Author's Note: Hey there. Back with a new chapter, and just let me say, I am both excited and terrified to moving out of the Titan's Curse pretty soon. Yep, the story will go on after that. Estimate of how far through we are at the moment? About a third of the way, I'd say. Also, this chapter is shorter, because I wanted to finish at the exact point it finishes at (but only by around 200 hundred words, not too much (not counting author's notes)).

Also, I've spiced up the summary a little. Not much is different, but I like it nonetheless.

A little piece of news for you, I've recently put I Deviantart account to good use. There's nothing special there really, I'm just posting the cover art I made there in Photoshop. All my cover art, that I've actually finished.

Including the ones for the stories I'm currently planning. Yep, if you want to see the covers for Dream Eater and HERO . EXE (the stories I'm planning that I mentioned earlier), those are up. My username is pretty much the same, but with numbers. It's 'PaperKaine88'. No spaces.

Without further ado, on with the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.

Chapter 10

Here Be Dragons… Soon

Percy had never flown before, so this was a new experience to him. Although he was pretty sure flying in an aeroplane was different to being carried by a giant, winged sentient statue. The thought of slipping and falling to his death was something that came along every few minutes, but for the most part heights didn't particularly worry him.

But of course, it was an entirely different story for Thalia, who was being carried by the same statue as him, in his other arm.

Not too long after take-off, she'd said to him "Tell me when it's over." She still had her eyes tightly shut.

Percy found this a little strange, as one of the automatons had called Thalia "Zeus's kid". Percy may not have known much about mythology, but even so, he sure Zeus was the sky god, or something like it. Wasn't he also king of Olympus? Did that technically make Thalia a princess of Olympus?

Looking at her attitude, and the way she dressed, Percy got the strangest feeling she would punch his lights out for calling her that.

Despite those thoughts, he was certain she had soft side hidden behind the scowls and the grungy clothes. He'd struck up a few conversations with her, and she had smiled occasionally.

A part of him wanted to see that side again.

Percy yelled to anyone who could answer him, "Hey! Where's the next stop again?"

Being carried by the other automaton, Zoë yelled back. "We will be in San Francisco in a few hours, but right now, we are in the Sierras'!"

"Oh man, Frisco!" The statue carrying Percy and Thalia said. "Yo Chuck, remember those guys at the Mechanics Monument?"

"How could I not Hank? Those guys know how to party!" The other statue, Chuck said.

Giant flying sentient party statues? I'm not sure I have the capacity for surprise anymore.

The statues sped up, apparently pumped by the idea of getting drunk with other statues.

Can statues get drunk? Normal ones can't, but these guys…

The mountains eventually fell and became hills. The ground flattened out and they were soon flying over towns, farms, roads and highways.

Even at this speed, Percy could just about hear Grover playing his pipes. He could see Zoë was instructing Bianca in archery, getting her to shoot at Target logos whenever they appeared. Thalia still had her eyes closed, and was muttering under her breath, like she was praying.

They'd covered a fair amount of distance, but they still had a long way to go, and night was just about to fall.

Somehow Percy had fallen asleep on the way. Given the way things had been going for him, he wasn't shocked to find himself in another nightmare-vision.

Yet again, the swirling pillar of darkness was the first thing to greet him, and yet again Percy saw himself trapped under it.

Unlike last time though, there was someone else right beside him, helping him carry whatever that thing was.

Before he could tell who it was, the dream shifted.

He saw something he only saw the first time he had a nightmare like this. Thalia was standing at the corpse of a cow-serpent hybrid, holding the same bloody knife, wearing the same smile.

But this time Percy got a few more seconds to take in the details. This time, he could tell the smile wasn't what he thought it was. At first, it had looked evil, malicious.

Now? Now it actually seemed kinda genuine. It was a smile that said 'you're a complete dumbass, you know that right?'

Just before the dream shifted again, Percy saw the silhouette of a broad, towering figure behind Thalia.

The last thing he saw was a giant lizard curled around an even bigger tree. Zoë was walking towards it. The lizard turned its head towards her- wait… no, it turned its heads towards her, almost a hundred of them, each the size of a motorbike.

The hundred headed lizard lunged without warning and-

"Where you guys want to land?" Hank asked, waking Percy from his nightmare-vision.

Great, a giant multi-headed lizard, as if it couldn't get any worse… wait a second, giant lizard? Was that… a dragon? A real life dragon?

Zoë pointed of to somewhere in the distance. "There, by the Embarcadero Building."

"Good thinking," Chuck said. "Me and Hank can blend in with the pigeons."

Everyone looked towards him.

"Sheesh, can't statues have a sense of humour?"

As it turned out, there wasn't any need to pretend to be a pigeon. It was still early in the morning, and hardly anyone was around near the docks.

Percy looked to the others. "So, what now?"

"Well I would have suggested finding out about the monster milady was hunting," Zoë said. "But if what Apollo told thee was true, then they already have it, and we will find out soon enough."

"So we're skipping a step, but where does that leave us?" Bianca asked.

Percy remembered his dream. "Uh, I had another vision-thingy last night while the statues were carrying us."

Zoë snapped towards him. "Tell us."

"I uh, saw a giant swirling pillar of darkness… again I mean. It's showed up before. Also, please don't slap me if I'm wrong, but… are dragons real? I think a saw a dragon, curled around a big tree."

Zoë had turned pale by the end of it. She looked worried, but quickly regained her composure.

"I… I know where we must go."

"And that is?"

She pointed across the bay, to a single mountain that rose up above the fog. "The garden of my sisters." She said. "I must go to my old home."

"Wait… your old home? But you said-" Bianca went to say.

"I remember what I said, but… we have no choice. If we are to get inside before sunset, we must leave immediately.

"What do you mean before sunset is over? Is that our dead line?" Percy asked.

"My sisters, the Hesperides, are the nymphs of the sunset. We my only enter when day is changing to night."

"And if we miss our chance?"

"Tomorrow is the winter solstice. If we don't make it, the Olympian council will be over, and it will be too late. We must rescue Lady Artemis tonight."

"Wait... we have to make one stop before we go there." Thalia said, rifling through her backpack.

"Thee cannot expect us to delay-" Zoë started to say.

"Zoë? Trust me, he'll help, and we'll still make it."

Thalia directed them, telling the others why they were going there.

"Annabeth who also went missing, she's a friend by the way, and a demigod. Yeah, her dad lives where we're going. I think he can help."

They came to a two story house. Thalia knocked on the door.

The man who answered had the air of someone with a quick, wild intelligence. He was wearing an aviator cap and goggles, and his shirt was buttoned wrong, so one collar was higher than the other.

"Hello," He said in a friendly voice. "Are you here with my aeroplanes?"

Uhhh…

"No sir. We're… we're friends of Annabeth." Thalia said.

He suddenly straightened up. "Annabeth? Is she alright? Has something happened?"

No one answered, but the looks on their faces told him all he needed to know.

He took off the cap and goggles, revealing sandy-blonde hair. He hadn't shaved in a couple of days.

"You'd better come in."

When they walked into the house, Percy was reminded of all the things he never had.

There were two cats sleeping on the sofa in the living room. The coffee table was piled with books and magazines. A smell something like freshly baked cookies permeated through the whole house. He could hear jazz music coming from the kitchen. There were Lego bricks scattered all over the floor.

Looks like stepping on those would be painful.

The house seemed messy, yet vibrant and happy.

The two things he'd never had. A true home and a true family.

Annabeth's dad turned to them. "We'll go upstairs to my study. This way."

In his study, the walls were covered from corner to corner, ceiling to ceiling, with books. There was a huge table in the middle with miniature tanks and soldiers along a blue painted river, with biplanes hanging from the ceiling by string, and odd angles.

Annabeth's dad smiled. "The Third Battle of Ypres. I'm writing a paper, you see, on the use of Sopwith Camels to strafe enemy lines. I believe they played a much greater role than they were given credit for."

Zoë walked over and examined the battlefield. "The German lines were further from the river."

"How do you know that?"

Zoë put it simply. "I was there."

"You- what- I… You saw the Sopwith Camels? How many? What formations did they-"

"Dr. Chase, Annabeth is danger." Thalia said, stopping the flood of questions.

It seemed to have gotten his attention. "Of course. Tell Me everything."

Thalia proceeded to tell him about the quest, the captured goddess, and their journey. But the first part of the quest Percy hadn't known about. Apparently they'd gone to find Bianca and her little brother, bring them into their world, but there'd been a monster, and this Annabeth had gotten kidnapped in the process.

Dr. Chase had collapsed into his chair at this point. "My poor brave Annabeth. We must hurry."

"Sir, we need transport to mount Tamalpais. We need to be there before sunset." Zoë said.

"That's not a problem. I can drive you there."

"Um, sir the car would be great… but there's a certain balance to prophecies. We can't take on any more members." Thalia said.

They still haven't told me the lines of that thing.

"Now hold on a minute young lady, Annabeth is my daughter, fates be damned, I can't just sit on the side lines and-"

"Sir, trust me. Whenever someone tries to go against prophecies… it never ends well for them. The very first line, Five Shall Go West to the Goddess in Chains. We started with five, we have to get there with five."

Percy frowned. "Hey, you picked me up along the way."

Dr. Chase snapped his fingers. "See! You brought this fellow along."

"Yes, but the quest hadn't truly started by that point, and we were only four members. Its true beginning was in Washington." Zoë said. She turned back to Dr. Chase, "I can drive. I am older than I look."

Dr. Chase sighed, and seemingly resigned. "Fine… just… just make sure you bring her back alive, please."

He held out the keys to Zoë.

Something tells me this is not going to turn out well.