time... really, really not wanting to know just what happened.

"She died. Years ago, on a quest." Nico said shortly. And that was the end of that discussion, especially when Thalia simply kept reading without giving anyone else a chance to ask anything else.

("You're not lame,"... go to the Underworld.)

Jason snorted. "Well, maybe Coach Hedge." He said dryly. Those who knew him laughed, while Clarisse turned a slight red.

"Hey, so he's a little... eccentric. He's still a good guy to have around." She defended. Coach was the one to bring her to Camp, after all.

"He's also just a little bit crazy." Leo said, and coming from him...

"Why Chiron thought he would be a good choice for a chaperone on our quest, is still beyond me." Percy sighed and slumped back against the wall. Everyone else looked at him in surprise.

"Well, if he disguised himself, he could pass himself off as a responsible adult traveling with a group of teenagers..." Annabeth said, doubtfully. "Any mortals we came across would have paid us less attention."

"And how often did we leave the ship when it wasn't a supply run or to check something out quest related?" Piper asked, doubtful. The other six in her group shrugged.

"Try having a cabin next to his. The walls weren't soundproofed until half-way through the trip." Jason muttered.

"Ok, I guess he can get a little... excited." Clarisse allowed. Her younger self nodded with a small, fond, grimace.

(I bet Percy is really... me in the shin.)

"Is that what that grunt was?" Grover muttered, in wonder. Percy glared playfully at Annabeth, who smiled angelically back.

("Yeah," I said, which... without the kick.)

Annabeth's angelic appearance disappeared and she flushed a bright red. "Sorry." She muttered sheepishly. Percy waved it off without even thinking about it.

("It's not luck that... a natural searcher.)

"He really is. And he's an even better leader." Will muttered to Katie, who nodded in agreement.

(That's why you'll be the one who finds Pan.")

Those who were there exchanged sad smiles. Luckily, or unluckily, Hermes didn't notice. A few others, however, did.

(I heard a deep... do that?" I marveled.)

Grover snorted. "Practice." He said dryly. How many middle school field trips, how many buses and trains to reach his assigned area? He, unlike other Satyrs, couldn't fly to and from his assigned areas and camp.

Zeus would blow him out of the sky just as quickly as he would any of his older brothers' children.

("I don't know," Annabeth... told him."

"I meant it.")

"Every word was true." Percy said with a small grin towards Grover, who smiled back. Grover watched in some envy. He and his Percy were fairly close, being two loners in a school of rich troublemakers.

But they weren't this close...

(We rode in silence... looked at me hopefully.)

"I don't know if he wanted more food, or if he thought I was food..." Percy muttered, to everyone's amusement.

"If only Grover were still awake, he could have told us." Annabeth teased, and he stuck his tongue out at her.

(Annabeth rubbed her... strategic thoughts.)

"Nah, just reminiscing." Annabeth said with a small grin.

("That pine-tree bead,"... on that year's beads.)

"You know, that sounds much better than getting it burned into your skin." Frank said, looking hopefully at Reyna. He really didn't want to go through that pain again. And again, and again. Every single year when he earned his new stripes.

She grimaced. "Sorry, that one is not my call. I'm just in charge of the camp. You'll have to bring it up with the Senate, and good luck bringing it up to Lord Mars or Lord Jupiter." She apologized. Zeus and Ares flickered momentarily, and winced at the small headache it brought on. Percy sighed, already really not looking forward to getting branded as a Roman.

"Burned into your skin?" Annabeth repeated in horror. When she said that about Jason's tattoo, she'd mostly been joking. And definitely hoping it only looked that way.

"Yeah." Gwen said, pushing up her sleeve to show them hers. Will immediately started inspecting it, grimacing when he realized just how deep into the soft tissue it was burned.

The Romans were jealous. They'd... sort of gone over all this earlier, but the significance of the individual designs hadn't really been gone over. Nor had the fact the necklaces symbolized the same thing as the tattoos. They glanced hopefully at Ares, only to see Mars glaring at them, daring them to say anything about the way he had the Roman system set up. They wisely said nothing and Ares switched back with a grimace.

"This is already a pain. This is going to get really annoying when those Roman brats actually come into the story." He grumbled. The others nodded in agreement. Poseidon didn't really care, he didn't have much of a Roman presence, so he wasn't usually that affected by Greek/Roman disputes.

(I've got Thalia's pine... was a weird summer.…")

At the mention of the 'Prom Dress Incident', Chiron shot the Stoll brothers, all four of them, a look that could have melted ice.

"You know, I don't think I ever heard that story..." Percy said, curious.

"And you never will." Chiron hissed, to many people's shock. They'd never heard the old teacher sound so... enraged.

Over the centuries, Chiron had gone through a lot at his students' hands. Pranks, miss-aimed arrows, the deaths of his students, etc. That summer, though... that summer trumped everything he'd ever been through in all the centuries he'd spent teaching and training ADHD kids how to properly handle sharp, pointy objects without killing themselves or each other.

By. Far.

("And the college ring... "Yeah. Yeah, it is.")

When everyone looked at her curiously, she sighed and shrugged. "I figured that we were getting to know each other and being honest, so I might as well open up a bit. And, I was starting to see him as a sort of friend." She explained. Athena looked like she swallowed an extra sour lemon at Annabeth's confession.

("You don't have to... Harvard without her...)

"Oh, Frederick would have managed just fine on his own, he merely needed somebody to keep him on track." Athena said fondly, to everybodies surprise. Really, though, Frederick had the kind of intelligence that she truly admired. The problem was in getting him to focus on one thing, he had so many thoughts running through his head at once, he could be a little absentminded.

(That's a long story... doesn't sound so bad.")

"Better than most of us get." Luke grumbled a bit. He'd been happy for Annabeth when she told him about that letter, although he'd also been suitably skeptical, given his situation with his own mother. But he'd thought she should go for it, see what happened.

Athena smiled in satisfaction, although she was confused as to why Annabeth was still living at camp.

("Yeah, well… the problem... Monsters attacked. We argued.)

"Where was your dad in all this?" Will suddenly asked. All Annabeth had said was that her stepmom was the same, and they argued. She never said anything about her dad.

She hesitated. "He was busy with his work. I don't think he even knew anything was going on, whenever I tried to talk to him about it, my stepmom was always right there. She didn't like it when I bothered him with my... issues." She finished. Annabeth nodded in agreement.

Sally frowned. Her and Frederick regularly spoke, mostly over Skype so they could really talk, and mostly about their children. Sometimes, they talked about the issues that sometimes came up when raising demigod children (monsters and other immortal interference, quests, etc.), and sometimes they talked about their spouses. Sally had told him all about Gabe, and he'd told her all about the difficulty he'd had in helping his wife to understand and accept the existence of the Greek gods, and that Annabeth was part of that world. And that sometimes that world included danger. The one absolute constant in their conversations was how they would do anything for their children to be safe.

Hestia almost looked like she was in physical pain by everything book-Annabeth was saying.

(I didn't even make... to Camp Half-Blood.")

A few demigods winced. The younger Greeks were all here because they were year-rounders. Often, that was because their parent kicked them out, things with their parent just... didn't work out too well, so they ran away, or because their parent was dead. Of them, only one could say their parent was dead. The others all felt Annabeth's pain, to a degree.

Annabeth looked down, and tried to remind herself, again, that she didn't care. That he made his choice, and it wasn't her.

("You think you'll... self-inflicted pain.")

"It... wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be." Annabeth allowed, and her younger self looked at her in shock.

"You went back?" She whispered.

"Yeah. I got some good advice." Annabeth gave a small smile.

"And it... it worked out?" Annabeth asked, hesitant. She did miss her dad, well, she missed the dad she had before he got married.

"Yeah..." Annabeth looked at the wall, eyes glazed in thought and with a small smile. She suddenly snorted. "Even if we live in San Francisco now."

"What's wrong with that?" Jason asked, and Sally hid her smile.

"Greeks are always warned to avoid the West Coast." Will shrugged. "Well, I mean... we venture there occasionally for a quest or something, but... we were always told it was because of Mount Tam, now we know it was probably actually because of you." He pointed at the Romans, who looked at each other.

"Makes sense, I suppose. We are always telling our legionaries to avoid the East Coast as much as we can." Reyna allowed. Percy frowned, but didn't say anything, and wouldn't.

("You shouldn't give... letter or something.")

"Good advice." Hermes and Hestia both muttered. They glanced at each other in surprise, but smiled and moved on.

"He gives it from time to time." Annabeth said softly, smiling at her boyfriend. He grinned back and kissed her on the cheek before wrapping an arm around her shoulders and letting her lean against him.

("Thanks for the advice,"... Athena versus Poseidon?")

At the question, Percy glanced at Triton, remembering what his older half-brother had told him during the break, about the real reason for the fighting between his dad and Athena.

His eyes were hooded, and he glanced at Athena with a hint of disappointment before glancing back at Percy and smiling reassuringly when he caught his brother looking.

(She put her head... next to you.")

Athena startled, and stared at her daughter like she'd never seen the girl before.

The other gods blinked in shock, too. A demigod going against their parent...? That was relatively unheard of.

("Why?"

"Because you're my... more stupid questions?")

"Oh, he has plenty of those." Thalia teased. Percy stuck out his tongue, but everyone else noticed that he didn't even try to deny it.

(I couldn't think of... lion staring hungrily at me,)

There were some snickers.

"Yeah, that would make it hard for anyone to sleep." Luke said with a small smile.

"Well, Grover and Annabeth didn't seem to have a problem." Percy muttered sulkily.

"I didn't notice anything, and Grover fell asleep before he ever finished his Happy-meal." Annabeth teased. He scowled.

(but eventually I closed my eyes.

My nightmare)

"Oh no."

"Uh-oh."

"This can't be good."

"I hate demigod dreams." The demigods grumbled. The worst part of it? They couldn't even claim to really know what Percy went through with them, their dreams seemed pretty mild in comparison.

(started out as something... wearing a straitjacket.)

Most of the demigods flinched back. "Ugh, I hate dreams like this." Travis muttered. He'd had this particular dream before, or a version of it.

"I don't think this is a demigod dream, so much as a typical dream by those who hate school." Will muttered to Katie, amused.

"Bad enough." She said with a smile and a shrug.

(All the other kids... Pick up your pencil.)

As one, all demigods who'd ever spent time in a public school (all except the Romans and children of Athena) winced. They hated teachers like this. The ones who didn't help, and instead seemed to insult your intelligence with every word, even if they didn't outright say it.

"And keeping a kid in at recess? Come on!" Travis complained.

"That's cruel and unusual punishment, it is." Connor added with a decisive nod.

"Especially when you're ADHD." Chris shook his head in slight disbelief. The other demigods all nodded vigorously, to the point where Apollo was afraid for a moment that they were going to hurt their necks.

(Then the dream strayed... Thalia, daughter of Zeus.)

Everyone blinked in shock. "Of course." Will muttered, shaking his head.

"Wow." Thalia interrupted herself. "You got everything right except for my eyes." She tilted her head in curiosity.

"That's a strange way for this dream to turn..." Hermes tilted his head to the side.

Percy shrugged. "Demigod dreams." He said simply, as if it explained everything. Sadly, it did.

(She struggled against the straitjacket,)

Apollo leaned forward in his throne and rested his chin in his hands, while resting them on his knees. "Interesting." He muttered while eyeing the two. Considering that both of them were potential Children of Prophecy, that straitjacket took on a different meaning for him.

He refused to say what he found so interesting, though.

(glared at me in... a piece of my mind.)

"Not a good idea, nephew." Hades warned with a growl, already looking annoyed at the very thought.

Percy shrugged unapologetically. They would get used to it, he gave them all a piece of his mind at some point or other, after all. Even the ones he liked and actually respected.

"Of course, there is also the little, tiny bit where Hades wasn't the one speaking from the chasm..." Grover muttered, wondering how this was going to go. Not well, he was guessing.

(The straitjacket melted... depths of a great chasm.)

Percy and Annabeth stiffened minutely, surprised by the mention of that place. "I forgot about this dream." He muttered.

Piper touched his shoulder gently, making sure he saw her coming. "If you need to leave, just leave. Alright? Don't force yourselves." The two of them nodded.

Everyone else was shocked. "Did he just... change his dream? What the... Just how powerful is this sea-spawn?" Athena asked herself, slowly. Zeus's paranoia was starting to run through his head, rabidly making plans and discarding them again on how to deal with the young Son of Poseidon.

(Percy Jackson, it... went well, I see.)

Luke was startled, his eyes blown wide open and his jaw was hanging. He didn't know that this was when Percy started eavesdropping, he heard almost the entire conversation! And he wasn't even detected until much later.

Breaths were sucked in all over the room. "I don't think this is a conversation he needs to be having, or a being he needs to be speaking with." Hermes said slowly, and Apollo nodded. Kronos was not somebody they wanted Percy speaking with, ever. And Kronos didn't sound surprised to see dream-Percy there, either.

Athena leaned forward, excited to finally be learning who this was, and just what was going on here.

"But... what exchange is being talked about?" Artemis asked, concerned. If this was really Kronos, then what could he be talking about? Whatever it was, it wasn't good. Everyone else looked around, hoping that somebody would have an idea, but nobody did except for those who were on this quest, or Luke.

(I was back in the... directed somewhere else.)

"Wait... he's dropped in on another conversation? But... that shouldn't be possible." Apollo whispered in shock. Yes, Percy was powerful, but... this was getting into godly territory, not something a demigod had ever been known to do, not even children of Hypnos or Morpheus would be able to do this.

Poseidon frowned, but he didn't say anything. He thought he knew what happened. Percy was, by far, the strongest of his demigod children.

Ever.

The sea ran strong in his veins. Too strong, maybe, for Percy to possibly control. It was becoming more and more crucial that he come to Atlantis to get proper training, before he really hurt himself, or somebody he cared about.

(And he suspects nothing?... I almost recognized,)

At this, Percy started glaring at the wall while those who didn't know of Luke's involvement jerked back.

But... that would mean somebody Percy knew, which would make it somebody at camp. Vaguely, the line of the prophecy drifted through their heads, 'And you shall be betrayed by one who called you friend'.

"You recognized this voice?" Zeus demanded. "Than who is it?" He wanted to know now, not later. NOW.

"I believe it says that I almost recognized the voice. I couldn't quite place it. And you will just have to find out who it is with everybody else." Percy wasn't in the mood for his uncle's attitude.

Thalia kept reading before they could get into an argument.

(answered at my shoulder... ignorant as the rest.)

Mrs. O'Leary growled in Luke's general direction while Percy glared at him, being careful to keep Zeus or Athena from noticing. Luke winced and looked suitably apologetic.

The others didn't look too happy about it, either.

"I was talking about Ares just as much as I was talking about Percy." Luke muttered, quiet enough that only those nearby heard him. Chris looked at him, slow horror dawning on his face. Luke winced again.

(I looked over, but... speaker was invisible.)

There were a few growls of frustration from everyone who wanted to know who the traitor was.

Luke perked up, and was now very interested in this conversation. Before, he'd been too busy worrying about whether or not he would be found out.

(Deception upon deception... well-named the Crooked One.)

There was a sudden uproar from the Council, making several demigods jump and reach for weapons.

"IT IS NOT HIM!" Zeus bellowed, while a few others bellowed just as loudly about needing to start putting measures in place should Kronos succeed in rising again. Athena loudly argued with Ares over the best strategy.

The only ones quiet were Hades, Hermes, and Poseidon, and they were having a private mental conversation about the conversation they overheard from the older demigods over breakfast.

By the time Hestia and Percy had enough, Zeus had dragged Poseidon and Hades into a very loud argument over whether or not it was really their father trying to rise again (with Poseidon again repeating his threats to declare him unfit to rule if need be). Finally, Percy and Percy both whistled, loudly. A perfect New York taxi-cab whistle from two different sources at the same time could be very loud.

Instantly, everyone stopped arguing and looked at the two in surprise. They looked at each other for a moment. "Continue, Thalia. Please." Percy said in a controlled voice. Those who had ever been in a sparring ring with him winced. He was not happy right now. Not at all.

(But was it really... I stole directly—)

Luke would forever deny ever sulking over this. Ever. Anybody who said otherwise was going to meet the pointy end of his sword, once he got a new one, anyway...

(You? the monster... had I not intervened.)

A few on the council murmured softly. What did that mean? What intervention could have been needed? Had the thief been caught after all, but allowed to escape?

Luke's expression fell slightly. He couldn't even finish the job properly? Kronos was going to send him nightmares for weeks because of that. Luke winced at the reminder. The Titan Lord had not been pleased about that. Not at all.

(But, my lord—... have bought us much.)

Some leaned forward, eager to hear if any plans were going to be discussed. So far, neither of them had realized Percy was there. As long as they remained ignorant, they would continue discussing their plans, and they could make their own plans easier.

Poseidon only listened with dread. He could only hope and pray that Percy wasn't discovered. If they discovered that Percy was there... it would not be good. Not good at all.

(Zeus's anger has…but wait. He is here.)

Poseidon groaned. This was not going to end well.

The others sat back in disgust. Whoever was behind this voice (Most acknowledged that it was, indeed, Kronos) was about to reveal his plans! And now they would get nothing!

"I don't know what you lot are so annoyed over." Percy said, annoyed himself. When he got a few glares, he rolled his eyes. "It's not like this is the first book we're supposed to be reading. I'm pretty sure the Fates mean for us to go through the entire four years up 'till now. And, maybe even beyond that." He glanced at the Seven in the corner, who nodded in agreement. "You'll learn the enemies plans, believe me." He shook his head.

Hestia snorted while the rest of her family looked around at each other sheepishly. "Apologies, young Percy. It appears that age has not taught us patience." She said pointedly. A few looked away sheepishly.

"I don't care about the enemies plans right now, all I care about is that you got caught listening in on a private conversation between Father and his spy within camp." He ignored Zeus's protests about saying anything about it being Kronos.

"He has a point there." Reyna said slowly, having not considered that part yet. Percy merely grimaced and glanced at his mother with a troubled look in his eyes. Everyone else became quiet, and worried.

(What? The invisible... summoned him, my lord?)

"That was the only thing that made sense." Luke muttered, and Percy somehow managed to look smug and embarrassed at the same time.

It was an interesting expression.

(No. The full force... freezing me in place.)

Percy suddenly shuddered and vanished from his place bracketed between Annabeth and Hazel. The two girls looked at each other in concern, but Annabeth decided to stay and try to get through the next part without him. They'd been told that they needed to be able to deal with this on their own, that they could not become too dependent on each other. They didn't like it, but they also understood what Mr. D had been talking about.

They were demigods, even if they were trying to 'retire' from the quest life and settle down. It would happen that something would happen to trigger one of them, and the other wouldn't be there to help them deal with it.

They only hoped that all of that would be skipped in the books when they got to that part. However, considering the Fates seemed to have decided to make Percy their personal whipping boy... they weren't holding their breath on that one.

(Blast his father's blood... too unpredictable.)

Percy smirked minutely, along with his father. Zeus growled lowly, not liking this at all.

Poseidon's children were always the stronger ones of the lot, with some exceptions here and there. And this boy was looking to be the strongest one yet. And even if they weren't strong, the unpredictable nature of their father still made them difficult to deal with in general.

(The boy brought himself hither.

Impossible! the servant cried.)

"It really is." Annabeth muttered. She snorted. "Which is exactly why Percy could do it." She stated dryly.

"Hey!" He protested.

Luke snorted. "Don't bother denying it, you know she's right." The other demigods shouted their agreement.

"Mom!" Percy looked to her for help, but she merely smiled and shook her head, laughing and agreeing with the others completely.

He crossed his arms and pouted. "I hate all you. You're all mean!" He announced. Mrs. O'Leary barked behind him. His jaw dropped and he whirled around in his seat to stare at her, betrayed. "You too, girl?" She barked happily. He went back to pouting, but everyone could see the amused glint in his eye, and they were pleased at being able to diffuse the tension for a bit.

(For a weakling such... oblige.

The scene changed.)

"Anything that... that thing down there has to show cannot be good. Or even true." Piper said, worried. She was thinking about the dreams she'd had of her father, when he was being held captive by the Giants. They'd always been showing her awful scenes, torturing her with images of her father being killed over and over again, to show her what would happen if she didn't do what they wanted. None of it had really been true, they'd never meant to let him go. The only true things about the visions they showed her had been that they had her father.

Only Annabeth saw Percy's eyes darken as he remembered this. He suddenly got up and moved to sit beside his mother, where he wrapped her in a hug. Everybody blinked in concern, but he gave Thalia a Look that had her reading on.

Everybody waited to hear about this dream, she was pretty sure nobody was going to interrupt.

(I was standing in a... light, her arms outstretched.)

There were some gasps and angry murmurs, but nobody interrupted the reading. Percy's grip on his mother tightened, while Paul took her hand tightly in his.

"How dare he." Hera muttered angrily. Using the boys mother like that!

(I tried to step toward... Hail, the conquering hero!)

A few looked sick. All levity from earlier had vanished quite quickly.

"How do you ever sleep at night? Knowing you might have dreams like this?" Chris asked softly.

All the Big 3 children looked at each other. "You learn to live with it. You learn to use what you learned, if there was something in there worth knowing, and discard the rest." Thalia said with a shrug.

"Sometimes, they don't always 'stay' where you 'put' them in your mind, but..."

"It's the hardest in the beginning. After this quest, there were a few weeks where I tried to stay awake, tried to not sleep. It didn't work, I just got so tired that the Apollo cabin shoved me back into my bed and must of drugged me with something. Because I don't remember falling asleep." Percy added. Will shrugged, unrepentant, when the others blinked at him or moved away not-so-discretely.

"There's always a fear of going to sleep, of what you might see." Hazel agreed softly. Nico nodded his agreement.

"I think, though, that Percy's might be the worst of all of us. He is a Child of Prophecy, he's a Son of Poseidon, and he's by far the strongest of us five." Thalia finished with a shrug. "That's a potent combination." She sighed, and Percy just studied the floor. Annabeth got up and sat on his other side, where she hugged his arm, trying to comfort, but knowing she couldn't, not really. She hated seeing him after some of his dreams, and she hated that there was nothing she could really do.

(I woke with a start.

Grover was shaking my shoulder.)

Grover shuddered. "If I'd known what you were dreaming about, I would have tried to wake you up sooner." He sounded apologetic.

Percy shrugged with a sigh. "I don't think he would have let me wake up until he was done with me." He murmured softly.

("The truck's stopped,"... check on the animals.")

"Hide!" A few people yelped in alarm.

Annabeth eyed them dryly. "No, kidding." She retorted.

("Hide!" Annabeth hissed... we looked like turnips.)

That got a few laughs. "You know, I don't think I've ever appreciated just how strange Percy's mind can be." Somebody commented.

"Well, if nothing else, at least the trip to Alaska won't be boring." Frank muttered to Hazel, who nodded her agreement. She had a feeling they would see plenty of fighting, as well.

(The trailer doors... and heat poured in.)

"I didn't think it was possible for it to be hotter outside than it was inside." Percy complained. The other two nodded in agreement.

"I think we just got used to the heat inside, and then suddenly we got blasted with heat from the outside." Annabeth theorized.

("Man!" one of the... in the lion's face.)

The three Huntresses in the room stiffened and then started shaking in rage.

"Milady, permission to mobilize the Hunt?" Zoe and Thalia asked in unison, startling everyone else, who subtly moved away from both girls.

Artemis looked faintly amused through the rage. "Permission granted girls, as soon as we get out of this room." She said through clenched teeth.

Everybody else in the room decided not to say anything or try to interfere. Not that they would have anyway, they would more than willingly join in if they didn't think the Huntresses would heavily protest their presence.

"You would not believe how difficult it was to stay hidden and not jump out to beat them for how they were treating those animals." Grover gritted out, remembering how angry he was at the time.

(The lion roared in indignation.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the man said.)

Grover snorted. "If that guy knew what he was saying, he would not have been so indifferent." He muttered angrily.

"Evil goat." Percy muttered, shaking his head. There was a playful glint to his eyes and Grover glared back just as playfully.

Zoe took out and started restringing her bow and checking the arrows. Not that they needed it done, but still... it was the principle of the thing and made her intentions very well known.

(Next to me, under... downright murderous.)

"It was a strange expression on his face, that was for sure." Percy informed the room. Grover shrugged.

"They shouldn't have made me mad. I still wish we could have done something more to them." He said sourly.

"Oh, I'm sure they are enjoying their time with the American justice system." Annabeth said airily. If not, then... the entire quest had been watched closely. Somebody probably mentioned this to Artemis.

"I hope so." The boys muttered.

(The trucker threw... You like magic shows?)

There was a growing sense of dread and anger already, and they hadn't even learned what part the poor zebra would be playing in the magic show. For all they knew, it could be some attraction for the kids to see and pet a zebra.

Rachel frowned. Any magic show that got their zebras from smugglers, can't have anything good planned for the zebra.

(You're gonna love... saw you in half!")

Zoe gripped so hard the bow in her hands snapped like a twig while she glared at the book in Thalia's hands. (Which was rather impressive since they were made out of Divine Silver). Artemis and Thalia snarled.

The rest of the room eyed the Huntresses warily.

"Add that magic show to the List." Artemis said softly, dangerously.

"Yes, Milady." Thalia and Zoe agreed. It was starting to really freak some people out.

(The zebra, wild-eyed... too stunned to react.)

Everyone looked amused or snickered. Percy scowled and grumbled under his breath.

Sally smiled sadly and slung an arm around his shoulder. She would have loved to take them out to some horse farms outside the city, horses were their fathers animal after all, but she hadn't wanted to risk it. She'd known that the horses would want to speak with them... honestly, taking them to the beach had been enough of a risk. She couldn't not take them there, though. That place was too special to her not to share it with her children, and being near the ocean calmed their moods.

"Is that why you suddenly looked like you'd been hit with Clarisse's spear?" Annabeth asked over her snickers. Percy looked at her in betrayal.

(There was a loud... do you want, Eddie?")

The Huntresses sat up and Zoe found a pen and paper to write down as much information on these men as they learned from this. They didn't necessarily need it, but it would be good to show the mortal authorities if needed.

(A voice outside—it... you banging for?")

"That's a good question." Katie said, confused. Was he bored and pretending to be a drummer or something? Those few who had figured out what was going on grinned or looked at Annabeth.

Percy was beaming proudly at her.

Zoe scribbled it down. Maurice and Eddie from Kindness International...

(Knock, knock, knock.

Outside, Eddie yelled, "What banging?")

Now others were starting to get it, and glanced at Annabeth's smirking face with some slight awe. After all, she was the only one who could be doing this, with her Invisibility Cap.

(Our guy Maurice rolled... for being an idiot.)

"Finally, I thought he'd never get the hint!" Annabeth groaned, slumping down in her seat. A few people snickered at her dramatics.

Most of the older ones thought she'd been hanging out with Percy too much. He was clearly rubbing off on her.

(A second later, Annabeth... are animal smugglers!")

"So nice to have it confirmed." Artemis gave a sharp smile. Not that she needed anything to be confirmed.

Ares groaned softly, wishing they could hurry all this up and get to the action already. They all knew the animals were going to be fine, so could they move along now?

(That's right, the... said in my mind.)

"He's very talkative all of a sudden." Amphitrite suddenly remarked. Her husband, son, and step-son(s) all looked at her, surprised.

"Yeah... he didn't say anything to either me or Grover all night, even when Grover was trying to talk to them." Percy agreed. "It still freaked me out, though." He muttered.

"Is this why you never took us to see any horses?" Percy asked his mother. She grimaced and nodded.

("We've got to free them!")

"Was it ever a question?" Chris asked nobody.

(Grover said. He and... but not the lion. Why?)

"Because the lion is a feline, not an equine." Triton said with amusement. Percy shot him a dirty look, including his father when he noticed the amusement in his eyes.

(Maybe it was another... enough to a horse?)

"Yes." Poseidon said with a smirk. Percy rolled his eyes at his father while everyone else snickered.

"Oh, shut it. I'd never had a horse speak to me before this, I wasn't expecting voices in my head." He scowled at everyone else. A few of them shut up at the reminder that he was still learning about his abilities at this point, he'd had nobody to sit down and explain what he could do or how to do it.

Those others that could speak with the animals that were part of their parents domain felt some sympathy for him, it could be startling the first time.

(Was that why I could understand it?)

"Yes." Triton said with a grin. Percy gave him a dry glare, to his amusement.

"Is that true for all horses? And it includes Pegasi?" Reyna asked quickly. He'd already mentioned here and there a few conversations he'd had with his Pegasus, Blackjack, she believed is what they called him, but she just wanted to clarify it.

"Yup. All horses. All marine life. Gold-fish aren't very good conversationalists, by the way, and dolphins are too flighty to have a very good conversation with. If you can get them to focus, they are very smart, though. Whales provide good conversation." Percy nodded once. "The only sea creature I can't talk to is Bessie, for some odd reason."

"Bessie?"

"He'll come up later, I think." Percy waved it off. At least, he should. He was a very important sea creature, after all.

(The zebra said, Open... be fine after that.)

"Now if I could just stop them from calling me 'lord' all the time..." Percy looked thoughtful. It was honestly annoying.

Poseidon laughed. "You are my son, therefore a Prince of the Sea. You are their lord." He informed his son, knowing where he was coming from. He didn't always like formalities either, but it was a consequence of being King. Sometimes it was a necessary evil. Triton nodded beside him. Percy made a face.

"How does the zebra expect to be fine, he's going to be trapped in a big city in the middle of the desert." Will commented. Everyone else shrugged.

(Outside, Eddie and... yelling at each other,)

"Males." Zoe and Artemis sneered in disgust. Although, they supposed that the arguing was being helpful at the moment for the questers.

"They won't argue for long, you'd better get out now." Nico advised.

(but I knew they'd be... bowed. Thank you, lord.)

Some of Percy's friends thought it was strange hearing him called 'lord' all the time. The only one who didn't find it that strange was Nico, and he had the dead calling him 'lord'.

(Grover held up his... goat talk, like a blessing.)

Grover shook his head. "You know, sometimes I forget just how observant you can be." That could actually be dangerous.

Percy grinned.

(Just as Maurice was... and into the street.)

Percy snorted suddenly. "I wish we'd had a camera for that. The look on his face..." He sat back and snickered. Annabeth and Grover smirked while some of the Hermes crew whined about missing the opportunity.

(There was yelling and screaming and cars honking.)

"Oh, I hope nobody got hurt." Sally said, concerned that the zebra might have run somebody over or caused an accident.

The three who freed him looked at each other in surprise. They hadn't thought of that, or even cared, really. "I'm sure nothing happened. When we freed the lion, on the other hand... that might have caused an accident or two." Percy admitted. A few people laughed.

Rachel tilted her head, looking thoughtful. "Oh!" She suddenly burst out. "I remember this now! It made the national news, these guys were pretty small fry, but the way they were caught got enough attention, especially with all the tourists around and all that. Nobody was hurt when the animals got loose." She informed the room, and Sally sighed in relief.

"Do you know what happened with the animals?" Grover asked, curious.

"Um, I think they were caught and taken to the closest zoo for veterinary care. They were pretty skinny when they were shown on the TV, so no surprise there. I don't know what happened with them after that. They might still be at the zoo." Rachel admitted.

"Well, as long as they're safe and all that." Annabeth murmured. Grover grimaced, he had a love-hate view of zoos, and personally felt that they might have been better off in the wild where they belonged. He also knew that zoos served a purpose. As long as the animals were taken care of properly, he couldn't really complain too much. None of those animals were exactly native to the Nevadan desert.

(We rushed to the... and Eddie ran after it,)

"Good luck with that." Somebody snorted.

(with a few policemen... need a permit for that!")

A few people laughed. "That's what he was worried about? A permit? Not where the zebra came from or why they had it and it just got out?" Somebody asked, honestly amused.

"Well, it was Vegas. I'm sure it's not the first zebra that got loose in the city." Percy reasoned. Something like that would seem strange in New York, unless there was a mass escape at the Central Park Zoo, but in Vegas? Who knew.

"Yeah, but how often can it really happen?" Katie asked.

"Who knows." Rachel commented. She'd been to Vegas multiple times, she'd seen a few of those 'magic' shows that included zebras. It wouldn't surprise her if somebody got sloppy once in a while and one got loose. Now, though, she was really starting to wonder about those shows.

Well, they couldn't all get their animals from smugglers, could they?

("Now would be a... Annabeth said.)

"Yeah... before some more cops show up at the trailer where the mysterious zebra came from." Leo agreed. He knew they would, back-up would have been called to search the truck while the driver and his buddy were taken into custody once it was found they didn't have the right permits, or that the permits were fake.

"Or before Eddie and Maurice come back to get the heck out of Vegas with what they have left." Dakota pointed out.

("The other animals first," Grover said.)

The Huntresses nodded in approval.

(I cut the locks with... together into the streets.)

"Man, the kind of chaos that follows you everywhere..." Hermes said with a strange look on his face, and Dionysus raised an eyebrow. He decided not to say anything, though.

"I really wish we had a camera on us." Percy muttered.

"I should have gotten a disposable one from Waterland." Annabeth told the room in disgust. There were plenty of them on the shelf. Maybe she should add one to her quest bag, just in case they ever had a need for one. There had been many times over the years where she wished she had a camera on hand. She could even use it for the quest itself if she needed to provide proof of something.

(Some tourists screamed... stunt by one of the casinos.)

A few snorts. "Las Vegas, man." Chris said with a shrug.

"We have got to go sometime." Travis informed his brother, who nodded his complete agreement. Luke cleared his throat and shot them a pointed glare. They raised an eyebrow, as far as they were concerned, Luke gave up his rights as their older brother the day he stole the Master Bolt.

They didn't say anything, though. He'd been acting much more like their big brother in the few days they'd been here. The brother they'd loved and missed for years now.

("Will the animals be... the desert and all—")

"They're African native species. I think they'll be fine in the desert." Thalia pointed out.

"Well, yeah... I know that, but Nevada isn't Africa. In Africa, they have plenty of food, they just need to find it. In Nevada, everything is different. And there will be predators that the zebra and antelope aren't used to." Percy pointed out, annoyed.

"Huh... good point. Well, it's moot now, they were caught and taken to the zoo." Thalia admitted. Percy sat back with a frown and made a mental note to see what happened with those three animals when this was all over.

("Don't worry," he... sanctuary on them.")

Grover looked up in surprise. He'd been struggling with that, did he finally figure it out in the next few months? Oh, he hoped so. To not be able to do something so simple as a satyr's sanctuary...

The Romans looked at the two satyrs in surprise. Once again, the difference between fawns and satyrs was glaringly obvious. All fawns did was sit around begging money or scraps off them. Satyrs had 'magic', they helped around camp, they had jobs, they protected demigods, they protected nature around them...

"We need to figure out how to put the fawns to work." Reyna muttered to Jason, who nodded agreement. He'd had that thought many times after regaining his memories.

("Meaning?")

"Meaning... people really need to start explaining the first time and not assume I know what they're talking about." Percy grumbled. Although, Grover was actually really good about it, at least he didn't get annoyed and sound condescending like Annabeth did sometimes.

"Sorry, Perce." Grover said sheepishly. He was waved off, so he knew Percy wasn't too annoyed about it.

("Meaning they'll reach... that on us?" I asked.)

"Something like that would be nice sometimes." Annabeth allowed.

"Something like that only affects wild animals." Artemis informed with a raised eyebrow. "However, I have often found it strange that it does not work on males..." Men often acted like wild animals often enough. Parade a woman in front of them, and they stopped using what little thought process they possessed.

"Hey!" All the men protested. They said nothing, though, knowing that she would never change her views. Percy on the other hand... she seemed to be warming up to him. Oddly enough.

("It only works on wild animals.")

Artemis got a pained expression, but didn't say anything as she didn't want to risk encouraging the satyr. Those who had any self-preservation looked away to hide their smiles and had to take a few moments to control their humor.

("So it would only affect...

"Hey!" I protested.)

Everyone found this funny, especially after the high, negative emotions of the rest of the chapter. Percy pouted, looking like a baby seal.

("Kidding," she said... and ten degrees, easy,)

"At least we were outside and the air was... mostly fresh." Grover commented. He would never consider city air to be 'fresh'. Too many pollutants from all the cars and everything else.

"It was cooler outside than it was inside, once we got used to it." Annabeth agreed.

(and we must've looked... pay us much attention.)

"Ready made distraction." Hermes nodded in satisfaction.

(We passed the Monte... and a glass of lemonade,)

"Assuming any place would let you in and wouldn't kick you out for your dirty appearance." Persephone pointed out. The demigods all grimaced.

Honestly, why couldn't places take pity on a group of kids that looked like they'd been through the ringer? Why did they have to be so concerned about their images that they would turn away some pathetic looking kids because of a little dirt? If one asked the demigods, which nobody ever did, to be seen helping the demigods might actually improve the places image. People liked seeing charity, even if they couldn't be bothered to help somebody out themselves.

(make a new plan for... Lotus Hotel and Casino.)

Poseidon sat up like he was electrocuted, while Nico spun around to stare at the three in shock. They made it out of the Lotus?! How?

Hermes and Apollo laughed when they heard about it, that place was awesome. Then they looked at the pale faces of Poseidon and Nico and remembered just what kind of place it really was. Being gods and all, they didn't really have to worry about being trapped. Others... weren't so lucky.

Just what did this mean for the quest?

(The entrance was a... so I wasn't sure.)

"If you'd never smelled one, then why was that your first thought?" Katie asked, curious.

Percy blinked at her, unsure. "I- don't know... It was just the first thing that popped into my head." He said slowly, having never stopped to consider that. How had he known?

"The lotus is a marine-life plant." Poseidon answered. If it had anything to do with water, Percy would instinctively know about it. His children, like most demigods whose parents domains weren't general concepts (like love or family), tended to specialize in Marine Biology or some other Marine-life related field. Just before WWII, two of his sons were revolutionizing the field (such as it was back then), they never got to finish their work before the war hit and they were sent to the front lines to lead the rest of the demigods in battle.

"That... actually explains a few things." Percy said, thinking about it. He'd never considered plant life, although he knew that it was important for the health of the fish. Just, whenever he thought marine-life, his first thought was always fish, whales, etc.

A few demigods frowned at all the references in this to the lotus flower. Something was at the edge of their thoughts... why did they have a bad feeling about this place?

(The doorman smiled... in and sit down?")

"Trap." All the demigods immediately said. They didn't even have to think about it. This random stranger was being nice to them, when on a quest that screamed one of two things. Trap, or a god who wanted something. At the moment, they were leaning more towards trap.

Sally sighed sadly. The fact that they were instantly so distrustful of a person showing kindness... It broke her heart every time she thought about what a demigod went through on a near daily basis, especially outside camp borders.

(I'd learned to be suspicious, the last week or so.)

Sally made a pained noise, prompting Percy to place a hand on her arm and look at her in concern. They didn't notice it, but the other demigods looked relieved that Percy had started to learn. The faster they learned, the longer they stayed alive.

Now if he would just stop saying names out loud all the time...

(I figured anybody... him, and I could see.)

Those who knew what this place really was (and cared about Percy) grimaced. He was already under the Lotus Eaters control.

"This is the gnome emporium all over again." Hestia muttered to herself. At first, Percy was drawn in, but she knew, just like with Medusa, he would eventually snap out of it and realize something was wrong. His fathers blood ran strong through his veins, he would be able to get himself and his friends out.

She only hoped that it was in time.

(Besides, I was so... was a giant game room.)

The sons of Hermes (except for Luke and his younger self) immediately forgot all about it being a trap and leaned forward, eager to hear about the giant game room. It already sounded awesome. Nico bit his lip in concern, but didn't say anything.

(And I'm not talking... old Pac-Man games)

"Excuse me, young man?" Dionysus demanded to know. He happened to like Pac-man, thank you very much!

"Pac-man's ok... but after a while it gets so repetitive." Percy said with a shrug.

(or slot machines. There... around the glass elevator,)

"Whoa..." The Stolls and Leo all breathed.

"I have got to go there sometime." Chris muttered.

"Have you boys forgotten the part where this is a trap?" Clarisse asked, exasperated. She really didn't want to lose her boyfriend to this place, whatever this place really was. They all looked at her sheepishly, because they had forgotten.

"Don't worry, boys. I'll see about taking you sometime, it should be safe as long as I'm there with you." Hermes told his disappointed sons with a grin. Of course, he would need to have Martha and George hold all his calls... probably shuffle a few appointments around... and it would definitely not be anywhere around Christmas or any other major holiday that meant a lot of traveling or mailing packages.

"Hermes." Zeus warned, but Hermes ignored his father with practice.

(which went straight up... this place had it.)

Percy could have sworn the Stolls and Leo started drooling at the description. "You know... I think they had everything except a casino." He muttered, tilting his head and trying to remember. Truthfully, he didn't actually remember much about the place, only that they were there, and there were games, and the food was good. Oh, and the absolute terror when he realized he was already starting to forget details about his life.

Annabeth shrugged. "Don't ask me, I don't remember any of it" She shook her head.

"You don't?" Thalia asked in surprise. Annabeth didn't forget anything.

She shook her head again. "I remember walking in, being given our room key and cash cards, and then Percy is standing in front of me, telling me we have to go." Her eyes were slightly gazed as she thought back.

"That's about what I remember, only I 'woke up' when they dragged me out the door." Grover chimed in.

"But... I remember bits and pieces of the place." Percy was confused. He knew that he could be forgetful sometimes, while Annabeth's mind was a steel trap.

"That might have to do with my influence." Poseidon pondered that, but had no precedent to compare it to.

The Stolls looked at Hermes in worry. "Don't worry, like I said, as long as I'm there, you won't be trapped or affected." He reassured his sons. He made sure to stress the bit where as long as he was there. He really didn't want his sons getting trapped there.

"This place does sound amazing, though." Beckendorf said simply. "Why is it that the most amazing places are usually the trap?" He asked, rhetorically, but all the demigods shrugged. Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other, thinking about all the places they'd been to that have been the most dangerous traps. Circe's Island, Polyphemus' island, even Calypso's island, in a way.

(There were a few other... shorts, and flip-flops.)

"That's a strange uniform for a casino." Chris observed, tilting his head to the side.

"That's not a typical casino." Percy said dryly and shuddered lightly.

("Welcome to the... your room key.")

"Wait... he's just giving you a room key? As if you belong there? No questions?" Will asked slowly. Yes, he already knew this had to have been a trap, but... "Please tell me you turned and ran." He almost begged the three, who grimaced. And why did he keep getting and uneasy feeling about the constant references to lotus blossoms?

"You'll see." Percy muttered, and grumbled about something they couldn't quite catch.

Annabeth sighed. "At least we got a shower and food." She shook her head. At least, she was assuming so since she was clean and she wasn't hungry when they left, which was not the case when they found the place. That was the only good thing about stumbling across that place. Sure, they got fed at Medusa's, but no shower.

"I suppose there was that." Grover mumbled.

The demigods all stared at the three in disbelief. This was so obviously a trap, even more than Medusa's lair had been! How were they missing that?! And how were they still alive if they kept walking into obvious traps like this one?

(I stammered, "Um, but…")

"I was so confused about what was going on." Percy shook his head.

"You're usually confused about what is happening, Percy." Annabeth teased lightly, and he scowled.

("No, no," he said... top floor, room 4001.)

"Ok, even knowing this is a trap, this sounds way too good to be true." Reyna said, shaking her head. Again, she wondered how many Roman soldiers might be in there, drawn in by this.

(If you need anything... green plastic credit card.)

The demigods were stunned speechless. This place was... woah. If it wasn't a trap...

"Do you still have yours?" Apollo asked, curious.

"I do, I don't know about Grover, though." Percy said with a shrug. He had wanted to throw it away, but Annabeth convinced him not to after she saw the infinity sign come up in the taxi. She said that one never knew when having something like that would come in handy. Of course, it didn't help much with his mother, she refused to let him use it to pay for everything they needed, and then some. (He'd had to use it once, and it did work outside of Vegas).

Sally smiled slightly at the put out expression Percy shot her. It was her job to provide for her son, not the other way around. That card may have an infinite account behind it, but she wanted him to save it for emergencies or when he needed it on a quest. After all, nothing was truly infinite.

Everyone glanced at Annabeth, who shrugged. "I already used it. It went to a good cause." Grover snorted, yeah. They certainly made that cab driver's year, that was for sure. Percy just grinned, making everyone curious.

(I knew there must... "How much is on here?")

Percy groaned and the back of his head met with the back of the couch, hard. He couldn't believe he let himself get so drawn in, not after Medusa!

(His eyebrows knit together... you're making a joke.)

"Nope, I was being completely serious." Percy grumbled. Annabeth squeezed his hand.

(Hey, that's cool. Enjoy... candy, sodas, and chips.)

Demeter made a noise of disgust. "All that junk food! That's not good for them to eat, where is the real food?" She demanded.

"Down in the hotel lobby, where all the games and stuff are." Percy answered easily. The other demigods were almost drooling over the description of the room.

"Why can't we ever get hotel rooms this nice when we have to stop?" Will whined softly.

Chris snorted. "Because this is a trap, and because our parents are cheap." He said dryly. They really needed more safe-houses for demigods to go to when on a quest or mission. Sally was nice and wonderful for opening up her apartment to them, and Paul was wonderful about it, too... but they were in New York. They were only one safe house, and it was pretty close to camp.

They needed more, they needed them throughout the United States, a few up in Canada, some down in Mexico... even a few safe houses in Europe would be nice, for the few missions they were sent overseas for. It hadn't happened recently, but it had happened.

(A hotline to room service... them with your gun.)

Reyna tilted her head to the side. "Is that even legal?" She asked, wondering.

"Eh... no. No it is not. However, places like this... don't really pay much attention to stuff like that." Hermes said with a shrug. Apollo shook his head. Personally, he didn't care for the skeet-shooting. He found it boring, and he preferred a bow and arrow.

"Who cares? This place is sounding better by the minute!" Leo said. "But, of course, I'm never going to go there without a god or somebody to chaperone and make sure I can get back out again." He said seriously, catching an interesting look on his dad's face.

(I didn't see how that could be legal,)

"It's not." Percy shot Hermes a mildly annoyed glare.

(but I thought it was... said. "This place is…")

"Unreal."

"Too good to be true."

"Amazingly awesome." Everyone turned to look at Leo, wondering if he was really getting the point here. "What? Yeah, it's a trap, I know. Doesn't mean the place doesn't sound amazing." He pointed out, again.

"This is going to be a very interesting trip to the Ancient Lands." Hazel muttered under her breath. She'd been struggling this whole time to avoid Leo, because he looked so much like Sammy, but she was finding it very difficult to do that when he made comments like this.

("Sweet," Grover said. "Absolutely sweet.")

"That too." Piper sighed and threw a pillow towards Leo's head, which he expertly dodged.

"Not quite what I was going to say." Annabeth sighed, but shook her head fondly.

(There were clothes in... this was a little strange.)

"And that was the last I thought of that." He muttered, angry with himself for wasting all that time in that place. He should have realized sooner what was going on.

"Hey!" Annabeth admonished sharply. "None of that, you can't always see what is coming, and when something like the Mist is around, you can't always keep your mind, either. Just because you have a natural semi-immunity to the Mist, doesn't mean you will always be unaffected." She whispered in his ear, quieter so that nobody knew what was going on in his head now.

"Semi-immunity?" He asked, confused.

She shrugged. "Can't call it full immunity, not when sometimes you are more affected than you should be, while at other times you're completely unaffected." She pointed out primly.

While they had their discussion, the rest of the room had their own. "Ok, you know what? I don't think this place is that great anymore, that is just downright creepy." Leo said, his face was honestly green.

Clarisse snorted. "Better get used to it, in a world like ours, you never know who knows what about you. Clothing sizes is the least creepy thing I have seen, heard of, or experienced." She pointed out. The others nodded.

(I threw Ares's backpack in the trash can.)

"Hey!" Ares shouted in outrage while a few others snickered. The Romans looked scandalized, but then they always did whenever Percy said or did something disrespectful. Although, those looks had been coming less and less as the book went on and they got used to hearing it. "That was a gift from me!" He glared.

Percy snorted. "Exactly." He challenged. Jason cleared his throat, and Ares glanced at him before he sat back in his throne and switched his glare to Thalia, waiting for her to continue reading. She did with an eyeroll.

(Wouldn't need that... one at the hotel store.)

"I don't think you'll have time to do that before you leave." Hermes muttered. No, when he left, it would be while dragging one or both of his friends behind him, probably kicking and screaming, while the Lotus Eaters tried to entice him in staying for just a little longer.

"No... no I didn't." Percy shook his head. Oh well, it didn't matter. Ares bag ended up on his back when he left, anyway.

(I took a shower, which... problem kept nagging me.)

"He's fighting their control already." Hermes murmured, amazed.

"He's probably been fighting it since the moment he stepped foot in the building." Apollo pointed out.

"He'll break out of it. It may take a bit longer, but he's my son, nothing will control him." Poseidon said, proud.

(I'd had a dream... sure it could wait.)

"No, it cannot wait, you stupid..." Athena's rant was cut off by a mental rebuke from an angry Triton, who was staring her down in disappointment.

"You know full well the effects the Lotus Casino can have on demigods, and how it affects their memory. He doesn't even remember the quest anymore." Triton scolded her, and she looked down. The demigods looked at her in surprise, not knowing what caused her to stop ranting at Percy. The council glanced at Triton when she stopped, knowing that he was the only one who could stop her cold like that. He didn't usually, though, only when he felt she was taking something too far or really needed to stop before she really made the wrong enemy.

(I came out of the... and changed clothes.)

"It was heaven to be clean again, by the way." Percy said wistfully.

"I'm sure it was." Annabeth said in amusement. She almost wished she remembered, just for that.

(Grover was eating potato... Geographic Channel.)

Most of the demigods made various noises and grumblings about children of Athena and educational stuff. Annabeth frowned at them.

("All those stations," I... Are you insane?")

"Aren't we all?" Will asked under his breath. Dionysus shot him a look, but didn't say anything. He had something of a point, after all. Everybody was at least a little insane, whether they acted like it or not.

"And what is wrong with National Geographic? It is very educational, you would do well to watch it." Athena snapped sourly.

"I could have found something way more interesting to watch, trust me. I get enough 'educational' videos at school, don't need them during the summer, too." Percy replied. Although, he did freely admit that he found it easier to learn with a video than he did PowerPoint presentations or lectures. Less words to read, and less risk of the teacher writing something on the board.

Her glare deepened, but Triton stopped her from saying anything else with a pointed cough.

("It's interesting."

"I feel... "I love this place.")

"Correction, I hate that place." He said. He had been more than a little freaked out when Percy showed them the newspaper and he realized that five days had passed and he had no memory of any of it. Percy had needed to explain what he remembered of the Casino.

"I thought you said you didn't remember it." Rachel asked, confused.

"I don't. But I remember being shown a newspaper and realizing five days had passed and I had no memory of it. I remember suddenly remembering who I was and what I was supposed to be doing." Grover looked serious while his younger self had to be helped by Chiron to stay calm as he worked himself up over everything his older self was saying.

The rest of the demigods blanched as they imagined that happening to them. Nico flinched and studied the floor while Hades watched him sadly. He didn't regret it, though. He kept his children safe, that was what mattered to him.

(Without his even... then back down again.)

Hermes frowned. That wasn't right. They weren't supposed to do anything without the activation word, no matter what the person wearing them was feeling at the time.

("So what now?" Annabeth asked. "Sleep?")

"That would be the best idea, I imagine that none of you have had any good sleep since this quest started." Paul stated. When he saw the looks everyone was giving them, he sighed. "They've gotten sleep, sure, but how much of it was actually restful? They've been out in the woods in a light rain, the train can't have been too comfortable and other passengers or train noises would have been waking them up every now and then, and the truck would have been bumpy and uncomfortable as well. Not to mention the... the visions Percy is having instead of normal dreams like what the brain needs." He pointed out. He and the psychology teacher got into a few debates every now and then, he quite enjoyed it, and he learned a lot from him.

"And quests are stressful, no matter how much sleep they've been getting, they haven't been able to relax in case they were attacked while they slept." Beckendorf acknowledged.

"It's best to get some sleep now, one never knows what will happen when you leave." Paul continued. The boys looked at each other while Annabeth huffed and rolled her eyes.

"I don't think it really mattered, anyway. Not in that place." Grover murmured quietly to them.

(Grover and I looked at...

"Play time," I said.)

A few of the boys cheered quietly, still thinking over everything Grover had said, while the girls shook their heads. Sally sighed and smiled. She didn't begrudge her son the chance to have some fun. He hadn't had much chance for that recently.

"Boys." Zoe and Artemis said at the same time, the usual disgust was missing from their tone, though. Even they could acknowledge that the boys actions and thoughts weren't entirely their own while in the Hotel.

(I couldn't remember... hotel? Forget it.)

Sally smiled sadly. She wished she could have done more when they were younger, but money was always just so tight... Gabe certainly didn't help matters. Gambling, drinking, and smoking away all the money she brought in to try and provide for her children. She wished she knew what happened with the child-support checks Poseidon sent, too. Percy saw her smile and gave her a hug, squeezing tightly. Her smile became a little happier after that.

(I bungee-jumped the... and FBI sharpshooter.)

The Hermes crew were practically salivating at this point. They so wanted to go to this place! It sounded awesome!

They hoped their dad really could take them someday.

(I saw Grover a few... and shoot the rednecks.)

Grover and his younger self looked very interested in that, and wondered if they could get somebody from Cabin 9 to replicate it.

"That sounds like Grover all right."

"Hmm... well, he's usually more peaceful than that, but otherwise..." He scowled at all his friends.

Leo grinned and wrote it down in his notebook, then went back to putting the finishing touches on his whip. He, his brother, and their dad had spent most of their break doing the enchanting over it, now it just needed a few more touches and it was done.

(I saw Annabeth playing... but Annabeth loved it.)

Annabeth made a small noise of longing when Thalia read about it, she honestly didn't remember her time there, but she wished she at least remembered that game. She probably made some good stuff on it.

She could have a lot of fun with something like that... Leo glanced at her and blinked, then made another note. These books were giving him so many ideas!

(I'm not sure when... something was wrong.)

"The spell is starting to wear off." Poseidon said in satisfaction.

"But how much time have they already spent there?" Hermes asked in concern. "And how much longer before it wears off completely, and then he has to find the other two and try to snap them out of it." Poseidon grimaced, but didn't bother trying to correct his nephew.

How could he? He was right.

(Probably, it was when... on homecoming night.)

"Ugh." Aphrodite looked disgusted. "What was I thinking back then?" She asked. Honestly, those were some bad choices back then.

Everyone else shrugged and turned back to the reading, amused.

It seemed Apollo had not been the only one to go through a strange phase back then.

"So... it was how somebody else was dressed that started to clue you in that something wasn't right?" Annabeth asked, amused.

"His clothes were part of it." Percy responded, tilting his head to the side as if that would help him remember. "There was something nagging at the back of my mind the whole time we were there, though, it just started... I don't know- getting more noticeable? After I noticed how he was dressed and how he talked." He tried to explain just what it was that got his attention and started really throwing mental red flags up.

(We played a game... said, "Groovy, man.)

"Groovy?" Travis snickered. "Who says that anymore?" He asked.

Nobody answered him. Those who were paying the most attention among the demigods, their bad feeling about this place was getting worse and worse.

Percy had a frown on his face while he looked off into space.

(Been here two weeks... better and better."

Groovy?)

"Exactly! That kid needs to bring his vocabulary into the 21st Century." Connor agreed with his brother and book-Percy.

Percy's frown deepened.

(Later, while we were... to the computer screen.)

"That is part of the magic of the place. If they are too occupied with the games, they will not start wondering or wishing to leave." Hermes said, a little sad for this 'Darrin'. By this point, though, he'd probably been in there for so long (judging by his clothes and speech) that it would be kinder to leave him there.

Sally made a soft, keening sound, just wondering what that boys mother must have went through gone he disappeared.

(I said, "Hey, Darrin?"

"What?"

"What year is it?")

Those who had not already figured out what was wrong frowned.

"Why would you be asking for the year?" Travis asked suspiciously.

"Because he's started to figure out what is really going on here." Katie answered, exasperated. Honestly, she knew the two of them were smarter than this, why did they insist on acting otherwise?

(He frowned at me... think about it. "1977.")

Those who knew nothing of the Lotus Casino were stunned silent, as they now realized just what the trap was. Zeus suddenly sat up as if shocked. The Bolt! He hadn't even thought about that when he heard his daughter read the name of this casino.

"You need to leave, now, before anymore time passes and so you can find my Bolt!" He commanded, as if that would make a difference. Poseidon shot him a venomous look for only thinking about his stupid lightning bolt.

"Come sei scappato?" Nico muttered in Italian. How did you escape? He hadn't thought it was possible without a gods intervention. After all, Hades had Alecto put them there, and Alecto was the one who took them out.

Everyone looked at him odd, but nobody asked what he said, since he didn't look like he'd actually been talking to anybody.

"Done!" Leo suddenly called, holding his new weapon up proudly and completely missing the mood in the room. Everyone startled, Percy actually started chuckling. The demigods took a few minutes to admire the Son of Hephaestus' new weapon before Thalia went back to reading.

"Make sure you take time to practice with that while we're here." Jason whispered to him, concerned. "Don't get too deep in your projects." He waited for Leo to nod his understanding before he turned his attention to his sister.

("No," I said, getting a little scared.)

"I think I would be too, if I were in this situation." Clarisse admitted.

"Really?" Annabeth asked, surprised she was admitting it.

She scowled. "There are some things you can't stick a sword or spear through, this is one of them." She retorted. She always did better when there was something she could physically fight.

("Really."

"Hey, man. Bad... totally ignored me.)

"You were asking too many questions, he couldn't handle it." Apollo said with a frown.

(I started talking to... or their food, or whatever.)

Demeter sniffed. This was why people should send their kids to work on farms, teach them something instead of sitting in front of a screen or something.

(I found a guy who... a few weeks at most.)

Everyone was silent, stunned and horrified by what they were hearing, especially the demigods. This wasn't anything new to the gods.

"How many people were in there?" Jason asked quietly, not sure if he wanted the answer.

Percy shrugged. He didn't know. "I must have talked to at least twenty people, but I don't know how many were in their rooms, or in another part of the building playing something else, or... I don't know." He shrugged helplessly. "The worst part? I don't remember seeing any adults." He suddenly realized. Sally and Paul stared at him in horror.

Nico looked down in thought. He'd been getting snatches of memory from his time in the Casino, and he didn't remember seeing Percy. But then, Bianca was pretty strict about how long he could play in the lobby everyday. That much he remembered. Maybe they weren't as affected by the games as the others because their dad put them there?

"What's the longest somebody was there that you talked to, do you remember?" Chris asked, disturbed.

"Hmm... I think the longest I heard was Darrin, and he was from '77. There might have been somebody from before that, I didn't talk to everybody." His eyes momentarily flicked towards Nico, but nobody caught it.

"What happened to everybody from before Darrin? They've been around for centuries, right? So... why aren't there older people there?" Chris asked the question none of the demigods had wanted to ask.

"As far as I know, their still alive. Time still moves in the Casino, just... extremely slowly. So, eventually Darrin will grow up, and he will be the next bellhop greeting unwitting new guests of the Hotel, or one of the servers. Or, his body might even give out on him before that, as he is mortal. I just don't know. The lotus eaters don't kill their victims, though, merely trap them in a state of forgetfulness, apathy, and with no desire to leave." Hermes answered.

(They didn't really... long had I been here?)

"That is a very good question." Reyna mused. "Which is why you need to get the others and get out." She nodded once, then had a sudden thought.

How many legionaries might be trapped there? And how long? They'd had their fair share go missing, they were always presumed dead after a certain amount of time had passed with no sign of them or no message. How many of them might still be alive in the Casino?

"Don't worry, I was working on escape." Percy smiled tightly. Grover and Annabeth certainly hadn't made that easy, either. Well, Grover made it more difficult than it really needed to be...

"He's broken the spell." Hermes said, impressed.

"Hmm... I think that has more to do with his nature as a son of Poseidon than anything else. They are difficult to contain." Apollo theorized. Poseidon quirked a grin, but didn't say anything to prove or disprove the theory.

(It seemed like only... why we were here.)

"It's only been a few hours and you've already forgotten?" Piper asked in horror. The other demigods shifted and looked at each other, uneasy. Most of them had finally realized why they felt so uneasy about the constant lotus references once Darrin told Percy the year he thought it was. This was very, very serious.

"I'm pretty sure it's been more than a few hours." Jason pointed out. After all, there were people who'd been there for decades who thought it had only been a few weeks.

She waved him off. "It only felt like a few hours to him, we won't learn how much time actually passed until later."

"This is why video games and TV are bad for you. They make you lose complete track of time, and then rot your brains." Demeter huffed. Now, spending time in a nice wheat field, that would do anyone a lot of good.

(We were going to... remembering her name.)

There were horrified gasps. What kind of magic was being used here that could make Percy Jackson forget his mother. Forgetting the quest was one thing, but Percy was a self-proclaimed, loud-and-proud momma's boy. His fatal flaw was loyalty, especially towards those he cared about.

There was no way he would ever forget his mother.

"I changed my mind, I don't think I want to go there, after all." Travis said faintly. He didn't want to forget his life! His family!

Percy grimaced and wrapped himself tightly around his mothers arm, not letting her go. He'd had a fear ever since this moment of forgetting everyone important to him. So soon after the Fates giving his memories back after Hera took them... His fears were a little closer to the surface right now than usual.

(Sally. Sally Jackson... causing World War III.)

Paul smiled slightly towards his step-son. His love for their Sally was what snapped him out of whatever spell this place put over him.

Hera beamed. This was how a boy should regard his mother!

"Although I'm pretty sure stopping WWIII was a complete afterthought compared to Sally." Annabeth stated. It wasn't even a question, they all knew it was true. Thalia kept reading before her father could protest about why his Bolt wasn't a consideration in why Percy had to get out of the Casino.

(I found Annabeth still building her city.)

"Wow, you were really into that, weren't you? Percy moved from game to game, but you're still there." Gwen tilted her head. Annabeth blushed slightly.

"It sounds amazing! I have got to recreate that." She informed the room. Leo immediately sat at her side, drawing her attention to his book so they could plan it out. He was sure he could build something to her liking. It could be like what Tony Stark had in Iron Man!

Only better, because this one would be built by Leo Valdez!

("Come on," I told... out of here.")

"Not going to work like that." Apollo sing-songed, and fell silent at the small glare sent his way. He was interested in how Percy got her attention so they could get Grover and get out of there.

(No response.

I shook her... her again. "What?")

"That didn't take long for her to become ensnared." Thalia said in surprise, blinking. She flushed red and muttered something.

("Listen. The Underworld... a few more minutes.")

"Ah, the famous line teenagers all over America have perfected." Paul said with a chuckle. Honestly, he was glad that he didn't have to go through that with Percy, although if (or when) he and Sally ever had children of their own someday, he expected that he would hear that often. The Greek teenagers in the room blinked innocently while Chiron chuckled. He'd heard that several times, as well, although his students weren't engaged in video games when they said it.

No, they were usually the ones who tended to spend all their time at the Arena. Percy, a few times, said that when Chiron was trying to get him to come in from the middle of the lake.

("Annabeth, there are... a better place?")

"Oh, yeah, you're under their spell, alright." Hermes said with a wince. Sometimes, he really envied children of Poseidon (on behalf of his own children), it came in handy in situations like this, that was for sure. "Reasoning with her is useless, you're going to have to figure something else out." Apollo nodded his agreement.

Athena was disappointed and a little angry that the sea-spawn did not fall under the Lotus eaters influence, but her daughter was so easily taken in.

"And I can imagine a better place, my apartment in New York, with my mother in it." Percy informed the room, his voice sounded a little clipped. Annabeth winced, but he wouldn't hear any apologies, he'd figured she wasn't really talking, it was that place that was talking.

(I grabbed her wrist... screamed and hit me,)

"That hurt, by the way." Percy informed her, she stuck out her tongue. If anybody noticed that he had yet to loosen his grip on Sally, they didn't mention it.

(but nobody else even... Large, hairy spiders.")

Everyone winced, remembering her extreme (even for a child of Athena) reaction to spiders.

"If that doesn't get her attention, nothing will." Thalia interrupted herself to say. Annabeth nodded.

(That jarred her. Her vision cleared.)

"And this is the first thing I remember after we walked in the door." She informed the room. And it was the truth.

("Oh my gods," she said. "How long have we—")

"You put that together quickly." Luke said, proud. She smiled shakily at him.

("I don't know, but... Virtual Deer Hunter.)

"Wow, you really liked that game, didn't you?"

Grover didn't answer.

Leo checked the note he'd made, put several stars beside it, and went back to planning the 3-D table with Annabeth.

("Grover!" we both... polluting nasty person!")

Grover turned bright, bright red while his older self groaned and slumped back into his seat while Chiron looked at them both sternly. Everyone else stared at the Satyr in shock.

"Percy was right. You do have evil thoughts for a goat." Clarisse mumbled. Chris nodded in agreement.

("Grover!")

"You know, with all the noise you're making to get Grover's attention, and all the noise Annabeth was causing before you snapped out of it, I'm surprised none of the lotus eaters have noticed anything going on." Persephone pointed out.

Percy snorted. "They probably did, and figured that there was nothing to worry about."

"What do you mean?" Piper asked.

Thalia had read ahead a little while they talked, and she was relieved to see it was almost the end of the chapter. "It will be explained. The chapters almost done, by the way." She interrupted, and kept on reading.

(He turned the plastic... image from the screen.)

"Video games." Demeter said in disgust, causing the demigods to look at her in surprise, after being startled out of their laughter, of course. Grover had turned an even deeper shade of red.

"She really doesn't like video games, does she?" He asked those around him rhetorically. They shook their heads.

"I don't think I want to know." Annabeth decided. Anything a god/goddess did or did not like, she didn't want to know.

(I looked at Annabeth... in the other direction)

Now Apollo looked at Hermes (who was frowning in thought) in concern, knowing that the shoes weren't supposed to be reacting to emotions like that. Either those shoes had been tampered with, or the magic of the Casino was interfering with the magic of the shoes.

He was pretty sure he preferred the Casino interfering with them over the other option.

(as he shouted, "No!... hurried up to us.)

"Now they are starting to worry, I think." Poseidon muttered, leaning back and knowing his son would be fine now. As soon as he broke free of their control, it was a given that Percy would get out of there safely. Of course, there was always the chance that the lotus eaters would get violent, but they had grown extremely complacent over the centuries, having perfected their techniques for keeping people ensnared.

Of course, they never could figure out how to keep any of his children contained, could they?

("Well, now, are... platinum cards?")

"Oh? That's new." Hermes muttered, raising an eyebrow. Or was that just for those who started to resist and try to escape? To provide extra incentive to stay?

("We're leaving," I told... his heart if we went.)

Percy scowled at the thought of somebody trying to guilt-trip him like that. He hated being guilt-tripped, especially by his enemies!

"They are good." Piper said in admiration. She could make it seem like that, too, but only if she was using charm-speak, and she hated doing that to people.

("We just added an... and I wanted one.)

"This was why they weren't too worried. They have a back-up plan for those who try to leave. Offer them something so tempting..." Amphitrite said in realization. "They must be cranking up the Mist manipulation right now, with that card, too. To make it even harder to resist." She told her husband, who nodded in agreement.

He still wasn't too worried, because now his son knew what was going on, he wasn't going to let himself be caught a second time.

(I knew that if I... Disco Darrin forever.)

All the demigods shuddered. While that did sound like a nice existence when compared to their 'kill-or-be-killed' lives, they wouldn't want to be trapped like that.

If there was one thing being a demigod had taught all of them, even at their young ages, it was that you had to live life. As nice as that existence sounded, it was just that. An existence. That wasn't living.

(Grover reached for... said, "No, thanks.")

"Good, if you'd let him take that, you would have had an even harder time of getting him out of there." Hestia murmured.

(We walked toward... real bed for once...)

"Whoa, they don't hold back. They really want you staying, don't they?" Luke said, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"Yeah... it got harder to resist with every step towards the door." Percy admitted. He'd struggled to hold onto thoughts of his mom, using her as a means to block out the scents and sounds of the Casino.

(Then we burst through... down the sidewalk.)

"This is the first thing I remember." Grover said, disturbed.

(It felt like afternoon... into the casino,)

A few demigods perked up hopefully, hoping that, maybe they hadn't been in there long enough for time to really start getting away from them. Maybe... Thalia kept reading.

(but something was... out in the desert.)

"It's not the same day you went in there, is it?" Gwen asked with a grimace. "I don't think I've ever heard of weather changing like that so quickly in one afternoon. Well... unless Lord Jupiter is involved, of course." She amended. Zeus momentarily flickered between persona's and held back his grimace. They were going to have to ask those Romans to stick with calling them by their Greek names. They'd been pretty good about it so far, but they were starting to slip back into old habits there.

"If only you knew." Jason snorted, thinking about Aeolus and his 'news every five-minutes' thing. When she looked at him in curiosity, he waved her off and she dropped it with a trust born from having him as her centurion for several years.

"Either way, I wish I knew if this storm was natural, or if it was Zeus being angry. It was pretty close to the deadline." Percy commented, brow furrowed in thought.

"Stop, we may never know." Annabeth instructed quietly. He made a face, but agreed.

(Ares's backpack was slung over my shoulder,)

"Wait, what?" Jason asked.

"Didn't you throw that away?" Rachel asked, concerned.

Percy sighed. "Yes, yes I did." He muttered. "Don't worry, I'm sure the prodigal backpack will be explained in a later chapter." He shook his head.

(which was odd, because... problems to worry about.)

"Yeah, like finding out what year it was." He shuddered.

(I ran to the nearest... when we went in.)

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. "Ok, now check the date. As long as it isn't the twenty-first yet, you should be fine." Reyna said, and Percy shot her a look that she couldn't decipher, but all the Greeks knew it was his 'just how dumb do you think I am?' look.

(Then I noticed the... for five days.)

"But it only felt like a few hours." Katie murmured.

"Yeah... but Darrin said the year was 1977, right? And that he'd been there for a few weeks? That's about one decade outside for every week inside. A few hours turning into five days... that's nothing." Annabeth said, thinking about it logically.

"You only have one more day." Rachel murmured to herself. "You have to find out what is really going on, then you have to find the Bolt itself yet, then find a way back to New York in only one day."

(We had only one... complete our quest.)

"Whoa. That's not good. You still have to get to California! And find the entrance to the Underworld... and then once you get down there, you won't have time to figure out what's really going on!" Jason said, worried about the quest. Did they cut it close on their own mission to free Hera? Yes.

But at least they knew exactly what they were doing and potentially walking into. Well, aside from the small detour to free Piper's dad, but the Hunters of Artemis had gone on ahead to the Wolf House, so it wasn't all bad.

"And that's why I said to never assume that you will have plenty of time for a quest. Always assume something will happen and all your time will be gone." Annabeth sat back with a sigh. And to think, this quest was considered 'back in the good old days'.

"That's the end of the chapter, by the way." Thalia said, taking a moment to collect herself. Luke didn't look much better. He and Kronos had wondered where the three of them disappeared to for those five days, he'd been getting really worried, especially for Annabeth. It wasn't until they turned back up in L.A that he'd allowed himself to breathe again, knowing Annabeth was safe, well... as safe as one get ever be on a quest, especially one to the Underworld.

"I'll read, next." Reyna volunteered. Thalia passed the book over to her, and she flipped to the next chapter.

Chapter seventeen: We Shop for Waterbeds