A/N: And . . . the bonding chapters are over. Hunter and Annabeth bonding just . . . didn't work in my mind. Think about it, doesn't it strike you as weird? Nothing worked in my mind. So it never happened. I dunno if I'll update next week. See, I don't want to reveal too much to you guys in the next chapter, so it's a challenge to make it work. I'm still unsure of what I want to tell you. Anyways. Read on!

Percy: Sickly Scents and Monster's Chow

It had been a nice surprise to see Cora looking so relaxed. Ever since we had gotten her out of capture, she'd had this shadowed look like she was being ripped apart from the inside. It had been getting worse, but I'd been too worried to bring it up, scared it would only make her shy away more.

However, her light mood evaporated when Annabeth came out of the shower and we had to plan. It was late in the day. None of us were hungry, so we talked about where to go next and went to sleep. Cora wanted to get out of the city as soon as possible, except we didn't know where to go. We agreed to stay in the hotel for a few days until we found a new lead.

I noticed that by this point Cora had that look in her eyes again. That painful look that almost made me think she was still scared.

We drew the thick curtains across the windows and each climbed into our respective beds. My stomach was tight with worry. It was a very long time before I fell asleep.

I stood in darkness, with the heavy feeling of presences weighing down on me. I looked around, unable to see anything. I couldn't shake the feeling I wasn't alone.

Looking up I saw bright pin-pricks above me, growing slowly stronger. Stars, I realized, after a minute. They were stars, constellations, gleaming brightly. The feeling of others around me grew stronger and suddenly everything burst into light.

My jaw dropped and I felt a twinge of nerves. I was standing behind a pillar on the outside of the throne room of the gods. Every seat was filled; twelve foot tall beings radiating power, their faces hard and tired. They looked like they'd just been through a battle and were dealing with the casualties.

That made me even more nervous.

They started talking, but I couldn't hear anything. It was like somebody had clicked the mute button in my dreams. I squinted from where I stood, trying to read their lips. They were speaking to quickly – and in Greek – for me to follow. I didn't like the tension in the hall, though.

I caught something out of the corner of my eye and looked over. There was nothing; yet I could have sworn I'd seen someone shadow-travel away.

Nico, I thought bitterly, the little spy. The bigger question was, what had he been doing here? I focused back on the gods and noticed something odd. Sitting in the middle of the hearth – literally sitting in it – was Hestia.

Her features were pale and grave, her face deadly serious as she said something. She gestured downwards and I noticed something in the marble floor. A tiny little blemish in the perfect surface. I leaned forward a bit and stared at it. It was directly below the brazier holding the fire.

I frowned. What was it; a missing piece? A decoration? Something else? I wasn't sure.

Athena leant forward and said something. A moment later everything swirled around me and I woke in my bed with a start.

It was pitch-black in the room, and my eyes took a moment to adjust. For a moment I thought everyone was still asleep; then I noticed the figure at Cora's bed.

It was Hunter. He was sitting next to Cora, who leaned against him, clutching his shirt, mumbling something to him in French, her face looking like she'd had a nightmare.

I didn't move. Somehow it seemed wrong to let them know I was awake. I closed my eyes again. For a moment I felt upset. I was Cora's brother. I was the one who should be there for her. Briefly I considered getting up.

Stop it, I told myself. You're just upset that your rather recent little sister doesn't need you sooner than you would've liked. I knew I was being stupid and jealous. Still, I couldn't help it and I had to force myself to fall back asleep.

The next day I woke up sometime around noon, and that was only because everyone else prodded me awake. The only consoling part about that, was that everyone else had only just gotten up. After all, it was the first night in a bed for nearly a week.

Still half asleep, all of our stomachs rumbling, I grabbed the room phone and called up room service. I ordered for us a full meal, probably cleaning out half the kitchen in the process.

It arrived half an hour later – which meant we were all starving – and we quickly set up a makeshift table for us to eat at. There was a bit of fighting when dishing out the food, which meant a couple insults were tossed about. Hey, we were hungry!

"Do you think we should burn some for the gods?" Annabeth asked. "We'll have leftovers, and, well . . ."

"Well, I'm eating," Cora said, her stomach rumbling loudly. She quickly sawed off a piece of meat and stuffed it in her mouth.

Immediately her face froze over and she chewed a couple times, swallowing slowly and setting the fork down with a chink. She suddenly looked green.

"That tasted like hellhound poop," she said, her voice thin.

"How do you know that?" I demanded.

"I don't want to know." She made a retching sound, looking horrible. "I'm going to be sick." She flew to her feet and raced into the bathroom, hand over her mouth. A second later I heard the sounds of her throwing up.

I took down at the plate and pushed it away. "I think I know why this place has such a low rating."

There were more sounds from the bathroom. The three of us looked at each other, wide eyed, and Hunter was quickly on his feet and hurrying to Cora.

"Okay, we are so not eating this," Annabeth said, standing up. "Come on Seaweed Brain, let's go and find something edible." I nodded and we headed to the door.

"Maybe we can use it as monster poison," I suggested. "Get some value out of it."

"Maybe."

We paused by the door and glanced in on the bathroom. Cora was hunched over the toilet, looking awful. Hunter was kneeling next to her, holding her hair back and saying something in a soothing tone. I had a feeling she'd be in safe hands.

"And maybe something to help Cora," I suggested.

"Good idea."

We strolled down a street in Phoenix in the bright afternoon sunlight. Our hands were intertwined, and I found myself wishing this was a date. It'd be nice, after, like, a month on a wild-goose-quest.

I'm not going to lie, we did waste about ten minutes simply talking. Then we figured we'd better actually get food before we fainted from hunger. We found this little take-out place that served Greek food.

We waited behind some guy who would have looked like a sumo wrestler if his muscle was transferred into roles of fat. He was near seven feet tall and ripped like a giant. I had a bad feeling as he ordered something in a voice that sounded a lot like Tyson's.

When the man got his order and brushed past us, I happened to look up at his face. I went tense as I stared up at where his eyes should be. He had only one eye.

Cyclops.

He didn't seem to notice me, which was odd. I nudged Annabeth, who was stepping up to order. "That man's a Cyclops," I whispered.

Her eyes widened. She gave me a little nod. "Excuse me, sir," she said to the man behind the counter. "But who was that man, the previous customer?"

She got a blank look. "Sorry? There hasn't been another customer for quite a few minutes, and they weren't a man."

Annabeth and I looked at each other, instinctively coming to a plan. I darted out of the shop, looking around and quickly spotting the hulking figure of the Cyclops. I moved a little ways down the street, so I wouldn't lose him.

There were still a bunch of rogue Cyclops around, and usually when they lived in a city it was to eat people. Although . . . what would a monster want with takeout? That didn't make sense. It was still our job to get rid of the evil ones, though. Plus, monsters sometimes have good information, if you're lucky.

Hardly a minute later Annabeth burst out of the shop, breathing something about coming back later as she ran up to me.

I pointed to the monster and we hurried through the crowded street, not too worried about losing it but not wanting it to simply vanish at the same time.

We followed the Cyclops for a few blocks until he ducked into an alley. Annabeth and I broke into a sprint and rounded the corner just in time to see him open a door and go inside one of the buildings.

Annabeth checked the sign out front. "This is some sort of mechanics shop," she said.

"Makes sense." I crept down the alley, quietly pushing the door inwards. I poked my head in and looked around.

The place did look like a mechanics workshop, only merged with a forge, because there was the massive kiln. Annabeth looked in around me and we waited.

The Cyclops set down his takeout and picked up an envelope on the table. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. The Cyclops grumbled something, opening it, reading it, and then slamming it down in disgust.

"Damn them," he grumbled. "Sendin' me more orders, figurin' I'll just do 'em." He jerked something the glowed out of the kiln and slammed it on an iron, smashing at it loudly with a massive hammer. "You'd think they'd do the grunt work themselves, holed up in them mountains the way they are."

I went tense as the Cyclops stopped hammering and stuffed the object back in the kiln. "They got the gods know what in there, plannin' and schemin' and plottin' and gettin' the glory. Damn them, thinkin' I'm gonna keep doin' this." He gave a wild laugh. "Bet they don't know I know their main plan backfired. Who'd of thought they'd get themselves a jailbreak." He gave another laugh and pulled out the item, once again hammering away.

Annabeth slipped away and after a second I followed her, closing the door as quietly as I could. We hurried out onto the street.

"I think we found their weapons supplier," I said.

"Mm," Annabeth mused. "It sounds like he could give us some information. After that, we'll have to kill him. Do you think we should –"

"Wait," I said. "We should get Cora and Hunter first."

Annabeth blinked. "What?"

"You heard him, Annabeth. He mentioned a jailbreak – that has to be about Cora. Whatever he has to say, she'll want to hear it firsthand. It'd be wrong not to let her. We know where this guy is, it won't take long to go back and get them."

At that moment Annabeth's stomach rumbled. "And to get something to eat. I see your point."

A few minutes later we were walking back into our hotel room, after taking a brief detour to pick up the takeout. The first thing that hit me was the smell. It reminded me of monsters, expect a certain rot-like scent.

I wrinkled my nose. "What on earth is that?"

"The food," came Cora's voice, sounding a little on the raspy side. "It started stinking like crazy."

"Why didn't you get rid of it? This is just re-enforcing the hellhound-poop theory," I commented.

"We've been trying to figure out how to burn it without setting off the smoke alarms."

"Oh." I looked down at Cora and Hunter. They were both sitting on a bed; Cora's face still looking a little green. "How are you feeling?"

She made a face. "My stomach's still queasy. I'm just lucky it ran out of things to throw up."

"Maybe this'll help," Annabeth said, pulling out a container and offering it to Cora. "There's ginger in it, so it'll help your stomach."

"Thanks." A flicker of a smile crossed her face. She raised an eyebrow at the contents but didn't comment. Annabeth and I set out the other takeout containers. After ditching the monster food out the window (we threw it in the nearest alleyway, and we hardly missed).

"We'd better eat fast," I said as I dug in.

"Why?" Cora asked.

"'Cause. We've got a new lead about what's happened."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

"Uh-huh," Annabeth was eying a piece of meat. "If we take too long, they might leave."

Cora frowned. "Who's 'they'?"

"It's a metal smith or something. A Cyclops," I explained. "And this one, you get to beat up."

A/N: I love how Cora and Hunter try to think of a way to get rid of the food discreetly, while Percy just chucks it. What do you think? What does the dream mean? And what is it with the nutcases (yes, I call them the evil nutcases) and their labour? Next chapter – when it comes – will be awesome. There's some kick-ass Cora in it. I think you guys'll enjoy it. Until my next update – review, add to favs or alerts, and let me know your thought! Feedback means better stories!
(Oh, yeah, for all of you rooting for Cora and Hunter . . . you'll get something quite nice in either three chapters or five! – to be determined)