Percy

Leo looks up, and as if noticing Frank for the first time, turns to us. "He okay?"

Nico, whose head peeks out from under the table, shrugs. "Candy Crush."

Leo rolls his eyes and flops over on the couch, his feet nearly hitting a still-distressed Frank in the back. "Congrats on the wedding, by the way."

"Thanks," Annabeth says dryly "Is this a normal thing for you guys?" She waves her arm at the scene before us: crying Frank, hiding Nico, Leo and I acting like nothing's wrong. I have to admit, to anyone who wasn't used to the madness (and really, could anyone every truly get 'used to' it?), this would seem like chaotic hell. But for us, it was nothing short of usual.

Leo grunts. "Ehh, pretty much."

"He turns into Frankenstein. It's not healthy." Nico crawls out from under the table.

I cut in. "Please, it's nothing compared to Jason and Flappy Bird." Which is a nightmare. Leo and I, concerned, had deleted the app from his phone, and not a moment too soon; it had gone off the App Store the next day. He was never to experience the thrill and pain of getting a little bird through pipes.

"Touché."

"Hey!" Jason's voice echoes throughout the house. He stands, looking like blond Superman, at the landing at the top of the stairs. "We have a song to record, do we not?"

Annabeth

About ten minutes later, five of us are in the sound room or whatever the hades it's called. (Jason says the 'recording studio', though it looks more like a soundproof port-a-potty with some microphones in it.) Some douchey, touchy-feely man sits at the panel of buttons and switches, Nico on a wooden stool beside him.

"Ow! That's my back, idiot!" Leo hisses, and everyone shuffles around, beginning the poking and insults and threats of dismemberment. Frank's elbow collides with my eye socket, and I'm temporarily blinded. Clutching my hand to my eye, someone hits me in the back.

"Sorry, whoever I just hit!"

"No problem!" I reply. It's sturdy and crowded and all too reminiscent of the broom closet.

"Jason!"

"Yeah?"

"Was this place-" Leo grunts, climbing around Percy and shuffling along the edge of the wall. "Always so cramped?"

"No. Percy, move over." Everyone shuffles around again, and now I'm pressed between a wall and a person. The good news is, it's closer to the door. "Hera wanted the sauna expanded. Said this room wasn't necessary. Knocked out a wall and made this one smaller."

"Oh really?" Percy says, sarcasm dripping like a leaky faucet. "It got smaller?"

Someone, probably Leo, swings a fist, and through the action is in jest, I can't help but feel irritated. Especially after it collides with my skull.

"Sorry Annabeth!"

Muttering swears under my breath, I try to locate the doorknob. It's got to be here somewhere...

"Spider!"

What? "Kill it!" I screech, my eyes frantic. I need to locate the demon, someone needs to kill it. My heart pounds and chills run over my skin. "Kill it!"

I need to get out of here. I need to find the door. The air in here seems to be getting thin. Are we getting any air in here? Will we be condemned to this box, doomed to die of asphyxiation or Leo's jokes?

"Where'd it go?"

They lost it?! Okay, I'm going to find the door, leave this box, and go find somewhere spacious without spiders. Antarctica, maybe? Gripping the doorknob, I twist and stumble out of the recording room. All four boys fall out behind me.

Percy

After we pick ourselves up off the floor, everyone glares at Jason, who remains silent.

Leo laughs nervously, and then launches into a tension-breaking joke

"Why are cows so famous?" He glanced at each of us in turn, and we all replied with shrugs and glares. After a few seconds of silence (very uncomfortable silence) he broke out in a grin and nearly shouted the answer.: "Because they're out standing in their field!"

It was like the comedians in the kids' cartoons everyone used to watch. I expected a cricket to chirp, that was how silent it was.

"Eh? Do you get it? 'Cause they're outstanding and out standing... Yeah, that was stupid."

"Maybe we should head downtown, because this studio is too small. Ten minutes?"

"Is my presence not needed?" the album producer's stand-in demanded. Apollo didn't make house calls, and sent this idiot in his place. His name was Gabe, and I don't think he knew anything about music. He did, however, have a death wish; on the way in, he ogled Annabeth and kept touching her shoulders.

"Nah," Jason said dismissively, which was unusual for him. "You can go home now. We were just going out."