Hey guys. I hope you all enjoy this chapter- this one isn't quite so fluffy but it includes important developments that you guys all need to know of before the Labyrinth. Also featuring Percy being a lil bit dumb in a way that will come back to bite her in the ass because communication is key people. But also, dumb teenagers don't always think.

By the end of the week Rachel was a regular in the Jackson home- she had no interest in being at her own home- Percy was getting more and more curious about the other girls parents, but in the end she knew that it wasn't really any of her business.

Percy told Annabeth about the surprise development when they IM'd, though she had skipped out the fact that Alabaster had paid her a visit though, she'd made it sound as if she'd just ran into Rachel when she was freaking out over losing sight of Nico- she didn't want her girlfriend worrying about the fact that Alabaster had nearly managed to get her.

And the idea of admitting to anyone that he'd kissed her- the idea of telling Annabeth that, it freaked her out. It was probably stupid but she couldn't help it.

Annabeth had been surprised at the unexpected run in with Rachel, but she'd agreed that it would probably be good for Rachel to spend time with people who could reassure he that she wasn't insane- and it was good for Percy to have someone other than Nico and Leo to hang out with since Annabeth wasn't exactly able to visit often.

And Sally had introduced the kids to Paul- and Percy had decided that she approved, he seemed very respectful towards all of them, if slightly intimidated by the number of kids Sally had- since she'd sat him down and explained that Percy was her biological daughter and that she'd adopted four other children, though they didn't all live at home all of the time.

Some men would have up and left at that but Paul had stayed- and he seemed to genuinely care for Sally and he made a real good effort with Percy, Nico and Leo.

He'd offered to help Percy get into the high school he taught at, and he'd also started helping Leo and Nico with their English homework when they were really struggling whenever he visited. When Sally had, after the first few meetings pulled Percy aside and asked what she thought. Of course she'd given her full and wholehearted approval, Paul was probably one of the few men around who might actually just about be worthy of her mother.

All in all, in Percy's opinion, things were pretty good.

Or at least they were until one day maybe a month after Percy had ran into Rachel.

Sally had gone on a date with Paul.

Leo was out in his shed, working on something insane probably, and Percy, Nico and Rachel were sprawled across the couches watching TV when it happened- the sudden knocking on the door had Percy almost falling off the couch- something about the noise was almost frantic, and she glanced at Nico and Rachel, who had both straightened up slightly. "You guys stay here." and she made her way out to the door, opening it- and she blinked slowly, frowning at the sight that met her.

Kayla was stood there, her face pale, her red hair windswept- and Percy blinked when she saw Blackjack shifting from hoof to hoof at the bottom of the garden.

"Kayla what's wrong?"

"It's-" Kayla swallowed hard, "I need to see Nico. Chris- Chris showed up in the middle of Camp today. He- something's really wrong with him."

"What?" Percy's eyes widened, "Chris- Is he okay? Nico! Nico get your ass here! Kayla, come inside a sec." Percy grabbed the younger girls arm and pulled her inside- and gods but she was shaking and she looked near tears, "Blackjack wait out here a sec."

"Sure thing boss." and even Blackjack sounded worried, that wasn't a good sign.

As Percy shut the door Nico reached them, his eyes widening as he took in the sight of Kayla, "Kayla what the- what happened-"

"Will found Chris in the woods at camp. He-" Kayla's voice caught, "He's insane. Something's driven him insane and Will can't seem to help him." she blinked back tears,
"And- and we tried to contact Clarisse. She's gone, no one knows where she is. Chris keeps calling for her but..."

"Oh gods." Percy felt a flood of horror. "She's gone missing-" her eyes flicked to Nico.

While Percy's relationship with Clarisse was at least no longer antagonistic, she still wasn't really close to the daughter of Ares, but Nico, Will and Kayla were. Nico even more
than Will and Kayla because she'd taken special care to take him under her wing.

And Nico looked stunned, his mouth dropping open slightly. "But- but it's Clarisse." his voice said that that should explain everything, "She's- Clarisse." And his expression was almost heart breaking, the pure confusion and sudden fear at the thought of the older girl being in trouble.

"Nico-"

"Clarisse is too strong to just get caught-"

"Something's happened." Kayla shook her head, "Will and I are gonna go and visit Clarisses' mom's place, we're going to try and figure out what happened to her-"

"I'm coming." there was no room for argument in Nico's voice- and looking at her little brother's face Percy knew that there would be no point in even trying, because it had shifted into an expression of pure determination.

For a brief moment she considered offering to go with them... but no, as much as she wanted to protect Nico, and as much as she'd like to help Clarisse, it wasn't her place this time. It wasn't her quest to go on.

Percy knew that instinctively. Besides she needed to be easily reachable by Chiron in case she was needed at camp, these days she was considered one of the senior campers, after everything she'd done. If anything happened she was one of the ones who would be called in. Nico, Will and Kayla weren't so much, a girl called Summer, a daughter of Iris was the head counsellor of the minor gods and goddess' cabin, and of course Lee was the head of the Apollo cabin.

"Keep in contact as much as you can." Percy laid a hand on Nico's shoulder, "If you need my help then IM me, okay?"

"Of course." Nico nodded, "Of course." he let out a shaky breath, "Let me go pack a bag- is Will at camp."

"Yeah, he's making sure we have a lot of medical supplies just in case." Kayla's voice was grim, "Whatever happened to Chris- we have to be prepared for Clarisse to be in a pretty rough condition."

"Of course." Nico was rushing upstairs, and Percy pulled Kayla into the kitchen, getting her to sit down with some water while Nico hastily got ready.

"Is everything okay?" Rachel's voice was concerned, and when Percy turned her head she saw the other girl stood in the doorway.

"Uh- not really." Percy gave a tight smile, "A friend of Nico's has gone missing and the guy who was with her... is kinda- not okay right now so he's going to try and find her."

"Oh gods." Rachel frowned, "That sounds bad-"

"It is." Kayla's voice was tight, "It's Clarisse- she's the toughest girl I've ever known. She wouldn't stay away unless something really bad happened- she'd be with Chris if she could be." she paused, "Who are you?"

"Rachel." Rachel gave a little wave of her hand, "Mortal, clear sighted though-

"Right." Kayla let out a shaky breath, putting her water back on the table and holding her head in her hands. "Gods. Percy-"

"You'll find her." Percy said quickly, "Kayla, you guys will find her I know you will. You three are an epic trio- not as good as Annabeth, Grover and I, but nearly." that made Kayla let out a weak laugh, lifting her head.

"Will, Nico and I are a lot cooler than you-"

"Agree to disagree there." Percy waved a hand dismissively before she tilted her head slightly, "How are you coping Kayla?" as Percy spoke Rachel moved to the fridge, pulling herself out a can of coke.

"I'll be fine." Kayla's smile was tight, "It was just- Chris is a mess and Clarisse wouldn't have just left him like that."

"I know that." Percy hesitated, "Who's looking after Chris?"

"Silena, she offered to look after him because she was getting close with Clarisse before she left for Christmas. She was giving her advice about Chris-"

"I knew there was something going on between Clarisse and Chris." Percy sighed, "Gods I hope they're both gonna be okay." Chris was nice. He was unclaimed but he didn't care so much about that as he had before the unclaimed kids had been given their own cabin. Besides the Hermes kids all treated him as if he was one of them- and Percy had a sneaking suspicion they were right, when he grinned it reminded her of Luke, Mikey and the Stolls. And he was good for Clarisse.

As for Clarisse- well the girl was tough as anything and kinda a bully at times but she looked out for Nico so that made Percy automatically want her to be safe.

"I'm sure they're okay." Rachel's voice was firm as she sat down at the table, "I mean, you guys are all pretty badass from what I've seen. If this Clarisse is as tough as you guys I'm sure she'll be fine."

"She will." that was from Nico, who was stepping into the kitchen, a bag slung over his shoulder, "Percy, make sure you tell mom what's up-"

"I will." Percy moved towards him quickly, laying a hand on his shoulder, "If you need anything Nico, just promise you'll IM me okay?"

"I will." Nico nodded, surging forward and hugging Percy tightly, "I'm be okay Percy I promise-"

"You better be." Percy forced herself to breath slowly, she resisted the urge to cling to Nico and never let go.

Nico was growing up, he was the same age she'd been when she'd went on her first quest, he was good with his sword and he'd trained a lot with his powers- if anyone could look after himself out there it was Nico- and he'd have Will and Kayla with him, they were a good team, Will could heal them up if they ever did anything too stupid and got hurt, and Percy knew from games of capture the flag that they could be lethal when they were put together- the only people who could kick their asses were Percy, Clarisse and Annabeth- and that had been an interesting game, Clarisse had declared that the kids were getting too cocky and they should knock them down a peg- it was one of the few times the three girls had worked together without there being arguments between Percy and Clarisse or Annabeth and Clarisse.

"Percy." Nico's voice was gentle, "You're gonna squeeze me to death y'know."

"I just-" Percy swallowed hard, "You have to be careful okay?"

"I will be." Nico pressed his lips to her cheek, "I'm more worried about your dumbass, last time I left you for longer than a day or so you ended up tossing a guy off a cliff-"

"I mean, in my defence he had it coming."

"I can't argue with that but he was the only one capable of pulling you up as far as you knew-"

"I was in a bad place-"

"I know." Nico let out a breath, "Listen. I'm gonna be fine okay." as Percy released her grip on him he stepped back. "If anything happens I will IM you, I promise you Percy-"

"We'll look after him." Kayla stood up, "We'll find Clarisse and we'll get her back to camp. It'll be okay."

"I know." Percy turned her head to look at Kayla, "Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid and use his powers too much-"

"I won't need to." Kayla snickered softly as Nico's face flushed, "Will can do that- remember how he yelled at him last time-"

"How can I forget." Percy let herself smile as her shoulders relaxed very slightly. He was going to be okay, Nico was strong, as were Will and Kayla, they'd find Clarisse and get her home just fine and if they needed back up then they'd IM her. "I'll see you guys again soon okay? And I'll let everyone know what's up."

"Good." Nico moved over to Kayla, "I'll shadow travel us back to camp for the sake of speed."

"I'll let Blackjack know he can fly himself home." Percy gave a small smile as she watched Kayla grab Nico's shoulder, and then the shadows seemed to swallow them.

Then Percy was closing her eyes and breathing slowly- and a hand was suddenly on her shoulder. "He'll be okay."

"Rache-"

"He will be Perce- I know that I'm still learning about your world but he'll be fine, I know he will."

"I know. I just... nearly lost him before." Percy gave a tight smile as she turned her head to look at Rachel. "The thought of losing him again terrifies me."

"Of course it does." Rachel was pulling Percy into a hug, "It's gonna be okay Percy."

"I know." Percy pulled back after a moment, giving Rachel a grateful smile, "Thank you so much for- well for being here."

"What are friends for." Rachel lightly jabbed Percy's shoulder, "Now- did I see a literal Pegasus outside because I swear if I don't get a chance to ride it I will riot-"

"You want-"

"Of course I do." Rachel grinned, her eyes sparkling with eagerness.

"But what if you fell-"

"I'm hardly gonna fall. If you're with me."

"I-" Percy paused before smiling slightly, "I guess a short flight couldn't do too much harm-" and she let Rachel snatch up her hand and drag her outside to Blackjack- and she had to admit she was painfully glad that the other girl was there- if she didn't have someone to distract her she'd be too busy fretting about Nico, sure there was Leo but he was in his workshop and she didn't want to disturb him.

As they reached Blackjack though Percy let herself focus on the here and now- and she grinned as Rachel gushed over Blackjack, who almost preened at the attention.
She definitely wished Annabeth was with her too- but, well, it was nice having a mortal friend to hang out with.