Percy knew that they would be facing several obstacles on their quest. It was an unavoidable part of being a demigod. He was, however, unaware that their first hurdle would arise so soon. He had thought it might be due to Ryker in some way shape or form, but not in the manner they were facing. "Come on man." Percy said tiredly for the seventh time in minutes. "We have to go."

"I'll walk." Ryker answered, glaring warily at the van. "Just give me directions and I will meet you there."

"If you showed up by yourself they would probably kill you." Piper told him. Again.

When the van that they were taking to the Amazons had pulled up Ryker had freaked out like a cat that someone had just attempted to baptize. Percy, and the others in the group, had originally found this absolutely hilarious. But it was now going on an hour and they had not managed to move Ryker a step closer to the vans. They were growing impatient at the exact same rate it seemed that Ryker was growing stubborn. While Nico and Will attempted to reassure Ryker that the trip was necessary and that he could not in fact walk to the amazons, Percy, Annabeth, Hazel and Piper stepped away and convened for an emergency meeting.

"Tell me you have some sort of idea." Percy pleaded. "Because I don't. And we need to get moving."

"I would say that we should try to overpower him and drag him to the van but I'm not entirely sure that would be advisable." Annabeth blew out an annoyed sigh. "We should have waited to give him back his claws."

"At least he doesn't have a bow." Hazel said optimistically. "If he did I doubt we could even get as close to him as we could have."

"Score one for the Roman armory." Percy said gloomily. He glanced at Piper, who had gone suspiciously quiet, and a hopeful smile spread across his face. He knew that look. That was Piper's 'I have a plan you might not enjoy' look. "Let's hear it." Percy said immediately.

"Well… We still have charmspeak." Piper offered. "I'm sure that it would work."

"I sensed a 'but' in there somewhere." Annabeth noted. Percy knew that she would not be opposed to the idea. Being the daughter of Athena allowed her a better look into what was necessary than most people had.

"I really don't know how he will react once it wears off." Piper said in a small voice.

That put somewhat of a damper on the idea. Percy had seen what happened when animals were unwillingly put into cages. The outcome was almost never favorable. It then occurred to Percy that he really had to stop thinking of Ryker as an animal. Wild or not, he was still a demigod. A very stubborn demigod, but then again what room did he have to talk? "Could you possibly keep charmspeaking him every time that it's about to wear off?" Annabeth asked. "You did with those snake people."

"They were more susceptible to it I guess." Piper ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "The effects of charmspeak are different on everyone. Some people are only affected for a short amount of time. Others are affected until I snap them out of it. You saw what happened to Will. I really don't want to be on the receiving end of that."

"We could always handcuff him." Hazel joked. When Percy and Annabeth exchanged triumphant looks she immediately shook her head. "That was a joke." She said immediately.

"We'll have to be fast." Percy told Annabeth. "Just in case it does wear off fast. Piper?"

"Ready whenever you are." She told them. A growl turned their attention back to the arguing trio of Ryker, Will, and Nico. Apparently Nico had attempted to reassure Ryker with a hand on his shoulder. The son of Cybele now stood a dozen feet away from the two and was glaring at them murderously. "I need to be somewhat close though." She warned.

"That shouldn't be too hard." Annabeth scoffed. "Hey, Nico?"

The pale demigod turned back to stare at her. "Yeah?"

"Think you can do that bone prison thing to Ryker?" Annabeth asked.

Ryker's ears twitched. "What bone prison thing?" He demanded.

"I could try." Nico pursed his lips. "But I don't think so. The person I am trying to trap has to be somewhat stationary. Once the earth starts to move under him Ryker is going to be gone. And I don't want to think about our chances of catching him in the forest."

Annabeth's eyes suddenly sparked with a wicked gleam. "You can still shadow travel, right?"

"Of course." Nico nodded. "It's a lot easier at night."

"Can you transport Piper into his shadow?" Annabeth nodded at Ryker who immediately tensed his body in preparation for a quick escape. It was at moments like these that Percy realized how valuable Annabeth was as an ally and how unfortunate her enemies were. She was a master tactician. Her ability to see all possible solutions to a problem, including those that weren't obvious, was second to none. "How long will it take to hit him with your charmspeak?" She directed the last to Piper.

"Immediately." Piper smiled deviously.

"Do you think we have handcuffs in the van?" Percy wondered. He paused and wanted to reconsider his words when he realized how bad that sounded.

"I'll go get some." Hazel said dully.

"I doubt that will be necessary." Will laughed. Nico, who seemed to be in on the joke, even let out an uncharacteristic chuckle.

It has to be said that Percy despised being left out of jokes. "What's so funny?" He demanded.

Will stifled his laughter but he could not control the enormous smile that was plastered all over his face. "The reason that Ryker doesn't want to get in the van is because he gets carsick."

Annabeth and Percy's mouths dropped open simultaneously and they exchanged incredulous looks. "Seriously?" Annabeth managed. "That's why he doesn't want to go?"

"As his doctor, I should not condone laughing at a patient's medical problem." Will snorted in a very undignified manner and shook his head. "But it is really funny. One of the best fighters either camp has ever seen and he gets motion sickness. Oh the irony."

"So once we get him in the car…?" Percy let the rest of the question hang in the air.

"He won't be able to put up much of a fight." Nico smiled wickedly. "It should be a very quiet trip." Percy wanted to reconsider Nico's words for him. He made a mental note to requisition a better vehicle for the next quest. Or at least a more agreeable demigod.

"What are you discussing over there? Ryker demanded, taking a tentative step forward. "I told you, I'm not going."

The group looked to Piper, who nodded in turn. Nico took her hand and they turned as one towards Ryker. He immediately retreated the step backwards. "You do want to go with us." Piper told him, her voice hypnotically laced with charmspeak. The others were affected immediately. Percy wanted to jump into the van and drive off right then. The magic hit Ryker like a ton of bricks. He staggered backwards and at the same moment Nico and Piper appeared out of his shadow. Sensing someone behind him, Ryker turned. His movements were sluggish from the charmspeak which worked well in their favor. Piper grabbed him on either side of the head and began speaking to him in rapid tones. Percy could not hear her words, but he understood the general gist of what she was saying. Ryker's tension slowly ebbed out of him and when Piper released him he turned meekly and half-stumbled half-walked to the van. The others watched with some degree of interest as he temporarily struggled with the door. Eventually he managed to get it open and he stepped inside. The others were right behind him with Annabeth at the wheel. "I didn't know you could drive." Will noted as he buckled both himself and Ryker in. Ryker's backpack presented something of an issue, but Will managed to get the seatbelt around him all the same.

"I just got my license." She said cheerfully. She shifted the van into gear and smoothly rolled away from Camp Jupiter taking the road that led to the service tunnel. "It's actually really helpful to be able to drive. Chariots are nice, but they can be a pain."

Ryker groaned suddenly and pitched forward, his head in his hands. "Where… how… Why am I in a car?" He asked weakly.

Percy almost felt bad for him. He could hear the pain in his voice and for a moment he was repentant about forcing the poor demigod into the van. Man, next time we are getting a truck or a car. Percy promised himself. A van makes everything creepy.

"On a scale of one to ten, how are you feeling right now?" Will asked interestedly. He reached into the back and began to rummage around until he found his own bag among the others'.

"I am going to kill you for this." Ryker groaned. Percy noted with some degree of fascination that Ryker was now even paler than Nico. That in of itself was quite an accomplishment.

"Now, now." Piper chided. "None of that. We're all friends here."

"Does it bother anyone else that the first 'battle' we had on this quest was against one of our own?" Hazel wondered. She was seated beside Piper in the back, both of them staring with interest as Will attempted to force liquids down Ryker's throat.

"Not really." Annabeth said cheerfully, pulling onto the highway. "That just means that we are one battle closer to the end."

"That is a really twisted way of looking at things." Hazel noted.

"Do you have a better one?"

"Not really."

"Then stop complaining." Annabeth told her. "I hate backseat questers."

"I'm not sure that's an actual term." Nico told her. "Also, you are aware that I have a zombie chauffeur, right? He can drive us."

"Not thanks, I need the practice." Annabeth cheerfully declined. Percy had to admit that she was doing remarkably well. He had actually failed his driver's test when he had gone to take it. He firmly believed that it was not his fault. Annabeth had somehow managed to get a legacy of Venus for an instructor while Percy had somehow ended up with a Lare. It was very hard to drive when your driving instructor periodically drifted through you.

"So, the Amazon headquarters eh?" Piper sighed. "Why do I get a really bad feeling about this?"

Everyone in the car, with the exception of Annabeth who looked in the rearview mirror instead, turned and gazed meaningfully at Ryker. Sensing the eyes on him, he managed to look up from his hands and sent a glare around at everyone. "What?" He asked weakly. "I didn't do anything."

"Yet." Hazel applied heavy stress on the word. "You haven't done anything yet. We haven't gotten there yet. And the last time that Percy, Frank, and I were there we nearly got executed. I would really rather not go for a repeat of that. I'm not sure Arion will come and save us this time."

"So if you could avoid insulting anyone it would be in all of our best interests." Nico added. "In fact, why don't the guys just stay out in the van?"

"It might make things quicker." Will agreed hesitantly.

"No way." Ryker said, with a small degree of steel in his voice. "I want to see what you are all afraid of."

"We couldn't even if we wanted to." Annabeth added. "They have security, remember? If we left the boys out in the van they would almost definitely attack and try to kill them. It's better if we just go to Hylla and explain everything to her. Reyna is going to try and get a message through to her, but she didn't guarantee us anything. Besides, I don't think we want to split up. Not again." She glanced to Percy meaningfully and he nodded in agreement.

Every time that their group split up something bad happened. He and Annabeth falling into Tartarus for one. Leo's death for another. "I'm with Annabeth." He told them. They all seemed to have had the same thoughts that he had just had. Except for Ryker of course, who had not been a part of those events. "We stick together. I don't want any of us to get separated again. From now on the seven of us stay together."

The others chorused their agreement. Even Ryker managed a weak nod, although that might have been him dry heaving. Percy thought that it was hard to tell.