This chapter is just over three thousand words! It's not very thoroughly edited because I'm a disaster and I really just want to get this up tonight. It took far too long to write and argh I'm not in love. It was supposed to have a lot more but ehhh it doesn't. Ignore me.

Hope you enjoy!

Percy woke up at three o'clock in the morning the day of the quest. He didn't know why; he hadn't even had a dream. He had simply woken up with the feeling that something was amiss. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in attempts to sense what was wrong.

The ocean. He felt the turmoil in his blood as he left the Big House. His walk eventually turned to a run as he felt dismay in the waters. As if someone—or something—was sending a distress call.

He made it to the beach to see a hippocampi. Gods, was the creature breathtaking, a majestic mix of a horse and a sea creature.

Is there something wrong? Percy asked telepathically to the creature, who looked beyond relieved to see Percy there.

I am so glad to see you, my lord! I felt a new son of Poseidon, one who might be of help! The one here previously was vulgar!

Percy figured Orion was the aforementioned son of Poseidon. Yes. My name is Percy; I am nothing like my terrible excuse of a brother.

The creature neighed happily. Can you help? There is a creature stuck below the seas, in the mortal's garbage.

Percy nodded. I can. Lead the way.

Thank you, my lord! I will lead you to him, get onto my back.

He mounted the creature, who dove into the waters. The thrill of being able to breathe underwater was something Percy would never give up. They approached a shipwreck—an overturned boat. There were more hippocampi surrounding it, and a creature that was not only caught under the boat but in a fishing net. Percy dismounted the hippocampi, and investigated the situation.

The boat was near crushing the animal—a mix of a cow and a serpent. Percy felt that he should recognize the creature, but couldn't. The animal was helplessly caught in a fishing net, and the creature had only gotten more stuck in the netting.

Free it, lord! Another hippocampi pleaded, and Percy pulled out his dagger to free the creature.

At the sight of the dagger, the creature squirmed. It mooed, and Percy quickly put the knife away. "Okay, okay. Think calm thoughts." He placated, his soothing words calming the creature, who had stopped thrashing.

More hippocampi cried for Percy to free the creature, and he sighed. He was going to have to unravel every knot in the net to free her. Percy didn't know exactly how he had come to see the creature as a female in the first place, but it wasn't the time to reflect on it.

"Shh, Bessie. I'm going to help you." Percy soothed to the creature who he had now named Bessie, apparently. He began the menial process of untying each and every knot. It was a painstaking process, leaving Percy's fingers sore.

"I've got you, Bess. I'm going to get you out." The creature mooed in response. Percy spent what felt like hours soothing the creature and untying knots. Every single time Bessie would be spooked in anyway meant that he practically had to start all over again.

Finally, Percy had freed the half-serpent, who had mooed happily and snuggled up against Percy. She then swam away, but Percy had a feeling that he'd be seeing his new friend again.

Thank you. The hippocampi neighed happily. I will take you back up to the surface.

Percy smiled and mounted the majestic horse, watching the surface near. He thanked the horse and dismounted when they reached the surface.

Percy made his way back to his cabin, and was shocked to see that it was already nearing five in the morning. He quickly dozed off to get the last few hours of peaceful sleep he could, knowing the quest would be that morning.

It had been much harder than expected to get on the road. Phoebe was still angry about Zoë's decision to bring Percy. Thalia and Percy kept arguing about where they should sit in the van. Percy was adamant about being the closest to the front, while Thalia wanted to sit as far away from Zoë as she could.

Even Annabeth had trouble calming them down. They were both forced to compromise and sit in the middle—leaving both Thalia and Percy feeling like toddlers who couldn't make up their mind—and wouldn't talk to each other until Annabeth brought up the Capture the Flag game. The second she mentioned it they broke out into identical grins and their anger was dissolved.

"Where are we going again?" Percy asked.

Phoebe sighed. "To the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space, boy." She spat. "I tracked a powerful scent here, the bane of Olympus that my lady was tracking, I presume."

Zoë rolled her eyes from the driver's seat. This would be one long quest if Percy and Phoebe kept bickering.

"So, Annabeth." Percy started, turning to the daughter of Athena who sat between the children of the Big Three. "Where did you get the hat?"

Annabeth smiled. "My mother gave it to me on Olympus one year." She pulled the hat from her pocket and flipped it in her hand. "I've won many Capture the Flag games with it."

"She also uses it to terrify me." Thalia added humorously. "You don't know how many times she's made me jump."

Annabeth chuckled softly, shoving Thalia. "You've also zapped me countless times because of it."

She rolled her eyes. "I zap everyone. Get used to it."

They fell into an easy silence. "How did you manage to get on the quest anyhow?" Annabeth asked, genuinely perplexed by the situation. As far as she knew, Zoë was going to pick a hunter and then suddenly Percy was on the quest.

Thank the gods, Zoë was listening, and decided to chime in. "Regardless of what many may believe, I can acknowledge men. Percy is a strong demigod and will be helpful in finding Lady Artemis." The group sat in silence for a moment. "She has asked us to give him a chance, and I will."

Thalia looked from Percy to Zoë. "Lady Artemis asked you all to give him a chance?"
Phoebe scoffed and rolled her eyes. "She did. Whether or not we like it."

Annabeth sighed. "Can we all just try to get along? I'm not about to spend the next few days dealing with everyone bickering."

The car sat in silence, in silent agreement. Speaking would break their serenity, and knowing that they were going on a quest where two of them would likely die wasn't something they wanted to have to face yet.

"We have arrived." Zoë announced, getting out of the car. She started to walk with the group behind her, but Percy noticed something off to the side.

"I'll be inside soon." He improvised. "Have to go to… the bathroom." He walked off before anyone could say anything as a rebuttal.

Phoebe turned to Zoë with her arms crossed. "I told you he would be useless on this quest. He's already run off!"

Thalia crackled with electricity. "I don't know what—"

She was interrupted by the daughter of Athena. "No fighting. Come on, let's go. Percy will catch up." The group nodded and walked towards the museum.

Percy was walking as inconspicuously as he could towards the very familiar manticore. He had seen the monster on a cell phone—something that monsters, Percy knew, did not carry often—and walked across the street. Percy looked over his shoulder to see that the quest members had already gone inside.

Thorn had now crossed the street and entered the Natural History Museum. Percy fire-travelled to get closer as soon as the monster had entered the museum, and pushed the door open. The monster entered a room that had been marked as occupied, and Percy put his back to the wall.

He sensed the room to anywhere he could hide, and oddly enough there was a fireplace. Percy was thoroughly confused as to why, but he fire-travelled there and hid inconspicuously in the flames.

The room was much worse than he could have expected. There were monsters everywhere, dracaena and mortals alike. A man with a powerful aura, the same man from Percy's dream. The General. The son of Hestia already knew there was something very off with the General, but oddly something familiar.

"They are in the rocket museum, General." The manticore said, voice shaking.

"Air and Space Museum." Luke corrected with an edge to his voice.

"How many?" The General demanded in a clipped tone.

The manticore stumbled with his words. "Five, sir."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Which five?" His tone was a feeble attempt at calm.

"Percy Jackson, Thalia Grace, Zoë Nightshade—"

The General stood up, eyes blazing in anger. "I told you never to speak of her name!" He roared, and the room cowered.

"S-sorry, sir." Thorn stuttered, terrified by the man in front of him.

The General lazily put up a hand. "I have sent a minion to distract them, after your failure."

The manticore cowered. "I will do better next time!" He vowed, but the General simply chuckled.

"There will be no next time." Before anyone could react, the manticore turned into golden dust. "Now, what do you know about this 'Percy Jackson.'" The General said, turning to Luke.

Luke swallowed. "There is not much I can gather from him. He was adopted by Hestia and has been hidden from the gods."

"Is he qualified for the prophecy, as Hestia's child?"

The demigod shook his head.

The General smiled. "Good. Since the pesky son of Poseidon hasn't acted yet, you must isolate Thalia. We will get the monster to her."

Luke swallowed. "How will we do so? They will not be so quickly compelled to leave one of their own behind."

"Plant them." The man waved a hand and a mortal stepped up.

The mortal buried two sharp white teeth into the soil that lay in the middle of the room of the room. He patted them gently, pushing the soil over the exposed teeth. "Ready, General."

"Good. Water them, and they will soon find their prey."

He nodded and pulled out a watering can with painted daises, and Percy had to stifle a laugh. That wasn't the odd part about it, the liquid that came out wasn't even water. It was a dark red liquid, that for a second Percy thought might have been blood. The soil started bubbling.

"Soon, Luke, I will show you why my army will crush the demigods." The General snarled and Luke looked miffed, but didn't say anything. "These soldiers will make you pathetic boat look insignificant."

"I've trained my forces for a year! When they arrive at the mountain, they will—" Luke protested, but was cut off.

The General chuckled rudely. "The Titan Lord has other plans for you. You should know this."

Luke paled, obviously not wanting to say anything. Luckily, he didn't have to. The soil erupted and in its place were two kittens.

"Mew!"

The General stood up in rage. "You filthy mortals! These are not the teeth I asked for!" His voice reverberated throughout the room; the entire room seemed to shake with his power.

"Sir, you said the sabretooth tiger—" The mortal guard protested, and that only seemed to make the General angrier.

"Lies." He protested, still fuming. "Get me the tyrannosaurus!"

"Y-yes sir!" The mortal said, running out of the room to grab the new teeth.

Luke turned to the General cockily. "This is why you never use mortals." He smiled cruelly. "They never get it right."

The General smiled. "I love them. So violent, easy to manipulate."

The guard returned, out of breath but holding the teeth. The General stood abruptly and grabbed them, wincing. Nobody said anything, but the General swore. "I will plant these myself." He said, grabbing the watering can and planting them himself.

The skeletal warriors emerged in a disgusting display of events, twelve in all. They were warriors, but their skin was more like a hologram than flesh. Percy shivered just looking near them.

One of them looked towards Percy, and he instantly knew nothing would be able to hide them from these monsters—not even Annabeth's hat. If something could see him in his own element, nothing would stop them.

The General pulled a piece of fabric that had to be from a hunter's jacket. Percy's eyes widened, and ran out to grab the fabric without thinking. He was not about to let them go after Zoë. He heard the rip of his shirt and cursed, knowing that they now had his scent.

He ran out of the building, tearing through the area, heading straight towards where he knew the others would be. He spotted Zoë's circlet in the crowd and ran to her. "Zoë!" She turned towards him with a mix of concern and annoyance. "The General. He's sent skeletal warriors after us, I grabbed the piece of your jacket." He said, handing her the fabric. The entire group was turned to him now. "But they got a piece of my shirt." He grabbed his shirt to let them see the huge chunk that was missing. "He's sending some sort of monster after all of us."

The group collectively paled, but pulled out their weapons.

A roar sounded through the museum.

"Look, mommy!" A child said in the distance, but none of the demigods' eyes were on the child. "A kitty!"

Percy swore. The monster they'd have to fight was not only indestructible, but they also had a hoard of skeletons after them. They had very little time to defeat a monster that couldn't be harmed by their weapons before the skeletal warriors were on them.

They group jumped into attack positions as they stood before the Nemean Lion, its mouth open in a roar.

"Annabeth, is there a way to defeat it?" Percy asked, as the group dispersed.

She bit her lip as the hunters fired arrow after arrow at the lion, but nothing helped. Thalia called down a lightning bolt but it only seemed to bother the monster. The daughter of Zeus pulled out Aegis—her shield modeled after Athena's. For a second, there was hope as the beast retreated in fear at the sight of Medusa's face, but it was soon lost.

"Find a way to fire at its mouth!" Annabeth cried, running off to the museum store.

Thalia turned away to her friend. "Annie, what are you doing?"

Percy's eyes widened as the monster saw the opportunity to go after Thalia. Percy threw a ball of fire to the monster, effectively distracting the monster.

Unluckily for Percy, the monster was now on him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Annabeth running in with a bunch of silver packets. Percy jumped off the balcony platform as the monster charged towards him. He landed on one of the airplanes hanging by the ceiling and cursed, fire-travelling back to the ground.

The monster leapt after him and roared. When the lion's mouth was open, Annabeth through the silver packets into his open maw. Percy realized exactly what she was thinking, and as she yelled "Fire!" he had already fired two shots.

Zoë and Phoebe fired a volley of arrows quickly after, and the monster dissolved into gold dust, only leaving a jacket made of lion fur. The group approached it.

"It's rightfully yours, Annabeth." Zoë noted as she approached.

Phoebe nodded. "You had the idea to use the…" She looked considerate, probably silver packets, it is your spoil of war."

Annabeth looked at the hunter skeptically but grabbed the jacket regardless. She turned to Percy. "Can you light a flame?" A flame erupted from Percy's hand, and Annabeth threw it in. "For Lady Artemis."

The hunters smiled at her sacrifice, and Percy grinned. Annabeth, just like Atalanta had said, would make an amazing huntress. Percy put out the flame as he saw the skeletons entering the room.

"I know where to go." He said urgently, and the group quickly ran after him. "There's a subway up here. Mom took me once."

"Come on, Percy! We're going to miss the subway!" Sally Jackson called to her six-year-old son, pulling his hand as they raced towards the subway.

Six-year-old Percy smiled. "I'm coming, momma!"

The mother-son pair laughed as they ran through the subway, missing their train.

Percy pushed every thought out of his mind, focusing on the task at hand.

The quest members spent a good portion of the hour switching trains with no regard for where they were headed and avoiding any chance that they could be near the skeletons after them. They sat in a nervous buzz as they all were paranoid.

Everyone except Percy. His mind was only on one thing: his mother. Not Hestia, Sally.

He let a few tears drip from his eyes. For the most part, he was able to keep himself calm. He would always miss his mother more than anything, but he knew better than to wallow in grief.

As far as he knew, he would see her in two years anyway, when he turned sixteen.

Out of all the quest members, Zoë was by far the most concerned. While Phoebe, Thalia and Annabeth were engaged in a conversation about the best weapon to fight with, she slipped over to sit next to him.

Zoë squeezed his hand. "I'm here for you, Percy." She had seen and felt enough grief throughout her lifetime to understand that it was easily the hardest part of life. Her condolences hung in the air, not needing to be spoken.

He wiped away a stray tear, turning towards her with watery eyes and a sad smile. "Thanks."

Percy was glad that Zoë was on this quest with him. To him, she felt like the sole person who understood what hung in the air. He didn't need to explain that the place had brought up memories, and in exchange she didn't even need to give her condolences.

"We're switching trains." Thalia announced, and the group followed after her. Nobody decided to comment on the fact that Zoë and Percy kept by each other's side.